Seven Things We Must Always Do by Zac Poonen

[Music] so praise the lord brothers and sisters we're really happy this that you all can join us from different parts of the world it's a wonderful thing and jesus said that not only we are to preach the gospel to all of all people all over the world but also to make disciples in every nation it's easier for people to respond to the gospel that says you can go to heaven when you're dying if you believe this and that's generally what is preached but we preach more than that because jesus also said we must make disciples and disciples are those who seek to follow jesus one difference is that those who want to go to heaven when they die they could be responding to christ with very selfish reasons oh i'd like to go to heaven when i die and on top of that if the lord also answers all my prayers that's wonderful and self remains at the center whereas the fundamental problem with man since adam fell is that self sits on the throne and that's the first thing i want to say dear brothers and sisters that his self is not dethroned and removed completely and christ is made lord we will never experience true discipleship we'll never experience closeness to the lord and if you find in your life a lack of closeness to christ you can be assured it's because self is ruling somewhere ask god to give you light and so as we come to this session where we want to talk about seven things we must always do now we can think of these things and memorize them and say yeah i know them but that's not the important thing it doesn't matter if you forget them if you can live in the reality of some of them at least that's the main thing it's not knowledge knowledge is a part of our soul that doesn't make us spiritual the pharisees are far more knowledge than peter and james and john but they went to hell jesus said they will not escape the damnation of hell and peter and james and john lived a wonderful life you they they couldn't compete with the pharisees and bible knowledge but they were disciples so concentrate on that is very very important one difference between old the old covenant and the new covenant is that many things that we are told not only we must do but can do in the new testament but not possible under the old covenant for example in the old covenant about the only thing that they were told to do always was proverbs 23 verse 17 live in the fear of the lord always proverbs 23 17 and for them fear of the lord did not mean as much as it means to us for us fear of the lord means a thought life a private life where only god sees us and for them it did not mean that for them it meant that there are commandments given in the books of moses and the law and the prophets keep them and they were mostly all external commandments there's hardly anything to do with the internal life one big difference in the new covenant that jesus established on the day of pentecost was that the inner life was that from which our life must flow in the old testament it wasn't it's so long as you did it externally you were okay it's one very very big difference and that's what you've seen you know the sermon on the mount matthew 5 6 and 7 we can say in one sense replaced the law which moses gave moses went up into the mountain and brought the law of god we read in matthew chapter 5 that jesus went up into the mountain with his disciples and said you have heard under the law they said this but i'm telling you this you read matthew 5 to 7 he was always contrasting for example the law said don't get angry but i say the law said don't murder but i say don't get angry uh the law said don't commit adultery but i say don't even lust with your eyes or in your thoughts after a woman the law said speak the truth when you've taken a vow but i say speak the truth all the time let your yes always be yes and your no always no the law said love your brothers and hate your enemies or they implied that the law never said that but that's what they understood but i say love your enemies and many other things like that the law talked about prayer and fasting but i say to you when you pray and fast don't let anybody know about it so many things like that in in the old testament you could love money that was not a sin at all provided you gave 10 of your profits from your fields and your sheep to the lord you're okay but in the new testament there's no such thing as typing that's that was finished with the law and jesus told the pharisees about it in matthew 23 because it was under the law when once the new covenant was established on the day of pentecost it's gone and the new covenant the command is don't love money matthew 6 24 and luke 16 verse 11 to 13. so everything changes the standard is brought higher and if you ask how much higher well here's the answer who gave the law moses who brought the new covenant jesus so how much higher than moses is jesus that much higher the new covenant standard is from the old covenant standard but the difference is one very big difference if it were not for this we'd all be discouraged that in the old covenant there was no helper they were on their own you're given a law and many of them found it even difficult to keep away from adultery now most many many human beings who are unconverted keep away from adultery even though they are not converted i mean physical adultery but a man like david who started out as a man like man after god's own heart he couldn't keep away from it so under the old covenant it was very difficult to keep these simple commandments but think that the standard has come out so much higher in the new government jesus said you shouldn't even lust with your eyes what a high standard that is to love your enemies and to forgive everyone now the only reason this is possible is because the spirit of god the holy spirit the third person of the trinity can live within us and help us from within exactly listen to this exactly like he helped jesus the reason jesus could overcome all sin and never sin in his thoughts his words his attitudes and his motives and everything was because as a man he was filled with the spirit now if he walked here as god then he's no example for us because we don't have that power so it wouldn't be a great thing if jesus came here with all the power of god inherently as god and said well i don't sin that's like a bird telling me i can fly but i say sorry bird i can't fly i don't have wings and that's what i have to i have to say to the lord jesus lord you were god you walked on the earth i can never walk like you impossible but when the bible says in one john and chapter 2 and verse 6 that if you say that you abide in christ that you are in christ you you must walk in the same manner as he walked how in the world can the bible tell us to do something to walk as jesus walked most christians don't even look at that verse they don't take it seriously they don't think of how did jesus walk and the bible says i must walk like that how in the world can the bible give us such a command unless unless unless jesus gave up his power as god not his deity in his person he was god even on earth that's why we read people worshipped him and you know when people worship the angels in revelation they pulled them up and said don't worship me but seven times in the gospels we read people worship jesus and he never stopped any of them because he was god we would not allow anybody to worship us he was god but he never used the power he had as god it was like someone having a heaven's credit card but never using it as god he never used his power as god but he lived as a man having the help of the holy spirit and that in that area is an example for every one of us because before he went up to heaven he said the same holy spirit who's in me can be in you now anything that we think of today what we have to do always we can never do if you're not filled with the holy spirit we're not filled with the holy spirit we are back to old covenant times and then you've got to live by the ten commandments even that the tenth commandment nobody could keep you got to just live by the external things that outwardly i don't kill anyone i don't come adultery i don't steal that's about the life that even many born-again believers live and i'll tell you that's because they are not filled with the holy spirit and even if they claim to be filled with the holy spirit it's some fake experience that they got in some emotionally stirred meeting and somebody told them to babble something and they called it tongues fake the holy spirit makes us holy that's why he's called h-o-l-y holy spirit we can't be holy ourselves our holiness will be a fake just put on to show others an outward impression real genuine holiness within i want to tell you my dear brothers and sisters can only come if the holy spirit is allowed to work inside and we say to the lord jesus lord i don't want self to rule my life i want you to come and fill me with the holy spirit so that i can live on earth as you live not to go to heaven no what is the main purpose of our living on the earth i found that when i came to christ 61 years ago i was 19 years old and i asked christ to come into my heart i had asked christ to come out many times before that but i never knew till one day i read in john 6 37 john 6 37 the one who comes to me i will never reject or cast out an assurance came into my heart i said lord i've come to you and the lord said i haven't accepted you from that verse i've never heard god speak to me with these years i've never seen a vision with these eyes but i know more than any other as much as any wholehearted christian in the world knows that christ lives in me and i can hear his voice in my heart which is more safe and certain than hearing his voice with these years so i say that because some people think oh these people must have had some visions and heard audible voices i haven't but i know the lord deeply in 61 years has become closer and closer to me so don't think you need to have some external supernatural experience to be assured that you're filled with the holy spirit i've not had one i've not never had electric shocks going through my body i've never seen an angel or any such thing i don't need to i have the holy spirit within me and christ lives in my heart and assures me that i'm his and the proof of it is as i'm filled with the spirit that i found found my life becoming holier and holier so let's begin with what is the first thing that we should do always let me turn to acts of the apostles and chapter two this is the message peter preached on the day of pentecost acts chapter 2 and verse 25 is referring to jesus you know it says in verse 24 god raised up jesus again because it was impossible for him to be held by the fire of death and then referring to jesus david had said i saw the lord always in my presence that is our example to set the lord always before us always we need to ask the holy spirit to make the presence of the lord real to you always and over a period of time this will become you know anything that we will become more and more real anything that we begin to do in the beginning we forget and we do it occasionally but over a period of time for example you teach your children to brush their teeth every morning but they may forget some days but you keep on reminding them reminding them one day when you grow up i mean nobody has to you older people nobody has to tell you to brush your teeth in the morning how's that you don't need mummy to come