Centered in God, Not in Self - Zac Poonen - May 23, 2015

I was mentioning yesterday that by God's grace I've been preaching for 52 years and after 52 years of standing it's a bit strange to be sitting down when preaching so you know and everything I tried to see how did Jesus do it so for the first time in my life I did a little research into the Bible of whether Jesus stood or sat when he preached and it was very interesting what I discovered I found that he stood when he preached to unbelievers like in the synagogue Luke chapter 4 where he said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me and then in John chapter 7 in the temple when he stood and shouted if anyone thirsts let him come to me but when he spoke to the disciples I found in every single case he was sitting down Matthew chapter 5 the Sermon on the Mount the first verse it says he sat down and Luke chapter 5 and he was preaching from a boat it says he sat down and John chapter 8 it says when he came to the temple he sat down and then when the multitude came to capture him and get cemani he said every day I sat in the temple and taught you so I said Laura I'm becoming more scriptural now edge 2:52 no but it just showed me how I mean that's besides the point but it showed me how there are things we read in the scripture which sometimes we don't observe we don't stop to think I mean whether you sit or stand is not as important as certain other things but I am constantly challenged by the importance of reading scripture carefully I mean if you really respect the Bible is the Word of God it means we treated respectfully more than if we were signing a legal document if you were signing a legal document you would be so careful to read it and even get a lawyer to read it again because you don't know what you're committing yourself to and this is far more important in that and yesterday I was mentioning how there were these people and David's army the sons of Issachar who had were people who understood the times 1 chronicles 12:32 for those of you who are not here yesterday these were people who understood the times who knew what Israel should do in applying it today God needs people who understand the times in which we live to know what God's people should be doing and not just repeat by rote what we have heard from others or read in some book it's the knowledge of God personal intimate knowledge of God that's going to see you through in the last days a mere knowledge of doctrine or belonging to a good church or here understanding certain principles is not going to help I'll tell you that you know that verse in Daniel chapter 11 where it speaks about the last days let me turn you there Daniel 11 and 32 it says here it's referring to the last days that whole section from 29 onwards and in verse 32 it says the people who know their God will display strength and take action and those who have in sight among the people will give understanding to many and then it speaks of persecution etc and it's speaking about the end time in verse 35 so the people who know their God are going to be strong and there's a lot of difference between knowing the Bible and knowing God you can say the Pharisees near the Bible jesus knew God and I fear that many evangelical Christians know the Bible more than they know God it's very very important Paul's passion was that I may know him towards the end of his life jesus said eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent that's a definition of eternal life most Christians don't know the definition of eternal life they think they look at the dictionary and say eternal means lasting forever so a life that lasts forever that's not the definition Jesus gave John 17:3 he says this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent so it's the knowledge of God that is eternal life knowing Jesus Christ personally intimately and that's why if you really want to be what God wants you to be in these last days I want to encourage you to develop this intimacy with Jesus Christ the Song of Solomon was on my favorite books when I started a Christian life and I was very thankful for it because I saw that it's that intimate relationship the bride has with the bridegroom that is the secret of all effective service and that's why Paul said at the end of his life I still want to know him better and he also said in Philippians 3 how he got to know Jesus better and that is a good guideline for us for all of us and I believe this is the reason if there's one single reason why many Christians know more of the Bible than they know of Jesus Christ is this Philippians 3 verse 8 I count all things as loss and view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish that I may gain Christ the person who counts everything on earth as rubbish compared to Christ will know Christ in a deeper way if there's anything on earth that we value maybe the opinions of men maybe the our own plans we made for the future or our knowledge of the Bible you know that that can bring pride to us to everything on earth is rubbish compared to knowing Christ knowing the Bible will only make us cry or make your disciple and I feel that's one of the very very important things everything must be rubbish to me and it's it's an area where we need to evaluate ourselves is there anything which is more important to me than knowing Jesus what about my ministry your ministry can be something you know God asked Abraham not only to send us and away Ishmael but to kill Isaac Ishmael is a picture of that which he produce in our own flesh ok I know we got to get rid of that but what about the gift of God do I have to sacrifice that - Isaac was not produced in Abraham strength that it was 100% the work of God and you can have something in your life which is 100% the gift of God your ministry or your spiritual gift or whatever it is and you got to sacrifice that to compare to Jesus Christ nothing must be more important to you everything is rubbish compared to Christ and if it becomes like that to you it'll become like that to the people whom you teach and share and then they will not be attached to you they'll be attached to Jesus so many preachers attach people to themselves do you seek to do that you seek to