Do Your Part to Build Christ's Body - Zac Poonen - May 30, 2018

[Music] there's a phrase in the book of Hebrews in chapter 6 that came to my mind today I thought I'd share that with you Hebrews chapter 6 verse 11 and 12 and we desire that each one of you will show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end so that you will not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises some of these verses I find them even though I I know English pretty well I find them difficult to understand in some of these translations that's why I use a paraphrase very often to try and understand what that verse means otherwise you take a verse like verse 11 what do you get out of it can you tell me what you get out of it the humanity down verse 11 some verses are so full of content so what it means is that right up that it's possible for us to start the Christian life with great zeal and do all the right things but somehow that zeal and earnestness sort of tends to cool off as time goes on and so he says it shouldn't must be diligent means hard-working right until the very end that is until Christ comes there must be no slacking off in our zeal in other words if we compare ourselves with what we were say a few years ago we should be more zealous today I seek to compare myself all the time so that I obey that verse that I don't slacken up and become like it says in verse 12 sluggish see sluggish doesn't mean you're falling into sin I think many Christians in our churches because we preach so much against sin avoid sin it's good but there can be a sluggishness in the in their attitude towards the Lord's work and towards the building of the body of Christ and reaching out to fulfill God's will that's where the sluggishness can come and very often it's because of a laid-back attitude saying well we're not like those other dead denominations we've understood the truth and we've got more than just forgiveness and you understand about victory and we're not a nice cozy comfortable little Church and not much disturbance everybody is happy and cares for one another everybody's earning enough to take care of their sums themselves then can come sluggishness and that passion is gone and the reason for it I believe is we are not seeking to be filled with the holy spirit all the time some have never had an experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit I'm sort of quite happy as they are and others even if they were once for this spirit they seem to have lost it and so as sluggishness has come to come in and in diligence is not there I believe each of us could compare ourselves with some time in our past when we were more zealous to be a wholehearted disciple of Jesus Christ it should be more today the part of the righteous is like the signing light that shines more and more and more until the perfect day we were considering distinctives of the New Covenant and one of the distinctives is that in the Old Covenant it's just a few people who did all the work of God the Levites that is one in 12 which is about 8 percent of Israel 1 in 12 tribes and among them also is just a few people like the priests who were doing most of the work and the rest were just like passengers in a ship nothing to do just stroll the decks and look around and enjoy everything because all the work on the ship to keep the ship going is done by a certain team of the captain and his team Israel was like that and they had their few leaders that's all covenant in the new covenant unfortunately most I would say 99% of churches are just like that there's just a few people who do all the work and who are passionate and zealous and bringing the Word of God and leading others and all the others are just like passengers so you need to ask yourself whether you're a passenger you are you an Old Covenant passenger type of Christian or a functioning member of the body of Christ the Old Covenant Israel was not called a body it could not be a body because there was no head the head was a human being a priest High Priest and he was just like one of them but in the New Covenant Jesus has come to build a church which is a body and like in our human body if some members become sluggish and lose their diligence we call that a paralyzed member like an arm that is paralyzed is there is it a member of the body sure is it doing its work no it just carries along it doesn't cause any hindrance he doesn't hinder anything just comes along he gets all the nourishment in the body in that and continuously receives it it's grateful as well but it doesn't do a single thing for the body for the work of the body and that's the great danger that can happen over a period of time in a church and I'm not talking about just the physical material aspect of the needs in a church in the early Christian Church they didn't have buildings there was not a lot of practical things to do so when the New Testament speak because they were so poor and they would meet in homes and when they speak of functioning as a body it was they were not talking about doing your part about you know putting the chairs or rolling the carpets that was not what it was it was a question of a spiritual contribution to the local church that's what I mean so unfortunately today when some people think of that contribution to the local church the in thing in terms of money or some practical physical work which is good and necessary I agree as the church grows there are so many practical things to be taken care of but that must always be secondary and none of us must ever find a consolation in the fact that I'm doing some practical work for this church that's good but if you're not doing anything spiritual for the church you're not