Devotion to Jesus and Being God's Mouth - Zac Poonen - May 29, 2017

I want to turn to Revelation chapter 2 as I said these letters to the elders of these churches when it says messenger angel means messenger it is almost certainly referring to the elder who would most frequently bring God's Word and in the five out of the seven elders who were backslidden and gone back we learned some things you're familiar with the fact that five of these messengers were in a very backslidden state very very backslidden and the one in lares here was in a terrible state and yet the amazing thing is it says here that were some the verse 20 chapter 1 verse 20 the mystery of the Seven Stars which you saw in my right hand and the Seven golden lampstands the seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches now the interesting thing to me is that the Lord still held them in his hand even though they were in a terribly backslidden condition that means he still kept them there as elders teaching us that the mere fact that we remain in eldership does not mean that the Lord is happy with us these were elders who were in the Lord's hands but he was thoroughly disgusted with five of them it reminds us of God allowing Saul to remain as king even after David had been anointed and even afters the Lord told Samuel don't pray for Saul anymore I finished with him but he still sat on the throne it's a very severe warning to us that the mere fact that we remain in a position of elder without having lost that position proves nothing it proves nothing about the Lord's approval or disapproval over our lives and that's why we have to live in fear and judge ourselves our salvation lies in judging ourselves and if we judge ourselves and there's hope and so if we look at the failures of these folks we can learn something for ourselves in and the very first one is the elder in Ephesus and he had so many good qualities is one of the things I find that when the Lord rebuke somebody is also a lesson here for us when we correct someone but he first begins with expressing and even appreciating all the good points there are notice this here is a church in Ephesus is an elder who has fallen so badly says in verse 5 remember from where you have fallen he is a fallen elder but he's in the Lord's hand and repent and the fall is so bad that if he does not repent he says I'll remove your lampstand out of its place of the lampstand is the church so the Lord is saying I won't consider this is my church anymore that's the meaning the lampstand is gone the building if they had a building was still there the five hundred believers maybe an emphasis would still be there they would still have their Sunday services and their song leaders in their preaching and probably their conferences would all go on as normal the Lord would not be there that's all that is the meaning I'll remove my lamp stand because the light comes from Jesus himself and if he's not there there's no light it's an empty lamp stand there are many churches which are empty lamp stands I will remove this light from your midst unless you repent so it's the Sabbath come to the edge of the cliff as it were and yet look at the things the Lord says to him where's - I know your deeds your toil your perseverance you cannot endure evil men and all these false apostles you come into our midst you put them to the test and you find their false you drive them out you have perseverance and they've endured for my name's sake they're in Ephesus and you have not grown weary if you stop there you think this is one of the best churches because all these are tremendous qualities is perseverance in activity and exposing false doctrine have nothing to do with all that but I have this against you that you have left your first love or you don't love me as you did at first or in other words all your activities are not coming out of love once upon a time it is out of love so that teaches us one very important lesson that we may all have started with great love for the Lord so we began our Christian life and when you began eldership we began to do it out of love for the Lord but it's so easy for that to become a routine matter that the love for the Lord is gone or the activity continues I sometimes use the example of a newly married husband and wife have permantly in love with each other and she just waits for him to come back from work and when she knows she's come back she's there at the door opening it and kissing him and welcoming him and she's got the dinner ready and so happy to sit together with him but don't see that same home 20 years later and she's not at the door anymore there's no kissing the husband of welcome and she may even say hey I I got hungry and I hate so the dinners on the table go and eat she's still serve him yes she's still cooking the meals his schemes still keeping the house and an outsider going in there could say yeah she's still cooking the meals for him and she's still keeping the house and doing everything looking after the children but that initial spark of love is gone that can happen in our relationship with the Lord where what we do can be a routine that we've got into this for we're supposed to do Sunday morning that's what we're supposed to do during the week for