Discarding Rubbish And Gaining Christ by Zac Poonen

when we look at the mmm extremely satisfying Christian experience that a man like Paul had we need to understand the secret of it if you are serious about living the same type of life I think many Christians are not really serious about living the same type of life and that's why they never seek to find out the answer see those of you who have migrated to the United States from other countries if you look back to the time when you were in your home country there was a reason why you decided to come here you felt you could have a better life there's nothing wrong in that and I'm sure you made a lot of efforts to find out how it was possible I've seen in India how people stand outside the United States consulate from two o'clock in the morning some people overnight sleep there so that they can get in first in line to get a interview for a visa it's amazing Irish Christians would have 5% or that much interest to seek after God because they feel I can get to the United States I can they were far better life than in my own country now they wouldn't sleep overnight outside of some small African country to get a visa to go there there are no lines outside those consulates of those embassies why is that as I know I'm not gonna get much there we are very wholehearted about something we know will be good for us and for our children many people who come here for the sake of their children and I am convinced that if only we would understand the life God wants to give us he's a million times better than anything you can get in the United States you would sleep overnight anywhere any number of nights in order to get it why is it Paul came to such a wonderful light where let me just give you a little picture of his life I believe the Lord has allowed you see in the New Testament there are two lives that are described in greater extent than anybody else's one is Jesus in the Gospels and the other is Paul in the Acts of the Apostles and in most of the episodes at least thirty know the episodes were written by him and we get a lot of understanding of his life of course Jesus life was perfect but then a lot of people say well you know most Christians even if you understand that Jesus was like us and he was tempted like as they still can't believe it's possible to walk like Jesus walked it says that in 1 John 2:6 every Christian must walk as Jesus walked with this yeah it's not possible what about Paul to believe at least he was a human being like you I think that's the reason why God's also given Paul for people who can't rise up to have faith that I can walk like Jesus I'd say can you at least walk like Paul walked and if you believe that Jesus was not like you do you believe Paul was like you Paul was not born of a virgin he was born like you and me and he was a free rotten sinner in the sense he opposed Christians for thirty years certainly he was like us but look at the life he came to and he met Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit he was radical from day one he was radically against Christ from the beginning see that was a secret of his life Paul was a student in a Jewish Bible College in Jerusalem run by a professor called Gamaliel and he taught them the law which said in the book of Deuteronomy 13 that if anybody comes to you and teaches you to worship another god you must kill him it was a law even if he does signs and wonders if that prophet does some signs and wonders but he leads you to worship another god killer and spas spend years studying this hundred game a Leo and here was this prophet from Nazareth who was doing signs and wonders and teaching people that there was a that he was God you couldn't think of anything more blasphemous than that and people were falling down and worshiping him and he was accepting it Paul was convinced this falls under the category of Deuteronomy 13 he's got to be killed his followers have got to be killing spreading this religion is spreading now his professor Gamaliel you read about him in Acts chapter 5 when he heard that Christianity was spreading you know what he said when the people said we got to get rid of this religion kill the leaders Gamaliel verse Galatia acts 530 for a teacher of the law respected by all the people because he was the top professor in the Bible College stood up instead put these men outside for a while I want to say something men of Israel where's 35 take care what you plan to do because there were different men who tried to rise upwards tudas in verse 37 Judas and then nothing happened it got scattered so in the present case I say stay away from these men because verse 39 if it is of God you won't be able to overthrow it may be found fighting against God oh you see how his attitude was but I'm not so sure but his student Paul said I'm absolutely sure there's no doubt this is something that's got to be destroyed Paul is like a ship going full-speed in the wrong direction God could turn him around Kamali was like his auto ship stationary you know it's easier to turn a ship around when it's going full speed in the wrong direction then when it's stationary I've been on ships four years and I tell you you cannot turn a ship around when it's stationary you can try as much as you like a ship going full speed in the wrong direction in a moment it's wrong the other way that's why Gamaliel died as a Jew I don't know where he went probably to hell because of this moderate attitude to Christianity we don't know whether this is the truth let's not take it too seriously let's not fight with that you don't know what the Hinduism is true or Buddhism is true or Christianity