functioning as a body otherwise it's like a secular company where people do a lot of practical work for the furthering of that company but the New Testament emphasis is on every member doing something for the building up of the body of Christ and I fear that that vision of the body is not clearly seen by many and that is the reason why the sluggishness is there and a lack of diligence so if you turn to 1 Corinthians and chapter 12 there's so many things there which just were not there in the Old Covenant I say see for example we it says you're in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 7 for every single person in the body there is some manifestation of the Holy Spirit given for the common good that doesn't mean that everybody does something earthly it's something spiritual in addition to earthly you know we can we need a lot of things too in the church you've got to take care of the accounts you've got to take care of the electronics we got it take care of keeping the place tidy and when whenever lunch is provided to take care of meal all this is important but that's not the main thing here is talking about spiritual a spiritual offering that we bring to the church and it's good for all of us to ask ourselves what we are bringing not money or earthly service but I'm spiritual offering through a manifestation of the Spirit it says in verse 7 to every single person in the body of Christ is given by God a manifestation of the Holy Spirit which will be for the good of everybody else so think if all of you of each of you ask yourself what manifestation of the Spirit is coming through me for the good of everybody in this church or if you look back and say over the last 6 months or 1 year how much of a manifestation of the Holy Spirit came forth from me for the good of everybody here we may have faithfully come along to the meetings and be contributed something for the expenses of the church and attended regularly and stay away from a lot of sins but it's more than that you know in a lot of times our preaching against sin is more in the negative side I don't do this I don't do this I don't do this I should not be angry I should not lust after women I should not love money I should not murmur I should not grumble I should not complain it's all good but Jesus that's not the life of Jesus where he says I don't get angry I don't bring violently Jesus life was so positive it says here in acts you know when Jesus life is the example of the body in Acts of the Apostles chapter 10 when Peter is summing up the life of Jesus to Cornelius he tells him in verse 38 acts 10:38 Jesus of Nazareth of God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and power now when you read that they remember that is the first body of Christ the first body of Christ was Jesus walking on this earth and the way he fulfilled is the ministry in that body is the example for us as a body today to carry on that ministry that means we must today be anointed with the Holy Spirit and power every single person a member of the body that is does not have power is what is called paralyzed any part of this body that does not have power to do what it's supposed to do its paralyzed it we don't have to do what another body part of the body can do the hand cannot do what the tongue can do so we're not here in competition with one another the tongue cannot do what the eye can do so the different functions so we don't compare ourselves with the function of another person we're not asking whether I can teach like that or preach like that but a spiritual contribution is what every member of the body has to give to the upbuilding of the body of Christ and that's something mentioned in a number of places in the New Testament and that's how it was Jesus he was anointed with the holy spirit and power and he went about doing good and delivering all those who were oppressed to the devil that means he was constantly fighting the devil whenever the devil came in different ways I don't mean actual demon possession of the devil's worked havoc in all of our lives in part in the past and ministry of the body is to keep the devil out and drive out all the effects of the devil in everybody's life and if you turn to Ephesians in chapter 4 a number of places where Paul has this tremendous burden that every member of the body should be diligent and not sluggish this would be no sluggishness in the body of Christ Ephesians 4 it speaks about the growth of the body verse 15 speaking the truth let's start at 14 we are not to be children tossed about to and fro carried about by a wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the craftiness and deceitful scheming we're careful they're very careful in this church to avoid being deceived by false teaching and compromisers but that's the negative side but the positive side is speaking the truth in love we had to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ from whom the whole body again he speaks about the body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies and listen to this expression according to the proper working of each individual part of the body and he's talking about spiritual contribution being brought by every member of the body leads to the growth of the body by the building up of itself in love and then we can think of those whom God is appointed with special gifts in the church what are they for that's also mentioned here in verse 11 some are given by the Lord makes some people apostles you can't make yourself one even if you want to be one you God gives some people as prophets you can't be a prophet unless God makes you a prophet some as evangelists we can all be witnesses for Christ but an evangelist is