Questions & Answers - Zac Poonen - May 28, 2017

[Music] this is going to be a question answer time so we want to try and finish all these questions for lunch if faith is a gift of God how do we grow in faith is there anything I'm doing our neglecting that can prevent me from having great faith are a baby is a gift of God but you got to feed it for it to grow and papers like that if you don't feed faith the Bible says in Romans 10:17 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ the word of Christ reverses the New Testament and it's not just reading but hearing so that means when I read the New Testament I must ask the Holy Spirit to help me to hear what God is saying to me through that word and from that hearing comes faith so if you don't read the word and meditate and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through it you're not feeding the baby the baby can die or go on grow it will have stunted growth so that is how we can but it is a gift even growth is a gift when a baby grows health is a gift so the growth in faith is also a gift and what we need to do is do our part in feeding another question is how do you see submission to elders what areas do they have authority over our lives see there's a two different ways in which we find submission in Christendom in the Roman Catholic Church submission is imposed from above is a pyramid with the Pope at the top and Cardinals and then all the way down to the parish priest and if you happen to be in that parish that priest is your priest or reserve good man or an evil man doesn't make a difference you submit to him it's imposed from above and it depends where you're living even in the Assemblies of God churches like that it's a pyramid with the worldwide general superintendent top and then continent super ends and country super enhances all the way down to the local pastor but in the New Testament and as we understand it authority is accepted from beneath not imposed from above it's not somebody sitting on top of you and say I'm your elder you better listen to me that's not the way it's not even the way Jesus exercises his leadership we always use the word if capital i F if any man will come after me take up your cross and follow me there's no imposition you must that's the language of the law you must be circumcised you must keep these feasts you must go to Jerusalem three times a year in the New Covenant there's always if so a true godly New Covenant elder will not allowed imposes it already on you in the measure in which you have confidence in him you seek for advice concerning anything that's up to you or the measure in which you have confidence in him you will seek him for advice in any area of your life but the only way area where as an elder he can say you have to listen he's in the matter of church matters in the area of the Ministry of the church the elders or the group of elders we always believe in multiple elders their authority is absolute that means if they say we're gonna start services at ten o'clock start is going to call that's you don't have a choice in that or certain rules we have in our church for example in our church we say if you want to if a sister wants to share or pray she should veil her head according the Bible says and that there's no choice in that I mean she's welcome to come all her life and sit in the church without railing her head but if she's going to pray or prophesy we believe the Bible says she should rail her head and I'm surprised that many sisters find that a big problem and what I tell them is supposing you go to a house where their custom is to remove your shoes at the door before you go in all of you would do it even if you don't do that in your own house in my house at hominin in India we don't remove our shoes but if I go to a home where they remove their shoes I take off my shoes I don't say well I don't do that in my house as a matter of courtesy so I'm surprised that so many sisters don't have even that curtsy when they go to a church where people will their head they don't really have it's a to means that mark of a little bit of pride if I walked into a house where I see everybody removing their shoes and I say I don't do that my house I'm gonna walk in with my shoes I need to learn a little more courtesy so submission to elders is in the area of church matters otherwise beyond that the measure in which you have confidence in them how should it be in local churches where we are seeking to be a family should we be equally close to everyone again remember what I said yesterday about the dictionary Jesus is our dictionary was he equally close to everyone no he spoke to the multitudes out of the big circle many of them got offended and left he had a smaller circle we read of 70 elders you read in Luke chapter 10 70 disciples rather and those seventy disciples he sent them out they were good enough disciples to be sent out preaching but within that seventy was there was another inner circle of twelve one was a crook there was still another smaller circle of eleven and in that there was a still smaller circle of three Peter James and John now a lot of people could have accused Jesus of partiality particularly since James and John were his first cousins his mother's sisters sons they could have accused him saying hey this guy's just being close to his cousin's you know the wonderful thing about Jesus he couldn't care less for anybody's opinion if God told him to do something you do it whatever people thought about it was up to them they got to work out their own salvation he was going to do what God told him and if God told him to choose his own to be inner-circle disability awesome he wasn't going to be bothered if people accused him of nepotism so he was not equally close to everybody and I think the closeness was based on the response that he saw in them to the gospel the wholeheartedness with which they seek God I find myself having worked in churches for more than 40 years and many many churches and many many believers I'm not equally close to everybody I work with about 130 elders I'm not equally close to all of them it varies and I'm not disturbed by that because I see that example in Jesus many times for example he went to the Mount of Transfiguration he took only three he went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray he took only three he went to the house of Jairus to pray for that dead girl and he told nine of his disciples to go outside the room can you imagine that all if you go outside the room and she's going to have James Peter James and John here there's tremendous possibility of people getting offended of people accusing him of partiality he could not care less what they thought about him he was going to do what God told him so I see that I'm not ashamed to say that I am closer to some more than others it's not because of personal choice it's because of spiritual link that God brings between us and others so you will not be equally close to others even among sisters you'll find yourself closer to some there's absolutely nothing wrong with that not just because of spirituality but there could be other reasons why God brings people together you know we can God can love everybody in the world I in my heart I want to love everybody in the world but I can't show that love to everybody in the world because I'm a