Answers To Young People’s Questions - Zac Poonen

but this little poem says the church and the world walked far apart that's the first line if you google it you can get the whole poem yourself it's a very long one but I'm just going to say a few things the church in the world walked far apart on the changing shores of time the shores of time were very far apart but those Shores get closer and closer and the world was singing a giddy song and the church a hymn sublime and the pretty world said give me your hand and walk with me this way and but the good church hid her hand and said no I won't give you my hand I'm not reading it exactly no the world said walk with me just a little bit because my Road is a pleasant Road and the Sun is always shining and your ways are narrow and thorny - or flowery and smooth and you're always looking so sad no but I move in rounds of joy to me the sky is always blue and there's no want no hard work the sky above you is always dark and you can see that my Road is a very broad road my gate is high and wide there's room enough for you and me we'll travel side by side and this is where it begins half shyly the church approached the world and gave him her hand the church is pictured as the Bride of Christ here the world is this handsome man and the false world grasped it and walked along and whispered first of all your dress is too simple it's not the latest fashion I've got a better dress for you to wear a little more tight and something that fits your beautiful form so that people can admire your physique your shape and a lot of jewelry to deck you so that people admire you because your face is so simple without any jewelry the way God has made it is not good enough let me adorn your face with a little bit of the world and the church looked down at her plain robes and saw the dazzling world and she blushed as she saw a contemptuous smile on his lips okay she said I'll change my dress I'll do as you say and she gave up her old dress and took what the world gave to all those and waved her hair in a thousand curls and then the world goes on and speaks about many things that type of entertainment they need to have in the church which is not there and then the angel of mercy rebuked the church is I know your sin and the church looked sad and tried to gather all her children her children means her members in but they were not available because they were busy with so many other things today I would say with many forms of entertainment and so the angel went away and the world came in and said don't worry if your your children are interested in some innocent sports she's not innocent because they spent so much time in it and so she ignored it and spent all that time in all this while out in the world countless millions souls were getting lost in sin and Hell whom the church was supposed to preach the gospel to but had no time to preach the gospel because all the people were involved in you know today I would say taking smartphones and so much time girls have no time to study the Bible no time to preach the gospel to others and so the world is perishing with hunger for truth and then the world came and said to the church your preachers are all too simple they frightened my child with terrible verses from the Bible and things I don't like to hear they talk about judgment and fire and hell no no I'll get you some better preachers who will clever people who will show you how you can live as you like and still go to heaven because the father is so merciful the world world said great good loving and tender and kind do you think he'll take one child to have an ally they're behind no no no no no so the church agreed and they began to get other preachers who were more gifted and educated in big Bible colleges and the plain simple old men who preached the cross were pushed out of our pulpits and then Mammon came in and money became the important thing and the world said you're worried too much about poor people they can take care of themselves don't worry about them you take care of yourself go go to expensive restaurants and eat what you like go frequently enjoy yourself and etc etc etc and so the church opened her purse and began to spend in all those things and say maybe I've given too much to poor people or to the church I don't want to do that let me also enjoy myself a little and like that the church the two drifted apart and the Church sat down and began to enjoy everything and the world finally looked at the church and mocked and said the church has fallen this beautiful church her shame is now her pride and thus she lost her witnessing power and like the Lord said perilous times came in and she would never listen any more and a voice came from heaven that saying I know your works your wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked you think you're rich and increased in goods the expectant bride of a heavenly groom has become the harlot of the world you have fallen so at last I must cast you out and remove your name from the book of life but from the side of that harlot church sleeping a small remnant came out a few people who honored God's name by the word of that testimony in the blood of the Lamb they overcame the world and they prayed and defeated the enemy those who walk with the Lord like that will walk one day with him in white I read that now and then I got it many many years ago and I said Lord I want to be watchful I can't live the life for other people but I can live the life for myself so that my ministry never compromises even if I'm a hundred years old and that I shall never lose my love for God's people even when they are backslidden that I never give up on them I'll try till the very end until Christ comes again to draw them back to yourself and succeed with a few I know I won't succeed with the majority but I will succeed with a few there will be a remnant I believe that and that's what we live for in CFC so now we go to these questions there were a number of questions about which santosh already answered on social media but I want to say a few words about that before moving on about Facebook if you find my name on Facebook that's not me that somebody else what are called they have a thing called a fan page where you can put the name of somebody and call it a fan page I don't even look at it as well somebody told me that was something like that so I saw it once but I think there's nothing evil written there they somebody has put some of my messages and all that but I do not correspond with people on Facebook we have no time to waste for that I'll tell you even after 58 years I know the Bible so little I know the Bible so little I don't have enough time for God's book where do I have time for Facebook I want my life to count for eternity time is short and I said that when I was 20 years old and I say that now when I'm nearly 80 years old time is short I tend on the Lord without distraction it's a verse I wrote in the front of my Bible when I was 20 years old it is from 1 Corinthians in chapter 7 two words which I put together 1 Corinthians 7 and verse twenty nine the time is short and so at verse 35 give your undistracted devotion to the Lord I put those two verses together in the front of my Bible and I wrote it the time is short give your undistracted devotion to the Lord I've tried I can't say I've always been faithful it's not that I don't read the newspapers you don't let it's not that I don't see the news on the internet but it's in its proper place it's like a little pickle not the main meal if you make the pickle make your main meal you'll get sick you can have a little bit of it but keep it in its proper place but don't read things which are going to fill your mind the reason why many people have bad dreams is because they fill their mind with a lot of rubbish and it's a good thing to read the Word of God before you go to bed at night instead of seeing everything on Facebook before you go to bed so and the other thing is you know we can be friends with the wrong type of people do you know that there are thousands of divorces that have taken place because of Facebook there are divorce lawyers in England who have said that many thousands of divorces have taken place because on Facebook they link up with some old flame they had in school we all know the meaning of flame I don't mean a literal fire but something that stirred their heart a young girl or something who is now a grown up married person and then they link up and they destroys the marriage it's happened again again here to be very very careful there are people you know chat with you and will pretend to be girls and they're not girls and you yours a girl thinking you're talking to a girl and that's a man who's trying to get at you this has happened many many times particularly in the West so you'd be careful in facebook and also be careful what you appreciate you know this I don't know whether you know the meaning of thumbs up I said I want to be sure so I looked up Google to the Collins dictionary what a thumbs up mean thumbs up means encouragement I'm encouraging you I approve of you I accept you everything is alright I encourage you in that way I approve of you I accept you I indicate everything's alright collins dictionary on google so when you are on facebook with somebody who has rebelled against the church had left the church or has been disciplined by the church and you look at some picture is posted and you put thumbs up you know what you are telling him even if the elders don't accept you i accept you even if they don't approve you i approve of you even if they