is true we don't know where the Roman Catholicism is true or Protestantism or Pentecostal and we don't know whether this little group that meets here is this building that's true or some other big churches we don't know this attitude ends up with a whole lot of Christians exactly like Kamali and there are others like Paul who are determined at any cost to find the truth they may be completely wrong when God will turn them around because God's looking for people our wholehearted and that's why the world you find so many moderate type of Christians will never get anywhere they never I mean if look at the Communists they're completely wrong but look how much they accomplish in this series I mean I I read years ago of putting Billy Graham read a letter that a young Communist wrote to his girlfriend said hey I become a communist now this is years ago maybe 60 70 years ago in the United States and he said I got a break our friendship I have no time for you know going on dates and going for dinners with you communism demands all my attention every bit of spare money I have I have to hear it for the cause of coming this him I can't waste it on you my girlfriend so sorry we gotta break it up imagine if there were Christians like that you'd have a different type of Christianity Paul was like that and that's why he says things like this 2nd Corinthians 2 verse 14 thanks be to God who always leads us in his triumph in Christ now these are not words written casually we believe that they are inspired by the Holy Spirit and I don't believe the Holy Spirit would have allowed all to write a lie even in one world so if he said always he must have meant always if what he meant was most of the time the Holy Spirit has said hey hey don't write always it's not true in your life be honest fall right most of the time but he wrote always on the Holy Spirit endorsed it what is it always in triumph I don't do it God leads me always in triumph in Christ and manifests through me the sweet aroma there's no stink there the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ through my life in every place I go to whether people put me in a prison or people put me on a pulpit toward people it doesn't matter whether I'm making tents working with others who are who hate Christianity you have the sweet aroma of Christ from me it's not that everybody gets converted no because to some verse 16 we are the aroma of death to the other your aroma of life that depends on them I'll show you let me show you another verse he's talking about his life where's verse 30 Romans 8 verse 35 see these are areas where he's giving his own testimony his own life who shall separate us from the love of Christ tribulation distress see most of these things mentioned in verse 35 none of us have ever faced we talk about our trials and our problems which are like little mosquito bites all this mosquito bit me here and then these guys were facing lions not mosquitoes shall tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness peril sword any Christians those things face things like this not I didn't get my promotion because I was a Christian or they didn't give me an increment of my salary because they found out I was a disciple of Jesus what all things people fight against we all in the school they don't allow prayer they never allowed school in the prayers in the schools in India for never in the history of India these are not the things people thought about they were facing tribulation and persecution and distress and famine because they were Christians and nakedness in peril and sword and being put to death verse 36 the whole day long but in all these things worse 37 in all these things we don't just concur we overwhelmingly conquer awesome King James says we are more than conquerors through him who loved us there's a spirit of triumph in this man's life I don't get a smell of occasionally a mess out of depressed and defeated always in tribe it doesn't matter its persecution for I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities or no things present or things to come nor powers nobody can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord what I want to ask you dear brothers and sisters is do you believe that that is a life a human being it's like you and me born of Adam who lived in sin for 30 years killing Christians could come to you know why because he was radical wholehearted his marriage to Christ was total whereas most Christians their marriage to Christ is like a woman married to a man but occasionally she wants to fool around with other men that's why their marriage is not a happy marriage to Christ imagine if your wife was occasionally going around with other men whatever my marriage would yours be that's exactly the Christianity that most people have there are other things in the world that attract them they are careless in the way they spend money they are the many things in the world that mean a lot to them the opinions of men the honor of the world getting on in the world and being somebody as somebody spoke something bad about them and they feel depressed about that think about that they can't forgive that person where will such people come to the light Paul had not in a hundred years they live and die as miserable people who just go to Chris go to churches and sing songs and always hope for a better life but you'll never come I guarantee it'll never come because you're not serious they're half-hearted they pursue their profession more seriously than the pursuit Christianity if the eagerness with which you sought to get a visa to come here to the United States or the eagerness with which you sought to