limited human being so because we are limited we get closer to some than to others that's perfectly normal but it must not be on some worldly grounds that this is a relative of mine or he likes football like I like football or some rubbish like that not that's not the basis of closeness it's a spiritual consideration that closeness is him will be there till Christ comes again okay since you're all born sinners and sin do babies and small children go to heaven when they die do you know the truth of justification God not only forgives us but justifies us that's how we go to heaven forgiveness is our past being blotted out justification means I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ it's important to understand that even if all my past sins are forgiven I'm still not fit to come into God's presence many don't understand that they said my past sins are forgiven I can certainly come to gospel no you can't because you have a filthy flesh you and I in which nothing got good dwells I cannot come with that into God's presence so God has to do one more thing for me beyond forgiving my past and she has to clothe me with the righteousness of Christ like you remember all those homeless beggars who came in dirty clothes to the Kings feast in Matthew chapter 21 or 22 and the King gave them a role so that all their nakedness was covered and is the man who felt his robe his dress was good enough who sat there who didn't ever over was turned out of the feast so we had justified and that the robe was given freely and God God gives it to babies that died when a baby dies it is not consciously sinned and even up to a certain age till there's no conscious in a little child dies it could be a Muslim child it could be an atheist child it could be there are no Muslim children there are no atheists children children children may be born into different religious families but whichever family they are born into if they haven't come to the age of understanding to consciously sin they're justified by Christ and they go to heaven on the basis of Christ's death nobody goes to heaven on any other basis so all children do go there when they die what are some practical ways in which we can study and memorize the Scriptures well you know if you first of all recognize that there is only one book in the whole world that God is written I mean if you don't have that respect for the Bible you will not study it many people ask me how do you know this is the Bible how do you know after I do how do you know this is the Word of God I mean some people decided to write it and some church people early in the third century or something picked out these books and said these 66 books are the Bible how we know it's the Word of God well today after 58 years of being a Christian I can say I know it's God's Word because it's changed my life but how did I know it when it was when I began reading it I'll tell you you know even when we are very young in the faith we can still recognize a godly person you don't have to be mature to recognize a godly person our discernment grows but you can see someone who's christ-like there are few people I've met in my life very early in my Christian life I can remember them even today really christ-like people they may not have been great preachers but they were christ-like in their whole way in my little contact with them and I found two things common about all of them when they all believe the Bible is the Word of God and they all were filled with the Holy Spirit so I saw these two things when all the people who I met who were really whom I admired for their godliness and Christ's likeness so in the beginning it's not because of I will change my life that I believe it is God's will today that's the reason but it's because I could see the people whose lives were changed they believed the Bible was God's Word and they were filled the Holy Spirit so once we believe that we will want to know what God is saying and why do we memorize scripture because I see that Jesus quoted scripture when the devil came to him with the temptation and he could not have quoted it if he had not memorized remember those days Jesus didn't have a Bible with him at home to memorize it he had to go to the rabbi in the synagogue and say rabbi can you please read this passage in Jeremiah or Isaiah and then he agreed a little bit and Jesus would try to remember that as a little 10 year old go home and next day would come again rabbi can you go to the next chapter it was not easy for him to understand the Bible how to memorize it but he was so interested and let's assume that Jesus started memorizing scripture when he was 5 years old and by the time he was 12 years old he really knew the Scriptures so it's possible for a person without a Bible to take the trouble to go somewhere where someone would read the Bible to him and he can know the Scriptures in seven years if you're serious about it that's what I saw in Jesus life so I decided that I'm going to do the same thing I'm going to study and wherever verses that really spoke to my heart I would memorize it in my first Bible I would color that those verses with a red pencil or mark it so that I could easily refer to it later on so as I kept doing that and I would read books as well because reading a book some people say I must only read the Bible but if you say that then you should never listen to a sermon because in your sermon you're listening to somebody else speak in a lot of the books I've written just my sermons written down in print so if it's wrong to read those books is wrong to listen to a sermon as well so books are written by teachers who can help you to understand God's Word but whenever I took a book in my younger days to read I would always ask one question is this speaking to my head or to my heart and after the first few pages if I found it was all intellectual speaking to my head I'd put it away I wouldn't read it again most of the Bible commentaries I read in my early days were all speaking to the head I mean when I verify for the commentary on Philippians the first thing would say that'd be a map of Philip I and away Philip I was and the history of Philippa I wasn't interested in all that I said that's all rubbish I want to know what Serbians are saying so I would reject most of the commentaries we're all intellectual I never would really it never only very very few that I could find what you're speaking to the heart so those are the things that bless me that's how I got in other scriptures how could know God's spiritual vision for me or his purpose for me as he walked with the Lord it's like the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites day by day you know we would have given a map to the Israelites when they left Egypt saying here's the route is the way to Canaan God didn't do that God led them day by day and that's how he leads us he doesn't give us a plan for all of our life 10 years later you're going to marry this girl and then over there you're going to marry this man you're a sister and then this is what you're going to do is very going to live nothing he's going to lead us day by day and if you walk with a clear conscience and humble yourself you will not miss the leading of the Holy Spirit that I can guarantee it's only pride that makes us deaf to the voice of the Spirit or if you don't keep a