God Protects Us Against Our Enemies by Zac Poonen

if we can understand certain principles how God deals with man it'll help us greatly in our life I wanna show you a verse in Psalm 18 verse 25 some 1825 we read and about God with the kind you show yourself kind with the blameless you show yourself blameless 26 with the pure you show yourself pure and with the crooked you show yourself astute so what do we learn from that you know when we are kind it's to other people when we deal crooked leads with other people in simple words God treats you in the way you treat other people it's basically what those words mean we are below God and there are people on earth who are below you socially economically the way you treat people below you is the way God will treat you it's a lesson I learned years ago in my life and I learned that after to treat any servants I had in my home how the way I wanted God to treat me I said I'll always be good and kind and generous to the servants in my home not miserly and tight fisted if you are don't be surprised if God is miserly and tight fisted with you with the miserly and tight fisted God will show himself miserly and tight fisted you are so exact in what you demand from your servants God will be very exact and demanding from you God wants us to obey Him we want our servants to obey us but there's a kindness in God that I want to experience the way you treat people junior to you inferior to you who you think are unfair allure God will treat you like that please remember this it'll make a tremendous difference in your life now I believe that we should treat people kindly even if we don't want anything from God but that is a mature level that I want to be kind to other people not because God is going to be kind to me that's like doing business with God it's a very low level to start with but because we are all basically business minded you don't realize it we're all business minded I will give something if I can get something in return so ok Oh God will you be kind to me if I'm kind to my summit ok from tomorrow under me can you say it's a business transaction but start there till you come to the higher level where you say Lord I'll be kind to people and I expect nothing from you that's the highest level to be in because that's the nature of Jesus Jesus was kind and merciful to people not because he wanted anything from his father it's just his nature I mean a cat doesn't expect a reward for keeping itself pure no it's just his nature I mean if a pig says okay I'll keep myself pure from now on you better give it a reward because they're not in nature but if cat is pure and keeps its a licks itself clean that's just his nature that's the highest level but we all start as pigs if God says I'll reward you I say okay I'll keep I'm a pig but I'll keep myself clean but that's not the best the best is to get divine nature where you are kind expecting nothing in return so that's something we must remember I'm just trying to teach you some principles which will stand you in good stead as you go away from here here's another thing I turned with me to job chapter 36 even though this is something that Eli who said it was the truth and the end of chapter 42 middle of chapter 42 God said what the other three preachers said was wrong but he never said what a lies elihue said was wrong notice that there were four preachers that preach to job and in job 42 he's God said the other three spoke wrong about me but not Elihu well I suppose four quarters right and one of the right things that Elihu said about God was in job 36 and verse 5 God is mighty or we can say Almighty but he does not despise anybody we despise people who don't do things the way we think they should do it we have a certain standard and in arrogance we think that standard is perfect and that person may be doing something which is not sin but it's not up to our standard of civilization or culture and we despise him he may not say it but we despise him and you know cultures view things differently for example you can look at an uncultured man who sits at your dining table and picks his nose yeah what's he doing but he looks at this very cultured Westerner who takes a hanky and blows his nose at the table with making such a loud noise everybody hears it and the cultured man says what type of culture is that blowing your nose so loudly in the presence of everybody I'm just sitting quietly here picking my nose not disturbing it not disturbing anybody nobody is disturbed you're not disturbed as somebody sits there and picks his nose but the whole room is disturbed when you blow your nose so loud but Western culture teaches that is ok to blow your nose loudly and announce to the whole room I'm blowing my nose I got a cold fellas but this fellow announces nothing he just quietly sits there and picks his nose which do you think is more disturbing to other people this is the stupidity of thinking that your culture is better than other cultures I'm just giving you one example do you want me to spend the whole meeting giving you examples no I don't have time for that but I've seen plenty in the world where people despise others they don't say it there to culture to say it but they don't see how they themselves are crude to the other person you think that other person is crude and very often you'll discover like the example I gave you that he's not disturbing anybody you are but do you think that's culture because your civilization your culture taught you that like I told you earlier but eating with your hands or eating with a fork and a spoon if you find as something you despised in another it's because you think you're superior God is way above you he doesn't despise anybody a second principle God treats you as you treat other people God doesn't despise anybody when you despise somebody God's gonna despise you because you're displaying somebody gotta treat you like the way you treat other people you can't blame him because you see he doesn't do the way I think he should do it God says you are not doing the way I think you should do it either we can look at it elects two extremes God is here on one side despising nobody the devil is on the other side despising everybody all of us are somewhere in between I'm sure you don't despise everybody there's one person you definitely don't despise right