a person who's got a special anointing to bring numerous people to Christ and that's especially annoying you only God can do that and some is shepherds that's also a gift God gives for some people to be able to shepherd others and some as teachers but what are these people given to the church for they are not to do the work that's the interesting thing see in Christendom the idea most people have is the work is all to be done by the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the shepherds and the teachers that is all covenant where the priests and the high priests and the sons of Aaron all do all the work what about all the thousands of others they just come along and pay their contribution do some practical work around the temple and all that and that's it but the spiritual ministry there in the Old Covenant was just a small group of people but in the New Covenant is completely different these gifts have been given apostles prophets let's read very carefully why were they given now many people say they were given for the building up of the body of Christ no see what it says here the person's prophets evangelists pastors teachers are given to equip all the believers so the believers go do the work and they will build of Christ that's the part that's misunderstood by so many people it's almost as if that little phrase there is left out completely and many read it as apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers build the body of Christ no there's a big important section in between which says that they equip the members and the members are to do the work of service spiritual service and they are to build up the body of Christ so that's what I mean trying to stress here that that can be a great lack there where we still go back to the Old Covenant pattern we're just you know four or five people up there the spiritual equivalent of the Levites do all the work and all the others are just giving bringing their contributions and that's it but if we have a living connection with the head Jesus Christ there is something we can contribute to the body spiritually I mean I don't mean physically and I don't mean in terms of money but spiritually every single one of us if you're connected to the head has got some spiritual contribution to make to this body and you need to ask yourself whether you're sluggish or whether you're diligent to do that and you know many people in churches say I don't get an opportunity to do that well you don't need to get an opportunity in the church service you can get an opportunity when you speak to somebody on your cell phone you can get the opportunity when you meet somebody in their home or in your home it doesn't always have to be here in this place where you all get a lot of Honor why should be ministry only be over here we can talk about the Lord every day to people we meet if you write an email to someone even if it's something just to communicate some message then why not use the opportunity to share something spiritual something which will edify and encourage every one of us can do that but we don't do it and it's like in a home if there are a number of children and a lot of work to be done and the father and mother have to do all the work and these children are all teenagers and just sit around lazily on the couches and watch dad and mom do the work that's you'd say that family's been brought up very badly a good home is where even the five six year old children are working taught to work from the earliest age and so if you go to a church where all the spiritual burden and prayer and responsibility is just in the hands of a few people I'd something's wrong that that's a church this one brought up badly like a home that's been brought up badly where the work is just done by a few a good home is where everyone in that home is working unless they're sick or paralyzed or something the only people who won't work in such a good home is a paralyzed person I was lying in bed the whole day and everybody has to serve them so there's nobody who can say oh I'm not able to share something about the Lord with others I'm too shy I was like that I'll tell you honestly you may not believe it but I was a very shy reserved person and very reluctant when I can I came to Christ it was very difficult for me to be a witness then I read the Word of God which said that you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses you know that verse in Acts chapter 1 and verse 8 let me again it's a verse that can be misunderstood a lot of people ask what is the evidence of the Holy Spirit coming upon us and I say I don't have to ask the Pentecostals and I don't have to ask the Brethren I just go to what Jesus himself said jesus said when the Holy Spirit come upon you you shall be you shall get power far for what I mean in the world people want power to make money part of rise in the political realm art but here this power to be a witness for Christ so that is what the Holy Spirit does gives me power and boldness to be a witness for Jesus Christ in whatever little way I can so if I'm not being a witness for Christ I need to humble myself and say I don't have the power the Holy Spirit that I need I need to see God for it and if I don't see God I'm sluggish I'm sort of satisfied that I am NOT a witness for Christ but I'm doing a lot of practical things sure you know in the Old Testament there's a story if you read it in the book of Joshua about certain people who were called the who were the Gibeonites and they came to after Joshua came into the land of Canaan they dressed themselves with torn clothes and worn-out shoes and pretended they were coming from a long distance and you remember that story and there