Birth of the Churches: EarlyChurch, RomanCatholics, Protestants, Baptists, Pentecostals - Zac Poonen

the main big denomination those days with a Roman Catholic Church is the biggest and then there was the Orthodox churches around Syria not as big as the Roman Catholic which is worldwide and there were corrupt bishops and Pope's and full of sexual scandal and financial scandals and the church became so corrupt but then God began a work of restoration I don't know whether many of you know you've heard about Reformation that was when a movement started that began to get people out of the big worldwide Roman Catholic Church and this year they are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation tomorrow is October the first in October 1517 exactly five hundred years ago a man called Martin Luther who was a Roman Catholic monk decided to come out and say salvation does not come by giving money to the Roman Catholic Church salvation comes by faith by grace you're saved through faith today we all know it but do you know that more than 500 years ago hardly anybody knew that message the Bible was not available in local languages this man read it and what is happening those days was they wanted to repair and rebuild the big Saint Peter's Church building in Rome the Roman Catholic see the big Church of Rome building so the Pope said we want a lot of money for this and so there was a very clever priest whose name was Ted Ted cell T T's area he said the best way to get money is to tell people if you give money your sins can be forgiven what a clever thing and he went around he was a Roman Catholic priest who went around it was called indulgences they were called indulgences that means you put money in the box your sins are forgiven and so all over this money this thing spread everywhere and a lot of people wanted their sins forgiven and so they would go and give money and they came to Luther the monk and said hey you know we don't have to give up our sins anymore I paid for it my sins are all forgiven given money to the Catholic Church and Luther got angry when he heard this now I've gone to one of the most authentic sources called the History Channel on the internet and got this information let me mention it to you when people came to Luther and said we don't have to repent anymore because and they showed them the forgiveness they bought with money Luther who knew the Word of God got angry and he knew there were many other things wrong in the Roman Catholic Church and in October 15 October 31st 1517 he wrote a big list of 95 things in which the Roman Catholic teaching is against the Word of God and pinned it to the door of the Roman Catholic Church in a place called Wittenberg in Germany that was the beginning of what's called the Protestant Reformation it was neutered Luther began to stitch the nets that were full of holes he didn't cover all of them by the way but he did stitch some of them very important holes that are missing the way of salvation and so what happened mainly remember this is very important to remember one thing sin the thing that Luther stood against and the first Reformation was because of money replacing God that you could win God's favor with money today CFC is moving into another Reformation again to say your attitude to money all your churches your all your preachers your attitude to money is wrong you're getting money from the poor people today saying you'll be healed if you get money those days you'll be forgiven if you get money 20 they say give money and you'll be healed or you'll become prosperous if you give money it's the same old argument only thing is shifted from forgiveness to which you know you don't get forgiveness through money but we get to healing if you give money or you'll get prosperous you can it's the same old trick of the devil who is there to expose it where are the Martin Luther's of today humans me one of them you should be to expose this but you may have to pay a price when the Pope heard this he tried his best to stop Luther and so four years later Luther was put out of the church and the German emperor Charles was Roman Catholic he gave a command listen to this anybody can kill Luther and he will not be punished kill him that was how bad it was and he had to flee for his life and fortunately not fortunately God arranged for one of them you know Germany was divided into little many many small small areas ruled by Prince's just like India was ruled by many princes so Germany was ruled so one of the princes in the area Wittenberg said I'm not going to submit to this Luther you can be protected in my territory that's how he was protected God allowed somebody to protect him otherwise he'd have been killed and so Luther lived there you know what he did for the next ten years he translated the Bible into German single-handedly because he said this is the only way to get these people to know that it's not my money that you get saved it's my salvation comes through faith now I want to tell you my dear brothers and sisters that Bible you hold in your hand it's tight it was originally translated by people who gave their lives to translate it yeah many people had to risk their lives to translate a man called Tyndale he was killed finally since really was translating the Bible Luther finished the translation and he was not killed but he went through tremendous periods of depression and because he was attacked on all sides but he had a wonderful wife and she was a Roman Catholic sister who left the Roman Catholic Church and married him and I remember