Global Online Meeting Q&A -- Zac Poonen -- April 10, 2021

[Music] so here's a few questions thank you all for posting them we're still getting the questions coming in we'll try to answer as many as we can before we do that related to what you shared dad there was a question about how can we practically seek for and receive the filling of the holy spirit and somebody asked if you could pray maybe lead us in a prayer for those who are seeking for the the fullness of the holy spirit either now or at the end whenever you think it's appropriate the most important thing in the christian life in this new covenant age is to be filled with the holy spirit and ephesians 5 18 says be being filled with the holy spirit and everything changed on the day of pentecost when those 120 people were baptized or immersed the word baptism is a greek word meaning immersion so to be immersed in water is baptism in water to be immersed in the holy spirit is to be baptized in the holy spirit there are two ways to be immersed one is to be dipped in a river or a tank and the other is to stand under a waterfall so in water baptism you're immersed in a tank or in a river in the baptism in the holy spirit is standing under the holy spirit coming like a waterfall upon us and drenching us and filling us our inner being so that from our innermost being rivers of living water will flow [Music] in the old covenant the there was a veil we read in the temple the picture of something preventing our spirit from having the holy spirit dwelling in us and that is our sin man's sin was not dealt with until the day of until the day christ died on the cross and he ascended up to heaven so only after that could man's heart be cleansed for the holy spirit to fill the heart that's why nobody in the old testament could have the holy spirit within the holy spirit was upon people in the old testament anointed them to serve and all that but did not dwell within when we receive christ the holy spirit comes in romans 8 9 is very clear that the holy spirit comes in when we are born again but we may not be filled with the holy spirit at that time he may be or may not be the picture i use is if you see a house on top of a hill and it's got 10 rooms there and one room is lit with light and i ask you does that is there light in that house you say yes is it filled with light no nine rooms are dark that's the picture of a born again believer the holy spirit has come in the spirit is within but he's not filled with the spirit there are areas in his life that he has not yielded to the holy spirit we can think of areas in our life like rooms that we don't allow the holy spirit to come in for example we've discussed a number of areas today have you forgiven everyone you lock that door and say oh i can never forgive that man okay that room in your house will remain dark because you don't allow the holy spirit to come in there or some financial matter which you need to set right and you say no i'm not going to set that right that's perfectly okay and you know it's unrighteous you'll lock that door to the holy spirit you won't come in that room in remains dark are you born again yes what is your primary desire as a christian is it only to go to heaven when you die you should be ashamed of yourself in that case jesus came gave everything to save you and if your attitude is what is the minimum i have to do to go to heaven when you die it's like a why a marriage where a husband does everything to help his wife to encourage his wife and sacrifice day and night work and earn and support his wife and his wife's attitude is well what is the minimum i have to do to please my husband that's how many christians are we are in a bright bridegroom relationship with christ such people will never experience being filled with the holy spirit i'm going to tell you at the beginning but if your attitude on the other hand is what is the maximum i can give to god in this one earthly life for him who gave his maximum for me my aim is not to go to heaven when i die my aim is to please my heavenly father to please the lord jesus to return to him everything possible in gratitude for what he did for me if that is your attitude you can be filled with the holy spirit pretty soon so remember this my dear brothers and sisters it is your attitude towards the lord that's preventing you from being filled with the spirit it can be minimum or maximum what is the minimum i have to do to please the lord or what is the maximum i can give to god in this one earthly life you take that maximum attitude from today onwards and you'll find you're filled with the spirit pretty soon jesus said in john 7 21 thirst let him come to me that means you have such a desperate desire to be filled with the spirit that you're willing to pay any price what is thirst you can have first time right now all of you may be thirsty for a little bit of water but supposing the glass of water cost 10 million dollars you say no i'm not that thirsty thank you so what is the price you're willing to pay to be filled with the holy spirit what does thirst mean lord i'm willing to pay any price i'm willing to give up anything in my life supposing the lord tells you i don't want you to watch that television program anymore will you say sure obviously oh boy i've enjoyed that so much i don't want to give that up how can you ask him to fill you with the spirit because you have locked one door the door where your television set is kept you locked it you will not allow the holy spirit to come in there anything you watch on television you ask yourself can i picture jesus sitting here with me enjoying this i'm not saying that we should be always reading the bible god has made us in such a way he allows us to relax and have various forms of clean relaxation there's nothing wrong in that but if you if there's some program you watch where you can't allow jesus to sit with you and watch it and you want to do it at any you have to do watch that don't ask god to fill you with the holy spirit just forget it just say i want to go to heaven when i die that's all i'm interested in [Music] see the lord will do his part if you do yours and you could ask yourself in different areas have i opened every door of my life to the holy spirit take the money area have you settled all financial matters are you willing to be absolutely upright in money matters or do you lock the finances room in your house and say tell the lord lord don't come in there and we have to do as long as we're in this world we have to do certain unrighteous things otherwise we can't live god will say go ahead and do it but don't ask me to fill you with the holy spirit so it is believers themselves who are locking certain doors in their house that they and then praying that they should be filled with the spirit they'll never be filled so that's the first thing first say lord i'm willing to pay you price and then come with faith it's like opening your mouth and drink you can't open your mouth you can't drink if you don't open your mouth to open the mouth is to believe my father who gave jesus to die for me loved me so much why will he not give me the holy spirit when i want to live for him if you just want to have an exciting experience forget it many people want to have an experience exciting experience so they can testify about it god's not going to fill anybody with the holy spirit for that but if you say lord i want to live for you and i don't have the power to live for you he'll help you i'll tell you and he's done that for me and he'll do that for anybody thank you so the next question uh some questions i'll group them related to what you were speaking on uh when you were talking about not accusing not partnering with satan and accusing others is there a difference between accusing others and pointing out those who are leading people astray for example certain preachers or or praise leaders in in christendom who uh are living ungodly lives uh and calling them out maybe on social media or talking to others about it is there a difference between that and not being an accuser of the brethren yeah uh before i get into that one word about praying for the fullness of the holy spirit i personally don't believe you have to go to anybody to lay hands on you to be filled with the holy spirit you can go to jesus directly and say lord you fill me with the holy spirit and if you pray sincerely nobody else needs to pray for you it's just between you and the lord okay now this question scripture is our guide in all this if you read paul's letter to timothy you find him mentioning certain names he says there are certain believers who have made shipwreck of their life in regard to their faith sec one timothy 1 verse 20 hymenaeus and alexander whom i have handed over to satan so they will not will be taught not to blaspheme in colossians in second timothy iv he talks about dimas he has loved loved this present world and gone deserted me if you read in colossians we read in colossians that demons is actually once a co-worker of paul colossians 4 and verse 14. he refers to demons my co-worker and luke among others and demons but the same demons a few years later has deserted me and loved this world paul says in second timothy 4 14 about alexander the coppersmith didn't mean much harm the lord will replay him according to his deeds so there are names that paul mentions and warns people against certain i believe it's right to warn people against false teachers in all these things whenever you have a doubt ask yourself this question what is my motive is my motive to get my own back on that guy then it is wrong is your motive the glory of god and to protect the innocent sheep and the lambs from being led astray then your motive is good by all means go ahead and warn i mean if there was a deceiver moving around different houses would you want your