our flock and we do it we don't pull back from any of our responsibilities in the church here to keep the accounts you keep the accounts faithfully you do everything any of you're supposed to go and visit somebody one with somebody but it is no longer out of fervent love for Jesus Christ you have left your first love and that is the thing that we need to beware of all the time because when love does not motivate our action or our service it has no value before the Lord men can't see that because men still see that I'm haven't lost my testimony I am NOT fooling around with women I'm not cheating with money or anything I'm very upright who knows that you have the love you once had in your heart burning for Jesus is gone this is the greatest danger I would say that elder brothers who are very faithful in their work and who are reaching out and preaching here and preaching there and visiting folks and everything else and even maybe having discipline in the church face the danger of having losing ones first love for the Lord and because it is so subtle it can happen without our knowledge when what is the greatest commandment you know remember once the Pharisees are the Jews came to Jesus and what is the greatest commandment in the law for them it was it's keeping the Sabbath it was some ritual and Jesus said the greatest Commandments love God with all your heart soul strength and mind if you don't do that whatever else you do has got no value and combined with that is to love your neighbor as yourself so everything hinges on on love if it doesn't spring from love it as zero value it's something that we must bear in mind always because it's only then that we can preserve our flock also in that same devotion to Christ if you turn with me to 2nd Corinthians 11 something that I have been speaking about even at the last NCC F conference Paul says to the Corinthians I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I betrothed you to one husband to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin but I'm afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds should be led astray from that simple pure devotion to Christ that's what happened to the elder in Ephesus so here we are told what was the significance of the Tree of Life when you read about the tree of life in the Garden of Eden what does it symbolize it it symbolizes and signify something and there in Genesis chapter 2 and 3 we don't know what it signifies but here in the New Testament commentary on it inspired by the Holy Spirit we realized that the Tree of Life is simple pure devotion to Jesus Christ because that is what the devil took Eve away from that's what it says here he took Eve away from what did he take Eve away from the tree of life and he says you can also be led astray from that tree of life which is simple pure devotion to Christ then you'll be left with knowledge and that's what you've got and we can have plenty of knowledge so this is a serious thing and Paul says I have been taught you to Christ and I want to present you as a pure virgin so how are we presented as a pure virgin to Christ I'm not a pure virgin for Christ if I'm not in living in fervent devotion to him however much the Bible knowledge I have to me the tree of knowledge is Bible knowledge like I've often said the Bible can be a tree of knowledge for you and you can be an expert in it speak profound things from it but if you allow the Holy Spirit to open up the scripture to you it will become a tree of life for you that will me and how do you know that it will lead you to devotion to Jesus Christ your devotion to Christ will increase and it's a thing that we need to ask ourselves constantly how is our devotion to Christ personal devotion to Christ is it the most important thing in your life if it isn't something is wrong if your ministries become more important or helping the young people or even bringing up your family in a good way all that is good but if it doesn't spring out of your being in the Tree of Life fervent devotion to Christ this teaches us it's all worthless and Paul recognized that and so he was concerned that all those people in Corinth also should end up as a pure virgin for Christ I picture you know the Old Testament story of Abraham sending his servant to Mesopotamia to get a bride for Isaac he's a picture like many Old Testament pictures of God the Father sending the Holy Spirit or servants filled with the Holy Spirit to go and find a bride for his son and this servant filled with the Holy Spirit symbolically goes and finds Rebekah separates her from her home puts around the camel and travels this long road which would take many many weeks to bring her to Isaac a picture of the long journey the Holy Spirit takes us through to become to the marriage of the Lamb in Revelation 19 and we are the servants we are Elias or whoever the servant was who was bringing Rebecca and I picture it like this myself as an elder that there are many people on the way who would like to attract this pretty woman and take her away for for a night or something and I have to protect her that's my job I've been given that commission to bring this girl to her husband so I have to look at the church like that that's how Paul looked at it I'm jealous for you