who's that yourself and then there are a few others will be liked very much you will don't despise so you're not at that level of the devil you're a little more this side I'm trying to encourage you to move more and more and more more towards God who despises nobody I hope you'll get a little closer to there next year I hope you'll get a close a little closer to that tomorrow I have sought with all my heart to despise nobody for their lack of culture lack of education lack of spirituality lack of understanding the Word of God I know times when I have tried to the early days when I work with people more individually try to get somebody to understand the truth of the New Covenant and listen getting a bit fed up how long am I gonna teach this guy to know the truth and the Lord whispers in my ear how long it did take you and I'm immediately humbled Lord I'm sorry it took me more than 16 years outdrives born again to come to the truth of the New Covenant I can be patient sure I can I will not despise anyone even if they are slow in grasping something you know that's what I always say is the difference between a father and a teacher I owe that the one reason Jesus sat when he spoke was because he was not a teacher he was a father the Old Testament prophets stood because they were proclaiming Jesus at because he said this is a family no father stands at the dining table teachers stand in the school I'm not saying the physical position is important I and even if you stand in the pulpit I often stand in the pulpit but I say when I stand in the pulpit I want to have the spirit of a father not the spirit of a teacher be careful because we naturally tend towards becoming teachers not fathers and teachers will shame others this is the example I've often used here's a student for example who doing poorly doing poorly in mathematics and there's something the teachers been explaining explaining explaining everybody in the class has understood except one ten-year-old boy maybe this is third fourth standard and he says teacher I don't understand yet and the teacher gets fed up how long am I going to sit here trying to teach you everybody you're keeping the class backward get out of this class and go and join some other school I don't want you to come here again that's a teacher because he's interested in the advancement of the class he gets his salary and he wants to get good results he doesn't want anybody to fail and get him a bad name that poor boy goes crying home and his father says son what happened he says daddy I can't understand this I'm not being stubborn I just can't understand I'm not so intelligent what to do and daddy says what is it son and he explains the problem and he says I'll teach you and he sits with him for one hour personal tuition the child says daddy I still can't understand I'm sorry sorry to waste your time and the father said no worry son tomorrow's another day we'll start again tomorrow tomorrow comes the child sits with him one hour daddy please be patient with me I still can't understand son I will not give up if it takes me a whole year you're gonna learn this and he sits with him in a few days one day the that boys by eyes brighten I got it and the dad is thrilled and the boy is thrilled this is a father you see the difference in your father and a teacher we don't want teachers in our churches we want fathers and mothers we want you to be like that to your own children not fed up with them because they did something wrong for the thousandth time tell them even if you do it wrong ten thousand times my dear girl my dear son I love you I'm your father I'm your mother I'm determined that you will learn to do it right God's appointed me as your parent to make you perfect before you leave my house and set up your own home do you have that attitude or do you just criticize and say I don't know fed up I'm fed up with my son how long I've been trying how long fed up with my daughter she doesn't listen to me I remember one mother and once came to me she used to be with us the family is left CFC now they it is not in Bangalore another place came to me and said brother Zack please pray for this son of mine he doesn't study properly doesn't get good marks I said sister I'll pray for you because I think the problem is not of them imagine humiliating a son like that in the presence of someone whom he respects and who me his opinion he values I prayed for the mother I never prayed for that sir I believe the problem very often is with parents sure we discourage our children so much because if they lack intelligence brothers sisters because you lacked intelligence they got your genes don't blame them it's like one son who said do you know pundit nerdo was the first Prime Minister of India son when he was your age he came first in the class the son said dad when he was your age he was Prime Minister of India that was a smart son so this business of comparing your children with other great people or other children is all foolish don't despise anybody don't despise your children don't despise people in the church love them let them know that you love them I often told the story of a young brother not a young brother he was a young man who used to come to CFC and he was not converted and he was often falling into a drink with bad friends this is many many years ago and he used to always come to me and said brother zag I have fallen again my friends let me and I got drunk again then a day came and he was being transferred out of Bangalore and went to some other place I didn't know when I'd see him again this is the last word I spoke to him I said son one day when you hit rock bottom and you've really messed up your life I tried my best to turn your turn yo when you're still struggling one day when you hit rock bottom remember two things remember that God still loves you and remember that I love you too and the doors of my house are always open to you no matter what condition you're in please come you'll be welcome we are here to help you I saw him years later born again converted happily married I praise the Lord encouragement does wonders where criticism and despising accomplishes nothing that's why Paul said you can have 10,000 teachers 1 Corinthians in chapter 4 1 Corinthians in chapter 4 it's not only for elders but all of us are elders to somebody else aren't