so Joshua without seeking the counsel of the Lord said oh these are not Canaanite so we won't kill them and made a covenant with them that they could stay with them and afterwards they discovered that they were also canonized just living next door and they got fooled because they didn't seek the counsel of the Lord and they said okay we can't you can't kill them now they have to be part of living with us here but we make sure that they only cut wood and carry water that was their job that whole group of people and their generations would do cut wood and carry water okay that was a good thing but I sometimes I think whether there are some give you nights in our churches so what all they do it's which is not the spiritual ministry at all we had to be in the forefront to see that the church is moving forward spiritually all the time every one of us must have a burden of Prayer it's not only some you see even if I say if you say you can't do anything for the Lord surely you can pray for that you don't need to have any boldness or anything at all you just you just have to have a little concern for the church for those who are laboring for the spiritual progress of the church so this power is what we need to seek for I feel that in many many churches people are not seeking for that power I'll tell you my testimony I seek for that power constantly I don't believe I'll never be able to serve the Lord if I didn't seek for it all the time every time I get up to speak in a meeting I said lord please give me the power of the Holy Spirit and give me a gift of prophecy otherwise I'll just waste people's time and bore them and they'll never get anything from me so anything we need to seek for the part of the Holy Spirit all the time I want to show you a verse in acts 19 it says Paul came to Ephesus here and when he was in Ephesus he met came found some disciples now these were disciples who believed in Jesus Christ from the preaching of John John the Baptist and it says here otherwise it wouldn't be called disciples they were not disciples of Moses and all asked them in acts 19 verse 2 did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed say we haven't even heard about the Holy Spirit because they had only heard about Jesus from John John the Baptist preaching and I've often thought how in the world did Paul feel like asking that question I wonder whether he sat with these twelve disciples to the small group it says later on in verse seven that about twelve of them and maybe Paul sat in a meeting with these twelve people and the meeting was so heavy and so boring that afterwards he says hey fellas did you get the Holy Spirit here by the way why is this meeting so darling dead they say no we don't know anything about it that's it you guys need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I've been to many Christian meetings like that and I felt exactly like Paul but they don't seem to realize it then I don't believe that maybe that's my conviction I believe that Jesus must be in every meeting of the church there must not be a single meeting of the church that Christ is not there and not just that Christ is there but by the time the end of them end of the meeting we should have heard him met with him so in some way in our spirit I mean it'll make a tremendous difference if the Lord is in a meeting that it'll never be a boring meeting if Jesus is there may not be a long meeting I don't think Jesus had many long meetings some sometimes he had but that was rare most of his meetings are very brief meetings but his presence was there sometimes he spoke for three hours like when he took a Bible study for the two disciples walking to Emmaus after the resurrection he joined them and it says they walked seven miles and that must have taken two three hours that leisurely walk and he was only speaking the scriptures to them now I've often looked at that passage where it says you know that story that those disciples afterwards said boy our hearts were burning within us when he was speaking I'm often thought of that that's the mark of the Lord's presence in a meeting our hearts will burn it's not the length of the meeting but our hearts will burn or challenge and we're stirred and we are encouraged we don't go away from any meeting with the Lord as they're discouraged because he never discourages anyone discouragement is from the devil condemnation is from the devil Jesus doesn't condemn anyone he convicts people conviction is different from condemnation is very important to understand that condemnation is the way some foolish fathers will tell that children you're good for nothing nothing good will come out of you the Holy Spirit doesn't speak like that he doesn't scold people he's it's conviction it's like my son my daughter I love you but what you're doing is not right you're too lazy you're sluggish you need to be a little more disciplined in your life just like a loving father would tell his children that's how the Holy Spirit does he points out something specific this is what you need to do here's what you need to do like a father would tell it's all you need to do your bed you know you need to take your books and sit down and study what you need to do in school specific things not generally oh you're a useless person that's the Holy Spirit never speaks like that foolish father speak like that but the Holy Spirit's conviction never condemns us it always gives us hope it shows us what's wrong and gives us hope and makes us seek Him for his power to be an overcomer in that area sluggish people are those who are not seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit they're quite happy to be powerless and drift along in Hebrews 2 