own children to be careful about that person sure it's not because you hate that person because you want to protect your children so when your motive is good to protect people and not to get your own back on somebody we not only should not only can say it but we should warn believers against it i warn people against false teachers and preachers but i try to avoid their names except in private in a public message you there are 2 000 messages of mine on youtube you'll never find me mentioning your name because i never find jesus mentioning a name in his messages uh you don't find him preaching against caiaphas or he wrote in a in a message he warned people privately and even paul he warns people in his letters to timothy and titus are personal letters to individuals but you never find him doing that in his messages so i believe it's right to warn those we have a responsibility for and when we preach a message we must warn in general i follow the rule of not mentioning names in in public in my messages yeah okay the next question it relates to spiritual warfare there's a lot of deception in christendom about the correlation between the spiritual and the physical uh some people claim that when you fight spiritual warfare you'll get physically tired what about those who claim to go into trances and they're doing this in the name of christendom can uh and related to that can the devil oppress a christian what's the difference between oppression and demon possession and can satan attack us even when we're not on guard say when we're asleep okay we don't have to be afraid of satan at all that's the first thing i want to say we've got to get rid of this fear of satan satan has got to be afraid of you as jesus is so are we in this world so whether i'm asleep or awake i don't care if demons are hanging all around my house they cannot come in there's a hedge around my home there's a hedge around my family there's heads around me three fold has god's put around me and so i don't fear whether i'm asleep or awake makes no difference that i must not have all this superstition that i've got from outside of scripture and all the theories that people spin about demons demons they were all defeated on the cross every one of them wherever jesus went demons were scared and if you walk in the light remember satan is called the prince of darkness any area that you allow darkness into your life in that area satan gets power over you that's why we've got to make sure there's no area in our heart that is dark dark means some bitterness against somebody something you're always murmuring and complaining about that's darkness get rid of it because satan is the one who loves to make people murmur complain grumble and criticize and all that get rid of it seek the glory of god in everything and then you can sleep peacefully at night keep your conscience absolutely clear if you sin confess it immediately cleanse it away in the blood of christ and don't let condemnation come into your heart condemnation is a no entry road there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus romans 8 1. if you condemn yourself the devil gets far over you why should you condemn yourself to be convicted of sin is right the holy spirit convicts but he doesn't condemn anyone god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world many people know john 3 16 god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life they should also know john 3 17 the next verse which says god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but the world through him might be saved i am not in the world to condemn anybody i'm here to save people jesus came did not do not did not come to condemn condemnation is from the devil don't let the devil condemn you and you don't condemn others if somebody's wrong try to save him if you can't save him at least leave him alone don't go don't waste your time condemning people and don't allow the devil to condemn you so we must not be afraid of satan we have power over satan and i tell you another thing if your life is clear your conscience is clear every one of you can even cast out a demon casting out a demon is not some special gift if your conscience is clear if satan has been defeated on the cross i've cast out numerous demons in my life just like jesus did every time with one single word one sentence in jesus name get out and if the demon does not go it means something is wrong with your life go and pray and fast and set that right yelling and shouting the devil's not impressed by yelling i remember once casting out a demon from someone who was about 30 40 feet away from me with a whisper the person near me could not have heard the devil has got good hearing one word and the demon will go we have authority over satan god gave us that authority we are not we didn't accomplish it i didn't accomplish it i'm no better than you but i believe in a savior and my conscience is clear and i know my savior defeated this enemy for me and i don't fight to win the victory i stand on the victory that my savior has won for me so stand on that victory believe i mean you would all feel condemned about your sins if you didn't believe that jesus died for you what is it that just delivered you from condemnation you know that he died for you in the same way if you don't believe that satan is defeated on the cross you'll always live in fear of him but if you know he was defeated let me use an example satan is like a snake that's not been killed but has been sticked and paralyzed it's paralyzed as long as your conscience is clear the moment you allow your conscience to convict you and you don't set it right that snake comes alive but otherwise satan is not dead but he has no power over you it's like a paralyzed snake you're the one who's going to give power to satan by keeping your not settling some matter in your conscience that's why the devil is so clever get you to have some bad conscience in some area then you'll get power over your life we must never be afraid you can i always say the best pillow to sleep on at night is a good conscience sleep on that pillow with a good conscience i sleep every night with a good conscience and i don't believe the devil can touch me or hurt me in any way god bless you all i'll move on to a different category of questions and this is related to spiritual growth um a few questions that are correlated how can we be absolutely certain of our salvation and what is the mark of the true mark of progress in a believer's life we can be absolutely sure of our salvation by the witness of the holy spirit within our spirit that we are children of god the bible says that in romans chapter 8 that the holy spirit bears witness without spirit romans 8 verse 16 the holy spirit testifies with our spirit that we are god's children you must have that when i tell a person to receive christ i don't tell him okay now you're a child of god that's not my business i don't know whether the guy is genuine or not but if he's really received christ the holy spirit will tell him i believe in romans 8 verse 18 i don't have to tell him why should i do the job of the holy spirit the holy spirit will tell him i may point into scripture that i will do but i love the holy spirit to bear witness to his spirit that he is a child of god and tell him that god is his father but it is based on scripture for example how do i know that my sins are forgiven because the bible says if we confess our sins 1 john 1 9 he is faithful and just to forgive us all our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and 1 john 1 7 says the blood of jesus cleanses us from all sin if we walk in the light walk in the light means i keep a clear conscience the blood of jesus cleanses me from all sin now you say well aren't you believing what john wrote well i believe it was scripture the early disciples when scripture was not written you read in john chapter 20 the lord told his disciples whose ever sins you forgive they are forgiven so if the apostle john went to somebody and told him confess your sin and he's confessed his sin to the lord and john says with the authority god gave me i tell you you are forgiven where did john get that authority from in john chapter 20 from jesus whose ever sins you permit they are forgiven now that same john who's not alive today wrote it down for us in his letter for us to read that if you walk in the light your blood has cleansed you i believe it the lord gave him that authority to say that and if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us the lord gave these apostles authority to say that's why i believe it anyway i know in my life has given me an absolute rest in my heart to the absolute assurance that my sins are all forgiven every wretched thing that you ever did in your life if you come into the light and confess it to god you don't have to confess it to man don't confess your sins to man unless you hurt somebody then you confess to him otherwise your sin must be confessed to god you don't have to confess your sins to your wife or to your husband only to god except where you sin against a person then you must confess to god and to that person otherwise we confess only to god and we believe that he has cleansed us from all our sins and we walk with a clear conscience even if you are a murderer or an adulterer in the past the blood of christ cleanses you completely you don't have to think about it except in gratitude to the lord for having forgiven you so much so we can be absolutely sure that we are children of god here are some questions related to fighting against sin um in a particular situation how do i know if god is breaking trying to break me in that situation or if it's a situation that i should resist how do i distinguish between a situation where god is using circumstances to break me maybe a sickness or something like that