you that I remember once in one meeting in CFC I said many of you have a great longing to be elders okay I hereby appoint all of you as elders to all those who are younger to you happy sisters also elders to all those who are younger to you be an example to them be a father to them be a mother to them 1 Corinthians 4 he says verse 14 I'm not writing these things to shame you that is a teacher who shames but to admonish you as my beloved children you can have 10,000 teachers but you don't have many fathers I'm your father through the gospel Paul was not a teacher he was a father who taught better than the teachers the teachers worked for a salary fathers don't get any salary father's earn the salary to spend on their children yeah later on in second Corinthians 12:14 he says father's lay up for the children children don't pay their fathers you pay a teacher every pastor who works for salary is a teacher paid worker father doesn't get salary father's got a heart to serve and serve and serve and ma'am I mean if he's in need I'm sure his children will take care of him that's another thing but he doesn't work for that and he says you can have 10,000 teachers but you have not many fathers which teaches me one thing you can do the maths on that one father is better than 10,000 teachers 10,000 people who got the spirit of a teacher one father is better than all of them I would rather have one father than 10,000 elders who are teachers I would rather have a family in a family of father and mother who got the spirit of a father than the spirit of a teacher towards their children they'll accomplish 10,000 times more than the spirit of despising and criticize in teaching I hope he will learn that and God will treat you the way you treat others do you find sometimes God is hard on you ask yourself whether you're hard on somebody else whether you jump on somebody who did something wrong you told him to do it and you didn't they didn't do it right and you jump on them and punish them I'm not saying that we should encourage inefficiency I remember many years ago in a conference here when they were serving food this is of the early days when you're in the other building and I felt that way this food is being served was not very efficient it was taking a long time and I said hey I can arrange this in a better efficient way in the Lord said keep your mouth shut if you go and tell them to change the method now you'll confuse everything and out of their respect for you they'll change it and it'll be worse keep your mouth shut after the conference and was over you have a review meeting then tell them to do it better next time I say Lord what wisdom it's good to listen to God sometimes we feel like going immediately and straightening out things it's not the wise way sometimes it's better to leave it and wait till do it say it a little later not immediately corrected I'll give you an example when Peter was walking on the water he turned and looked at the waves and he began to sink what was his problem lack of faith what did Jesus do he did not rebuke him for his lack of faith first he first held him made him stand then rebuked him for the lack of faith that's the way you solved a problem first then say supposing your kid has done something and messed it up don't start off by saying I told you you should not do it like this no no you fix it sort the problem then tell him hey listen remember I told you this is not the way to do it but our tendency is to first say I told you not to do it I told you a thousand times it's like the guy who said I told you a thousand times not to exaggerate we don't really get never has said it a thousand times we ourselves are exaggerating when you say that this is the craziness of some things we say you know if we are little wiser I believe we will not drive our children away so much from the Lord and from the church we want people who can encourage like a father encouraged especially prodigal children I've been to some homes where or how the three four children three are whole hearted and fine and one is a bit wayward on and the parents introduced me to the children and I always say every single time I have more hope for this one you call wayward than for all the others I have great hope for prodigal children I've seen through the years that very often it's these prodigal children who rise to great heights because they don't have high thoughts about themselves they come home they know they made a mess of their life they know even the servants in the home know this boy made a mess of his life he's got nothing to boast about but the other elder son in the story he's the one I fear because he's never got a bad reputation he's always been the good boy in the house you know what that prodigal son story is I call it the story of two sons story goes like this in two sentences two sentences in the beginning of the story the elder son is inside the house and the younger son spoiled boy is outside the house end of the story the younger son is inside the house and the elder son the good boy is outside the house remember that the one who thinks he's so good do you despise some of your younger brothers because they are prodigal or some of your younger sisters who are not as spiritual as you are God have mercy on you they will repent one day and turn out all right when you despise well you heard the message of victory over sin and I've used this example also before and you got victory over sin and your why maybe she's unconverted or he doesn't have lie and one day there's a dispute and she yells at you and screams at you and you sit there patiently or not opening your mouth because you've got victory and as the when the storm is over you think of yourself lord I thank you that I'm not like my wife I thank you that I have victory I tell you there's more hope for your wife because Jesus told a story about a man who prayed like that you remember that story lord I thank you that I'm not like other men or like this wife of mine standing there but it's not wife tax-collector it does matter who that is you can look at somebody and say I'm not like that it can be in your church lord I thank you that my church is not like other churches look at that church down there or you can compare yourself with other CFC churches lord I thank you that our CFC church is so good compared