don't say everything's alright i say everything's alright there are stupid foolish rebellious people sitting in CFC who are doing that okay you don't have to answer to me i am not your judge but i believe one day when those people who have gone away and never come back to the Lord you will be answerable to the Lord because you are not faithful in telling them the truth you just encourage them when they were going astray he went to the pig farm and encouraged him instead of telling him to repent and come back to the father's house on example the other thing I want to say is in all these things the important thing is discipline I believe discipline is the one thing that Christians need the most but want the least let me read to you in 1 Corinthians in chapter 9 the Apostle Paul the great Apostle Paul with so much in his life the reason he accomplished so much was not only because he was filled with the Holy Spirit not only because he spent time in prayer and read the Word of God but also because he disciplined his body verse 27 1 Corinthians 9:27 I discipline my body which means my eyes my tongue especially and I make it my slave the Living Bible says I make my body I don't allow my body to do what it wants to do but I make my body do what it should do you know the difference between what your body should do and at what it wants to do what your eyes want to see and what your eyes should see what your tongue wants to say and what your tongue should be saying I make my body do what it should do not what it wants to do that is discipline in very simple language and if you don't have discipline I don't care what experience you had about speaking in tongues or 15 filled with the Holy Spirit I can tell you you will not make it in the final day because Paul says and he's Paul was far better than all of us he says I if I don't discipline my body 1 Corinthians 9:27 like this if I don't make my body do what it should do I will end up preaching to so many people and finally when I reach the finishing line I'll be disqualified he's talking about a race in verse 24 on works take time to read it that there are people who violated the rules in an Olympic race and when they come to the finishing line they think they are first and finally the judges say no they are along the way you were disqualified sorry everybody thought you were first but it's qualified you don't you're not even third or fourth or anything you're not even lost you're out and Paul says that's going to happen to me I've read that and I'll tell you that brings a healthy fear not an unhealthy fear I don't have any unhealthy fears in my life I'm not afraid that God will punish me or hurt me but I am afraid that I may hurt myself I'm afraid that I will ruin myself not that God will ruin me but I will ruin myself I'm afraid of that I'll tell you that that's why I discipline myself so it's important to understand these principles then going in to some of these questions one is the question or what does it really mean to be born-again or what we need to do after we get saved because there's a widespread teaching that all we need to do is have a proper understanding of what Jesus did and then everything is okay see if that was all there is to it all these episodes are not needed you take you read the episodes Romans chapter 6 and Philippians and Colossians and Galatians and Hebrews and all so many warnings about pressing on let's run the race and right here that we shouldn't be disqualified what is the need for all this if I mean if you go to Paul and say hey listen Paul don't get worried man you're not gonna be disqualified you accepted the Lord remember 35 years ago on the road to Damascus you yield it to Jesus and then three days later Ananias came prayed for you you're filled with the Holy Spirit while you worried you're perfectly okay you won't be disqualified you accepted Jesus God will not reject you you're eternally saved remember God's love is unconditional rubbish unconditional that means you do what you like and you keep on loving you all would say listen fella that's not the gospel I believe in that's not the gospel Jesus has revealed to me I believe that if I don't discipline my body I'll be disqualified that doesn't mean that Jesus did not pay a full price but remember that word of Jesus take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you shall find rest for your souls rest on this earth and eternal rest in heaven what is a yoke we know it in the fire in the villages in India they farmers put a yoke on two Bullock's and that is the yoke one on one on the neck of Jesus and the one on my neck and I am the junior inexperienced young Bullock trying to learn how to plough a straight furrow in the field and Jesus is the experienced one who's done it perfectly and he says take my yoke upon you and if you walk at my speed and don't turn left or right except when I turn you will come to a life of perfect rest so the Christian life is a partnership it's not that Christ comes into my heart and I become a robot after that he doesn't matter how I live you'll never become a robot even in heaven you will not become a robot you will always have free will what a robot does not have is free will what the planets don't have is free will no planet can commit sin and no planet can become a child of God the trees don't have free will they can't sin and they can't be children of God and if you didn't have free will to choose you could never be a child of God you'll be like the planets you'll never sin and you'll never be a child of God he'll be like this carpet on the floor it can't sin it can't be a child of God you'll be like that that is absolute nonsense God never takes away our freewill not even in heaven not even in eternity then you may say well you mean after I go to heaven I can sin and fall away no because if I really get to heaven those of you who do get to heaven the Bible says will become like Jesus do you think Jesus is a robot in heaven you think he doesn't have free will he wasn't a robot even on earth he had complete free will on earth but he never did it he always said not my will but my father's will that's why he never sinned but he was not a robot it was not that he was programmed that he'll automatically do the Father's will no a person who's a robot cannot sing cannot be a child of God a person isn't a robot can sin and can become a child of God holy so in heaven when we become like Jesus do you think Jesus will sin and follow me impossible that is why I say when I become like him for eternal ages I will never sin but I can begin that life now that is the message of the gospel so a person who is says he has accepted Christ and does not endure till the end his faith is described in Hebrews in Chapter three Hebrews chapter three and it says here in verse 14 very clear verse we become partakers of christ if and I wish I could have put a big capital IEF one-inch high in your Bible if I F if we become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end there are many people have started the race well who never finished it Hebrews 12 says let us who run the race with patience the Christian life is a race is not that we are put inside a ship go to sleep in the ship takes you to heaven that's not Christianity that's a false teaching so that is where but you mean to say that I can keep my something you can never keep yourself the Bible says he is able to keep you from falling so you got to trust him I don't believe I can keep myself but I firmly believe that Jesus will keep me from falling and I have proof of that how do I know that because I find my life improving year by year not in yet day by day but year by year I find a distinct improvement in my life in control over thoughts words actions attitude the money becomes purer and purer more freed from it more and more revelation on the word of God even though I've read it 58 years new things I see it's all an indication there's progress if these things are not happening in your life there's no progress I mean maybe you joined school but you're still in the kindergarten you're 25 years old and sitting in the kindergarten what would you think of your son if he's 25 years old and sitting in the kindergarden and you keep posting my son is in school yeah yeah yeah he hasn't dropped out of school he's still in school how old is he he's 25 which class is he's in kindergarten he joined it about 20 years ago and he's still there very faithful he gets a hundred percent he knows how to spell be 80 and see 80 and he knows how to add two plus two he's never lost even one mark in mathematics or English or anything you want to be like that when it when we compare it to the world you see your own spiritual condition that's why we need to wake up so enduring till the end is very important let's take the words of Jesus himself and Matthew chapter 24 this is very important so I don't mind spending a little more time on this question because some of those other things are not as important if you get this right the others will become right automatically Matthew 24 it says here Jesus said in the last days this is talking about the last days when the people asked him oh when will you come' Lord the man is a sign of your coming verse 3 and jesus said in the last days verse 11 there will be many false prophets who will mislead many by teaching but once you've accepted Christ you're okay it's a false prophet because there's so much of sin these false prophets have preached these wrong things to them the love for Jesus that people had when they started will become cold and when love for Jesus