impress people by your ministry or your leadership or and you feel a little happy when people in the church are more attached to you perhaps than to the other elders well that means you're not really serving the Lord you're serving yourself I remember reading these words many years ago in John chapter 1 speaking about two disciples of John the Baptist it's very lovely words there were Tudors next day John chapter 1 verse 35 the next day John was standing with two of his disciples and he pointed to Jesus and said there see the Lamb of God see that was his ministry he said that's why john the baptists a great example for me he never pointed to himself he pointed to Jesus that should be our ministry every message we preach and everything we do must be behold the lamb of God and this is the verse I was thinking of they heard him speak and they followed Jesus and I was telling my church back home that if the Lord takes me home before he comes I want that to be written on my tombstone they heard him speak and they didn't follow him they followed Jesus make that your goal my brothers people heard you speak whether at home in your office in your factory in your church they heard you speak and they followed Jesus what a testimony as the best life you can ever live it's absolutely nothing - better than that it means having a passion for Christ to be glorified many years ago when I was a young Christian and I was starting my ministry there was a verse the Lord spoke to me and that's in Colossians in chapter one the reason I caught so much scripture I think more than most other preachers you've heard is because like Paul says I don't want your faith to stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God so that your faith is not based on some clever thoughts I gave but on God's Word Colossians chapter 1 it says here in about Christ is the head of the body Colossians 1:18 the church he's the beginning the firstborn from the dead and this is the phrase that came to me that in all things he might have the first place the preeminence the Christ might have the preeminence in the first place in everything and the way the Lord spoke that to my heart was that that was the desire of God the Father that in everything Christ might have the preeminence and what the Lord spoke to my heart from that passage was if you will make that your goal as well that in everything in your life in your ministry in your life in your home life in your family life the way you bring up your children the way you handle money the way everything in your life that Christ might have the preeminence the Lord said you'll have my power backing you right up till the end and that's what I wanted I wanted God's power to back as I lived at home with my wife as I brought up my children as I took care of my financial needs at home myself I wanted God's part of back me to make sure that I'd never be dependent on any man for my financial needs I'd be dependent on God I wanted God's power to back me when I was preaching right through to the end of my life and here's the answer if you also have the same goal I have God says that in all things Christ might have the preeminence you'll have my power backing you and that applies to you as well in other words our goal must be that Christ should be exalted what is the mark of a New Testament church our goal should be to build New Covenant churches everywhere Jesus said he didn't come on earth to make holy individuals I find a lot of people who listen to me on the internet they say they're so blessed and their life has become holy and I say that's not enough Jesus did not say I came to make people holy he's not going to populate heaven with a bunch of holy individuals he said I will build my church Matthew 16:18 he came on earth to build a church not just to make people live individual holy lives and good family lives and bring up children properly much much more than that the Church of Jesus Christ which was his body a New Covenant thing in the Old Covenant they could never do it the Old Covenant was a congregation in the New Covenant he builds a church and there's a lot of difference a congregation is like a multitudes of human beings a body is people functioning together exactly like the members of our body all connected to the head working together because they're connected to the head this is the only type of church Jesus is building I'll tell you that all the other things you call mega churches and all that they are Old Testament congregations led by great preachers who use the methods of psychology to gather people and keep them happy make sure they pay give their offerings so that the this institution can run it's not the Church of Jesus Christ because it's not functioning like a body I mean it's more like a movie theater you don't even know the person sitting next to you in that 30,000 people crowd that's not the church that's not what Jesus came to build ok that's ok as a initial stage of trying to draw people to hear the Lord but from there he was gone to build the church I know this because in the early part of my life after I quit my job in the Navy I was preaching to great crowds and the Lord said give it up don't waste your time doing that and there was a time in my life just like there was a time in my life but God asked me to quit my earthly job and come out into the ministry there was a time in my life after about seven nine you know nine years of ministry and then the Lord told me quit all this preaching to the crowds and build my church and that's when we started meeting with about four or five people I quit preaching to the thousands and I said Lord and most people didn't understand me why are you doing this but I knew this is what God called me for not to be a great preacher but to build a church I hope that's your desire and God can use anyone if your ambition I'll tell you they can be particularly if you are a little gifted I want to tell you in Jesus name you can have a secret desire to be known as a great preacher to be invited here to be invited there and you sharing things which bless people and God sees that I want to ask you honestly stand before God and ask him ask yourself are you interested in building the church or building your