Questions & Answers - Zac Poonen - May 27, 2017

[Music] I don't know whether we have time to answer all the questions here but we'll try the first one is want to start with the simplest one how can I be sure I'm really born again let me give you a little picture of that in Genesis chapter 1 in the first three verses or four verses you see God created heaven and the earth see that as a picture of how God created man initially perfect but then the devil came in and corrupted it and the earth became formless void and that's how man is today defeated and slave to the devil and there are two things that happen there that completely changed the earth and made it beautiful again one is the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit brooded over the earth and the second is verse 3 the word of God went forth nay then again and again you find the word of God and the Holy Spirit moving and you finally come to the end of that chapter and everything is perfect so what we see in the first chapter of the Bible is the joint operation of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God so there are two ways in which we can be sure we are born again one is we read in God's Word in John chapter 1 and verse 12 as many as received him to them he gave the authority to become children of God and John 6:37 I don't want to waste time looking at anybody if you want to write these verses down him that cometh to me I'll never cast out that's the worst that gave me an assurance many times over a period of five six years and I was a young kid I would say Lord Jesus come into my heart coming in my heart and never knew when he came even today I don't know the exact date of my new birth but I knew it happened sometime before I was nineteen and a half but when I was 19 and a half I read this verse in John 6:37 him that cometh to me I'll never cast out and I said Lord I've come to you many times and he said well I never cast you out and I like dropping an anchor you know how a ship drops an anchor it doesn't drift after that I dropped my anchor there on that verse and it's held for 58 years so you must believe that if you come to Jesus with sincerity and you have actually desired you've confessed your Center and you've turned and you want to give up your sin you believe that he died for all your sins on the cross he rose again from the dead and he's alive today and you can receive him and his Spirit will come in and you will become a child of God immediately you don't have to look for feeling it's not feeling feelings are not important I've hardly had any feelings in all my 58 years of being a Christian it's by faith and believe God's Word that he's given you the authority if you've received him to be a child of God that if you come to him he will not cast you out and the Holy Spirit it says in Romans 8 verse 14 to 16 will bear witness with you in your spirit that you're a child of God I never go to a person and saying say you're a child of God now some preachers do that okay you receive Christ you're a child of God see because I don't know whether the person's really turned around from sin I don't know whether he's being sincere so I leave that to the Holy Spirit and I don't interfere with the Ministry of the Holy Spirit I tell him listen if you have done it sincerely the Holy Spirit will bear witness in your spirit that you're a child of God and so you can read it in the word the Word of God I'll show you what is the dual witness of the word of God in the Holy Spirit's like a switch you know I know all that there is in a electric switch is two wires are kept close to each other and thus which makes them touching the light comes on so it's like that the Holy Spirit in the word of God when they come together you have the assurance then you are born again not that you're perfect but that you've started on the journey that you're a little like a little child you don't know many things a little child doesn't know many things but you're born into this new world and from there onwards you must grow by reading God's Word I like shopping with God's people being sensitive to sin listening to your conscience you grow don't mistake birth and growth there are many things you may not know you may still fall but and your attitude to sin has changed I believe this is one of the primary marks I don't want to sin again I'm a sin again in fact all of us may sin but I don't want to sin again if you want to sin again I would question whether you're really born again God does something when it says the old man is crucified the old man is this want to sin that's been put it out now I don't want to sin if I do sin it's because I have not strengthened myself to fight against temptation well that's the second stage okay I want to live a simple life of devotion to the Lord pursue holy the profitable get rid of all other pursuits which are not profitable but every time I avoid entertainment and things like that that I feel aren't profited I'm convicted of legalism how can I seek to live continuously surrender to the Lord without being a legalist I have discovered that there are very few people who reach a life of real godliness without going through the wrong route of legalism I went through that and I think when a man is legalized he's trying he's sincere you can't question most of these legalese are sincere but they are sincerely wrong their desire to you know be strict about certain standards is to avoid the worldliness that they see in other people I read that the group called the Pharisees was a group that started maybe two three hundred years before Jesus came to earth a group of god-fearing people who are very concerned about the worldliness that there was in Israel in the time of Malachi and subsequently that they wanted to restore holiness in the midst of the Israelites and they came together in the word Pharisee means separated they separated themselves from these others and they started out writing the first generation of Pharisees must have been really godly people but what happened as time went on they were more taken up with the form and not with God and then by the time they came to Jesus time they're just legal is sticking to the letter of the word do you wash your hands do you keep the Sabbath we shouldn't pluck grain on the Sabbath day and all types of rules that they even felt Jesus was a sinner and they killed him so that's how far you can go when you become a legalist you can call Jesus Prince of Devil's and even kill him and the same thing happens with today's legalists that they don't realize they are against the true servants disciples of Jesus so how