becomes cold love for one another becomes cold as well you get irritated with your wife more frequently you get irritated with your husband these are all indications that your love for Jesus is becoming cold but if someone indoors till the end he will be saved those are not my words those are the words of Jesus he who endures to the end will be saved especially in the last days it's a warning so what is all this teaching about grace I'll tell you in a nutshell it's not the full teaching on grace but two basic things that grace does for us in very simple words Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 7 we have redemption through his blood that means we are purchased out of the slave market of sin redemption means purchased the forgiveness of all our sins according to the riches of His grace that's what grace does for us in our life redeemed forgiven completely every single sin you committed in your life because you repented and trusted that Christ died for all your sins great then grace gives you something more Romans 6:14 when you come under grace fully that's just the beginning of grace it's like the ABC of grace see you can't go to study physics and geography before you got ABC right if you have never studied ABC how will you study physics and geography and history so ABC is essential let's find the kindergarten class they don't teach you biology and science they teach you ABC that's why when you come to Christ we don't talk about first of all about victory over sin we talk about forgiveness ABC you have to begin there but once you get there you don't stay there you move on in the school and you move on in grace Romans 6:14 when you come into grace sin will not rule over you anymore because you're not under the Old Covenant law but you're under the new covenant so one way by which you can find out I mean I can ask a 10 year oldest question listen son tell me just I'll read one verse to you and give me the answer it's a 10 year old answering me listen carefully sin will not rule over you because you're not under law but under grace two questions what is the proof that you're under grace my son I'll say uncle sin does not rule over me right another question what is the proof that you are still under laws and sin rules over me absolutely right law is Old Covenant what is the proof that a lot of people sitting here are under Old Covenant sin rules over you I don't mean you fall but it rules over you it's there's a difference between a child falling a hundred times a day and you occasionally slipping and falling six months ago you slipped somewhere and fell down as a difference so I'm not saying that a believer never falls in a sin but he doesn't rule over him when sin rules over you I want to tell you in Jesus name with no other preacher where ever I will ever tell you you are under the Old Covenant you are under law you have not understood grace at all you receive the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace and you took it casually and so you continue to get angry and you don't repent you continue to do unrighteous things in your office and you don't repent you keep on watching pornography and you don't repent what shall I say I'm scared you've started holding hands with the world and I don't know where it'll end up wake up the main message of the prophets in the Old Testament of Israel you're gone to sleep you don't understand your true condition so that is Grace and another question is concerning brokenness how do we actually come into being broken brokenness is very important now a simple illustration Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish first principles surrender everything that boy you know when Jesus is feeding the multitude he said what do you have here one boy he's got five loaves and two fish and he had to give everything first he couldn't give three loaves and run Frisians he I better keep something for myself no he gave it all first lesson give everything into Jesus hands don't be afraid don't be thinking to starve what faith that boy must have had my mummy packed my lunch for me and if I give her everything to Jesus I may not have anything doesn't matter I love Jesus so much I give it all to him you know he ended up getting more than five loaves and two fish he could get as much as he wanted later on that is how it is when you follow the Lord so first step is give everything then ask Jesus to bless it Jesus blessed it still five loaves and two fish then he broke it then it became 25,000 50,000 loaves and fish there were five thousand men plus many women and children at least ten thousand people there so there's total surrender ask the Lord's blessings we fill you with the Holy Spirit it's not enough third step that God break you then you'll be blessed there are many people who have given themselves to the Lord who have experienced a real baptism the Holy Spirit the only thing missing in their life is they're not broken they think they are a blessing because they do this they do that they go to this place they go to that place and they witness to this person is that person and they say a few things here and there and preach in different places and preach the message here and maybe you conduct some weekly meetings and all don't satisfy yourself a few trickles are coming out of your life and some of it is dirty water when it could be rivers I decided as a young person I will never never be satisfied till what Jesus said in John 7:37 will be fulfilled in my life out of his innermost being rivers of living water not one River River in many directions will flow this he spoke I'm reading from John 7:37 38 of those who believed in him I said Lord I believe that from my weak helpless life and I was only 21 those days just baptize rivers of living water will one day flow do you have that faith are you willing to give everything when did the river flow out of the rock Rock had to be smitten broken then the river flowed and that's what the Lord showed me I have to pray Q I said go ahead and I'll tell you I don't have time to tell you the Lord did that in numerous ways he humbled me broke me taught me to submit to elders who were jealous of me who would suppress me and the Lord said humble yourself these are the way these days I'm breaking him he brought me later on through false accusations and being called the devil and even religious people taking me to court and standing there like a criminal it's all breaking breaking breaking and I say Lord do it again do it again never give up on me I need to be broken more I need to be broken more because I want one more river to flow out I'm not satisfied with the rivers already flowing one more one more Lord says it now to break you again go right ahead I'll give you free permission to do whatever you like break me with financial laws I've experienced that also anything I'll tell you something my brothers and sisters if you allow God to break you and you're not just satisfied saying well I spoke in tongues and I'm filled with the Holy Spirit God have mercy on you if you're satisfied with that I've seen enough people who speak in tongues whose lives are a waste wasted no not even a drop is flowing out of them and I don't know whether finally they'll be lost so that's broken that's very very important okay now the number of questions concerning relationship between boys and girls work at college and all that and I give you some general advice on it what advice would you give to your college going son or daughter is it wrong to have good friends with girls who are good friends with boys what qualities should you look for well first of all remember all girls especially because you got more to lose in a friendship than a boy do you know that let me tell you this in the Old Testament if a girl lost her virginity before marriage and the husband discovered it on the wedding night he had to bring that girl out to the elders and to her parents and they had to stone her to death it's God who commanded it because it was a very serious sin for a girl to lose her virginity but and you know God has made the female body in such a way that you can discover if a woman has lost her virginity you asked your mother she'll tell you that when you're at the right age but a man if he has had sex with a girl there's absolutely no way to discover it why did God make it like that God could have made some system by which a man has sex with the girl is also discovered but he didn't do it well I'm not here to judge God but I believe there's wisdom in it see God put a tremendous sex drive in a man it's true the drive for sex is intense in a man God put it like that for the propagation of the human race one reason in Adam had to you know produce hundreds of children and secondly what the Lord showed me was I have made this drive sex tried so strong in men the Lord said to my heart because that's how I can test whether they fear me or not and I got that from Genesis 20 where the first time the word fear of God is mentioned is in relation to sexual sin first time the fear of God is mentioned in relation to sexual sin where you know Abraham tells the King Abimelech I thought there was no fear of God here so I thought you would rape my wife me so I called her my sister the first time what fear of God is mentioned is a relation to sexual sin and the Lord showed me there's a connection I test whether people fear me by their attitude to sexual sin in their thoughts thank you lord now I know whether y'all fear you or not when I'm tempted I mean I've discovered this when I was a young man but I'm tempted in my thoughts to even