Questions & Answers - Zac Poonen

we have a number of questions there are about i think about 80 of them and we have about 60 minutes so we've only got about 45 seconds for each question and i won't have time to look up the reference i'll quote the reference where possible and you'll have to look it up on your own the first question is concerning a number of questions concerning the church if a brother has been sent away from the church and discipline does it does he lose his salvation if he has repented and joined another body of christ can we have fellowship with him now one of the things that i find many christians don't understand is discipline the bible says in romans 11 22 that god is kind and severe many believers know him as kind they don't understand his severity at all and so they have an imbalanced view of god it's like a half a body it's not a complete body if you don't understand the severity of god you only understand his kindness you don't understand god at all if you understand only his severity and you don't understand his kindness you don't understand god at all so uh god is strict and he's good like a father a father cares for his children provides for his children but disciplines them and jesus taught about discipline in the church in matthew 18 and verse 18 to 6 15 onwards matthew 18 verse 15 onwards if you're a brother this is not talking about people outside your brother's sins go and speak to him alone and if he listens to you you're one your brother if he does not listen to you what should you do take one or two brothers with you and that every fact may be confirmed and if he still does not listen to you go and tell it to the church that is to the elders and the church and the and he doesn't listen to the elders in the church let him be to you as an unbeliever so if a person has rejected the last step that he doesn't even listen to the elders you have to treat him like an unbeliever now you may try to act kinder than god and be stupid and many believers like that they try to act more kind than jesus and they are absolutely 100 stupid they hinder god's work but i obey god's word if he doesn't listen to the church i treat him like an unbeliever that doesn't mean i hate him i'm not supposed to hate unbelievers that doesn't mean i don't forgive him i'm not supposed to be unforgiving jesus forgave unbelievers on the cross so i forgive him i love him and i treat him like an unbeliever i don't have fellowship with unbelievers i can't have fellowship with him if he repents and then i'm not saying he's got to come back to our church but he's repented of his sin and there's evidence of it we can have fellowship with him but if there's no evidence of that you're hindering god's work in his life by fellowshipping with him okay another question is where does it say in the bible that we should not collect offerings in the church third episode of john chapter 1 verse 7 they do not receive any money from the unbelievers next question is how can you discern which elder you should submit to well the bible says in hebrews and 13 and verse 17 obey your leaders and submit to them that's a command so who are your leaders you i hope you have some leaders then you must submit to them but that is in church matters you don't have to listen to them concerning whom you should marry or what house you should take for rent or buy that's up to you because that depends on the measure of confidence you have in him in church matters elders are an authority just like out in the streets the traffic police have got authority and in the country the government has authority you don't worry about whether they are spiritual or not they are the authorities appointed by god you listen to them their authorities appointed by elders in a church you listen to them if you're not if you don't have confidence in them leave that church go and join some other church but you have confidence in the elders and if you have confidence in only one of the elders you can go to him for advice but submission you must submit to all the elders in a church that is god's will in hebrews 13 17 submission is different from confidence and you don't have to submit in personal matters it's only in church matters okay can jesus do any miracle if we ask him if it is his will jesus went to the pool of bethesda in john chapter 5 and he healed one man but it says there were hundreds of people lying there he never healed any of them so we can't force god to do something paul had a thorn in the flesh he prayed it was not answered because god said there's a purpose so where it is god's will he answers he does many miracles but if it is not his will he will not do it sometimes we can't understand but god has a wonderful purpose in everything another question is if we reap what we sow like it says in galatians 6 for our past sins aren't we paying for that no you're not the payment for sin is eternal hell even for one sin and you cannot pay for that jesus paid for it but what we when we reap what we sow we are reaping the consequences of our sin and definitely you're reminded of your sin but you're forgiven you cannot take away from your memory the memory of all the evil that you did in the past you can never get rid of it but if you believe that you're repented and christ has died for you you can be absolutely sure that you're forgiven and but the consequence that we face for example a man goes and commits adultery and gets a sexually transmitted disease he'll live with that for all his life he may never be healed and that may be a warning to him from god to be careful in future so god allows us to reap what we sow but the sin is forgiven uh in fact the lord says in hebrews 8 12 i will not even remember your sins anymore but in our mind it will still be there but we can be sure it's cleansed in the blood of christ what does it mean when it says in romans 14 23 everything that doesn't come from faith is sin how can we live out this practically because we don't understand faith many people think of faith as an intellectual thing faith is dependence upon god god wants us to live in dependence upon him and the opposite of that is independence of him independence of god is sin so it's not that every single act i'm conscious that i'm dependent on god it's an attitude of life where i'm dependent on god and that's what it's referring to and so that's how we should in fact one evidence of that dependence of god is we pray if you never pray you obviously are not dependent on god you don't have faith but god gives us freedom in our conscience to do something that that is indication of his will if you're convicted in your conscience then that means you should not be doing that does god put a desire in all people's hearts to seek him well the bible says god works in us philippians 2 verse 12 and 13 god works in us to will and to do his good pleasure but it says there that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling what god works inside we have to work out how do we recognize and save ourselves from deceptive teachings these days like hyper grace prosperity gospel immorality in these days i ask these questions to edify my fellow believers well you need to edify yourself as well don't think that you are beyond deception any of us can be deceived