shall I avoid it I find that it's by looking at Jesus if you run the race looking at Jesus you can never be illegal it's because Jesus was not a legalist he believed in the laws but there was mercy in him always he did not judge people see for example when they brought that woman caught in adultery to him in John chapter 8 and they said Moses has commanded that women who commit adultery must be stoned and they did not know that Jesus was the one from heaven who gave that command to Moses fifteen hundred years earlier Jesus knew it but they didn't know this man sitting there is the one from heaven gave that command to Moses to stone women caught in adultery so it was he who gave that command from heaven why did he give it to make Israel take adultery seriously because they were living in a world where adultery was already common and how to get people to take seriously stone people who are caught in adultery but that was not God's will God's will was to save them this is all your means to restrain them so when Jesus came and he told them he who is without sin cast the first stone and it says one by one they all of all the people left except one person was left who had not sinned and that was Jesus and according to his own statement he who is without sin could throw the first stone so he was qualified to throw the stone and to obey the command which he himself gave to Moses 1,500 years earlier but he didn't do that because Jesus doesn't carry stones in his pocket remember that brothers and sisters whenever you hear some preachers preaching or talking to you in such a way as if he's flinging a stone at you it's not the Spirit of Christ Jesus has no stones in his pocket he did not come to destroy people he did not come to condemn God did not send his son of the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved and so it looks as if Jesus is disobeying the very command he gave that's a great message for legalists they say you got to stick to it if it's written there you must stone the woman caught in adultery you ought to do it and Jesus himself doesn't do it isn't that amazing he disobeyed a command he gave it teaches us that Christ came there's there's a spirit in the commandment and that's what Jesus was always fulfilling not a letter of the law thou shalt not do any work on the Sabbath day plucking grain from the fields it was permitted on other days of the week all Jews were hunted to pluck grain from anybody's feel if you're walking through it that was a log that the Lord gave to his people but the Pharisee said you can't do that on the Sabbath it's a work and Jesus gave examples like you remember David when he was hungry he took the bread which according to Moses law only the Levites were supposed to eat and he was not a Levite and he ate it and God didn't judge him so Jesus gave these examples of people who never David hungry God said Yaga had needed so then what the others who went according to the letter of the law would say no you're not supposed to eat that so what do we learn from all this we look at Jesus you'll never be a legalist you find that he kept not that he ignored the law but he kept the spirit of the law and the spirit of the law was to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself so if you keep that as the main Commandments love God with all your heart and love your neighbors yourself and be rich in mercy and do not judge legalists the primary characteristic of a legalist is they judge others now we must discern there's a lot of difference between discerning and judging discerning is I feel this is not as I understand Scripture this is not the way to go the way these people are going the way they're doing things that's not the way I would want to go so I don't judge them but I stay away from them I remember when I was first beginning to preach and there were so many different types of preachers I'm not here to judge them but when I compared these preachers I saw with Jesus I found they were so different for example Jesus never collected money from people but all these preachers were very eager to collect money so I see I'm not able to judge them I don't agree with them I believe it's wrong but I want to follow Jesus I discerned if I didn't discern that I would have joined them and ruined my life but I discerned and I left them I didn't go around telling them hey you fellows are wrong and condemn I had a responsibility to warn my flock that's why I keep preaching about these false preachers to my flock but I don't go up to tell go up to them and condemn them no that's judging them I wouldn't do that but I need discernment so you need discernment to stay away from wrong teaching and from false teachers and from people moving in a spirit which is not the Spirit of Christ but don't judge them legal is judge so those are few guidelines to avoid legalism looking unto Jesus and the Holy Spirit will keep you clear legalism okay another question is Ephesians 4:26 be angry but do not sin you're probably familiar with that verse fusions 426 which says be angry yet do not sin what is what is the context of this verse and if I feel a stirring inside my heart of anger is it saying when does it become sin why does it say be angry but why does it not say never be angry okay first of all the two questions here and I want to answer that one is to try and is to see the difference between temptation and sin you know when a thought comes into your mind that's not sin let me encourage you it's when you yield to that thought in your mind that it becomes a sin when a thought is flashed into your mind that's temptation supposing you're tempted bow down to the devil do you know that Jesus was tempted like that music oh dear bow down to the devil what a sinner I don't know Jesus was tempted like that how was Jesus tempted a thought flashed into his mind bow down to me the devil says no did he sin no so we need to distinguish it in temptation and sin and when people don't distinguish that they condemn themselves for temptation so one of the clearest passages that describes that is James chapter 1 and verse 14 and 15 James 1:14 and 15 whenever you're tempted you're enticed enticed is a word used when a man tries to entice a woman to commit fornication with her and if the woman heals then verse 15 a conception takes place and a baby is born in this case sin so he uses the example of a baby's birth and how conception takes place too compared temptation and sin a woman has the capacity the ability to conceive a baby but until she's impregnated she doesn't conceive that's the picture used here that the Holy Spirit uses to distinguish