versus something that i should be praying against okay but a previous question let me complete that answer you asked me what is the mark of spiritual growth there is only one mark of true spiritual growth and that is we are becoming more and more like jesus in our conduct and in our character every day there is no it's not usefulness to god many people are used by god they're not growing spiritually spiritual growth is measured 1 john chapter 3 verse 2 and 3. one day when we see him we'll become like him and those who have this hope purify themselves as he is pure okay to move on to this question when some situation comes into my life we we're not we shouldn't enjoy difficulties i don't enjoy difficulties i'll tell you honestly we have to endure and if there's a problem i seek to overcome it for example if i'm sick some sickness cough or a cold or a fever i will use every possible medicine or treatment to get rid of it i'm not saying oh i've got to endure this fever and endure this cough and cold to become like jesus no we live in a world which is under the curse because you know our body is made from the same dust which was cursed by god in genesis chapter 3 when adam sinned adam was not cursed but the ground was cursed and his body was made from that dust and so that's why believers get sick just like unbelievers there's no difference believers get cancer unbelievers get cancer why because the body of that unbeliever and the body of this believer is made from the dust which is cursed by god but god in his mercy has provided certain vegetation and minerals which scientists have discovered which are met with from which you get medicines to cure certain sicknesses that's god's mercy so we make use of them so i would not suffer unnecessarily if i cannot i don't have to if i got a comfortable blood to sleep in there's no virtue and sleeping on the floor see we are not called to be spartan we are called to be disciples and if god has not given you a comfortable place then it's okay i'm ready to sleep on the floor even today if i have to do that to serve the lord so there's no virtue in taking on difficulty which we can avoid so there's there are enough problems in the world without you going down looking for them and whenever something comes if it's if it's a spiritual evil i resist it in jesus name i say i'm not going to yield to that in jesus name i'm going to stand against that but physical difficulties and trials as far as possible i try to make my life as comfortable as possible that means if you can i did not write as i used to ride a cycle once then i graduated to a scooter because more comfortable than riding a cycle there's nothing wrong with that if you can afford a car get a car there's no virtue in walking if you can ride a car whatever comforts god has given you by all means make use of them you don't become spiritual by going through physical difficulties if you can avoid them but there are certain physical difficulties and sicknesses god allows okay i don't know why but i accept them and i say lord i'll suddenly pray for healing every time i'm sick i pray for healing i don't believe sickness is from god but because my body is made of the dust which is cursed by god as until i get a new body which is christ's body i will have certain sicknesses just like anybody else in the world and because of god's mercy all these medicines and surgery and treatments he's right i'll make use of every one of them there's no virtue in unnecessary suffering and those things which i cannot get rid of i'll say okay i'll endure it i'll accept it and ask the holy spirit to help me to overcome it and those things are the ones which which i accept and which will make me strong i hope that is clear the holy spirit will make it clearer to you yeah thanks um in our battle against sin how do we how do we understand what is the work that christ has already completed and the work that we need to do what part of us is already dead versus uh what part of our self we need to die to every day what's the difference there between self that do we die to ourself or do we deny ourself okay the best i find it's best to use words of scripture for example many people use the word sinful nature do you know that that word is never found in scripture that's what confuses people you use a word which is not found in the bible i say i don't know what the meaning of this you've got to define the meaning to me but i'll give you the word spoken of in scripture this bible speaks about the old man and the bible speaks about the flesh these are two completely different things it never speaks about sinful nature so let me define to you old man and flesh romans 6 refers to the old man the old man it says here was crucified with christ on the cross romans chapter 6 verse 6 knowing this that our old self or the old man was crucified with christ what was crucified with christ if you ask me sinful nature that's not a word in scripture i will not answer that the old man was crucified with christ and it's finished with and in baptism i'm testifying as i go down in the water and testifying that my old man was crucified and buried i'm rising up a new man that's the testimony in baptism that's why sprinkling water on a baby is not proper baptism you bury a dead person you don't sprinkle sand on a dead person's head you put him completely underground so the old man is to be buried and that's what we symbolize in baptism and a new man comes out of the grave that's what we symbolize in the coming out of the waters the old man is the mind that wants to sin let me repeat it the old man is the mind that wants to sin when a person is really born again the mind that wants to sin is killed by the lord so when person comes to me from baptism for baptism i ask him one question do you want to sin please understand the question clearly i'm not asking you will you sin again none of us can say no i will never sin again for the rest of my life we may slip up that's not my question do you want to sin if you want to sin i would say to you straight to your face you're not born again now here's a little more difficult question do you want to sin even once in the rest of your life if you say yes once you're not born again if you're born again one mark is you don't want to sin even once you may sin a hundred times but you don't want to sin [Music] so the old man is this want to sin the mind that wants to sin has been crucified with christ when you receive him wonderful and i'm sure all of you who are genuinely born again will agree with me that you don't want to sin you don't want to displease the lord isn't that right i believe it is okay but there's still something alive in us called the flesh and that we read in galatians in chapter 5 it says galatians 5 galatians 5 verse 17 the flesh sets its desire against the holy spirit and the spirit against the flesh and they are in opposition to one another the flesh is the desires which the want to sin thing is gone but let me use an example and that will make it clear the new man is the new born again person is the person who does not want to sin the old man is the one who wants to sin which has been killed when you're born again god's put a new man within your heart which is he does not want to sin okay imagine your heart like a house with a door that doesn't have a board that you can lock it inside but a door that you can push and keep shut and the new man keeps it shut the flesh with its many desires are like a gang of robbers who come trying to break into this door to come into your heart and steal your joy your peace anything that's valuable in your life your purity your goodness the robbers have come to steal that that's the flesh with his desires they are outside coming knocking at your heart and pushing to get in in the olden days the old man lived inside and said come in come take what you want take away my purity and help me to watch pornography the old man opens the door for all these lusts to come in for the flesh to come in but once i'm born again the new man stands when i'm tempted and the temptation means these lusts of the flesh come banging the door and say no you're not going to come in then how does the believer sin if the new man has not been eating properly and he's weak he can't keep this door shut he tries to keep it shut but after a while he heals and the lusts come in you've probably seen that you resisted anger or lust or pornography for some time then after some time you healed then you hate yourself when you confess it and you get rid of it and you try to keep the door shut and you're not able to keep it shut because you're not strong you're not eating properly you're not feeding yourself on the word of god you're not seeking to be filled with the holy spirit then you can't keep the door shut that doesn't mean the new man is not there the new man is there but he's not eating properly he's not strong enough it's not that you're not born again but you still don't want to sin but you do but if you're really filled with the holy spirit you feed yourself in god's word you'll be able to keep that door shut again every one of these wretched lusts so that's the difference between the old man and the flesh jesus was tempted like us basically the flesh is self-will wanting to do my own will every single thing we call sin is an exercise of my wanting to do my own will everything whether it's stealing money or telling a lie or lusting after a woman basically you can sum it all up saying i want to do my own will and there are different aspects of it that's what the flesh is self-will did jesus have a will of his own he certainly did in john 6 verse 38 he says i came from heaven not to do my own will that thing called my own will is the flesh jesus had that it was not sinful to have a will of your own is not sinful adam had a will of his own it's