hearing a story where Luther was depressed for three days city you don't blame him he had hardly any fellowship everybody trying to kill him attack him he was sitting three days gloomy so it's one day with his wife tried to help him and she helped him by wearing all black dress and coming to Luther and through this is what happened did somebody die he says yes God died three days ago then Luther woke up what a wonderful wife to illustrate today Luther why you looking so depressed is God dead and that stirred him up this is the type of things he faced in those days and so there were a number of others who finally supported Luther in this other Prince's also and they issued a protest against the main emperor's ruling saying we protest against this were not going to support this Roman Catholic Church and that is how the word Protestant came and from then onwards you find what I call Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church and gradually this began to be applied to all people who had left the Roman Catholic Church but see how the devil has very cleverly he knows he can't offer forgiveness of sins today by money because that's been exposed some time ago but there are other things and that's exactly what you see on Christian television today that's exactly what you hear in many preaching in their churches today give your money and God will bless you in other words either God is a beggar or he's a businessman right one of the two not a father a father doesn't go asking people's children for money the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 12:14 fathers have to lay up money for their children not children for their fathers it's so clear in 2nd Corinthians 12:14 so what sort of father is God if he violates what he's written in his scripture that he goes and asked of money these things are written so plainly in Scripture and I'll tell you why so many people are fooled by this because we have a generation of people growing up today and that may include a number of people sitting here who have not valued the Bible which they have in their hands which has been translated by people who gave their lives for it who were killed for it and you don't value that Bible in your hands enough to study it did we have a generation today that knows more about television and movies than about the Bible they know more about the movie stars than about some characters in the Bible they know more about sports stars and scores and cricket scores and records made by people more than about things in the Bible that's why darkness has come into Christendom and that's why from the beginning we have emphasized the scriptures in CFE the scriptures I've told people if I cannot show you something in the Bible what I preach don't accept it be like the Bereans we read in acts 17 about the berean christians who even when the Apostle Paul preached to them they didn't blindly accept it and remember they didn't have a Bible in their hands if they had a Bible they could have checked it immediately Paul says Paul would have said so-and-so book chapter this with this verse it's not like that nobody had a Bible in their hands but there was a Bible in the synagogue a scroll of the Old Testament only and when Paul preached something they had to say well good to meet you Paul praise the Lord good to hear you but I can't say today would I accept what you say I like to examine the Scriptures everyday acts 17 verse 11 they went to the synagogue they asked the rabbi can you please turn to that passage Paul read and there to read it I want to just check up with a war Paul said is right and they've come the next day we're coming again tomorrow number of them would come there check the scriptures the whole week they came every day to check the scriptures and the next Saturday when they met and the Sabbath in the synagogue they said Paul now we agree with you that's why the Bible says they were noble-minded acts 17:11 because they received the word with eagerness but they did not believe it until they checked it with the scriptures that's why I say even if I preach something to you and I can't show it to you from scriptures don't accept it and that is why there is no letter of Paul to the Bereans utility Paul's letter to the Corinthians the Ephesians Thessalonians Colossians always he's correcting something some wrong understanding of the Lord's coming in Thessalonians some wrong understanding of justification by faith to the Galatians all types of wrong understanding of speaking in tongues and sexual purity to the Corinthians so many errors errors errors errors two sisters fighting with each other in Philippians correcting them but to the Bereans no correct no letter of correction why because whichever preacher came to their church they would say we'll check the scriptures and then tell you whether we believe you or not if every church had followed that rule we would have a lot of pure churches if every believer even CFC there are some people who have left CFC through the years we don't wish evil to them god bless them if he can but we don't say that they have gone astray I hope this some may have gone astray or may not have but have they gone away because they found something here not in the scriptures no they were offended with something the standard was too high and then they go and join some church where they hear things which are not according to the scriptures they don't check it that is serious not because they'll have CFC that's not serious but if you leave a church leave it because you find that church