and tell you hey brush your teeth maybe once upon a time you did like all of us so over a period of time it becomes a habit real but we in the beginning it's occasional we forget but over a period of time if you say lord i want this to become a 24 hour seven day a week reality in my life that i'm always conscious not consciousness really but aware let me say aware conscious means i'm thinking uh like i'm thinking i see something in front of me i see this in front of me or i see your pictures in front of me no that's conscious but there are some things which we do unconscious all the time and that's how all these things that i'm speaking about should be like that and the classic example is breathing i'm not consciously breathing each time oh i've got to breathe now and i've got to breathe now none of us like that it's it's unconscious it's only those who have difficulty breathing who are told to do breathing exercises otherwise it's become unconscious we have 24 even when we are sleeping we are breathing it's become a habit so when all the things that we're thinking of today that we must do always don't think of it as something like a breathing exercise i must do this no you must pray that it will become so unconscious that it becomes a reality for you all the time without your thinking about it that's the goal but don't think you'll get there overnight no we all are like people who have tremendous breathing difficulty so in the beginning we have to exercise it and after a while it just becomes unconscious you're breathing all the time day and night 24 7. so that is that we can come to the place where the presence of the lord is there not consciously but he's there all the time and how do we know that there's a spontaneous reaction for example you run into a problem and immediately you pray you don't think of oh now which man can help me here that's not my first question but lord help me here or i lost something which is very important i need to find it and immediately the lord is there in front of me lord please help me that's very important i need to find it what a wonderful thing it is to live in the presence of the lord oh i feel sorry for christians who don't have this or when you speak to your wife or to your husband how would you speak if jesus were physically standing there between you think of that how would you speak you say sometimes i lose control of myself and get irritated i'll tell you you will never get irritated if jesus were physically standing there how is that that means you can control yourself even if a believer from your church is standing there you will not get angry and upset with your wife or your husband because he's listening you have so much fear of what a believer in the church will think about you and that you can't control yourself when you say you can't control it it's an absolute lie what a difference it'll make not if some believer from the church was there always with you between you and your husband or wife but if jesus is there what a difference it'll make in our conversation what a difference it'll make in our attitude for example you're filing your income tax jesus is watching what you're writing you won't write one cent less than what you've earned you'll be honest and you'll get to pay oh i have to pay so much more tax sure lord help me i want to be upright in this or in financial dealings with other people i would rather let another person cheat me of any amount rather than me cheat him of one cent i i do not want in my bank account one cent that does not belong to me i don't want to owe anybody anything see when jesus is there always i set the lord always before me always and when he is always before me it says in acts 2 25 this is also true he'll be there with me so that i don't shake i set the lord always before me and he's there to help me not not to be shaken but to stand firm and this is the purpose with which jesus said he's going to send the holy spirit i want you to turn for a moment to by the way this acts 2 25 is a quotation from psalm 16 verse 8. maybe i should turn that first and show you that verse before we proceed in psalm 16 verse 8 which is where peter quoted it from it reads like this i have set the lord always before me he's at my right hand and i will not be shaken and look what happens when the lord is always before me in his presence verse 11 is fullness of joy at your right hand our pleasures forevermore psalm 16 verse 11 that's the full passage so when you set the lord before me continually always psalm 16 verse 8 what becomes true is fullness of joy there is only one place in the universe where there's fullness of joy and we'll come to that in a moment and that is psalm 16 11 in god's presence you cannot experience it anywhere else all the joys of earth are temporal the pleasures that people seek to get joy whether it's pleasure eating ice cream or pleasure in sex or the pleasure of suddenly earning a fortune it's temporary in the presence of the lord there are pleasures which are eternal eternal pleasure psalm 16 11 and fullness of joy so it's a wonderful thing we have the lord before us now in john chapter 14 you know when jesus was the last supper and he was telling them that he's going to go away and they were feeling sad our lord is going away things are so different if he was in the boat it didn't matter if there was a storm when we faced a problem if jesus was there we had no worry if the wine ran out at a wedding jesus is there problem solved or there are thousands of people here to be fed everybody's hungry and the stores are all closed jesus is there problem solved so they saw this all the time what a wonderful life you're having jesus is here all the time with us and now he says it's going away and there was sadness in their heart not just that he's going away the most wonderful person they ever knew was going away but what are we going to do with all the problems we face in life now and then jesus said here's the answer verse john 14 and verse 16 i will ask the father and he will give you not a helper but another helper notice that another helper and the meaning is someone who's called alongside you to help you someone who's gonna come we are like handicapped people running a race and here's someone who's coming to help us run that race and why does he say another helper meaning jesus is saying i am the first helper i've been with you all the time helping you in every situation he could ask this question to those disciples was there a single situation you faced that i didn't help you whether it's a storm on the lake or some other problem you faced when people were there i was there now i'm going away but i'm going to send you another helper just like me that's the third person of the trinity the holy spirit and he will be with you forever the holy spirit and he says that is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive anyone who's loving the world cannot have the holy spirit ruling his life impossible so the more we are detached from the spirit of this world we live in the world but we're not of this world we don't allow the world to influence us the world cannot receive him but you know him and he abides with you now at the moment he's with you verse 17 but on the day of pentecost he'll be in you see he's now with you and one day which is just a few days from now he will be in you on the day of pentecost then he says i will not leave you as orphans i will come to you what do you mean i'll come to you is he talking about his second coming no he's talking about his coming in the holy spirit when you ask jesus to come into your heart sincerely when you've turned from your sin it's the holy spirit who comes in yeah that's very clear in romans chapter eight it says that if you don't have the spirit of christ romans and chapter 8 and verse 9 romans 8 9 if the holy spirit the spirit of christ is not in you you're not even born again the moment you ask jesus to come into your heart jesus is in heaven he's been there he's come back at his second coming but when you ask jesus to come into your heart the spirit of christ that comes in and in you now you may not be filled with the holy spirit that's another thing but he comes in to dwell and whether he feels you or not depends on whether you yield yourself completely to him but he comes in comes in primarily to bring the presence of the lord with you always so make that your prayer lord i want to experience this i've set the lord before me always the second thing that we not must do but can do you know the old testament had laws like thou shalt thou shalt not thou shalt not commit murder thou shalt not come adultery you shall love your neighbors they were all commands commands commands but when jesus gave the sermon on the mount notice the difference it's a very important difference in matthew 5 he said the old testament commandments said you shall not commit murder but i'm not saying you shall not get angry it is not the same spirit i want you to notice this he says if you get angry you'll be guilty so see the difference it's not you shall not get angry in the same way verse 27 you were told in the old testament you shall not commit adultery now i i'm not saying you shall not look at a woman but i say if you look at a woman with lust you're coming culture the command is the same but it's a different spirit i hope you recognize that the old testament command said you shall not make false vows matthew 5 33 but i say to you don't make a oath at all and so on it's not you shall not that's not the spirit of the new covenant but you will you will not which is different from you shall not it's not telling a lame man you must walk but telling a lame man you will walk there's a lot of difference between that and so keep that in mind so keep that in mind in all these when we say seven things we must always do which is seven things we can always do and the lord says we can do it so the second thing is the first is keep the lord always before us and the second is in acts 24 and verse 16 paul says i keep my conscience blameless always always keeping a good conscience 24 7. why do i do that because it says in verse 15 one day there'll be a resurrection of the righteous and the wicked and i want to be in the resurrection of the righteous and in view of this verse 16. in other words because i don't want to be in the resurrection of the wicked which is another resurrection i want to be in the resurrection of the righteous you know what i do to qualify for that he doesn't say well 20 years ago i accepted jesus into my heart i met him on the damascus road and so i'm definitely going to be in the resurrection of the righteous that's the way a lot of carnal christians speak today were probably not even converted paul didn't say that he said i want to be in the resurrection of the righteous and so what do i do in view of this verse 16 in order to be in that resurrection of the righteous i do my best i don't just sit back and say lord do it in me i cooperate with the lord i do my best to keep my conscience always clear that means if i've done something wrong i immediately said it right see to keep your conscience always clear is different from having victory over sin always that's a higher level but keeping your conscience always clear is something every one of us can do if you want to it's like saying if a thorn gets into your foot pull it out if a mosquito is sitting on your hand biting you brush it off pray lord remove that mosquito don't pray