to that CFC Church over there you be careful brother it may be true but if you have that spirit you're a Pharisee there's a pharisee ISM is so close to us they can be a pride in our humility like the story of the Sunday school teacher who told the story the Pharisee and the tax collector and at the end of the story she said you know the Pharisee said I thank God we're not alike the tax collector children thank God we are not like the Pharisee you see the Pharisees I'm there it's not you don't see it it's there the moment you say I thank God I'm not like that person who's defeated I'm not like that person who doesn't have as much light as me and I thank God I'm not like that other Church that they the sisters there don't wail their heads they wear ornaments you despise them or those brothers in that church they are pretty worldly they listen to rock music once in a while my brother sister you are on dangerous ground because I'll tell you something spiritual pride is worse than rock music it's a million times worse than not wailing the head or wearing jewelry million times spiritual pride and is so close to us do you have faith the Bible says have it before God not for you to compare yourself with anybody else there's a verse which I've always better phrased like this those who compare themselves with others are spiritual idiots second Corinthians 10 and verse 12 very important verse those who compare themselves with others are spiritual idiots you get it we are not bald to class or compare ourselves with some of these others who praise themselves but when they measure themselves among themselves I got 60 percent you got 55 percent they compare themselves with themselves they are without understanding that means they are spiritual idiots the way to be a spiritual idiot compare yourself with other people and be happy that you're better than them beware of that God does not despise anybody that's one thing very important for us to understand then I want to say another thing which relates to the times in which we live the Bible says all men will hate you for my name's sake Jesus said that in the last days that book says in the book of Revelation the devil is very angry because he knows he's got a very short time that's a verse in the book of Revelation who read particularly chapters 11 to 13 you'll see about that passage about their devil knows he's got a very short time and he's very angry and I believe right now the devil knows because he knows prophecy better than God's people he knows he's got a very short time before his reign of thousands of years he's ruled over man for 6,000 years but he knows his time is up and the demons who are in this room listening they know it demons come to the meetings by the way don't boast in the fact that you go to every meeting demons go to more meetings than you do spirituality does not depend on how many meetings you go to he knows his time is short and therefore it says his anger is great that's what it says in Revelation he knows his time is short and so he's angry with those who have the testimony of Jesus and keep his commandments those are the people he's angry with so I don't have time to show you all this was a read revelation chapters 11 to 13 and you can find it for yourself okay now there is an example in the Old Testament to comfort us in this time when so many people are against us maybe other Christians are against us people of other religions have turned against Christians maybe in India how shall we face it there is an answer in scripture to everything and particularly for our time in India you find the answer in the book of Esther the book of Esther is the only book in the Bible where the word God our Lord never comes God is never mentioned once in that book but you can see behind the scenes he's acting all the time teaching us about a situation where like you may not God may not able speak to you but you find God working on your behalf okay in Esther the basic story I don't have to go time to go through all of it there were a number of Jews who were a minority in the land of rain by a serious I think he was the king of Iran Persia and by the way it's the only place where India is mentioned in the Bible Esther chapter 1 verse 1 in the days of Anna's furious he reigned from India to Ethiopia so it was relevant to us and in there this ruler had a second-in-command like a Prime Minister the king was a ruler those days and the second-in-command was a king call he was a man called Haman who hated these Jews or let's say Christians in our day applying it to our day he this a person who ruled over India hated the Christians and he had power he was the ruler of the country he ruled from India and this second-in-command came up to the King one day and said listen to this and applied to Christians Esther chapter 3 verse 8 he says O king there is a certain type of people scatter and dispersed among the people there not many that percentage is only about 2% or so but they are scattered here and then dispersed all over among the people of your kingdom in India and then laws are different from those of all the other people in our land they won't do puja they don't obey certain commandments we have in our religion so it is not in the Kings interest to let these people survive here get rid of them you see how relevant the Bible is to our time is really amazing and if it is pleasing to the king because you have all authority you're in power let it be decreed that they be destroyed get rid of them so that in this country we have only one religion and we have only one law everybody obeys and I will pay you money ten thousand talents as a lot of money into the hands of those who carry on this work to finish off these people and the King took his signet ring and gave it to him and said go the silver is yours the people also do whatever you please the King didn't want to do it himself he didn't want to get a bad name that's what every often what happens the man at the top tries to give the impression I'm a gracious man I'm a nice man you're all my people I love all whew but he's allowed these other fellows underneath to go and allow these things and they do it and they do that King knows about it but he just pretends that he doesn't know and everything is okay I tell you the Bible is so relevant to our time and Haman went out and