Four Steps In Fellowship With God By Zac Poonen

what is on my heart this evening is to talk about communion with God or fellowship with God and I want to talk especially about four steps prayer Thanksgiving praise and worship words which are very much misunderstood are not understood by many Christians as you listen you have discovered how little we know about these very important things the whole purpose of Christ dying on the cross was to bring us into fellowship with God worship means intimate communion where we talk to one another I often ask young believers do you know Jesus as a friend you know we are called to have fellowship with God John at the end of his life writes in 1 John chapter 1 these things we are writing to you he says that we might have fellowship with him so Jesus said in Luke chapter 18 I start with prayer Luke 18 verse 1 Jesus said men and women people need to at all times they ought to pray [Music] you know I used to read books on prayer it's about great men of God who prayed for two hours a day and four hours a day I'll tell you on every one of those books discouraged me because they only made me feel more condemned that I was not doing that so I looked in the Bible I've had to change many of my views when I read Christian books I have to change my views when I read the Bible because I find the Bible says something else so when I read the Bible I wanted to find out how many hours did Jesus say we should pray every day I discovered it Jesus said we had to pray all the time he never spoke about two hours or four hours or any such thing those are all human ideas I said okay I'm not going to read the books on ground when I read the Bible it says my prayer or at all times I read in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 as if to confirm what Jesus said 1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing for this is the will of God verse 18 for you in Christ Jesus that settled it in the mouth of two witnesses everything is established pray at all times pray without ceasing this is God's will for you so I understood I put aside all those books which told me that somebody prayed for two hours or four hours and I said no Jesus said we got to pray all the time there is no such thing as praying for two hours or four hours you won't find it in the Bible in fact I'm surprised at the number of non biblical things that believers believe you'd be surprised I could make a big list of it I almost felt like writing a book on it the number of things that Christians believe which are not in the Bible I call it Revelation chapter 23 maybe five have you seen Revelation chapter 23 it's a huge chapter it's at least got a thousand verses look it up it's at the end of your Bible Revelation chapter 23 all types of traditions of men all types of things so not in the Bible one of those is about prayer let me be honest don't you feel guilty sometimes that you haven't spent half an hour in prayer where in prayer when you hear that somebody spent two hours in prayers oh man of God four hours in prayer I used to feel it I'm telling you honestly I used to feel exactly like like you condemned until I read in the Bible men ought to pray all the time pray without ceasing so I try to understand what prayer was not from the books on prayer which condemned that those are like you know feats like these muscular the Olympic Games have people lift so much weight so many kilos and all that I can't do all that so I couldn't do all these feats of four hours in prayer on that I said what is it what is prayer like is there something that I do all the time that you do all the time what is it can you tell me something you do all the time breathing right I got it prayer is light breathing that opened my eyes oh so that's how I'm supposed to pray like breathing and what about these special times of prayer that we have sometimes half an hour those are like you know people who have asked my and different types of lung problems they are told to spend duty breathing exercises for half an hour to expand your lungs yeah that's not so necessary I'm not against it but you don't just sort of do deep breathing exercise for half an hour and then say okay I'm going to stop breathing now I'm going to do other things know those deep breathing exercises are in order for you to breathe properly all the time so I began to learn things about prayer which I'd never read many book like I discover all types of things in the Bible which I don't find any book the Holy Spirit gives us revelation I've been very excited to find a lot of things like that one of those things about prayer and the other thing I said know how to do this what does it mean to breathe all the time I mean breathing is the very essence of our life if you take away breath that's the end of the man you can take away his fingers and everything you can live but you take away breath he's finished I realize that prayer is the type of communion with God that is the essence of my spiritual life and if it is like breathing then it must be something which I'm not even conscious of many times see I'm not all the time conscious I'm breathing except when I do some deep breathing exercises then I'm conscious of it but at other times I'm not conscious it's a sort of thing that goes on all the time my breathe in and breathe out and breathe in and breathe out and breathe in and weed out and it goes on all the time so I realized that prayer is sort of a fellowship and communion with God that sometimes unconscious off and the rest is I might