look and keep on admiring not to lust to touch a woman's body no but just looking at Meyer a pretty face it's lust proverb success don't let her catch you with her highlights and I discovered that there is the time God is testing do you fear me or not and if immediately if I can reject it and turn away I prove that I fear God all of you men are being tested every day whether you fear God or not don't come here and imagine that you fear God you are being tested by your thought life when you attempt it with an attractive woman not to have sex with her just to look and admire her there in your office or on a computer screen or in a movie screen or any such thing be careful so it's very very important that God is I told you a woman young girl is more to lose so you've got to be very careful there's a strong drive in man and when I was in a young boy studying physics and school and we went into the physics lab I used to try and take a North Pole and South Pole magnet and try to see how close can I bring it without it touching each other I found it I try to keep it very close can I keep it sort of one millimeter my hands were not strong enough you couldn't because that's if it's a strong magnet it just touches all of a sudden I didn't want it to touch I was trying to hold it with all my strength and I'm not gonna let this magnet touch a little touch that is a lesson you as a girl can see no no I'm not going to get close to her I'm not going to get but little by little you get closer and closer like I used to bring that magnet closer and closer to that other magnet and I didn't realize suddenly that's what's happened to many a girl and they regretted it regretted it not for one or two years for their lifetime the boy doesn't regret it he can Chuck you and go and find another girl and never tell that girl what he did with you so that's what I would tell her daughter if I had one and you are all my daughters and so I say that so be very careful keep a distance I'm not saying that we should be unnatural in school boys and girls some schools they have a double desk and a boy and a girl sitting next to each other it's okay there you are got to be more careful when they grow up but my point is you talk freely to boys and girls in school and talk freely in place of work you don't have to become unnatural when you come to suddenly to CFC as if you cannot talk freely the point is what you talk about the point is do you always talk to one person they'll be very careful even in college in place of work and it's such a sad thing in place of work that even married women now who just want to be friendly yeah let them see that that you said there's certain reserved about you and you know the way you talk it can be very flippant the way you talk with people at work and joke and laugh and you can say well I never talked any being sexy I married people sitting at place of work and talking in a very flippant way with other women young girls I say the test is this if you're a married person and you're working with other girls and you're talking in this very jovial way and say I'm not talking anything sinful supposing your wife came in that very moment to the truth through to your office room will you be a little more careful in the way you speak then you're wrong imagine ask yourself at that moment if my wife walked in this very moment while I'm talking to this girl in this way and I'll explain to her I was not talking about sex darling I was just having a little fun talking to her and she'll teach you when you come home back home what she thinks of that yeah and I won't blame her for trying to teach you a lesson so soon you'll learn a lesson for life sure the Bible says a woman must be a helper and sometimes that's the way to help your husband teach him a lesson so we have to be very very careful in this area because we are living in a very evil world so your friendship must be limited when it is through the opposite sex and you know it's it's okay to shake hands but don't put your arms around a girl who's not your wife no you shouldn't do that because it's not it's not a good testimony for a Christian I don't do it it's very dangerous and particularly if the person is near your age I mean I can put my hand on a little girl because I'm a grandfather but you got to be careful that it's a little girl it's alright but even there just be careful you young people very very careful and other people in the in your office and school may do it but be careful and let people know that you're little let them think you're a little funny now I don't care you'll preserve yourself later on you'll have a very happy marriage so those are some guidelines on then the next question is concerning marriage how should i what should a girl oh boy shall I look for when considering marriage see I have written a book called sex love and marriage and I've written a book called finding God's will those are the two books I recommend to all young people to read and if you can't afford to buy a copy it's free on the internet you can read it download it print it make your own copy and read it there are specific instructions there all the way from when you're a young man or young girl all the way to time you get married it's not into marriage itself that's solely up to the time of marriage that book is written engagement period what age you should consider getting married at so you got to be strict with young people these days and even more you see when they're you do you know what they're watching on their smartphones do you know who they are talking to there are young people who say why does my dad and mom always want to check up who I'm talking to on my smartphone of course they should once you get married they won't but till you get married they have a responsibility to know that's not being a busybody in your matters they have a responsibility for you they have an oversight over you they feed you they clothed you they accommodate you in their home and God's given them the responsibility to check what are you doing I mean when my boys came even in school you have to be careful what type of books they're reading I remember even those days I'm talking about 1978 and 1982 and all when things were much cleaner schools are so bad nowadays but even in those days there was no pornography in those days and books being brought to school like nowadays but I used to you know when my children went out to play I would open up their school bags to see if there was any book there or anything that one of their friends had given them we were very strict in our home we never allowed any worldly music we never allowed any we never took them to movies we didn't even have television those days in our home and we were very very strict people could think we were fanatics they let them call me what they liked today I see the result and I thank God for it that's all I say what we were very very strict and I'm glad we were not Union but it is not that we were so strict that they didn't think we loved him we loved them we'd hug them and I would place sit and play caroms with them I would sometimes play cricket with them they knew that I loved them and they would pray with them and encourage them and help them in their studies and I always would be here whenever they had examinations to take them to school and bring them back they knew that I loved them but they also knew I was very strict with them and I would use the rod if they continued in discipline up to the age of 12 not beyond the age of 12 so what I say is that we have to be strict with our children because they are exposed to all types of things and you must see what they are what not they may not be evil but their derek friends can make them evil you can't blame them you if you've blamed for example I remember once one of my boys came home and there was small boy and he used a certain word which he learned from school from some other boy I said you know what that word means he said no somebody used it in school I said I'm not going to explain to you what it means but it's a bad word never never use it see these little children don't know what a bad word is it is not the type of bad words we call bad words today those are today's such words won't even he called bad words what I felt that was a bad word the standard was a little high those days there's no standards now what I said you're never going to use that here in this house so if you are not strict with our children don't blame the world or your or their friends for leading them astray blame yourself I have spoken to parents whose children have gone astray or not following the Lord I said you know the first thing you need to do you and your wife need to bow down before God and say Lord we have disobeyed proverbs chapter 22 verse 6 we did not bring them up in the way they should go and because we did not do that they are going in some other direction they don't respect their parents they I've got their own little secrets because they don't have confidence in their parents first take the blame yourself learn from the thief on the cross Lord I'm guilty I am to blame I don't blame my parents I don't blame my bad friends I am to blame for being a thief and a murderer I deserve this punishment Jesus said sure come to paradise your life can be a paradise if you start taking the blame I'll tell you that so it's very important because so when looking for a partner boys and girls first of all ask yourself do you feel this person loves Jesus Christ you can be friends with everybody in a distance but if you'll come to the age where you're thinking of marriage