Elders: You Should Lead Your People Into the New Covenant -- Zac Poonen -- September 18, 2021

[Music] most of us recognize that we are seeking to be new covenant churches and there are i suppose hundreds of churches in the world that call themselves new covenant churches but seeing some of them and not talking about our own churches but some others who use that title i wonder whether they've even understood what the new covenant is all about so it's very important that we don't just have a label but that we recognize all the implications of claiming to be new covenant church and that not only we but that we communicate this to the people in our church and to our families to our children that they grow up with the understanding of this because we have a responsibility to the next generation also and to everyone in our churches so some of these things i want to mention are things we have often spoken about but i just want to emphasize them for clarity in our own minds the most important distinction i would say between old covenant and new covenant is this expression which says christ in you the hope of glory it was unthinkable under the old covenant that god could dwell within a man it was always outside and the emphasis was always on the external god spoke to abraham samuel everything on the outside but right through the time of jesus on earth also jesus was outside them and that's why they were really concerned when he went away and that's why he told them i'm not going to leave you alone i'm going to send you a helper who will be with you forever the holy spirit so that is how the new covenant church began on the day of pentecost they had a genuine baptism in the holy spirit nobody coached them nobody urged them and they didn't manipulate anything nobody trained them to speak in tongues this rubbish i call it absolute rubbish that goes on in a lot of pentecostal charismatic churches where people are trained to speak in terms what a work the devil has done to make people satisfied with the counterfeits just because they want to also join the club and say we are also baptized in the holy spirit who are they seeking to impress man god must give us a witness in our spirit just like he gave us a witness once that our sins were forgiven and that christ came in he must give us a witness and we must never get that testimony from men god must give us a witness that he has made his spirit dwell within us and fill us i it's one of the things that's really helped me it took many years for me to be sure of my own conversion and salvation i think i must have asked the lord to come to my heart a hundred times perhaps over a period of four or five years till one day i was absolutely sure from john 6 37. now anybody can read that verse and not get anything but the day i read it 62 years ago because i said the lord spoke to my heart him that cometh to me i'll never cast out and i was sure he had accepted me and it was like dropping an anchor for 62 years i've never one single day doubted my salvation despite my ups and downs and the same thing when i was seeking for the baptism in the holy spirit when i grew up in the in the early days in the church i was originally i was in the orthodox church baptized as a baby and then i got baptized in the brethren assembly and of course they never spoke about the baptism in the holy spirit at all but i found a lack of power in my life and i began to seek god soon after my baptism which is about a couple of years after i was converted and i didn't know anything about it i'd never been to a pentecostal church in my life and that's where i first heard somebody trying to coach people to speak in tongues and i said i'm not going to do that i got alone in my room and i said lord i will if it takes me 10 years to have the genuine baptism in the holy spirit i'll wait i'm not going to live on any counterfeit and satisfy myself i don't want to testify to anybody in the world i don't want anybody in the world to think that i'm baptized in the holy spirit that's not my intention i want the genuine thing from you and i'll tell you it finally it was only about 16 years after i was first converted and i was around 35 years old after having been discouraged and that discouragement led me to backsliding and i was still preaching my external testimony was good till one day god himself gave me that assurance and that was 46 years ago and like my assurance of salvation i've never doubted it see i'll tell you something when god tells you something deep within nobody can i don't care if a million people come and tell me no it's not true i know what happened in my life i know that and now i've got 46 years behind me to see what the result of that and the apostles could also i mean they experienced a genuine infilling on the day of pentecost but then in subsequent years they could see the result of that they were not sitting behind closed doors anymore the doors were thrown open and the other thing we see is it's not a there's a difference between a gradual growth in spirituality and christ-likeness that is a lifetime thing spiritual growth we need to distinguish between being born again which is not a gradual thing that initial filling with the holy spirit which is not a gradual thing and growth into christ's likeness that growth into christ's likeness is a lifetime thing we purify ourselves as he's