you know he discussed with his wife and decided okay we're going to finish these people often there was a man a godly man called Mordecai verse 4 chapter 4 verse 1 when Marek I learned that this order had been given out what did he do he those days this is the way they prayed they tore their clothes put a cloth ashes and he went to the Kings gate to try and plead but no one was allowed to go enter the Kings gate clothed in sackcloth and then he had a sort of a niece called Esther who had become the queen and Esther's maidens came and told her that Mordecai is your uncle is there in all sackcloth verse 4 chapter 44 and Esther summoned hatack and told her told him record Mordecai and give him some clothes and Mordecai went out and told all that happened to him and had that came back in verse 9 and told Esther what all has happened and Hester didn't know and as I said I can't go to the king there's no way to go and change this law and Mordecai said verse 14 if you remain silent at this time then deliverance will come from another place but who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this now we apply that to the church there is a church in India and God has given us authority we don't have physical power but we are the bride of Jesus Christ we have authority to pray there are instances we had in Bangalore in the early days in the 1970s and 80s when we prayed concerning things of the government things of the bangalore's state government and the central government and we saw things change because we said Lord we've got one quality that many other churches may not have we've got unity and we got holiness we emphasize holiness probably more than any other Church in India we emphasize unity more than any other Church in India maybe we don't do evangelism so much as others okay but we do discipleship more than others and we believe that a manual is a must lead to discipleship we preach holiness more than others we preach discipleship more than others we preach unity more than others that things that are near to God's heart and therefore even though we are small in number you don't care for numbers we believe that you'll hear our prayer and we prayed like that and there's some amazing things happened it actually happened I'll give you one instance I don't have time to tell all of them way back in 1977 I was up in the north of India about the only time I had a vision in my life I saw a lot of I saw a picture of one who was one of the cabinet ministers and I saw a number of faces of Indian people and I heard a voice which said the power to free these people is in the church I didn't know what it meant and I didn't know why I saw this man face of this cabinet minister but I knew I had to pray and whenever I don't know what to pray about because I'm not I'm not a politician I'm not on this side of that side I don't pray against any party or foreign many party I don't support the Congress I don't support the BJP I support Jesus Christ so I said Lord I'm not on this side of that side of this party I don't know what to pray so whenever I don't know what to pray I pray in tongues so I prayed in this unknown language God had given me and concerning this man I said I don't know what I'm supposed to pray and the next day he got a heart attack oh so maybe something happened and then I shared it with the brothers in the church here we were a small church meeting in my house and I said brothers I don't know what this is that's why I don't know what to pray for but because of that that man a few days later resigned from the parliamentary party and from his ministership and I knew something was happening and I said brothers I feel something is happening as a result of this prayer I'm not praying against it I'm praying in tongues I'm not praying in English anything and I said the same thing I can't tell you what to pray for if you have a gift of tongues pray like that others I don't know I'm not praying against a party or for a party I never do that even today and what happened the Prime Minister and this Minister became divided they came there was a split in the governing team and every now and then that we become in the papers that people are trying to unite these two the prime minister and this senior minister again the burden would come upon me to pray when I would pray then I knew I had to pray against this unity it went on like that it was around April it went on like that December 8 months later honey it was 1977 if I remember right and in the end in December there was a man a Member of Parliament who got up to try and get Parliament to pass a law for the whole of India that nobody should be permitted to be converted to Christianity and he wanted to pass it in the Parliament and because there was this division in the party which started in April from the time he prayed it never could be passed they could not get a majority in the parliament these are facts and from that day today 38 years later till today that law has never been passed in this country in a few states they have passed it later but in the whole country never that's why we have freedom according to the law of the land to convert people to Christ does God listen to the people to the prayers of a few people other people were going on processions and all that I remember one Christian newspaper interviewed me this on this at that time and they published saying while other people are going on processions protecting protesting against this law they are trying to pass in Parliament there's a small group in Bama law that believes in prayer and they've seen things happen you know we don't realize what power we have two or three are gathered together in my name there's authority there to bind satanic forces we can't bind Satan that Jesus will do in the future but the activities of Satan we can bind if our hearts are clean and we are united that's all that's why I keep on stressing keep a good conscience and preserve fellowship always apologize quickly preserve fellowship husband and wife preserve fellowship brothers in the church sisters in church preserve fellowship don't fight over silly little things be United ignore those little little differences you have with each other it's trivial compared to God's purpose look at the whole view look how Christianity in India needs to glory by God's name and you're worried