maybe as a girl don't even think about it before you're twenty twenty-one and if you're a boy don't even think about it before you're 25 that's the bare minimum I believe that in India anyway first of all you must be able to earn your living you must be able to support a family and then only you can get married otherwise how how are you going to take care of your family there was a question here saying kind of kinematic person stay with his parents if his parents are dependent on him financially or father is old the mother is dead well there is no law in the Bible on that and so I will not make a law the Bible Jesus said in mark 7 that you must care for your parents you read mark 7 honor your father and mother and he related it to giving money to your parents to look after them when they are hold turned to that verse I think is Mark 7:14 or something he related related it to honor your father and mother and don't tell your parents oh I gave that money to God or I gave that money somewhere else when you should have given it for their support so and if your parents are in need you have to take care of them Jesus hanging on the cross cared for his mother even though that mother had four other sons and two other daughters but they were unbelievers so he told John his cousin John you take my mom into your home and let her be mother to you he cared in the midst of all his pain he cared for his mother that's what it means to follow Jesus to care for your old parents is a very good example don't you know of course those who are lazy and don't want to any inconvenience in their lives away we don't want to do anything with our father or mother or father in-law or mother-in-law we have nothing to do with them we just want to enjoy life ourselves that is a selfish self-centered way of living and you will reap the consequence of that type of learning you honor your father and mother it'll go well with you I can tell you it will go well with you so but now what does it mean when it says in Genesis 2 therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall be one flesh this relationship between man and woman and marriage is the most closest earthly relationship which speaks about one flesh they are to be one with each other that type of oneness they must not have with their parents in other words the leaving must be emotional it's not always possible physical it's not always possible because I mean if you are rich and you got a good job physical is good but I've been enough in the villages of Tamil Nadu and most of you have not been to those villages so you can have your theories but I've been to the villages of Tamil Nadu where I see people are so poor that sometimes they have to stay with their parents what do I say let your parents starve and live by us and I say no if that's the only thing that can happen stay with your parents it's ok but don't let them control your life that's the point it's an emotional control detachment and I'll tell you the other way around there are people who live there separately in other house sometimes miles away from their parents or in another city and boy with long distance those parents are controlling that that that boy he's not detached from his parents even though he's living a thousand miles away his parents are controlling him did he when he wants to take a decision he doesn't take it along with his wife he didn't used to discuss with the dad and mom that is what it means to leave your father and mother don't let them control your life you can live next door to your father and mother in the same house and never let them control your life I've done that because we were so poor and einie and I got married never once did I let her parents or my parents control one single day of my life I disagreed with them my discussions with them and disagree strong disagreement that I say no we're gonna run our life that is important I believe there are many of you who satisfy yourself that you're living at a distance a thousand miles away from your parents but you're letting them control your life still you men I'm not saying you shouldn't care for them by all means care for them don't go to the other extreme that you don't care for them if they are old and they need to be taken care of let them live with you yes my father and mother have stayed in our home and Annie's parents do he don't regret that ever so when you think of marriage think first of all if a person is spiritually minded number one then consider it and think of try and fight and don't just go by outward appearance try and find out when you come to the age of marriage if your parents are believers it's best that they find out from those who know that boy or that girl who know him long enough for her long enough to know what type of person is that so to get a good testimony and not just by looking at her or just listening to her testimony or his testimony find out very important the non-christians in India have more sense in this they always tried to find out in many cases here our many young people here their parents are non-christians can I tell you some of those converts from non-christian families who are in our midst are stronger Christians then the children born in Christian families because those young boys and girls and especially if it's a girl they've had to take such a strong stand against their parents what a price they've had to pay to break away from their non-christian parents or sometimes their parents who are in some dead Christian denomination you don't understand the pain that a girl has to go through to take such a stand I admire them 10 times more than a girl brought up in a Christian home they've taken a stand they've had to pay a price so don't despise them some of them are very very fine Christians so this is what you need to ask yourself so if it isn't from our own church you can always ask the elders if they are from another church find out from the elders through your parents your parents and our Christians through the elders that's why it's very good to have god-fearing elders who are interested in you and you won't find that in every church you've got to be thankful that the elders here are so interested in you that whatever their other weaknesses may be is to help you so that's one of the main ways to find a good partner so let me show you a verse in 1 Corinthians in chapter 7 in this connection 1 Corinthians in chapter 7 we read verse 36 if any man thinks he's acting unbecomingly towards his virgin daughter that means he's not letting her get married if she's past her youth if it must be then let him do what he wishes he does not say let her marry so verse 38 he who gives his daughter in marriage does well what I learned from that verse is that is the father who gives the daughter in marriage at Scripture he gives his virgin daughter there's no such thing as a man giving his son in marriage that's not heard of in the Bible but a man gives his daughter in marriage a man can choose for himself who's going to be his wife consulting his parents of course or other elders but it is the father who gives the daughter away and that's why if you're interested in a girl you must talk to her father and if her father is not a believer he must talk to the elder who is over her if you're interested if you don't take that first step you're violating Scripture and you will suffer the consequences and I want to say to young girls if you find a boy interested in you consult the elders I mean if you consult your father that's the best if he's a god-fearing man then if he's not a god-fearing man you got elders here whom you can consult who will help you but remember this principle it's a man who gives away the daughter it's because that's a protection for the girl so some of these things if we bear in mind you don't come into the calamity that comes so that's why we are to be very careful when you make friends in school and college and as far as the engagement period engagement period you know an engagement period is can be short or long depending on various circumstances it's a time of preparation where we get to know one another a little more don't rush into an engagement if you're not sure but if during the engagement period you discover something seriously wrong there's nothing wrong in breaking up that engagement because a broken engagement is a million times better than a broken marriage broken marriages divorce it's serious okay then there are some questions about physical appearance and all you know one thing all of you young people have to accept because you know people make fun of you because of your mannerisms or your physical appearance so you're too fat or too thin or you're too short one of the first things all of you need to accept as young people is God made me like this and I accept it once you accept it maybe your dark maybe your features are not as attractive as somebody else's but once you see God made you like this you've got to accept yourself the way God made you read Psalm 139 you know fearfully and wonderfully made God made you like this Lord I accept it and don't envy that person who is fairer prettier more handsome more gifted who can speak better no Lord Jesus you saw me in my mother's womb you decided the color of my skin you decided how tall I'm going to be and there are genes don't judge a person who's fat saying ah you eat too much I've seen thin people who eat like anything and they still remain thin I wish I could be like that but my genes are not like that and there are other people who eat so little and do so much exercise and their fat is jeans not je NS