Brokenness Through Failure by Zac Poonen

I want to say a few words is now concluding session about a lot of things when we hear we feel guilty because we have failed so much in our life all of us there is such a thing called guilt trip preaching it's very easy young immature Christians always indulge in it you know say something so impossible to attained and make everybody feel guilty and everybody goes home feeling convicted and guilty and this young creature thinks he is a prophet who's rubbish he's been an agent of the devil to put people on a guilt trip don't ever let somebody put you on a guilt trip Jesus never preached like that the Apostles never preached like that we must preach what we have done what we have practiced not send I when I share with my fellow elders I say guilt trip preaching is like a surgeon who's trying to remove a cancer from somebody there is a cancer so he wheels the patient into the theatre cuts the fellow stomach open exposes the cancer and so he says there it is wheel him out see that's what a lot of preachers do make a person feel all guilty and exposes sin and say okay take him out that's not the way you should go home I say that's not the way you should finish a sermon you must expose the cancer definitely take it out and stitch it up and then give him a painkiller and speak some nice words to him he goes home encouraged and it was all done in secret you know people never saw the cancer being taken out and and so that's how it must be so when we have failed in our life what shall we do God uses failure that's what I've discovered to Humble us the example of the disciples who went fishing and got nothing was to teach them you can't do anything without me I believe one of the greatest lessons the Lord has to teach us in any areas without me you can do nothing but with Christ you can do all things if you can learn these two lessons these are very important lessons the Christian life John 15:5 without me you can do nothing and the other side of the coin Philippians 4:13 with Christ I can do all things that he has commanded me to do so when we have failed in our life we must see it as part of God's preparation for the ministry think of the Apostle Peter God wanted to use him to be the leader to build the first church that was ever built in Jerusalem and how did he prepare this leader to build that church by allowing him to go through failure you know he was allowed to deny the Lord three times and some of us may think denying the Lord is not such a serious sin but you remember that place where Jesus said if you deny me before men I will deny you before my father he never said if you commit adultery I'll deny you before my father you can repent of that if you commit murder I'll deny you before my father no he forgave adulterers adulteresses he forgave thieves on the cross he only said if you deny me before men I will deny you before my father so that must be one of the most serious sins and imagine he knew that Peter was going to be tempted in that area now what would you do if you know that your son or daughter it's going to be tempted this evening in a particular area oh you'd pray hard lord please protect my son my daughter that they don't fall do you know Jesus never prayed that Peter didn't fall he warned him it's gonna happen it's gonna happen tonight before tomorrow morning turn with me to John Luke chapter 22 you learned something there about the wisdom of God which is not like the wisdom of men which always looks at the long-term good for us and not the short-term good our human wisdom always thinks of the short-term good what is good for us right now but the Lord says like he told Peter when he was washing his feet what I'm doing right now you won't understand you'll understand later on that's how it is this is one mark of the difference between God's wisdom and our wisdom is we think of the short-term good the Lord thinks of the long-term good and that's why he doesn't always do it the way we think he should do it he doesn't always deliver us from some trials which he think he should deliver us from etcetera etcetera he's always thinking of our long-term good and not the temporary comfort we can get out of being relieved out of some trial so the short-term good would have been for Peter to be protected that he didn't fall you know like it's very simple for God to do that we read that Peter went to the high priests palace or house and he couldn't get in because the gatekeeper wouldn't let him in but John knew the high priest so he got admission in and you know you read that in the Gospels I don't have time to show it to you John came and spoke to the gate keeper to let Peter in have you ever thought what would have happened if John had not done that Peter would never have got into the courtyard he'd ever never have met those people who asked him do you belong to Jesus he would not have denied the Lord three times on a small little thing like John speaking to the gatekeeper and letting Peter in that's how he got tempted there God could have stopped it he could have prevented Peter from entering that courtyard he was stopped there he could have just stopped John from knowing about it and going there and Peter would have stayed outside he was tempted because he was in that courtyard God allowed it see all the circumstances that led to God allowing him to fall and says in Luke 22 and you you will let's look at Luke 22 Simon Simon verse 31 Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat what is that he's going to be denied three times verse 34 I say to you Peter this is the sifting before the crows today you will deny me three times that you have even known me and verse 32 but I'm praying for you not that you will not deny me that's not what I'm praying I'm praying that after you've denied me once twice thrice and you've hit rock bottom that when you hit rock bottom there your faith won't give up and faith means at that point to say Oh God doesn't love me anymore I've failed I finished God's finished with me I've committed the worst possible sin I've denied my Lord three times of their all his goodness to me I can't be an apostle anymore he says I'm praying that when you hit rock bottom you'll remember that your father in heaven still loves you that's what I want to say to anyone who's failed and messed up and feel there's no hope for me that I can never I've done so many wrong things and some of those things I cannot even rectify now it's a pretty miserable state I put myself in because I was careless a few years ago or something that I did which cannot be rectified now it's okay God says I'm praying that your faith will not fail I'm praying that you'll still believe that God loves you despite where you are today so the church must be a place where people have hope what type of Christ Church is Christ looking for not a church full of perfect people who've never made mistakes in their life you won't find such a church that'll be a bunch of hypocrites but a church where the people have made a mess of their life can have hope like it says in acts 17:30 God ignores that your times of ignorance now commands you to repent and come back to him so that's what the type of church we want to build where people have made a mess of their life can come and have hope and who can know when they have hit rock bottom [Music] then the father still loves them like the story of the prodigal son he'll come running to meet you when you come back he wait for you to come back he wait for you to really repent and then when we welcome you so that's what Peter needed to know and that was his preparation for leadership because imagine if he had not gone through that and