when he yielded that will to go against god that it became sin to have free will is not a sin jesus had free will he was not a robot but he always exercised that will say no to my will i came from heaven said to say no to my will and to yes to the father's word john 6 38 john 6 38 is a one sentence autobiography of jesus 33 and a half years he came from heaven to do what most people say to die for the sins of the world that's one part but in one sentence he came from heaven never to do his own will but the will of his father so that's the difference jesus did not have an old man he was not born in sin he was born pure but he had a will which he had to deny that's why he was tempted like us tempted to do what country to do his own will but he never did it even the most difficult trial in gethsemane he said not my will and so this is where it means to deny myself and say lord i want to follow you i don't want to do my will i want to do your will i asked some questions that have been asked about forgiveness and restitution thank you for pointing out about how forgiveness forgiving others is closely related to having authority over satan and not being deceived by his tactics what does it mean to forgive those who are uh who sin against us and if they are unrepentant um does if god himself does not forgive those who are unrepentant what does it mean for us to forgive them if they have harmed us or if they are unrepentant in general in every situation when the written word is not clear to me i go to the living word the word made flesh so if i can't find a verse in scripture i look at jesus you see we don't run the race reading the bible we run the race it says in hebrews 12 looking under jesus not looking at the bible we read the bible but the purpose of the bible is to help us to look at jesus so my question is the people who killed jesus on the cross did jesus forgive them yes that is the worst sin that anybody committed on this earth in the history of man there's no greater sin that anybody committed than crucifying the son of god and that greatest sin of all jesus forgave immediately father forgive them but they don't know what they're doing what he said on the cross but my next question is did god in heaven forgive them no see in all forgiveness there are two elements like the two arms of the cross there's the vertical element and the horizontal element in some sense there is only a vertical element for example if you lust after a woman in your mind and don't do anything there's only a vertical element in it you sinned against god but you didn't sin against anybody else so you only ask forgiveness from god but you actually went and hurt somebody then there's a horizontal element in it you hurt somebody you yelled at him got angry ask god to forgive you and ask that person to forgive you as well because there's a human element in it too so in all sins there's a vertical element when they killed jesus on the cross there were two parts to that sin one they sinned against jesus killing him to kill any man is wrong and to kill the son of god is a terrible sin but there was a vertical element in that that they sinned against almighty god jesus forgave the horizontal element father as far as i'm concerned you're forgiven from the horizontal element please forgive them i don't hold anything against them like when stephen was being killed by the priest in acts chapter 7 he said lord don't lay this into that charge he eliminated the horizontal element but the vertical element those people who kill stephen are still answerable to god and those people who kill jesus are answerable to god and if they repent they can be forgiven without repentance god cannot forgive anyone so i don't have to worry about that vertical element god will take care of that and that fellow who hurt me maybe god will deal with him that's not my business but god believes i'll give you a verse to show that turn to second timothy chapter four ii timothy 4 14. paul says alexander the coppersmith did me much harm alexander the copper smith i don't know who he is didn't mean much harm there are two elements to alexander's sin one is the vertical against god the other is a horizontal against paul paul says the horizontal one i've forgiven him but the lord will still repay him according to his deeds one day he can't escape that that doesn't mean paul didn't forgive him paul definitely knew how to forgive everybody who hurt him just like jesus forgave on the cross but the vertical element he leaves it to a god that's why the bible says in romans 12 never take vengeance romans 12 never 19 romans 1 19 never take your own revenge but leave room for the wrath of god in other words this horizontal element we must always forgive people always means always but the vertical element of their having sinned against god remains leave room for the wrath of god when alexander the copper smith hurt paul what did he do he did not take vengeance but he left room for the wrath of god because god god says in romans 19 vengeance is mine i will repay says the lord and i can't say lord don't repay him god says i will repay he will repay not that i wish evil for him no no no if you wish evil for somebody something's wrong with you when somebody's hurt you you must not only forgive him but you must wish good for him i'll tell you what i do and a lot of people i'm a servant of the lord and i've been a target of satan for 50 years that i've served the lord and he always targets me through other people every single case i say lord i have forgiven them and how do i know lord i don't wish any evil for them i don't wish any evil for their family i wish the best for them i pray they will prosper i pray they will prosper financially i pray they will prosper in health i don't wish anything wrong on them my heart is clear i just want to make sure that that's why i wish good for them but if god deals with him that's his business it's not my business and i must mind my own business and not god's business uh regarding making restitution um how does or dealing with past sins couple questions here one is um what should we do if we're constantly reminded about our past sins and the hurts that uh people have caused us for our own sin and sins done to us also regarding restitution how would um you guide with regarding making restitution in situations where it's not practically possible because we don't know how to reach that person or set that right also um in in one you've talked about uh making restitution financially like uh i think in you in your book you talked about uh buying railway tickets and discarding it but that might not always be possible what advice would you give in situations where it's really there doesn't seem to be a way to make that restitution yeah first of all regarding memory as i said earlier we can never erase from our memory events of the past good or bad over a period of time because of time we may think we have forgotten it but deep down in our memory it's there and it's like we follow jesus if you go to jesus and see him one day and even in heaven in eternity and say lord where did you get these nail prints in your hand and in your feet he won't say i can't remember i've forgotten no he remembers very well where he got those nail prints does that mean he didn't forgive them of course he forgive them the word made flesh gives me the answer through all eternity he remembers that when he came to earth somebody killed him but he forgave them long ago so the fact that it's in our memory doesn't mean anything we have still forgiven that person it's in our will you must learn to live in your will not in your memory very important distinguish between the two i can honestly say before god there's not a single human being on earth that i have not forgiven many many people have done me harm most of them have never come and apologized i have forgiven them completely but they're still in my mind in some cases i even tell you accurately detail what all they did but i don't hold it against them i wish them the best and i've forgiven them i i've said before god lord i forgive them that's it i live in my will i don't live in my memory next concerning restitution the great example we have is of in luke 19 about zacchaeus and thank god for that example where jesus went to zacchaeus house and it's an amazing word it says in luke 19 verse 8 when they were going there at some place zacchaeus stopped luke 19 and i believe he stopped outside his house and if i were to imagine the conversation going on there between zacchaeus and jesus zacchaeus saying lord i can't allow you want to come and stay in my house you're not just visiting me you said you want to stay in my house tonight i cannot allow you to stay in this house because this house was built with unrighteous money i've cheated people of millions of rupees or dollars and built this house how can i ask you to come and stay here so before you enter this house i want to tell you something i made a decision i am going to pay back four times all the people i've stolen because he made a quick calculation in his mind of interest for so many years and all that and add a little extra and he said okay i won't just get back that money i'll give back the money with interest and a little bonus added to it four times so that all the people who might cheat it will be happy that they get it back that's number one and then lord there are a whole lot of other people i cheated i don't even know their mailing address i don't know where they live but i can't keep that money in my bank account so i'll take all that money and give it to the poor he says that also he says i'll give half my money to the poor today i'd say put it in the offering box give it to the lord in those days it was giving to the poor because if you put it in the offering about those days some crooked pharisees