own ministry I'm glad I made that choice 40 years ago and don't regret it and I couldn't care less for crowds I couldn't care less what people think about me I want to build what jesus said he's come to earth to build I will build my church and a church against which the gates of Hell will never prevail and when you commit yourself to God like that this is amazing what he will do and we've seen how through these 40 years of God has raised up entirely from scratch you know over a hundred congregations now churches a couple of them in villages where there was no church for 2,000 years God can do amazing things if he sees that you are totally committed to the preeminence of Christ you have zero desire for yourself you don't want a name for yourself you don't want money you don't want honor you don't want anything and you don't even want to use your gift for anything for yourself that's one of the things the Lord spoke to me from the first temptation the first temptation is essentially this you know every temptation is there's a depth in it if you meditate on it what the devil came to Jesus in said was you have a gift now you've been anointed you've got a supernatural ability now use that supernatural ability to meet your need in this case food turn the stones into bread use the gift God's given you to get something for yourself this is what so many preachers around the world are doing use your gift to make money for yourself to build mansions for yourself to get a name for yourself you may say I'm not using my gift to make money maybe not money maybe honor maybe some fame it could be anything it's all the same the person who is not interested in money because he's got enough maybe seeking honor and fame and there's no he's no better than the other guy who's just swinging poor people of money in the church use your gift to get something for yourself and Jesus said no but he did use that gift later on to produce bread for 5,000 people so he would use it for others but never use it for himself and if the Lord sees that attitude in you I'll tell you something there is absolutely no limit to what God can do through you I love those words that God spoke to Abraham when he offered up Isaac that was very difficult I mean we can read through Genesis 22 and say yeah he laid Isaac on the altar but to see what was going on in Abraham's heart Isaac was the darling of his heart and God was and it was God's gift and he was proving to God the giver is more important to me than the gift that's what he was proving on Mount Moriah God you the giver are more important to me than any gift you give me and I want to tell you something you have to continuously have that have that altar in your life where the giver becomes more important than the gift you know like a B Simpson sings in that says in that song once it was the blessing and now it is the Lord once his gifts I want it now the giver own that that's the test that always comes to us and when you like that the Lord will use you to build his church so what is the mark of a New Covenant Church after many years of study I've come to this conclusion it's my personal opinion 1 Corinthians chapter 14 he's speaking about the whole church assembling together in verse 23 and verse 24 I don't want to go into all those details of tongues and prophecy and all but I want to highlight what I'm trying to point out here an unbeliever or a nun gifted man enters in and he is convicted by all and he's called to account by all and the secrets of his heart are disclosed and he falls on his face and declares that God is certainly among you that to me is the mark of a new covenant church that people come in and they say hey Jesus is here the Lord is here they go away from the meeting saying not we had a good time of singing or it was a good message but the Lord spoke to me he spoke to the deepest need of my heart I met with Jesus that and that alone is the mark of a new covenant church it's not a pattern it's very easy to follow a pattern okay we have a song and then somebody shares and others are invited to share and a prayer and it's not nothing to do with a pattern it people haven't met with Jesus you can follow the best pattern in the world that's not a new covenant church it's not a new covenant meeting that's been the passion of my heart and it's got to be the passion of your heart that every single meeting you're in if you have a responsibility for leadership that people will go away from that meeting and say I met with Jesus the Lord was here I met with him and he spoke to me but for that as I said yesterday God needs men God uses men God could could have done his work without us much better I think of that example where the angel came to Cornelius and Cornelius ISM completely ignorant about the gospel he doesn't know the way of salvation and the angel tells him sent for Peter now Peter is about to three days journey away he's got to come all the way from wherever he is in Joppa all the way to Caesarea and Angel says go and sent for him and as I was reading that I was thinking doesn't the angel know the gospel until the Angel no salvation by faith justification by faith and he knows it better than Peter any eunuch he can even explain it better than Peter why does he ask for Peter to come why does Cornelius had to wait for three days why not straight away game the gospel God does not use angels because of one reason that angel could not say this is what Jesus did for me there was no personal experience it was truth but it was not personal I learned something from that for myself that you must never preach what has not become personal for you that's why God doesn't allow the angels to preach the gospel even though they can do it better than me so it's not fine preaching that matters because the angels can beat any of us in that area but from personal experience and that's the advantage Peter had he could say I was a sinner Jesus died for me from that foundation he could preach the gospel it's the same with whether we proclaim victory over sin or building the church or anything that is not a theory but it's from personal experience and that is the basis on which Christ builds the church as well and that's why Paul could say something which