shooting temptation and sin a woman does not have to feel convicted that I have eggs in me that can produce a baby sure there's no baby there but if she allows a man to impregnate her then the baby is born that's a picture here temptation is you have desires by which you're tempted but if you allow your mind to agree with it yes I agree with you don't have to do it physically but you agree with it in your mind yes I want that I want to enjoy that in my mind you've sinned because you have yielded to that temptation or to use an illustration here's a girl walking down the street and there's a man a very handsome good-looking man entices her come come with me come sleep with me and she's tremendously attracted because he's very good-looking and very pleasant in his conversation and in every way attracted attracted attracted but she says no did she conceived so the mere fact that she was attracted what does it prove it proves what a pure girl she is I mean if that man was a totally unattractive man an ugly looking repulsive type of person and he said come and sleep with me and if he if she rejected it that wouldn't be such a great thing but when he was so attractive and then she rejected it that proves her purity even more so the fact that you're attracted to something does not mean that you're evil if the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden was unattractive ugly full of thorns and smelly and repulsive in every way and God said to Adam don't go any other tree say no I don't want to go that that in any case that's no temptation there but the Bible said to a so attractive it may even out water and it gave her the feeling that you can become wise it was pulling her completely she had not sinned the fact that she was tempted drawn that her mouth watered no sin it's when she responded to that that sin came it's very important to distinguish between temptation and sin otherwise you'll condemn yourself unnecessarily so you find money attractive that's not a sin is when you respond to that and try to gain it by unrighteous means or get so devoted to that you ignore your devotion to the Lord then you have sinned do you find a very beautiful woman attractive that is not a sin it's not a sin but if you keep staring at her when your God hasn't given her to you as your wife it can very easily turn into lust and that's why you know I mean even before you begin to think of sexual thoughts in relation to her the Bible says that verse proverbs and verse 25 it's a warning here for young people especially that when you see a pretty woman proverbs 625 do not desire her beauty it's not talking about our body to desire our body is a going one step further before you get there do not desire her beauty in your heart God has not given her to be your wife she's somebody else's and if you covet you've already sinned so if you are careful we will not sin so the same way with anger a thought comes up which is tempting you to be angry you say no there's a virtue in there that you resisted that temptation but if you give in to that anger and you keep that in your heart you don't have to say with your mouth but you keep that anger against that person the Bible says in Ecclesiastes anger dwells in the heart of a fool I'm proving myself to be a fool by keeping that anger in my heart the mere fact that I've conquered it by not spoken words in anger only proves that you practiced yoga yoga teaches you to control the anger and keep it inside Buddhism teaches that that's not what Jesus Jesus came to deliver us from anger within so that's the difference between temptation and sin if you yield in your mind you have sinned if you retain that anger in your mind you have sin now the second question here is why does it say be angry but do not sin why does it not say never be angry so again as I always say never read a verse all by itself always read the whole paragraph read it in its context Ephesians 4:26 reads like this be angry but do not sin and don't let the Sun go down on your anger but then it does say five verses down verse 31 let all I'm going to be put away from you so it does say never be angry so that question is not correct you just got to read five verses down and you get it never be angry but then what does it mean by saying be angry but don't sin see whenever I find a verse in scripture especially the New Testament that I don't understand I follow the principle that I follow in reading English whenever I read a word in a magazine or a newspaper or somewhere even in the Bible an English word that I don't understand I've had the habit of putting that book or paper down and opening the dictionary and saying I want to know that word that's how I improved my knowledge of English by stopping every time I don't know the meaning of a word now many people don't do that they just oh I didn't understand I presume it means this you could be completely wrong I don't presume I take a dictionary and I see what it means and I get the correct meaning of the word so the same thing with the Bible God's given me a dictionary and that dictionary is the earthly life of Jesus the earthly life of Jesus is my dictionary so whenever I come to word like this which I can't understand spiritually I go to my dictionary Lord Jesus let me look at your earthly life when was it you were angry and when was it have been a sin okay I see that Jesus did get angry when there were people making money in the name of religion in the temple that was right it was a righteous anger and I want to be angry when I see people today in the Christian Church making money from poor people when I see creatures on television urging people to give money if I'm not angry at that I am NOT like Jesus Christ and if you're not angry at that you are not like Christ let me tell you that honestly if you can see preachers urging people to give money and collected from poor people and you don't get angry at that I want to tell you in Jesus name you are not at all christ-like you're a compromiser you're a diplomat you're just a man pleaser if you're like Christ you'll be angry with that that's how Jesus does be angry it's a command and you're not being angry when you see that the second time I see Jesus angry was in Mark's Gospel we see that there was a man with a withered hand and in the in the synagogue on the Sabbath day and the Pharisees were watching his Jesus going to heal this man and it says here in mark 3 verse 5 Jesus looked at them with anger because they were so unwilling to let this man whose hand they could not heal they would not let Jesus heal him either he looked at them with anger and today