is not following Scripture in some particular teaching of Scripture and you come to that church and say brother this thing here in the Word of God you're not following it I'm often challenged people show us something we are not following or we are doing against something written in Scripture for example let's take one example you all know of churches where you go and you hear them screaming away in what they call unknown tongues 99% of it fake what would you call such a church when you go in and you find everybody screaming away in some babbling away something is not really tongues is just some rubbish garbled A's what should you call such a church what is the Holy Spirit say that's always important not European in our Zach Putin's opinion let me show it to you 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 23 now the reason why I say this is because many of these churches say we are spiritual because we all freaking tongues and train tongues in the meeting all together ok 1 Corinthians 14 23 1 Corinthians 14 23 if the whole church comes together and everybody speaks in tongues and people enter there what will they call you mad holy spirit calls it a mad Church I also call it a mad Church and there are lots and lots of them in our country I call them mad churches where everybody's screaming away in tongues of the Paul says I'll give you my example Paul says I speak in tongues more than all of you verse 18 I speak in tongues more than all of you I've got more gifts of languages than all of you which God has given me but I don't scream away in the church what will I do in the church I'd rather speak five words verse 19 with my mind that I can teach others than ten thousand words in a tongue so a man who speaks five sentences in English is better than a man who speaks ten thousand words in a tongue did you know that English is two thousand times better than tongues just by the way in case you did not know and your language is two thousand times better than tongues it's just ten thousand divided by five that's all these are so clearly written in Scripture mad church everybody speaking in tongues but who has the courage to say that such a church is a mad church where everybody speaks in tongues and if you forbid people speaking in tongues that is also against the Word of God verse 39 do not forbid to speak in tongues only thing don't do it in the church without an interpretation every Pentecostal church I have been to I find lots of people speaking in tongues there's no interpretation it's 100% against the Word of God so I'm just giving you one example of how Christianity has drifted away they don't accept the scriptures here is a scripture if you say you're a Christian you must walk as Jesus walked turn now to Luke chapter 16 one area there are many areas where we had to walk as Jesus walked Jesus said in Luke 16:13 no servant can serve two masters and you think the Masters are God and Satan no the two masters competing in every church to control you the two masters trying to control you as an individual are not God and Satan no it's God and wealth money Mammon means anything that money can buy currency bank account property realized cars anything all of that is summed up under Mammon wealth the two masters that are seeking to control your life are not God and Satan is the words of Jesus but God and money and wealth no Christian no Christian in the world believes he can serve God and Satan but many Christians are trying to serve God and money I'm not saying about using money he's talking about serving money where money is a master Jesus never said you cannot make money your servant but when money becomes your master which controls your thinking so that is the thing that is the problem today with Christendom in Luther's day does the same thing money give money because we want to build this huge Saint Peter's Church in Rome and the Pope needs a lot of money to live and all the priests need so much money and they were taking money money money from the poor people now this is all in History Channel I'm not criticizing the Roman Catholic Church I'm just describing what is written in that I believe there are some very god-fearing people in the Catholic Church throughout the centuries individuals just like there have been crooks in Protestant churches and there could be a few crooks in CFC as well but I'm talking about the whole system God and money that's what people are 10 Luther stood against what was he against he wasn't primarily preaching victory over sin by the way Martin Luther didn't speak about Romans 6:14 sin shall not have dominion over you I don't remember anything he's fair about that he spoke about justification by faith he was recovering truth that had been buried for so many years and he was only able to remove some of the muck and exposed one part of truth that was buried you know like supposing our truth is buried under a landslide a lot of mud and Luther's puts away all the mud and you see a little bit ah just if Kayson by faith there's still a lot more underneath to be discovered but he discovered the first part but he doesn't did not discover water baptism Luther baptized babies and all Lutheran's still today baptized babies that was discovered by another group called the anabaptists and the Lutheran's not Luther himself Lutheran's persecuted the anabaptists for preaching baptism just like the Roman Catholics persecuted Luther for preaching justification by faith you see whenever a new truth is discovered the old group was discovered truth number one will persecute