no Old Testament prophet could say follow me do you know that even John the Baptist couldn't say that no Old Testament prophet could say follow me you never hear that exceeder expression from the mouth of any man in the Old Testament the first person who said it was Jesus Christ follow me and you would think that's it nobody else can dare say that and Paul says it this is the wonderful thing about New Covenant ministry new covenant ministry is not going up like Moses to the mountain hearing God coming down and proclaiming it that's good there are preachers who preach like that they sit in their study they don't go to a mountain necessarily sit in their study on a Saturday or through the weekend maybe sincerely listen to God write down their notes and get up on Sunday and say this is what the Lord has said maybe it is what the Lord has said but Paulus was more than that Paul's ministry didn't come out of just listening it was something that had transformed his life he could say follow me 1 Corinthians 11:1 follow me as I follow Christ and that should be what every new covenant preacher should say otherwise you're an Old Covenant preacher if you say don't look at me look at Jesus that sounds so spiritual it sounds so humble but it's not new covenant it's not the new covenant way that's the old covenant way behold the lamb of God there they heard him speak and they followed Jesus like I said all was not drawing attention to himself he didn't say follow me Jesus could say follow me Paul had to say follow me as I follow Christ that's what makes the difference and he repeats that in Philippians he doesn't say I'm the only one who can say that see Philippians chapter 3 Philippians 3 he says again similar words verse 17 brethren join in following my example he doesn't say just listen to my preaching he says follow my example you saw how I lived when I was with you in Philippi and not only mean I'm not exclusive in this observ'd those others who also walk according to the same pattern so if you find another person Paul says who's following Christ like me follow him as well see there are many many people sometimes accused certain believers all you're following a man oh you belong to those people who say I'm appalled Obama for polis no I'm not a part of mine monopolist but I do follow a man I'm happy to say that I follow Paul I'm not ashamed to say that some people may think oh I'm more spiritual than all of you I only follow Jesus the people who say only follow Jesus I've discovered as some of the most carnal people I met in my life proud arrogant why not be humble enough to obey scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit where Paul says follow me as I follow Christ I learned from Paul to support myself financially to serve the Lord I'll tell you honestly I learned it from Paul I learned from Paul how to plant churches how to appoint elders over churches Jesus never did that I learned from Paul how to write letters to the churches and to elders I'm following power I'm not ashamed to admit it I'm just obeying 1 Corinthians 11:1 in Philippians 3:17 and we are to be in those footsteps that we should not be ashamed to tell people follow me as I follow Christ why is it we're hesitant to say that why do we say don't look at me my home life is a mess please don't look at me just look at Jesus there's something wrong with that type of preacher we need to repent if you're like that Paul is not saying he's perfect just go a few verses earlier it says in verse 12 not that I have obtained or become perfect Jesus was perfect Paul was not perfect he says that very clearly in verse 12 I have not yet attained but I say still say do you follow me can a person who has not attained say to others follow me none of us have attained I have not attained I've been a believer 55 years but I have not attained I'll tell you honestly I'm not trying to be humble the closer I come to the Lord the more I realize what a distance there is between me and becoming like Jesus Christ in every single area a huge distance when we are young and immature is alone we like the kindergarten student who's that thinks he's understood everything about mathematics because he's learned addition you know the younger we are as Christians were like that we think oh or I got an answer to prayer I experienced a miracle and I prayed for somebody and he got healed okay excites us so much but when we grow spiritually me we're like Paul who says I'm the least of the Apostles I'm the least of the Saints I'm the chief of sinners these are indications that a man was walking with God getting closer and closer to him he felt very insignificant it became smaller and smaller and smaller in his own eyes he didn't have low self-esteem I don't have low self-esteem I'm a son of God my father is the ruler of the universe there's no low self-esteem in any of us but I'm not big in my own eyes that's what I mean the closer we get to God the smaller we become in our own eyes so that Christ alone will be exalted like John the Baptist said I must decrease so that he must increase what was the whole purpose with what Jesus came to bring salvation towards what is salvation essentially I want you to turn to the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 and see something there when Jesus taught us to pray prayer is the deepest real prayer I don't mean formal prayer where we just ease our conscience and said I prayed or I spent half an hour and friends to me that's all a lot of rubbish prayer is the deepest expression of our heart and Jesus taught us to pray the disciples asked him said Lord teach us to pray and he taught them to pray and he said when you pray you must pray like this and he wasn't he wasn't just mentioning the words this must be your heart attitude Matthew 6 pray then in this way it's not because you have to inform your father about your need he clarifies that in the previous verse verse 8 don't pray like the heathen they think they have to inform God about their need he says you don't have to inform God about your need he knows what you need even before you ask him the way in the world do I have to if all my prayer is just telling God my need it's not even necessary he already knows my need before