Destination Christlikeness by Zac Poonen

and the one of the great truths that I have seen we were speaking about new covenant servants this morning is that the Lord works through a body that's another big difference from the Old Covenant and new covenant if you look at the Old Covenant you see these outstanding men Abraham Noah David Samuel Jeremiah all the way up to John the Baptist they were lone men I was once looking at the timeline in the Old Testament and found there were certain prophets that worked around the same time like Jeremiah and Habakkuk and Zeff and I and even a prophetess hold up but they never seemed to work together they function in different places and they were lone individuals but as soon as Jesus came he was the first person who started sending out people two-by-two and in the Acts of the Apostles you see that right at the beginning Peter and John going to the temple and later Paul and Barnabas it's always two by two and when Barnabas left and Paul and Silas this was a new age it was the age of the body of Christ it is not the age of great and outstanding individuals people want to be great outstanding individuals must go back to BC before Christ if you want to function as a new covenant servant you must be willing to be a part of the body and therefore you may not be able to do what somebody else can do and you must be humble enough to acknowledge it we probably heard a lot about balance in the Christian life we must be balanced in terms of our character the glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ we read in John 1:14 full of grace and truth and that must be seen in our lives we must not be holy grace or holy truth if we grow we have to grow in grace and truth and all of us are imbalanced in this area when we begin because of our natural temperament some of our more leaning towards being very strict and legalistic and some naturally very gracious and overlooking things but the balance is what makes us spiritual you know I think of it like a human body there's such a perfect balance between the left side and the right side if if one side of the body was not proportionate to the left side even if you had two years and one was bigger than the earlier look ugly or when I was bigger than the other so balance is what we must pursue and that's what the Holy Spirit keeps showing us areas in our life if we are honest where we are imbalanced or where we need to listen to his voice of Correction where Jesus himself is our example but when it comes to out now that's as far as our life is concerned but when it comes to our ministry it is impossible for any of us to be balanced completely out of the question because we are one part of the body of Christ Christ himself was the only person who was the total body of Christ there was only one person who walked the earth who could say I am the body of Christ I am the body of Christ that was Jesus Christ and he was a possible prophet evangelist Shepherd teacher and a miracle worker and healer and everything but after the day of Pentecost Jesus got another body a spiritual body and the reason why the church is called the body of Christ is because it's got to carry on the ministry which was begun with the first body of Christ in Israel and that's why when Luke writes the Acts of the Apostles he begins with these words that which and the former account or Theophilus the first account and he's referring to the Gospel of Luke he's saying this Gospel of Luke that I first composed and which I wrote to you Theophilus is all about what Jesus began to do and teach so if you were to ask Luke himself can you give a title for your gospel he would say this is the title all that Jesus began to do and teach and that's the first verse in the Acts of the Apostles and there are two things we learned from that verse if you read the Bible slowly and carefully we learn a lot that we miss if we read through quickly the first is that Jesus never taught what he never did he did not practice what he preached he preached what he had already practiced that's in this verse he did and taught he did not teach and do later on he did and taught it's a pattern for all of us to follow never to teach what we have not done or at least what we're not attempting to do so if you were to ask Luke now what's your talking for the Acts of the Apostles oh it's very simple the first indicates it what would you say all that Jesus continued to do and teach that's the title for Acts of the Apostles because he refers the first one the first book the gospel is what he began to do and teach so this is what he continued to do and teach that's what he began to do and teach in his physical body and this is what he continued to do and each through his spiritual body all that he did in his physical body he did because he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God as a man and all that he would continue to do and teach and the Acts of the Apostles would be through being filled with the Holy Spirit through his body being filled with the Holy Spirit and that's why the New Covenant begins with the day of Pentecost where they are filled with the Holy Spirit so when it comes to our ministry it's really impossible to fulfill our ministry without being filled with the Holy Spirit and not just being filled with the Holy Spirit being full of the Holy Spirit which is more than being filled fill is a act of a moment being full of the Holy Spirit means continuously full I mean you can say you fill the gas tank in your car but it may not be for right now but to be continuously full and that's why you read in Acts chapter 6 you know there was a time when there was a little problem in the early church because there was some partiality in the distribution of food to the widows and the Greek widows had a complaint verse 1 but the Hebrew widows were being shown partiality by the other Jewish believers and so the Twelve Apostles called the congregational disciples said in verse 2 see we can't waste our time serving food because that's not our calling we are called to preach God's Word but what type of people do you need to serve food what would you say the Apostle said they need to be men of good reputation full of the holy spirit do you need to be full of the holy spirit to serve food whoever thought of that every ministry this is perhaps the most earthly of all ministries distributing food to the poor widows see in the body of Christ there are certain ministries which some of you may be doing which look very earthly I mean you're not necessarily actually leading a soul to Christ or building a church you're