lord remove that thorn you've got to do it yeah god it gives you the willingness and desire but you've got to work out see philippians 2 verse philippians in chapter 2 and verse 12 and 13 where it says you work out your salvation in verse 13 which god is working in you it's a cooperation take my yoke upon you jesus said two a yoke between two bullets you're one and i have one jesus says you work out what i work in god works in and we work it out if you say no lord you do everything then you're asking god to make you a robot you know robots these programmed computer objects that look like human beings but they're programmed to do something they don't have a will of their own they can never become children of god we can say the planets and the stars are like robots they just obey god for thousands of years but they can't become children of god and if god made you like that a robot you could never be a child of god you'd never be a child of the devil you'd just be like the stars and the planets they're not children of god they're not children of the devil they're robots but god gave adam a free will and even after we are born again we have a free will and we have to make a choice i determined by the grace of god by the power of the holy spirit to keep my conscience always clear if a thorn comes in my foot i'm going to pull it out that's the meaning of it as soon as you're convicted in your conscience about something confess it to god first of all lord i'm sorry that was a dirty thought that was a rude word i spoke there please forgive me and then go to that person and say i'm sorry for the way i spoke i'm sorry for the way i hurt you or if you cheated somebody return that money or another point if somebody has hurt you forgive him that's also keeping a good conscience if you don't forgive someone you've got a bad conscience because jesus said when we pray we say father forgive us our sins exactly like we forgive others that's what the lord taught us in the lord's prayer what is known as the lord's prayer our father who art in heaven forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass our sin against us so we are asking the lord lord forgive me in exactly the same way as i have forgiven that person and if you have not forgiven that person you are telling the lord not to forgive you because that's a prayer forgive us our sins as we forgive others in exactly the same way as we forgive others or if you forgive others but to retain a terrific grudge against that person you're saying lord forgive me but always keep a grudge against me do you know the meaning of that prayer forgive us as we forgive others keep your conscience clear always forgive people from your heart don't worry about your memory we have no control over our memory you'll always remember the things that people did against you 20 30 40 all your life you cannot forget what people did against you no i can't forget that the many things people have done against me i'm a servant of the lord and servants of the lord are targets of satan and many and they satan uses people to hurt us so many people have troubled me in numerous ways in the 61 years i've been a believer but i can honestly say before god i don't have anything against ev any one of them i've forgiven every one of them totally my conscience is absolutely clear i can say to the lord without any hesitation lord forgive me exactly like i have forgiven others i can't forget what they did god also cannot forgive god's got a memory better than mine he remembers everything but he's forgiven me you think god doesn't know what all we have done against him i mean i remember how can god's memory be poorer than mine i know the foolish things i did when i was unconverted and even after i was converted but god's blotted it all out in the blood of christ it doesn't condemn me anymore so i say lord i want to forgive people i can't remove it from my memory but in my will the will is the important thing i forgive that person and i go to ask forgiveness from anyone very very important you cannot keep your conscience clear always if you don't forgive people as soon as they've done something wrong against you if you don't ask forgiveness because he says here i keep my conscience blameless before god and before men it's not enough to confess to god you got to confess to me i'm sorry if you hurt your wife supposing you spoke a rude word to your wife or your husband this morning when should you ask forgiveness for it tomorrow no in the evening no immediately oh as soon as you're aware of it darling i'm sorry i spoke that word to you please forgive me it's so difficult for people to say that that was my mistake please forgive me you know why because you're so proud that's the reason and that's the reason why many people are not filled with the spirit always they're so proud so keep your conscience clear always not because i want to get into the resurrection of the righteous that would be very selfish that's true in view of the fact that i want to be in the resurrection of the righteous i keep my conscience clear and those who don't keep their conscience clear according to this word i believe they will not be in the resurrection of the righteous but that's not the reason i keep my conscience clear i keep my conscience clear because god is being so good to me because he's forgiven me so much that's why i want to forgive others everything not because of some selfish reason i want to go to heaven i want to get a reward no but because god's been so good to me he's been so good to me that it makes me want to be good to others he's let rivers flow into my life i just want to let it flow through me to others those are not my rivers god sends it to me and it flows out through me other through me to others like you know god shovels his riches into me and i shovel it down to others that's how it is so it's a wonderful life when you recognize how much god has done for us so we don't do it with any selfish reason i'll forgive others if i get this reward no rewards are god's business let him give it i know he'll give it but that's not why we do it it's good to believe god gives rewards but if you do something for the sake of reward it has no value like you don't want your children to obey you because you're gonna give them some reward that would be second best it's not the best so keep your conscience clear always now number three jesus said in luke chapter 18 verse 1 men ought to pray always and not may not at all times to pray at all times to pray and that's repeated in a couple of other passages let me just read it to you ephesians 6 talking about counting against satan it says in verse 18 praying at all times in the spirit in the holy spirit not necessarily with words you can't keep on speaking 24 hours in prayer no it's praying at all times in the spirit in your spirit in the holy spirit at all times and i'll explain to you what that means in a moment or 1 thessalonians 5 and verse 17 it says your pray without ceasing pray at all times and pray without seizing and pray at all times in the spirit so when i read this you know i read so many testimonies as a young christian i was reading biographies of christian uh people i have read of people who used to pray two hours every day and someone who used to pray four hours every day or some people who would never meet anyone till 12 o'clock in the afternoon and always spend the time before foreign with god and you know i was a working man i was working in the navy and i said well that's impossible for me i have to go to work and sometimes i go to work at 6 30 in the morning and on a ship and how can i do this how can i pray all the time and um where in the world am i going to manage two hours four hours a day and i used to get reading all those testimonies did not challenge me to tell you honestly they discouraged me and i said lord i'm going to be honest i can't do it so i said instead of reading the biographies of these people which only discourage me let me read what the bible says and i never read in the bible that paul or peter prayed for one hour or two hours before they don't tell us how much they prayed for because jesus said when you pray don't let anybody know how much you pray so how in the world do these people boast that they preach for pray for four hours or two hours i'm not judging them i'm just saying jesus said when you pray don't let anybody know even if you pray for two minutes don't let anybody know about it you can encourage somebody by saying i prayed for you but don't say well i you know yesterday i spent two hours in prayer or half an hour in prayer or i fasted so we can talk about something you did way back in the past as an example and challenge to others but to see you know yesterday i fasted so long or i went on a three-day fast yesterday or three days ago and all that is honor seeking and you have no jesus said you have no reward from it there'll be no answer to your prayer or your fasting but in matthew 6. so that delivered me from being discouraged by the testimonies of these people who prayed for so many hours in their biographies and i went to the bible and i saw that the bible doesn't say how many hours we must pray it says all the time without ceasing so how long should i pray for 24 hours seven days a week then i said what is the thing that i do 24 hours seven days a day breathing i'm breathing 24 hours a day supposing somebody told me breathe without seizing i said you mean i have to breathe all the time i don't get discouraged i say yeah of course if you stop breathing what will happen you'll die then i realized praying without seizing is like breathing without seizing it stop becoming a burden will you get a will you be burdened if somebody says breathe without seizing no you don't get scared you don't say that's an impossible command you know a little child can do it pray without ceasing and i said oh lord teach me to pray not like the way these biographies tell me the way the bible tells me you know so often you many christians read the biographies of saints and they get discouraged i did so i went back to the bible the bible never discouraged me and there you read about the faults of people paul once shouted at a high priest towards the end of his life he lost his temper but he immediately apologized so i'm encouraged by these things not to lose my temper but he wasn't doing it all the time it happens maybe once in a while and you immediately said it right that's the thing but i saw in the bible that prayer is something i do without seizing just like breathing so i said lord make my prayer life like that where it's a constant uh unconscious communion with god i'm not conscious of breathing at all certainly not when i'm sleeping and even i'm awake i've been breathing all this time since this i started preaching this message i'm not conscious even a single moment that i'm breathing but i'm reading all the time and i say lord i want so i ask lord what is prayer prayer is a expression of my helpless dependence upon god that's what it is when i pray i'm saying lord i need your help that's what prayer is it's going with empty hands and say lord i need your help i'm not talking about praising praising is another thing giving thanks i'm talking about prayer prayer is something i'm saying god i need your help i tell you i need that 24 hours a day seven days a week i need result when i'm sleeping all the time so i want to live a life of perpetual dependence upon god and the picture that i get which