get a job when you didn't have one that eagerness was there to pursue Jesus and to overcome sin and to please God at any cost I tell you all of us would be much better Christians by now I'm not trying to make anybody feel guilty or conduct I often think that I'm like a person who's taking a scan of people's lives and telling them hey this is what the scan says you don't have to be sick here's another guy he lives in the same area as you with the same limitation what he's healthy so here's Paul and the reason was why he lived his life was we read it earlier in Philippians Philippians 2 sorry 3 Philippians 3 and worse he says I'll tell you what I was before Philippians 3 6 all my zeal you know we talked about being zealous my zeal was to persecute the church Philippians 3 6 my goal is not to study the Bible my zine was to kill Christians persecute the church destroy this religion and what about my righteousness my righteousness were my external according to the law means my external life I didn't kill anybody I didn't commit adultery I didn't steal I didn't bear false witness I didn't worship idols my external life was good but I was a persecutor of the church but all these things that brought me honor in Israel you know in Israel if a man was like that he was respected he says I counted all rubbish and if in a Jewish person in those days accepted Christ he was rejected you worship that false prophet Jesus he says I counted all loss I found Christ and he says I count this is a amazing verse verse eight think about it think about it you've already probably memorized it some of you if you haven't memorized it now I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ he says the things that men the world think so much of I counted all as trash [Music] in India we have very some very very poor children from the slums who I see sometimes going into the trash cans to pick up leftover bits of food you know they remind me of Christians going to the seeking something in the world to find satisfaction exactly like those poor children looking in the trash cans for a bit of food this is all rubbish so you asked Paul according to verse 8 how did you gain Christ he says I counted everything in the world as rubbish oh you said Paul you get in Christ like that I got it much cheaper I still have an interest in a lot of things in the world and I've also gave Christ really was it you gain the same Christ I God well your light doesn't look like that there you see the difference right Paul came to this life he considered everything on earth as rubbish compared to Christ it was rubbish the honour of this world the wealth of this world be glamour the style the fashions and everything that the world considers great you can see in television and movies and the billboards and the advertisements all that the world considers great and when you imitate them and you dress like them when you behave like them and you want to speak like them and you want to own what they own and do what they do you know that you don't consider that rubbish you don't go into the garbage cans garbage cans to pick up things all counting dollars rubbish if you were to ask him hey what are you doing Paulie so I'm not passing oh I see I thought you were a tenth maker oh it's a ten maker that's just a profession to earn my living my job is to be a witness for Christ you know that's how every one of us should be you're supposed to be a witness for Christ primarily your job just good means of earning a living we have to earn our living otherwise we'll be beggars and parasites on society but our job a primary job on earth is to be a witness for Christ I was you know when I was about 14 years old I was in finishing my high school that's quite a young age and I was 15 when I finished my father said I want you to join the military academy it's like West Point here in the US I want you to join the Navy and become the Admiral or the Indian name I said fine I worked I got admission I joined I completed my course and I was moving up I was top of my class and I said hey I'm going the right direction whenever I was 19 years old like Paul says Christ laid hold of me came into my life and all my ambitions disappeared immediately I did not receive Christ to go to heaven I did not receive Christ merely to get my sins forgiven or to escape hell I responded to Christ because I said Lord you gave your entire life for me I'm gonna respond with my entire life for you I will not live for myself anymore my turning around was not deep 90 percent 90 degrees or 130 180 degrees and I found very soon then I had to give up my worldly ambition and nothing wrong in being an admiral or being a big shot in the world but if it conflicts with Christ's purpose for your life you got to give it out it's not a question of priority it's all a question of whether you see Paul didn't pick time you know some people take 20 years to gradually discover yeah the world is rubbish I better give it up it's like you know wallowing in the sewage and digging 20 years to come out I want to get out immediately that's how Paul got out as he saw it was all sewage and rubbish if you're lying in the sewage the garbage dog and if you think you take time to come out of there something wrong with your understanding and that's the trouble with a lot of Christians they don't understand what the world is like was their eyes have to be opened I don't claim to be better than any other Christian I can only say I like the blind man said once I was blind now I see I thought greatness in the world was something important I thought money he is very important I thought have a comfortable life is very important