contributing towards the overall building of the church but what you're actually doing every day may be something very very very close to serving food how shall you do it you need to be full of the holy spirit not filled once but full of the Holy Spirit now if everybody now some people say well every believers soon as you're born again they're filled with the Holy Spirit then the air I said listen just select seven believers why didn't he say that why didn't they say that they said yeah they're lots of believers but not everyone is full of the holy spirit so when you select people just make sure that that's a person full of the Holy Spirit which means a person who is consistently filmed so that's very important if we are to fulfill our function in the body of Christ even the most earthly of functions like serving food or anything else it's not just to preach or heal those are different functions the Bible speaks about gifts like helps in 1 Corinthians 12 among the gifts of the Spirit we're told about apostles prophets 1 Corinthians 12 28 God has appointed in the church apostles first of all those are the ones who plant churches guide the elders of churches prophets who prophetic aliy proclaim not foretelling the future like it was in the Old Testament even in the Old Testament not all prophets foretold the future that was one function of all tests some Old Testament prophets but not all the greatest prophet of all jesus said was John the Baptist and he foretold nothing about the future his message was repent repent repent that was common of all the prophets every prophet in the Old Testament his primary message was repent to bring God's people back to his original purpose for them I would say that is the function of a prophet and if they went astray to the right the prophet's ministry was to turn them to the left he they went astray to the left the prophet's ministry was to steer them towards the right and so the prophets in the Old Testament did not try to have a balanced ministry you know speak on all subjects and expound verses they were not exposed you know many people think expository preaching is the best preaching of all well I'll tell you none of the prophets who are expository preachers they preached one thing what God burdened them and they kept on preaching that again and again and again and again because that's what people needed a lot of preachers are I find today are so afraid to speak on the same thing again lest they lose their reputation as preachers I know preachers who say that when they go you know these traveling preachers when they travel around they have a notebook where they write down the sermon they preach the subject they preached in ETS so they come back again there next year they don't preach the same thing less people think there are nothing else to say well no Old Testament prophet was like that these are only people seeking honor they don't know God well the Old Testament prophets they sought God said Lord Lord what is your word for your people and it didn't matter if they had already preached that ten times that Bridgette again you can card was in it so in the New Testament it's not foretelling but like this bringing God's people back to his original purpose for them for the church prophets teachers to expound God's word miracle workers healings and here's this thing a gift I was talking about help isn't it interesting that in the same verse as apostles and prophets and miracle workers there's a little gift called helps and if an apostle needs to be filled with the Holy Spirit and you certainly believe that and no one can do miracles without being full of the Holy Spirit what about helps I mean if your gift is just helps you need to be full of the Holy Spirit to do that a lot of people in the world can help but there's a lot of difference between a man full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom helping tremendous difference the reason I say that is because some people can think that's such a low I mean I don't have such an outstanding gift in the body of Christ I'm not an apostle or a prophet teacher like the human body it's wonderful that the Lord uses the example of the human body is a picture of his church and you know there are ministries in the human body which are very prominent more visible the tongue for example we could say the tongue is like a preacher a prophet speaks of the teacher but behind that tongue there are so many ministries in the body you know that that makes the tongue speak I mean primarily the heart how it is pumping pumping pumping the blood if it stops the tongue would stops being I I mean being in the speaking ministry in myself now for nearly 50 years I'm very conscious of one thing that there are a lot of people pray for me wherever I go I always send an email out to a lot of people in all of our churches see this is where I'm going please pray for me if the heart stops pumping the lifeblood the tongue cannot speak and I know it's made the world of difference in my life and I know that that's the reason I see why Paul in his letters if you read in Paul's letters he tell people pray for me that I might open my mouth with boldness one would think that Paul why does Paul need prayer that he such a bold man as it is why does he need prayer that he'll open his mouth with boldness he needs it he's one member of his body of the body he was an outstanding member no doubt but rarely dependent on other members so a gift like helps you know loud parts of the body which are not visible inside our human body how many of you believe those are less important than the visible ones almost every internal organ is much more important than fingers and toes you can live without your fingers and toes one of those internal organs if this removed you wouldn't you wouldn't be able to live so I've heard of a lot of people talking about a balanced ministry there is no person who has a balanced ministry a person has got to be a conceited snob to think that his ministry is a balanced ministry not at all I've often publicly said I'm a thoroughly imbalanced person my ministry in my life as I said I want to grow full of grace and truth sure I want to have love I want to have joy fullness of all of this peace I want to have long-suffering with people I want to be gentle with people I want to be good I want to a meekness self-control the fruit of the Spirit I want all of it but when it comes to the gifts of the Holy Spirit it says here in 1 Corinthians travel the Holy Spirit distributes them severally this reading verse 11 individually just as he wills he decides this fella is