good conscience that dims your spiritual vision so day by day he will show you his purpose for you if you walk with a clear conscience and in humility how to decide how many children to have do you break God's law of growing multiplying if you have only four or five healthy children and you just accept God's will and keep on having children until you're old until the end well the command which God gave to Adam be fruitful and multiply has been fulfilled ages ago you don't have a friend fulfill that now I'll tell you that and you don't have to do that don't worry about that part at that time he was the only one couple he had to do that and he really obeyed it and if those early people did it but that's not for us we move on from that a little further in the Old Testament you come to Psalm 128 where it says children are a gift of the Lord they still are the fruit of the womb is a reward it still is and blessed is the man whose quiver is like arrows chillin a leg arrows blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them it's true but the size of the quiver is not mentioned so I don't know how many arrows are supposed to be in that quiver maybe two maybe three I don't know maybe 10 15 20 I don't know but the interesting thing is when you come to the New Testament there's not a single word I find anywhere mentioned about you must have all the children you can possibly have I mean if that were there I would preach it with all my heart and practice it as well but it doesn't say that anywhere in the New Testament and so I will not speak on something which is not written in the New Testament my principle in Bible teaching has been whatever the New Testament particularly emphasizes very much I will emphasize very much holiness humility loving others forgiving others overcoming anger overcoming dirty thoughts and being fair and righteous and honest and not being in debt all these things are emphasized in the New Testament I emphasize and the things that are spoken off very little in the New Testament like speaking in tongues I would speak about very little I wouldn't cancel it out altogether but it'd be very little because the New Testament speaks about it very little and the things which the Bible is silent on and there are many subjects like that I would be silent but like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7 concerning virgins and marriage he said I don't have a commandment from the Lord but he said I give my opinion as one who has found mercy from the Lord to be faithful and at the end of it he says I think I have the Spirit of God in what I'm saying look at the humility of that man and the Holy Spirit puts it in Scripture and says that is the Spirit of God so I see that in the area of children I don't have a command from the Lord but I can give my opinion I believe that we must under and how much we can how many we can take care of and you live in a country like India but there's such a lot of poverty and let me tell you the every one and a half seconds a baby is born in India India alone every one and a half seconds so in one hour in one minute you have 40 babies born in one hour you have 2400 babies so from the time our morning meeting started we already had 5000 babies born in India so if you live in a country like that and there not enough resources and I see people starving I see poor children going to the trash cans to take food all over India what do you tell such people have as many children as you can they can't feed them many of them starve to death they don't have medical resources ever you've got to pay for everything you would have a completely different view then in a country where you have social security and food stamps not these things don't exist in India where you have to pay for everything there's no such thing as free education or free treatment or anything everything you pay for and is it right to bring children into the world whom you can't take care of is that right is it proper these are the questions that I ask myself and so I say I'm not here to control another person's decision on how largest family is going to be but I would say there are many areas where God has not commanded anything there I must use my common sense common sense is not a gift of the devil common sense is what God has given us there are many many areas the Bible speaks nothing about we use our common sense you use your common sense and how many cars you should have in your home maybe you and your wife will need one each to be able to move around in India people can't even afford one they use a motorbike it's common sense how much can I afford where the price of gas is so so much more in a country they cannot afford to have a car what do you do you use your common sense you don't say well they do it in that country so what so there are many areas where the Bible is not we must use our common senses nothing wrong in that common sense is a gift of God and so the number of children you have is in the same way it's like when you build a house how big a house should you build when you don't find out how big a house joke had or Abraham had no you you see how much this like the thing in in the English cut your coat according to your clock you look at your resources how much savings you have how much can you afford everybody does it unconsciously perhaps and so I'm going to build a house that size I can't afford what that person is build iya I'm not jealous of him god bless him but this is all I can afford when you rent a house you decide to rent what you can afford from your monthly salary or what you earn this is all common sense we don't have to pray about it so much we use our common sense without even realizing it but we pray and say Lord lead us to the right place where we should build a house or where we should rent and guide us so in exactly the same way there are many many areas where we are using our common sense and that's right you go to a store to buy and you say what do I need I don't want about by all these attractive things in the store I may not need it when we buy for our children we are using our common sense all the time I mean need to use that in deciding how many children we have and also we need to consider that help of a mother that's also important that's what I teach these are things I teach in India all the time in marriage couples meetings because we have a lot of uneducated people in our villages and say consider be considerate think of the health of your mother a health of the mother of the child health of your wife and these are all factors that we have to bear in mind when we decide husband and wife must his I'll tell you know there was a brother who came who suddenly developed some type of what he called faith and he made the strange statement he actually made it to me brother he had already had three or four children and he said I want to have children like the hairs on my head because God is numbered the hairs on my head he's number two I said hang on you better consult your wife before you decide to have children like the number of hairs on your head anyway he listened to me and he had only one more thank God no it's got to be a giant decision because you can't just decide on your own and move on this is a good brother in one of our churches it's one of the advantage of submitting to Authority okay how to deal