but GE n es genes that come from the parents which determine your physical color and state and size don't judge that poor person saying and don't if you're slim don't think that you're very smart no it's genes your parents happen to be like that and be thankful don't glory in the color of your skin or your features it's it's got nothing to do with you God made you like that and don't despise the other person who was different don't despise a person who's not educated would you go into the slums and despise the person who cannot spell cat or bat no you'd be you should be ashamed of yourself that poor person in the slum which children parents could not send them to an English school it's the same type if you despise another person because they don't have something you have something seriously wrong with you as a Christian it's alright for the heathen but if you despise somebody let me give you a verse which you must never forget turn to the book of Job book of Job and chapter 30 chapter 36 never forget this worse job 36 and verse 5 God is Almighty but it does not despise anyone did you get that now let me show you a picture here on the right is God Almighty doesn't despise anyone here on my left of the extreme is the devil who despises everyone got it the devil is on my left here the extreme despised everyone God is on my right here despises no one where are you all of us are somewhere in between here you despised some people you despise many people than your more towards the devil reduce it reduce it till you aim for I want to be like Jesus despise nobody have you got there it's a mark of Christ's likeness you despise nobody because I think of 2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 7 what have you got that you did not receive all of you sitting here can you tell me one thing you got which you did not receive yoo-hoo glory no attractive you are and how smart you are and how clever you are and how much better you are than somebody in CFC God have mercy on you that's why you don't grow spiritually that's why you remain in the same stagnant position year after year after year you're doing something but that's why you're getting a hundred percent in third standard but you're always in third standard your horizons are not expanding you see this is all I can do it's like a third standard saying this is all I can study some of you can do a tremendous lot in CFC but you're doing a certain amount you say that's all I can do why is it that's all you can do why aren't your horizons expanding why isn't your capacity expanding because you're selfish you think of yourself your comfort your convenience reach out to God and say Lord expand my boundaries and borders it's a wonderful thing there's a lot more that you can do if you ask God to do that so stop despising people don't compare yourself with others another thing I want to speak speak is about finances very very important every Christian must follow Jesus example and have a savings account you say where did Jesus have a savings account the bank called Judas Iscariot was not a good bank but he had a savings account there what do I mean by that that means when Jesus got some money he didn't you know that Jesus was not working for three and a half years people gave him gifts he didn't ask anybody but he read in Luke chapter it was three that Herod's Palace manager gave him gifts and I must be he : to hundreds of thousands of rupees he got it and he didn't say ah what I get now I must spend immediately tomorrow I'll trust God for tomorrow garbage Jesus did not live like that I may get a lot today but that maybe is for the next 12 months I have to save it and if you don't have the habit of saving you cannot follow Jesus Christ it's not that you get something and you spend it the same day or the same month every month you must save some money from your income even if your income is very little cut down on something I've had people come here to CFC way back in the olden days when I had more time and I was one of the elders here those days and I can think of at least a couple of brothers like that it get very little and that's a brother I'm constantly in debt I say okay are you willing to let me take charge of your finances I don't have time to do that now but I did it then and I told his brother sit with me make a first of all before you come make a list of all your income and then my other side make all your expenditure then I'll tell you how to get out of debt and he showed me how much he was getting very little and he'd say out of that I think he was those days he was getting 600 rupees or something per month he'd put top line to impress me perhaps 10% to the offering box I said rubbish cancel that no need to put 60 rupees in the offering box we don't want it you're getting in debt and putting 60 rupees in the offering box you know what that means you're putting that follows money that father is saying hey you started getting that money to me he's putting in the offering box EFC is stealing in my money no no no no no please give him back his money so that he doesn't think that CFC offering box is getting money should have been given to him do not put money in the offering box if you are in debt to somebody if it's a house loan or a vehicle loan friendship that's different that's not a loan because you got an asset which is the equivalent of that but first of all you should ask yourself why you've gotten to debt at all you get into debt because you don't know how to limit your expenditure to your income you have to this is saying in English cut your court according to your cloth means that you live within your income you must have some financial planning and if the husband can't do it the wife must do it if the wife can't do it the husband must work we must decide how much am i earning every month and how much am i spending on milk and vegetables and I know I'll tell you this I've gone this way we've lived we were very very poor when IANS been that way - in the early days you all don't realise that I'm talking about 1975-76 go and talk to him sometime and my wife and I lived like that we had to be very very careful I can't tell you how he lived but I can tell you how I did we had to cut down on so many things I don't think we buy fish more than once a month we couldn't afford it and the cheapest meat those days was beef we'd never buy chicken it was too expensive and we'd go to the beef shop wherever you could get beef or to an avro peas a kilo etc fine and we'd get eggs for our children but never for us and we were very very careful he'd try and give our children the best food possible and Annie and I would eat very simply no we're not special and all mothers and fathers are like that but our main aim was never get into debt and I had some income from the investments that I got from my parents and that was my income it would come not every month but say one since 3-4 months so I had to keep that and say I've got to use this for four months and so I would immediately go and pay for month school fees they musta thought I'm a rich man coming and playing tomans for school fees that wasn't the reason this is the reason I was scared that if I don't pay that I won't have fees to pay next month so I essential things and I'll keep aside some money for electric bill I didn't want the electricity shutoff in my house and budget my expense and it's in I never had to I mean fortunately I got a wife who was more thrifty than me I was very very thankful for that that I'll tell you honestly we never bought new clothes we couldn't afford it leave alone that we had we wanted to get good food for our children there is ways of limiting yourself I'm not boasting I'm just saying we could not have when we could afford it we could buy washing machine everything but when we couldn't afford it we didn't do it and we said we have to live within our income what is the result today I'm 78 and a half years old not for a single day have I been in debt for one rupee to anybody in the world you think that's a good testimony or not because Romans 13:8 says don't be in debt and I feared God and I kept that commandment that's all now I say that if you keep God's commandments God will reward you now I could have ignored it and say ok I'll get a credit card and keep I've never had a credit card in my life I'm scared I use a debit card so that I know what I'm spending now there may be people who are I'm not saying a credit card is wrong but if you have the discipline to make the payment so that you don't lose money then it's okay because they make you I think it works that you pay every month and you don't be every month they'll charge you interest ok fine if you're wise and I might I'm not giving you rules I'm just saying being wise and don't waste your money there are people who use credit cards to get certain benefits from it and they are wise it's financial planning I'm not against it but be careful that you don't get flooded in debt and then struggle and struggle and struggle and wait for people in the church to come and help you out I've seen people like that they're waiting for people in the church to come and help them out I'd say I'd be ashamed of myself if I've become a beggar inside CFC I didn't becoming a beggar inside CFC the beggars are all outside but here's one beggar sitting inside CFC I don't want to be like that and particularly if I'm ministering the Word of God a lot of preachers are beggars more than 90% of the ones I've met are some type of beggars so be very careful with finances it's a very very important part of your testimony it says in