helps me the most is in john 15 and verse john 15 and verse 5 where he said your branches and i'm the vine or i'm the tree and you're the branches and i say lord i want to be like that branch in a tree all the time the sap is flowing from the tree to the branch and fruit comes automatically if you were to go to the branch and say boy how in the world you produce such wonderful mangoes or apples bran says i don't do anything really and you say don't bluff me you mean you do nothing no i don't do anything oh yeah i do one thing i remain inside the tree all the time and let the sap flowing through me and i don't know how but the fruit just comes forth see i'll tell you the more and more i have served the lord and i've been in full-time christian work now for 54 years and i'll tell you it's become a greater and greater joy as time gone it's not boring my life is not boring not a single day of my life is boring like it says in proverbs 14 verse 14 the living bible says the godly man's life is exciting nothing is boring in a godly man's life and it's this life of perpetual dependence lord i can do nothing myself but i depend on you if i have to speak i depend on the lord if i have to do anything for the lord if i have to solve a problem in a church and say lord i can't do it i depend on you it's a wonderful life it's not a strain you ask a branch in a tree is it a strain all the time to produce fruit so not at all it's the easiest thing in the world how i just remain in the tree and the sap flows in that is so praying always is like that the branch in the tree and the sap flowing in all the time communication with the tree all the time it's a wonderful life or is it it says in jeremiah 17 about a tree which has got its roots going into the river underneath all the time drawing in water that's another picture praying all the time so that's what we need to recognize and pray lord teach me this life of all in other words i want to be dependent on you all the time but i'm praying all the time lord i need help here even if i don't consciously say i need help here that attitude is what god sees god's not listening to just my words it's the heart attitude that he listens more than my word sometimes people's words and prayer are hypocritical for example what we sang in the song uh blessed assurance jesus mind and the many songs we sing where we don't always mean the words we sing go back to some of the hymns you sing and ask yourself did you really mean that take my silver and my gold not a mighty would i withhold or many prayers lord i surrender all so often we sing songs because it's a nice tune just like worldly people but when you come to this life of dependence on the lord we mean it lord i am dependent on you for every single thing ask the lord to help you to compete become more and more helpless then you will pray automatically let me go to number four which is in 1 thessalonians the fourth thing that we should do always or that we can do always i prefer to say it as what we can do always through the power of the holy spirit one thessalonians 5 16 rejoice always but sometimes always rejoice or as it's mentioned in philippians 4 and verse 4 rejoice in the lord that is a better a clarification of that rejoice in the lord always it's not in my circumstances that i rejoice it's not in the weather no in the lord if i were to look at my circumstances and the people it's the thing i can't rejoice in the people around me or the circumstances because so many things are wrong but the lord never changes so my rejoice in the lord rejoice in the lord who never changes always can you do that god is still on the throne can you believe that all the time no matter what is going on wrong around you okay let it be like that can you believe that god is on the throne at that moment can you believe that god controls all circumstances and romans 8 28 he makes all things work together for your good if you love him and you're called according to his purpose he's making not that individual thing work for your good but all things together work together romans 8 28 for your good and that nobody can stop god's hand or prevent him from fulfilling his purpose for your life that is impossible you know there's a wonderful statement made by a heathen king when god disciplined him in the old testament it's in daniel chapter 4 verse 35 nebuchadnezzar when god humbled him for many years and finally he came to his senses he made one of the most amazing statements on the sovereignty of god that is found in the whole bible it's amazing that the most wonderful statement of the sovereignty of god spoken by a heathen king when he got converted and met with god in daniel 4 verse 35 listen to it and see if it is not one of the most fantastic statements on the sovereignty of god over all circumstances and people here it is daniel 4 35 all the people of the earth are accounted as zero before god do you believe that all the presidents and rulers and kings and everybody all those enemies of yours and all those people who you think can harm you and and even all those people who praise you whose praises you get so taken up is zero all the people who praise you admire you zero all the people who criticize you and try to hurt you zero all the people on the earth are zero and second point is god does exactly what he wills whatever he wants in heaven and among the inhabitants on the earth in the whole universe heaven and earth god does exactly what he wants and no one can stop his hand no one no angel nor demon no human being can stop his hand or question him saying what are you doing i want to confess what nebuchadnezzar confessed have you ever confessed what nibu could never confess it's a challenge to me that heathen king could say something like that i claim to be a child of god and i can't say it rejoice in the lord always because of statements like this because he's on the throne that's why we can rejoice always therefore it says in ephesians 5 20 we give thanks for all things in the name of the lord jesus to god always that's the same thing as rejoicing always i give thanks ephesians 5 20 all the time to god the father in the name of jesus christ for every single thing because i have the same confession as nebuchadnezzar in daniel 4 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are zero my father rules the universe and no one can stop his hand nobody can question him saying why are you doing this or what are you doing and he's my father and he runs his universe that's why jesus said whenever you pray whenever you pray begin with our father who are in heaven meaning the one who runs this universe is one who loves me immensely intensely more than any human being loves me i have a father in heaven that's why i'm not an orphan many christians live like orphans insecure who will help me oh i don't have anybody to help me i do i have a father in heaven maybe no influential people around you to help you maybe you're in very tough circumstances you know i know so many people who come from non-christian homes who are ill-treated and even people who come from christian homes because their parents don't agree with them ill-treated in so many ways and they become like orphans oh i'm in terrible state brother sister you've got a father in heaven who runs this universe he can stop anybody's hand from troubling you no one can stop him and say what are you doing pray to him trust him thank him pray at all times give thanks at all times because he rules the universe that's why i can rejoice always in the lord there's never i need not be gloomy for one single moment it was not true like that in my life in the early days when i was a christian when i grew up as a christian i never heard these truths which i'm explaining you to know i wish somebody had taught me this 61 years ago when i got converted my life would have been very different but i had to learn all these truths struggling struggling traveling through 16 years after i was born again defeated up and down up and down because i never had a spiritual father to guide me many of you guys are so fortunate that you have godly people to guide you i never had one i had to find things myself in scripture and i thank god little by little through many years of failure finally god brought me to the place what's called the new covenant to discover that the holy spirit had come to help me to walk like jesus little by little by little and that becomes better and better all the time and some of these things are the result of being able to live like that then we go to another thing we need to do always number five die to self always this is blessed it doesn't look so wonderful as rejoice always and uh i will keep the lord before you always but it is true because this is how we keep the lord before as always luke 9 verse 23 jesus said luke chapter 9 verse 23 that if anyone who wishes to come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily every single day he must take up his cross this is not a once for all thing every day so you know for example you go to your wedding and you're married once for all but you've got to keep that marriage covenant every day with your wife or your husband otherwise you're not going to have a happy marriage your marriage certificate doesn't guarantee a happy marriage so now i was crucified with christ it says in galatians 2 20. but i have to take up that reality every day in my life by saying self has to be dethroned every day in my life that's the meaning of take up your cross and deny self deny self means put that self away from the throne put him to death and let christ alone rule and i have to make that choice according to luke 9 23 every single day that is working out what god works in like we read in philippians 2 a little earlier and this is not when uh when he says every day it means always because paul says in 2nd corinthians 4 see how he explains it in his own life second corinthians 4 and verse 10 always second corinthians 4 10 always carrying about in my body the dying of jesus what is the dying of jesus not his crucifixion on the cross because i'm not being crucified on a physical cross every day no but there was another dying that jesus had every day of his 33 and a half years on earth that's why he said if anyone wants to follow me let him take up the cross and follow me in other words come the way i walked he's not telling us to do what he never did supposing he said oh well i never had to take up a cross in my life but you guys have to do it no if anyone wants to follow me that means if anyone wants to walk in the footsteps i walked in for 33 and a half years on earth there's only one way say no to yourself and say yes to me it's like in the military they say left right left right left right that's how we march jesus says same way say no to yourself and yes to me yes no to self yes to jesus no to serve yes to christ that's the left right of the christian life always always caring about in my body the same dying second corinthians 4 10 that jesus had every single day of his earthly life because if i go that way the life of jesus will be manifested in my body not just inwardly not the christ is living in me it will become manifested the light will shine through me the life of jesus the life of jesus will be manifested in my speech the way i look at people the way i talk to people the way i behave with people it'll always be the life of jesus if i choose the dying of jesus always always lord as i said in the beginning it's a