about some silly little thing in your house you fight with your husband because he paid a little more for the vegetables in the market he paid two rupees more you think that's more important than God's name being hallowed in India forget it even if he paid twenty rupees more so what be concerned that God's name will be hallowed Jesus the Bible says 1 Timothy 2 we must pray for those in authority what for that we can restrain forces of darkness sometimes God allows he will pass the rule when God Paul wrote to Timothy pray for the kings in authority you know who is an authority in Rome at that time Nero and no matter how much Timothy and his people prayed Nero still killed the Christians so I'm not saying God will prevent us from being persecuted or prevent us from being killed but we will pray and exercise the authority of Christ but people were killed and more Christians were converted there by the Christians were thrown to the Lions and people came to faith seeing the faith of these Christians who would sing while they're being thrown to the Lions so God works in different ways there's like they say the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church that means we're blood martyrs shed their blood that became the seed from which more people got converted that's been true throughout history that's why you have more conversions in communist China today where so many people are being persecuted and I believe God may allow that to happen in India to bring more people to Christ if so so be it praise the Lord so here was this situation where they were planning to kill all the these peculiar people whose laws were all different from others that's the reason like we saw in a city these are peculiar people they're they don't do certain things and they don't stand with us they don't come bow down to our idols they are peculiar and they are willing even to lose their job or lose a promotion if the boss tell them to attend that puja and they don't attend it they don't even contribute money to that they have peculiar like it says in Esther 3 verse 8 okay so Esther said okay now I got to tell the King this and how shall I do it so she invited the king and Haman for a dinner and Haman was excited he went home and told his wife do you that that queen has invited me for a dinner tomorrow on that keen they were excited and Esther 5:14 his wife wife was just as bad as him so let's make a gallows 75 feet high have you ever seen a gallows I mean I've seen pictures of people being hanged about ten feet high from which they hang them and then leg drops that's enough why do you need a gallows 75 feet high to hang somebody this roof is only 15 feet multiplied 5 times 75 feet it's not a hang the man he can be hanged with 10 feet even less than this side it is to show all the people around see this guy he tried to define me he wanted to hang Mordecai on that I said that's the guy who will not bow down to me so that he went to this feast as the chapter 5 and the king and Esther said I want to have another feast tomorrow verse 8 5 8 and Haman was delighted another feast tomorrow great but as he went out he saw Mordecai there and Mordecai would not stand up or respect him and he got furious he controlled himself he said by tomorrow I'll have this thing hanging that's when they decided to make the gallows verse 14 75 feet I'll now see what happens next day there's going to be the feast and it's going to be time for the order to go out for all the Jews stroke Christians to be killed but God has a wonderful way of stopping it how did he do it not by killing him and no he does it in a very humorous way very interesting he prevents the king from going to sleep chapter 6 verse 1 now whenever you don't feel sleepy what should you do read some boring history book right so the kings that bring the history books let me read it maybe I'll get to sleep that way he knew boring books will put you to sleep so they started reading the history books ten o'clock eleven o'clock twelve o'clock they're reading history books all the way till the next morning and the King still not getting sleep because it has to come to that place in the history book where it says as the six verse two the two of the Kings doorkeepers planned to kill him but Mordecai was the one who reported it and saved the King's life and the King said really what did we do to Mordecai to reward him for that and the King sermon said we did nothing he saved your life but we did nothing oh he says I must do something for it Mordecai and at that moment see the timing of God Haman walks in to get permission to kill the Jews I like the timing of God and all these things and the king became Haman was about to speak to kill the Jews and he wanted to kill Mordecai first and so he said hey hey hey man before you speak I want to ask you something I want to honor somebody and who what shall I do for somebody who might want to honor him ah ah that must be me right verse six I said I'll tell you what you should do give him a royal robe verse six put him on the King's horse and get some honoured person to lead him through the city and say to everybody thus shall you do to the man whom the King desires to honor and here's a man coming to get permission to kill Mordecai King said great do that for Mordecai put him on a king on the horse and you're the man I trust you lead him through the city and say this thus will the king can you see the humor in all this the God turns the tables on the devil and Haman took the robe and took Mordechai through the city verse 11 and Haman was so ashamed he ran backwards 12 with his head covered to his house and he said everything to zero as his wife and he said listen to his words Zira's his wife and the Wiseman verse 13 middle said to him if Mordecai whom you tried to make fall belongs to this group sorry you will not be able to overcome him one day you'll surely fall before him a man like Mordecai who refused to bow down refused to do the puja and refused to give money for it so I stand up for my god we need men like that by the time the servants came to call him on to the banquet and you know that what happened in the rest of the story here mo goes to the banquet and Esther tells this man is trying to kill my people and the King said we heard that he's made a 75-foot gallows for Mordecai where's chapter 7 