and if you are proud and think we only need to help others we'll be the first people to see well i'll show you a verse in second thessalonians in chapter two it says in ii thessalonians 2 and verse 10 and 11. here it says that there are certain people who do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved second thessalonians chapter 2 verse 10 and to such people verse 11 god sends on them a deluding influence something to deceive them so that they believe what is false can you imagine that such a verse in the bible that god allows a person to believe what is false because of two reasons mentioned in verse 10 one he's not honest he does not love the truth he reads the bible and he sees that what he's written there is completely against what he's heard in his church all his life but he sticks to his church to please his pastor or police church members and he ignores wall street in the bible such a person is a candidate for outright deception by the devil god allows it the second is he doesn't want to be saved oh before that uh he doesn't love the truth about himself for example god shows him something he listens to something in a message and god speaks to him in his conscience and he doesn't listen to it he doesn't accept the truth about himself he's a prime candidate for deception when you don't listen to your conscience you'll easily be deceived in some other area the second reason is this person doesn't want to be saved from sin if you're not eager to be saved from all sin you will be deceived so to avoid deception all these false teachings two things love the truth in god's word and about yourself and secondly be eager to be saved from all sin you will never be deceived if grace and truth came only through jesus christ next question doesn't it mean that grace was there from the beginning no it wasn't i mean god existed from the beginning but no human being got grace because it was not possible till man's sin was forgiven and the holy spirit came in you know the holy spirit is called in hebrews 10 the spirit of grace hebrews 10 29 so the holy spirit could not come into a man's heart until that heart was cleansed from sin and nobody's heart was cleansed from sin till the day of pentecost before that they only had an external offering of a sacrifice to look forward to the death of christ but when the heart was cleansed then the holy spirit could come the blood of jesus had to cleanse our heart first and it's only happened from the day of pentecost onward so that's the time the spirit of grace brings grace grace is not something that god gives us it's the holy spirit coming in and giving it to us and it's only then that we experience grace that helps us to overcome sin sin will not have dominion over you because you're under grace the first person who walked on this earth who was under grace was jesus christ luke chapter 2 verse 40 says as he grew up the grace of god was upon him therefore he never sinned what is the biblical understanding of predestination does god already choose some people to go to hell no in 1 peter 1 verses 1 to 3 you read there that we are chosen by god according to his foreknowledge foreknowledge means he looks into the future it's like you know if you see a video a home video made by somebody of people playing a game or something passing a ball of hitting a ball in cricket or some game you're not involved in it you're watching it you see somebody doing something in the same way god sees a video of the future we can only see a video of what is past but god can see a video of the future what is happening a hundred years from now way back before he created adam and eve he could see a video of the entire future of the entire history of humanity six thousand years he could see everything and that's called for knowledge seeing a video of the future and seeing a video of the future he saw way back way down there in the 21st century somebody accepting christ chosen according to the four knowledge one peter chapter one verse one and two it's not that god picks names out of a hat or just arbitrarily chooses anybody he'd be very unfair if he just chooses somebody and sends him to hell god will never do that even an earthly judge would not be so unjust okay why does the fear why is the fear of god not mentioned in the new covenant like the old covenant it is if you read the bible carefully it is there in fact you take a concordance and look for the word fear of god let me give you one example second corinthians 5 11 knowing the fear of the lord we persuade men so it's through the fear of god that we seek to please the lord is because it says in verse 10 there about the judgment seat of christ we will stand before and second corinthians 7 1 we perfect holiness in the fear of god and it's a very sad thing that many believers do not have the fear of god even it says even about jesus that he overcame sin because of his fear of the father in hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7 he prayed with loud crying and tears to avoid being avoid sinning that is to be saved from spiritual death that is we saved from sin he prayed and he was saved and he was hurt because of his godly fear so it's mentioned in the bible a number of times even in the new covenant and it's a sad thing that many believers don't have it in fact we must know the fear of god before we know the grace of god the early disciples for 30 years they had learned about the fear of god then they learned about the grace of god the unfortunate thing today is many believers know about the grace of god they don't have a clue about the fear of god and that's why they are so defeated and a disgrace to christ so we need to learn the fear of god is the beginning of wisdom even today psalm 25 14 says the secret of the lord is with those who fear him god does not reveal his secrets to those who don't fear him uh how can i lead my unbelieving family to christ first of all by your life let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven if they if your family only sees you preaching and they'll think oh that's just another religion but if they see a life that is being transformed what you were before you became a christian and what you are now and say hey something happened to this son or daughter of mine that's how we draw them to christ and then we have the opportunity to witness to them so we wait for them to uh respond through our life and then the ground is sown uh ground is dug up we can sow the wheat or the seeds okay how do i teach young children to be prepared for tribulation and suffering well we have to be we have to discipline our children and teach them that disobedience is a very serious thing disobeying parents disobeying god and we must teach them to be honest we must teach them to be faithful in small things and we must show them the examples in scripture how so many christians have suffered for the faith for standing up for what is true and that is how we prove that what we believe is right and you can read them stories of the martyrs there are many books about christian martyrs through the years read them and tell them those stories that will encourage them to be faithful when the time comes for them how do we discipline children without hampering their innate creativity personality