I'm afraid that somebody else will come and draw you away on this journey and I don't want I'm not I'm not going to allow that I'm gonna fight with that person that you've gotten no right to take this girl away she's a bride of my master's son that's the meaning here and jealous for you I can imagine Eliezer the servant would even very jealous to protect protect her and I can imagine that all along that journey he would have been telling her all about Isaac all that he knew and that's my calling in the church to show the glory of Jesus to the flock so beautiful picture and I've often meditated on it what would that servant we've been talking to Rebecca about and if Rebecca was real bright and the spirit of the bride what would she have been interested in knowing not how much money I you guys whatever manatee tell me more about him I want to know about him before I meet him and so this is the picture here and it all depends on fervent love for Christ and that fervent love for Christ has gone out of my heart I'm no longer fit to be an elder as far as God is concerned he says I'll remove the lampstand you can sit there as an elder and get all the honor and continue preaching in but I ID recognize you and the people in your church may not know that I have D recognized you because you sit there but those who have discernment which maybe just a few maybe 5% they will see that your love for Christ is not the same as it was many years ago and if we have discernment they will see it and they'll see that your messages don't have the same ring that they had 10 years ago because you have backslidden inwardly not outwardly because you still you're way ahead spiritually and all the other people in my church it's your fervent devotion to Christ that's simple devotion to Jesus Christ it's gone it's very very important to me because anything I do apart from that love for Christ has no value she love me keep my Commandments don't let me forget it in the Old Testament it was not like that the Old Covenant was keep my Commandments whether you love me or not you got to keep it if an Old Covenant person gave a type for example with much reluctance he obeyed the commandment he had not disobeyed any commandment by giving the type with reluctance he gave he's opposed to give 10% of his grain 10% of his flock he did it he was grumpy and sour about it when he gave them over to the Levites he had kept the commandment but in the New Covenant if you put one dollar in the box without a cheerful heart you disobeyed because in the Old Testament this is a question of how much you give in the New Testament is a question of how you give second Corinthians 9:7 says God loves a cheerful Giver so if I don't give cheerfully doesn't value if I don't serve the Lord cheerfully it has no value and there's that Old Testament reference no which we see if I can find in Isaiah chapter 16 for I can't find it there there is you know in the New Testament the kingdom of God is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit so if I serve the Lord without joy as a reference to that in the Old Testament which lifts my mind now because you serve the Lord without joy and DNE if you might know where that is it's either in Deuteronomy 28 or his eyes it often comes to my mind you know here's one one reference this one and as I was looking for as I 64 you meet him who rejoices and verse five in doing righteousness not just the one who does righteousness the Lord meets with the one who rejoices in doing righteousness who does this thing which may be very painful and says hallelujah I'm delighted to do this and when the joy goes out of my life then the Lord doesn't meet with me you meet with him who rejoices in doing righteousness and that is the worse in Deuteronomy Samaritan is in astronomy 28 because 28:47 yeah yeah because you did not serve the Lord with joy Deuteronomy 28 47 the glad heart therefore you will serve your enemies in the Lord sense you know apply that to your life if I'm not fervent in love for the Lord as I preach God's Word and I serve God's people as an L learn if ever that becomes a burden to me or I have to do this I have to do that I have to be hospitable now I'll serve my enemies one day because you did not serve the Lord with a glad heart for the all the abundance of things that God gave you so it's very easy I think of another verse which the Lord gave to me is when I was a very young man concerning this matter of serving the Lord with joy sorry with love I felt that well you know I would read some of the poems and hymns of these mystics like tirst Egan and Henry suzhou and all they seem to have they were Roman Catholics but they seem to have far more devotion in their expression of affection to the Lord more than many Protestant hymn writers show me thy face o Lord one transient gleam is a prayer show me thy face o Lord one transient gleam of loveliness divine I shall never think or dream of other love save dying or lesser lights will darken quiet all lower glories will wane the beautiful of earth will never seem beautiful again I used to sing that again and again and again to myself the young Christian show me thy face o Lord in my heart just one transiently of loveliness divine I shall never think or dream of other