I ask him you saying don't pray to inform God about your need you can mention it for example we need food and one of the things listed in this give us this day our daily bread but we don't have to inform him he knows it but he still wants us to pray and ask for it but he was teaching here how we are to pray our Father who art in heaven so we concentrate on a God who is my loving father who loves me intensely I don't pray to God and you know that's why I don't like these songs that are sung to Jehovah I'll tell you honestly I'll tell you why because I never find a single verse in the New Testament talking about Jehovah it's an Old Testament you know we pray to a father we pray to our Father even if his name is Jehovah if my son came to me and said mister poon and I'd like to talk to you I say what's wrong with you are you angry with me or something he calls me Dad so when you come to God and say o Jehovah first what's wrong with you my your dad or not you know how we sing songs meaninglessly with our mind not in gear we just by rote are you really talking to God are you really talking to God when you say Jehovah no I don't sing those songs guide me o thou great Jehovah I just don't sing it I said guide me on my heavenly father he's my dad and I tell you it's very very important that you know God as your personal dad the spirit within if you're baptized all these hurt happens automatically the spirit with him cries out not Jehovah the spirit with him cries out Abba which is translated in English as dad father father is more formal dad the spirit cries out within us makes me aware as soon as he fills me that I have a father in heaven and Jesus said don't even start prayer before you know that I believe this is part of our problem that's why sometimes we can't pray in faith because you cannot pray in faith without praying to a father and that first sentence our Father in Heaven was really to establish us in faith when we pray and all of our life and ministry we need to pray our life must be life a prayer we're not to spend two hours in prayer or four hours in prayer you know there are you read books like that about great men of God who spend two hours in prayer and for us and prayer I used to read like that all of that is young Christian I'll tell you what it did to me it depressed me because I could never manage that and the second question is how in the world did other people know if you're supposed to keep all that secret how much time you spend in prayer how did people discover how many hours you spend in prayer I had some questions about all this and I say let me go to scripture and scripture told me how many hours I should pray everyday you know how many hours 24 hours Luke 18 verse 1 men ought always to pray always means 24/7 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing how do we do that and I used to ask myself what is it in my life that I do without ceasing not eating not drinking not sleeping breathing ah so prayer in my life must be like breathing think about these scriptures seriously think about them seriously brothers and sisters brothers rather that think about are we really following Scripture or what we read in the biography of some man of God I'm very skeptical about some of these biographies because they're meant to portray a man is a marbled Saint who's got never known may never made any mistakes in his life but if you read in Scripture prayer must be like breathing it's a life of constant dependence upon God all the time and I must all the time think of him and I in this you know there was my constant attitude toward God must be my father my dad and secondly in heaven that means one who is Almighty who runs this universe who takes care of everything who can handle everything who can make everything work for my good the one who runs this universe is my dad that is the basis from which we must pray always and then I want to go on from there there are six requests in this prayer and I want you to see them it's got nothing to do with me or my needs in the beginning that's what I want you to see Jesus was trying to change those Old Covenant Jews into New Covenant Christians and he says if you want to be a New Covenant Christian your focus must not be on your need not even on your ministry or your church or anything father hallowed be thy name second request thy kingdom come third thy will be done my knees haven't even come in as yet whereas most Christians and when they pray if you're honest it's my needs they're uppermost or you go one step higher and you think the needs of my church or my people and you think you're a little more spiritual no it's when God's needs are uppermost that your spiritual God's kingdom must come even if my sickness is not healed God's name must be glorified and his will must be done on earth in my life exactly like it is done in heaven you see how difficult it is to pray that prayer to repeat it's very easy I grew up as a child my parents taught me to repeat this prayer every morning I'd never get out of bed without repeating this prayer but it took me 35 years to really pray properly where I could mean it from my heart Lord I'm not interested in my name anymore hallowed be your name never mind if the name of Zack Coonan is dragged in the dust people think he's the devil or people think he's a heretic no it makes no difference it won't even not even disturbed me one bit hallowed be your name just meditate on that for a while I mean when you go home and ask yourself am I really praying the way God wants me to pray how it be your name he didn't say repeated he was praying in this way verse 9 in this way means this is the pattern or spirit in which you should pray I don't have to repeat it in other words my way of life must be where my passion must be that Jesus Christ must be glorified in my life and and in my ministry and in the country I live in and God's kingdom must come the kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and his will must be done in my life exactly like it's done in heaven then I come to my knees give me my earthly needs food clothing shelter forgive me my sins and lead me not into temptation and again it's there again in the second part where we think of our needs it's