when I see many Christians sitting in churches where they don't lead them to be delivered from sin withered Christians they won't lead them into a life of victory and they don't allow me to lead them into a life of victory by sharing them the truth I am angry if I'm not angry I'm not like Christ when you see people holding people in their churches and not allowing them to hear the message of deliverance from sin I am angry these are the two areas where I see Jesus was angry and I want to say I want to be angry every time when I see these two things and anyone who is not angry is not obeying the command which says be angry okay the second part is don't sin when is it again I look to the dictionary when is it that Jesus did not sin when they spat on his face people spit on my face I will not be angry by the grace of God they called him Prince of Devils people have called me the devil in all types of names I will not be angry I will love them I'll forgive them I will bless them I wish the best for them whatever they did them they called him born of fornication which is a complete lie people tell all types of lies about me because they don't know the truth I'll forgive them I so what I as a general rule I find anything that concerns me I must never be angry me means me my family my children anyone does anything I must not be angry but anything that concerns the glory of God like people making money in the temple or concern the good of other people I must be angry if I see on the road a man just bashing up a little boy and I don't get angry something wrong with me that doesn't concern me that's not my child but I got angry with that that person and I've just trying to stop it in some way in a wise way so I see these two things I must be angry when the glory of God is concerned and I'm sorry to say this but it is true I've seen all over the world Christians who see God's name being dishonored in so many places and they just take it lightly do you think God will ever use them not in a hundred years this is the reason why so many Christians are useless for God because they don't get angry when they see God's name being dishonored somewhere do you know the first prayer the Lord taught us to pray was hallowed be thy name and I traveled across all over India and so many Christian churches for 16 years and I saw all over God's name was being dishonored by the way those Christians were living by the way they were preaching and it really made me so angry that I got fed up that I left all of that and I said lord I got to do something I'm not going to join any of this rubbish which calls itself Christianity that's how we started our church not that we are perfect but I want to be angry with anything that dishonor is the glory of my prayer for years has been Lord let your name be hallowed in India because I grew up there and if you're not if you don't pray that prayer if you see God's name not being hallowed around you in your country and it doesn't bother you one bit you're a selfish person a selfish child of Adam you're not obeying the command which says be angry so I hope you've learned something from that it's a command okay but never when it concerns yourself I mean if it's hurting others maybe your wife or children yes but not when it concerns yourself we must not be angry and if you are angry like in the case of Jesus being angry because these people would not allow this man with the withered hand be healed the angers meat must lead to delivering that person it's not just retaining an anger with that person I must do something to deliver that person who is being held by that by those people in bondage okay how to say no without hurting others in Christian Fellowship that's impossible you I mean for years and years I discovered you will hurt a lot of people and if you want to go through life without hurting anybody I'd say don't try to be a Christian just follow the devil then but then you hurt them eternally that's another thing but right now if we want to follow Jesus he hurt people all the time they got so mad with him they wanted to kill him and if you really follow Jesus maybe some people will get so mad with you that they want to kill you but I find so many Christians are so diplomatic oh we must say it nicely and kindly what are you accomplishing for God look at your life think how much more could have been accomplished for God if you have a little angry with the way God's name is being dishonored around you and you didn't want to please any of your relatives and you said no to them I'm sorry I remember once when a relative of mine very close relative mine was their baby was getting baptized I mean christened in some denomination Church and of course they knew I wouldn't go for that but they said we're gonna have a lunch to celebrate that night so sorry I said I can't come I will not come to celebrate a disobedience to the Word of God you're celebrating your baby being christened and being told as a child of God and then doing an ignorance but to celebrate that you want me to come and celebrate that impossible it's like coming and celebrating adultery somebody come with Daltrey let's go and celebrate it I won't come there I said I'll come the next day for your meal but not that day do you think that offended them it certainly did but at least they knew where I stood and there's more chance that they will one day be convicted by my stand and come to Christ then with all these people who just try to please everybody and make sure those relatives go to hell do you will discover I want to tell you this you will discover in the final day that some people you could have brought them to the Lord if you had been a little more firm but because you were a compromiser you wanted to please those relatives they drifted so think that seriously we got to say no if I seek to please men Galatians 1:10 says I cannot be the servant of Christ I believe it's one of the number-one qualifications item I believe this is our God trained me to serve him when I was in the Navy and boy I was in a ship where I was the only believer and people would make fun of me and call me all types of names and there were things that the senior officers would ask me to do which are against my conscience I said no sir I'm a Christian I can't do that did I hurt them of course I did I mean I was pretty pretty close to a court-martial for disobeying orders but I said that's okay I will not seek to please men I want to please the Lord well you know how the Lord rewarded me when I was 24 years old he called me to serve him full-time I'm very thankful there are things you're missing in your