be unconscious or but still that fellowship is going on it's wonderful see I don't have to all the time talk to my wife to know that I'm in fellowship with her my wife maybe hundreds of miles away me I'm telling with her I don't have to always keep her on the phone line to make sure that I'm embellishing those are people problem marriages we've gotta keep talking to their wife all the time no it's it's a relationship and prayers as leads to a type of relationship we have with the father there are specific times the private specific requests we make is called supplication supplication means specific requests it's a place for that but prayer is this constant line of communication with God that's always open and I thought of it like you know a telephone a telephone conversation that is another picture I got my mind one was breathing you know my mind things in illustrations if you have heard my messages you have discovered that long ago and it helps me a lot when I think Jesus used it all the time you spoke about light and salt and birds and flowers and how the flowers are flows only things I found that when I eat when I see a picture I can understand it better so I think if Jesus were living in the 20th century he'd have spoken about prayer like a telephone conversation with God now so I began to think of a telephone conversation [Music] supposing I am speaking in a telephone to someone who's much younger than me the Lord say a new believer and if you have half an hour together the telephone I think I may speak about twenty five minutes and let him speak five minutes but if the a person at the other end of the line is a much more godly man than me I will speak for five minutes and let him speak for twenty five minutes right I think you'd do the same supposing I go and visit a godly man or speak to a man on a telephone godly manner really much more mature than me it's a hundred times more mature than when I speak to on the telephone and I speak for 25 or 28 minutes and let him speak for two minutes what would you think of me I think for a arrogant fellow this fellow is leave thinks that he can talk for such a long time to this godly man and I'm missing out on something I could have learned a lot if I let him speak so what do you think of if the person at the other end of the telephone line is God himself how much time you speak and how much time do you let him speak so I tell you how most people talk to God it's usually a big shopping list Lord this is my shopping list for today all these things I need okay amen even even let them talk for one minute can you see that arrogance there the fantastic arrogance that you think you're so spiritual even more spiritual than God himself and you don't even let it talk to you you just talk this distance is on it now you ask yourself honestly isn't that how you pray then I learned something else about grateful that in a telephone there's a year peace and a mouth peace and God's given us two years and how many mounts so we must listen twice as much as we speak so I said Lord I want to listen to you more then I speak I speak too much well after all why do I need to give big shopping list to God is there something that he doesn't know that I need do I have to inform him that somebody is sick which he didn't know about is there anything any information I can give to him in prayer which he didn't know about think about it all the long long information we give to God about Lord you know this is happening here that's happening that in case you didn't know Lord this is happening here and that's happening there I tell you it completely changed my whole understanding of prayer when I decided not to read all these books on prayer but to read the Bible in a hundred and one areas you'll get the truth if you go only to the Bible or listen to somebody who directs you to the Bible to verse in Scripture and get rid of these wrong concepts that we have put into our head for years very difficult to get it out of our head when we have already put it in I grew up in an Orthodox Church my parents were members of us called a Syrian Orthodox here just like other Orthodox churches Russian Romanian so many Arthur are Greek exactly the same praying for the dead praying to Mary and everything else and when I sprinkled as a little baby and when I was born again when I was nearly 20 years old I started reading the Bible I had never read the Bible through before I saw so many things in the Bible which are never taught in the Orthodox Church I made one decision which is one of the most important decisions I ever made as a Christian I said Lord if I ever find anything in the Bible which is contrary to what I've learned all my life I throw away what I learned all my life and accept what's written in your word that is the thing that revolutionized my life and set me on the path of spirituality to accept God's Word and not even to accept the advice written in so many books by so many godly people if I if we can if they cannot show me in Scripture a lot of books nowadays that you get in the book shops Christian book shops are very often the opinions of men even many sermons they turn to one verse in the beginning and then never refer to the Bible again so whenever I wrote in a book I've written probably seen on a website write buy books at least I sometimes challenge people I mean there are two books of those which are testimony leave aside those books or any other book I said you open on any page of it any page of any one of those other 23 books you'll find a