in that passage I just we began with the beginning this when your sluggish I told you you can drift and then we write about sluggishness in Chapter six and Hebrews two it says verse one we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we don't drift when a ship is drifting it means its engines of packed out I've seen ships drifting at sea boats particularly engines backed up if not there's no sense of direction in which that boat can go it's just drifting with the waves and I've seen lots and lots of believers like that drifting we're not supposed to be drifting if a ship's got its engines working in set a direction it's going to go in that direction is getting closer and closer in that direction all the time that must be the passion in our life I want to be more and more like Christ and that passion must never go away from our life that's why we need to be filled with the holy spirit the Holy Spirit's always stirring as a he'll never leave us content with how far we've come never discouraged never condemned and never looking back with satisfaction and we don't have a laid-back attitude always pressing on to something more that's how it must be for every one of us so I want to encourage all of you my brothers and sisters to really seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit every single day all you young people as well lord I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit is there anything in my life that's blocking the flow of your spirit through me is there any pride that I'm unaware of very often that is it you know there's we can be unaware of pride in our life I believe once one of the serious blockages of the flow of the Holy Spirit a certain satisfaction with where we are everything's okay nothing no serious calamity in my life and we can be satisfied I see the Christian life is a in one sense completely satisfied in Christ Lord I desire nothing on earth but you've that satisfaction that's worship I don't don't desire anything or anyone on earth but you Psalm 73 25 in that way satisfied but at the same time not satisfied because I'm not yet fully like Christ and pressing on to the mark for the prize of the high calling of in Christ Jesus so the true Christian life is what I call it dissatisfied satisfaction that is the true Christian life there must be a satisfaction complete satisfaction in price where I don't want anything I don't want more money I don't want more honor I don't want the pleasures of this world I don't know anything but dissatisfied because I am NOT more christ-like that I seem to be in the same place it's like a child sitting in the same grade year after year after year or not make any progress and we must never be satisfied with that that is sluggishness so turning back to 1 Corinthians 12 which we looked at a little while ago I showed you what it says that to every believer to each one 12 7 I'd ask you to meditate on this you know because there's so much here about the gifts of tongues and interpretation and prophecy and healing many people just skip over this saying oh that's not for us well there's some very precious verses in this chapter that I would ask you to meditate on - let me repeat verse 7 - every single person is given some manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the good of the whole body and it goes on to say of course 12 as the body is one but it's got many members and all the members of the body they are one body so also is the Christ again it says in verse 14 the body is not one member but many verse 19 it's all one member where would the body be but 20 whether but there are many members what one body so there's such an emphasis in this not just on the gifts of the spirit but on that every member of the body has been given something some manifestation of the Holy Spirit which is verse 7 for the good of everyone and he uses the example of the human body and says verse 14 the body is not one member but many of the foot says I'm not a hand therefore I'm not a part of the body and if the year says I'm not an ie so I'm not a part of the body you know that's what we can say oh I don't have that brother's gift so well I just sort of since I don't have that gift I just sit here and won't cause any problems I'll make my little contribution in the offering box no that's the foot saying because I can't do the wonderful thing in the hand I'm sort of wrapped up in socks and at the bottom of the body nobody can see me so what the foot has got a function even the toes have got a function and because I'm not a hand it doesn't mean it's not part of the body or the eye ear can say well I can't see things like the eye so I'm not a part of the body where would the hearing be if everything was an eye that's what it says in verse 17 but God verse 18 has placed the members every single one of them in the body just as he desired he's the one who decided this guy should be an apostle there should be a prophet there should be an evangelist and this should be a shepherd and there should be a teacher and those are just a few and then these are other various members of the body who all must have a manifestation of the Holy Spirit and who will all contribute to the building of the body so the special gifts that God is given our a few to a few in the first century and as if you even know but every member has got something to do spiritually and it says even those who are less honorable it speaks about certain members who are not you know you don't well you say that follows not very very spiritual says about certain people verse twenty-three whom we deemed less honorable and these we bestow more about an honor so God has so composed verse 24 this is a beautiful verse I've