this truth group that has discovered truth number two and then you know for example the doctrine of holiness and sanctification was not discovered till John Wesley came along in the 18th century and he preached holiness and overcoming sin perfection but John Wesley never spoke about building the churches of body never once I don't even remember that he spoke about the second coming of Christ but he was one of the godliest men that lived in his time there were he was also uncovering some more and then came the Brethren people in the 19th century and spoke about how we must not have pastors and priests and reverend's and right runs you're all elders in a church just like Paul preached that was a new truth and about the second coming of Christ and that was another thing but they never discovered about the gifts of the Holy Spirit the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of tongues and prophecy and healing they didn't discover that that came later with the planning also so always they were discovering but then gradually all these groups became corrupt but there was still truth to be discovered because among the Pentecostals who came out of the brethren they still called each other Reverend and right Reverend and chief pastor and they never thought about we're all equal in the body of Christ we had to build one another up and and certainly they didn't have light on that we should not c-money to serve god we can accept anybody who gives a gift Jesus also accepted it but to give people a salary most menticles have not got any light on that that in many Pentecostal churches the offering comes in the pastor takes it all home did Jesus ever do that so it's God and money that's always been the big area of conflict through the years so now we cannot say we are better than Martin Luther let me tell you the words of there was a great scientist who lived about 400 years ago called Isaac Newton he was a great mathematician physicist physicist who discovered things about gravity and the rotation of the Sun the moon and the planets and how gravity pulls the tides in the sea etc and he made a statement which is actually a statement made by people before him as well we are standing on the shoulders of giants that's why we can see a little further very beautiful picture here's a man standing he can see a certain distance somebody stands on his shoulder he can see some more somebody stands on his shoulder he can sees further somebody stands on his shoulder you can see further so he says we and science has always been standing on the shoulders of people who discovered more and more and more and they can see further the same thing with Christianity here's Martin Luther he saw justification by faith others came after him and saw water baptism then somebody else john wesley came after him and saw sanctification and others came after him and the Brethren and the Pentecostal they saw about the anointing and the gifts of the Holy Spirit what about truths like Christian workers must not be paid a salary who discovered that that was almost not discovered for years so we cannot say we are better than them there many of these people who on whose shoulders we are standing who are far more godly than we were but because God has been revealing truth to us that others never knew so just because you understand these truths don't think you're better than these other men can you imagine standing against the entire Roman Catholic Church to kill you and standing for the truth I think most of us would have compromised so God is now shown that the right attitude to money is very important if he want to follow the Lord and you look at Jesus attitude to money I want to show you that did he receive money yes because he had 12 disciples to feed some of them like Peter had a family back home and he says in Luke chapter 8 verse 3 there were many people who contributed to Jesus support from their private means that's how he supported himself he didn't get a salary from anyone he didn't go around telling people hey I'm doing a great work will you guys support me like you see so-called missionaries doing today you never see that you never see Paul or anybody telling people hey I'm a doing a great work will you guys support me never never never that's not found anywhere in the Bible this is what has brought corruption into Christianity money so it's very important for us to understand this it's money which is corrupted God's work don't just blame the devil wrong attitude to money when preachers receive a salary and then they feel called to another church because it's salary there is higher not because they got a calling from God and then what happens as a result of this is they neglect the poor they neglect the poor that's the great tragedy when we begin to serve God and money and you know I sent and I grew up as a young Christian and I said Lord when the Lord called me to serve him one of the things I said was Lord I read in Scripture in James chapter 2 that God has chosen the poor of the world James 2 verse 5 to be rich in faith heirs of his kingdom James 2:5 God has chosen the poor people in the world to be rich in faith but he tells those Christians those days you dishonor the poor verse 6 you if a man comes to your house into your church James 2 verse 2 with the golden ring you pay special attention to in verse 3 but because he's wearing good clothes and you say you sit here in a good place in today's terms it means you make him a board member sit here as a board member of this church because you're a rich man and