love save them all lesser light will darken quite all lower glories wane and the beautiful of earth will never seem beautiful again and I say Lord this is how I want to serve you all my life I sing it even now to the Lord just between me and the Lord to me the gift of tongues as well is a it's an expression of love to the Lord to private love language between me and Jesus never for public display just like when a wife is expressing her love for her husband she doesn't want anybody else to hear it that's how I understood that's why I see the gift of tongues that's how I see Paul used it so abused so misused like so many other things are misused and abused because why is it so much of Christendom has gone astray on this gift of tongues I haven't got it right because they don't love the Lord if they love the Lord they've got the right answers to all these things and because they don't love the Lord what is meant to be a private love language routine man and God is being abused Paul says I'm I speak in tongues more than all of you but in the church I won't even speak one word in a tongue but speaking unknown language then you ask Paul where in the world you use it then between me and the Lord privately so it's everything that we do must come out of that fervent love for the Lord otherwise it has no value and one of the words the Lord gave me at that time was not the Lord gave me which I read and challenged me was when I was just about 21 22 years old I was reading the Bible and I read this in Genesis in chapter 29 Genesis 29 it says here in verse 20 you know Jacob I just got cheated by marrying Leon but he really loved Rachel and my Jacob loved Rachel 2918 and he said I'll serve you seven years for your younger daughter and listen to this verse 20 so Jacobs served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her and I said Lord if a man can serve seven years for a woman and it's just like a few days I want to serve you all my life and it'll only be like a few days I can never become weary and serving the Lord no matter what I have to sacrifice no matter what sleep I have to lose no matter how much suffering I have to go through no matter how much inconvenience I lose my health it's fine or people will treat me all treat me badly because of the love I have for you to be nothing does the service of the Lord ever become heavy for you do you feel that people are taking advantage of you as a elder and how it would have been easier for you if you were not just not an elder in just coming along so many things you have to do because you're an elder and unlike other pastors who've got plenty of time and get paid for it you don't have plenty of time you're not being paid for it fine it's not a way very Lorelei's is nothing it all depends on love if you preserve yourself and it's very easy to discover in our life whether that first love for the Lord is gone if you look back today's your first converted or loved you had what sacrifice you're willing to do you're not an elder but you're willing to do so many things because you love Jesus I never want to lose it I remember how it was with me in the early days when I got converted I had all these other ambitions in the world when I got converted they all disappeared like that I didn't have I didn't have to struggle one bit I get to go he just vanished it's uh you know it's like a girl who was madly in love with a boy it's not a good boy and the father tries to wean her away from him but he doesn't succeed and she's always sending text messages to him and secret and the father just doesn't succeed and doesn't know what to do and all of a sudden one day she comes and says I've given up I've given him up and the father one is how did that happen I found a better boy that's how it happens when we find Jesus that love for the world you don't have to struggle to push away the love of money or the love of comfort or the love of pleasure or anything I found something better I found someone better it's the expulse --iv power of a new affection this new love can expel it's got tremendous power to expel all other loves and interests and I say Lord the day I lose that I don't want to live anymore on this earth I never want to lose I don't believe I will I mean I mean going 58 years and I don't believe I'll lose it because all the time I have to check myself is there anything else on this earth that interests me am I am I looking for some fame or honor before others do I want to be recognized as an elder you want to I want to be recognized as some senior elder or some more spiritual than all that rubbish of comparing ourselves that is far from it I don't want any recognition of anybody I just love Jesus and it's any service I do is just between me and him and I want to encourage all of you my brothers to seek to serve in your position as an elder to be like that and if you find some younger brother of one of your other fellow elders being more accepted it's a thrill your heart wonderful that brother is getting more accepted I'm glad to step back and let him go forward let him take my place that's the attitude of one who loves Jesus because he's not in any competition he just wants the work to be done and if somebody else wants to come and do it and it's like if