I was blind but he opened my eyes and I could see what was really valuable what was not I really believe that's what happened to Paul his eyes were opened on the Damascus Road no when the scales fell off his eyes three days later it was not just physical but inside his heart he saw what is the only thing worth living for on this earth what did God Almighty we mean my mother's womb for and bring me out for what and he said I want to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me that's the expression he uses beautiful expression in verse 12 the last part I want to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me Jesus laid hold of me for a purpose and I can never lay hold of it if I don't consider everything else as a rubbish that's why he came to this life of always in triumph and here he speaks in Philippians 4:4 up rejoicing in the Lord always if I ask you do you believe that Jesus could rejoice in the Lord and the Father all the time you say yes what am i Paul he was like you fact he faced more trials and problems and any of us have ever faced he was imprisoned so many times beaten so many times for the sake of the gospel sometimes he didn't have enough money to buy food he starved he fasted he speaks about starvation and fasting separately fasting was out of choice starvation was when he wanted food he didn't have money you read about it all in 2nd Corinthians 11 sometimes he didn't have enough money to buy a blanket to cover himself in the Roman prison he writes in 2nd Timothy 4:2 Timothy please send my blanket I was shivering here in the cold but it was he was rejoicing always is it doesn't matter this all for Christ men who rejoiced always it says man worse Philippians 4:6 who was anxious for zero anxiety in Paul's life was zero if you said Jesus anxiety level was zero that we can understand but Paul you know where he wrote this by the way Philippians Philippians was written from a prison in Rome and prisons in Rome were not like prisons today where prisoners can lie on beds and watch television and all that there it was a dungeon with rats and mosquitos and all types of things crawling around a hole in the ground that's where he lived and he writes he anxious for nothing joy is always that your mind always be thinking of things which were say it which are honorable and pure and right and lovely and excellent and don't waste your time thinking about all the evil that other people have done to you and it just make you more miserable [Music] and I see III read this as a young Christian and I said Lord this is the life I want my goals were something else and I did not know you but I see this as a life as much as that pursued advancement in the world is my goal now I want to pursue living for Christ alone when I came out and so that was the first stage in my Christian life and I the Lord asked me to give up my pursuit of a worldly goal and to give it up and follow him and then I found as I sought to follow him five years later than God called me to leave my job and I quit it I'd given up honor in the world then I found as God had gifted me to speak God's Word and I was traveling around and I found that giving up honor in the world I could gradually begin to seek honour and Christendom with my gift of preaching and my abilities God had given me I could use it to get honor I could use it to make money and that's the second thing the Lord said give up now you've given up honor in the world now give up honor in Christendom is it sure I gave it up that's when the Lord said seek to gather with those who want to be wholehearted disciples will obey everything written in the New Testament even though they're only two or three before that I was preaching to thousands traveling to different countries and speaking at international conferences the radio program that is proved all over Southeast Asia every week can have written books and all that this is when I was 30 years old the Lord said give it all up nice and fine but I've seen one thing God is never in debt to anyone you give up one thing for God he'll give you 100 hundred times back because he'll never be in debt to you you'll give up something for the sake of Jesus you think God's gonna be in debt to you him possible he will repay you in repay your children and you'll repay your grandchildren believe me it's true cuz he'll never be in debt you'll never be in depth that's why the people who are afraid to give up something for God are so foolish they live such miserable spiritually poverty-stricken lives because they're holding on to something which they think which will make them happy give it up my brothers be wholehearted like Paul God wants people like that well once I was gripped by these things honor position great numbers in my church didn't interest me one anymore the honor of the world did not interest me the honor of Christendom didn't interest me I knew it was all garbage I don't know whether you've seen it as garbage we'll make a world of difference that's how Paul gained Christ he says the Philippians 3:8 I gained Christ by Counting everything else as rubbish you tell Paul where I gained Christ without counting everything as rubbish well no one no matter no wonder why your life is so shallow must be another Christ you've got are half a Christ but if you want all of Christ this is it it means total obedience to God's Word I mentioned this a number of times that in my early years as a Christian I found very very few people who were radical Christians very few I used to attend an assembly where the elders were well they were born again it's about all they've come away from Roman Catholicism and dead