life because you're trying to please people you cannot be a servant of Christ if you seek to please anyone and the danger is pleasing your relatives pleasing some of your friends in your business and things like that how can we keep our eyes on Jesus first of all you got to read God's Word regularly and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you keep your conscience clear very very important as soon as you're like I said yesterday if you soon as you're where you did something wrong settle it jesus said you if your eye is clear you'll be able to see clearly Luke chapter 11 but if it's dark you can't see anything how does you know you get dust in your eyes and what do you do when you get dust in your eyes it irritates you so much that even if you're doing the most important work you go and wash your eyes you know the cleanest part of your body is your eyes there's no part of your body which is as clean as your eyes it is will being washed many times in a single minute those tears are cleaning up your eyes God doesn't want a speck of dust in your eyes and Jesus said the light of the body is the eye that means your conscience keep your conscience like you keep your eyes always clean even if you're the most important work you're doing you get a speck of dust in your eyes you stop that you're doing the most important work and your conscience convicts yous about something stop that work clear your conscience just like your cleaner eyes and then proceed that's the way you can keep close to Jesus I says your the question was how you keep your eyes on Jesus that's how you keep our eyes on Jesus it's being filled with the Holy Spirit and event how can I be sure when I'm through the Holy Spirit being filled with the Holy Spirit is something that must be continuous the actual translation of Ephesians 5:18 is be being filled with the Holy Spirit it's like keeping a gas tank full all the time if you want to keep moving it's no use saying I filled it day before yesterday may be empty today it must be filled our heart must be filled with the Holy Spirit all the time and if you keep our conscience clear and take every opportunity to humble yourself whenever such opportunities arise you will be filled with the Holy Spirit without even having to ask it's like water you know water always rushes to the lowest place first haven't you seen sometimes in a road or uneven land that the low places have got puddles of water and the higher places are dry even after the rain because water always goes to the lowest place and that the rivers of living water from heaven always look around for who is who's the humblest person here he'll get filled first who is the person who humbles himself so that's the way to remain filter the Holy Spirit all the time it's only pride and a bad conscience that'll prevent you from remaining filled to the Holy Spirit okay how can I know when I'm fool to the Holy Spirit well by their fruit you shall know them jesus said you shall receive power to be my witnesses you'll have power to overcome sin you'll have power to be a bold witness for Christ and God will give you some some gift of the Spirit not necessarily tongues of preaching but some ability to be a witness for Christ and I remember when I was seeking God to be filled with the Holy Spirit way back in 1963 I was just being a Christian baptized two years earlier and I was very scared to openly witness for Christ and I said Lord I'll never believe that I'm filled as always for til I've kept that fear of witnessing for Christ and then I found it I really sought God it took time but when that happened I realized now now that fear is gone I can boldly witness for Christ I know God had met with me is it harder to recon Kerr the Giants that were once conquered or were never over they never really conquered see I don't need to analyze what is this a sin I conquered wounds and lost out again or one that I never conquered if I'm defeated I'm defeated I need to be an overcomer in every area there's not a single sin that I must have in my life knowingly unknowingly there may be many things there still are I'm sure many areas of UNCHR i slackness in my life which I'm not aware of and the picture I get is the land of Canaan is a huge land and when they got into the land it's a picture of the life of victory they could not kill all the Giants at the same time there to kill the Giants one by one by one by one and when you kill the giant you possess this territory that's a picture of victory over sin the area where you you overcome something you possess something something for God that becomes a position of God in your life but then there are many other Giants you've not even seen we have in the north of Canaan those are the picture of unconscious areas of UNCHR Iced likeness in your life we can never be completely free from sin in this lie in this life will never conquer the land of Canaan fully there will always be areas of uncrushed likeness in our life we will be completely like Christ only when he comes again but in the conscious area that is the giant I see he must be killed the Giants I cannot see well I will discover them maybe next year it's like telling a a student in grade one you don't worry about algebra and geometry and multiplication and division just deal with addition now learn what 2+2 is learn what 3 plus 3 is no worry about the other things you haven't you will come to that later next year you go to something more and the next year you go to something more say there's a development in our little little child learning mathematics it's the same way we conquer Canaan more and more we overcome sin and more and more in our life but there'll always be some new areas that we will discover if we are growing if you come to a place of stagnation how did how to know whether you come to stagnation in your Christian life you're not discovering any new areas of on Christ likeness in your life for example in the last one year if you have not discovered any new area of on Christ likeness in your life you're stagnating I mean if you're still dealing with the same old areas it's like a child who's in 10th grade and still struggling with 2+2 you should have finished with that in 1st grade so you need to ask yourself am i progressing so that is what we bear in mind in mark 16 verses 15 and 2:20 it speaks about the signs that follow when we preach the gospel mark 16 it says you're going to all nations and preach the gospel to all all up to the world go to all the world and preach the gospel to all creation he who has believed in his baptized will be saved but he who doesn't believe will