pure until the day he comes again so my dear brothers all of you who are leading and have responsibility over new covenant churches before you preach to others make sure before god not that you convince me or anybody else that's worthless that you can stand before god and be absolutely sure [Music] that jesus has anointed you with the holy spirit that's what john the baptist said he will baptize you in the holy spirit and fire and i tell you it's really true it's a baptism of fire and it's as real as the baptism of water that we are sure about i mean if somebody were to ask you have you been baptized in water you know definitely yes or no and it has to be the same with the baptism of fire so that's the burden i have in relation to many people because i feel that here is where the problem lies that many are imagine yeah i'm baptized in the holy spirit the other thing is the baptism in the holy spirit is not a once for all event yes there is an initial experience but it has to be continuous you read in the acts of the apostles many times uh we read about peter at least three times he was filled with the holy spirit in the actual apostles and it's continuous in ephesians 5 18 the real translation is be being filled with the holy spirit i like to say that be being filled with the holy spirit be being filled so that i mean if ever if ever you or i sense that something in our life indicates that the anointing is sort of going away or i'm losing it in some way in my life or my ministry i'm sort of gradually getting defeated in my life or i'm losing that liberty and anointing in my ministry or i don't find that freedom that i once had boy i would say you should fast and pray see god and it's very easy once you're established as an elder in one of our churches to sit back and say ah now i am accepted rubbish accepted by whom by worthless men lord save us from that we must live before god's face every day and say lord i want you to approve of me you know that word that the father spoke to jesus when he anointed him with the holy spirit in the river in the jordan river it says he was the spirit of god came down upon him and lighted on him remained on him and the voice from heaven said this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased we need both and what is the proof of the other the spirit of god resting upon us and an inner witness that to the level of our understanding and the level of our spiritual growth the father is able to say you are my beloved son in whom i am well pleased that's very often the cry of my heart it's a real cry that comes from my heart many times i say father can you say that about me what you said about jesus this is my beloved son that beloved is also very important that we must it's very easy to uh move away from that assurance that god loves me intensely and to begin to think like the servant in that parable of talents where he didn't use use the one talent god gave him because of the meena god gave him because he said i knew you're a hard and austere man do you ever feel god is like that towards you hard and austere as the devil who brings those thoughts into your mind this is my beloved son we must have why do i say this because i've been tempted like that myself sometimes to think god is hard or austria and i say rubbish to be tempted like that is okay we must resist temptation is from the devil we'll be tempted till the end of our lives we don't you know take it lightly and live as we like and say my father loves me that's true of a lot of people in charismatic christianity they emphasize the love of god and they live in sin and that's why so many other leaders fall into adultery and so many other wretched things like that that's why so many other leaders divorce and continue in the ministry so much of lowering your standards in christendom and in the midst of all this god has raised us up to be like a light where the brightness of the light never dims and as all of us grow older little by little and i'm very conscious of that myself we need to raise up another generation [Music] that is gripped by these same truths yeah all of us have that responsibility in your church there are many people younger than you work with them you can't work with anybody jesus is very selective he gathered 12 and one of them betrayed him so from the 11 also he worked mostly with three he i mean i often thought about that i can't handle too many people neither can you we have to work with that's not partiality when we work with the few jesus worked with three because they were the most responsive and you'll find everyone in the church may look sincere and they may be but there are some who are really hungry and eager to move on with god and who are responsive and we must discern who they are and work with them and it doesn't matter if others accuse us of partiality i'm sure jesus they killed jesus of partiality they accused jesus why are you always with these three people and they would also said yeah i noticed that two of them are your relatives james and john by the way were his first cousins his mother mary's sisters sons and they could have accused him of that you're choosing your relatives to be in your inner circle he was not bothered by any accusation if they were the most responsive he would choose them and if the other nine disciples were disturbed by that so be it they could