conscious act but after some time it's automatic unconsciously the situation comes and say no i'm dead to that somebody insults you and in the beginning it's a struggle oh i've got to love him but i'll tell you after a while what does a dead man do when somebody insults him no reaction but here there is a reaction the life of jesus reacts and you love that person you remember when people called jesus the prince of devils bill's ebook in matthew chapter 12. jesus said have you spoken a word against a son of man it's forgiven read that second half of matthew 12 it's there the life of jesus always ready to forgive always ready to ignore the insults that people give to us always always always and i want to say again this always comes through constant practice the holy spirit you'll keep listening to the holy spirit after some time like your breathing is unconscious but 24 hours all these things will become 24 hour realities through the holy spirit and then another one number six colossians 4 and verse 6 colossians chapter 4 and verse 6 let your speech always be with grace what a need there is for this christians sin so much with their tongue speak graciously always number six not most of the time what does it mean to speak with grace it says it's like salt in the food it says in colossians 4 6 you know how much salt adds taste to the food and as soon as you put a spoon of food into your mouth you immediately know whether there's salt in it or not immediate and salt really adds taste so much of our food is tasty because of salt and it says your speech must be like that that even a few words that you speak people can immediately sense grace grace doesn't mean soft wishy-washy type of human love no grace is firm sure it's loving a gracious father disciplines us when we go astray like a good father on earth will do it grace corrects us and encourages us it's not only encouragement it's correction yes prophecy is to challenge people and also to encourage people so grace doesn't only correct us it doesn't only encourage us it corrects us so words that can encourage words that can challenge and words that will bless people one way or the other so that you will know colossians 4 6 how to respond to each person that means god gives you wisdom how to talk to every single person you meet what answer should i give you read i'm so challenged when i read the gospels people would come to jesus with something and he'd have an answer should we give tribute to caesar he said show me a coin whose head is this caesar okay give caesar what is caesar and give to god what is god's what do you answer to that or uh take another example uh lord moses said this adulterous woman must be stoned to death what do you say jesus well go ahead he who is without sin throw the first stone and they all go away and you say lord can i have speech like that can i have wisdom like that yes you can i remember years ago i read this promise and it helped me tremendously luke 21 verse 15 luke 21 verse 15 it's the lord is saying if i were to paraphrase this i'll give you the same wisdom i had when i was on the earth luke 21 15 i give you such speech such a mouth and such wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to resist or refute i remember years ago praying for that i said lord jesus make luke 21 15 real in my life that when people ask me questions i have such a mouth and a wisdom that they will not be able to say anything further not because i want to win an argument no no no because i want to draw them to god give me wisdom let me speak graciously always let me never lose my temper because it says very clearly that in uh you know jesus said that very clearly that if i anyone who's angry with his brother even in his heart is guilty and then if that anger comes out in the mouth you're more guilty and even more guilty and guilty enough to go to hell i don't want to avoid anger to escape hell i want to avoid anger because it's contrary to the spirit of christ i say lord i cannot speak graciously but if the spirit of grace comes upon me you know that the holy spirit is called in hebrews 10 verse 29 hebrews 29 one of the titles of the holy spirit is spirit of grace or the spirit that gives us grace and the lord said to paul my grace is sufficient for you for every situation grace is what we need grace is what we need people in the world says money what you need i say no grace is what we need god will provide enough money to live we don't need to become millionaires grace is what we need and grace is what we need especially in our speech at home especially and i'll tell you something if you cry out for it god will give it to you let me give you this word in jeremiah in this connection jeremiah 29 and verse 13 which is one of my favorite verses jeremiah 29 13. the lord says you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart when you are so desperate that your speech should always be gracious you seek the lord say lord i slipped up again i slipped up again help me i slipped up again today please forgive me i slipped up help me i tell you a day will come in your life when your speech will always be with grace it'll be firm but it will be with grace and then the last one one corinthians 15 and verse 58 one corinthians 15 and verse 58 it says here therefore my brethren be steadfast immovable firm on the lord the rock christ the rock always abounding in the work of the lord always serving the lord always wanting to do something for the lord wherever you are say lord i want to do something for you over here in my office in my home when i'm visiting unconverted relatives always abounding in the work of the lord doesn't mean always preaching no abounding in the work of the lord maybe just helping somebody who's in need and that may open the door to share the gospel with within maybe next month or six months from now so it's not always preaching preaching preaching no abounding in the work of the lord and the work of the lord is what did jesus do all his life i like these words in acts chapter 10 is your favorite past divine acts chapter 10 what did jesus do all his life acts 10 38 acts 10 38 you know jesus of nazareth how god anointed him with the holy spirit and with power he didn't speak in tongues you know jesus never spoke in tongues in his whole life he was in such perfect fellowship with the father he did not need tongues but he went about doing good and delivering people are oppressed by the devil the fullness of the holy spirit and power in jesus light made him go around doing good and if he also gives you a ministry you'll deliver people from the devil's power i say that's what you need to do lord fill me with the holy spirit that i will just go about doing good that is abounding in the work of the lord always you can't do it better than jesus he was filled with the holy spirit and he went about doing good what a wonderful thing if that can be written on your tombstone he went about doing good all his days she went about doing good to everyone all her days that is how it was with jesus when he was filled with the holy spirit he always sought to do good to somebody and where people were oppressed by the devil with the power of the holy spirit he delivered them and that can happen with us too according to the ministry god calls you to it's wonderful always abounding in the work of the lord so let me just go through all that i said today quickly number one set the lord before you always all the time seek to live in the presence of the lord number two keep a good conscience by the way that's acts 2 verse 25 and number two keep a good conscience always acts 24 16 and number three pray always ephesians 6 18 and luke 18 verse 1 and 1 thessalonians 5 17 and 4 rejoice always philippians 4 4 and 1 thessalonians 5 16 and ephesians 5 20. die to self always second corinthians 4 10 and luke 9 23 number 6 speak graciously always colossians chapter 4 and verse 6 and number 7 serve the lord wholeheartedly always 1 corinthians 15 verse 58 and in conclusion let me say if you want to live like this ephesians 5 18 you must be filled with the holy spirit always because ephesians 5 18 the literal translation of that word is be being filled with the spirit is not just be filled with the spirit once in the acts of the apostles you read of some people who are filled with the spirit again and again peter for example so be filled with the spirit always the meaning of ephesians why it is be being filled with the spirit in other words i need to be constantly filled with the holy spirit it's like a river that's constantly flowing it's not just i had a wonderful experience with god the other day no the river is flowing all the time look at a river quietly flowing without making a noise and blessing people satisfying the thirst of thousands isn't it amazing that jesus said if you thirst for that life john 7 37 39 if you thirst for that life lord i thirst for such a life where i can pray always keep a good conscience always live before you always and rejoice always and put self to death always and always speak graciously and serve you wholeheartedly always i thirst for that life jesus said if anyone first let him come to me and believe thirst and belief faith from his innermost being rivers of living water will flow john 7 37 to 39 this he spoke about the holy spirit this is the way brothers and sisters and i want to say to you in jesus name this life is possible for you for you not for that other person for you don't just think he had it all or brother zach no i'm a sinner saved by grace i say that to the end of my life only a sinner saved by grace but that grace brought the holy spirit into my life and changed my life completely and it can change yours i'm no better than any of you a child of adam god redeemed from the pit cleansed in his blood and gave me his holy spirit and changed my life and helped me to bless others pray that that will be true in your life i pray that it will be true of every one of you who are listening today in jesus name amen thank you benoit thank you brother zach uh we're so blessed to have this seven things um so with the next uh if you don't mind next to 15 20 minutes we can uh go over a few questions uh concerning like what we heard so uh so number one um one of the things that i am tremendously blessed for what you said in one of the bangalore conferences you mentioned something like this i think i'm quoting you exactly right but correct me if i'm wrong you said i choose to leave in my will rather than in my mind right um yeah so you mentioned today about that we have a control on ourselves right the self-control thing in can you explain that quote uh i think it would be very helpful for everyone yeah yes you know the bible says man is a trinity in one person spirit soul and body 1 thessalonians 5 verse 23 man is not body soul and spirit start from the most important spirit soul and body now many people think of man as only body and mind and perhaps emotions it's only the bible that tells us exactly what man is one thessalonians 5 23 there are three parts to man spirit soul and body now many people even many christians don't distinguish between spirit and soul they think it's the same they think there's one outward part the body and one inward hidden part no there's more than one hidden part two the old testament tabernacle is a picture of the human being and it had three parts the outer court visible to everybody and a covered tent having two parts holy place in most holy place invisible