be condemned and these signs will accompany those who believe they will cast out demons they will speak with new tongues etc now you got to see for whom are these promises given those who go into the unreached areas of the world to preach the gospel he was telling people you know the whole world remain done evangelized at that time go into those unreached areas where they haven't heard the gospel and preached to them and when they believe in our baptized they'll be saved and I will confirm the Lord's that I'll confirm your word which signs with sick people being healed demons being cast out but that's not primarily for places where the gospel has already been preached I find that in India we go to areas where the Gospels are never being preached let me give you an example supposing you were to go to a village where the Gospels never be in prints they've never seen a Bible they don't know what Christians are everybody's a non-christian of some religion or the other and we're not used to that because we are usually witnessing to people already no respect Christians and oh no about Christianity know about the Bible but try to going to some area of the world where they don't even know who Jesus is like I actually heard the story where someone went to villager and said do you know Jesus he says he doesn't live in this village try the next one that's how ignorant people are about Jesus you go to such a village and you want to preach the gospel how do you start well 2,000 years ago in a land called Israel they never heard of Israel there was a baby born through a mother who never had any relations with a man and this guy's hearing is you're telling him a fairy tale he thinks you're off your head baby born without a man knowing a woman yes it was God who came in human form and then of course in their religion also they've got so many stories of gods that came in human form maybe you're telling them another story like that and then this baby grew up and he did so many miracles and and then they finally killed him they he has so many questions why did they kill him if he's God how can he be killed no he died for your sins how could he know my sins he lived 2,000 years ago and and then you finally say after three days he rose up from the dead he's sure you're crazy but he rose up from the dead and then he went centered up high so that's a easy way to get out of it he's not he heard he's not here now you say he's gone after heaven and you say ok now I'll show you he's alive bring to me that demon-possessed people who could not be delivered by all your gods bring them here and in the name of Jesus those demons are cast out they believe he's living all your argument and trying to convince them with reason it's like fairy tales to them bring your sick people and I pray for them in the name of Jesus then they believe that's the only way to preach the gospel he completely areas where they never heard the gospel before I would never dream of going to such places in the world without having the gift of healing and about the ability to cast out demons I'd be wasting my time I'd be trying to operate on an intellectual level see we do that because we are always preaching to people at this level we don't encounter the necessity but I believe that's very very important so that's over there but for those who already become converted the message for us is in Matthew 28 go into all nations and make disciples these are the two great Commission's they're where you go to unreached areas make disciples not make disciples baptize them no mention of discipleship convert them baptize them I will confirm it with science now you continue with Matthew 28 make them disciples teach them to do every single thing I commanded you teach them to love their enemies he said not to love money these them to overcome dirty thoughts teach them to overcome ambert anger teach them everything I taught you no mention of any miracles here because now we are dealing with making disciples not a single word about speaking in tongues or healing the sick or cussing out demons so you see the two sides of the Great Commission okay how can I increase in my love for Jesus I've seen two things by which I can increase in my love for Jesus Christ one is we read in 1 John 4:19 we love him because he first loved us so the more I understand his love for me the more I will love him if you don't love him more it's because you have not understood how much he's loved you it's one of the first things that the Lord began to show me when I got converted 58 years ago item I meditated hours and hours and hours through the years on the cross of Jesus and what it meant for Jesus to come and save me and how terrible it was my destiny was so going to be so terrible if he hadn't come and saved me and I used to think of various word pictures and illustrations to think of Jesus saving me from death and how I should respond to it one of the pictures that came to me those days when I was a young Christian was I pictured my slave about to cross a road a busy road and I didn't see this huge truck coming down and to knock me over and kill me it's picture in my mind and somebody else came and pushed me out of the way just in time and I was saved from death and that poor man got run over and his legs were crushed completely and he's taken to the hospital and both his legs are amputated and I go to visit him in the hospital what will I say to him well mercy thanks very much see you later is that what I'll say to him no I wouldn't stop there I said this guy lost his legs to save my life I should have been dead I'll go to him and say listen I know there are many things you cannot do now because you've lost your legs I'll do them for you you can call on me anytime day or night you want me to do something for you you can't do because you lost your legs I'll do it for you I'm sure you'd say the same thing that's one of the pictures I say Lord you saved me from a hell I didn't even know I was heading towards I didn't know it but you came gave you a life to save me any time in your life you can call on me I'll be ready to do anything you call me to do so and the more I meditated on that on the love of Christ for me and what a sinner I was in how much he loved me it increased my love for him I love him because he first loved me the second reason or the second way in which our love for Christ can increase his Luke chapter 7 where we read of the woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee there was a woman who poured a perfume at Jesus feet and anointed it and wiped it with kissed his feet and wiped the anointment with her