here was this great strong man who's always boldly saying even if everybody denies you I won't deny you so self-confident proud in his ability etcetera and known to be the leader and then he gets up on that day of Pentecost and preaches for 15 minutes and 3,000 Jews remember Jews get converted and are baptized in water baptized in the Holy Spirit the same day can you imagine what would happen to you if you preached the 15 minutes sermon somewhere in 3,000 hard-hearted Jews got converted and got baptized and baptized in the Holy Spirit I don't think your head would be the same size after that no will be difficult for any of us to bear it would have been difficult for Peter to bear you know when you read these things about put yourself in that person's place and say how would I feel if I was the Sur preacher on the day of Pentecost and if people came up to P Peter and slapped him on the back and say one of the Apostles st. Andrew or somebody say hey Peter that's fantastic man think what you accomplished you know what he does said you know what I did six weeks ago I denied my Lord three times he never forgot that till the end of his life he never forgot that he was one word sunk so low and that memory kept him humble so that failure was necessary for him to be prepared for Pentecost so that he would not despise others he would not get puffed up so think of the failures you've gone through in your life as a preparation for something God has for you provided those failures have produced the right result in you if the failure can make you a hypocrite that's the other danger where you pretend that you'll never failed there are people like that many Christian leaders who talk as if they've never made a mistake in their life who never failed I decided long ago that when God anointed me of the Holy Spirit and began to lift me up from the rock bottom that I added nearly 40 years ago I decided that I would be bold to tell people that right backslidden as a preacher God lifted me up I'm not ashamed to say it and I'm ashamed of my failures and my hypocrisy but I want to give hope to people yeah don't pretend that you had a perfect marriage from day one when you know it's not true I'm not asking you to confess your sins to people but don't Bluff people don't pretend that's the sin of Ananias and Sapphira and a lot of people like Ananias and Sapphira sitting in churches today who pretend act as if they never made a mistake they just confess all these wonderful things up there and they don't give hope to people who have messed up their life we want the church Christ ones to is looking for a church where people give hope to those whose lives are messed up because most people in the world have messed up their lives there are very few people who from childhood who were brought up in a very good way with god-fearing parents and some of these people who brought up in that good way I find out some of the biggest Pharisees on earth today because you know they were protected from the gross sins that worldly people fell into and so they always looked down on anybody who's got any mistake in their life or failed in some way are you like that I doubt whether God will ever use you to build his church not in a hundred years not because you're not good enough but because you are too proud and you're a hypocrite you're acting as though you never made any mistakes in your life you're covering up things as I said we don't confess our sins in public but we must be honest to acknowledge that we've slipped up and messed up our lives without giving any details you remember that's that Psalm which we sing remember not the sins of my youth it's one of the Psalms that David remember not the sins of my youth well you know we always thought that David was such a pure boy when the Lord found him in the anointed him and he killed Goliath and he lived a wonderful life he wrote Psalms but he says in the Sun Lord remember not the sins of my youth and I say wow David had sins in his youth I thought he sinned only later on when he was 52 years old with Bathsheba but he had sins in his youth are you curious to know what those sins were the Holy Spirit says no I won't tell you I did not inspire David to make a list of those sins just the sins of my youth you know to quench the curiosity of people we are sometimes curious because we got a little bit of the devil inside us whenever you are curious about things about other people's private lives you know you got a little bit of the devil inside you there get rid of it don't be curious about other people's private lives when Paul says God was merciful to me the chief of sinners to show that Christ Jesus came into the world not for righteous but for sinful people and he's honest he says not give all the details about how many people he imprisoned or killed or whatever else he did I don't know and I don't want to know I'm not curious but I know his life was not perfectly messed up quite a bit in the first thirty years of his life and he's very honest about it in a general way that's important because that's how he gave hope to people unless you have I'm not saying that you should artificially say something that's not true speak what's true I mean if you happen to have the good fortune of having grown up in a very godly home and you never made any mistake and come fine I hope God will humble you in some other way then whichever way I mean God has different ways of humbling us but he can't give us grace if he can't humble us when Peters case hit I hear to be humbled through failure and brought down to zero to the rock bottom and then you know it says in John 21 and that Peter says in verse 3 I am going fishing now you got to understand that what he's saying is I want to expand on his words I'm a failure as an apostle I tried it for three and half years I'm not qualified for that I made the biggest failure any human being could do the one who loved me so much and did everything for me I denied him I denied that I even knew him and I swore that I did not know him no I can't be an apostle the last person on earth whom God would choose to be an apostle is someone who swore that he denied that he didn't know Jesus so there's one thing I can do I've been good at fishing all my life I'll go back to fishing and says if the Lord says okay try see if you can fish like you did once you can't once you are called to be an apostle Peter you can't go back to fishing sorry and he goes and the Lord allows him to fail and fail and fail and fail and fail and fail and then he comes and encourages him by filling his whole boat with fish he caught a catch that he has never caught before and all of a sudden he sees these huge fish 153 fish there that he had caught and he looks at it and says wow and he's calculating in his mind how much all these maybe a ton of fish that he's caught how much money he can make imagine I can't be an apostle but I can get my tights to God and catch fish like this every day it'll be great and that's when the Lord comes to him and says Peter Simon do you love me more than these fish you love me more than all the money you can make by being a Christian businessman and giving your tights for my work should really love me more than anything else this is not the old Peter and it doesn't come out very clearly in the English because Peter says Lord I love you because in the Greek there are two different words he uses and let me translate it P Simon son of Jonas verse 15 do you love me with that supreme love which a man should have for God where God means more to him than anything on this earth or anyone on this earth and the Peter uses a lower word Lord I love you as my friend again the Lord says