neglect the poor it was happening in the 1st century James I think is about the first book of the New Testament written just like joke was the first book of the Old Testament James is probably the first letter of the mute Tristram that was written and he says even in those days twenty years after Pentecost they were they were giving favoritism to the rich it's so tragic and you see it all over when I was a young Christian I saw all these churches and all the rich people would be board members I said what is this I made a prayer I said Lord all these great preachers they all hang around rich people they go visit the rich people's homes to get envelopes of money from them and they will hold that big Crusades and all in the cities because that's the only place they can collect money I prayed this prayer many years ago I said Lord send me to the villages to the poorest people who don't get a chance to hear these truths I'll go there and I'm very thankful that God has given us that privilege in CFC that hiding 50 60 percent of our churches are in the villages we deliberately God opened the doors for us because we wanted it you know that the early church when Paul went to meet Peter and the others he said I went to see them I read this in Galatians 2 I went to meet them he says these people who are important people in the church like there was James 2:9 James and Peter and John and they gave us the right hand of fellowship and encouraged us to go to the Gentiles but James 2:10 they asked us to remember the poor is it Paul what you're doing is a great thing but remember the poor don't just go to the big cities remember the poor villages and I was eager to do that he's how the early apostles were I said Lord I want to follow Paul and when you go to the poor you don't get money they're not so rich you can't preach the health wealth gospel and tell them to give money to be healed they don't have money what about Jesus himself how did he use his money let me show you a verse John 13 verse 29 to walk as Jesus walked many years ago when I said Lord I want to serve God I don't want to serve money show me how Jesus to walk as Jesus walked an area of money and this is the verse he gave me John 13:29 the context is you know Jesus told Judas go and whatever you want to do do quickly verse 27 he Jesus is referring to his going and betraying him but the others did not understand verse 28 nobody knew what he meant by that statement but because Judas had the money box they assumed verse 29 in John 13 29 that he was telling them by the things you need for the feast or give something to the poor and from that verse the Lord gave me revelation it's amazing how a verse that has got nothing to do with that you get revelation eyes well I was asking Lord how should I live on earth with money and here's the answer by what you need number 1 give to the poor that's all that is how Jesus lived by what you need give to the poor I said Lord I want to live by that principle all my life now when it comes to what you need don't let somebody else decide what you need you decide what you need in some places they need a car you don't need one perhaps in the villages in India at all you need is a bicycle so each person's needs are different one person may need a house with three or four bedrooms another person may need a house only with one bedroom that's fine buy what you need and don't judge the other fellow whose whether he should buy according to your need no no he should buy something or in his need very important the great problem with people is if they think I don't need it nobody else should need it too that's an whole lot of nonsense in some places I know in some countries they need two cars because there's no public transport no buses no trains maybe one of the sons has to go to work maybe three or four cars with two or three of the sons are working how will they go to work so we don't decide what another person needs I can really believe that some house they may need four cars but I phone I could do with a scooter for 42 years does enough for me so and today it's different I mean today some people can afford a car by all means have it they will come to church meetings or go to work etc so we're not here to decide what another person needs and as yours progress our needs also become greater but don't get into debt buy what you need and remember the poor that is the basis on which we are preceded and that is why in CFC we never take an offering right from the beginning we decided we will never take an offering we will never pay a salary to any elder and we got over 130 elders now in 75 churches not one is paid a salary no one either they work on their own or they plus the Lord or they receive an inheritance from parents or something and their needs are met and that is how in a poor country like India where there's no Social Security system is it possible is it possible to live today in the 21st century the way Jesus taught in the first century that is what we have loudly proclaim and CFC it is possible what has God taught us Martin Luther's Reformation came on the issue of money does God want your money he said no he wants to say my faith my grace today the issue is same thing in all the churches God wants your money and CFC stands up and says God does not want your money it's the same old issue it's a second Reformation on the issue of money he who has ears to hear let him hear

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Length: 33min 39sec (2019 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 04 2019