picture of body soul and spirit the most holy place where god dwelt is the equivalent of the spirit the holy place is a picture of the soul and the outer court which everybody can see is a picture of the body the tabernacle is a perfect representation of the human body and god dwells in the spirit he doesn't dwell in the body he doesn't well in the soul it's very important to understand this if you want to proceed further than what to answer that question and the bible in the old testament there was no understanding of soul and spirit they thought only man is body and some invisible part whatever they call it they say the heart or something like that but it's only in the new testament it becomes clear and further in hebrews 4 hebrews 4 it says here the word of god hebrews 4 verse 12 is like a sharp to its sword that pierces in right into our innermost being to divide between soul and spirit now that dividing between soul and spirit was not possible in the old testament but now the holy spirit comes through the word of god like a sword and divides between soul and spirit and makes us live in the spirit most christians are living in the soul even the so-called many people i've met who say they are baptized in the holy spirit and they mumble something it is 100 soul it is a baptism of the soul not a baptism in the holy spirit and what they are mumbling is not the gift of tongues at all it is just mumbling something they produce with their own mind and their soul and they call it tongues and they fool themselves they are not become spiritual there is a genuine gift of tongues sure the apostles had it god's given it to me but i use it only in private but the word of god divides between soul and spirit so the soul and spirit are different and this light comes more clearly as we are filled with the holy spirit now as we read scriptures we see the soul consists basically of three parts mind emotion and will the three parts of the soul mind is our intelligence with which we think emotions are feelings with which we feel feelings of sorrow or feelings of joy that's emotions all human beings have it mind with which they think some are sharper in their mind some not so sharp but mind is there feelings emotions but the third part is the will and the will is the door to the spirit that is the veil between the holy place and the most holy place in the tabernacle and when jesus died that veil was rent and then only people could go into the most holy place and the meaning of that is that when our will is broken and yielded to god we enter into god's presence and live in the spirit otherwise we are living in the soul mind and emotions that's in the holy place the soul you can live in your mind in emotion get excited when you sing a song and feels so wonderful in prayer and all that and you're still in the soul you have not entered the most holy place you're in the soul can be very exciting the prophets of baal were all excited when they prayed for so many hours and one kings chapter 18 no fire came the fire came when elijah prayed so a lot of people have this type of supernatural sort of not supernatural but excitement from the soul worked up worked up worked up worked up like they beat the drums and they play the music loud and emotional singing and all that and they think they are spiritual and they go out and live a carnal life there are people who so-called speak in tongues and sunday morning in the church and go and yell at their wives in their mother tongue in the afternoon what is that it's a deception if it's really the holy spirit he'll control your mother tongue first so i'm just showing you the amount of deception that goes on the if the will is not broken you do not enter the most holy place the veil must be rent and we are told here in uh hebrews 10 20 the new and living way into the most holy places through the rending of the veil which is the flesh of jesus and the word flesh refers to the self will of jesus jesus had a will of his own and he never did it john 6 38 i came from heaven not to do my own will for the will of him who sent me even in gethsemane he said father not my will but thine be done he had a will of his own and he a human will which he denied deny denied every moment for 33 and a half years that's how he lived in the presence of the father all the time and he tells us to do the same it's not mind and emotions when we live in the father's presence all the time with our will yielded the mind and emotions come under the control of god our mind comes under the control our god emotions come under the control of god we have emotions but they are pure we have a clear mind in fact clearer than if we did not yield our will so the yielding of the will is fundamental so i've learned through the years when i'm tempted to be discouraged for example i see no that's just feeling i don't go by it i live in my will i refuse to be discouraged i will only praise god with my will i see in this awkward circumstance with everything going wrong around me i praise god oh my father you're on the throne that's my will with my will i exercise my will and say i will rejoice in the lord i don't care how i feel there's pain in my body i'm having a severe headache and the children are all irritating me it's okay i will rejoice in the lord i'll rejoice in the lord always you know i remember when i was a young christian tribe entering into this life once i had a headache at home my children were all small and i said lord why why is this headache and the lord said to me i'm taking you through one stage to another in your in your spiritual life when your children are all irritating you without a headache you could overcome it now i'm leading you to a higher class where when your children irritate you and they're small all children irritate their parents when your children irritate you with a headache you will not get irritated that's a higher class to not get irritated when you don't have a headache is one thing to not get irritated when you have a headache is a higher level it's a promotion oh i said thank you lord i thought that was a problem it was a promotion i want to be an overcomer even there because i learned to live in my will not my feelings and there's a lot more to that god will explain it to you thank you brother zach so that explains why jesus mentioned this dying to stop your point number five there right so many scriptures i mean look 9 23 matthew 16 24 john 12 24 and then second corinthians 4 10 right so jesus is directly asking us to do that right deny yourself means yielding your will right building your will absolutely right awesome thank you uh another question is that sometimes um uh even though i have forgiven someone i still struggle to be normal around that person does that mean i have not completely forgiven them forgiveness again is in your will it's not feeling it's not how you feel towards a person that feeling will come if you start with the will operate from the most holy place outward don't operate from the uh outer tabernacle or the holy place get into god's presence and operate from there i can have never no control of my memory i cannot change i remember all the evil things that people have done to me in my entire life and if somebody could stimulate my memory more i would remember even the things i can't remember consciously so but god doesn't blame me for having a memory of something god himself has got a memory of every single sin i committed but he says i will not remember that's a very important thing to remember it's not that god is forgotten god doesn't say in hebrews 8 12 i have forgotten about all your sins read carefully the promise in hebrews 8 12 is i will not remember their sins there's a difference in him saying i don't i will not remember and i have forgotten so i'm not saying i've forgotten the evil that somebody did to me i'm saying in hebrews 12 i will not remember it that means i will the word will is important there in hebrews 12. i choose not to remember the evil that person did to me i choose i and over a period of time as i make that choice continuously it becomes a habit and then when i meet that person i can be very pleasant to him because it's become so so much a part of me that i it's as if he never did anything against me i can really love him because i learned to live in my will not just in this area but in all areas i choose to live in my will this is the secret and so when i find it difficult to love someone who did so much harm to me or especially if they did harm to your children your family you have to say lord i want the holy spirit romans 5 5 to fill my heart with the love of god i can't do it the river has to come from god i'm just making sure the channel is not blocked i can't produce the river i can't produce the water of life that comes from god but i got to make sure the channel is not blocked sometimes god is trying to send something through us and i blocked it with something i said no i break my will it's like the dam is broken that damn that stops us from loving people is our will let god break it and you cooperate and say lord i say no to my will just like jesus did the dam will break and the floods the river will just flow through to bless other people that's the that's the answer living in our will so i was thinking so one of the verses that blessed me second corinthians 10 5 it says take captive every thought and make it obedient to christ so this means we're still in our flesh and all these temptations will come but uh correct me if i'm wrong what you're saying is that it's my job that that yielding the will is taking captive of those feelings and make it following christ god's word right see if god takes away my will you know that i don't have a choice anymore even after am filled with the holy spirit i become a robot and i say god will not make me a robot even in heaven i will not be a robot then people ask me do you think you'll sin in heaven one day impossible did jesus sin on earth for 33 and a half years no i'm going to be like jesus when i go to heaven i will not sin for 33 and a half years i will not sin for eternity not because my will is taken away but because i become like jesus jesus didn't sin on earth not because his will was taken away but because that was his life the life of god that was in him through the spirit and that will be mine for all eternity but i begin here on earth like you read ii corinthians 10 5 i am the one who should take this thought and say lord jesus this is a captive for you i have to do it like you read like we read in philippians 2 12 and 13 god works in me the desire and the ability and i cooperate with god that's what adam did not have you do not have the holy spirit to give him the adam and eve the desire and ability to stay away from the forbidden tree but today we have the holy spirit to dwell within us to stay away from everything god has forbidden all the things god is forbidden is you know i don't want that and the things that god tells us to take part of the tree of life we take part in the holy spirit prompting we obey over a period of time it becomes as natural as breathing and i'm not telling you something that i have not experienced it's become more and more and more i have not become like jesus fully but i tell you it's my life is so much better in my walk with the lord than it was even a few years ago thank you brother zach point number four you mentioned that rejoice always in the lord right so i hear this often i used to do this a lot like