also be wholehearted so we really have to think about all these things because we are not to think only of ourselves love does not seek its own we do not seek our own we seek the things of christ and that means leading others also into this life that we've experienced so i want to say brothers that you yourself must be having such a satisfying experience of your relationship with jesus christ personal intimate relationship with christ that you long really long that others will experience it too this should be a great desire oh i wish that everybody could have this type of wonderful relationship with christ where he frees my mind from anxiety and bitterness where it makes it impossible for me to hate anyone that sounds like an amazing statement impossible to hate anyone but i believe that is what the lord brings us to he wants all of us to come to that place where we may not come there overnight because we have grown up with hatred and prejudices and all types of things and wrong attitudes but it is god's will that we come to that place where it is impossible for us to hate anyone our love is to grow sure but hatred is a negative thing and it must we must come to the place quickly where we say the holy spirit is going to work in me that i cannot hate anyone no matter who that person is no matter what they've done to me or my family it is impossible for me to hate anyone and so we must really seek to work towards that in our life and never give up and in seeking to lead others to this remember the people who jesus called who were the leaders of the next generation that he was training were people who had put christ supreme in their lives i mean these were people who are earning their living fishing or like matthew earning his uh living as a tax collector and making a lot of money and just in a moment they quit that because the lord called them to leave now we're not all called to full-time christian work but we're all called to total detachment from other things taking priority in our lives we must do our work faithfully and god expects us to do that in our earthly job because that's how he wants us to earn our living and jesus the first 30 years of his life is a great example for us and i'm so thankful that the lord that the father allowed jesus to live 30 years to show us that spirituality is not all preaching and uh healing the sick and casting out demons no spirituality for jesus began in working hard in a carpenter shop earning his living and supporting four brothers and two sisters and a widowed mother yeah supporting eighth member family not many people have an eight-member family jesus had an eight-member family and he worked hard to support them and i'm sure it was just as difficult to earn once living those days in a poor town like nazareth to find people who wanted to buy what he had to sell as a carpenter and all types of situations that he would have faced in earning his living and being a spiritual person that's our example so they were disciples and that's why jesus said when he saw this big crowd in luke 14 it's what i always emphasize and you've heard me many times say that large crowds luke 14 25 for going along with him what a lust these preachers have an excitement carnal excitement carnal worldly excitement when they see a huge crowd listening to them and lots of people come to your church to find a carnal worldly excitement it means nothing if they are not disciples please be honest brothers ask yourself are you excited when the numbers increase in your church jesus was not and we had to follow him he looked at this huge crowd and he said if you don't hate your father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters you just cannot be my disciple there was no such thing in the old covenant absolutely not this is unique and it didn't matter if a lot of people went away so many times we read in the gospels that people just left jesus there was another time we read in john chapter 6 where a lot of people followed him after he had multiplied the loaves and the fish and i learned something there in john chapter 6 about how jesus built that first fellowship of 12 people in john chapter 6 he spoke some very strong words which people couldn't understand he said that unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood john chapter 6 and verse 55 54 onwards you don't have eternal life now today we understand that but remember that in those days they did not have the holy spirit dwelling within them do you think they could have understood that if we didn't have the holy spirit we wouldn't have understood it either and today we live first calvary we know that jesus died for us but they hadn't come there yet and he tells them my flesh verse 55 is true food and my blood is through drink it's almost like inviting them to cannibalism and you eat my flesh and drink my blood you abide in me and i in him and he when many of his disciples were 60 john 6 60 heard this he said difficult statement this is cannibalism what in the world is he saying and jesus was aware verse 61 [Music] that they were disturbed and he said does this cause you to stumble and he never the interesting thing i see here is he never explained it to them he never said hey what i mean is that uh spiritually it's not i'm not talking about you guys having to physically eat my flesh and blood but he never explained