you're carrying some heavy stuff into your car and somebody says hey I want to come and help you you're not going to say no no you can't do it you're younger than me oh thank you this is how true service for the Lord should be but it's so rarely seen in Christendom today and a new covenant church must demonstrate it at a great height at a great height of perfection that we serve without an atom of competition when that thing doesn't even enter into my mind to see whether others appreciate that brother more than me I'll be delighted if they do so exactly what I want glad to pull back because I only do it out of love for Jesus not for any we listen to all this and I'm sure we agree with it all but because we have a flesh in which dwells nothing good if you live in the Lord's presence you may discover some of these things that I'm speaking about raising their head in your heart make sure you kill it soon as it comes up it's a temptation it'll come up so that is why that's what those are the little things that make us lose our first love now we are doing the same thing but we're doing it with some other motivation we may not I think none of us would go and serve the Lord for money only any of you will do that but there can be a desire for honor and acceptance which can be just as bad as serving for money did you do something or you share something hoping that people will honor you except that they they will esteem you I don't think there's any difference within that in your getting up and preaching and hoping somebody will give you some money when you Phenix precinct it was so appreciative of that they'll come and give me somebody I say I don't want that but if you're seeking honor hoping that somebody will come and give you someone is not much difference or hoping that people will appreciate your word more than that other brothers all of this disappears if he preserve that simple pure devotion to Christ but the serpent is so subtle as he deceived Eve he will lady away from that tree of life see the tree of life in Genesis 2 was easy of access but the tree of life at the end of Genesis 3 was not easy of access there was a flaming sword it says in Genesis chapter 3 verse 24 that went all around that tree of life there was no sword in front of the tree of knowledge he could go straight up to the tree of knowledge and plug as many food as you like but if you wanted to go to the Tree of Life before there was no sort of sword but now ever since sin came the flaming sword around the tree of life we read in Genesis 3:24 so if I want to get to the Tree of Life I have to let this sword fall upon myself life and that's the reason why many people never get there that sword has to fall and slay myself life every ambition that self has and everything connected to itself it's going to slay that and the more I allow it to slay that life I more I access I have to the fruit of the tree of life simple pure devotion diseases Christ the only thing that hinders that is myself life that's why Jesus said you got to hate yourself if you want to have eternal life he who hates his own life in this earth see John chapter 12 that's referring to this tree to this sword in front of his tree John chapter 12 and verse 25 he's talking about eternal life who can have eternal life there are many passages in the new Gospels where Jesus spoke about eternal life but most people tend to take the easy ones the gift of God is eternal life romans 6:23 but here it says if you want eternal life you got to hate your life in this world he who hates his life will keep it a life eternal that is the one statement of Jesus which I discovered was most repeated in the Gospels try and search the gospel to find it what is a statement of Jesus repeated the maximum number of times in the Gospels it is he who hates his life or he loses his life seven times it comes in the four Gospels it must be the most important statement Jesus ever made to lose your life in hate your life and the most important statement that Jesus ever made is the least understood statement and the least practiced Titone of life is to know Jesus and to know the father and if I want more of that I got to hate my life in this world I'm going to hate this life this flesh life so that thing which the Lord spoke to this leader in Ephesus it's very relevant for us today you have left your first love then I'll remove the lampstand the anointing can go as a removing the lampstand I can still continue to preach the anointing left Sol and he continued to be the king number one danger that we have to fear turn to Revelation 2 let's look at the second danger here to the elder in Pergamum right I have a few things against you verse 14 and once upon a time in your church you held fast to my name when there was another elder here called Antipas who was a faithful witness but now you're the new elder and I have a few things against you because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam who kept teaching Billa to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel to eat things offered to idols now what I see there is the doctrine of Balaam is first of all he himself was a lover of money when Balak called him to come and curse israeli said i can't come then Balak said i'll give you