would take it and use it so you'd give it to the poor which is better in those days so don't put your money in an offering box where there are crooked preachers but where you really believe that money will be used for the glory of god if you don't know where to give back that money give it to some [Music] church where you feel the money will be used for poor people or for the glory of god now the mention that santosh said about my buying railway tickets i remember years ago when i got converted way back in 1959 one of the things the lord reminded me was that in my unconverted days i had brought certain things into the country as a naval on a ship i was a naval officer without paying customs duty on it and i cheated the customs so i decided i must calculate how much customs i owed duty and paid back to the government and i found it came to about four months of my salary in those days and it took me some many months a year or so to accumulate that money and when i accumulated that money i went to the customs office the government customs office in bombay to look for where i could return this money there was no department for honest people coming to return money in that whole office because it would be unemployed that office if where are the honest people coming to certain money so they if they had a department they closed it down pretty soon because nobody's coming so i said now what shall i do there is no department here that helps honest people to return money and if i go to somebody that fellow will give me a false receipt and take the money himself so i said i said lord i wanted to go back to the government and in india the railways belong to the government unlike in other countries so i said okay it must go back to the government so i went to the railway station and bought expensive tickets for long distance of journeys to cover that entire amount and i tore up those tickets and i made sure that money went back to the government where there is a will there is a way and i just wanted to make sure that i had repaid my conscience my bank account was empty my conscience was clear and if i had not done it then i'd have been dragging a chain on my feet for 60 years i thank god there's no chain to prevent me from running out of the lord i'd like to ask you about conscience and how do we know whether uh we're being insensitive in our conscience or having an oversensitive conscience how do i know my repentance is genuine and also if you can while answering that talk about hebrews 10 26 where it says if i go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth there is no longer a sacrifice for sin yeah first of all it's very difficult for me to say whether you have an oversensitive conscience or an undersensitive conscience you have to be honest before the lord but it's true whenever a person is very eager to please the lord the devil tries to push that person you know the the two side the narrow way is a very narrow path and there are steep cliffs on either side and under sensitive conscience is one clip and over sensitive conscience is another cliff so the best thing is just ask yourself is this something which i have done wrong let me rectify to the best of my ability zacchaeus did not condemn himself because he could not find out the mailing address of all those people he had cheated he said okay there's another way to do it i'll give it to the poor i make sure i don't use that money what else to do god accepted it he didn't live with the over sensitive conscience oh i'll trouble himself for the next few years where shall i find that address no so we have to be careful that we don't go to either extreme if the holy spirit tells you that something you did was wrong you can go and set it right go and set it right ask that person's forgiveness but if it's a situation where you cannot set something right just forget it but don't keep any money with you which is not yours give it to the lord in the church and if it is somebody you don't know where that person is or if it is some adulterous relationship you fell into in the past it may not be wise to go and confess it to that woman who's now married to somebody else you've got to be wise in all these things and not be stupid and foolish and destroy that woman's life even more by going going and confessing to someone who is already married to somebody else so there are we have to be god has given us common sense remember one thing that just like the holy spirit is a gift of god common sense is a gift of god so sometimes common sense is good enough to tell you what to do in certain situations so under sensitive is also serious that you take something lightly you say oh well that doesn't matter some people say everybody does it well everybody goes to hell what about that so don't use the excuse that everybody does it that doesn't mean we're not supposed to do something just because everybody else does it no i mean if we do what everybody else does then we will go where everybody else goes so we avoid things which are which our conscience tells us is wrong but we don't let it bring us to the place where we condemn ourselves day and night about it i believe we need to confess the sin to the lord only once but we remember what we did in the past but we must not be condemned about it romans 8 1 says there is no condemnation to those who are in christ jesus but then why should we remember remember i must remember what i did in the past because you remember the story where jesus said of a king who forgave a man let's say a billion dollars or a billion rupees and that man went and caught a man who owed him 10 rupees or 10 dollars and got him by the throat and in the parable the king called him back and said hey don't you remember how much i forgave you that's where we need to remember how much we've been forgiven because when we remember how much we've been forgiven it's easy for us to forgive others so we must remember what we mean forgiven because then we forgive others and also it makes us grateful to god for what he's forgiven so that we live a life of service for him but we don't remember our past in a way that it condemns us so there are two things romans eight one romans we there's no condemnation but it says in second peter and chapter one that we must remember our past for another reason second peter chapter one it says if you forget ii peter 1 9 if you forget the sins you've been cleansed from you will become short-sighted spiritually and you will lack qualities of spiritual growth second peter 1 9 so we must remember the past after first being assured but there's no condemnation for it so we remember the past only to be grateful to god and to forgive others who harm us scripture is very clear when we read it carefully yeah go ahead there was a question in the at the end of regarding hebrews 10 26 the willful sinning yeah yeah okay if i slip up on something just remind me i'm getting old hebrews 10 26. now the correct translation is as in the new american standard bible and esp which i use if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of truth there is no longer a sacrifice for sin that is a person who takes advantage of the fact that christ died for our sins don't say oh well it doesn't matter i can sin and i can be forgiven such a person will not be forgiven it's like if your your son is going for a examination and you tell him it's all right to cheat go and cheat in some way carry a paper with you where the answers are written down or look into somebody else's paper and after you've cheated and you've got good marks ask the lord to forgive you then you pass on the exam you're also forgiven such a person will go to hell don't teach your children such things that is going on sinning willfully knowing that i'm going to be forgiven so i sin such a person is not really born again he's the old man is there which wants to sin not the new man who doesn't want to sin so speaking here about one who is going on sinning willfully you know it's possible to be born again and then to backslide to the place where you lose your salvation you know that because it says in hebrews in chapter 3 hebrews chapter 3 verse 12 take care brethren talking to believers which brethren verse one holy brethren partakers of your heavenly calling hebrews 3 1 partakers of heavenly calling hebrews 3 12 take care brethren that in you you don't get an evil unbelieving heart that makes you fall away from the living god can a born-again believer one day fall away from the living god according to hebrews 3 12 yes according to some calvinists which is one particular type of doctrine they say no i prefer to believe hebrews 3 12 than any calvinist i'm not any particular calvinist arming and anything i'm scriptural hebrews 3 12 brethren you can fall away from the living god if you have an evil unbelieving heart so preserve yourself that you don't get hardened verse 13 by the deceitfulness of sin and verse 14 these are very important verses hebrews 3 12-14 we become partakers of christ when not just by accepting christ we become partakers of christ if capital i f we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end god will help us sure but if you take advantage of god he's not going to it's not that the moment you become christ god makes you into a robot but after you'll automatically do what's right god never takes away our free will at any time even after we are born again even after we are filled with the spirit let me tell you he will not take away your free will even after you go to heaven in all eternity i will have a free will but then you may say you mean i can go to heaven and i have a free will and sin again no because when i go to heaven i would have become like jesus what does that mean jesus had a free will and never sinned and that's how i'll be in heaven i'll have a free villain for millions and millions