with mood swings that women have due to health reasons we had to be very merciful we must recognize that women are different from men the Bible says very clearly in 1 Peter 3 women are the weaker vessels and the Bible says a husband must live with his wife 1 Peter 3 verse 7 in an understanding way recognizing that she's a weaker vessel so the most important thing there in that verse mentioned for a husband to recognizes my wife is a weaker vessel her body is made in a different way from mine and therefore body affects the mind and it can even affect your spirit and you have to be very spiritual to be able to overcome some of those passions or some of those hormonal changes and things that happen in our body but it's very important to recognize that in a wife and sisters also you recognize that because the God has made your body in a certain way and the reason God's made your woman's body in that way is because she's got a bad children and she's got to there are certain things that about a body needs to bear children and so that's why the body is made and that makes her weaker and she's very sensitive why is the woman more sensitive because she's got to take care of children you know see for example little baby cries and the father doesn't have a clue why he's crying and the mother knows immediately because she's programmed that way her system is programmed that way she knows and so because of that programming in our system it has certain weaknesses as well she can have these hormonal changes that bring depression and things like that and we have to be merciful and you shouldn't get discouraged the Bible does not say just rejoice the Bible says you know for example a woman was going through some type of depression medical cause can she rejoice the Bible says rejoice in the Lord always Philippians 4:4 it's very important that phrase in the Lord means that even if you're going through a time of terrific discouragement or depression even due to hormonal changes or anything their body just ask yourself is God still on the throne he is did Jesus die for all your sins yes did he rise up from the dead yes what the devil defeated on the cross yes have all your sins been forgiven yes is Christ coming back for you yes are you going to be with him forever yes well 99% of things are ok then it's only the small 1% is a bit of a problem never mind just rejoice in that 99% that's what I do sometimes certain circumstances I face may not be bodily changes but external circumstances that we face as men and it can all there can be so many problems that we face people in work and business can face so many problems and ask yourself is God on the throne is he your father as Christ forgiven your sins is he risen from the dead does he still have all authority on heaven and earth is the devil defeat on the cross these absolute facts in Scripture so yes well 99% of things are ok well I'm going to praise the Lord not gonna worry about this little 1% do you think a student who got 99 out of hundred would be depressed I don't think so why should you be depressed when 99% of things are okay this is 1% this thing which the devil magnifies you know you can take a microscope and powerful microscope make a little ant look like an elephant and that's what the devil does get rid of that microscope and say I see clearly 99% of things are okay so we should not allow ourselves to be we rejoice in the Lord there was a great man of God called Hudson Taylor was a missionary in China who understood the secret and he made a statement like this I refuse to be discouraged I will only praise not because he didn't feel there were feelings there were so many your view what is a missionary to China in a strange country where you don't even have regular supply of money coming in and a lot of people are against the gospel you're preaching or you're going to piss all types of circumstances but he said I refuse to be discouraged because he knew that God was on the throne that Jesus loved him and yet sins are all forgiven he said I will I force myself to praise God sometimes we have to do that Laura I'm just going to force myself to praise you because you're on the throne the things that are absolutely true which I've got nothing to do with my physical condition or my circumstances okay another question it's good when it says in Ephesians 4:11 that there are Christ has appointed apostles prophets apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers fivefold gifts why do you have only elders in your church okay these are gifts elder is an office elder is not a gift you don't God doesn't give a gift of eldership to anybody it's an office in the church and that elder may be an apostle paul was an elder peter was an elder he said in 1 Peter 5 but he was an apostle as well another elder may be a teacher another elder may be an evangelist these are gifts that God is given God given me the gift of teaching I'm not primarily an evangelist there are others who are evangelists so these are gifts that God has given to the church and sometimes an elder may not have any of these gifts but he may be the most mature person in that church to lead that church so the only qualification for an elder is he is the most mature person in this church to lead this church forward there are very few apostles very few prophets I think there are many evangelists among in Christendom very few real teachers and there are a number of shepherds and the great need is for Shepard's you remember Jesus looked at the crowds and said they were like sheep without a shepherd he said pray what for pray that there will be more Shepherds in the harvest that's a great need today okay another question is what advice do you have suggest for a brother who wants to plant a church well you know you can't just go and say I want to plant a church you have to walk with the Lord and God has to call you for it but if you're going into a new place and you've been gripped by the truth of the New Covenant and you see the new covenant church is completely different is holy Jerusalem compared to all that you see around you is like Babylon you need to go there say Lord what do you want me to do you may not be a church planter or an apostle or anything like that but you see a Lord maybe I'm not called to planet Church but I can build fellowship here I want to look around and see if there's maybe one other family that wants to live by these truths that have changed my life I never knew about the New Covenant you say - you heard about it from someone in the same way that maybe people there where you're going where who need to hear that message so you I would go with that prayer so what I tell people from our church should they're transferred to some other town I should go visit all the churches and see which is the one that is closest to God's Word and emphasizing a certain amount of holiness it may not be a New Covenant Church they may have a paid pastor up there which is not how new come in churches function but that's okay just accept it and why do you go and look for the best one closest to God's Word and it don't become a member there and take any responsibilities there at all but attend it with the prayer that God will lead you to somebody there who is seeking for a godly life and maybe God sent you there for that reason don't start a rival Church but if