do you love me with that supreme love with which a man should love God where he means everything God means everything more than anything else on this earth your job your fishing your wife family everything or I love you with as a friend he's honest he's not the old Peter who says yes if everybody else doesn't love you I love you lady he's not the old Peter he's broken already he'll never say that again because he's learned something about himself it's a great lesson to learn it's what what does Jesus look for in a church such people and the wonderful thing the graciousness of the Lord the third time Jesus comes down to his level okay Simon son of Jonas she loved me as a friend we'll start at that level see the humility of Jesus you know he'll accept you where you are you come as a prodigal son to him he doesn't ask you to go and have a shower first before he embraces you the father embraces that dirty son just as he is come just as you are like that little chorus we sing just Jesus take me as I am I can come no other way take me as I am I can come no other way and he takes us he embraces us with all the filth for the smell of the pigs on our clothing the father's not hesitant to embrace his son he doesn't wait for him to take a shower and he says feed my lambs Shepherd my sheep tend my sheep take care of my lambs take care of my sheep Peter you're not to be a fisherman but Lord I've failed it doesn't matter that was part of your education your failure was part of your education you were not broken before now you are Satan tried to sift you but all he succeeded was getting rid of the chaff from your life the week remains now you're going to be an apostle you're going to be the leader you're going to Shepherd my sheep you're going to take care of my lambs you'll have a tenderness with the Lambs now which you would not have had before you'd have been a hard person if the lamb slipped up somewhere you would have judged them severely there's a Jewish tradition it's not a true story you know they like to say good things about their leaders Moses there's a Jewish tradition about Moses that man Moses was shepherding the Sheep of Jethro his father-in-law in the days before God called him he was taking care of his sheep and one little lamb ran away from his flight he didn't notice it went towards a stream nearby to drink water and as soon as Moses saw it he ran and picked up that lamb and said oh if I knew that you wanted water I would have taken you to the stream myself and a voice from heaven said you are fit to lead Israel the one who can take care of the lambs when they are thirsty many years ago when the Lord called me for his service it was from Isaiah 49 I was sitting in a railway station in 1964 ready to serve the Lord full-time if he called me but would not leave until the Lord called me I was an unable officer with my ambition to become the Admiral and but I said Lord if you call me I'll go now as I was sitting in that railway station platform waiting for my train to Bangalore of all places 1964 the Lord there is my daily portion I used to go through chapter by chapter and that day it was Isaiah 49 now he's read it and I saw the Lord called me from my mother's womb and has made my mouth verse 2 like a sharp sword it was us as if the Lord told me that he was calling me to serve Him this was the call and then this verse this is how you're going to be a leader verse 10 the middle of verse 10 he who has compassion on the people will be able to lead them only one who has compassion on people is fit to lead them and that comes through brokenness and that is how Peter was prepared and I want to say to all of you my dear brothers and sisters he doesn't matter if your failed if you're going to be wholehearted today and you decide before God Lord I'm willing to pay the price you know why Moses had to be broken at the age of 40 he thought he was pretty smart we read about not in Exodus but we read in Acts chapter 7 that how Moses was at the age of 40 I wanted to read this verse to you Stephen talks about him acts 7:22 Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians remember Egypt was the one superpower in the world today it was and it was like studying in Harvard University for Moses the son of the Pharaoh as they thought studying in the top academies and military academies and studying in Howard and West Point altogether in that one superpower on earth latest technologies those are the days people build pyramids which today's engineers are wondering how the how in the world they built it even today Moses studied that he was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians acts 7:22 and he was a man of power in words he was an eloquent speaker and he was mighty in deeds capable man and you know the story how when he saw one of these relights being treated unjustly verse 24 he smote the Egyptian and killed him listen to this verse 25 he thought that his brothers the Israelites would recognize I am the man brothers and sisters whom God is called to be a leader to deliver you from Egypt I've got influence I've got eloquence I'm strong see how I could kill a one man with one blow I've got all the qualifications to be your leader verse 25 but they did not understand he had to run for his life - 40 years in the wilderness where God had to break the strength of this man who felt he was so capable because he was so educated in intelligent and capable and God took him to another Academy it was living with his father-in-law for 40 years I mean to live with your father-in-law for one year is enough to break anyone but for 40 years and on top of that to be employed by your father-in-law imagine that the great Prince of Egypt living in one tenten is given by his father-in-law employed by him paid by the father-in-law and at the end of 40 years I don't have time to show you all that in Exodus God says okay now you're ready he says no Lord please send somebody else I'm not the man and you know what he says I've never been eloquent Moses have you forgotten what you were 40 years ago completely forgotten I can't speak God had done his work in breaking that man and he wasn't acting humble you know like some people and you asked him to be an elder they say oh no no no please ask somebody else no humbug the guy wants to be an elder in his heart but he's pretending that he doesn't want to be it wasn't that type of hypocrisy he was really felt I'm not the man that's why when the lord president he said no Lord no Lord not me not me not me till the God got angry with him this is okay let Aaron speak for you if you say you can't speak but that wasn't God's first choice anyway he could see that the man was thoroughly broken and then he goes out and leads Israel when he was 40 he could kill one Egyptian when he was 80 he lifted up his rod and the whole Egyptian army was buried under the Red Sea that's the power of a broken man an unbroken man there's a lot of difference through many years of Christian service what I've learned in 50 years of Christian service as you saw in the screen one of the main things is God can never use an unbroken man and most Christian leaders I have met in my life are not broken people they are gifted but you can be gifted and go to hell you can stand before Jesus and I did this I did this I preached sermons I cast out demons and God says I never knew you get away from me go to hell its lack of brokenness Jesus was a broken person he was distant God allowed him to be despised and rejected by men from childhood he was considered to be an illegitimate child can you imagine how you feel when you're going to school in a village like Nazareth everybody knew how Mary got pregnant yeah