development and individualistic trace by being balanced like god is god is good and he's severe and god wants to develop us spiritually and in every other way and so he he realizes that there's a need for encouragement as well as challenge and discipline so we need to be balanced in which must not be all disciplined and it must not be all just encouragement there's a balance but children will grow normally otherwise they'll grow up imbalanced and how do you heal an adult if his parents have abused him emotionally well first of all you've got to forgive them and when it comes to every time the thought comes to your mind forgive them and say lord fill me with your holy spirit and help me to overcome the effects upon my personality because of abusive parents or um hurts that i've had in the past the holy spirit can help you to overcome everything there's nothing that god will not help you to overcome from what you have inherited or what you've suffered because of your past how does a wife and mother witness to her husband and children if they do not feel that you can live an overcoming life well first of all by living an overcoming life yourself and manifesting that you never get angry that you're patient long-suffering that you're kind manifesting the spirit of christ that is how a father or mother manifests the life of christ with children i mean if children see father and mother yelling at each other it's pointless telling them about victory over sin repent but if they see father and mother slipping up and asking forgiveness even from the children and say oh my parents are different from other parents who never ask forgiveness so our witnesses by our life first of all and if they don't see that there's no use preaching to them about victory okay how do you know if a mistake a kids make is serious enough for a spanking well spanking is not the only way of punishment there are many ways of punishment you know that you don't allow them to play games in the evening one day today you're going to lie down your bed you're not going to play because you were disobedient or you know sometimes some parents say go and sit in that corner facing the wall for half an hour and repent of what you did or withholding some privilege not withholding food don't say i won't give you ice cream today because you disobey that's wrong but some other way withholding some privilege like games or something like that then spanking is not the ultimate thing if they are absolutely disobedient and rebellious it's a last resort don't just take spanking as the first one spanking as a first step is the indication of an indisciplined father or mother it should be the last resort and we must take seriously disobedience and telling lies those are the two things i took very seriously with my children and if i'm a young girl in a family and my parents are unbelievers i struggle to respect them how should i obey you must obey your parents in all non-spiritual matters if they tell you to work hard clean the floor help them clean in the kitchen help in whatever it is in the house even if you're tired get up and do it that's obedience and that will win their hearts but if this is an area where they tell you to worship idols then you say no sorry because your parents are not the ultimate authority they are your authority but above them is god so you have to say dear dad and mom god tells me not to worship idols i can't do that if i if there's my parents are not christians and they they keep on scolding me for my faith and i get very angry what should you do i'll tell you what if your parents are not converted treat them like blind people who cannot see spiritually they cannot see what do you do if you see a physically blind man you don't curse him for stumbling on the on a stone you feel sorry for him don't you feel sorry when you see a blind man he doesn't know where to go look at your parents like that they they don't see the way be kind to them and be merciful and don't get impatient you don't get impatient with blind people on the street don't get impatient with your parents help them and this is speaking about married life where there's conflict between husband and wife and uh what should we do i believe that you have to seek god to be filled with the holy spirit i mean notice in ephesians 5 18 it says be filled with the spirit it means continuously then it goes on to say husbands love your wives wives submit your husbands that is the result of being filled with the spirit three four verses later if you read ephesians 5 18 the fullness of the spirit is for your family life you read ephesians 5 18 all the way to chapter 6 verse 4. it's entirely relating to family life and then to fighting the devil chapter 6 verse 10 onwards and that's the only place in the bible where being filled with the spirit is mentioned so the primary purpose of being filled with the spirit is to live a godly family life and to stand against the devil and overcome him so you need to seek god to be genuinely filled with the holy spirit and you'll know you're filled when you're able to overcome and this is a difficult question what about your son or daughter is a marriageable age and they're not born again should we keep waiting till they're born again so they get married born again partners well marriage is not the primary thing main thing is for them to be born again you concentrate on that uh if they have come to a marriageable age and you find that they're not born again well i cannot make a rule there you've got to seek god and say lord what shall i do here and question another is should can we look up matrimonial sites you've got to be very careful with matrimonial sites where you look for marriage partners because a lot of them they tell lies matrimonial sites are full of lies so be very careful and find out from people who live in that town or above all ask god to guide you and don't make a mistake in this because it's a lifelong decision that you're leading your children into if there is no financial need in our family from what age uh when a child comes to what age can mothers seek employment so as to keep pace with their profession as a mother if you want to keep pace with your profession you should not get married you should not have gotten married at all remain single and keep pace with your profession once you get married you read proverbs 31 the last 20 verses a mother's job is primarily at home and even if your child is going to school it needs a mother at home to help with the homework and so many other things which you won't be able to do if you got another job so i don't encourage any of our any wives to go to work my wife is a medical doctor graduated from a top medical school but the moment we got married and we she worked for a year till our child was born once the first child was born she gave up and has never earned one rupee as a doctor thereafter only help the poor people and we don't regret it because all our four sons are following the lord today and i've seen that with others too those who neglect their children years later they suffer that children have gone astray they made money more money than they could have made if the wife didn't work but the children have gone astray which is better to make a lot of money and your children