going to be an apostle one's going to be a prophet one's gonna be a help and I can't choose that I have to accept what the Holy Spirit gives and I have to recognize humbly my dependence on that other member of the body of Christ who doesn't appear to have such an outstanding gift as I have in fact we read in 1 Corinthians 12 he goes on to say that there are members that don't appear to be very attractive when it says in verse 24 the last part 1 Corinthians 1224 God has so composed the body of Christ giving more honor now listen to this is almost unbelievable giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked and the whole purpose of this why does God give more among an honor to a member which lacks apparent prominence let's say or who's not so famous or not so known or as gift is not so spectacular I'm the healer and the prophet their ministries are spectacular even the evangelists people like Billy Graham Mother Teresa are they are all very famous people who've got fantastic ministry but they are rare one in a million what about the multitudes of believers whose names nobody ever knows God has given more abundant honor if you feel you're one of those who lack the gifts that other people have who you're not one of those spectacular outstanding servants of God maybe you're just a wee teeny weeny help you know a blood vessel perhaps there are thousands of miles of blood vessels in our body in one human body so to be one blood vessel is not a great thing but it's a very important part of the body so God has given more abundant honor to some of those small teeny-weeny things there may be thousands of blood vessels and you're one of them which blood vessel is there in the body which is unnecessary what are you willing to do without one of them I'd be willing to do without a finger sure but not one of those internal organs so we must never despise what God has made us and I want to say the way God prepares you for a ministry in the body of Christ is by training us first of all gifting us from birth we have certain natural gifts all of us which we didn't create God gave it to us when we were born say intelligence not all are equally intelligent you never have to complain before God Lord why do you make me less intelligent than that person it's because that's he has a particular ministry for you you know Paul was an outstandingly intelligent person I think he'd have been a success as a businessman as a software engineer as a president of a country or anything he would have been a success anywhere he decided to use his gift for the Lord Peter was not that intelligent he was spiritual just a spiritualist Paul but God could not use Paul or Peter to write the letters that Paul wrote so in the body of Christ there are different people with different measures of intelligence according to the gift according to the function in the body we so when we are born itself God has equipped us with certain abilities with which prepare us before we are converted you know how you know these verses in one Psalm 139 where David says you form being my mother's womb and how God tells Jeremiah and Jeremiah chapter 1 before when you were conceived I had prepared you to be a prophet imagine when he was conceived John the Baptist prepared in his mother's womb to be a prophet and a forerunner so you must believe that to the least in the kingdom of God Kingdom of Heaven jesus said in matthew 11 is greater than John the Baptist and if John the Baptist was prepared in his mother's womb to be a prophet and fulfill a certain function you must believe according to your faith be done to you don't let the devil rob you of the joy and excitement of believing that in your mother's womb God prepared you with certain abilities even the country you were born in I have no doubt that God made no mistake in allowing me to be born in India there was a purpose and allowed you to be born wherever you were one of the great truths that changed my life years ago was when I recognized that God loved me as he loved Jesus it was if there's one truth that completely revolutionized my life it was this let me just turn you to that verse John 17 23 John 17 23 there are many verses in the Bible that tell us that God loves us but this is one of the old vs. that tell us that we were loved as much as Jesus Christ John 17 and verse 23 that the world may know the last part that you loved them even as you love me so if I were to ask you two questions do you know God loves you yes how much does he love you now many would say well to the depth of the Cross yeah it's true but according to this verse I would say he loves me as much as he loved his only begotten Son I'll tell you why this truth revolutionized my thinking and changed my whole attitude to my life and ministry he brought a security into my life which I never had for years as an insecure believer always feeling inferior to others I was like that I'll tell you honestly I mean if you I mean today you look at me you wouldn't believe it but it's true the thing that changed my life when I recognize that my Heavenly Father loved me as much as he loved Jesus I wouldn't dare to believe that if it was not written in Scripture if Jesus himself had not said it he's the one who knows the father better than anybody else he says in Matthew 11 no one knows the father but the son we have our own ideas about God but they could all be wrong all the religions in the world have come out of people expressing their own ideas about God there's only one idea of God that's right and that's what Jesus said because he's the only one who came from heaven and he tells me that the father loves me as much as he loved him that must be right and I don't want to bring my foolish mind into that and question it I believe it's right and I wish all of you would believe it and if you're one of those insecure types like me it makes you totally secure I'll tell you the results that came in my life as a part of that it delivered me completely from jealousy I can honestly say before God I'm four years since I understood that truth I've never been jealous of anybody else of their ministry I've never wanted anybody else's ministry never been in competition with anybody it's so much of competition in the body of Christ competition in the church where one wants to show that they can speak better than another or do better things or secretly proud and I'm doing so much for God and I must be better than that guy all of that disappears you stop comparing yourself with people when you recognize that God loves you as he loved Jesus you're special in his eyes and so is that