not me you know the word me is never found in that prayer I don't know whether you know that in the Lord's Prayer what's known as the Lord's Prayer the word me is never found the word which is found most in our prayers me my my my me my my children my family is never found in the Lord's Prayer it's us it's us it's us that means when I think of myself I think of others as well give us Lord our daily bread not just me my fellow believers other people in the family he's trying to bring a family a sense of family in this prayer as well don't just forgive me Lord forgive us don't just deliver me Lord don't just bring me to in the victory life a victory over sin deliver us and concluding with thine is the kingdom and the glory so to put it in a nutshell Jesus came to deliver this Old Covenant self-centered people into a god-centered people and there are two Gospels being preached today a man centered one which is an Old Covenant gospel and a god centered one which is the only New Covenant gospel the Old Covenant had a gospel if you read Deuteronomy chapter 28 the Lord says I will bless you I will prosper you I will prosper your farms your flock you'll have many children your flock will multiply your enemies will be afraid of you the whole thing is centered on you everything and if you don't obey me you'll get sick you'll get boils you'll become blind your enemies will overpower you dissolve you you you you you I mean you got to face it that's that's that's how it was between God in Israel the only way I could get them to live for him and serve him was blessing them promising them this threatening them with sickness and you know there's a gospel which is being preached it was exactly like that if you don't give your tights to God he will curse you so you better pay up and seek Jesus and he'll bless you he'll prosper you do you know that all the heathen religions say that to our Muslim friends say Allah has blessed us with oil that's why the king of Saudi Arabia so rich your Jesus doesn't bless you so much the Hindu businessmen in India say we are in the top ten rich people in the world according to fortunes list your Jesus hasn't put any of your people in that top ten in the fortune list who is the better God then you see this another Jesus being preached in Christendom which is supposed to make you rich but is not able to do it as well as other gods can't you see that itself proves this is another Jesus not the real one but I'll tell you what the real Jesus can do which other people can't do and that's give you victory over sin and your selfishness and make you God centered that is the real Jesus and there's a great need for men who have the courage and boldness to expose this false gospel and to proclaim the real one the one centered in God where we're leading people to come into a life where they are more concerned about God's name than their own name the entire world is full of people who are concerned about their own name somebody scandalized my name somebody scandalized my daughter somebody said something bad about my son or my wife when are we gonna get out of that the name of Jesus is being Dishonored that's the thing that should concern us so there are two types of Christians really in the world today those who are seeking wholeheartedly to be God centered who are seeking to be delivered from the root of sin which we got from Adam which is self centeredness and want to be completely god centered as Jesus was and then there are other Christians who still living in that Old Testament gospel who is called a health wealth or prosperity gospel this is not a gospel at all because it doesn't deliver us from a big problem I compare it to a man's had a road accident and his shirt is torn and his bones are broken and they're taking him to a hospital in the hospital says we got a first stitches shirt up it's torn I can't think of anything more crazy than that his shirt is torn okay let's stitch that later his bones are broken man that's the difference between our earthly need in our spiritual need and when a gospel concentrates on our earthly need primarily he's as foolish as that so what is the greatest longing in your heart is it that the name of Jesus should be glorified in your town in your home in your life in your church and you have absolutely not bothered about what people think of you and your family and do they think highly of you if we don't get rid of that my brothers you're not going to get God to back you completely he may answer your prayers he may even do miracles for you but he won't be pleased with you let me show you that from Scripture 1 Corinthians in chapter 10 1 Corinthians chapter 10 I don't want you to be unaware brethren 1 Corinthians 10:1 there are fathers that is the Jewish people who came out of Egypt we're all under the cloud and passed through the sea they were baptized into Moses in the cloud in the sea they ate the same spiritual food which is the manner they drank from the rock but with most of them which is 600 thousand of those men God was not well pleased he was pleased only with two of them Joshua and Caleb and they were laid low in the wilderness these things happened as an example for us that we should not crave evil things as they craved that we should not be idolaters and idolaters is one who for whom someone other than Jesus Christ is most important in his life that's an idolaters if your ministry is more important you're an idolaters if your name is more important than the name of Jesus Christ you are an idolater whether you know it or not and so but this group of people in the entire Bible nobody experienced as many miracles as this group of people imagine getting food from heaven every single day for 40 years if you had food drop from heaven one day you'd be testifying about it for the rest of your life I mean these people got it every day for 40 years imagine getting water out of a rock and a clothes not wearing out for 40 years our sandals not wearing out for 40 years it says that in the songs the clothes and sandals didn't wear out for 40 years there was not one lame man among them but God was not happy with them that proves for all time that God does miracles for people whom he may not be happy with God answers