Protestantism informed a little local church they were not radical Christians I couldn't look up to them as men of God I couldn't look up to them as men who knew God who could speak to with God face to face like Moses did so I couldn't respect them but they were elders so I submitted to them and I sat in that church but now in them in those years once in a blue moon as they say once in a while I would see a really godly man really godly man and he would always be extremely humble there's a primary thing I saw in godly people they were extremely humble people who would treat me a young man as if I was equal to them even though they were much older than me and so godly number two things I found in all of their lives they believed the Bible to be the Word of God they were all filled with the Holy Spirit two things I said Lord that is the secret I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit I just have an experience with a genuine Finn filling of the Holy Spirit and I need to believe the Bible is God's Word I started doing that and changed my life I began to see God as his Lord whatever the cost whatever the price have to pay I want a genuine in filling of the Holy Spirit exactly equal to what their parcels got in the day of Pentecost they were met hundred twenty people there Mary was there the mother of Jesus many others but all of them didn't do healing and miracle of snow that was given to some I didn't ask for healing America I said I want to be full of the Holy Spirit to be like Jesus what like him to have this life that Paul spoke about always in triumph never anxious always rejoicing no matter what the circumstances are and I said Lord no I want to be full of the Spirit so that I can be a witness for you in India I never thought of anyone else anywhere outside of that and I was married and I say I want to be a really good father so that all my children and followed Jesus and I want to be a witness in India not to bring people who find people want to go to heaven everybody wants to go to heaven you know that we have 1,200 million people in India who want to go to heaven that's the entire population I I've never met a man who wants to go to hell well I was not looking for such people I was looking for people who wanted to wholeheartedly follow Jesus on earth before going to heaven that number is very few even today in every country in the world but who wants to go to heaven I'm not interested asking that question who wants to wholeheartedly obey everything in the Bible by everything I mean everything by a hundred percent I mean 100 percent of every single thing written in the New Testament and obey it whatever the price whatever it costs me I want it I say Lord I'd rather have 10 people like that now often thought Lord Jesus if in my lifetime I could make eleven disciples like the ones you made I would say Lord I can depart in peace I have done my life's work 11 I mean imagine Jesus Son of God walked on this earth and he couldn't produce more than that and after that mighty Ministry of three-and-a-half years how many people waited for the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost 120 how many were killed thousands how many saw the miracles thousands how many wanted the Holy Spirit's power 120 so I saw that the Christianity that this described in the Bible is so different from what I saw around me which is all mercenary connected with money and instead of Christianity was like a business it started in those early days in Palestine is a mighty powerful movement from heaven and it's ended up today as a business in America India everywhere but it's supposed to be a church is supposed to be a body and I was reading something or interesting the other day when a body is used as a business the word for it is prostitute solely a prostitute who uses her body for business and that's when the church has picked up in the midst of this corrupt crescendo the Lord is looking for one here one there one there to come together and be an expression of his body not first of all loving one another no that would be a club but loving him counting everything as rubbish if the mark of this church is that you love one another and maybe clubs in the world that are better than you but if the mark of this church is that everyone here considers everything on earth as a rubbish compared to Christ and you're in the right direction then your love for one another has value it's a Christian love otherwise I'll tell you honestly communist love one another there are clubs where they love one another there are families little sacrifice and love one another when that's not the first commandment first commandment is love God with all your heart soul strength and mind and then one another a lot of people you know the reason why there's a great attraction to cost groups that form in different places how do you know that little group meeting together is not a cult I'll tell you easy way to find out many people are drawn to cults like the Moonies and different different cut groups that have risen up in the world because they're small and they care for one another they help one another they help one another financially they help one another move house in the fell one and in so many ways and said it's a wonderful to belong to instead of this impersonal type of mega church where you just sit and watch a performance and go home they say I like to be in this little group but it's a club it's a count because it's horizontal it's all helping one another and caring for one another and standing by each other through thick and thin to difficulys it's a nice little Club of people who and people join it who wants