of years i've never seen but i'll have my free will because i'm like jesus the answer is very clear if you meditate on these scriptures yeah i'll ask some questions now related to the family we've got quite a few um first of all with regard to leading children and uh how would especially children that are grown up in in homes now where they hear the word of god they listen to sermons how do we what's the best way to explain true salvation and the new birth the gospel to children especially if they've grown up in the church and they already know the facts how do we ensure that they become godly rather than simply looking good on the outside and going to church and one more question this is from a six-year-old so i had to ask it uh how does noah's day compare to our days as jesus return draws near okay let me ask the six-year-old answer the six-year-old first i'll tell you why just for your information why do i answer that six-year-old first the lord says in hebrews in chapter 8 they shall not teach hebrews 8 11 they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen nor the lord all will know me starting with the youngest so since jesus starts with the youngest and then works to the oldest it's good for us to start there too okay noah's day the main thing about noah's day is god gave them 120 years to repent and they did not repent he waited a long time and finally god said my holy spirit will not strive always with people that is in genesis 6 and it says in those days jesus said people will be eating and drinking and they did not fear the threat of god's judgment for their sin that's the main thing god noah said a rain is going to come and kill all of you and the interesting thing is if you read genesis chapter 2 no rain fell on the earth in those days up to the time of noah there was no rain on the earth a sort of a dew came up from the ground and watered the fields that's how we read in genesis 2. so when noah said about rain coming they had never heard of such a thing called rain there was no such thing it's like today when you say there's going to be a judgment of fire falling from heaven that's never happened it's just like a noah's day and they thought noah was crazy they didn't believe him but he said if you don't repent from your sin the flood will come and destroy all of you and the only way to escape is through this ark so that's what we preach today the only way to escape is through christ who died for our sins come into christ receive him otherwise judgment will come and men ignore it because they don't violate their conscience they violate their conscience they have no fear of god that is what is happening nowadays men eating drinking going around doing normal things ignoring the ignoring the voice of conscience so that's as far as noah's day goes the other question is about bringing up children see the first thing we need to teach our children is what jesus said what the word of god says in ephesians 6. children obey your parents ephesians 6 1 [Music] because it is written that honor your father and mother that it may go well with you that you may live long on the earth so i asked parents this question do you want it to go well with your children number one do you want them to live long on the earth long doesn't mean a hundred years jesus lived long he was only 33 and a half years long means as long as god has planned for you 15 years means 15 years the length of time god has planned for your children to live on the earth whether it's 15 years or 50 years or 100 years that is long life that they may live long on the earth means they live as long as god wants them to live do you want your children to live on earth as long as god wants them to live or for their life to be shortened i say yes they want them to live as long as god wants them to live do you want it to go well with your children then the condition is they must honor their parents that means speak respectfully to their parents and as ephesians 6 one says obey their parents so what is the number one thing that we must teach our children not physics and chemistry and mathematics but obedience to parents respectful to speak respectfully to parents and to older people always the other thing the bible says in psalm 58 is all children tell lies from the time they're born so the other thing i must keep my children that's psalm 58 verse 3. so the thing that i must protect people my children from is this habit of telling lies right from birth telling lies is there in all children in the world so there are two things that's what i did with my children always speak respectfully to your parents and to older people and if ever anytime i heard any of them speak disrespectfully to their mother i mean they were scared to speak disrespectfully to me but usually they speak disrespectfully to the mother i say stop whatever you're doing go and apologize and then continue your work immediately and speak respectfully to all older people i'll delete your parents if a beggar a homeless beggar comes to the gate and asks for money don't speak rudely to him he's older than you and if you spoke rudely to that homeless man go and ask his forgiveness that is we must teach our children to respect older people and to speak respectfully i've seen people in christian people in our churches that children speak rudely and the parents don't do anything about it well you are training your children to go astray and to go into the hands of the devil parents are 100 to blame when their children go astray and i'll tell you why because there's a promise in scripture in psalm 22 verse 6 train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old i presume say when he's 30 years old he will not depart from it maybe he will go a little astray when he's a teenager okay they go through little difficult times when they're growing up period where they're halfway between childhood and adulthood i read that as when he's 30 years old he'll be following the lord so train up a child in the way he's going he may have a little zigzag between them but when he's 30 years old he'll be following the lord that's how i read that verse so i believe that parents have a big responsibility to make sure these two things especially that the children learn to obey their parents speak respectfully to parents and older people and never tell a lie i tell my children i don't care what terrible thing you did come and tell me the truth i won't punish you but if you tell me a lie that'll be serious we have to train our children in those two things and then above all once you've done that pray for them amazing things can be done through prayer and the bible says in matthew 18 great promise for husband and wife matthew 18 and verse 19 if two of you this is not one person praying this is two people praying husband and wife if two of you agree about anything lord we want our children to be disciples of jesus anything they ask it will be done by my father because if they are agreed and the word agreed there is not just i agree on this point every all parents will agree on the experience that the children must follow the lord it's speaking about a symphony in their married life it's like two musical instruments that are playing perfectly in harmony and symphony with each other that's the word the greek word is symphony agree symphony from which we get the english word symphony if two husband and wife are in symphony that means there's no discord in their life that means if they slip up they ask forgiveness from each other immediately then they are stuck together it's when they separate that the devil comes through them and destroys their children so if they are agreed they can ask for anything and i say to parents who did not know the lord when the children were small there are many like that who come to our churches they they did not know these laws the children have gone astray they're all river they left the home and they're wayward i say there's hope for you even now i tell such older couples have your children gone astray the message of the gospel is a message of hope even for you will you do one thing will you and your wife every day kneel down and ask god to bring your child to repentance and faith in christ and to come back every day spend five minutes is that too long to pray for your child once a day husband and wife together united praying and make sure that you and your wife or you and your husband have nothing between you keep a clear relationship i guarantee you in jesus name your children will come back to the lord but i don't think many parents take my word seriously well then it's up to them they're not bothered about being united themselves well then there's a white gap between husband and wife the devil is just walking into such a home close that gap and your children will follow the lord yep i would like to come back to that um what you were just talking about because there's a few questions related to uh children that have left the home and parents who didn't know the lord or weren't walking with the lord in their early years but um how would you um how can we discern as parents between a rebellious spirit in a child versus just their curious or personality that might be a little bit more uh brash or rough where it's not really rebellion not even disrespect their personality yeah we don't want all our children to have the same personality some are outgoing some are very inward looking don't think that the inward looking introvert child is very spiritual no the outgoing person who expresses themselves may be more spiritually minded it's just a different personality don't try to make all your children one personality they are different let them be different it's the will that a rebellious will that's what you need to you know suppress if you find a child's got a rebellious will that's got to be broken and it's