other brother/sister special in God's eyes you don't think of yourself as more special if Jesus was special so am i and so are you it's a wonderful truth it's not a you know some type of psychology to get people feel secure no it's not a technique it's not playing mind games it's believing what Jesus said and from that truth I learnt wonderful things that what God did for Jesus he would do for me the reason I say that is because of another verse in Romans two thing is verse 14 which says there's no partiality with God how many of us read through that verse and say there's no partiality with God yeah I understand that what I want to suggest to you my brothers and sisters when you read scripture don't just read it Romans 2:11 meditate on it what does it mean when it says there is no partiality with God Jesus often used human examples to illustrate divine truths he would say if you earthly fathers know how to give good things to your children how much more your heavenly father will give good things to those who ask him so I think of myself as an earthly father with four sons and whatever I did for my elder son eldest son I I sought with all my heart to do for the other three to the best of my ability I would try to give to the other three the same opportunities I could give to the first one and never there I had to the best of my knowledge I had no partiality mm-hmm among my four sons they were all equal to me and now not all fathers are like that I strove to be like that because I saw God was not partial and I knew that as a father I had to be a representative of God to my children so any true father must be like God totally impartial so if I as a very weak and poor father would be so careful to make sure that everything I did for my eldest son I would do for the others I'm multiplying that by millions and say God's much more than that whatever he did for his eldest son he would do for me one of the younger son have you noticed in Scripture that up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ he is called the only begotten Son and thereafter he's never called the only begotten son he's called the firstborn what's the difference in the only begotten in the firstborn you all know when I only had one son he was my only begotten son the moment I had a second one he was my firstborn and that's why on the day of resurrection and you see the little little things there when Mary Magdalene met Jesus Jesus used a title for God that he had never used before he said go and tell my brothers that I ascent to my father and your father he combined the two you take a concordance and look through it's very interesting before that he would very often speak about my father my father my father sometimes about your heavenly Father your heavenly Father but he never combined the two never but the day of his resurrection he said my father and your father it's the same and that's the first time that he actually called those disciples tell my brothers there was an earlier occasion where he had said my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it but he never specified who they were this is the first time he called him brothers now just three days earlier you read in John 15 that Jesus says so far I have called your servants but now I raise you to a higher level and I call you friends even three days before on the day of his the night before his crucifixion they were only friends there were servants and they were friends but the moment he rose from the dead he said they're not servants and friends now they are brothers they are my brothers and that includes sisters too and so he became the firstborn from the day of resurrection and I'm one of the younger brothers and we read that also in Romans 8 verse 29 that God's you know law there's a lot of controversy in christen him about the word predestination it comes here in Romans 8:29 whom he foreknew that's you and me he predestined to become conformed to the image of his son and just by the way let me say this here there is not a single verse in the entire scripture that teaches that anybody is predestined to go to heaven or to hell that word predestined to go to heaven or credence to go to hell is never found in Scripture whatever any theology may say you won't find it we are predestined according to this verse to become like Jesus Christ and predestination is a very simple word if you split it up into two you know what destination is everybody knows that you know what pre is pre means before hand a destination determined beforehand that's all predestination is every time you get an air ticket you've got a predestination it's written there where you're gonna go and when you go to the airport you check on the board where is my flight free destination it's written there I gotta go to New York now hundreds of flights I don't want to take any of them I wanna take the one that's taking me to New York so God has given me a ticket as it were with the destination written on it it's predestination and that destination this is what I love to tell God's people he's not heaven sorry to disappoint anyone who is expecting heaven to be his destination it's not heaven and for the comfort of a lot of others if they're not predestined to hell either the destination is becoming totally like Jesus Christ it's so clear here he predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ because every part of the body must have the same life as the head not a different life must be as healthy as the head now this was not possible in the Old Testament because Jehovah God could not be the head of Israel as a body there are many titles given to Israel which are also given to the church like kingdom of priests you read Israel was called so called the Kingdom of fries and Exodus the bride of Jehovah you read that nice I like the church is the bride but there's one title given to the church which is never given to Israel the body Israel was not the body of Jehovah they could not be they could be the bride they could be the family of God they could be kings and priests all that but they could not be the body because they could not have that in Word you know the body in a king in this kingdom they don't have an inward connection its external even a bride and the bridegroom is an external connection but head and body that's inward a man and his wife don't have an inward connection with each other there was no word used to describe Israel which described an inward connection that's a unique to the New Testament the body when a Christ is the head it's an inward connection to every single weakest member of the body even