some Roman soldier raped her or she gave herself to a Roman soldier got a kid and says that God gave her a kid who's gonna believe that and as Jesus walks to school with the other boys the old people say you see that boy there that's Jesus we don't know who his father is that's the stigma with which he lived from childhood imagine if your child had to live like that and had to grow up always being pointed out that's a child whose father nobody knows he's illegitimate illegitimate illegitimate God the Father allowed him to go through that because he had to be the savior of a lot of illegitimate children he identified himself so thoroughly with the human race you look at his genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 have you noticed it there are only three women mentioned there sorry for women who are these four women in a list of men why are for women's names mentioned in Matthew one number one Matthew one three Tamar born sorry the woman's name is zerah the child's name is Tamar sorry I got it wrong Tamar is the woman Judah to Judah was born Perez here is that's the son Tamar is you know Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law her husband had died and the father-in-law committed incest with Tamar and got a child and the child's name was Paris incest and from heaven Jesus was in heaven then and says that's the line I'm gonna choose see you and I didn't have a choice about our ancestry one man was born on this earth who had a choice of his ancestry Jesus Christ he sees that incest and says I'm gonna come through that line because I'm gonna be the savior of a lot of people who were born of incest you go down the line you come to Salman was born boy as by Rahab verse five Rahab that's the second woman mentioned there you know Rahab was everybody in Jericho knew the well-known town prostitute not even not even a Jew one of the Canaanites and a prostitute she marries one of the Jewish people called Salman and Jesus says ah that line because I'm going to be the savior of prostitutes and there's going to be the savior of non-jews who are despised by others well known prostitutes how many of you would boast about a well-known prostitute that was one of your ancestors would you make a in your biography would you list that in the very first page then the third woman mentioned here is in the verse 5 again roots you know Ruth was a more bite you know who Moab was born out of lot committing incest with his own daughters you read that in Genesis 19 Moab and the Moabites from there comes Ruth and then the fourth one her name is not even mentioned verse 6 the last part to David was born Solomon by him who had been the wife of Uriah Bathsheba David commits adultery with somebody's wife murders the husband and the first child dies for the next one is Solomon God says Jesus says okay so that was not the physically genealogy of Jesus the physical genealogy was Jesus up to the first three women but this was the one who threw him Joseph came so my point is this you see Christ complete identification with the sinful human race and we try to avoid any association thinking we have such pure people people send a lot of I've seen people who glory in the purity of their ancestry and race we have a lot of it in India glory in the family they come from I'm from certain such a pure family particularly the part of India or I come from and they asked me which family I came from I say I came from the family that has kicked out of Eden for sin but Jesus came for us that's how I got saved you glory in something which is something human which has got no value before God I tell you the only thing valuable brother and sister in your life is how much you become like Christ that's all all the rest is things that your glory in our earthly or education your family let God break you if you really want to be used by God you have to be broken that's God's Way and if you love him remember that when the Lord after Peter had failed he was a high esteem only one question do you love me that's the most important condition for serving the Lord and building his church do you love Jesus you love him more than everything else on earth and everything and every person on earth I'm thankful that I understood this when I was 20 years old when I got my first Bible when I bought my first Bible and the front page inside opposite the cover I drew a little heart and I wrote in it Lord Jesus Christ and Zack Coonan and underneath I wrote Psalm 73 25 Lord whom am I in heaven but thee and I desired no one and nothing on earth but thee and I have tried to stick to that all these years through failure and defeat and rock-bottom experiences everything Lord it's true I failed but I still want only you and from there that the Lord picked me up and I say even today fifty five years after I was converted I say Lord I only want you you first my life my wife is second but you are first you'll always be first no one will ever take that place in my heart and if you can that's all that the Lord expected from Peter sloly expects from you do you love me you get a right answer to that I appoint you to feed my sheep to build my church you don't love me all your Bible knowledge is useless even your self-denial and your care for others is useless if you don't love me dear brothers and sisters preserve one thing in your life a fervent love for Jesus Christ turn with me to 2nd Corinthians in chapter 11 2nd Corinthians 11 and verse 3 verse 2 first Paul says I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy there's a godly jealousy where you want to preserve people in purity Paul had that tremendous burden to preserve the Corinthians in purity for Christ and he says I betrothed to you to a husband and I want to present you one day as a pure virgin to Christ but I'm afraid listen to this verse I'm afraid like the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds should be led astray from sin from that simple pure devotion to Christ so it is in the NASB from simple pure devotion to Christ now meditate on that don't read through scripture fast and tragedy today's people read verses too quickly and go on to the next verse many times when I've read scripture I found a red light I can't move stopped half an hour red light is still there I can't move from that verse okay I finished my Bible reading for the day I opened the Bible next day the red light is still there the same words the Lord wants me to stick to that verse until it has sunk into my heart I don't want to go through the Bible in 50 50 times I want the Bible to go through me once that's enough and there's a lot of difference Bible going through me me going through the Bible 50 times all gonna be in the head the Bible go through me once it'll fill my heart what do you want you want to be known as one who knows the Bible Bible knowledge so he says here I'm afraid like the devil deceived Eve now then think about when you read a verse like that you must stop and think how did the devil deceive Eve here was the option she had tree of life tree of knowledge and the devil said don't go to the tree of life go to the tree of knowledge and she took that what is the tree of life here it says simple pure devotion to Christ he was she was led astray from that so what is the tree of life for me today simple pure devotion to Christ and instead of that the devil could lead me astray to Bible knowledge to share clever thoughts from the Bible when I get up to share it's a big temptation for young people when they are asked to share in the church we do that in our church I encourage them I say don't get discouraged but I want to tell you this the devil will always try to lead you astray from simple