often quoted it to people who feel who have what I feel an inferiority complex who feel I'm so incapable of doing anything I'm not so smart or capable sometimes young people can be like that and it says you're in verse 24 God is so composed the body giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked God gives more honor to a member that lacks gift that's amazing I've seen that in certain situations in India because we have some very highly educated postgraduate PhDs and our churches and we have some who haven't finished high school who can't speak one word of English and I've seen when when it comes to blessing the body of Christ some of those people who are not so gifted not so gifted academically or not so educated and others may look down upon who don't have so much honor that God gives them more about an honour by ministering something through them even if they don't speak for long which really blesses the body so I would never think of silencing them I encourage them I say hey we don't know who here and God is going to use to bless the body God has given something to everyone and I pray in this church every person will we'll feel that God is something for me to give to this body and as I said let me repeat he doesn't have to be from this pulpit that can be a lot of seeking honor if I say yeah what I have to share must be always be from the pulpit why should it be from the pulpit in the early church there were no pulpits just meet in houses and meet together and share with one another the pulpit can be a very dangerous place if God hasn't called you to be there a lot of people have destroyed themselves seeking to preach when they will not call to preach but to minister to the body of Christ it's everyday I can I meet people I may meet people in the body every day and I can share something that will encourage them now I want to encourage you to develop that habit and don't ever be laid-back don't ever be a passenger in this church you know when we when I was in the Navy we used to have these rowing competitions and it was very important in rowing about a number of people sitting in the boat rowing together that it all depended on every single person pulling their weight with the or otherwise we're gonna lose if two or three relax and say we've got some strong people here pulling they'll do it all but I see some churches like that everybody's not putting their strength behind the oar and pulling they're just sitting in the boat like passengers and the board is moving so say okay we're okay with the body's moving but what are you doing to help the boat move a little faster I believe all of us can do something to make the body better holier maybe to draw people in many people have come to our church have come through the witness of individuals who've met somebody in their office and call them to come and then that person calls his brother we had one case of a person who came to our church through his little girl at school meeting another little girl who was a friend in school in second or third grade and who when the parents used to come to pick them up from school that's how they met each other and then girl asked her friend to come come to our church he came then his brother came so it's been wonderful like that to see how so many people have come through each person feeling I'm also a witness for Christ it's not just a preacher up there the Apostle and the Prophet I also can we do something for building up this body I can invite someone you have numerous cases like that of people have come Hindus who come be invited and who accepted Christ faced opposition from their parents and stood for Christ it's really been exciting for me to see how one person has told another but usually have someone they meet in their place of work I know one brother came to our church because he was at the counter in a bank and one of our brothers went there and met him and talk to him and brought him to the meeting so if we really seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit and we realized we are living in a world where the whole world is going to destruction because they followed the devil and that Jesus died for every single person on this earth I must say Lord I want to be a light wherever I get an opportunity I'm not saying that we can witness to every single person because I need to sense where the holy the Lord is giving me an opening not that everybody I meet and going I can make a nuisance of myself that way but say Lord I want to be open to you I want to encourage all of you to say this Lord I wanted to the to the Lord I want to be open to you Lord I want to be open to the Holy Spirit always to prompt me I want to be sensitive that I don't my money mind always rethinking how to make more money but I want to be open in the midst of all my work which I have to do and if you're doing your work 8rz to concentrate on your job and you should not be sluggish in your job I believe that a Christian should have a good testimony in his work that he does better than all the other workers that's the testimony of a good Christian but in the midst of all that that I recognize that I'm primarily a witness for Christ by a simple thing like I've always been challenged by what Joseph did in a prison now prison is the last place you'd think that someone would try to be a witness for God but that's what Joseph was you read in Genesis in chapter 40 and Joseph was falsely accused by Potiphar is far away from his home young man 26 27 years old no Bible no Holy Spirit no fellowship no church but he knew knew something about God from his god-fearing father and so he kept himself from adultery falsely accused locked up in jail with enough