Luke 16 and verse 11 if you are not faithful with money who will give you the true riches so faithfulness with money is very important to get the true riches you know what the true riches are let me show you three things becoming like Jesus Christ true riches the mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit and his supernatural gifts to serve God third revelation on the word of god and things which are hidden from the wise and the intelligent I want those three riches and it says I've got to be faithful with money I'll get those riches if you're not faithful with money God will not give you those riches do you wonder why you don't get a revelation on God's Word why the only revelation you get is what you hear from this pulpit do you wonder why you don't have a mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit do you wonder why you're not becoming more christ-like in your speech in your behavior think of some people here who are speaking in the same crude rude way they were speaking 20 years ago why is that God's not giving them riches they're not faithful with money they're not humbling themselves they're not judging themselves that's all if you lose your temper and you're still losing your temper after 10 years in CFC and hearing the Word of God I'll tell you something go and bury your head in your bed and say god I'm ashamed of myself and keep on doing that till you've overcome your anger definitely I mean if you're sitting in some dead church where they never preached about it is one thing but you're sitting here for 10 years and you're still losing your temper okay second best do you apologize as soon as you lose your temper okay you haven't got victory over temper yet but when you yell at somebody and you're convicted you go to that person and say if is your wife yeah I'm sorry I shouldn't have spoken like that there's great hope for you that is the second best so if you don't have the best which is overcoming your temper completely at least have the second best but if you don't even have that I don't know if there's any hope for you even if you sit for COC for the next 50 years I don't know if there's any hope for you I have to tell you the truth so you heard something centers speak about the profitable use of time that's very very important I'm not going to be able to answer all these questions I'll try and answer some of them you know there was a suggestion that we have a break and have a cup of coffee so my answer to that was your children have breakfast at 7:30 and go to school for the 8:30 school when do they have their lunch when do they come home for lunch 12:30 1:00 o'clock do they have a coffee break in between children who are the ones who cannot sit for 3-4 hours listening to the Word of God spoiled CFC people always want a break those children don't even go to the bathroom they sit in the class let us be at least as good as our children today we will finish before 2 o'clock don't worry and there's lunch for everybody ok some other questions are related to being attracted to earthly things how can I not be attracted to earthly things well I'll tell you how is it that when a person falls in love with one girl isn't stopped interested in another girl this one is more attractive here's the world and here is Jesus when you fall in love with Jesus I'll tell you the world will lose its attraction there is no other way you got to fall in love Jesus we are constantly defeated by sin because we are not hungry and thirsty for victory that is the only reason is it good to go for birthday parties be very careful when you go for birthday parties with friends I'm not against going for college girls I'm saying because all types of wild things can nowadays happen in these birthday parties you can be caught in some awkward situation where you may find yourself in a very difficult way to extricate yourself so be wise see who is inviting you is there some fear of God among them and if they are worldly people I would not send my children how to be more sensitive to others and less centered in myself look at Jesus look at his example do I have to apologize in person to for concerning things I have stolen if I have already repaid not necessary unless the person knows that you have stolen see if something if you stolen something from an office you should repay it but I mean today going and asking forgiveness from somebody who's the head of the department was not the head of department ten years ago when you stole it it's meaningless so I don't think apology is necessary way unless you personally hurt that person and he knows it it's it's if the other person knows it you must definitely apologize to that person well you doesn't know it it's better you keep quiet and I take an extreme example of that supposing you're sitting in a bus and you lusted after a girl sitting in that seat and you go up to her and say I'm sorry I just lusted after you a few minutes ago don't blame her if she slaps you that's ridiculous if the person doesn't know that you did something wrong why you go and confess it unnecessarily if there's money involved eternity if I have plenty of money does it mean God's not with me no see riches much or less mean nothing Abraham Jo were men of God Paul and Peter were men of God and people very rich these are very poor I think filament was a rich man he had even slaves in his house he was a godly man to him Paul could write and onesimus was his slave so the money is no indication whether your spiritual or not spirituals like saying if I'm six foot tall and my spiritual the ridiculous question if I'm five foot only doesn't mean my own spiritual it's a stupider question saying is my income is so much and my spiritual wholeness nothing to do with it okay how do I handle attraction towards opposite six when I'm sitting in the church there are many other things you can look at verses of the wall pay attention to what do I do if I like a sister in the church and you want to marry her nothing wrong in that go and talk to the elders otherwise I'll tell you you'll keep dreaming dreaming dreaming dreaming and after 10 years you discover she's married somebody else during those 10 years you could have looked for somebody else and found someone so don't that's happened also so better to go and consult the elders and say can you find out from that sister whether she'd be interested in me or that brother whether you be interested in me nothing wrong with that elders are like your parents I think you can trust them here not all elders in the world are like that but the ones here will definitely keep your confidence and help you here's another question concerning some of these things are for older people I want to speak primarily to young people today is it wrong to watch a certain type of biblical short films no I'm not against films it's a question what is on the film is like saying are you against books I'm not against books how can I be against books I've read hundreds of books it's what's in those books I'm not against movies it's a question of what's in those movies I'm not against TV programs it's so what is in that TV program I'm not against what you are what computers it's kind of what you watch on the computer so you have to see and don't let you know don't let other people in and all watch a movie if you haven't seen it yourself whether see whether it's a good one and don't say just because the movie is ten commandments it happened in one of our terminal churches they showed the Hollywood movie ten commandments the poor brother who was the elder didn't know that this is a Hollywood movie you thought is it great I'll get all my to church spiritual watching ten come on is there some horrible scenes there he was really embarrassed he told me that himself so never show a movie to anyone until you watched it yourself you got to be careful that it's edifying and then there's nothing wrong and there's nothing wrong and a little bit of entertainment especially for children there are children's movies there's nothing wrong in it somebody has asked this question what's wrong in praying for the world jesus said I don't pray for the world I ask people this question how do you pray for the world tell me well I say Lord I pray for the whole world save them all in Jesus name Amen is that praying for the world and you go take a map and say Lord I pray for Brazil I pray for Chile I pray for America I pray for Japan is that praying for the it's absolute nonsense what about praying for India lord I pray for the whole of India save them all what have you accomplished Jesus didn't pray such foolish prayers and I don't pray for people you read the Gospels whom Paul prayed for and you'll see he never prayed for Caesar he never prayed for Rome he never prayed for the Roman Empire don't try to be more spiritual than Jesus in the Apostles that's all I say okay a lot of these questions relate to and Hebrews six it says if your once been enlightened and you've fallen away you can't be renewed if you that verse exactly take time to read it is you can't be renewed and the correct translation would be you cannot but come back to repent as long as you crucify the Son of God sometimes the Greek language is is because they crucified the Son of God meaning is you cannot come back Hebrews six verse 6 as long as you keep crucifying the Son of God by your sinful way but if you repent of that of course you can come back there's no point that you can reach on earth from which you cannot come back to God at anytime if you have a desire for repentance it shows God wants you back now if how do we know