go to hell or to make your children not only save but serve the lord and earn less money i mean you've got to make a choice whether your god is christ and the father or money what about if a husband wants his wife to wear fashionable clothes well i believe it's a wife's responsibility to dress modestly the command from god is women should be dressed modestly and you have to tell your husband that this is what god's commanded me in one timothy chapter 2 in 1 peter chapter 3 so i must obey god because a husband if he's a christian would recognize that god is above him even if he's a non-christian god is about him and we have to listen to god first in such matters what about if the husband drinks well the bible says we shouldn't drink too much so but i personally don't touch it at all because i don't want to be a bad example so the best thing is to avoid alcohol 100 he's got a bad effect on the health and besides being a bad testimony so we have to take a stand against it but we can't change people overnight talk to god privately about it and seek the council of godly older people in your locality um when we come to you know what about when you think about passionate clothes for oneself what about if one parent wants the children to wear fashionable clothes well i would say you're going to destroy your children if you make clothes i believe we must get decent clothes for our children according to our ability to buy such clothes but i don't think we should spoil our children by getting endless clothes for them just to make them look nice before others teach them godliness from an early age otherwise they will become worldly so we've got to be careful there's a balance here i'm not saying we we should be careless about their clothes are they only one set of clothes or two sets of clothes no i don't mean that but in all these things there's a balance and there's no standard rule if you seek the glory of god and seek to honor him god will show you exactly how much to permit and how much not to what about if we have been as parents careless with our children when they were young and now they're grown up can we still have hope for them to turn to the lord yes i've often told parents whose children have grown up wayward if you will both of you father and mother they both don't agree at least one of them kneel down before the lord every single day and acknowledge your guilt first lord we failed in bringing up your children properly and we repent of it we are sorry now lord please the second best please lay hold of them at least now and bring them to you pray for them every day and repent yourself and live a godly life and you'll see god will do a miracle for your children there's definitely hope now in the question of marriage there are many questions concerning marriage where these are all questions concerning marriage you find how can you if there's children are being abused by one of the one of the parents what should you do i think you should speak to the parent if it's a husband or wife speak away from the child when you're alone with your partner tell them see that's not the way we should treat our child we must be kind and good to them and and if your partner is very hard on a child you at least be gentle but don't turn your child against the other parent but i think you should speak to your parent and if you're part of a church i think you should ask the your other partner to speak to the elders of the church but you'll destroy your child if you're going to be physically abusive and hurt them and what about in a marriage where if one partner is committing adultery or committed what should he do i do not believe in divorce divorce is completely forbidden by jesus christ he did permit divorce in case of adultery but that's a permission not a command the best thing is to forgive and if necessary live separately go back to your parents or something like that but i would never encourage divorce because that is against the word of god i know that a lot of christians who do divorce but that's because they don't respect god's word they have no fear of god and they don't care for what god says they look around at society and do what everybody else does and the same with a lot of pastors who encourage that type of thing but i would never encourage it so pray and ask god to change your partner forgive them and if necessary live separately because if that person is living in adultery they can get sexually transmitted diseases which they will transmit to you if you live together with them so you've got to be careful and avoid living together and how that has to be done you must ask god for wisdom um if if again it's another question of living with an ungodly family i've already answered that should you leave your home if you're grown up and you're working on your own by all means leave your home live separately if you're having constant conflict with unconverted parents who are asking you to worship idols etc but if you're young young you can't afford to stay on your own you don't earn enough money then you've got to pray that god will help you and be firm there say dad mom you please don't ask me to worship i don't believe in it i can't do it and expect god to protect you there are many people who suffered for their faith even being killed in the olden days they stood true to the lord is submitting to a husband a duty or you just do it only when you feel like doing it out of love ideally it should be done out of love but if your husband asks you to do something unreasonable i don't think you have to do it because god is above the husband don't forget that and sometimes both husbands and wives can be mean towards each other and the one who is converted should act in a christ-like way but not allow the partner to take advantage of you just because you're humble and god-fearing and submissive no you stumble and guard feelings submissive doesn't mean you can't be firm for things that are wrong and you can't change your partner but there's a firmness in love which asks god to give you wisdom and if you don't know you must seek counsel from some godly person nearby whom you can consult and here is another question where parents interfere in a person who's married my advice to all husbands is follow genesis 2 24 leave your father and mother and cleave to your wife if you don't obey that you suffer then you must face the consequences of your disobedience wives psalm 45 10 forget your father's house and be devoted to your husband you don't obey that well then you must reap the consequences of it many people want this and that you can't disobey god's word and then expect god to help you no you first of all obey god's word break away i don't mean you don't care for them see jesus told his mother what have i got to do with you he broke away from her in the marriage at cana but even when he was hanging on the cross he provided for her that's the balance we care for our parents but we don't have to listen to them and if you can take that stand right from the very first day of your marriage to love be respectful care for them but say dad mom you can't run my life now i'm married if you take that stand and don't bother about their tears and their pleadings you'll have a happy marriage and what should we do when we are