it that's something that amazes me you know if people misunderstand us we we have a great design listen that's not what i meant and we try to explain to them because we don't want to lose them we don't want to lose them from our church he was not disturbed this is where he was so sensitive to the holy spirit where gee you know jesus lived like us as a man and i believe the holy spirit said to him don't explain it forget it and then he goes on to say no one can come to me verse 65 unless your father grants him and see the result of this verse 66 many of his disciples withdrew and did not walk with him anymore and then only 12 left from that huge crowd dwindled down to 12. today we have preachers who talk about how their little church of 12 grew into a great multitude mega church how many people have this ministry of making a mega church into 12 that's what jesus did but he had 12 people who turned the world upside down and started a ministry this lasted two thousand years all these mega church people don't accomplish anything like that it's quality quality quality you see that jesus valued and that's what we must value in our church and when he had 12 with them he didn't turn around and say oh i hope you fellas also don't leave me no see what he said do you guys also want to go away verse 67 because he knew what he had said earlier that all those whom the father gave him would definitely stick with him and no one can come to him unless it's been granted from the father i believe that i believe that all whom the father has given me will come to me john 6 37 you must believe that if you are a wholehearted anointed disciple of jesus seeking to lead a church my brothers please believe the first part of john 6 37 the last part of john 6 37 was what gave me insurance 62 years ago that i was a child of god and i never doubted it and the first part of john 6 37 is what has given me assurance when we started cfc churches that we don't have to worry about who comes and who goes the second part related to my personal life the first part i found related to my ministry i know no matter what people try to do no matter what lies people say about me or my ministry and no matter what people misunderstand what i said all every single person without exception whom the father has given to me to shepherd will definitely come to me i don't have to go grabbing them i don't have to go grab pulling them out of any church they will come to me that's the dignity of a servant of god and if you are an anointed servant of god that's the dignity my brothers with which you must live we don't go pleasing people or buttering them to get any favors we're not trying to build numbers we want to present to the lord the father a church of good quality that he can accept and so when simon peter said to jesus in john 6 68 law to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life there will be some who are really longing for eternal life which is the life of god which is so different in quality from the life of religious christianity you know when people go to the market to buy something if they don't care for quality they're easily taken in by somebody who offers something cheap but those who are determined to have quality i don't i want something of real good quality whether it's a washing machine or a computer i don't want something that's made by some third-rate company that'll pack up after a couple of years i want something that lasts me perhaps a whole lifetime they don't make gadgets like that nowadays because it's bad for their business but that's the type of quality the lord looks for lord we want people who are going to stick with you for a lifetime who are not trying you out we're not trying out our church and seeing is there a good church that i can join that we never lower the standard of what we preach in the church of discipleship wholehearted discipleship there's nothing less than that that we will ever preach and if people get offended like this many if it's written about our church one day john 6 66 as a result of the preaching of this elder brother many withdrew and did not come to this church anymore hallelujah praise the lord we will turn to the others who are still sitting there and say do you also want to go away we're not going to lower the standard of what we preach sorry we're not here to please anyone or impress anyone we're not a club we're not just a bunch of people who will help one another and care for one another and do things for one another which is it's like a club we're not that we're trying to make disciples for christ in a world that detests them and you see when you see around you the things that are happening in so-called christendom and the things that are happening in this country of a country which had so many wonderful christians couple 100 years ago that has drifted away so much into all types of ungodliness and things contrary to the word of god in the midst of such a generation god calls us to be a light for him that will not lower god's standards in a single area in any area where we will not compromise in matthew 5. you read verse 19 i've often thought about this verse see as i look at it matthew 5 6 and 7 are the new testament equivalent of exodus 20 which is the 10 commandments exodus 20 is a great chapter in the old testament for the ten commandments are listed there one two three