if you're a help and we are predestined to become like Jesus Christ in every area of our life and like I said you go to the airport and you look for the flight that's take that you look for the flight that's written on your ticket and how do you know you got into the right flight well every hour you should be getting closer to your destination if New York is written on your ticket every hour you should be getting closer to New York if you're not moving at all or you're moving in some other direction you're on the wrong plane you better get off that's not you you got into the wrong flight now apply this to predestination here there's a destination God has for me it's not heaven a lot of people say am i send they're all forgiving I'm on my way to heaven I say I'm on my way to become like Jesus Christ that's my destination and how do I know I'm on that narrow path going there every year I should have become a little more like Jesus Christ a little humbler a little gentler a little purer a little more gracious in my speech more controlled more self-control more free from the love of money this year than I was last year and ten times more free than I was ten years ago that's how I know I'm getting towards my destination I can look with pure eyes at women more like the way Jesus would look at women but it's that true of a lot of people who call themselves believers is it true of your life a lot of people who are very busy in the Lord's work they're not going in the right direction you hear of pastors who've been outstanding preachers fantastic Ministry building mega churches and all of a sudden you discover the guy was living in adultery or homosexuality with somebody for years still and they don't even acknowledge it till they're caught and some some people not even after they're caught they get the best lawyers in town to tell a whole lot of lies and protect their testimony are these people servants of God No agents of Satan disguising themselves as ange Angels of Light and ministers of righteousness how does that happen do you think that posture was like that the day was converted no and I think if some of you were to examine your lives you may discover that you were more devoted to Christ the day you were converted can you think back to the day you were converted can you think back to the day you first joined this office with what zeal and eagerness you never wanted to be anybody here you were nobody the first day okay but maybe through the years you built up a reputation there's somebody now recognized people know your name and you're no longer the same humble gentle person willing to be unknown quietly serving the Lord that you were the day of you came you become a big shot have you moving towards your destination I see my Savior the last day of his life he was washing his disciples feet he was not the director of a huge organization on the last day of his life he was washing the disciples feet now I'm often looked at that and said Lord that's a direction I want to go after I've served you 60 70 years perhaps come to the end of my life the height of maturity and the height of usefulness to God I want to be found at the feet of simple humble poor maybe illiterate villagers a lot of my work is among illiterate villagers washing their feet serving them that's how I know I'm going towards my destination not that I've become a very gifted speaker or respected and known and these things mean nothing to God that's the spirit of the world in the world you know people become famous scientists and famous businessman and famous politicians their name comes in the cover of Time magazine and different things like that but to be unknown dead to the world and it's applause to all the customs and fashions and laws those who hate the humbling cross so dead that no desire may arise to appear good or great or wise in any but my saviors eyes that's a little poem I wrote in my Bible the first Bible I got 51 years ago I repeated it to myself many times through the years dead to the world and it's applause to all the customs fashions laws of those who hate the humbling cross so dead that no desire may rise to appear good or great or wise in any but my saviors eyes keep at before you brothers and sisters it's helped me tremendously in my life I know times when God I know God has spoken to me and said don't ever evaluate your life by how much you serve me how many sermons you preach how gifted you are how many places you've gone how many books you've written how many people have been blessed through you or how many messages or CDs it means nothing can you consciously eliminate all of that from your mind everything that's called ministry and look at your life have you become more like Jesus that's the only thing that'll matter in the final day if you see that it'll make a tremendous difference in our life and he made he conformed us to the image of his son so that we might be the firstborn among many brothers it says in Romans 8:29 that's where I get the verse that I'm the younger brother of Jesus but I'm a younger brother who's to become like my elder brother every day just like we would want our children at the end of year we don't check up whether they got a promotion to the next grade every day but at least every year as my son got promoted to the next class in school it's good for all of us to check at least once a year whether it's on New Year's Day or your birthday to ask yourself how am I getting closer to my destination which is not heaven I'm not on my way to heaven I'm on my way to become like Jesus pre destination what's written on your ticket is it heaven not on mine my ticket is written totally like Jesus Christ it's the goal we're working towards the thing is if you got heaven written on your ticket you can relax and say well my sins are all forgiven I'm on my way to heaven I just sit back on my couch and do nothing maybe out of little gratitude I do something for the Lord and I congratulate myself that I'm in God doing this that the other for him sacrificing it means nothing if you are not becoming more and more like Christ what is the fruit of our service a lot of people would count the fruit of their service in terms of thousands of souls blessed countries reached different ways let me show you what scripture says many years ago the Lord showed me this verse as to how I was to evaluate my ministry and my service what was the fruit I was to look for in my service fruit is it soul saved in my I'm not an evangelist primarily and so I can't count in terms of soul save maybe souls sanctified who were brought to Christ by somebody else