more money then he said let me pray about it so whenever I have to pray about something when there's our offer of money coming up which earlier on I had rejected and I felt that God didn't want me to do that but now there's a bigger offer of money I want to pray about it you know that you're going the direction of Balaam but that's exactly what he said to Balak God's told me not to come he says I'll give you more money okay then let me pray about it and when he discovered that he could not curse Israel because God did not permit him he was faithful he not that his curse would have made any difference but he did not even pretend to curse Israel he knew he couldn't have a certain amount of fear of God in that man what did he do he told bellick and you see that by comparison comparing numbers 25 with revelation 2 that he taught Balak see listen I can't curse them but I'll show you how you can make God himself Kirsten you just send some of these pretty more white girls into their midst and they'll fall for them and God Himself will curse them learn nothing more to do that is the stumbling block that bail out put before them because if you in numbers you know chapter 24 it says how the end of that story where Bella could not vellum could not curse Israel and the very next thing you read in numbers 25 is end of numbers 24 is where Balaam arose verse 24 numbers 24 25 Balaam arose and departed Balak also went his way but it doesn't tell us what Balaam suggested to Balak that we read in revelation 2 and then that you read in chapter 25 verse 1 of numbers the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of man that's a result of Balaam suggestion and then they invited them to their gods and the Lord was angry again so said what Balak Balaam could not do but what Balak wanted Balaam said without our doing anything God Himself will curse them you don't want me to curse them so then we see how we can we don't want to do something wrong and we try to be faithful but we allow some type of compromise to come into I don't know how it applies in your own situation some type of lowering of the standards that's the teaching of Balaam he says you've got to be careful that was the warning to the second it also involves I probably BLM got some money from bellick form because his trick succeeded God cursed Israel was angry with him a third one is want to go quickly through that is to the elder in the church in Thyatira I have something against you that you allow that woman jezebel in this revelation 2:20 to lead my bondservants astray and in some translations it says you allow your wife Jezebel to lead my bondservants astray we have to be very careful that we don't allow our wives to influence us in decisions concerning the church I believe it's right to consult our wives in matters concerning the sisters in our church because we may not have such free access to to find out what problems they face because of any decisions we take also when I want to know about some particular young sister who is consumed we consider for marriage somebody I finally always have to ask my wife because I don't get to meet those sisters so freely that's ok but this may not be a problem for any of you but it is a problem I know for some elders I've seen in India and some of our churches the wife is a controlling force behind the husband in making him do certain things in the church behind the scenes yeah I have this against you that you allow your wife Jezebel to control you I trust that's not a problem for any of us we can go through that and then we go to number 4 which is the elder in Sardis this is something can easily come to us you have a name that you're alive but you're dead it's very easy after some years of preaching to get a name revelation 3 verse 1 and that's the time we are in danger the danger days when we were despised and persecuted we were safe it's happened to every movement in Christian history when they were persecuted and criticized and called heretics and false teachers whether it is Martin Luther's time or John Wesley's time they were safe there was a covering of reproach that protected him but after a while we find that situation now in India we had a covering a reproach for a number of years but that seems to have gone people have begun to appreciate us and she ran greater danger now people are coming to us because they had begun to respect us you have a name you made some effort to get that name and you've got a name that you're alive you're a living Church but the Lord says this depth behind the scenes that all is not so all is not well as it appears on the surface and you know that and you try to cover it up we shouldn't cover it up Lord show me the areas where death is coming into our church maybe into our young people maybe into the the way they have started dressing up now it's not like that in the old days maybe some of the other sisters or brothers where they began gossiping or something some debt has come in I'm a stand against it without partiality remember but you were once and repent and the last one is the elder and Laird Asiya the Lord says to him I know your deeds you'll need a cold or hot because you're lukewarm I'll spit you out of my mouth I think that refers to being the Lord spokesman