you find somebody there who is looking for a godly life and is not able to get it from the preaching in that church and God leads you to that person you can give them some literature in fact I encourage people in our church one of the best ways to do evangelism is get one of these cheap books of ours and give it em done now a big one at something thin then it's one way it's a good way to spend your money with you instead of giving it to God in the offering box you can just buy some books and give it to people as anybody can be an evangelist with books with little booklets there's a little booklet there called the real truth which is a simple explanation of the gospel starting at ABC for those who've known nothing or purpose of failure o little booklets like that or God centered praying about the Lord's Prayer it could take some of these books and give it to people instead of just sending a person a birthday card on his birthday why not send a gift along a book and say here's a book that blessed me I want to give it to you as a birthday gift I hope will bless you too anybody can do this evangelism but we don't think about it we don't see the responsibility we have to reach other people you know this phrase God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life I remember a brother in one of our village churches saying this because I was saying that all of us have a little world of people whom holy we know do you know that every one of you sitting here there are certain people you know that nobody else in this Hall knows it's right your circle of relatives or friends or in your place of work there are certain people only you know whom nobody else in this hall knows that is your little world and God has sent you as his son or daughter into that little world so that those people in your little world should not perish but have eternal life look at yourself like that like God sent his son into this world he sent you his son or daughter into that little world of the few people whom you know now not everyone who get converted the son of God when he came to earth did not convert everybody very few but some among those whom you know may get converted but if you go into that world in an irresponsible way and just thinking of yourself I'm going to heaven and not bothered about others that will be sad but pray like that and then you may find one person who's interested and you come together ask them to come and meet with you maybe watch a video of ours from YouTube and there are many people are doing that you know two families come together the singer/song are him few hymns and watch a video and little by little maybe another family comes along and a little later you have a church that's how many of our churches have started but it is got to start with someone who's got a burden you don't have a baby unless you carry the baby in your womb I had a burden to see a New Testament church for 10 years in my heart before I actually saw the first one from 1965 to 1975 I carried a burden in my heart and then I saw the first church so if you don't have a burden you'll never get a baby so that's the most important thing you read in the Old Testament of these prophets who had a burden you read in Isaiah the burden of the Lord you read in their home in Malachi the burden of the Lord it's very important to have a burden otherwise you can never see a New Testament church if a person kills the man in the war and the person is a Christian is it right the Ten Commandments said do not kill I believe the commandment is do not murder but the same God who come gave the commandment do not murder also told the Israelites through Moses to kill the Canaanites how was that what they did select were the Israelites disobeying the commandment do not kill they went on killing the Canaanites David killed Goliath was he disobeying a commandment was it God who directed the stone in that sling to go straight to Goliath for hit and knock him down and kill him did God approve of it so you see there that there are reasons why sometimes people had be killed in fact in the we read in Genesis 6 that God said if a man kills another man he must be killed so it's not only don't murder there are Commandments to kill where a person went and killed somebody else or if you have someone who's going around killing a lot of people like terrorists what do you do with such a person the Old Testament command was very clear if a man sheds another person's blood he must be killed that's a law you read that in Genesis 6 God told Noah that so what about if a man goes around with a suicide belt and lots of people or throws a bomb or something like that what should you do with him talk to him or if you have a gun kill him before he kills more people so the Bible says in Romans in chapter 13 let every person be subject to the governing authorities this is not personal murder this is speaking about keeping society in order we're not living in a perfect world we're living in a sinful world and we must be realistic and a lot of people who are pacifists who say we don't want to kill they still want the police to protect the house they still want the army to protect the country from being run over by communists oh yeah yeah they what we want our country to be protected in the communists in other words somebody else will do the killing for you to me that's hypocrisy if you don't wanna kill you it's like hiring a killer I want to kill that man myself but I'll hire somebody to murder him then you're a murderer yourself I believe is the right to have the police protecting otherwise there won't be law and order I believe it's right to have an army to prevent the country from being run over I believe America would have been run over by communist Russia years ago if you didn't have an army to protect you whatever the pacifists may say so I don't believe in personally even slapping a person leave a leave alone killing it I don't believe in violence but we have to be realistic and here it says that in Romans chapter 13 it says a minister of God is one who wants to do good and he's an Avenger and it says here that this person is one who's got authority from God a minister of God for your good and it says in verse four if you do what is evil Drizzt Romans 13 verse 4 if you do what is evil don't be a be afraid because in today's language you say he's got a gun and there's a purpose why he has a gun and he's a servant of God having that gun in those days sword an Avenger who brings Roth from the one who practices evil that's why we have the police in the army okay read Romans 13:4 and ask God to show it to you my wife does not submit to me can you give me some advice love her and pray for her where does it say in the Bible husbands get your wives to submit to you there's no such verse do you know that so what do you find obey you say well the Bible says wives submit to your husband but that letter was not written to you do you read other people's letters do you open other people's letters and read them that's not written for you when you come to word which says wife that's not for you go to the next verse don't open letters that are not written for you your duty is in the next verse husbands love your wives so you can't force submission it can be a dead work but if you love her and leave it to God you must be the head of the home but