scripture reference either on the left side of the right side definitely because my whole aim in writing a book is to drive a path in the scripture not to given my ideas which are useless my words are not going to bring faith to anybody my aim is to drive that person to scripture and I say if you look up that scripture you'll get paid so if I talk about premise finding in Scripture pray without ceasing and everything give thanks and listening in the year peace is as important to speak yes speak to God but to remember what Jesus said in Luke chapter 10 when he was in the house of Mary and Martha and as soon as he came there Martha said boy I must go and get some good food for jesus and his disciples don't you think that was a good idea and there she was sweating in the kitchen sacrificing and serving and working so hard making all that and what she made but whatever she made there she wasn't making it for herself she was making it for thirteen hungry men they were the disciples of Jesus she was serving the Lord and here was her sister Mary not helping her one bit in the kitchen just sitting and listening to what Jesus had to say and she Martha was busy serving the Lord and irritated with Mayor to help her she came in Jesus to complain and said Lord Luke 10 verse 40 don't you care that my sister has left me all alone to do all the work in the kitchen now what a surprise she got Jesus said Martha the problem is with you not with your sister you think I'm so interested in all that fancy cooking you're making for me I'm not interested in your food do you know that the most important thing in life is not food is the same thing he told the devil man shall not live by food alone it's the same thing is telling Martha you're worried about all that food I'm not interested man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God that's what he said to Martha food is not the important thing the words that proceeded from my mouth Mary is more interested in listening to that and he said something else verse 42 there's only one thing that is needful in life about 50 years ago when I was born again I'm very thankful that the Lord spoke to me that word one thing is needful in your life the first book I ever wrote Supreme Priorities the first chapter I wrote about one thing is needful because it gripped me that the most important thing in life is to listen to what Jesus is saying even serving him is not so important in fact my service will be effective if I first listen if I serve it without listening I'll be like Martha wasting my time and that's why a lot of people who serve the Lord like that end up with nose breakdowns and they become grumpy and sour and critical and all types of things why find serving the Lord is this is the most happiest experience of all in my life because I serving is not the most important thing for me it's listening so I discovered that in prayer it's not just speaking it's listening how can you say your fellowship with somebody if you do all the talking I don't even let him speak that's not fellowship that's just telling another person how important you are telling another person how much you must listen to you imagine how foolish it is to stand before God and make him listen to all that you have to say and you have no time to listen to him so I decided that for me prayer is going to be more listening than talking and so you know sometimes we are in church prayer meetings and you know in big church prayer meeting families praying that corner you can't even hear what he's saying and sometimes there are long silences but those are the best parts for me when I can't hear what that guy is saying over there I said lord I can't hear what he's saying I can listen to you now or the long silence if those are the best times of prayer meaning for me because then I can listen those at times in the olden days I used to get bored what to do now the cunning in here long silences and you felt bored and for everything like that not for me I learned to listen keep the form close to years and all you try to save anyone sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night and say what samuel said speak Lord your servant is listening what are you trying to say to me I want to hear I hope what I share with you would completely revolutionize your ideas on prayer you learn to walk with God you learn that fellowship it those are the words of Jesus one thing is needful and mary has chosen that good part that's not serving me is listening to me are you discouraged that you can't preach like somebody else or sing like somebody else or serve like somebody else or are you very proud that you have some gift by which you can serve God your value of your Christian life depends on how much you listen and if I listen and then speak that's fellowship that's prayer and the result of that such prayer life will be that you'll always have a word for people who are in need I don't mean in a pulpit in a prophet or in personal conversation 99.9% of Christians never get into a pulpit but all under percent of Christians meet other people don't you every day many of those people are weary they need to have a word from the Lord and they will have a word from the Lord through you if you know how to pray we're a major part of your prayer is listening listening and speak when you see two people talking to each other the husband and wife I talk to my wife I don't do all the talking no she doesn't do all the talking either he talk to each other that's fellowship you talk to God like that be honest