reminded of our past sins yeah remember what god says in hebrews 8 12 that your sins and iniquities i will remember no more believe 1 john 1 verse 7 and verse 9 that the blood of jesus cleanses you from all the sin you've confessed if you don't believe god then there's no way to get out of it uh how does a born-again person hear god speaking well see it's in our heart that we hear and we become more and more familiar as we get familiar with god's voice and the best way to hear god's voice is by beginning to read the bible every day if you don't read the bible regularly well you're not going to hear god speaking to you on your heart in different situations if i remember when i got converted at the age of 19 and a half 61 years ago i had never read through the bible even though i was born again and a christian brought up in a christian home i'd never read through the whole bible so when i got converted one of the first things i did was i said i want to read through the whole bible and in six months i read the whole bible quickly through i didn't understand most of it but i read it and then i would read also along with that a short portion every day and meditate on it so we must have two types of readings one quick reading through many many chapters so that we can finish the bible and along with that every day a meditation or a short passage maybe from starting from matthew going little by little through the new testament so then we become familiar with god's voice it's like the day you got married to your wife you could not recognize your voice because you never heard her before but now after 20 years even if your wife is in the other room with many sisters talking you can recognize your voice how is that because you've heard her so often so the more we hear god speaking to us through the scriptures the more we become familiar with his voice that we can know it in different situations um how can we complete the work which our father has given us to do john 17 4 jesus said he finished the work he gave me to do well it's day by day step by step if you follow your conscience exactly and obey everything that you read in god's word exactly little by little you can be absolutely sure when you come to the end of your life that you would have completed the word god wants you to do and it's going to be step by step if you violate your conscience then you can't do it but you've got to repent of the past and ask god to forgive you also how can i know if my love for god is growing cold well you won't have as much interest in obedience you won't have as much interest in um reading god's words like when you're if you're a married person how do you know your love for your partner is going cold you don't want to spend much time with them you want to be on your own you don't want to spend time with jesus well obviously it's growing poor how can i maintain a disciplined fellowship with the lord well discipline is something you have to just decide that you're going to do it's like physical exercise supposing you're getting fat and flabby and the doctor says you need to take some exercise you've got to discipline yourself get up a little early and go and do that exercise spend some time half an hour every day to do some exercise it's a discipline it's not easy if you're getting too fat and the doctor says you're eating too much you've got to discipline yourself by getting up from the table and um putting away that and say okay that's enough and not taking a second helping so discipline is something you've got to just decide to do by the grace of god and that's how it happens it doesn't come naturally how can i value godly things more than earthly things it's by recognizing which is valuable how is it you value gold more than garbage how did you throw the garbage out of your house but keep valuable things there because you've realized the value of this and the value of that so the first thing you need to see is from scripture what is the value of obeying god and what's the value of money and what's the value of the honor of men and what's the value of pleasures of sin give a relative value to all that and chuck all the garbage away but if you don't understand the relative value of these things you'll never choose what is the best and it's only if you allow your mind to be changed as you read the scriptures and try to have the mind of christ by reading the gospels and say lord show me the mind of jesus then the holy spirit will make you more and more like him how can i be constantly filled with the spirit well i would say two things basically in a very simple way you know to begin with you got to thirst if any man first let him come to me john 7 37 that's the first step to be filled with the holy spirit and then we must keep a good conscience you can never remain filled with the holy spirit if you don't keep a good conscience as soon as you're aware of something you hurt somebody ask forgiveness immediately don't wait if you have to ask somebody's forgiveness ask immediately and if somebody has hurt you forgive them immediately these are little things that we follow if you want to be consistently filled with the spirit and the second thing i said is keeping a good conscience the second thing i'd say is every opportunity you get humble yourself if you find in a particular situation that somebody is asserting themselves you humble yourself not compromise your convictions no humble yourself take the first step to humble yourself and go down if the other one person wants to think he's big let him think he's big fine don't get in an argument with people and then you can remain filled with the holy spirit all the time but you have to have a constant thirst for it every day early morning when you get up in the morning you talk to jesus and say lord i want to live a spiritual life today you don't have to spend a long time in prayer but you have to be yielded how to overcome jealousy of wealth and and spiritually and financially of others step by step well when you see other people more godly than you don't look at it as something to be jealous about but see that's a good example for me to follow and when you see other people wealthier than you say to yourself money is not everything money doesn't make a man more acceptable to god i say lord you give me enough money to live in fact that drive too much it can probably ruin me so jealousy will destroy you god decides how much you should have spirituality god wants us to have the maximum but money-wise he doesn't give equally to everyone you can see that in the world around so if god has decided that you got to have so much you got to live in this type of house and you this is your income say lord i thank you be satisfied with what you have be content with what you have the bible says because the lord has said i will never leave you nor forsake you hebrews 13 and verse 4 5 be content with what you have because the lord has said i will never leave you no forsake you hebrews 13 5. and how can i know the love of god as a heavenly father if i feel i'm like an orphan well jesus said to his disciples you're all like orphans you know that almost every christian most christians are met are like orphans they're so insecure they don't realize they got such a loving father in heaven