much better to break it at an early stage but if it's not broken and because you were not didn't know the lord and they've gone away from the house you can still pray for them and bring them back i think of a prayer like a rope like a lasso that you put around your with put around your child and there's a lot of slack in that rope and they run away run away run away from the lord but one day they'll come to the end of the road and by prayer you pull them back in to the lord that's how i look at prayer don't ever give up don't ever give up this amazing miracles that god can do for your children if you believe in prayer but it has to be two people agreeing jesus said in matthew 18 19 [Music] isn't it worth it trust me and why you're agreeing you say what about if my wife or my husband is not really interested then god understands then you say lord my partner is not agreeing in this but i'm in agreement with you lord and let's i want my child to come back one person's prayer can also do it in such a situation so we are not to change our children's personality and uh we we allow our children to express themselves in whatever way they want to but we need to guide them you know in their career finding a means of earning a living want them to be educated so that they don't become a charge on society but they can earn their own living and sometimes they're young they don't understand all that so we must tell them you've got to grow up to earn your own living the bible says very clearly that we must the lord told adam by the sweat of your brow you'll earn your breath we've got to work hard to earn our living so we want to educate you so you can get a job etc and then we have to be a bit strict whether they want to go to school or not we just force them to go to school and get an education but we don't compel them to come first in the class or to get the best job in town because after all they got their intelligence from you and you can't blame them if they don't have much you say well whatever you have do the best you can the lord doesn't tell us to be intelligent he tells us to work hard so i used to i tell my children i'm not asking you to come first in the class i'm asking you to work hard if you come first you work hard and you come last in the class it's okay with me but if you don't work hard you're not going to make it in life because it's a command of god in genesis 3 by the sweat of your brow you will earn your breath and i have to teach my children we got to work hard and but in different ways different personalities some children may like to play games more and [Music] not so accustomed to their studies okay let's give a little freedom to our children according to that and not make all our children you know exactly the same like a cut with a cookie cutter all the same shape no can you give some guidance and encouragement to parents who are either divorced or separated from their spouse or living with an unbelieving spouse and they're really fighting a loan battle to win their children how do how can they put into practice what you were just talking about with guiding their children well there's a wonderful promise in second corinthians 12 which applies in many many situations and that is god says ii corinthians 12 9 my grace is sufficient for you i will paraphrase it as saying my grace is more than enough to cope with any situation you face whatever it is the grace of god is a tremendous power let me spread it like this you know the people the most the most powerful thing on earth is money if you have money they say you can do anything the exact equivalent of money in the world in the kingdom of god is grace if you get plenty of grace you're a very rich person in god's kingdom if you don't get much grace you're a poor person in god's kingdom just like in the world poor people can't do much because they have very little money and rich people can do almost everything so in the same way and the kingdom of god is not money in the kingdom of god the exact equivalent is grace and god says i can give you enough grace to handle any situation you ever face in your life now the question is how do i get grace 1 peter 5 5 says humble yourself because god gives his grace to the humble he doesn't give it to everybody he does not give grace to everybody a believer who does not humble himself one peter 5 5 god is opposed to the proud a proud believer no matter how much he prays he won't get grace and i'm sorry to say there are many believers who are proud they are proud of their spirituality they're proud of their bible knowledge they're proud of what they've accomplished in life they're proud that they are clever or smarter or better looking or all types of multitude of stupid things that they're proud of well they may have all that but they don't what they don't have is grace but any humble person who humbles himself before god will get grace it's like water always flows to the lowest place first water does not climb up to the hills it flows to the valleys humble yourself and the grace of god will just come flooding down to you without your asking for it you don't have to plead with the water to come down to the valley it just flows you don't have to ask god to give you grace if you're humble humility is the greatest thing in the christian life i've often said to people do you know the three secrets of the christian life number one humility number two humility you know the third one humility humble yourself and you will get grace for anything even for a task in the church i know if i humble myself god will give me a word every time i get up to speak if i don't humble myself no matter how much bible knowledge i have i won't be able to have a word for the people according to their means whatever situation for your children ask god for grace for your married life if you have a difficult spouse you need a lot of grace if your husband is not converted your wife is not converted or you're unfortunately in a divorce situation divorce is against god's will by the way we are 100 against it but in some cases people are being converted only after they are divorced god is merciful and god can give you grace to endure that situation and be an overcomer yourself and one day hopefully your partner also will come into that life if he's not already there but never give up hope if you're all alone god can still stand with you his grace is sufficient you must believe it and humble yourself that's all and you'll get it just one more question on this matter of family relationships uh can you briefly describe what does it mean for a husband to be the leader of the home without being like a dictator and what does a meek and a quiet spirit in a woman as a wife actually look like and following on with that what should a spouse do if they're a person do if their spouse is habitually unfaithful um or is spending or investing money unwisely um how do how does a person honor their convictions before the lord and still submit uh in a situation where their the spouse is an unbeliever or acting unwise okay i'll try and answer all that if i forget anything else remind me the husband is the head of the house of the wife ephesians 5 23 just like christ is the head of the church now when we read the word head there are many ways we can think of head ahead of a head of a company head of a department head of a country or this physical head of the body in which of these is the husband is he head of a company or a head of a country or head of a department home department or he's the head of his body he's the head of the body and the difference is this the head of the department may not care for all the people in his department he just cares for himself the head of a country also may be like that but the head of the body if i'm wounded very slightly in my hand the head immediately feels it immediately not one hour later an aunt bit me here i know it immediately husbands be like that to your wives sensitive to where they are hurt not five days later immediately you have to develop that sensitivity god will help you that is head but also the head it means the brain the brain is the one that senses these things but also that head is the one who controls the body and determines what the hand should do what the lecture do you must be the leader in your house to decide that this house is going to follow the lord you decide that i am the head of this house and i'm going to determine my house is going to follow the lord nobody else is going to determine what is for example the music played in this house we're not going to have early music sorry and no matter how many children want it or i'm not going to allow any of the children particularly to bring in habits or books or anything that i do not allow in this house but it's a little more difficult because your wife is an adult you can't force her and so you have to be wise in the dealing with your wife if she wants to do certain things which are contrary to god's will and it's not like over children you have total control over your wife you have to be a little more give a little more space but you must still seek to ask god to help you to be the head in that situation and not allow anything to happen in your house which god will not be honored remember that above you there is another head and that is christ and you have you're submitted to that head and to please him is why you're running trying to be the head in your home not because you feel like being the lord some husbands say i'm the head in this house hang on you've got a head above you that's christ and submit to him and be the head that's the right way and a wife being submissive well remember this the first thing mentioned about the wife is in genesis chapter 2 where god said about eve i will make adam a helper for him so he was not called to be a servant he didn't say i'll make a