you got to be honest I tell you God will help you if you're honest if you pretend God will never help you just be honest and say Lord all my prayer life is just talking talking talking talking talking and say I mean and go home I want to be honest I've insulted you for so many years imagine if every time you visited somebody's home all you did was talk talk talk talk and talk talk talk talk talk and say goodbye you come next day for another visit and you do the same old thing and you put five years you do like that I don't think that's a greater way you can insult anybody than that never let allow the other person to talk at all but do you ask yourself whether you haven't prayed like that to God you have insulted him for years because you've got your ideas of prayer from books not from the Bible if you read the Bible you to read that one thing is needful what mary is doing she wasn't talking she was listening let me urge you my dear brothers and sisters read the pipe and listen to preachers who will direct you to the Bible he won't go straight so that is prayer so I hope you got some wrong ideas set right in the matter of prayer and we can make specific requests to God they are called supplication I say Lord I need this I'll tell you something about that also when we ask God for something must be like a circle God puts a burden in my heart that's the first half of the circle burden I pray that prayer back to God in the second half of the circle is called faith two most important requirements in asking God for something burden which God has to give me prayed back in faith it's always an answer when you pray without a burden well it's like playing the lottery you may win the ticket you met up with a lot of people's prayers like that I heard of some I don't know which non-christian religion it was where they people go to some either which is some distance away and they write their prayer in a piece of paper and wrap it up in a piece of mud and fling it at the idol if it sticks perhaps it'll be answered if it doesn't stick to the idol then you don't know I think a lot of Christians prayer is also like that fling all these things that God we don't know which you'll get an answer which is not get an answer is that how you talk to your earthly father look how the Apostles pray we have this confidence let me ask anything according to is really here is this and if he is heard as we know that we got the answer from that's what we read in 1 John 5 that's how they prayed it was not this hit-and-miss you know I bought a lottery ticket I may win it or not I don't know a lot of Christians prayers like that it's not meant to be like that so a burden I listen and I pray back to God and when God has spoken to me faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ I don't hear I don't have faith Romans 10:17 is very clear faith comes by hearing not by speaking it comes by hearing there's a lack of faith I mean faith for real things not this third-rate counterfeit faith that's broken out by preachers for there is only for money and for earthly prayer for something eternal Jesus had the habit of listening me show you verse in Isaiah 15 verse 4 the Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples to know how to give a right word to a very person who comes to me what a word to have a right word for a weary person who comes to me how to sustain him so that he doesn't sink under the weight of his problems and how do I get that word God my father wakens me up morning by morning and he wakens up my year to listen Isaiah 50 verse 4 and because I listen I have a word for the guy who comes across my part that day who is needy I prayed that prayer for many years I said lord I understand so often in a pulpit but I don't want to just get up and take a Bible study of Ephesians or from Bible study on sanctification or something like that no I want to have the word which you have for needy people in that congregation I don't know their need but you know it you love them so much that you have a word in season 4 every single one who is there and I want it I believe you'll give it to me not because I'm afraid man but because you love the people don't you love those people of course God does and if God loves people you give us word I mean if he can speak through a donkey why can't he speak through me he spoke through a donkey to Brella your faith God can do it so that's prayer I want to go to the next step Thanksgiving you know very often in our churches now this become very popular particularly in the last 20-30 years for churches to have what they call praise and worship it's definitely not worship I don't know why they call it worship because they don't know what worship is and the certain amount of praise is most it's for it's probably Thanksgiving and praise it's more accurate to say that if you don't believe me instead of singing some of these songs sing it's alright sing in the meeting when you go home read the words of those songs so that you think what did I actually say to God today in the meeting and you find you didn't even think about it perhaps Thanksgiving Lord what is thanks to you Thanksgiving is asking God for nothing it's thanking you for what he's already done thank you for dying for me on the cross thank you for this that and the other so many things got it done for me but thank you for it thank you for help thank you for so many things which we don't think usually thank God for you remember the story of the ten lepers who came to Jesus once it's a very beautiful story