now whether they were physical orphans or not physical often doesn't make a difference if you don't find security in your heavenly father you are an orphan jesus said in john 5 14 read there i will not leave you orphans i'll give you the holy spirit so the only way to overcome that's feeling like an orphan and uncared for is to ask god to fill you with the holy spirit who will show you god is a loving father who loves you as much as he loves jesus that's the only way and um when i i read god's word and when all the writers write in different ways and you begin to question whether this is a word of man or a word of god well such questions can come to everybody but if you try to claim some of those promises and say lord i want to claim this promise and you find again and again god fulfills those words then you know it's not the word of a man somebody can't write something 2000 years ago and work in your life no you prove it is god's word by testing it out say lord i want this promise to be fulfilled in my life okay what about if i've got a lot of wrong teaching from the church i grew up in well come to god's word and respect god more than your church and more than your church leaders and say i want fel and how can i fellowship with like-minded people pray that god will lead you to people who are of like mind if god sees an eagerness in you if you hunger and thirst for fellowship god will lead you and say lord i want to meet with people who are wholehearted and follow jesus they may be of different community but learn to love them see there's a question here about sexual sin sexual sin is one of the most powerful sins that enslaves most men and the only way to overcome it is to ask god to give you power to battle it to discipline yourself paul said in one corinthians nine the last verse i disciplined my body you gotta you know it says in one corinthians six towards the end verse 19. run away from immorality don't try to fight immorality if you're being tempted with your phone or computer to watch something unclean turn it off go away from there go for a walk go and meet some friends and avoid that's meaning of flee from immorality don't try and stand there and fight it you'll you'll be defeated it's too strong for you we are supposed to resist the devil he will flee from us but when it comes to immoral temptation we must run away when david faced goliath he could go up and meet him and kill him but when he saw bathsheba he should have run away bathsheba is stronger than goliath so remember that you can resist the devil he will flee from you james 4 7 says that but one corinthians 6 verse 19 says you must flee from immorality verse 16 to 19 read that if you don't flee you will fall how can i be receive the baptism in the holy spirit by first of all by hungering and thirsting and saying lord i don't want to get baptized the holy spirit to give a testimony that i'm baptized in the spirit that way you will get a counterfeit a lot of people just manufacture some tongues and say i got baptized the holy spirit what have they got they're fooling themselves you say lord i don't want anybody in the world to think i'm baptized in the holy spirit but i want to be baptized the holy spirit myself before you i don't care whether what people think about me you've got to be free from the opinions of men so many people want to join a club baptize the spirit club i want to be part of that club you'll never get the real thing i'll tell you that i want to speak in tongues you'll get a fake tongue don't seek for tongues say lord i want to live before you and i want power to live an overcoming life and i want power to be a bold witness for you before my friends and enemies and relatives and everybody else that's why i need that power lord and i don't want to testify about it i don't want people to know that i'm baptized holy spirit i want the real thing if you live before god you will get the real thing a lot of people live before men and they either get a counterfeit or and deceive themselves or they never get anything so seek for it before god i've committed many sins willfully after i've repented and it says in hebrews chapter 10 and verse 26 that if he sinned willfully there's no more sacrifice for sin but a fearful looking for of judgment hebrews 10 verse 26 onwards so what 20 what shall we do well how do you know that you can be forgiven do you have a desire to turn from your sin that is an indication that god is working in you that's enough do you have a desire to confess your sin the bible says if you confess your sin he'll forgive you i don't care what sin you committed i don't care if you committed willfully it doesn't matter the meaning here is in hebrews 10 26 if you keep on sinning willfully that's the meaning if we go on sinning not if you sin once if you go on sinning willfully and you have no and the one proof of that is you no desire to turn from it but if you have a desire to turn from it praise the lord and it doesn't apply to you if someone did some injustice to me in the office or plays hurts me in some way i feel relaxed only when i tell this to one of my friends i'll tell you tell it to jesus let him be the friend you tell to and don't tell others it's like a heavy burden in my heart i'm not able to speak normally to that person that's because you love yourself so much jesus said you cannot follow me if you love yourself you got to hate yourself you've got to forgive just like jesus forgave you you compare the sins you committed against the lord and say lord what that person has done against me is nothing compared to what i've done against you that's what helps you to forgive and ignore that person his opinion is fit for the trash can why are you worried what he thinks about you say lord i only want to be worried what you think about me that's the way to battle these temptations to remember the evil other have done if there's one advice that you would give to all believers what would that be ah very simple humble yourself learn humility and gentleness from jesus matthew 11 29 that's the most important lesson of all i'll tell you why because god gives grace to the humble and he resists the proud so the one advice i'd give you and here is the question do you think the lord will return in the century i hope so i'm expecting the lord to come in my lifetime paul was expecting that in one thessalonians 5. he says we who are alive will be caught up but later on towards the end of his life he said no the lord has shown me i'm going to i'm not going to be taken up i'm going to go die now and the lord's saying take me home so until the lord shows us very clearly that we're going to leave the earth and go to him we must expect his coming but when he's coming we don't know nobody knows even the day of the hour how do we get rid of a judgmental attitude towards other people who wear stylish clothes well i see it's none of your business the bible says don't be a busybody in other people's matters this is one of the most important commands that all believers must obey but they don't one peter chapter four it says here there are three four things you should not be don't be a murderer don't be a thief don't be an evil doer and don't be a busybody in other people's matters they're all in the same category