when I'm in the Lord's mouth I'm a spokesman when he spits me out of my mouth out of his mouth I'm no longer the Lord spokesman but I still have all that knowledge of Scripture that I get up and preach sermons for the next 50 years and why does he spit me out of his mouth because I'm neither cold nor hot in other words what the Lord is saying you know this is saying in the world something is better than nothing but here something is not better than nothing well the Lord says if you're not on fire for me just go right out and be worldly shall either be hot or cold I wish you were cold I wish you were worldly out-and-out worldly so that no believer will be deceived by your church or by you but because you are neither worldly nor wholehearted for me therefore I'll spit you out of my mouth and as we look at the way movements have declined through the years every movement in history over a period of time decline section and that decline section because we sit back and say we've got a name now some of you a church is once upon a time including ours once upon a time we were despised rejected but maybe those days have changed a little now and you're beginning to get a name be careful that you don't become lukewarm remember remain in that fervent devotion to Christ it's very very very important I believe that everything we do must come out of that devotion to Christ I want to say a few words about being the Lord's mouth I don't want to be spat out of the my lord's mouth which means I'm no longer speaking the word of the Lord I'm speaking good sermons it's one of the things I sought God for very early how can I be your mouth the two words the Lord gave me one was Jeremiah chapter 15 where the Lord says if you do this you will be my mouth Jeremiah 15 and verse 19 if you extract the precious from the worklist in your speech you will be my mouth so I realize that that is the first requirement but if I want to be the Lord's mouth when I'm in the pulpit I have to select the precious words that come into my mind and speak them and reject the useless words and that's not in the pulpit in my ordinary conversation in the pulpit of course we will only speak precious words you don't know you don't need a exultation for that so what I learned from that verse is that if I want the Lord to be with my mouth in the pulpit I have to ensure that he's with my mouth Rob throughout the day and throughout the week and wherever I am I have to make sure that what I speak is something I can speak in the presence of the Lord but I recognize he's hearing me as I speak now your place of work in your office wherever you are at home your wife there are many thoughts that come into our mind when we want to say something and there must be a process of elimination of filter between my mind and my mouth where I filter out all the worthless words and let the precious words pass through that's the meaning of this verse and it will take some time because we are so used to mixing the precious and the worthless words when we speak but if I'm really faithful little by little by little I begin to speak only the precious words and very often I'm restrained and keep quiet because I don't know what to say but I'm determined not to send forth any worthless words from my mouth you will find when you get into the pulpit the Lord gives you his Lord makes you his mouth and takes gives you his word exactly according to the need of different people in the church and that's what we must all long for Lord I want to be your mouth that's another passage of scripture that came to me when many years ago when I began to preach from 1 Samuel in chapter 2 in 1 Samuel in chapter 2 who speaks about Samuel as a young man sorry not chapter 2 chapter 3 1 Samuel chapter 3 it says in those days verse one the word from the Lord was very rare the Bible was there but a prophetic word from the Lord was rare this is absolutely true of many many of our churches I don't know how it is with your church but a prophetic word from the Lord is rare an anointed word from the Lord is rare and it was rare in those days and very infrequent and at that time the Lord called Samuel and it was very different Samuel when he spoke 1 Samuel 3 verse 19 the Lord did not allow any of his words the margin it says to fall to the ground that's a literal translation God did not allow any of Simon's words to fall to the ground when I read that years ago I said Lord hear I'm in the preaching ministry but I don't want some words that I speak before it reaches that guy's heart and goes piercing into heartful to fall to the ground here but a lot of preachers words fall to the ground it's a good prayer to pray Lord don't let any word of mine fall to the ground make me like your mouth let the words that come out of my mouth Duke they really like your mouth be like it says in Isaiah 55 and verse 11 so shall my word be which goes out of my mouth it will never return empty that is my goal in my preaching that every word I speak you know it's a it's an area where we press on to perfection we don't reach there overnight but if you don't start on that journey you'll never reach any further Lord I want my words to be like your mouth and the word that goes out of God's mouth it will never return empty without