in Luke chapter 17 verse 11 while Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem in going between Samaria and Galilee and there were ten lepers men who stood at a distance because the lepers were not allowed to come near the others and they raised their voices this is the thing I want you to notice they were praying they raised their voices and said Jesus master have mercy on us and when he saw them he said Luke 17 14 go and show yourself to the priest and as they were going they were all cleanse the lepers he suddenly disappeared their noses came back to the proper size the stubby fingers grew up to become proper fingers again and the heart started having sensation in that left wrist skin and they said boy is wonderful and only one of them thought I better go back and thank Jesus for what he did for me only one out of ten why didn't the others go back why is it that we don't go back to the Lord with Thanksgiving as much as we go to him with prayer when we are in need I don't know maybe one of them said I think it was already improving a little bit the last few weeks I sort of sensed an improvement it just became all right I don't think of anything very miraculous about it I find that type of attitude sometimes when we pray in desperate need to the Lord for a children or sick or something and when they're healthy we see oh is this medicine of this doctor we give the glory to some chemical or to man not God but this one man and he was not even in Jew the others were Jews one was a Samaritan Samaritans are ones Jews despised but that was the person who thought I must go back and give thanks to God and it says he came back and with the same loudness of voice with which he prayed it says he fell on his face and with the verse 15 with a loud voice he said I ask God with a loud voice I'm going to thank him with a loud voice he said thank you does Jesus expect that does he expect people to come and thank him listen to it Jesus says hey weren't that ten people who spreads were answered where are the nine but because this man came back with the spirit of Thanksgiving he got more than those other nine people God it's always like that those who learn to thank God always get more than those who only pray and if you find that your life is not what it should be it's probably you you're praying a lot but you're not thanking God enough sometimes we don't thank God until we lose something you see many people never think of that heart till they get a heart attack then they realize for how many years that heart has been pumping pumping pumping faithfully and you never even thought about it it's like that with many other things in our life we take for granted holy a blind man appreciates the value of sight all your deaf man appreciates the value of hearing those of us have got good eyesight and hearing I wonder if we have even once thank God for our eyes and our ears no we don't hurt except you don't have to thank God for all that but this man came and said Lord thank you thank you for healing me it's all your work deeply grateful I'm not a Jew I'm not a descendant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob I didn't have that privilege I'm from a despised race I'm deeply thankful for your healing me he was a Samaritan it says in verse 16 and Jesus says was there no one among all these Jewish people to give glory to God except this foreigner and Jesus said rise go your way your faith has saved you the others got healing you got healing plus salvation he got more than those other people God it's always like that and we learn to thank God we get more than the people who only pray you know why you remember the words of Jesus in acts 20 verse 35 What did he say you don't know acts 20:35 it is more blessed to give than to receive these nine people received what did the Samaritan do gave thanks to God he got more blessing than the others because it's true it is more blessed to give than to receive he gave we I'm not saying there's no blessing and receiving acts 20:35 Jesus did not say there is no blessing and receiving no no no no what did he saying there is more blessing in giving that in receiving have you received something from the Lord praise the Lord you got a blessing you learn to give thanks for it you'll get some more can you think of a number of things you have missed in your life because you did not develop the simple habit of Thanksgiving just like those nine Jewish people with all their vital knowledge they did not know how to say thank you but the Samaritan not by will knowledge learn to say thank you you know we teach our children say thank you to Uncle say thank you to Auntie I have to say to you say thank you to God brother say thank you this God sister it says it's civilizations culture now we have to have a thankful heart Lord I'm deeply thankful for what you've done per deeply thankful for dying for my sins I can almost never sing about the cross in the blood of Jesus without weeping even now fifty years after I'm converted I still feel very deeply moved in my heart whenever I think of Jesus dying for me on the cross I cannot take it lightly I'm deeply thankful that a sinner like me he saved me are you thankful you will when you're thankful to God you also become thankful to man I want to ask you your merit people how many times have you knelt down by your bed all by yourself and said Lord thank you for giving me a good wife thank you for giving me a good husband I don't mean saying that when he is present or she is present that maybe has to impress