verse 9 take Haman and put him on that 75 foot gallows the gallows he prepared for Mordecai he hung on it the whole story turns around one small event what is it the king could not sleep this is the God we serve this is the God who did something in those days when a man ruled over India and this is the God who was God Allah all authority even whoever may rule over India today we're not afraid the devil was defeated on the cross 2,000 years ago Christ shed his blood he makes his people weak have you seen in the Old Testament Israel surrounded by the enemies and the enemies are crushed because they trust in God the early Christians had to run from their enemies hide in caves they tried to destroy Christianity but it's flourished for 2,000 years I'm not saying that every religion that flourishes is necessarily of God Islam is flourished Java's witnesses are flourished Mormonism has flourished but there's a spirit in Christianity the spirit of forgiving of loving of not aggressively forcing people giving people freedom willing to suffer and then flourishing that is a unique message it's not found in Islam or Java as witnesses or assembly and - or anything in weakness we triumph how did Jesus conquer Satan that's a great lesson for us God could have destroyed Satan by a word Satan be destroyed finished that I mean no devil all your demons have followed Satan be destroyed there would not have been a devil or a demon in the universe that for that one sentence but how does God choose to overcome Satan by coming as a weak helpless man born in a stable in a cowshed living in a poor carpenter's home with four brothers and two sisters all sleeping in one room on the floor poor family I can imagine how Jesus he didn't have any private room to retreat no Joseph didn't have separate bedrooms for all his children he was too poor for that all sleeping on the floor I've been in some of our brothers homes in the villages in Tamilnadu like that where they all sleep in one room on the floor and they're so poor Jesus home as I've been to some of those home say and I think Jesus home was just like this brothers home that's all one room which is sitting room drawing room family room bedroom dining room everything changes his function at different times of the day and one toilet usually outside the house and one kitchen that's it that's how Jesus lived for and Jesus God allowed his son to grow up in that way in weakness and as he would go to school as a ten-year-old boy the old man would sit there and say you see that boy there in the middle that one the son of Mary by the way we don't know who his father is she got pregnant before she got married in legitimate boy bastard bastard means illegitimate by the way he heard that the other boys heard it and they say hey Jesus who's your real father tell me can you imagine a ten 12 year old boy being asked that in a in a village where everybody's father and mother was known he suffered from his childhood this is almighty God God allowed Jesus to grow up in all these circumstances so that no human being could ever stand up and say Lord you don't know what I've gone through he'd say son I know what you've gone through I've gone through what you've gone through he's a foreigner he took that place of weakness he did not destroy the Pharisees he allowed them to make fun of him call him the devil forgive them he called me Prince of Devils and Jesus said if they called the head of the house Prince of Devil's how much more the members of his family we are the members of his family have you been called what are the worst names you've been called Jesus was called the head of the house was called Prince of Devil's and Jesus said the members of his family will be called by worse names you know that versus I'm not you need to know these verses Matthew chapter 10 and verse 25 it's enough if the disciples like his teacher and the servant like his master if they have Matthew 10:25 if they've called the head of the house Prince of Devils how much less know how much more the members of his family that means you and I are supposed to be called by names worse than Prince of Devils have you been called by that name I've been called the devil even in the early days when I used to preach on the streets in our inoculum Cochin and the number of names I've been called heretic false prophet the head of the serpent he's in decosta square and all these stuff that people publish tracts with that and heretic spiritual terrorist all types of things it's an honor it's an honor how much more the members of his family today there are so many people want to be dignified Christians who want to be respected by everybody they get honor from the president of that country by myself do you think Jesus would have got the Nobel Prize or he was the Prince of Peace he would never got the Nobel Peace Prize we have got such a wrong understanding of Christianity today so many Christian leaders particularly in Western countries they glory in the fact that they know the president personally I'm not interested in knowing the president of prime minister I know Jesus Christ what are all your presidents and prime ministers little Poon's in the office low lease workers I know the king these are the pawns on the chess table I know the king remember that my brothers don't think it's a great thing to know some great man in the world I have no interest in that we are to be called bad names we had to be called misunderstood everything that's following the footsteps of Jesus Jesus God allowed his son to go that way and to be whipped and to be called a criminal and insulted and whipped and finally crucified and killed and on that cross he defeated Satan what a way to defeat Satan I say God you did just say Satan be destroyed isn't that a better way sis no God says you don't think like I think my ways are not your ways as the heaven is above the earth so are my ways different from our ways Lord why do you allow these first centuries third century Christians particularly to be persecuted burned at the stake you could even save them God says my son my daughter my ways are not your ways one day when you stand before me you will understand why I did it that way why I did not allow the early Christians to be friendly with Nero and to have influence with the presidents I do it another way that's why I don't