the prayers of people who he may not be happy with don't ever evaluate whether God is happy with you or not by whether he answers your prayers by whether he's done a miracle for you he does miracles for lots of people whom he's not happy with at all jesus said he makes the Sun to rise and the rain to fall on the fields of godless farmers as much as on the fields of god-fearing farmers that's in Matthew five because God is like that he's a good God so if he gives you a material blessing it only proves he's a good God it proves nothing about your life your father makes the Sun to rise on the evil and the just evil and the the righteous and the unrighteous he makes the rain to fall and the righteous and the unrighteous and makes them Sun to rise and the good and the evil so the material blessings are no proof of God's blessing miracles are not a proof of God's blessing Jesus did miracles for lots of people who are in Hell today there were thousands for whom he did miracles and places where he really healed them all where are they today they didn't they were not waiting for the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost so all these things show and not only doing miracles where there are people who do miracles in Jesus name we read in Matthew 7 verse 21 to 23 he said I don't know you go to hell so the fact that God does make material I mean blesses us in material ways or does miracles through us proves absolutely nothing and any idea that we have in our head that and God is happy with me because he did a miracle through me or brought somebody to Christ through me it means nothing has he changed me in a heart that my primary desire is that Jesus name may be glorified that his will will be done in my life in every single area 24 hours a day as it is done in heaven like the Angels do God's will in heaven that is kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit will come into my life and come to my church are you happy with the church whether you've got people who have not come to righteousness who have not come to a life of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit I'm not happy Paul says I strive to present every man perfect in Christ and if that is the goal we need to ask ourselves whether we are moving towards that goal am I really being delivered from this self-centered life I look at the two trees in the Garden of Eden like that we know those two trees were really symbols that's how I look at it there was a tree of knowledge of good and evil and a tree of life and I see these as two ways of life that Adam had to choose from one was where I got the knowledge of good and evil resident within myself I ate that fruit and I got the knowledge of good and evil I know what is good and evil I don't need to consult God anymore because I got the information within myself the other is a life of Perpetual dependence upon God to know what is good and evil that's the tree of life that's in today's terms it's the Holy Spirit it's a spirit filled life where I don't live by rules and regulations the knowledge of good and evil is a life of rules and regulations this is good this is evil that's why you have a lot of there are many upright people in the world who because they've got that this knowledge of good and evil within them they don't need God they don't need the Holy Spirit there are lots of people in the world who never commit adultery never murder anyone honest I've met honest atheists in my life who will never cheat or tell lies because they've got the knowledge you couldn't even they don't need God at all whereas the Tree of Life is a life of Perpetual dependence upon God for if this is how Jesus lived he sought the Father's will about everything it was a way of life it was not a conscious asking but a way of life we're not my will but Dino father became the way he breathed I came from heaven not to do my will but the will of him who sent me to the life of perpetual dependence this is true spirituality where I'm concerned about God's name God's glory God's kingdom God's will not just I'm living a good life I've got a good testimony I've got a good ministry that can be very self-centered and this is why we find that God is not able to back us even though we're living such good lives why is God able to back some people he's not able to back you even though your life may outwardly be just as good as the other persons I believe we need to know that God is backing us I'm taken up by this expression in Hebrews in Chapter two I believe this should be the desire of every one of us Hebrews to force a little expression he says god bearing witness with them now he can bear witness with signs and wonders or any other way but God bearing witness to my life God bearing witness to my ministry God bearing witness to me is much more important than anything else every one of us you need to ask yourself is God bearing witness to you - the way you live - the choices you make can he approve of them can he does he bear witness to them not just this god bless me there's something higher than blessing Jesus didn't spend his life 30 years seeking God's blessing he spent 30 years seeking God's approval that's why at the end of 30 years at his baptism the father could say here is my beloved son whom I have blessed know in whom I'm pleased with whom I'm well pleased I fear that many Christians seek God's blessing more than his approval and that's why their lives are so shallow they're exactly like the Israelites who were blessed with manna from heaven water from the rock many material blessings but God is not well pleased with them I don't want miracles in my life I want God's approval can you say that honestly to God Lord I don't care if you don't answer a single prayer of mine for any physical earthly blessing I don't care if I have to live in a hut and people think God hasn't blessed this person materially let them think that I couldn't care less if you looked at Paul's material state you think God hasn't blessed him the man was so poor he says in 2nd Corinthians 11 there were times when I didn't have enough money to buy food to eat is that the way God treats his apostles but look at the life he lived not God's blessing when God's approval that's the