but this is the worst that Lord spoke to me from Romans 6 verse 22 no most of us know Romans 6:23 very well-known words the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life a lot of false teaching comes out of an imbalanced understanding of Scripture where we try to get doctrine out of one verse a lot of wrong understanding of eternal life has come from Romans 6:23 the gift of God is eternal life you tell people just receive it brother what do you do with a gift just say thank you and take it this is the result of using logic when we come to scripture like someone has said a text taken out of context is a pretext you know what pretext means it's not really the truth so when you look at Romans 6:23 eternal life look at Romans 6:22 which also speaks of eternal life how do we get eternal life according to Romans 6:22 and that comes before Romans 6:23 ok let's look at the eternal life in Romans 6:22 step number one being made free from sin not forgiving that's in Romans three not justified that's Romans four and five here is speaking about sin not having dominion over us Romans 6:14 that's the context and being made free from sin we become servants of God how do I become a servant of the New Covenant in the Old Covenant you could be a servant without being free from sin but here it says being free from sin you become a servant of God I've often preached on this do you know brothers and sisters if you want to be a servant of God you got to be free from sin in the Roman Catholic Church they say you got to be free from marriage if you want to be a servant of God in the Roman Catholic Church in evangelical Christianity they say to be a full-time worker you must be free from a secular job but the Bible says not free from marriage you're free from a secular job free from sin and that's a lot more difficult being made free from sin not just you've given up your job and you've given up marriage but you've given up sin you've given up your anger you stop lusting you don't watch internet pornography being free from sin I can be a servant of God and as a servant of God I get some fruit in my life if you have an NASB margin it says fruit and I think the King James Version says fruit you your fruit is not souls not soul saved or soul sanctified your fruit is sanctification in your own life have you seen that when I serve God the fruit I get is greater holiness in my own life if I'm not getting greater holiness in my own life I am not serving God even if a million people think I'm a servant of God God doesn't think so oh you're a pretty pathetic useless servant of God if you are not getting becoming increasingly holy if your service for God is not making more holy yawning God a lot of people who are think they're serving God are only serving themselves many people don't realize that just like there's a lust for sex in man and a lust for money do you know that in all human beings there's a lust to be religious it's there in Muslims is there in Hindus it's there in Christians is there in born-again Christians there it's expressed in different ways the Muslim young man his last name manifested certain being a suicide bomber for the cause of Islam in the Hindu it may be in becoming a sadhu or devoting oneself to religious functions in a Christian it's the same lust for religion found in all all human beings it may be I want to serve God full-time and we think we're serving God now if you are really serving God you'll be holier and if you serve God for ten years and you have not become holier and holier and holier and holier in 10 years I'm sorry to tell you the truth but you're not being serving God you've been serving yourself and a lot of outstanding Christian workers have spent their lives serving themselves they were not like that when they first started I think of some fine young people I have met I know whom I knew as a young man myself devoted wanted to serve God and I really believe they were sincere devoted and even called to serve Him but I see them today after many years 30 40 years I knew them when they were young students of God they have followed the way of the great preachers you know wanting the limelight and wanting all the perks and advantages that come by being a famous preacher gone astray completely no longer approachable there's no smell of humility in them at all are they serving God I don't think so and I don't have any respect for them I respect a man who is godly even if he has no gift I respect a man whose christ-like not a man who's accomplished a lot in Christian circles if he's a real servant of God his fruit will be holiness and the end the final outcome eternal life a lot of people can't understand that because they say you mean I get eternal life only at the end I don't get it now it's because of a misunderstanding of eternal life we are mathematical in our thinking we got to get rid of that eternal life does not mean life that never ends even mathematically that's not correct eternity is that which had no beginning and has no end so eternal life is a life which had no beginning and has no end what life is that see only the life of God when God created man he may have created him as an eternal soul who never dies but he doesn't have a life that had no beginning all of us had a life that had a beginning eternal life is the life of God and that's why Jesus defined eternal life in John 17:3 as it's not living forever those who go to hell live forever - do they have eternal life no jesus said eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ to me ascent John 17:3 and that is the result of serving God that's you know that means we get to know God better and better and better that I know God a lot better today I know his ways in the Old Testament in Psalm 103 and worse Psalm 103 and verse 7 you see this very significant statement God made known his ways to Moses but his actions to the sons of Israel the sons of Israel were like immature kids Moses was his mature broken broken in 40 years of truly mature man is always a broken man broken man of God he knew God and God would reveal his ways Moses I'll tell you why I do it like this but as the children of Israel could only see his actions oh the manner that came from heaven Lorenzi split open and the quails that fall when we need it and the healing from the bite of the poisonous serpents and a water that comes out of the rock these are the actions of God people are excited about miracles and actions what God has done and what got it done here and what God's done through my ministry and how he saved this person and blessed that person the other person