you can't treat your wife like you treat children children you can discipline you can punish them if they are not if you are not obedient but your wife you have to pray that God will help her to see that she has to be a partner with you and work together with you as your helper and if unfortunately a wife doesn't see it she's probably not born again and if she is she doesn't respect God's Word you just got to pray that God will give her more light how can a born-again holy man judge when what and how according to 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 15 where it says a spiritual man appraises all things but he himself cannot be appraised by everybody you see God gives people it particularly they are in leadership the ability to discern people they need that gift to be able to discern a crook who is coming to that church and if we walk with the Lord as elders God will give us discernment when you meet a person and even in five minutes you can make out of this guy's generate or not I mean uh I've seen that I can sometimes look at a person's eyes and see pride adultery in people's eyes now you will not be able to see it because you're not an elder and God doesn't give you that ability but the gift of discernment is one of the gifts God gives to those in leadership if we didn't have that gift the church will be overrun by crooks it's one of the great gifts that all elders need we have to be careful that we're not going by human abilities but it's as a spiritual man can evaluate others that's what this word says so you have to be spiritual first and a spiritual man is compassionate if you don't have love and compassion God's not going to give you that discernment if you're the judgmental type just going around gossiping judging about others God won't give you that gift in a thousand years but if you have love for people a leader is a person who has compassion let me show you this great verse the Lord one showed me about leadership in Isaiah 49 Isaiah 49 and verse ten in the middle of that verse it says Isaiah 49 10 he who has compassion on people will lead them discernment comes after that compassion so when you have compassion there a spiritual man then you're fit to lead God will give you discernment can you explain a born-again man can be called a sinner as past experience of a preacher saying that all sinners even born-again Christians well you see this is a matter of how what we mean I can say there is sin in me because I'm not yet like Christ all of us have to say that the apostle john said it at the age of 95 he says in 1 John chapter 1 verse 8 if we that includes himself if we say we have present-tense no sin we are deceiving ourselves past tenses in verse 10 if we say we have not sinned in the past then we are telling saying God is a liar I have sinned in the past but present tense 1 John 1:8 if we sinned right now I have no sin in me the things I'm saying I've become like Christ already John says I have and I'm 95 years old I walked with God for 65 years but I'm still unlike Christ in certain areas maybe a whole lot of areas I've overcome but they're still areas I haven't seen so in that sense Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15 Christ Jesus came to in the world to save sinners of whom I am chief not I was the chief of sinners that we can understand but he says I am the chief of sinners see that is the spiritual growth I see in the Apostle Paul when he was 55 years old he wrote Corinthians and you know what he said in me is 55 1 Corinthians 15 verse 7 sorry 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 9 I am the least of the Apostles at the age of 55 he felt he was the least of the Apostles 5 years later when he was 60 years old he wrote Ephesians and he writes in Ephesians and chapter 3 and verse 8 I now feel I'm the least of all the believers see how he came down these to the apostles now he says I'm the least of all the believers in the world five years later he writes 1 Timothy 1 and he writes in 1 Timothy 1 verse 15 I feel I'm the greatest sinner in the whole world what was Paul's progression in holiness least of the Apostles least of all the believers greatest sinner in the world how is that was Paul living in adultery or stealing money or any such thing no I believe he was the holiest man almost on earth at that time but this is how it is the closer you come to God the more you see sin in your life which you never saw before if the person was far away from God who's in the darkness who doesn't see sin his life you know a lot of atheists think they're pretty holy and it's like living in a dark room and you think your shirt is all clean it isn't it's full of muck but because the room is all dark you're living in the darkness you don't see it that's how unbelievers are you come into the light and the god is still far away when you're first born again you see a little bit of the dirt in your shirt and you think yeah it's a bit dirty but the closer you come to God you see pure whiteness and say hey my shirts not all that white it needs to be cleansed some more that's how it is the closer Paul came to God he said I'm the least of the Apostles I'm the least of sinner I'm the least of the Saints I'm the chief of sinners that is true growth in holiness so a born-again person can but it's a question of what a person means when he says we're all sinners I mean a person studying the PSD can see I'm struggling with mathematics the child in the first grade says I'm struggling with mathematics do they both mean the same thing not at all the child in the first grade is trying to add two plus two he's struggling with that the child is doing the person who is doing PhD in mathematics is doing high sounding stuff in mathematics which he's struggling there so growth in holiness is like that the closer you come to God the more you see certain things as sin in your life which you never even dreamt or sinned so that's how spiritual growth is measured how can we practically be united with our spouses I think if we ask God to show us the selfishness there is in our life I thought I was a very holy man till I got married and I discovered what a selfish person I was I believe one of the things we discover when we get married is how utterly selfish we are we don't see it so much when we are single you know because if I have difficulty with someone I can retreat to my room and escape but when I get married not retreat to my room there's somebody else living in that room with me and I got asked if I have to live with that person and I discover how selfish I am but if I have the opportunity to just meet with you as a single person and withdraw I'll never discover how selfish I am so I encourage all of you to get married if you want to discover discover it's really a means of sanctification believe me and then if you have children Wow you really become holy because they become the professors that teach you patience which you cannot learn by studying the Bible so if you ask God to show you your selfishness not your wife's selfishness your selfishness and your pride can cleanse yourself and each partner does that I'm still doing that I have not cleanse myself from all selfishness every now and then I get light on some area some another layer of that onion that has to be peeled off I believe you as you do that and stop judging your