some type of earthly security and I found this some churches like that where especially immigrants who come to this country they like to be there because immigrants are the most insecure people in the country so they like to be in a group where here's a nice place where I feel little secure I'll call that a church is a nice Club Christian club maybe but it's not a church no it's not the Church of Jesus Christ it's a nice little Club and if it's to become a church it must have people who are consider everything on earth as rubbish compared to Christ Jesus is everything I'm one of the most important things in my life everything all that the world considers important that thrown it in the trash because I found Christ do you know is this the Jesus that you know I believe there are different Jesus's in the world you know the 1 Corinthians 2nd Corinthians 11 says about another Jesus there are many Jesuses some who are not worth giving up everything for that's the Christian that's the Jesus that many Christians know but the real Jesus that Paul knew was one he says I gain Christ by Counting everything is rubbish and I suffered the loss of all things and it's probably okay I lost everything give up everything in order to get Christ and as I said and you say Oh Paolo I didn't have to pay such a price it's like you know some in some very very expensive gadget a highly expensive I can't think of anything when some highly expensive electronic gadget which costs say ten million dollars the man says yeah I'm uh put my life savings into that and get it I need it and then some cheap counterfeit down the street that you can also buy looks exactly the same like this looks exactly like that for maybe a couple of hundred dollars and you look at this guy who's from his spend ten million dollars hey you ten million dollar says I bought the same thing for two hundred dollars man you got cheated really well you wait and see how long your product lasts and we didn't see how long this product lasts that'll be the difference many many things there's a Christianity that's duplicated which looks like the real thing it's not it's not the type of Christianity Paul had because if you want that you got to pay a price and you go for something cheap you know how we always go over something cheap it looks nice it looks the same but it's not the same so when you sit here my dear brothers and sisters I want to speak to you plainly because I don't want you to you've got only one life you don't want to spend your life being deceived with the wrong thing this is not like buying the wrong electronic gadget this is a matter of eternity you can't afford to have the wrong thing you must have the genuine thing and the genuine thing is it is in the scriptures my christianity has come only out of reading the Bible and wherever I found things in Christendom even in grey preachers which is not according to scripture god bless you brother I'm not here to judge you I'm sorry I can't follow you I can't work with you a lot of Christians I can't work with I'm sorry they can call me exclusive they called me what you like and I see if it's against God's Word I'm not gonna go that direction many years ago I was gripped by this truth in Luke 16 Luke 16 Jesus these words of Jesus Luke 16 15 in the last part it says Luke 16 15 that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the eyes of God or as the King James VII says King James Version is an abomination in the eyes of God that which is men value highly is an abomination the eyes of God I see Lord I want to remember that God's values are so different from man's values so many things look at your own life my brother sister evaluate your own life honestly and see if there are things in your life which are done or practiced only because people around you esteem that very highly an abomination the sight of God abomination you know in the Old Testament I looked up that word abomination once and it came in the book of Deuteronomy where then the children of Israel were out in the wandering in the desert for forty years you know they didn't have toilets there so the Lord would say whenever you want to go to the toilet you go outside the camp dig a hole in the ground or the Spade always dig a hole and when you're finished cover it up because the Lord your God moves in your pits and does not want to see any abomination there so you understand what abomination is it's like an unflushed toilet and the Lord says all that is big and great in the eyes that men is like an unflushed toilet in my eyes look at the crazy Christians who go after that well no wonder they're sick if you keep licking the toilet bowl you will get sick too sure you got to face up to it when I look at things from God's viewpoint there's a translation of Colossians chapter 1 verse 9 you know where Paul prays I mean this English is a bit complicated as far I sometimes like a paraphrase I don't use paraphrases for doctrine because a paraphrase is like commentary I use Living Bible message Bible like a commentary I don't never use it for doctrine because a man is expressing his view there this is what I think this first means for doctrine I would take an exact translation of the Bible like the new American Standard Bible on ESP which I use I've used it for 40 years but sometimes a commentary can give you a make you think of a verse in another light and that's sometimes how these paraphrase has helped me so if you keep that in mind it's good to use a paraphrase Colossians 1:9 he says in the last part that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding boy that's a bit tough for my brain Paul is a great intellectual to