the other person I'm saying when you're all alone and you're all alone you say it you really mean it when you say it when the husband or wife is there that maybe just because you had a fight and you want to sort of reconcile and say that but I mean when you're all alone if you say do you really mean it I've said that a god mate and I said Lord thank you for giving me such a wonderful wife I don't deserve and I don't say when she's around as much as I say it when I'm alone have you thanked God for your children you may find that they improve when you start talking about further so many things we take for granted do you know how much of blessing you're missed in your life because you didn't develop the habit this Samaritan knew we didn't have a Bible to thank Jesus for what he's done okay there's a lovely verse in acts 17 verse 30 which says the times of ignorance God overlooked but now he commands all men to repent of their unthankful heart and start thanking God can you start today and go home one of the things I teach people in our churches at least once a year write a thank-you note to your parents your husband your wife the best day to do it is on their birthday in our family that has become a ritual not a ritual it's a meaningful act that all of us keep to on any one of our birthdays all the others would write a note brilliant two lines is enough to three lines you want to thank God for you you can learn something from the Samaritans we are great Bible scholars can we humble ourselves and learn something from this ignorant Samaritan thank you dear brother to teaching me how to thank Jesus for little things which I took for granted thank you for my family and to express our thanks to one another John says if you say you love God you don't love your brother you're a liar when you learn to thank God you'll also learn to be thankful to one another I teach children in our church be thankful by your parents express it at least once a year express it to them parents tell your children you're thankful for them in spite of all their naughtiness that you're thankful that God brought them into your family I say that regularly to my four boys and even to the ones they are married now I don't call them daughters-in-law because I'm not under the law I'm under grace now I call them daughters I have no daughters-in-law I have only daughters in grace I said thank God for you I thank God that God brought you through my son into my path it brings a bond between me and them and said I'll never treat you like a daughter-in-law you're my daughter's learn to be thankful Samar one mark of a godly man God livable they're deeply thankful do you know what Jesus said if you give a cup of cold water to one of my disciples you will not use your reward I thought of it the day of rewards the Lord calls up somebody do you remember you 2000 years ago you gave a club glass of cold water to my servant Peter glass of cold water I don't even remember it Lord but I remember it here's your reward I learned something from that that I must never forget the good that other people have done for me sometimes I send a New Year greeting to some people my right Chloe once a year you know old contacts and I say brother I remember 25 years ago when I was in your home you are very kind very hospitable I want to thank you I want to thank you for the way you helped my son when he came there you drove him somewhere I want to thank you for just more than a cup of water if Jesus can give thanks for a cup of water I'm not so big that I don't know how to give thanks for things more than a cup of all dear brothers and sisters learn Thanksgiving third praise praise is beyond prayer and Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is God has done something for me if somebody has done something for me and I'm saying thank you praises God he doesn't matter even if you didn't do anything for me you are still Almighty thank God is Almighty long before he did anything for me right he was holy long before he did anything for me long before I existed he was only full of love and I'm praising him for who he is and Thanksgiving I present what he's done for me come here still a bit subsided but praise is totally God centered I don't think of what he did for me I think of who he is Almighty God runs the universe Jesus Christ Lord of lords was called all authority in heaven earth to praise him for who he is that's what the angels in heaven do when Isaiah saw a vision of the Seraphim I mean I'm sure God did a lot for those angels but they were not thinking primarily of that it's your holy holy holy Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory you know I thought of that verse have you ever thought of it sometimes we read the Bible too fast and we don't think about these verses I've been encouraging people to read the Bible slowly sometimes I read a verse and I can't go past that verse in my Bible reading have you ever got stuck in a verse in your Bible reading your plan do you plan to finish a chapter and you only read one verse and can't go beyond that happen to be numerous times and next morning when I get up I'm still on the same words I'm turning on the same verse for all week on verse because I'm not so interested in going through the Bible as in the Bible going through me I don't want to get into some Guinness Book of Records I read the Bible 50 times in a year no I want to say the Bible went through me at least once in my lifetime every verse of the Bible that's what I want I once prayed to the Lord saying