hair and when Simon the Pharisee questioned Jesus Jesus gave this reply there was a man who from whom somebody at a certain moneylender Luke 741 had two debtors one who owed him 500 denarii and the other 50 he forgave them both freely who will love him more Simon said the one who is forgiven more and then Jesus said Luke 7 47 the one who is forgiven more loves more the one who is forgiven little loves little so I learned something there if I can discover how much I been forgiven the more I discovered that the more I love Jesus and the less I discover that the less I love Jesus the less I'll be willing to make sacrifices for Jesus now all of us have been forgiven much there's not a single person who can say I've been forgiven little you may not know how much you've been forgiven so really it is a question of knowing some know that they've been forgiven much some don't know they've been forgiven much they think they've been forgiven little and then so I realized that as long as I think I've been forgiven a little bit I won't sacrifice much for the Lord I've seen lots and lots of believers they will do something for the Lord if it is convenient if it involves a lot of sacrifice oh and I got to think about that again they don't want it as I said they don't want to displease their relatives they don't want to do anything that involves too much sacrifice these are guys who don't have a clue how much they've been forgiven one day when they discover that at the judgment seat of Christ that have such remorse that they did not love the Lord more and sacrifice more further or it'll be too late I really believe there'll be many people and the judgment seat of Christ who will wish Lord I wish I could live my life again I wouldn't live it the way I lived I don't want that regret when Christ comes again I don't want to have to look over my life at the judgment seat of Christ discover how much I was forgiven how much the Lord loved me and my poor shallow response to that the cheap way in which I sought to serve the Lord the little that I gave which involved no sacrifice I'd be so ashamed of myself over there then I say lord I wish i my life again to be too late so think about it now how did Jesus live a life of constant joy when he was called a child of fornication well it's because he threw the opinions of man into the trash can it's a favorite statement of mine all the opinions of human beings are fit for the trash can throw it there he doesn't matter what they call you see ten thousand people calling you a prophet will not make your prophet right ten thousand people calling you a devil will not make you a devil ten thousand people saying you were born of fornication does not make you born of fornication you are what you are what people say about you doesn't make you any different once you realize that what does it matter people call me people who called me devil people have got me Antichrist and all having if you follow Jesus you will be called like that you know Jesus said the master of the house was called Beelzebub have you read this verse in Matthew chapter 10 if they called Matthew 10:25 if they call the head of the house the Prince of Devil's read it carefully meditate on it if they called the head of the house Matthew 20:25 Prince of Devil's how much more or worse names will they call the members of his household I want to ask you a question what are the bad names you have been called because you are a disciple of Jesus can you tell me something some bad name that people called you because not because of some stupid thing you did at work but because you're a disciple of Jesus I can make a list of bad names they say the head of the serpent was in my house and I was at one place they call me spiritual terrorist and so many they published tracts against me in different places cult leader and all types of things devil son of a devil you know what that proves to me I am a member of Jesus household what can you say to prove that you're a member of Jesus all sold now there are other people who said good things about you jesus said woe unto you when people say good things about you so the opinions of men are fit for the trash can and I discovered that long ago and then we are free from their opinion and it doesn't disturb us anymore have you ever experienced an anointing of the Holy Spirit and walked away from it for a time and disobeyed it turned away and lost touch with the part of the Spirit er of course if you slip up you can come back but over a period of time as you learn it took me some years but you learn to be more and more faithful and you learn to know the way that Jesus walked but in the early days yeah I was careless and I lost the anointing and I've seen that sometimes I've lost the anointing through spiritual pride and that's helped me to be very alert because that is the sin that so easily besets those who are being used by the Lord but you don't have to fall into it once you see it your alert to it I mean if you're walking in a forest which is full of poisonous Vipers and cobras you don't have to be bitten if you've got a flashlight and you're watching carefully but if you're careless they'll sting you so you don't have to fall a prey to spiritual pride even if you are the mightiest servant of God on earth if you are alert to it but if you are not alert you can fall easily so when you become proud the bad part of the spirit departs and you'll know it and then you got to repent and come back to God and in the early days it is it can be like that for a while but if you learn a lesson it'll gradually not be there and you can live continuously under the anointing day after day after day after day after day not only live under the anointing but experience an increase of the anointing in your life why did Jesus perform miracles and tell people not to tell anyone and why did they anyway go and tell others well the reason why Jesus told people not to tell her this was because that's not what he came to earth for he didn't come to her to heal the sick and raise the dead so he said don't tell people that because then people a week coming out to me just for healing but that's not what I want to do I want to save them from their sin I want to show them how sin is much worse than sickness and that's why he told them and then the next question why did they go and tell them anyway because they were disobedient just like a lot of people today see we don't seek to advertise that Jesus can heal the sick I don't find that as the gospel Jesus has asked me to preach he's asked me to proclaim that he can save you from sin but once a person is in the church