when i go through some tough situations and circumstances that when people tell me just benoit the bible says rejoice i used to tell them like well you don't understand right i see if like the circumstances are pulling me right what's the advice i'm sure some of the folks here are probably thinking you don't understand my situation like what what is your response to um no for circumstances the word is not philippians 4 4. we'll rejoice in the lord always for circumstances the word is romans 8 28 god makes all circumstances work for our good that's the word for circumstances so when i look at my circumstances what am i thinking of not philippians 4 4 i'm thinking of romans 8 28. god is making all these things work together for my good but when i think of rejoicing i'm thinking in philippians 4 4 then my mind is in heaven i rejoice in the lord always not in the future i'll be in heaven but right now my heavenly father runs this universe and in the person of jesus christ i find my joy i'll tell you this if you have not trained yourself to be free from the love of money it's very difficult to rejoice in the lord because i'll tell you why this is the number one problem with many people rejoice in their health and in money health and wealth are the two false gospels which are being preached by christians it's called the health wealth gospel it's a fake that was okay in the old testament god promised health and wealth and deuteronomy 28 to his israelites they did not have the holy spirit but today that's not my gospel my gospel is that jesus christ is my savior he's my friend he's my bridegroom and so i don't rejoice in health or in wealth because all our problems which we get feel like complaining or grumbling is loss of health or loss of wealth basically something oh i'm going to lose something circumstances in uncomfortable my children are sick or i'm sick or this job is gone health and wealth and that's why the devil has started this health wealth gospel which is an absolute fake 100 fake which is being preached by so many people today as if that is the gospel it is not to me that god that is something added on when you seek the gospel the gospel is that i can become like jesus christ that is the gospel and sending titus chapter to the gospel of the glory of our lord jesus christ that's the gospel which we but as a bonus god gives us enough help to do his will maybe not perfect even paul didn't have perfect health you read in 2nd corinthians 12 and enough wealth to do his will not to make us billionaires and the richest people in the world no so so long as i see that god's purpose in my life is that i can say at the end of my life like jesus said in john 17 4 father i have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do do you know the only way to glorify god on earth john 17 4 is by finishing the work god gave you to do not by traveling the world jesus never traveled the world he finished the work the father gave him to do in 33 and a half years that was it there are many people who live up to 100 years who don't finish the work god hear them to do the important thing is not what you accomplished on earth how famous you became garbage has a particular work god planned for you when you were born and one day he brought you to christ and from that day onwards forget about the previous years from that day onwards there's a plan god has for you paul had a plan he wasted 30 years of your life god said forget it from the time he was converted he was serious and he said at the end of his life in second timothy 4 7 i have also finished the work god gave me to do just like jesus and it doesn't matter if you wasted 30 or 40 years of your life you can say lord i want to finish the work you plan for me to do at least from now on so that is god's plan for your life so i don't rejoice in circumstances i don't rejoice in all these things i rejoice in the lord but i believe all my circumstances are to help me to fulfill god's plan for my life which is sometimes trial sometimes sickness yeah that is also god's plan many many people don't believe this but i believe this with all my heart that you know that jesus was sick it says in isaiah 53 and verse 3 he was a man of sorrows acquainted with if you see the margin of your bible sickness that's the original word in the hebrew acquainted with sickness because the next verse it says in verse four surely our sickness is hebor and that verse is quoted in matthew 17 8 matthew 8 17 as sickness so the word in matthew isaiah 53 3 is the same thing acquainted with sickness not that he was sick all the time but how could he identify without sorrows if he was never sick in his life you have to be tempted in all points as we are and we have a lot of temptation when you're sick jesus had to experience it but he never sinned so i feel that we have an example there of how we can rejoice in the lord even when circumstances are not exactly what we want thank you uh point number five that you mentioned about die to self die to our will and then i'm recently i've been looking at the commandments of jesus i guess i'm seeing all the commandments of jesus that involve dying to self like you know forgive others um you know abiding you mentioned about the branch abiding in the tree that could indirectly mean that right i have to deny myself right absolutely right benoit if you've understood that you've understood the primary secret of the christian life you know if you look at the word which is most often repeated in the four gospels i think is repeated about seven times it says if you hate your life you will find it search through the gospels you'll find it i think seven times the most oft repeated statement of jesus in the gospels hate your life hate your self-life then you will really find eternal life so why is that repeated so often and i would say it is the most oft repeated and the least understood by christians that self-life of mine if i hate it i find a real light in the holy spirit so and what you say is right everything that you said forgive others you've got to deny yourself and everything that jesus said it's begins with putting self to death itself which is on the throne which made adam and eve sin and because jesus dethroned self perpetually i will not do my will john 8 john 6 38 is the one sentence autobiography of jesus which he gave of his own life the whole of jesus life can be described in one sentence john 6 38. i came from heaven not to die on the cross i came from heaven not to do my own will or the will of him who sent me one of the things was dying on the cross but in one sentence it was not to do my own will so if someone were to ask me why did jesus come from heaven in the olden days i'd say to die for my sins i say no i have a better understanding of god now he came from heaven never to do his own will and to be an example for me which included dying on the cross and delivering me from all my sins also but many other things all right here's the last question today uh if we find ourselves falling repeatedly in a common area does that mean that i have not filled with the holy spirit well the fullness of the holy spirit depends on our capacity let me use a human illustration in the psalms it says i will lift up my cup the cup of salvation so in the gospels in the gospel of john particularly jesus uses the picture of water of the holy spirit three times first john chapter 3 and verse 5 if anyone is unless one is born of water even the holy spirit that's the actual translation one is born of water even the holy spirit you cannot enter the god's kingdom born of the holy spirit that's the first step bone of water a cup filled with water that's how i begin is it filled yes it's filled you can't put more than that much in a cup then you go to the second stage john 4 now it is being more than born again here it says in john 4 14 the lord says i'll give him a well of water springing out to eternal life this is a well a well is much bigger than a cup a cup is full you can't put any more in it but when a well is full it's much more and here is something that satisfies the need of all my need if i have a well in my house i'm not dependent on supply of water from the city i have got my own well my i'm not dependent on circumstances to get joy or happiness or anything god has given it to me the holy spirit gives me a well the cup has become a well stage two and then john 7 it goes on to say verse 38 rivers of living water this is a third stage cup well rivers so there's an increasing capacity as we walk with the lord the more we deny ourselves the capacity increases then we have more ability so i wouldn't say a person who's just born again cannot be filled with the holy spirit but it's a cup there's a many areas in his life that have to be broken and then he becomes a well and become a river where ultimately a well only satisfies you rivers satisfy thousands of people you believe that you can be a blessing to hundreds and thousands of people yes if but it's not going to be happen the day you're born again little by little if you walk with the lord you deny yourself and take up the cross capacity increases and so we shouldn't condemn yourself oh i lost my temper if i'm not from the spirit yeah you need to grow the cup needs to become a bucket the bucket needs to become a lake and a well in a lake and finally a river so the more you grow the more the holy spirit takes over your life or to use another illustration we can look at our flesh like one big black circle one day we are born again and a little white circle comes inside christ has come the other day you know controls our whole life but he has come in and as you deny yourself day by day what will happen in every temptation the outer edge of that circle is being uh a battle is going on you win the battle little by little that circle increases that small little circle becomes bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger as you're conquering hunting denying yourself denying yourself and more and more the black is getting eliminated the flesh is being overcome and the holy spirit is controlling more and more of your life but you're filled with the spirit only in that area and many other areas where the flesh is controlled so you can't say you're not filled with the spirit your capacity needs to increase okay that concludes our session thank you so much brother zach would you mind uh uh pray for us and after that would you mind um uh can you mr stanley there is it possible for her to come for a minute so everyone can say hi to her too okay uh just one sec okay let's pray heavenly father i thank you for all the brothers here and sisters who have taken the trouble to sit and listen for all these through ours or nearly two hours and pray that they'll feel that these were two hours in which you could speak to them and the seed that you have sown i pray the holy spirit will water it and they'll allow it to be watered so that it will grow and lead them higher and higher in their life the capacity will increase and they will grow in grace and like jesus will go about doing good delivering people who are oppressed by the devil and there's so many like that in the world around us make everyone who heard this today lord be challenged in a way they'll never forget change their life for all eternity and make them a blessing to others we pray in jesus name amen i asked my better half to join me yeah as i always say the tongue speaks because the heart comes the blood and that's how a