Lord before I leave this earth I want to claim every promise in the Bible and before I eat this earth I want to obey every command in the Bible it's a good prayer to break before I need this earth I want to claim every promise that you're given the man and before I leave this earth I will know where every command you give to man I want to live a fulfilled satisfying life other people are out to make money and enjoy the pleasures of the world and one vacations I'm more interested in make sure claim all the promises of Scripture that's the vacation I want and obey all the commands in Scripture made my life extremely happy Isaiah chapter 6 holy holy holy verse 3 he's the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory is that true the whole earth full of his glory you really believe that he said Lord this and these seraphim's haven't looked at the earth properly when they said of all Earth's flows they have a prophetic vision God you're in control of everything the devil does not control even one square inch of this earth my father runs the universe the whole earth is full of his glory God is in control of everything and even the things that look evil God turns them for good I can praise him for everything I can praise him for what looks like evil what is the most evil thing that ever happened on this earth crucifixion of Jesus Christ can you think of a worse sin than man committed by crucifying the son of God that is the worst thing that ever happened on this earth agree with me or not okay now tell me the best thing that ever happened on this earth the crucifixion of the Son of God right was anything better than that that happened for us and anything of anything better than happened on Calvary silver Jesus died on the cross what do we learn from that from Calvary cell not only Jesus died for our sins but that God can take the worst thing the devil does and turn it into the very best thing for us that's why we praise it why do you complain about oh that fellow did this to me that fellow did this to me I remember one brother who came to me like that and said brother people are saying this about me and that about me I said brother have they crucified you yet no I said not yet you got a long way to go what are you complaining about these little little things I mean Jesus forgave people even when they killed him are you a disciple of Jesus or what God is in control of this universe we praise Him in all situations we praise Him and when we praise Him the Lord will put our enemies to fly you read I don't have time to show it you read second chronicles 20 sometime second chronicles 20 a great multitude came against King Josh a pad and a prophet got up and said you don't have to fight in this battle just praise the Lord Jehoshaphat put in front of the army not people would suppose and arrows he put in front of the army people who clapped their hands and blew trumpets and praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord God is on the throne and it says God defeated all those enemies there's a song we sing in our church when you pray and cannot get your answer through it goes on to say try praising when you pray and you can't seem to get through try praising I do that sometimes you know I kneel down to pray and my mind wanders here there and everywhere I remember all the things I've forgotten to do at that time in fact if you want to remember the things you forgot to do just kneel down to pray never will remind you of all the things you're so I stopped praying I said Lord I can't get through I just get up and raise my hand and start praising God and the devil please then I can pray yo praises a tremendous power that's why the devil can't stand in heaven because everybody's praising God there and the devil can't stand is any Church where they're all always praising God the devil can't stand in any home where we are always thanking and praising God for who he is Almighty God turns the curse into a blessing and turns everything for our good we are not complaining and saying but if you go to complain against anybody in that moment you're saying the devil rules this universe at least for these five minutes the devil rule the universe when this guy bust up my life sorry the devil doesn't rule the rule is universe even for one second he was defeated on the cross my heavenly father rules the universe I praise Him who is finally worship worship has got nothing to do with words it's an attitude we may worship with words it may move on to song but the highest form of worship is silence when we bow before God everybody worshiped in the Bible - fell down on their face before God Abraham Joe even John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos all this business that you see nowadays on television people falling backwards and showing that feat to God you see opposite of worship the devil is having a big block saying God look at these colors in the olden days this bow down and worship you now they're showing you that feat AHA and they think that's as part of the Holy Spirit it's not the true worshiper doesn't fall on his back and show his feet to God he falls on his face and puts his head down do you ever see that happening in all these meetings now they're not worshippers they're insulted insulting God I know in India in any village in India you go and show somebody your feet it's one of the biggest insubstantial Madam's won't got your feet on a platform in front of so many people the devil has a big laugh at these foolish Christians Abraham fell on his