devotion to Christ to knowledge you read the Bible and you get a bright idea so wow I can share that in the meeting he doesn't help you one bit it's not revelation it's just a bright idea how do you differentiate between revelation of the Holy Spirit and a bright idea if it has changed your life it's revelation it is just something clever you can share in the meeting it's just a bright idea that's the tree of knowledge it's not it doesn't lead people to devotion to Christ you share that in the meeting and people say wow how did he get that bright idea from Scripture and you encourage a lot of other people to get bright ideas from Scripture and the church remains carnal hypocritical brother you know when Paul wrote to the Ephesians he didn't say I hope you get bright ideas from his The Book of a letter to the Ephesians his I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened that you'll get the spirit of Revelation pray for that he didn't say read through this episode 10 times and try and get some thoughts from it No pray for the spirit of Revelation which will always lead you to devotion to Christ if you got something from Scripture if it is from God it'll lead you to devotion to Christ that's the Tree of Life anything else is knowledge and it brought death to Adam and Eve and it'll bring death to you and it'll bring death to everybody you share it with let the scripture lead you to devotion to Christ that's what I get from this verse what the Tree of Life is I never understood what the Tree of Life was till I read that verse and connected it what this devil took Eve away from see John chapter 5 and so that's been my passion since I understood that when I read the Bible or think about I say Lord everything in the Bible must lead me to devotion to Christ lovest thou me do you love me do you love me that's the question he's asking not do you understand can you explain the scriptures do you love me then I'll give you the right words I'll give you the right understanding and it won't be for your honor that you get an honor as a Bible teacher you will build a church and the glory will all be Christ's not yours John chapter 5 look what the Jesus told the Pharisees you search the Scriptures and ask yourself whether the Lord says that to you also because you think eternal life is there you think the words are there but these scriptures bear witness about me and when you read the scriptures instead of coming to me through the Scriptures you don't come to me you go to the scripture if you had come to me you dug our life but you don't come to me you come to get glory from men where's funny one but I don't receive glory from men you order the scriptures to get knowledge to get glory from men I don't receive glory from men the Scriptures testify of me and if you really are reading the Scriptures properly it'll bring you to me it says in verse forty but you don't want to come to me you just want some nice thought to share in the meeting what's Christ looking for when you read the Bible that you will come to him I want to share something with you that I wrote in 1986 it's a little I personally feel it's the finest article that God ever enabled me to write in my whole life up to today and I wrote that 28 years ago it's called God needs men I was in a hospital I was I had a little problem for which God could have healed me but he didn't and I had to be admitted in the hospital for a very minor operation and I lay there in bed and I said Lord why don't you heal me why waste my time I want to do something for you why don't you let me heal me and the Lord said I could have healed you but you're running around so much that I hardly get time to talk to you so I want to make you lie down in bed and I want to talk to you and I lay down there in bed for 10 days I said okay Lord talk to me and that's what he began to say to me and I wrote it down it's the closest that I've ever experienced in my life to dictation a little bit I understood how the prophets and the people wrote the scriptures the other articles I mean are just like mostly sermons that I preached they're converted into articles and other books but this was different I lay there in bed and God spoke to me day by day and as he spoke in 10 days I wrote down these 50 things that God said to me primarily for myself this is the type of man I want and it includes men and women it's generic when it says men God needs men men who will stand before his face and hear his voice daily man shall not live by bread alone but by every voice every word that comes from God daily the habit of listening daily even if you don't have a Bible pure in prison stand before his face and hear his voice daily secondly men who have no desire in their heart for anyone or anything other than God Himself not a house not a car not even health if you're unmarried not even marriage if it's not God's will if it is God's will I accept it third men who fear Him so greatly that they hate sin and that hatred will increase in time and in every forum and who love righteousness and truth in every way money matters in everything to be totally righteous men who have overcome anger and sexually sinful thoughts with a battle may not come overnight but a determined to get to the end and would rather die than sin even in thought or attitude and then number five men whose daily lifestyle he is one of taking up the cross that means today I have to say no to myself from morning till night I put myself to death daily lifestyle and pressing on to perfection to become more like Jesus and who are constantly working out their own salvation with fear and trembling Lord whatever you work in me I had to work it out today then next men full of the Holy Spirit who surrendered everything to God and open their lives and ask God to fill them who are so rooted and grounded in love the Holy Spirit roots us and grounds is in love like a tree that cannot be uprooted like a building that cannot be shaken that's why it says rooted and grounded so that nothing can move them into an unloving attitude towards another human being however great the provocation by the part of the holy spirit men who are so rooted and grounded in humility because they look at Jesus so that neither human praise nor spiritual growth nor a divinely endorsed ministry nor anything else will be able to make them lose the awareness of their being less than the least of all the saints it's our Paul felt men who have an understanding of God's nature and purpose number eight through his word and to tremble at that word so that they will not disobey even the smallest commandment or neglect to teach it to others a lot of people say oh that's a small commandment well God is not looking for such man I'll tell you that or explain it away and say oh that's only for those people who live then not for us today if you say that once in your life you've got to allow these other people who give up marriage and start living together and say your Bible about marriage knowledge for then not for today once you take that stand about something in scripture saying that was for the first century or people who lived in Corinth or somewhere else not for today you have to give people the freedom say marriage that was for those days not today today we can live together for those days it was man and woman - it's alright of his man and man who opened the door for them you because you said some other part of scripture was only for that time something written in the New Testament owes for that time how can you object to that person saying something else is for that time men who tremble at his word and will not disobey even the smallest commandment or neglect to teach it to