sermon for my for adam no read it carefully i will make him a helper suitable for him and that's why he took eve out of adam's side so that she's born of his bone and flesh of his flesh but a helper and do you know who else is called a helper in the bible the holy spirit in genesis sorry john chapter 14 the lord said i will ask the father and he'll send you another helper the wife has got the same title as the holy spirit so how does the holy spirit help us good example for wives to follow first of all invisible that means the wife's primary ministry is behind the scenes supporting the wife supporting the husband from behind and the holy spirit doesn't get any credit from anybody somebody thinks this man did it no he didn't do it the holy spirit helped him to do it but the holy spirit doesn't want any glory and that's a good wife who supports her husband and does not seek any credit for herself and the other thing is it's not that the holy spirit never doesn't says anything if the man is doing something going to do something wrong the holy spirit says don't do that help her so what should the wife do when she sees her husband planning to do something wrong don't do it darling that's not right that's the ministry of the holy spirit helper so me can submissive wife doesn't mean okay darling do what you like you'll go to hell and you'll take us all there too no a helper and if your husband tells your children to do something wrong you must say no darling we shouldn't do that speak lovingly but firmly we should not allow our children to do that just remember that you are to function like the holy spirit invisible but supporting helping and constantly correcting when needed not because you feel like it but because you feel that's going to harm the home or harm the children so that is how a wife supports her husband i'll um we're out of time so i'll just ask a couple questions regarding church relationships and submission there and that is uh what is it what is it how do we practically uh live out if we're in a church where the leadership seems to be leading the church in an unhealthy direction or old covenant practices how does one remain in that church if god has placed us there or that's the best we have and yet remain in submission to those leaders there um what is a sign of unhealthy church leadership and um are there apostles and prophets even today well i'll answer the last one first ephesians 4 it says that christ has given some apostles ephesians 4 11 oh before that ephesians 4 10 he ascended to heaven and then gave apostles now those are not the 12 apostles those he appointed when he was on the earth after he went to heaven ephesians 4 10 he appointed apostles prophets evangelists shepherds and teachers five gifts what for for the equipping of the saints to build the body of christ do the saints need to be equipped today to build the body of christ how will you equip them with one pastor no with apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers then you go to the scripture to find out who is an apostle you read paul is the greatest example one who plants churches appoints elders in churches and writes letters to the churches to guide them to correct them when they're going astray to discipline faulty elders that's the function of an apostle and he's like a father of the fathers of churches the elders are like fathers of the churches and the apostle is the father to the elders and then prophets are those who speak god's word prophetically not just preachers not different from teachers teachers comes later prophet is one who speaks prophetically to not in terms of the future but in terms of the present need like it says in 1 corinthians 14 3 to encourage build up and challenge and then evangelists are those who bring others to christ shepherds are those who take care of the flock and guide them comfort them encourage them and teachers are those who explain the word of god to others not everybody is called to the teacher not these are different functions so these gifts are all there now if you're in a church when should you leave a church if the church is teaching things completely contrary to god's word you need to probably pull out and meet in your home but before that when you're in if you've been in that church for a little while you may have discerned that there are certain others who are like mind with you maybe one percent of a church of 200 people maybe there are two people there who are also a little disturbed about the wrong direction the church is going on you should see it you should seek fellowship with them look pray to god always everything begins with prayer lord this is how we began 45 years ago 46 years ago in the first cfc church lord is there anybody here seeking for a godly life not is anybody here wants to go to heaven the world is full of people who want to go to heaven i'm not looking for them those who want to live a godly life on earth before going to heaven bring us in touch with them and we have prayed that prayer and amazing how the lord brings us in touch with them sometimes i meet them in a store or meet them at the bank or somewhere somebody and it looks as if it's an accidental meeting it's not an accidental meeting it's an answer to prayer some way or the other god brings us in touch with them oh somebody writes an email and we get in touch with people like that or somebody in the church so we must pray that god will bring us in touch with others who are seeking to live a godly life and meet with them privately on a day when there is no church meeting if your church meetings are on sunday and wednesday you meet with them on a thursday but you don't conflict with the church and meet together and you're not plotting rebellion you're just seeking to encourage one another and that may grow to four or five people like that and you meet together to encourage one another and if you find the church is going in the wrong direction and if these other people agree with you you probably need to pull out of the church and start meeting together in your home that's how almost all new churches are formed everywhere where people felt this church is going astray scriptural example revelation chapter 2 there's a church in ephesus which is planted by the lord by through paul in acts chapter 20 paul was there for three years he built a wonderful church but he told them after i go i know what's going to happen that the devil was going to come in and destroy the church and that happened a little later when the leaders went astray and the lord tells the ephesians i call that the second letter to the ephesians revelation chapter 2 where the lord tells the elder nephesis you have left your first love what paul predicted has happened so now if you don't repent i will take away the anointing from you this will no longer be a church you'll have a name of a church but it's not a church but there are a few overcomers here so in every church there will be a few overcomers you read that in the worst churches in revelation chapter two and three there were some overcomers so the overcomers are the bride who got the bride the spirit of the brain so if the bridegroom leaves the wedding hall what does the bride do bride doesn't sit there the bride goes to the bridegroom so when the bridegroom left the church in ephesus revelation chapter 2 because they didn't repent these few overcomers are the bright left and maybe five or ten people or five people let's say and they meet together with a bride room in some house and the big 500 member ephesian church calls these people heretics and false rebels and all that but the lord is with them but in a little while they become the real church of the lord that is how every church has been formed through history but give them 50 years they backslide and they become like the original ephesian church and then the lord has to select another group of overcomers to come out of that and 2 000 years of church history have shown always little few come out you come out and that is how we have thousands of denominations today thank god for the people who decided not to stay in a dead church but to come out that's how martin luther came out of the roman catholic church and many people came out of the lutheran church when that church went astray throughout history there's always been this death and a resurrection a death of a nature and a resurrection out of that and that's what we should look for but without a spirit of rebellion rebellion is never from god but in a gracious gentle way say you can speak to the pastor or whoever is a leader and say brothers i love you brother but i don't quite agree with everything that this shit's going so please excuse me but i'm planning to leave be gracious and gentle when you do leave thank you that um uh for painfully painstakingly not painfully painstakingly answering the questions uh and for those of you that uh i know there was a lot of questions we probably only got to a quarter of them you feel free to write to us if you'd like info at rlcf.church if if it's a burning question you really need help we can uh forward it on to those who can answer or we can try to answer them ourselves um and god willing we will see you next month the second weekend of the month which would be may 8th god willing will have another meeting and we'll announce that beforehand if you didn't receive the announcement and would like to receive them send us a note as well you can subscribe to to get those announcements about our [Music] meetings

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 8,415

Rating: 4.9480519 out of 5

Keywords: rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus, bible, scripture, global, online, meeting, questions, answers, sermon, zac, poonen

Id: n1OFwnK8wPQ

Length: 94min 15sec (5655 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 13 2021