accomplishing what the Lord desires and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it so these words can be true in our lives because the Ministry of the word is what most of us are involved in in our churches and I must never be satisfied with an unindicted word even one single time I have experienced times when because not as anointed as I wanted and I've gone before the Lord and wept and said Lord tell me what's wrong with me Lord I don't want that to happen I let you down today something is wrong somewhere in me and I can't blame the congregation of the people or I was too tired or I was busy nothing of that sort it's the Lord did not use me as my mouth today there's a reason for it now I want to know it Lord I don't want it to happen again and if the Lord sees you're serious about it he'll work on you make you smile but if you can say go through a message and he fell did you just fell to the ground that he happened they say okay that happens sometimes then the Lord sees your casual about it I say Lord it must not even happen once the other passage that relates to this I was challenged by was Jesus walking with the disciples to Emmaus a long three-hour journey it says in Luke 24:13 that the distance was seven miles and that must have taken three hours in a leisurely walk so Jesus spoke to them for three hours on that trip and at the end of it the disciple said didn't our hearts burn within us verse 32 when he was speaking to us that is how the words from the Lord's mouth are it makes people's hearts burn it's not a good prayer for us to pray I say Lord if I'm really if you really made me your mouth people's hearts would burn when they hear even if it's a 3-hour sermon I wonder it I won't reach there overnight I know but I want to press on to perfection how eager are we to make sure that we are the Lord's mouth basically two things in what I said today one is to live in that inward fervent devotion to Christ at all times never to go away from that and outwardly in the preached preaching of the word to make sure that our words are fiery that they burn I don't mean this human type of fire that a lot of preachers have but I don't think Jesus is yelling and screaming and he is speaking to them he wasn't stirring their emotions his words were quiet and soft but went straight into their heart and their hearts burned within him I personally don't believe that we should ever preach a boring sermon human ones it can never be the will of God Jesus was never boring to anytime and that should be our goal and where he slip-up we come before the Lord and say Lord when I sleep on the Lord we say you spoke too long that's why you were boring I've heard messages from brothers and some of our CMC churches in India it was wonderful anointed for the first 15 20 minutes but then he didn't sit down he went on for another 25 minutes and spoilt the whole thing and the picture I get in my mind is in Jesus carpenter's shop a carpenter is making a table and it's perfect it's done ready to be given to the customer or he says oh I've got another hour before five o'clock so let me do some more working planes it and ruins the whole thing it was perfect why didn't the world did he go and clean it after that it was perfect in the first 15 20 minutes why did he want to continue on to that because he says many preachers speak for examine it so I better do that and ruin the whole thing who said that most of jesus' sermons were 15 minutes peter's sermon on the day of pentecost was like that the point is not jesus spoke for three hours to me as i agree if you have that measure of anointing it's very important for us to not imitate other preachers you'll ruin yourself and you'll ruin your ministry be the lord's mouth to the measure in which the lord has given you grace says in Romans chapter 12 a very very important word concerning this I through the grace given to me he said a mighty apostle but see how humbly he speaks I say to every man among you Romans 12:3 not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think and if your gift is prophesying verse 6 please prophesy according to the proportion of your faith what that means is if you write a check write a check according to the size of your bank account don't try and impress people who are check for five million dollars because you somebody else could write it according to the size of your bank account according to the proportion of your life is the proportion of your faith prophesy I believe if we take some of these things that I shared with you today about one fervent devotion to Christ inside and the way we allow the Lord to make us his mouth I believe there will be a tremendous difference in the quality of our ministry and thereby in the quality of our churches that's often my burden when I share with brothers in our church in India can you spend a few moments in prayer [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 5,544

Rating: 4.8400002 out of 5

Keywords: devotion, jesus, being, mouth, elders, balance, truth, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, family, conference, 2017, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god

Id: tI35BDj5eQU

Length: 59min 12sec (3552 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2017