others men who will proclaim the whole counsel of God expose religious harlotry and unscriptural human traditions there plenty of them in Christendom today men who have the revelation of the Holy Spirit on the secret of godliness 1 Timothy 3:16 the Christ came in the flesh that means he was tempted like us and opened a new and living way overcame temptation through the flesh Hebrews 10 20 men who are diligent and hard-working you can't the Lord told Adam by the sweat of your brow you earn your bread and that's how we we are to work hard even as Christians there's no place for laziness in the church God doesn't want lazy people in the church I told the Lord Lord I'm nearly 75 now if I live up to a hundred you give me grace and strength I'll be just as hard-working travel just as much to build your church that's the only thing I want to live for on this earth men who are hardworking diligent who have a sense of humor that's very important by the way you're very very important you remember how people think Jesus didn't have a sense of humor he came to the in John 21 to the shore and he knew these fellows haven't caught any fish and he says hey boys have you got any fish you don't see a sense of humor there he knows the answer is a sense of humor is the test whether you have a good relationship with another person you know you can pray with your wife you can restart the Bible with your wife and have sex with your wife but if you can't joke with your wife something is wrong in that relationship and with a brother if you can pray with him and study the Bible to him work with him but you can't joke with him it's a test of a good relationship I've seen that through 55 years and you can test it out and see it's true men you have a sense of humor and will know how to relax and play with children if you can't play with children you're not like Jesus Christ let me tell you that if you only talk to adults you're a Pharisee if you can learn to play with children and enjoy God's goods gifts in nature you can enjoy an ice cream without pretending to be spiritual saying no no I don't need all that and or you know clean enjoyment clean entertainment there's nothing wrong in that men were not ascetics that means who don't sort of have artificial rules like hermits but at the same time live a disciplined life and were not afraid of hardships men who have no interest in expensive clothing because it's a waste of money our sightseeing if there are more important things to do and we will not waste their time in unprofitable activities or their money in unnecessary purchases these are all for tourists who got plenty of money to waste I remember once I was in in Australia and one of those cities there and I was there just a couple of days and they said brother Zak there's a tourist attraction here three rocks which are called three sisters would you like to go and see it I said I rather spend my time with three brothers and talk to them talk to them during what let go and see rocks I've seen enough rocks in my life and buildings and all that let me spend my time with some brothers I'm here only for three days and I don't know when I'll come again life is not we can enjoy ourselves but if there's something better you can do all things are lawful it's perfectly lawful to go sightseeing but in some situations something else may be more profitable and the godly man is the one who chooses the profitable above the lawful so men who have mustered their desire for fancy foods and were not enslaved to music there's nothing wrong in music nothing wrong in watching sport but were not enslaved to it or any other legitimate activity I've got nothing against the person watching a football game or baseball or anything but if you're enslaved to it and if your mind is always on that who won today you may not be able to hear what God is trying to say to you or or any other legitimate activity men who have been disciplined successfully by God in the fires of affliction abuse tribulations false accusation physical sickness financial hardships opposition from relatives and from religious leaders you've got some of that we're on the right track men full of mercy who can sympathize with the worst of sinners and the worst of believers and I've hoped for them because they'd consider themselves to be the chiefest of all sinners whom Jesus saved men who are so deeply rooted in the security of the love of their heavenly father number 17 that they are never anxious about anything because they got a father in heaven who cares they are not afraid of Satan or evil men or difficult situations or anything for that year to be grouped rooted and your father's love men who have entered into God's rest believing in the sovereign working of God in all matters for their best Romans 8:28 and who therefore give thanks always for all the men who did harm to them many people have done harm to me but they didn't succeed in harming me to all work for my good they made me a better Christian for all things and in all circumstances if you believe in Romans 8:28 that's easy men who find their joy in God alone in his presence there is fullness of joy every other joy is lesser and temporary who find their joy in God and who are therefore full of the joy of the Lord having overcome all bad moods now as a young Christian I saw that not a young Christian and I began to come into this life of victory after I was 36 I began to see that Jesus never had a bad mood and I said Lord I want that life if it takes me 10 years to get there I'm gonna get there you know some things you won't get overnight but determined to get there say Lord Jesus never had a bad mood if it takes me 20 years to get there I want to get there the place where I'll never have bad mood morning noon or night men of living faith who have no confidence in themselves or their natural abilities but complete confidence that God is their unfailing helper in all situations men who live not by the promptings of their reason but by the leading of the Holy Spirit who have learned to listen to the voice of spirit men who have been genuinely baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire by Christ Himself not thrilled by some emotional counterfeit that they got in some Pentecostal meeting convinced by some theological argument that they got from the Plymouth Brethren but who really experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire who are sure God is met with them men who live constantly under this anointing of the Spirit endowed with the supernatural gifts that God has given them and that may not be healing there are many gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 and one of the gifts is helps in Romans 12 it speaks of the gift of generosity to give money to people for God's work not many people seek for that gift but that is one of the gifts that there are many many supernatural gifts men who have a revelation of the church as the body of Christ and not a congregation or a denomination or a preaching center but who give all their energies their material wealth and spiritual gifts to build that church just like Noah gave himself to build the ark men who have learned to control and bridle their tongues through the help of the Holy Spirit and whose tongues are now aflame with the divine world men were forsaken all who are not attracted anymore to money or material things and to desire no gifts from others and what do I mean by forsaken all Jesus said we got to forsake all our positions positions are things that possess you supposing these are all your earthly possessions possession is holding it like this I want to let anybody have it this is mine having it it's like this the