being a busybody in other people's matters 1 peter 4 and verse 15 is in the same category as being a murderer and an evil doer well if you don't obey that you've got to suffer for it don't be a busybody in other people's matters you be modest yourself but leave other people to go that way whichever way they want unless you're an elder in which case you have to correct them in your church it says god will not test us beyond our endurance 1 corinthians 10 13 but sometimes it looks as if some problems are beyond endurance you know it's like children who are learning some new subject in a higher class for example they've studied multiplication division addition subtraction and they go to geometry all that stuff and trigonometry sine and cosine and tangent and all that they say this is tough but after a while they become experts you keep on by constant practice then they're going to study calculus and they say oh this is so tough yes in the beginning but by practice they overcome so everything becomes uh possible as god takes us through to a higher level do you want to live in the same class forever the same grave forever and ever and ever and have all easy problems to deal with you're all going to spend all your life just learning addition and subtraction don't you want your children to go higher god wants you to go higher too so that's why he leads us one step higher to a little tougher problem little tougher problem i thank god that he's led me like that for 60 years tougher tougher tougher cover that's given me confidence that whatever comes i can handle it because god will not allow me to be tested beyond my ability a teacher will not give you a question paper in the examination day which is above your grade if you're in the fifth grade the teacher will not give you a tenth grade paper and if teachers can be trusted to do that you can be sure that god will not give you something beyond your ability what does it mean when it says jesus never did anything on his own initial john 5 30. does it mean this is how i'm supposed to live constantly wondering is this from my initiative of god's initiative and what does it mean to offer my body as a living sacrifice so that i don't say or do anything until moved by god i'll tell you what i'll give you an example supposing i tell you you must breathe every moment in order to live okay and you say oh what a burden i've got to breathe i've got to remind myself now i've got to breathe now i've got to breathe is that what it means no if you're having breathing difficulty yes you've got to take breathing exercises but otherwise it becomes natural after a while and many things after a while it becomes natural you know if you in the beginning any new habit is difficult for example you start the discipline of saying i'm gonna go do some exercise for a half an hour or 45 minutes every day in the beginning and stuff but after a while you enjoy it in the same way every new thing that you do is tough but if you go into it after a while so this is what it means that you develop the habit of depending on god it's almost unconscious jesus was not asking god every side the father every second what do i do next can i take one step now can i take the second step now that's not how he was living it's like breathing it becomes gradually it becomes more and more automatic and don't worry if you don't see anybody else living at that level god alone knows you all are living close to him you worry about yourself so many about problems like i said earlier is because we have busy bodies in other people's matters we try to compare ourselves with others second corinthians 10 verse 12 says those who compare themselves with others are foolish or we can say they are spiritual idiots we must not compare ourselves with others why is it so difficult to take up the cross because we've got a flesh which loves to sin naturally it's like the law of gravity why is it so difficult to fly because the law of gravity is pulling us down and you need a power how did the birds enjoy flying how is it a truly victorious christian enjoys flying and overcoming sin like the birds enjoy flying in the same way if you're really serious about overcoming sin you god will fill you with the holy spirit and one day you you will not want to be dragged down to the dirty things the flesh drags you down to take up the cross means i put to death these things in the flesh and it doesn't happen overnight but god can do it why do god-fearing people suffer more than others and others who are worldly live in a smooth sailing life well that's because you know there's a saying that it's easy to flow with the current but to swim against the current stuff the world is going away from god so you lie down on that and you'll be carried along with the tide into hell it's easy i don't want to go that way i'm going the opposite way i'm going to follow the lord in this world and therefore i'm in opposition with the whole world going the other way few there be that find the way to life and i'm finding myself in opposition to a lot of christians also who are going the other way well naturally if you're in the midst of a crowd and everybody's going the same way well it's easy you just follow along they'll push you along but if you're going the opposite way you find crowds and crowds of people going against you well that's it so if you find opposition there it indicates that you're going the right direction how do we know god's will in different situations to take right decisions there's a little book of mine called finding god's will you can read it online at cfc india.com and that will show you help you more and more another question is that kind of stunning the stock market is it okay to trade stocks and good companies for believers short-term and long-term trading now i think it is dangerous to go in there because almost everybody i've met has lost money on it has to be watching it all the time in order to make money on the stock market what i would suggest is if you know there's more money in by investing in a business and that's what the stock market is than putting in a bank because the banks may give you very little interest so invest it long term that way you don't have to keep on checking checking and buying and selling every day that way it'll be a headache you won't have any time for god you won't have any time for the bible and you'll always be in a panic you'll wake up in the middle of the night and do all types of things which will hinder you from following the lord but if you ask god to give you wisdom to put some money in some good companies you may not make as much as those other people who are trading day by day and all but you will not lose as much as them either but invest in something long-term mutual funds or something where you don't have to do the searching other people do it for you where you don't have the main thing is to not keep our mind on this money money money money because that will destroy you so long-term investing is like investing in a you buy a land somewhere it means value will go up it's not that you're buying today and selling it and going and buying another one and constantly trying to make that way you become getting to panic and destroy yourself so i do not believe in day trading and that