problems of his own and one day when he was walking around the jail he saw this is Genesis 40 Pharaoh's cup bearer and his Baker verse to Genesis 40 verse 2 had been put in him put in prison and when Jesus verse 6 when Joseph came to them one morning he saw them looking sad he didn't know who they were just two prisoners well locked up last night he sees them in the morning sitting there total strangers looking sad I don't know how many people there were that and all he did was something any of us could do verse seven why are you looking so sad can I help you in some way just that little act of thoughtfulness you read this rest of the story that little act of thoughtfulness was what opened the door for him to meet with Pharaoh and finally to become the second ruler in Egypt so if he hadn't done that if he had said oh well that's not my business they're their problems I got enough problems of my own to worry about instead of worrying about why these guys are sad he would never have met Pharaoh but because he asked them and interpret to one of their dreams later on that guy could recommend him to Pharaoh in that so Joseph went these little things are written in Scripture of how God rewards us when we have a little concern to help just like Jesus went about doing good Joseph went about doing good here encouraging people and as a result doors opened up to him so I want to encourage all of us to really be diligent there's a word that comes a number of times the New Testament to be diligent to be diligent to make your calling in your election sure to be diligent like we read today that we are not sluggish but the diligent until the very end once again coming back to Ephesians 4 let's keep in mind what it says here fissions for verse 15 and 16 speaking the truth in love according to the proper working of every single individual part of the body makes the whole body grow up in love this is new covenant and the old covenant was just the Prophet up there one person speaking and edifying everybody here it is the proper working of each individual part and I want to say that most of Christendom does not practice this most of Christendom has got an Old Covenant system of church ting run just like the high priest one man up there and that's not the way it should be as I said it's not an everyman ministry no the Bible says there are apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers but they equip everybody so they all can minister to the body and obviously that cannot be in the church meeting it's because they can encourage one another every day one or two mo verses Hebrews chapter 3 hebrews chapter 3 it says here verse 13 encourage one another every single day we're not having meetings every single day church services are early on a few days maybe one or two is the week but here is a command like one of the many commands in the New Testament which people don't obey here's one of them encourage someone every day and if you take it seriously and say Lord I want and I won't obey that word give me at least one person I can encourage every single day begin with your wife and husband and your children but someone someone I can say something which will help person may I mean even an unbeliever maybe he may not get converted immediately but lord I want to take it seriously I want to encourage one another especially in the body as long as it is called today because we have become partakers of christ and the early church meeting was very different from what we seen our church meetings today let me show you a picture of an early church meeting in 1 corinthians 14 1 Corinthians 14 he first speaks of a Pentecostal type of meeting where everybody is speaking in tongues in verse 23 here's the whole church and everybody speaks in tongues people will say you're mad so I tell the church were everybody speaking in tongues I said that's a mad church and I thought me wrong yet upset with me that's what the Holy Spirit calls it according to this verse it's a mad church but what that's not the way we should be but on the other hand verse 24 if everybody prophesized in that church then somebody coming in is will be convicted and he'll fall on his face verse 25 and say hey God is here because he revealed the secrets of my heart to me and how did that come where everybody said that mean everybody got up and gave a sermon but maybe somebody got up and just said one sentence sorry or two or three so what should we do brothers verse 26 I'm describing an early church meeting when you assemble everyone comes with some contribution not a sermon not if you're not teaching they're not teachers they're not evangelists in our profits each one has a sound has a teaching as a revelation as a tongue by teaching I mean not as a teacher but something that the Lord taught him an interpretation that everything be done in and edification and it didn't mean that everybody any equal gift no verse twenty-nine let two or three prophets speak in the New Testament there's a difference between profit and those who prophesy you can all prophesy that's what it says in verse twenty four all can prophesy and again he says in verse 31 you can all prophesy but only two or three are prophets and what is prophesying mean it means to speak verse three to build up people to challenge people to comfort me something that you share which will comfort people or challenge them and build them up maybe one sentence and sometimes even what a little child says can encourage people so that is prophesying prophet is one who speaks with authority from God and very few are gifted like that so let the two or three prophets speak and describing a first-century meeting the way Paul and the Holy Spirit wanted