it says in James 5 a person is sick let him call for the elders and then let him anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord that I do but I don't have meetings where I said Jesus is going to heal the sick because I've seen a lot of meetings advertised like that and hardly anybody gets healed it's a lie it's a deception because if you proclaim that you must heal every single sick person who comes to that meeting and that never that's never happened in all these meetings that are proclaimed nowadays called healing meetings is an outright deception it's a dishonor to the Lord's name to say that Jesus is heal the sick and somebody brings a sick person and he's not healed but they collect the money I've seen meetings in this is the reason why I refuse to cooperate with such Christian meetings it in Bangalore sometimes they have meetings is here let's all the Protestant churches come together this manner the healing gift is coming I said I'll come there if you don't collect any money because Jesus never collected any money after praying for those is sick and I want to see people genuinely healed they are not healed and if those fellows put money in the offering offering box that you take in that healing material or return it if they are not healed no you're deceivers so I'm kept out of all these things they never invited me thankfully I stay away from it all and that's why people think I'm exclusive but I'm exclusive because you guys are dishonoring Christ by this type of thing so I believe that we must only proclaim what we are able to do don't preach that you can jesus heals the sick if you can't pray and heal that person I can boldly proclaim Jesus will forgive all your sins right now every single sinner who comes to this meeting can be born again if he wants to and every Christian can have victory over sin that I can proclaim but I cannot proclaim that everybody will be healed because everybody's not healed so okay these are a few questions concerning praying in tongues and speaking in tongues praying in tongues speaking in tongues is there a difference I believe it's the same thing do they have to be interpreted only if it is used in the church when led by God we used to see it more in the early days when we met as a church and I think it's more a gift for initial days once we got established as a church it's the is through prophesy reaching of the word of God prophetic word and teaching that the church is built up and there's a if you want to read more about it there's a whole tract of mine in the CFC India website CFC India com you go there and look for articles there's an article called the truth about speaking in tongues just four pages which explains what every verse about speaking in tongues in the New Testament in a nutshell all said in the church I would rather speak in a known language than five words in a known language than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue so if you divide ten thousand by five you get two thousand which means speaking in English is two thousand times better than speaking in tongues in the church that's the number-one truth but a lot of people don't believe that you go to some churches they're just screaming away in tongues they haven't read that verse Paul never did it but at the same time another thing Paul says is I thank God I speak in tongues more than all of you obviously in private and there he says you don't have to interpret it and he also says he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself not other people so he built himself up but at the same time it also says do all speak with tongues no are all apostles no are all prophets just as much as everybody is not an apostle everybody doesn't speak in tongues it's a gift and you cannot demand a gift God gives it you take it if he doesn't give it be thankful for some other gift God has given you what happened in the house of Cornelius when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and tongues came was it spiritual or human tongues I don't know but it does say that Peter recognized that they had received the Holy Spirit so there was some way in which they indicated to them in those days we must remember in those days they did not have the written word of God so they had to have some type of external evidence for example why did Jesus tell his disciples if you forgive somebody since its forgiven have you read that in John chapter 20 you know I can't do that I can't go to a person and say okay I'm telling you your sins are forgiven but those apostles had that authority because there was no scripture in those days supposing some guy comes to the Apostle John and says hey John I've confessed my sins how do I know my sins are forgiven John says I'm telling you your sins are forgiven he had that authority why can't we say that today I'll tell you if somebody comes to me and says brother I've confessed my sins how do I know they are forgiven I shall tell you what John says 1 John 1:9 I'm quoting John he had the authority to say that I don't have it I'm quoting scripture written by those apostles so there was a need for that type of authority for those apostles which we don't need today because we got the written word of God written by those apostles who were given that authority okay how do you explain to someone who believes that you don't have the Holy Spirit unless you speak in tongues well Jesus said you receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you and if you manifest that power that's how you demonstrate that the holy spirit has come to make us christ-like in our life and in our ministry so I found that and that is the primary mark so I'm not going to get into an argument with people I will just show them all these verses that I just mentioned to you saying that all do not speak in tongues but all can be filled with the Holy Spirit but beyond that I will not get into an argument with people I believe that by our life we can demonstrate the truth of that okay there are a few more questions we will probably look at them tomorrow our time is up let's pray our Heavenly Father please help us to have clarity concerning the things we heard today and other areas we pray that your Holy Spirit will make it clear to us as well we pray in Jesus name Amen [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 5,590

Rating: 4.6635513 out of 5

Keywords: questions, answers, balance, truth, zac, poonen, sermon, rlcf, family, conference, 2017, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus

Id: K35rK9ivYZA

Length: 59min 28sec (3568 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2017