be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding what you get from that I heard a paraphrase of it it said that you may learn to see things from God's viewpoint are you like that much easier for mice inferior brain to understand to see things from God's viewpoint to evaluate everything from God's viewpoint to look at people the way God looks at them to look at money like the way God looks at it to look at pretty women the way Jesus looked at them to look at Pharisees the way Jesus and God looks at them to look at the money changers in the temple like God looks at them not to be kind and nice to them like we would like to be and to look at everything to look at evil and corruption in the world the way God looks at it that is the meaning of be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual reasons understanding to see everything in this world in its proper value I think that's the difference between a child and an adult in the Old Testament the Bible says they were like children or like servants who were uneducated the Bible says they knew that's why nobody could call god father they're not even cheering they were servants that's why in the entire Old Testament nobody could look up and say Oh dad it was not their dad he was their master their ruler that's why they had to pay income tax which is called the type I'll never pay the type because I don't pay atai to my dad I'm not as God's not my master he's my dad how much would you give to your father sacrificed everything for you and pre-set my relationship how much would you give to your husband depends on your relationship with Christ is my husband I don't pay income tax I love him in India I have a joint account with my wife that means her name my name are both on the account she can take anything I can take anything I have a joint account with Jesus Christ I put in my two cents and he puts in his billions of dollars and says you can have and if I'm foolish and say no no I'll only pay 10% of my two cents the Lord says okay you can have 10% of my wealth as well when you go to the Lord and say Lord all that I have is yours he and say all that I have is yours - it's a different relationship so in the Old Testament there were servants but in the New Testament yeah children and sons the Spirit of God comes in and one of the first things he says in Romans 8:16 says Abba which means dad about translated from Hebrew would be dad in the Indian languages it is up that's not a formal word father is a formal word well hardly anybody calls their father father he said dad daddy that is a BA that's how he's supposed to call God our Heavenly Father it's a wonderful relationship and the relationship of a son is very different from the relationship of a slave see a slave may not have much understanding of the value of things they are relatively lower in the social level and what a son chairs his father's view a slave can only think of a servant can only think about I you owe me a salary the end of the month is come and give me my paycheck son never asked for a paycheck all that the father has belongs to him a lot of Christians go to God exactly like servants they don't feel they have a claim on God because their whole attitude to God is also what is the minimum I can do for you you know like a a servant in an office well I'll I'll be there on time nine o'clock my time at six o'clock an evening I have to go I've got to have my lunch break also from 12:00 to 1:00 so I eight hours a day my forty are weak and I'll go many Christians their Christianity is like that a son doesn't have a 40-hour week sons not paid servant is paid there's a relationship with Christ that we can have is very satisfying which is like a wife who's married to a very loving compassionate wonderful husband this is very different from a servant who works in the same house in he or she a maid for example never has the relationship with the man of the house that the wife has I think these are two types of Christians some most Christians are meant I like the maid in the house they get a lot of benefits they get maybe food and salary all that but not like the wife the wife doesn't get a salary but she's far happier if he or she owns everything that her husband has she can ask him for anything anytime there's an intimacy there I want to ask you my dear brothers and sisters do you know Jesus like that Christian needs to know Jesus eternal life John 17 verse 3 Jesus said is to know Jesus Christ I'm so thankful that I've come to know my Savior like that my whole man Paul says in Philippians 3:10 almost towards the end of his life he says my passion is to know him better yeah that's my desire my desire is not to preach out of trouble it's to know Jesus better all my service is just an overflow of that so I see an a Chris Irving's attitude is what is the minimum I have to do for my master a wipes desirous what's the maximum I can do for my husband my husband his need is a need she'll go to the ends of the earth to serve Him look after and think of wives who look after invalids sick husbands morning till night soon look after look after look after what do they get paid for it zero what a servant sorry sir forty yards is up I can't stay any more this way I've got other things to do and where's my salary the end of the month is come there are Christians who have that type of attitude to God in other words I call the minimum Christians and maximum Christians minimum is okay what is the minimum I have to do for God be a good Christian what is the minimum amount of money I must give in the offering what is the minimum number of meetings I must come to in a week and what is the