wife and judge yourself you'll get closer and closer to each other or your husband okay as it is it okay as a sister to share in the church what's the difference between being a hypocrite and confirm confessing your faith I believe it's right for us every sister to be a witness for Christ to share the gospel with others your relatives non-christians and we must share the gospel with others wherever you get the opportunity and even in the church you can testify to what God has done for you what the Bible forbids is teaching having authority to be an elder one Timothy chapter 2 and verse 12 is very clear I do not allow the Holy Spirit saying through Paul I do not allow a woman to teach a man or to exercise authority over a man that's what's forbidden she can teach children a woman can be a Sunday school teacher she can teach her own children she can share her testimony we read that in 1 Corinthians that a woman can pray and prophesy with her head cover 1 Corinthians 11 but she cannot teach because teaching is a place of authority and laying down doctrine in the church that's not the calling of a sister now there's nothing wrong in that that doesn't mean a sister's inferior because some sisters say hey why can't I teach well I'll tell you the Bible says a woman is not allowed to teach but it also says if I were to paraphrase it a man is not allowed to bear children does that make him inferior a man doesn't have a womb to bear children it says that's three verses later it's the same chapter by the way women can bear children but they can't teach a man can't bear children but they can teach so it's not that the woman doesn't have a ministry but her ministry is bearing children and bringing them up and does it make a woman superior to a man that I can have a baby in my womb and you you men you can't have any no that's a ministry God is given to women and the man has got the Ministry of leadership and authority you know if you read like I always say don't go to one verse read the whole paragraph you'll discover the ministry of men in the ministry of women and it says the woman can bring up their children in godliness and sanctity and do more than teaching do you think if Timothy's mother decided to go around preaching and neglect her child and a child became a wayward godless young man do you think she would've accomplished more than just sitting at home and bringing up Timothy in a godly way she did a tremendous ministry for the church by bringing up Timothy in a godly way think of the tremendous ministry that Moses mother did when Pharaoh's daughter said take this child and after a few years I don't know how many years maybe seven or eight years send him to the palace and Moses mother says boy I've got this child only for seven or eight years how she must have drilled the truth of God into into his mind don't be interested money be careful of all the sinful pleasures in that palace and remember always you're an Israelite you're not an Egyptian drill it so much into her head into his head that 40 years later forty years later Moses grows up and he says in Hebrews 11 24 I am not the son of Pharaoh's daughter where did he learn that his mother taught him that before he was seven I don't want the pleasures of sin verse 25 where did he learn that nobody in the palace taught in that his mother taught him that before he was seven I don't want the riches of Egypt who taught him that look at the effect of a mother's teaching she did more for Israel by bringing up her son in a good way than if she had gone around preaching so it's not that her sisters inferiors here's a tremendous ministry if she recognizes it and if you're not a mother physically there are so many children in the church that you can be a spiritual mother to draw them to Christ you know what it takes to get a child attracted to you a piece of candy that's all if you want to know the secret how do we win a child's heart you don't have to quote a verse what meet the king but then you can gradually draw that person to Christ what should I do when I find myself in a spiritual dry spell being lethargic what did you do in your younger days when you had a spiritual dry spell well I went through many times like that discouragement I didn't know I think fellowship with other believers is a great help and if you can find someone with you can go to a fellowship and you're discouraged or some people like to listen to some good Christian music it's different things for different people sometimes just going going out for a walk in the fresh air there's so many things that can discourage us but it is spirit what do you mean by a spiritual drive spell if it is because you have not confessed your sin and your conscience is bad that's what you need to set right and I believe also that we have to be very careful that we get rid of the habit of gossiping speaking evil of others have you heard something bad about somebody let it die with you if you need to speak to somebody about it go and speak to the elders in the church but if weak otherwise you practice all these things we are bringing on ourselves a spiritual dry spell so if you are careful with our conscience I believe that we can overcome and fellowship is a great help make sure that all sin is confessed that your conscience is clear why do you pray sitting down okay let's let's go to the dictionary we read in Matthew chapter 14 it says here he Jesus was looking at the multitudes he asked the multitudes to sit down verse 19 and then he looked up and prayed Jesus didn't tell the Pythons all of you stand up now we're going to pray he commanded them to sit down and then he prayed you read that repeated in Matthew 14 Matthew 15 mark chapter 18 every gospel you find that it's written Jesus told them sit down then he prayed teaching us that it's not our posture that matters I know I've been in some churches where you know the leader is praying he says everybody must stand up well I respect him I stand up but I see Jesus did not tell the multitude to stand up when the 5,000 he prayed but he told he commanded the multitude to sit down so it teaches me that it's not a posture there were times when Jesus knelt down and prayed there were times when you stand up and pray so which is the right posture the important thing is that our heart must be yielded and when should we pray how many hours a day should we pray you know what the Bible says Luke 18 verse 1 24 hours just by the way 24 hours 7 days a week men ought always to pray 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 16 to 18 pray without ceasing so does that mean I should never sit if I'm to pray without ceasing praying always see we can get so taken up with the externals the important thing is a heart if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me even if you're kneeling down that's the important thing not your posture it's a matter of convenience many times I pray when I'm just laying down in my bed face up and I wake up in the morning faces ups one of the wonderful times to pray to get alone with God and talk to him when everything else is quiet softly so as you don't wake up everybody else okay if you listen to if you listen to all the teachings of brothers like how will we ever get any new revelation ourselves when we read the Bible well there's a lot of Revelation that you can get but you don't