four five six seven eight nine ten and when that old covenant is abolished and a new covenant is established here's the here it is matthew 5 6 and 7 is what replaces exodus 20. because the reason i say that is because in matthew 5 jesus is mentioning those 10 commandments not all of them but some of the important ones in the 10 commandments he's taking them and for example murder one of the most serious violations of god's law mentioned in the ten commandments you shall not murder you shall not kill and jesus takes that first of all in matthew 5 21. that's why i say matthew 5 6 and 7 is a replacement of exodus 20. it's an enhancement of exodus 20. it is the new covenant equivalent of that old covenant ten commandments and we must never forget that we must continue to preach this you heard it said in the ten commandments matthew 5 21 you shall not murder i say to you let me paraphrase it anger is equal to murder that's why i had spoken so much against it i was defeated by it for years after i was born again for 16 years and i said lord what am i am i an old covenant christian preaching new covenant stuff then i'm a first class hypocrite let me take anger seriously first of all the other day when i was speaking at the global zoom on the baptism in the holy spirit and on saturday i mentioned that here's where i disagree with the pentecostals i said they say that the first thing that happened to those apostles when they were baptized in the holy spirit they spake in other tongues i said no that was the second thing what is the first thing the first thing was there were tons of fire on top of their head that's acts chapter 2 verse 3 acts chapter 2 verse 4 they spoke in unknown tongues so i say let's begin with the tongue of fire on top of our head i said that is your mother tongue being controlled by the holy spirit that fire of the holy spirit controlling your mother tongue and the way you speak to your wife the way you speak to other people who irritate you or trouble you the way you speak to people in the church the way you speak to people whom you have to discipline a tongue under the fire of the holy spirit it's almost as though the lord is saying this tongue the primary part of your body that i'm going to use in this new covenant is your tongue and that tongue must be under the fire of the holy spirit 24 hours a day seven days a week 24 7. that's the first thing he says here in in um opposition to murder he says the old covenant will you shall not murder and you can satisfy yourself i have not killed anybody he said no you must not get angry because matthew 5 22 anger will lead you to hell i preached that for 45 years that anger can lead you to hell i got it from matthew 5 22. and then he goes on to say you know the other big commandment in acts chap in exodus 20 you shall not commit adultery verse 27 matthew 5 27. but i'm enhancing that by saying if you lust in your thoughts after a woman that can be in your imagination where you think of a woman or when you actually see a woman on the street or when you see a woman's picture on a billboard or on some news program in the middle of which some advertisement comes with a immodestly dressed woman and there are plenty of plenty of opportunities to lust after women without seeing an actual woman all these skimpily dressed women there are today that even sit in christian churches [Music] well the devil's going to flood the world with such remember if you lust in your heart you have committed adultery don't glory that i did not commit adultery physically that's if you're a jew living under moses living under the new covenant that's not good enough you shall not lust in your heart in your mind and i know as a young man like all young men that's what i battled with in my mind it was almost impossible to overcome my thoughts even though people keep ourselves from physical sin in the thoughts is such a battle and i said lord i am gonna fight it every time i slip up i'm gonna confess to you and weep oh the nights when i used to weep on my pillow at night lord i failed you today in my thoughts blessed are those who hunger and thirst for this righteousness the promise is they will be satisfied that's how jesus introduced this section in matthew 5 6 those who hunger and thirst for this standard of righteousness they will there's a promise they will be satisfied and my brothers any of us who are still defeated in these two areas let's ask ourselves why are we not satisfied by god and he says they will be satisfied their request will be granted that's the meaning [Music] why is it not being granted perhaps you're not hungering and thirsting enough one of the scary things i find for myself and can be for all of you is the fact that over a period of time we build up a good testimony before people and a lot of people respect us in the church i tell you that should scare us more than anything else we have a reputation in our church oh we have a godly elder what does that matter if i'm sleeping up in these areas it counts for zero that people esteem me highly lord help me to take this seriously and speaking the truth your yes must be yes and your no must be known but particularly these two you know murder and adultery being replaced by anger and lusting in the heart those are the only two places in the man in the sermon on the mount where jesus said you can go to hell the