minimum I have to do to be in a good standing in a church everything is minimum minimum minimum and maximum is reserved for how much can I enjoy the world maximum and what can I get from the world maximum exedra etcetera etcetera and there's another type of Christian whose attitude is I've got only one life or is the maximum I can do for Christ before I leave this earth Jesus did not come to earth saying what is a minimum I have to do for my father before I leave no I've got only thirty three and a half years what is a max I can do for him before I leave that's why used to stay up late nights and do so many things while other people were sleeping you know what is the maximum I can do for Christ in my one life Paul once said in Philippians only he said I tell you honestly he says to depart and to be with Christ it's far better Philippians 1:23 but you give me a choice I'd rather be in heaven right now but I have to stay here for the sake of you Philippians you're not yet mature so I want to stay on for your sake he wasn't seeking anything for himself even in going away to heaven he says no I can go I stay a little longer it doesn't matter if I to be a be in prison or something if I can help you guys are you living on earth like that say the only reason I'm living on this earth is so that I can do something for Christ something more for other people to serve them and bless them something more for Christ before I leave this earth or is it well I'm waiting for the day when I can leave this rotten earth and go to heaven I've told the Lord I said Lord if you give me help I'd be glad to live up to the age of a hundred I'm only 74 it's a long way the goal but did you give me hell time I really want to live for you 100% if I can do a little more for you but if you think there's many more I can do for you here on earth I'm ready to go there's nothing here that told me everything on earth just grade me eyes of men is an abomination to God and they evaluate your life and see whether you've got a proper sense of values things which are great in the eyes of men and things which are great in the eyes of God and it'll make a lot of difference in your life when you see all it the world offers as rubbish compared to Christ the devil makes temptation so attractive to us by saying this is great sex oh it's great man and if he's convinced you about it you'll have a battle all your life even if you're 90 years old I'll be battling sex is great I can't have it I must get it but if you call the devil's lie you can be free from it even as a young man and marry me Q you called the devil's bluff and said the sex is not the great thing you can tell you money a that's a great thing you need it or honor of men no honor in the church you must get it and you've called the devil's bluff and say money's not a great thing honor in the world's not a great thing honor in the church nothing the devil will have no more power over you because everything he considers bread uses for a you can't fool me anymore I'm not gonna fight off be an adult I haven't think of this game called monopoly is a player at home and the children or small you have this board where property you throw the dice in your land on a place property that's mine or you come and land on my property you better pay rent it's a very interesting game with all this paper money that's called dollars I imagine an adult playing with a child you fight with that child over make him pays render there's a little doubt about whether he should be on this square or that's or hey that's my money that's not your I cannot imagine I tell you you're an odd out and you'll behaving like a child because you know that in one our we're gonna fold the game and I'll fold the board and put the money in the box and the game's over the Angels looked down at this big Monopoly game going on in the world you know with all these squares property here in there people saying hey this is mine you have you got to pay rent and this I'm gonna buy this I'm gonna buy that it and you'll say if only these people knew when very soon God's gonna fold up the board and put the money on the box and say folks the game is over it's true have you lived for something worthwhile this is only a test to see whether you would live for things as worthless I was worthwhile I thank God for one thing God has opened my eyes you know I can't convince you I'll only pray God will open your eyes because when your eyes are open you'll be able to distinguish between garbage and gold otherwise it's impossible let's pray my dear brothers and sisters as our heads about in prayer I want to ask you whether you just heard an interesting message or whether God spoke to your heart in a way that'll change your life forever oh you're only temporarily moved Jesus often used to say he who has ears to hear let him hear Heavenly Father as we bow before you dad in heaven father I have tried my best to share what a glorious thing it is to be a true Christian but words can never never convey but only the Holy Spirit can convey so father please that your spirit take this home to the hearts of those who have yours to hear that they will not rest until they have come like Paul to say I count all things as rubbish that I may know Christ it will not be just an emotion that comes for a moment and disappears but change the whole direction of all of our lives and the days to come we pray in the name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 33,149

Rating: 4.8381114 out of 5

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

Id: x68-40wEbuI

Length: 66min 10sec (3970 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 15 2014