type of thing but long term investing yes what are your thoughts on life insurance no buy is buying life insurance a lack of faith no it's just being careful it's like having a savings account to have a savings account is not wrong jesus received gifts from different people and he had a savings account judas is carrick was a banker he was a crooked banker but he jesus kept money in his bag and that was savings he didn't spend he didn't spend everything he got the same day and you don't have to spend everything you get the same month so savings is right the bible says in proverbs 6 go to the ant and learn how the ant lays up food for the winter when he knows when it knows that there won't be any food available and says go and learn wisdom from the end so in the same way life insurance is something like that it's not a lack of faith because i don't know when i'll die the bible says in james 4 i don't even know whether i live tomorrow so i need to provide for myself and my family what about people who practice yoga and martial arts well anything connected with demonic activity to do exercise physical exercise there's nothing wrong but if yoga involves praying to non-christian idols and all that or worshiping the sun and all nothing to do with but stretching your arms and legs is nothing wrong it's good to keep exercise and martial arts are different types some which is just physical and the other involves bowing down to demons you got to distinguish and avoid that which involves anything to do with demonic ask god to give you guidance in that and if there are people who are engaged in this who are believers well leave it to them to decide maybe there are different types of martial arts and some are involved involved demons and some don't uh what is your view about voting in the president u.s presidential election well i'm not a citizen here so it doesn't involve me at all but i believe most more important than voting is praying i believe in india every election we would pray lord you're in charge and we want you to appoint the government which is in your plan in the first century and all they were unchristian ungodly emperors in rome and the bible says pray for them 1 timothy 2. so we must pray whoever is in power even he was an ungodly heathen the emperor nero was the emperor in rome when paul and peter told the christians to pray for those in authority so we're not interested in who rules we want to make sure that we pray that god will overrule in who he allows to come into power that's my belief castism is not in christianity yes it's a very strong thing in hindu religion but if people are influenced by that what can you do about that but you don't get affected by yourself uh steer clear of it dowry is another thing which is very evil now i believe dowry is 100 wrong because it's like buying a wife that's completely wrong and every christian should stand against it i believe jesus and the disciples apostles would have stood against it but uh i also say the other side of it and that is the father must if he's got an inheritance to give he must give equally to his sons and daughters not favor one over the other and so and it's best given when the father is written his will and he's about to die all must get equally and if your father does not do that equally because he's ungodly well then trust god to take care of you but i'm i don't believe in dowry at all my my four sons got married he never received one sentence dowry i don't believe in it at all and in our church whenever i conduct a marriage i get a certificate from both people getting married that we have not ex parents have not exchanged any money in this transaction if you don't give me that sort of year i say i will not conduct your running what about when dealing with transgender people at work this is a new thing that's come up nowadays and uh they want to be called by a name now what does it matter if a person changes his name who said this is a female name that's a male name if somebody wants to be called by some particular name i'll call him by that name i'm not here to determine what his name should be and if it sounds like a female name to me that's one of my business he has chosen that name so i would not argue with him about no you should not have that name who am i if it's what if somebody tells me that i should not have a particular name no that's none of my business and there are some names that sound similar in both sexes what do you do then no we're not here to decide uh what another man should be called by and if he wants to be called by that name i'll call him by that name no problem and i'm not here to decide what a person's sex is so i don't get any arguments about all these things i believe it's wrong the way that they're going but it's not my business to judge them and the last another question is about this what are christians christendom saying about the pandemic and social unrest in america is it god's judgment i'm not here to say what is god's judgment god hates all sin and he judges in various ways but there are christians also who are suffering from this pandemic so is god punishing them no because we live on this earth there's a curse on this earth the ground is cursed and that's why there are germs and bacteria and viruses and all types of things as long as they will be here till jesus comes and we live in this world and we seek to protect ourselves we are careful but i'm not here to determine what is the judgment of god what is it not i'm not a prophet like that and don't try to be a prophet yourself stick to what god's word says live a godly life that's the main thing you don't have to decide whether a pandemic is god's judgment or not okay last question concerning husbands and wives there's a verse conclude with this is the last question in ephesians in chapter 5 it says in verse 3 the last verse of ephesians 5 every husband must love his wife what a wife needs is love and every husband every wife must respect her husband two things mentioned here a wife needs love and a husband needs respect ask yourself whether you do that if you're a wife us ask yourself whether you respect your husband speak respectfully treat him respectfully and if you're a husband ask yourself whether you love your wife treat her lovingly speak lovingly be good and loving it's very clear in ephesians 5 33 what well that's what a wife needs many husbands do not express their love for their wives and many wives do not express their respect for their husbands but that's what scripture says beyond that in the little little details you must ask god to show you what you should do so that's the last question and we can now pray heavenly father as we bow before you we pray you will help the dear brothers and sisters to know the things which have not been answered to find the answer from you because you've got wisdom for every situation please guide each brother and sister lord to seek for your highest to be filled with the holy spirit to be deep students of the word of god to know your will to walk in your ways bless everyone who's listening to this message we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: CFC India

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Length: 62min 26sec (3746 seconds)

Published: Fri May 28 2021