word hell is mentioned twice only twice in the sermon on the mount and it's in relation to anger and lusting after women yeah and including in lusting out to women versus matthew 5 30 is masturbation that's mentioned there too sexual sin cut off your right hand it says it's amazing how jesus took these sins so seriously and we have to take them seriously too and these are some of the biggest temptations that come to us anger and sexual lust so we have to really proclaim what the bible says in the new testament the very first promise in the new testament he will save his people from their sins so when we hear this we're not now going to say oh i'm going to grip my teeth and overcome this you'll never be able to overcome it i found i could not overcome it i could not overcome my anger or my dirty thoughts but i praise god for the first promise in the new testament that jesus his name is jesus matthew 1 21 because he will save me from what i cannot save myself from so i have to go to god and say lord i'm sorry after so many years i'm still unable to overcome my anger i'm still lusting after women i'm fighting it but i'm defeated so often is it going to be like this lord all my life don't let me be a hypocrite now the solution is not to resign your eldership and say okay i'm not gonna be an elder that's an easy way out that's the way for a coward it's like a father who's finding it difficult to bring up his children and say okay i'm walking out folks you take care of yourself i'm leaving this home and going you wouldn't do that to your children even if you're struggling as a father you'd never give up because you've taken your responsibility as a father seriously must be like that without church lord there's no question of my walking out of this i'll die doing my best to shepherd this church till you come again and if i'm struggling and defeat i'll keep on struggling to be an overcomer and i believe you'll help me because you said blessed by those who hunger and thirst for righteousness they will be satisfied i want you to satisfy me lord i want you to bring me to that place where i'm happy with the victory you've given me in these areas that i can speak with authority when i tell people that you shall call his name jesus because he will he will w-i-n-l matthew 121 save his people who cannot save themselves he will save his people from their sinful defeated life and the other thing i want to emphasize is that in this new covenant we are going to battle with satan no human being i've said this many many times in the old covenant no human being ever battled with satan one-on-one you read about satan in genesis chapter 3 that's the only time you read of satan and a man and a human being encountering each other in the old testament only genesis chapter 3 nowhere else after that after that he works behind the scenes you read in one place that he uh instigated david to number the people and behind the scenes just like he's doing today and uh you in one vision you read about joshua standing as zechariah is seeing that a vision of satan opposing joshua in the heavenlies the high priest but other than that even joel job never encountered satan the battle was all in the heavenlies what the devil was talking to god and god told satan to do but you never read that joy you encountered saying nobody in the old testament could do it because they would have all been crushed the first person who encountered satan directly with jesus christ matthew chapter 4 and then once satan was defeated on the cross then we could encounter him too but till then until he was defeated on the cross we read that satan even tripped up peter the whole-hearted apostle of jesus the man to whom jesus said simon peter on this rock of your confession that christ is the son of the living god on that rock i will build my church and i'll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven etc matthew 16 18 and 19 and 30 seconds 30 seconds after that or one minute after that to the same period jesus says get behind me satan this man to whom jesus had said those fantastic words and one minute later he calls him the devil he peter could not overcome satan what happened there he tried to avoid the way of the cross lord don't go to the cross every voice that tells me to avoid the way of the cross is the voice of satan and if i choose that way the door will say get behind me satan you are interested in the things of man not the things of god matthew 16 23 those are serious words meditate on matthew 16 23. what did peter do he told jesus to avoid the way of the cross why should he go that way you're interested in the things of man it sounds hard to proclaim the cross the way of the cross in the church all the time we'd rather i know i would rather preach on oh god loves you so much you guys are always so discouraged and gloomy don't you know god loves you he cares for you yeah there is a place for that but you keep preaching that you'll build a wishy-washy church that can never accomplish anything for god there is a place for that but christendom is hearing that too much nowadays i'm not saying we shouldn't preach it i do preach it now and then but there must be a balance in our ministry we must proclaim that every voice that tells you to avoid the way of the cross in any situation is the voice of satan and he'll say you are a stumbling block matthew 