well it's good praise the Lord for the manna that comes from heaven and for the Red Sea's that are split and all the wonderful things that God does but how much do you know the ways of God not his gifts it's a mark of a mature son of God not a child of God to know God's ways God made known his ways to Moses so that is eternal life the fruit of our services yet that I get closer and closer to my destination to become like Christ I was speaking about balance God has given each of us a particular ministry I remember when I started out in the Navy I was converted when I was 19 and a half I was baptized when I was 21 when you mean it mean I started serving the Lord I started studying Scripture I couldn't teach the word because I didn't know the word but I was saved I knew how to be born again so I spent those early years doing the only thing I knew to do evangelism I would go to so many street corners I remember I was in the Naval Base at Cochin and every Wednesday was a half day for us and Saturday was a half day I would skip my lunch fast and pray with another brother for a couple of hours every when is the insanity and go out on my scooter stand in this from street corner and sing a few songs and 5 or 10 people would gather around wondering who these crazy fellows are standing here and again an opportunity preach the gospel to them give out a few tracks 5 minutes go to the next street corner and in two years we covered the whole city every single Street in that city and in traveled in buses I'd be witnessing the people travel in trains it's the only thing I knew and I longed to be an evangelist I said Lord if you call me I'll go anywhere I'll go to Rajasthan I'll go anywhere you call me and gift me I can't do it and I wouldn't dream of trying to serve you if you don't gift me no I mean you can't be a going to an operating theater if you're not a surgeon you'd kill people I wouldn't dream of constructing buildings if I were not an engineer the building would collapse so I wouldn't dream of I'm going to serve God in any sphere without God gifting me for that that's the foolishness of some people so I long to be an evangelist but I found through the years that I didn't get much fruit from it and God showed me that was not my calling that was my first choice and God said no okay and he gifted me to teach his word I said I accepted that and as the years have gone by I have seen that that is the gift that God gives me and it's very easy you know it's by trial and error that we find the gift for example how do you know whether you have the gift of healing well you pray for a hundred people if nobody's healed you know that you don't have that gift it's pretty easy to find out or if by accident one person was healed who was already getting better in any way and it's not necessary that you have a gift or you tried to do a lot of evangelism and not many people are converted that's not your gift but that's how it was with me but I found when I began to teach the word if a hundred people sat there listening to me all hundred would get something ah now I knew what my gift was it was by trial and error over a period of time that I realized that God had given me he had put me in a particular place in the body of Christ and not just teaching but in teaching also there are subsections you know like in any college there are people who teach different subjects and I found that I had a specific calling from God not just like expository preaching I hardly ever do expository preaching I found that what the Lord told me specifically now this is not for anybody else this is just for me I'm just trying to say that you have a specific calling before I say that because God wanted me to be a teacher my mother's womb he equipped me with things like a good memory which is necessary that's not a spiritual gift but because God knew I had a particular calling he gave me that clarity in speech some people don't have clarity in speech it's something they're born with you don't despise them for it but if you want to be a communicator you need to have some ability to speak clearly and trained me I mean I got educated in a good school my where my parents sent me where I could learn English properly these I was not even converted those days what I'm trying to say is that God prepares you for your ministry from the mother's womb and all the circumstances you go through the education your parents give you are all ultimately designed to give you a particular ministry and then finally he anoints me and gives me supernatural gifts gift a prophecy which I coveted like the Bible says covet to prophesy so earnestly desire spiritual gifts but all of this it's not just a spiritual if there are natural things and not only the natural gifts God gave you from your mother's womb the experiences he takes you through different different experiences in life Paul says I went through so many trials and I experienced God's strength in that and there I could I learned something through it I went through a court case for ten years in India with people who took me personally the court made me stand like a criminal in the court it was a wonderful time of Education for me life is a constant education I first had to learn how to be a father my children got married I had to learn how to be a good spiritual father-in-law and then now I had to learn to be a grandfather spiritually the life is a constant education it never ends to be spiritual to really be godly in different areas when people cheat you how to react to that so the circumstances the way the things we are equipped with our early training in life and the spiritual gifts God gives us and the experiences it takes us through prepare us for a particular ministry and you have been prepared by God through all those things from your mother's womb for a particular task which none but you can do like that song says there's a work for Jesus that nobody but you can do I believe that there's a work for Jesus nobody that I am nobody but I can do and whatever your name is put that there God needs only one Zak woman in the body of Christ God needs only one you that's why I keep telling my coworkers in India don't ever try to be like me or copy my ministry you're not supposed to speak like me I found in my teaching ministry God the particular calling mine was listen to what all of what is being preached in Christendom Christendom today I don't have cable television at home but I did get cable television for one year to listen to all the Christian programs going on in India ninety percent were by American preachers because India is flooded with