thing that we should be seeking God bearing witness to me I'm happy with you this is my son in whom I'm well pleased that's what we should be longing for which requires of what I would call a reorientation of our thinking - when it says our mind must be renewed in Romans 12:2 it III look at it that means my mind must begin to think like Jesus thinks like Jesus thought when he was on earth that is conformity to Christ conformity comes in the way I'm thinking and that is the whole purpose with which God gave us the Holy Spirit the gods given us the Holy Spirit so that our minds are renewed to think like Jesus thinks about everything and there we pursue perfection to look at women exactly like Jesus looked at women is that your goal it'll make a tremendous difference in your life if you make that your goal instead of a low goal saying I just want to want to avoid pornography as much as possible okay that's okay in the kindergarten class but you gotta be spending all your life at that level I want to look at women the way God Jesus looked at women I want to look at money exactly the way Jesus looked at money material wealth even if God's given me something I want to look at it the way Jesus looked at I want to look at my business the way Jesus looked at his carpentry business exactly the same way he's our example that's why in the New Covenant God's given us an example said follow me and Paul says I follow follow me as I follow Christ if you're going this way you can look at people who are younger than you and say follow me as I follow Christ I look at it like climbing a mountain where say Jesus has reached the peak 30,000 feet and all is climbing and maybe he's reached 10,000 feet and he can look at those who are younger behind him like me and say follow me as I follow Christ here thank you Paul your example is a great example for me it helps me to follow because I know you're walking the footsteps of Christ and if you're at 5,000 feet you can look at people younger than you and say hey follow me as I follow Paul and I follow Christ I'm not ashamed to say I follow godly men I'm thankful for the Royal men of God a very few that I knew in my younger days that were an example for me and I'm not ashamed to say that I followed them as they followed Christ so don't try to be so super spiritual that you say I don't have any human examples I just follow Jesus I've seen through the years that people who say that there's an arrogance about them and a carnality about them and they're not at all like Christ and that proves to me that's something wrong they're not reading Philippians 3:17 they're not reading 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1 they're not understanding that God is in the New Covenant God's given us human examples and not just scripture in the Old Testament it was just Scripture study study study and try and do that but in the New Testament Jesus is an example Paul was an example and Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12 be an example to those who believe be an example in other words let them look at 120 methey 4:12 look at let them look at the way you speak and learn how to speak a number of things mentioned their speech conduct love faith purity let them look at your speech and learn how to speak in a christ-like way let let them look at the way you love people and learn to love people in Christ like we let them look at your life of faith and learn how to depend on the Lord let them look at your purity show yourself an example this is our calling as brothers this is our calling as men women must look up to us how wives must look up to us and see Christ in us the people around us must see Christ in us and this is why we need above all things to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and Fire my whole life changed when I experienced this the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire this is the whole purpose with John the Baptist said don't just look at Jesus as the Lamb of God he's also the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire and I'm not surprised that the devil has made this whole doctrine of the baptism the Holy Spirit perhaps the most controversial doctrine in Christianity with plenty of counterfeits which proves to me that the real thing is very valuable people don't make counterfeits of toilet paper and newspaper people make counterfeits of diamonds and gold so if they're they're counterfeit gifts of the Spirit and counterfeit baptisms of the Spirit boy the real thing must be pretty valuable it is and let me also say in my opinion most people who claim to be baptized in the Holy Spirit it's counterfeit it's not the real thing because I don't see them with a passion to glorify Christ Jesus said when the Spirit has come he will glorify me John 16 he will not speak about himself he'll speak about me the mark of a spiritual man as he points to Christ he lifts christ up and he glorifies Christ and he doesn't speak about the spirit all the time very very important and that this experience is not something that we must have just once it's continuous must mean the present continuous you know the Acts of the Apostles speaks about people who experienced a filling with the Holy Spirit and it says about certain people who were full of the Holy Spirit that means they lived in that perpetual state of being filled with the spirit and that's what I emphasize be being filled with the spirit which is the real translation of Ephesians 5:18 be being filled continuously the present continuous tense I want to urge you brothers let's pursue that because that is the provision God is made for us to live the type of life I've just been talking about let's pray how many fathers we bow before you we pray that you will remind us of the things that we need reminding of mom among the many things we heard help us each one bless our time together the rest of today in Jesus name Amen

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 37,041

Rating: 4.8352942 out of 5

Keywords: centered, god, not, self, standing, true, day, compromise, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship, mens, conference, 2015

Id: LJrEXN70XH0

Length: 65min 54sec (3954 seconds)

Published: Sun May 24 2015