husband and wife serve the lord together yeah welcome sister annie it's always good to see you and so many people around the world are blessed by your ministry and i know we always hear zach but you're behind it and so we are so blessed to have you and i'm sure all these folks wanted to say thank you to you that's so good nice to see you all also so um yeah how are things going in california [Music] yeah i mean it's very foggy you know that smoke so we are indoors all the time you can see from outside you can see the smoke outside outside oh wow it's like living in bombay or something right very hazy outside so we are advised to stay in indoors and use the air purifier and things like that so we are just doing that but lots of zoom meetings so we can see everybody thank god for this morning's meeting yeah we're so thankful for um kobe 19 because of that we're able to get this opportunity and i mean again brother zach has opportunity to reach out to so many people right unless otherwise this was not possible before right that's right that's right i have never spoken in as many meetings in three months as in the last three months in my whole life amen so many meetings in a week and for so many hours and uh at my age of nearly 81 without having to wait in airports and travel by trains and buses to be able to speak to people in the remote villages of tamilnadu and anywhere in the world it's really an amazing channel god has opened and i believe god has opened it especially for the last days that's right and you didn't have to wait that five hours in the austin airport remember that yeah yeah yeah i remember that time waiting five hours until i could get out of the plane brother zach i was wondering since you're speaking so much more now does it hurt your voice at all or do you have to do anything to keep your voice well uh by god's grace i've never been a shouter i don't yell so i've never lost my voice in my in my entire preaching time i think only once or twice in the last 40 50 years that i lost my voice and i think well first of all i give the glory to god that he gave me such a voice and i don't shout and yell and scream and that helps a lot and then i'm trying to be as careful as possible to and then i've got a wife who's a doctor who tells me how to take care of my throat and voice and give me vitamin c and things like that to ensure that we keep healthy yes i think of yours like paul and luke right in this case luke is uh you know female right you i believe that paul needed a doctor beside him because he was traveling so much and exposed to so much and uh i saw that god saw that i needed one too it's awesome yeah i mean romans say 28 is so true right he causes all things to work together right including the 19th so i mean god when god trained luke who was a gentile and non-jew to be a doctor in his younger days when his dad sent him to medical school i mean god was in that because he said this man has got to be a co-worker for paul one day and i don't believe annie's dad when he sent her to medical school knew that one day god's plan was for her to be a co-worker with me in this ministry [Music] wow sister anyone god called you for this right and can you tell us a little bit of like how um i mean you you probably never envisioned this so you couldn't see this right but how was your reaction to like when god um called you to this ministry or like even when married brother zach from looking back yeah i when i went to medical school i always i felt that i was called to be a doctor and i felt god was calling me to work among leprosy patients because doctors usually don't opt to go and work in that field and then and you know women in india they don't like to go to a male doctor so they needed lady doctors so i uh i decided to go and work in electricity hospital so i felt that that was my calling and so i didn't think and being the eldest in the family i felt like i should work a few years and help my dad and had younger brothers and a sister studying so i felt i should work and help him financially so i didn't think of getting married as a immediate thing so i finished my medical studies and went to this leprosy hospital but um a brother whom we both respected boxing he suggested zach for me in marriage and so then that changed my whole perspective and i realized that uh zach was is a person who whom i could look up to spiritually and god spoke to me and said don't look at the temporal things the earthly things like a medical field and all you think of eternal things and put eternal values so then i thought yeah that's really what i want to do medical doing medical work was just a temporal thing and working for the lord's kingdom is more really what i should be doing so while working in that leprosy hospital god was speaking to me and changed my perspective like you know the lens in the in color in the microscope you adjusted and i could see things more clearly so then i felt that that's what i should do but i did miss working as a doctor especially because later i did anesthesiology and that was so exciting but god gave me the ability and opportunities to keep in touch with the medical field so after my children and while my children were growing up also i could help some of the sisters in our churches and after all the children left for college we traveled to different villages uh for ministry zach would take meetings and then i could help a lot of sisters who couldn't afford to go to a medical or to see a doctor and so i could help them and that gave me so much satisfaction and i didn't want to work for money so here was a chance for me to really serve god's people and a lot of my friends helped me to give supply me with medicines and samples of medicines and we also bought some so i could give even the medicines free so that gave me a lot of satisfaction that i was really doing what god wanted me to do yeah that's it thank you it's so good to hear that story brother zach i think so many christian uh preachers like it's okay 30 years of serving okay time for retirement like are you thinking about retiring and it's any time yeah i will enter into rest when the lord calls me home and that's the only time i shall retire and if the lord moses began his ministry at the age of 80 i've just finished 80 and if the lord allows me to live up to 120 i want to lead god's people into the promised land as many people as possible all the time and i see the need is so great on this earth and i say lord i want to be available to you as long as you want me and i also want to pray that you will raise up others who got a vision an anointing and a ministry that will continue to do god's work is not dependent on me i always say god's work went on on this earth long before i was born and it will continue even after i'm gone i'm here for a short period to fulfill the work god's given me to do and i believe god will raise up others but as long as i'm here and as long as god wants me and i'm amazingly thankful that god's helped me you see my wife and i've been married very happily for 52 years and we have never once had to be admitted in a hospital for any type of sickness in all these 52 years and for that i give glory to god he's given us health and we've traveled so many places we've traveled by bullock cart by bus by train by all types of means in the villages of india and god's preserved us so he's kept us healthy till now my wife is past 77 i'm past 80. so i say the lord can keep us healthy but i don't know how long but i'm not going to retire till jesus comes you both are you know god has blessed you spiritually and also in physically in terms of materially and also family right can you sister annie maybe you can tell us uh how many grandchildren you have i think many people don't know many people know about your poor sons okay first of all you said materially i mean one of the things i decided was when i started serving the lord was particularly after cfc started cfc started in bangalore 45 years ago and i said we want to be like paul supporting ourselves and serving the lord and i had received a small inheritance from my father it wasn't much but i said lord it was in form of certain investments and i said lord please bless this and i don't have time to look into it but i pray that i'll get some returns from it regularly so that i can take care of my family and that is how we have lived till today in 45 years we've never taken one cent from a church to support ourselves god has provided our need from that little that god arranged for me to receive as a small inheritance it didn't make us rich i mean um i was riding a scooter for 45 years and 42 years in bangalore that's all i could afford so we were not living like millionaires there but it was enough to keep us going and god gave us four sons who we had to we lived simply and they knew that we had to live simply i had to take those children to school on my scooter and they knew that we were not rich but they grew up and they grew up to love the lord and um the couple of things i insisted on they must know the bible and by the time they were 18 all four of them were born again baptized and knew the scriptures pretty well and then they went to college so i was very thankful that we had those 18 years for all four or five sons at home and today they're all following the lord and i'm very happy with the way they're living and two of them are leading churches and [Music] the others also all of them are good families so we have four sons very happily married to four god-fearing sisters and they have given us 17 grandchildren and we are very rich in terms of grandchildren and it's a great opportunity every week so yeah every week we try to spend half an hour with zoom with those 17 grandchildren sharing the word of god with them because like i shared it with my children now it's an opportunity to share with the grandchildren so i praise the lord amen thank you thank you for sharing so we're so blessed to have uh blessed to bless with your life both brother zach and sister and we pray that god will give you health to live 20 30 more years so we can be blessed tomorrow thank you pray for us thank you all of you who pray for me i'm deeply grateful and the work that the lord is doing through your ministry i mean just here right in austin um the church is growing it's so amazing to see what the lord has doing through your ministry and so we're so grateful to god for both of you uh you know i said that earlier it's very easy to find preachers so i can agree doctrinally speaking but it's hard to find someone who has a life a consistent life and that's why i'm very thankful to god for uh giving me a model an example to follow that's so wonderful thank you brother zach and sister yeah and i praise the lord for you benign the way you brought up your children and your church praise the lord for that too god is good all the time anyway that's good so we can continue um fellowship um if any anyone want to stay more and we can have uh uh informal fellowship and um thank you brother zach and sister annie and once again we're so grateful you know you feel free to stay and i know you have to speak to the europe conference right yeah i have another conference in a little while yes but sitting right here that's true i go to europe next okay god bless you all thank you for listening okay

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

Id: pAamlpqO3jQ

Length: 111min 27sec (6687 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 14 2020