house is still in your name the car is still in your name all that money is still in your bank account but you're not holding it like this anymore it's in the open palm Lord it's in my name but it's yours I have forsaken my possessions but I still have them it's like Abraham possessed Isaac for so long God said to kill him the opened his palm he still had Isaac at the end of it all in his house but he didn't possess him anymore that's the meaning of forsaking your possessions so that's the other thing when you have forsaken their possessions and and no more attracted to money our material things who desire no gifts from others you know initially you are attracted to money you battle it battle it battle it battle it till time comes it doesn't attract you anymore you use it money is under your feet as your servant not a master money is a wonderful servant if you have plenty of money it's like having 25 servants good but don't let any of them become your master fire is a good servant keep it in the gas stove control it if it becomes your master will burn up your house money is like that wonderful servant but a terrible master and who desire no gifts from others if you get it praise the Lord and take it but you don't go around looking for it and eager for it men who can trust God for all their earthly needs who never hint about their material needs or boast about their labors either in their conversation or through letters and reports I remember when I came out for Christian work one of the things the Lord taught me was even invented times when you have nothing act as though you have plenty when people meet you then they will never give you money out of charity you won't be treated like a beggar you're a dignified servant of God and then their gifts will be prompted by the Lord and not out of charity but you should never give a hint you know with the torn collar on your shirt or something like that there's so many ways in which if you're not careful use those tone collared shirts at home but put on your best shirt when you go and meet other believers so they think you have plenty that's the way not by the way I'm not I'm not like that now God has given me plenty right out so I'm not trying to hate I'm not trying to hint anything here it was like that about little over 40 years ago but God's been good to me my circle is quite huge enough men who are not stubborn but gentle and open to criticism and eager for correction from older and wiser brothers 28 year for correction not just I remember a brother once came to me and said brother Zack will you give me a spiritual checkup I said sure you want it he said yes so I told him what I thought about him a few weeks later he got offended and left the church so he wasn't he didn't really mean it he was trying to act spiritual so okay men who have no desire to dominate or advise others you know this is another thing that when you I've seen sometimes older brothers and older sisters want to just go around giving advice to people I think you should do a decision and you know some young people they say oh he's coming I better run away he's gonna come give me some advice now don't be that type of person be that type of person or young people will run to your house and say brother tell me I need some advice here not those who have a great desire to dominate or revise others but ready to get wise and asked for and who have no longing to be considered as elder brothers or leaders and you only desire to be ordinary brothers and servants of all men who are easy to get along with willing to be inconvenience taken advantage of by others i I've met some brothers who are so easy to get along with I want to be a brother like that you know you go to a house and you have no demands on anyone you're happy with whatever there is you meet with people and you have no demands on them you're happy no you must be a brother if you're a Christian Jesus was very easy to get along with and you must be easy to get along with and willing to be inconvenienced and taken advantage of by others like I heard someone say Jesus gave us his bread to eat saying this is my body heat and this person said we must be willing be eaten by others like Jesus was are you willing to surprise you to pray to build the church men who will make no distinction between the millionaire and the beggar the white skin in the dark-skinned the intellectual and the idiot the cultured in the barbarian will treat them all alike I tell you this really requires grace that in in a church you make no difference between the millionaire and that poverty-stricken homeless man who came to your church you treat them exactly the same you really have to be like Jesus to do that and the intellectual person and the dumb person you treat them exactly the same because it's love for Jesus that you look for this is how we build a church the culture and the barbarian there's no you know barbarians have some bad habits but you're willing to bear with them because they love Jesus it's okay you work in the villages of India you'll find some crude behavior and the part of people are not cultured but they love Jesus and that's all that matters and men will never be influenced by their wife children relatives friends or other believers to cool off even slightly in their devotion to Christ or their obedience to God's commandments make sure that Christ is first men who can never be bribed to compromise by any reward that Satan offers whether money or a doctorate or MA or whatever I remember a college in America sent me a letter once dear mr. Putin brother poon and we like to it was a secular college but a Christian college we'd like to give you a doctorate for your service for the Lord so so many years in the books you have written I said no thank you I just threw it in the trash can I replied to them courteously No thank you very much I said I won all to the end of my life I want to be known as brother Zack I'm not dr. Zack I'm not Reverend Zack now drive try friend or any of these useless titles that people take I see you know what I am I am a brother of Jesus Christ try and find a better title than that younger brother of Jesus Christ that's what I am call me brother when I call your sister I'm calling your sister of Jesus Christ it's an honor title so don't look for all these earthly titles men who are fearless witnesses for Christ fearing neither religious heads nor secular religious heads or secular heads you know kings of Bishops or hopes men who desire to please no human being on the face of the earth no human being not even people in your church and who are willing to offend all men if necessary not how to going out of the way to offend them in order to please God alone and my seeking to please God alone if some people get offended well what can I do men for whom God's glory God's will and God's kingdom you know thine is the kingdom the islands of pardons the glory forever and ever always take priority over mere human need in their own comfort Jesus never operated on the basis of human need if I were to operate on the basis of human need in a poverty-stricken country like India I will never have time to build a church I'll be going around feeding all the beggars in the streets of India if I move on the basis of need the need is not the call we must look at the need but we must see what God calls me to do there were many many social problems in Paul's day but he didn't spend his life trying to solve those social problems there were slaves he didn't even try to get those slaves liberated he knew that would have to wait for a future time he built the church even Jesus he didn't you know organize lepers colonies to put all the healed