care for Christian leaders who know presidents and oh no big big people let them know that I have no interest in it I want to go the way of Peter Paul and James and John who did not know any of the big dignitaries of that day they stood as criminals in front of King Felix but like Jesus they could say you have no power over me except what my father gives you you can't touch me Pilate the man sitting on the throne he was a slave he was a slave to people's opinion the real King there was Jesus standing like a criminal and that's how you and I may will stand one day when they Jesus said when they bring you before judges and courts don't be afraid in that moment I will give you words to speak you don't have to prepare beforehand that this is what I'm gonna say when I stand in court no I will give you the words to speak at that moment God is a God who can speak in that moment to tell you exactly what to say when you stand before you maybe not before a court maybe before your senior officers in your office because you don't pay money for the puja and you don't attend it or you stand up for Christ in some other way I remember times when in the Navy when I had to say to you know I understand before you understand in the Navy you stand and salute and you tell to tell my officer salute him and say sir I'm a Christian I can't do that it's against my conscience and he would tell me you're in the Navy get rid of your conscience say I'm sorry sir I can't get rid of it and there were times when in half an hour I was transferred from my job to some other place because I refused to do what was against my conscience that happened to me two or three times when I was 22 23 you know how God rewarded me for that when I was 24 he said come out I want you to serve me 50 years ago I I said Lord is this a reward you're gonna give me I thought I was gonna go to the top of the Navy but he gave me a double promotion way up to the top to be a servant of the Lord he will reward you if you stand up for him and refuse to compromise but graciously respectfully sir I'm a Christian and my conscience does not permit me to do that forgive me you know I sometimes people have asked me this question supposing your secretary sitting in your boss's office and the phone rings and you know what the boss says if he's asking for me say I'm not here what is the people ask me brother Zac what should I do I shall tell you there's an answer for everything sir I'm a Christian please ask somebody else to pick up that phone and answer it maybe there's a reason why you want to say it but I don't feel free to say it maybe you lose your job but maybe he'll respect you even more that actually happened to somebody I know who worked in an office and he said sir I can't do that as a Christian and that boss respected him so much because he knew that this fellow will be totally loyal to me in this office because he's a Christian so you never know how God where somebody may be sacked but God will work for you everything for your very best if you honor him I remember one brother who refused to write false accounts when he was born again and he'd been there for many years in that company he was terminated and he didn't have enough qualifications he read a book of mine and traveled all the way from where he was to Bangalore to meet me sir brother Zack you don't know me I don't know you but when I was taking deciding to take the stand all the people in my church there said don't be foolish you lose your job if you as long as you live in this world you got to learn to add just had justice the great word just with these unbelievers and their standards and he said no I can't do that I only want to ask you brothers AG did I do the right thing I said brother you did the right thing you got a wife and a daughter maybe they will starve maybe you will die and they will die of starvation because you stood for the Lord be willing for that then he got a bit of a shock I said okay now the relax you won't you won't die I'm just saying we will appealing for that because there's a verse in Scripture 1 Samuel 2 verse 30 those who honor me I will honor so I don't know what God will do for you I don't know any influence to get jobs for you we don't know bigshots is all poor people in our church but God will honor you and sure enough very soon he got a better job God honors those he doesn't want you to starve he did not allow Jesus to starve where will he allow you to starve he will not allow you to sleep on the roads pavements like me homeless people he will not even allow you to live in the slums I've seen people who joined our church from a slum who standard of him living improved within a few months without our giving them one by cell they honored God so dear brothers and sisters in the difficult days that lie ahead read Esther but a man who ruled India and there was a peculiar people there whose laws were all different from everybody else's and there was a man Mordecai and there was a woman Esther there's an example for brothers and sisters who stood for God and how God changed turned the whole tables on the devil there it is written about the Jews killing their enemies we don't kill anybody we convert our enemies and make them our friends he had died to ourselves and we are willing to die physically - what a wonderful heritage we have and in it all he stand together as brothers and sisters in our local churches stand with one another his one brother is hurt we all feel the suffering and in little little experiences in our daily life we show how we love one another in the we'll know these brothers and sisters love one another they were don't we don't want them to see that we are great clever people but let them see that the love of God is in us and that when they hurt us we will say like Stephen Lord don't lay this sin to their charge forgive them just like our master may God help us let us pray Heavenly Father help us never to forget the things we hear and that we've heard throughout these days that your name be glorified we pray through every one of us we want everyone to go away from here encouraged and bold yes Lord thank you for hearing us

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 30,969

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

Id: Ir3iX_LlJfk

Length: 63min 19sec (3799 seconds)

Published: Thu May 05 2016