have to get it from me and also I'll tell you something a lot of things you hear from me please listen it goes to your mind it has not become revelation to you yet in fact many times I say in my church remember that everything you got from me is secondhand you can get it from God directly you heard brother Zac you trust me so much you know that it is the truth but I say you call it truth about the New Covenant for example I always tell people a choice now take these fruits before God and say Lord I got the second hand from brother Zack make it revelation to me so it is not revelation to you until God shows it to you see a lot of things do you know that a lot of things I didn't get from God directly I got it from brother Paul and brother Peter and brother James and brother John I got it from people who wrote something but I asked God a lot this thing that brother Paul wrote will you please give me some revelation on it so you can go to God and say Lord this thing I heard from brother Zack can you please give me some revelation on it there's plenty of opportunity for revelation okay how does one someone live a disciplined life I think you got to look at Jesus and see how disciplined he was to pray to fast fasting is one form of discipline and I believe that helps us because we all love food so much that it's one area where we can begin it's not one of the tougher areas and if you can't fast for a whole day I say try this fast for one meal and spend little time which you would have spent in a meal listening to a message reading a Christian book or the Bible and praying then move on next week or a couple of weeks later to two meals in a week and then move on to three meals in a week just to discipline yourself you know to spend a little time first of all to control your bodily desires if you control your bodily passions in the matter of eating you'll find it a little easier to control your sexual desire as well to be avoid temptation and also one of the other advantages we get from it is we begin to feel how people feel when they are hungry you know there are many people in the world who don't get enough food or hungry famine areas and I begin to feel I mean I I think of that sometimes when I see the poor people in the streets of India going to the trash cans and I say lord if I fast I don't know how they feel I'll have a little more compassion for them so fasting accomplished certain things as one start with the easier areas of discipline think like this has been like putting every arrow clades clothes in the proper place not making work for others in the house by the careless way you throw things around your little disciplines it doesn't cost much and you know little things like keeping the wash basin clean right after you use it telling middle children we can teach discipline the children from the time they're small and if you haven't if you will not taught that by your parents you can discipline use it start with the easy things and then you can gradually move on to more difficult and maybe the time will come when you'll be able to past a whole day trying for hours and I believe for all young people it's very good discipline to spend one day fasting in a week I did that in the Navy when I was working on a ship just as a discipline and it really helped me so--that's start with the easy things how should we share the gospel with unbelievers in our workplace we should not take work hours which are meant to do the work of our bosses and go fishing the gospel at that time no we must live in a Christian way that people see that my way of life is different and that's how we preach the gospel first of all by our life and then we pray Lord give me an opportunity to give the gospel to someone and first of all by you know showing a genuine interest in a person do you know that Joseph when he was in the prison he went to two of Pharaohs cupbearer and Baker and just asked them a simple question like hey why you fellows looking so discouraged you read that in Genesis chapter 40 just that little question a little interest why are you looking so discouraged there are people in your work spot who looking discouraged or who looking heavy one day and try and be friendly with them and do you know that was the means by which Joseph contacted Pharaoh and finally became the ruler of Egypt just by a simple question to somebody why are you looking discouraged think if you had not asked that question think if you had passed by them say oh I've got enough problems my own I can't worry about these people he'd never have become ruler of Egypt you don't know what you're missing the opportunity to witness to somebody when you just ask them a simple question when you see them but their faces down or something like that okay what should I do about members of my family becoming Roman Catholics pray and encourage them well we have to pray for our unconverted relatives there's nothing and show them by our lives very often I have to when witnessing to non-christians one of the things I have to tell them is I'm not trying to convert you to my denomination I'm trying to show you Jesus I tell non-christians are not converting you to Christianity I'm trying to convert you to Christ because 95 percent of Christians are not Christians don't look at them I want to show you Jesus Christ and that's what we must manifest how do you know that you've repented 180 degrees well you will know if you find something in the world is more attractive than God you say Lord I need to turn a little more I need to anything that becomes more attractive to you than Jesus Christ a longing for something which is not necessary for life more than Christ means you've not repented and sometimes people take a long time to repent last question mark 10:31 it says many well first will be last and last will be first is that referring to earthly life or eternal life I think it's referring to eternity that many who we look down on earth today they'll be first in heaven and even in the church is not necessarily those who are the elders are going to be first they may be if they are godly if they may not be Paul who sits at the right hand of Jesus the Bible says Jesus humbled himself to the bottom and that's why he's exalted to the highest place so the people are going to sit to the left hand the right hand of Jesus and the final day will be those who humble themselves the most could be some poor Widow in Africa I don't know who sits on the right hand of Jesus whoever it is not based on ministry no but based on how much they humble themselves closest to Jesus Christ he was the maximum so he has the highest place so that is how we those who are first will be last and last will be first not everybody is as many there are some who are first on the earth in the church who will be first in heaven too because they were godly also okay let's pray Heavenly Father we pray that you will answer the questions that are still unanswered and help us to understand the ones that we heard all today give us a good time this afternoon and protect the children from accidents take care of us in Jesus name [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 4,921

Rating: 4.7333331 out of 5

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

Id: fL12JfSMbHk

Length: 66min 1sec (3961 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 09 2017