it to be two or three prophets speak and then one by one verse 31 all can prophesy but there's no confusion there and verse 34 the women take a second replace to the men and finally he says brethren verse 39 desire earnestly to prophesy so again as I said I don't have to prophesy only in the church service I can prophesy nowadays we have the opportunity which they didn't have in those days to speak to a person on the phone to send an email great opportunities in any way in which I'm communicating with another person especially if it's a believer I want to continue to consider that while the consider the possibility of being an encouraging with something or something to challenge and encourage not that this is a burden upon you but being sensitive to the Holy Spirit sometimes there may be nothing to say but if you are open to the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit will always give us a word may not always come you know I think at that time when the Pharisees wanted to condemn the woman for adultery and you know Jesus was just like us as a man he did not know how to respond to that he did not immediately have an answer for that solution for that problem so he was scribbling on the ground you know he was doodling their father what shall I say to these people then he gets a word because he was listening tell them that the one without sin can throw the first stone he says that sometimes Jesus words were just one sentence and it's amazing I see the power there isn't one sentence when example shall we pay tax okay show me a coin whose head is a Caesar okay give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's how can you fight against that I used to read these little little sentences of Jesus in Scripture and I said Lord can you make me like that you know if you see that you say that the Lord can make you also like that it's really possible if you if you if you don't believe that he can do it and of course he won't do it there's a verse in Luke 21 which I want to share with you I'll close with this Luke 21 where the Lord says in verse 15 I will give you uh pterence that is the ability to speak and when you open your mouth I'll give you wisdom so that what you speak will be full of wisdom that all your opponents will not be able to resist or refute you know like render to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's he was without sin let him cast the first stone it's wonderful statements of Jesus that he made to people and neither do i condemn you go and sin no more one sentence things the Lord says he can give me also that ability to speak I want to encourage you to take a verse like that and say Lord will you make my mouth like that I want to be very careful but one of the things the Lord has told me is if you want me to use your mouth like that you have to be very careful in the use of your tongue don't use your tongue to speak evil of others don't use your tongue to gossip and to all the undone speak unnecessary things I mean a lot of things you don't have to have an opinion about you many Christians have wonder you have an opinion about everything you don't have to have an opinion about everything if you keep your tongue a little more under control the Lord says I will give you uh pterence and the wisdom for the different situations that you face even in your place of work if you have to answer a boss was unkind I remember once somebody asking me in India says whether I'm a secretary to the boss and sometimes when I'm sitting there with him the phone rings you know it's all landlines the phone rings and the boss tells me pick it up and say I am NOT here because he doesn't want to speak so they asked me but I think what shall I say so I said Lord I need some wisdom here so I said don't pick up the phone after sometime it'll stop and you tell your boss sir I'm a Christian I can't say that so will you please when it rings again I'm sure he'll call back again please are someone else to give that answer because you make it clear also to your boss that you will not tell a lie and I remember one person who took a position like that when he took a stand as a Christian instead of his boss getting angry with him he really respected him because he said here's a person I can trust completely because he won't even tell a lie to keep his job I can rely on it so the effect was quite different from what he had anticipated if you honor God he will honor you and it's a wonderful thing to go through life to have numerous experiences I've had many of them in my life well you honor God in some situation and you think that's the end of it and it's not god honors you in an amazing way so let's all seek God for the Holy Spirit power in our life to make us witnesses for him and the shyest and the weakest person God can empower you he did me I was very shy and very weak very hesitant to speak and I said lord I know if you fill me with the Holy Spirit he'll give me power to be a witness and I will encourage all of you to do that and to say Lord what can I do to make help this church forward not just in this earthly things but in a spiritual way every one of us that I don't want to be a sluggish person at all let's pray thank you Father for this time please help us to be all that you want us to be in the body for the building of this body in Jesus name you

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 2,745

Rating: 4.5294118 out of 5

Keywords: do, part, build, christ's, body, distinctives, new, covenant, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, family, conference, 2018, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: SaVtngi3_6c

Length: 63min 11sec (3791 seconds)

Published: Thu May 31 2018