16 23 you are setting your mind on god's man's interest and not on god so we find that once satan was defeated on the cross now in the new covenant god allows satan to confront us directly in our church perhaps demon-possessed people or in other subtle ways without demon possession the devil tries to influence the church and corrupt it in some way and we are called to resist you know the well-known passage in ephesians 6 our struggle is not against flesh and blood verse 12 but against principalities and powers this is part of the new covenant too to resist satan and he will flee from you resist the devil the name of jesus and he will flee from you but i remember the time when the lord showed that the verse to me clearly in matthew 6 12 if you want to do that you must determine in your life that you will never fight with flesh and blood it's very easy when you have a disagreement among between you as elders that can happen if you're a strong wholehearted christian we're not perfect in understanding we want to work together and the other brother may have a disagreement with you if you're not a dictator he'll be willing to admit it to you if you're a dictator 85 but none of us are dictators at all but our fellow elders even if they are younger to us and say brother i i don't agree and i'm not saying that we encourage that but people must have freedom i've always felt that all my life that the elders i work with must have the freedom to say brother zach i don't agree there i say praise god that you have the freedom to tell me that i shall yield we want to move forward together and let's see what is the way forward we want to be united it's the devil trying to bring something between us as elders and one of the things i've learned is that the devil wants if he wants to destroy a church he'll start with bringing a division between the elders if he can come between you and your fellow elder not with an open fight no the devil's not a fool with just a little distance that comes in your heart from your fellow elder that's all something he said upset you some stand that he took disturbed you and you don't resolve it you keep it that's exactly what the devil wants beware of it because the church will suffer and you will be responsible we wrestle not with flesh and blood that's what the lord showed me you must not fight with human beings never not even inward imaginary battles with human beings you know how we have that imaginary battles in our mind if if he tells me this i'll tell him that and then if he tells me this i'll tell him that what are you doing we wrestle not with flesh and blood i said let him win i don't care if it's an earthly thing i'm not going to fight for it at all but if it concerns the glory of god and the good of the church i'm going to stand true i will not fight with flesh and blood i want to have that spirit i want to stand for the lord but that is very very important that is why it's very important that we never have a fight with our wives ever ever ever you may say well then she'll have our way all the time no she won't have her way you can be firm without fighting we must be the head of our home the bible says if you can't run your home properly how are you going to run the church if you can't be the head in your home you can't be the head in your church i know elders who are miserable slaves of their wives at home but they try to be head in the church they'll be an absolute failure they must be loving head at home then there can be a loving head in the church i'm not saying he yielded always but we must never fight with flesh and blood if things don't go our way we must say okay let's leave it for a while and think about it you don't have to immediately take some action but we must not wrestle with flesh and blood many years ago the lord said that to me and said that if you do that you will lose your power with satan and i believe that's happened to many people they fight with look at the number of christian leaders who are fighting with each other and arguing about all types of things i say i'm not interested i'm not interested in getting an argument on politics as to who should be elected as president that can be a very big thing for so-called elders of new covenant churches i say i believe in 1 timothy chapter 2 and verse 1 to 3 that i pray for those in authority and i make sure that god controls the situation i cast my word in the prayer meeting and say that god will control and decide and i'm not going to campaign for in the church or privately or in my house or in personal conversation with anybody for any human being because when i'm fighting for one person i'm fighting against another you're trying to say you should not vote for that person i'll tell you i'm not interested in that for me that is fighting with flesh and blood and if any of you have done that you can see why the spiritual fire is leaked out of your life the devil is a very subtle enemy keep clear of that let the world get involved in all those fights i will not fight with flesh and blood about anything that does not have some eternal results see i'm 100 against abortion but i'm not going to go on a campaign against abortion that's not my calling my calling is to build the church of jesus christ india is a place where every the political party will support abortion what do you do then here you may have two