face worship God job fell on his face and worshiped God Moses fell on his face John fell on his head every man of God did that throughout the Bible you read and when they were falling in their face they were saying God you are everything I want to be a nobody I want you to be everybody in my life the finest expression of worship that I have discovered in the whole Bible is in Psalm 73 and verse 25 where the sabe says the man called Asif who wrote the psalm psalm 73 25 is Oh God boomer buy in heaven buck you and there's no one on earth I desire beside you I desire nothing it's one of the first things one of the things that the Lord taught me only my Christian life was not only listening but worshiping God Jesus told the devil must worship God first and then serve Him I'm very thankful I discovered that very only in my life that if I wanted to serve God I had first learned how to be a worshiper Jesus told a Samaritan woman the father is seeking all over the world for worshipers those who will worship and his version truth and I discovered this is the secret to say to Jesus Lord I desire nothing on earth but you I don't want I was a navy Lobster I said lord I don't want promotion in my job I don't want more to make more money I don't want to acceptance before people have a single I don't even want to get married if that's not your will these things are not important for me if I have you Lord Jesus that's it I don't want anything else everything else is a bonus God gave I don't want a house I don't want probably I don't want anything he gives many things but if you place value on these things I'll tell you this if you place a value on your job or your house or your property or your car you're not a worshipper but if you say Lord Jesus I desire nothing on earth but you you are everything to me I desire no one on earth but you well he gave me a wife but because I'm a worshipper of Jesus wife and I had a very good relation because she's not first in my life she knows that she knew that 42 years ago and she knows it today and I know that I'm not first in her life either Jesus is first and because of that we have had a very happy man my positions are not first I don't care if I lose them Jesus is first so I don't get disturbed somebody steals something of mine own ruin something I remember when we used to have the meetings in our home for six years the church met in my home on the little little children is to practice writing the alphabet on our wall yes we have to correct them but you have to correct them without getting disturbed that's different we have to teach children because they don't know I used to say Lord I thank you that I'm not a worshipper of the wall I'm a worshipper of Jesus Christ so I have nothing on earth to disturb me at villages used to come from our village churches poor people whose children don't wear diapers they're too poor it come visiting me and the little small boy will stand up on the coffee table and urinate there I said fine just take a little cloth and wipe it off clean it up I said Lord I'm not a worshipper of my coffee table either I'm a worshipper of Jesus Christ nothing on earth will disturb me I learned the secret 50 years ago Lord Jesus I desire nothing on earth but you I desire no one on earth but you and because I learned to worship I learned to serve it's not just singing a few songs in Sunday morning and calling it worship many Christians worship something other than Jesus Christ that's why I get disturbed because their Idol has been disturbed I don't have any heart do you have an idol are you worshiping and you say like Habakkuk the last verses of Habakkuk although the victory shall not blossom neither shall fruit be in the vines the labor of the olive shall fail and the fields there is no harvest and the flock is all dead yet I would rejoice in the Lord I will join the God of my salvation I remember sometimes I've traveled in this buses in India and when I get down from my the bus I find my wallet is missing such a neat job I didn't even feel it a big pocket I felt he deserved it because he did such a good job taking but anyway I said Lord why did you allow this guy to pick my pocket maybe to pray for nobody ever prayed for him in his life maybe I feel depressed he gets saved and then I would ask myself I lost my money did I lose my joy also aha then my joy was also in my wallet I decided I would never put my joy inside my wallet joyful to be my heart my money's gonna mean a lot my money is in the bank I joined always in my heart never gonna lose my job I lose my mind if you lost joy with your money ah you better be careful your joy with somewhere else not in your heart not in the Lord Habakkuk said I will rejoice in the Lord all these things go it's a wonderful thing to be a worshipper don't worry you won't starve I've never starved I've been a believer 50 years I never starved I've never had to tell any earthly person my need any time my life God's taking care of it all my children never start we didn't bring them up as millionaires but we never start you have a loving product dear brothers and sisters be a worshiper that's great family father it's so easy to understand these things in my head and have no experience of these in our life deliver us from that deceptions bring us a new reality pray in Jesus name

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 47,153

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

Id: k_Ed4P09xKU

Length: 60min 20sec (3620 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 18 2010