you have sinned against the Holy Spirit when it says you cannot be forgiven anymore that's when you the proof of it is you have no more desire to come back to God you have no more desire to repent then you have definitely sinned against the Holy Spirit I hope none of you will get there but if you got the slightest desire to repent and turn back to God even if you spent 50 years with the pigs in the far country turn back and come to the Father he'll welcome you at what age should we take baptism I never told my children to be baptized I waited till they got convicted themselves and I they had come to me the age of 10 or 12 I say listen you're not you may be you may have accepted Christ but you're not mature enough to understand what this means you know I have baptized people who were originally baptized by zealous parents when they were 12 or 13 when I baptized them again when they are 24 because they come to me and say brother's a guy was not really converted those days my father and mother wanted to push get me pushed in the water because my colleagues are all getting pushed in the water there are people in CFC who've taken baptism young people and their years ago because their friends were taking baptism same age oh how can I get left out or the parents who are concerned how can my son get left out when so-and-so's children are getting baptized and what happened to them afterwards they just drifted away from the Lord I never wanted that I said no I think all my children are baptized when they were 17 or so and I'm thankful I said you must be mature enough to understand make a choice can you accept the Lord as a child yes I believe you can be three years old and you can accept Jesus into your heart sure and that can be a genuine conversion but we can't be always sure you know that's why I say it's better that a person is mature enough to understand what baptism means there's one problem that a lot of people from non-christian backgrounds have concerning marriage because the parents always putting pressure on them to marry a non-christian and I would say that I know it's tough for you if you're a girl especially but I tell you this sister if you marry a non-christian it'll be hell even if he says I'll get converted later on because usually they don't and it can be a constant conflict it is better to be single than to be in an unhappy marriage the number of emails I get from people who got married like that and whose husband goes off with some other woman and all types of things that are happening nowadays in the world say take a firm stand say Lord if you brought me to yourself and in your plan for my life marriage is there I'm sure you will arrange it for me and you're very fortunate if you're in this church there are wonderful elders who will help you the best they can and okay some questions on social media have already been answered it's amazing the number of questions on marriage and falling in love and all I hope they were answered how to bring up teenagers cast in marriage what a parents insist on marrying within the same cost well I don't believe there's cost in Christianity Jew or Gentile barbarian or Greek are all the same but remember that man is spirit soul and body if you were only spirit no soul and body I say you marry whomever you like was one in spirit with you born again spirit filled but since we are spirit soul and body and soul means your mind emotions will since we are all three you have to think of the soul and body too it's not just your spirit marrying another spirit for example language language is not a spiritual thing there's nothing spiritual about English or Hindi or Tamil nothing spiritual about language but supposing you say this person is spiritual we can't speak the same language but I'm gonna get married well one advantage you won't fight with each other because you won't know what the other person is saying that's about the only advantage of marrying somebody who doesn't understand your language and you can't understand is but that's stupid so you say oh must speak the same language correct but that is not a spiritual factor it's a soul factor so that I'm just using that example to say that you are considering soul factor what about body will you marry somebody who is forty-five years older than you you're 25 and the girl is 70 sure you won't do it why she's very spiritual only thing she's 45 years older than you see you are considering body whether you know it or not so you're not you're thinking of entering on tree spirit rubbish unconsciously we are considering soul and body and rightly so so that's why I say spirit soul and body and what is soul soul is you must be able to communicate and have some I mean if a person cannot even communicate with you it's a little difficult to have a marriage I mean I wanted to marry a girl at least laugh at my jokes even if nobody else laughs at my jokes at least she should I didn't want a serious-looking person who says what is that you said I didn't want to like now if you're the person who doesn't crack jokes it's okay then you marry anybody but I'm talking about the importance of soul so because we we're going to live together years all alive and and bear our the level at which we have lived is important if you marry if you've grown up in the city all your life a sister and you marry a village boy and you got to go and draw water from the well every morning at six o'clock you're not gonna find it easy no matter how spiritual that boy is because you've never done it in all your life so this you know the economic level is also important educational level is important I'm not saying is number one number one is spirit but if you give 50 marks for 50 I please give 30 marks for all these other factors like education language economic level social level and that's where cost comes in not the cost but if the cost leads to a lower social level in which they have lived and your caste has led you to a higher social level it's not the cost I'm bothered about but the the economic level at which you have lived is so vastly different that you may not be able to fit in I know a case of a person who was high level economically and etc married a girl from a lower level economically their entire life was miserable entire life and I don't want anybody to suffer like that they were both very very religious with a lot of Bible knowledge and all that and they never in their entire life they were never happy and I wanted to save you from that they didn't lose their salvation they've trusted in the Lord they read the Bible every day but they just couldn't hit it off with each other because of soul so remember that the person you are marrying is spirit soul and body you say is attractiveness important it must be attractive in your eyes see your wife does not have to be Miss Universe for you to be attracted to her no in fact it's better if she's not Miss Universe because then hundreds of other purple will be also causing you problems but she must be attractive in your eyes because you're gonna see her when she's 60 years old and she must be pretty to you yeah believe it or not my wife is very pretty to me because I don't look at I see her the Bible calls the wipe the wife of your youth it's a great expression I love it because ultimately it's not physical appearance and charm Bible speaks about charm and beauty in proverbs 31 the last few verses they are deceitful but a woman who fears the Lord who's got an inner beauty that never fades and you know what that inner beauty in a woman is let me tell you 1 Peter 3 verse 3 to 5 um gentle and a quiet spirit find a woman with a meek in a gentle and quiet spirit that's really beautiful in God's eyes and one of the prayers you should be praying is Lord changed my understanding of beauty to your understanding of beauty proverbs 31 says the fear of God makes a person beautiful and a gentle and quiet spirit is what makes a person beautiful and then that person will be beautiful even when her hair is white or even if her head wraps off her head she'll still be beautiful in your eyes so remember that another question is should I go into full-time Christian work no if God hasn't called you the call of God to full-time work is very very clear and the test ayah says this I use an example if you're always thinking of sex it clearly proves you're not called to be a single person you must get married Bible says it's better to marry than to burn in the same way if you find that your mind is frequently on money money money you're definitely not called to full-time Christian work you're not just like you're not called to be a single life if your money thing if you think of sex if money is a big factor to you you are definitely not called to full-time Christian work and a person must have a tremendous burden for the lost to be called to full-time Christian work then only God will call you and some questions here are about what if your wife or husband is not equally spiritually minded be a good example be a shepherd don't despise your wife or your husband if they are not spiritually minded but be an example in your life so that they are drawn to Christ you can't push a person to Christ jesus said I am The Good Shepherd I go in front ultimately you know the Bible doesn't give answers to every every little detail know that the Jabbar will give certain principles and I hope you have understood certain principles

Channel: CFC India

Views: 37,952

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

Id: q8D5d94fIY8

Length: 92min 28sec (5548 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 21 2018