parties that defer on that but what do you do in a country like india you just yield and say well it's hopeless we might give up no that's not my primary goal in life to carry out an anti-slavery campaign or black lives matter or white lives matter or anti-anything i'm not i do not fight with flesh and blood period and if i have some opinion i keep it to myself i don't have to talk about it because i'm too busy fighting the devil i don't want the devil to get a slight bit of inroad into my thought life my inner life into my home or into my church that's what i fight so i want to encourage you to concentrate on that please don't get sidetracked you have your opinion vote for whomever you like i've got i don't tell people about all that but don't get into conflict in these areas these are very subtle subtle areas where we get into conflict with flesh and blood you must determine nascar to show you where you're having any inward conflict with flesh and blood i guarantee you it will weaken you in your battle with the devil in your personal life and your family life your children will suffer because the devil is going to get after our children he knows one way to ruin your ministry is by making your children go straight he knows that we have to be very strict with our children especially in the younger days and if you're not stricter than the younger days they will go wayward because that's the bent of the flesh of man is in that direction we have to really say lord i want to concentrate on living in a wonderful way have a good family before i can build a church help me lord help me i will not fight with flesh and blood the other big area that i've been the lord keeping telling me about is from this verse in [Music] colossians in chapter 3 again which is not in the old testament and that is to be heavenly minded i mean that's a nice phrase which we can talk about heavenly minded we sing in that song no heaven came down and glory filled my soul that's exactly what happened on the day of pentecost when the holy spirit came and filled their heart heaven came down and came into people's hearts to make them heavenly minded that's another area i've really sought to battle and say lord i want to be that otherwise i will not be an effective servant for you set your mind colossians 3 1 you have been raised up with christ you died with christ on the cross you were buried with him you symbolized you did that in what a baptism testified to it you were raised up with him when he was raised up and you rose and ascended with him it's written in ephesians 2 as well and now you are with christ in the heavenly places set your mind then on the things above and not on the things that are on the earth we have to do our earthly job definitely we must not ignore that we have to take care of our families provide for them romans 12 14 even says we must lay up money for our children so that they don't run into any need later on yes you don't lay up treasure for yourself that's clear jesus said that in matthew 6 but he the bible also says in second corinthians 12 and verse 14 lay up for your children you have to provide for them and this is the thing to find a balance how shall i deal with money all the time i have to earn enough for my family i'm going to take care of them i must provide for housing and shelter and so many things and and in the midst of that i must be heavenly minded to be a like a monk or something and go and live in a monastery and have nothing to do with money that's easy how to be a worldly businessman just how to make money that's easy but to live in this way where i'm i'm heavenly minded but i'm living in the midst of this world and i have to earn my money just like anybody else i have to have a savings account and provide for the future and take care of so many financial matters and in the midst of that be heavily minded that is what god calls us to and he will help us definitely that's what the holy spirit has come from that's why he's called a helper i praise god for that title he's a helper what's the thing you find need for need or help him he's the helper he'll help you whatever it is so brothers that's i try to share whatever is the burden on my heart and i pray that in our churches we will really seek to emphasize these things yeah we can talk more about it but our one hour is up and we'd like to have a five minute break now and then we will break bread together then after that we go on for the rest of the time together let's bow our heads and pray [Applause] heavenly father please help us to be gripped by the things help me lord not to be one who just preaches to others but me to be gripped every single day till the end until jesus comes again to be gripped by these things that you have spoken to us and every one of us that we can be worthy servants of yours to lead others also into this life because we found the glory of this wonderful life in the new covenant help us each one lord and help us to encourage one another along this way we pray in jesus name amen [Music] you

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 3,923

Rating: 4.9674797 out of 5

Keywords: rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus, bible, scripture, elders, lead, people, new, covenant, sermon, zac, poonen

Id: Eoy-auLwFVA

Length: 60min 6sec (3606 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021