Christian television today so listen listen listen listen listen to one year just to find out what are they preaching I read books I listen to tapes to see what are people preaching that was my commission from God and then the Lord said to me now compare that with Scripture and preach what they are not preaching you know it's like you have a big circle and you get a number of people to color at all and then I have to come in and fill in the parts that are not colored so I saw very clearly what my calling was and that's what I've sought to do many people have tried to change me and say brother you need to be more balanced you can say what you like brother I know what my calling is when you don't know God you are influenced by people in your ministry when you know God you appreciate their sincerity in trying to tell you to be something else but say thank you very much but you don't know what they say because you know God think of the kidneys in the body of Christ the kidneys in your body they're thoroughly imbalanced they only purify the bloodstream get rid of the impurities from the blood that's all they do balance the chemicals in the blood so that everything is there almost nothing else you see is that all well that's one a very important function in the body of Christ and the day your kidneys back up he packs up so I believe that God needs certain ministries like that and I want to say to you if your ministries that have helps it may not be as important to function as some others but it's a very necessary function somebody told me that you know the little toes we have we have 10 toes that he is a brother who had a problem of his legs and he went to a doctor and the doctor told him do you know that it's those 10 toes that are hidden inside the shoes all the time and people don't think much about it if you didn't have toes you wouldn't have stability on your feet I don't do that it's not just the feet it's those 10 toes that give you some stability so what does it matter if you're just a little small toe hidden away underneath not observed by nobody you're a very important function of the body of Christ and your goal is a little toe is to become like Jesus don't evaluate yourself by how much you're accomplishing the value of yourself by are you becoming more like Christ that is your destination and that is what God is planned for you so to be a younger brother of Jesus it says the purpose with which God conforms us to the image of Christ is so that we might be younger brothers and sisters of Christ and now let's come to that very well-known verse Romans 8:28 which many of you know we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose now it's one of the most misunderstood miscoded verses among Christians here somebody wants to marry a girl and she gets married to somebody else this is okay Romans 8:28 God wants to give me a prettier girl that's why he took them that's not it that's not it I'm sorry that's not it or you couldn't get you applied for a job you didn't get it God gives once and give me a job with a better salary no he may get your job at the lower salary the good mentioned in Romans 8:28 is described in verse 29 that is you'll become a little more christ-like the girl you get married to may be a little uglier but more christ-like the job you get may be a lesser pay but it will lead you to greater sanctification because God's goal he doesn't care for your temporary good he cares for your eternal good you know little children are taken up with toys but their parents are planning something great for their children God seeks our eternal God to make me like Christ when we get to heaven I'll tell you when we get to eternity we'll discover that the greatest good God could have ever done for me is know not to make me a prophet or an evangelist but to make me like Jesus even if I wasn't nobody in the body of Christ if you understand this your heart will be at rest you will never again I'll tell you for my testimony you'll never again be in competition with anybody you'll never compare yourself with somebody and say law and congratulate yourself that you've done things for God or and the other wonderful thing is you will not be a backslider lot of people in Christian were they are honest they have to admit their back slidden you will rejoice always I remember in the early days of my serving the Lord I used to be frequently discouraged and depressed I wouldn't let anybody know it because in Sunday morning we'd sing songs like I'm happy all the time etc and all I wasn't really happy all the time so just a lie but once I knew Jesus love God loves me as he loved Jesus he cares for me as he cared for Jesus he'll do everything for me that he did for Jesus but I'm his younger brother and there's no partiality with God provided I fulfill the same conditions of course Jesus humbled himself so he was exalted if I humble myself I'll be exalted too and by exalted that's another thing God gave me light on you know humble yourself before God 1 Peter 5 that he may exalt you at the proper time what do you understand by that that he'll give you a ministry wrong he will exalt you over sin in your flesh that's the occasion I want not this empty exaltation before the Christian world it's garbage if you haven't seen exaltation in the world or the Christian world as garbage you're not really going to make much progress in the Christian life it means absolutely nothing many times the Lord has told me the opinions of men are fit for the trash can humble yourself before God because God will give you grace and he'll exalt you over sin in due time in other words even if you are defeated defeated that day will come and you'll be exalted over sin sin will not rule over you it will be a little more like Jesus that is the good God has in mind so I trust brothers and sisters we have got our vision focused you know very often we read scriptures it's like a projector projecting something on a screen and the letters are I can't read that hey fella but can you please focus it a little bit did you get your vision focus today scripture a little more focused certain verses a little more clear well that's God's truth let's pray Heavenly Father help us we pray to understand your calling upon our life to be satisfied with what you have called us to be to rejoice in it what a fantastic calling you've called us to be like your son help each one here Lord to pursue that goal in Jesus name we ask Amin

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

Id: cXSUOvJJPd0

Length: 69min 21sec (4161 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 19 2011