lepers or the blind people and all in he came to make disciples and he told us to make disciples and there are many others who are doing those other things but if you want to build a church just make sure you don't get sidetracked and to other things men who cannot be pressurised by others or by their own reason verse number 37 into doing dead works dead works are works that come out of our own reason or good works done with the wrong motive or something like that but who are eager and content to do the revealed will of God for their lives alone it doesn't matter if people said you know people say to me brother Zak why don't you do this why don't you do that why don't do the other thing I see because God hasn't called me to do it I'm not the whole body of Christ I'm just one teeny-weeny member I can only do what God's called me to do you know you don't go to the hand and say why don't you see why don't you hear why don't you pump blood I see there are other parts of the body doing all that I'm supposed to pick up things put in the foot in the mouth that's what I want to do I've got one job to do I'm gonna do it imagine the other hand tried to do everything it would never do what it's supposed to do that's the trouble with a lot of Christians because some people pressurize them why aren't you doing this why isn't your church doing this why isn't your church doing that she can say what you like we listen to God and we do what he tells us to do I remember reading a poem when I was a young Christian where the Lord says I'm seeking for one who will wait and watch for my beckoning hand and my eye who will work in my manner the work I give and the work I don't give pass by and the Lord says and oh the joy that is brought to me when one such as this I can find a man who will do all my will who will study his master's mind and I said Lord that's what I want to do that's why I have a very look back over a very fulfilled life in the last 40 years because I didn't do what men told me to do I didn't get pressurized by guilt trips try people try to send me on I try to listen to God it'd be dead works otherwise men who have the discernment of the Spirit to distinguish it in the soulish and spiritual that which merely comes out of emotion and cleverness and spiritual that was prompted the Holy Spirit men who look at things from a heavenly viewpoint and are not an earthly one who look at things the way God looks at them men who will refuse all earthly honors and titles offered them for their labors for God men who know how to pray without ceasing and but that mean I don't mean on my knees 24 hours but I'm having an attitude of dependence upon God all the time like that hymn says prayers the souls sincere desire altered or unexpressed a burden in my heart all the time Lord I want your name to be honored on the name of Jesus to be glorified in India that's my primary burden hallowed be your name hallowed be your name hallowed be your name you have that burden that's a prayer even if you don't say it with your lips all the time this is pray without ceasing and who know how to fast and pray when needed there is a place for that when the burden is great men who have learned to give generously cheerfully secretly and with wisdom very important with wisdom men who are willing to be all things for all men so that by all means they might save some men who have a longing to see others not only saved but made disciples of Christ and brought into the knowledge of the truth and to obedience to all of God's commandments which means to become a part of a church a local church men who have a longing to see a pure testimony established for God in every place that's my burden speed my burden for nearly 40 years if I invited a huge conferences and I say I don't wanna go there I want to build a church in each place that's what I'm called for men who have a burning passion to see Christ glorified in the church I remember years ago the Lord said to me from Colossians 1:18 where it says in all things Christ might have the preeminence and the Lord said to me if in your life your passion is that all things Christ should have the preeminence God said I'll support you all your life my par will back you up make that your goal that and everything Christ will have the preeminence in your life in your home and in your church and I assure you God's power will back you up till the end of your life men who do not seek their own in any matter men with spiritual authority and spiritual dignity a man of God must be a man with spiritual dignity he's not a beggar couting to the rich and the influential I've seen enough pastors like that who are afraid of the influential people leaving that church I said let them go be a prophet in the pulpit don't be him you have too many managers in the pulpit we have too many entertainers we have too many people who are caught owing to the rich and the mighty we need profits with spiritual authority and spiritual dignity men who will stand alone for God in the world if needed totally uncompromising men like the apostles and prophets of all God work in the world suffers today because such men are few in number determined with all your heart my brother's sister that you will be such a man for God in the midst of a sinful and adulterous generation and a compromising Christendom since there is no partiality with God it is possible for you to be such a man provided you yourself earnestly desire to be one and since God demands this very important commitment and obedience only in the conscious area of your life and your conscious area may be very small mind maybe ten times that size only in that small area where you're conscious that's all the area he demands commitment and obedience from you and though the conscious area of your life is limited it'll keep increasing as you walk in the light and you press on to perfection there's no excuse then why you you you you you you cannot be such a man or woman since nothing good dwells in our flesh we are to seek for grace from above to have these virtues listed so cry out to God daily that he'll give you grace to be such a man a woman and these the closing days of the age before Christ comes again let's pray there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus no word has been spoken from this pulpit to condemn anybody here but to challenge you to God's highest and to encourage you to believe that even for you that is possible no matter what your failures have been in the past right up to this day acts 17:30 says God ignore forgets overlooks the times of ignorance now he commands you to repent repent means turn around and say Lord this is the life I want to live I want to count for you in the one life I have on this earth man or woman God wants to use you in some particular function in the body God will show you as the days go by what that function will be say Lord I want to be what you want me to be thank you Father for arranging this conference [Music] no man can explain what Christ looks for in the church I've tried Lord but I know that I can't do it perfectly I pray that your Holy Spirit will take home to every heart whatever you know they need to hear individually how you can use everyone here to raise up a pure testimony if they have the humility and brokenness to acknowledge that without you they can do nothing if they can submit to men who know more than them submit to Authority delivered from the lust for honor and position build churches that need glorify your name throughout the world we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Zac Poonen

Id: 29zbWny-IJ4

Length: 74min 45sec (4485 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 09 2014