Standing True to God in the Last Days -- Zac Poonen -- July 28, 2021

[Music] there are a number of passages in the new testament that refer to the last days and a lot of them referred to people falling away from the faith backsliding and a religion in name without power that's what you look at some of them matthew 24 [Applause] the when the disciples ask jesus specifically verse 3 matthew 24 3 what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age jesus says the first thing is see that no no one deceives you so many will come in my name saying i am the christ and will justly mislead many so there are people who are going to come saying that jesus is the christ and still deceived they're not going to come with some other religious book they're going to cover the bible now when jesus said that we can't pray lord let there be no deception because that's praying against what jesus said or if we hear there are going to be wars and rumors of wars you can't pray lord let there be no wars uh nation will rising as a nation that'll be families and earthquakes we can't pray lord there should be no famines in the earthquakes we need to ask ourselves whether we are praying in line with god's will or praying on something that just won't happen it's going to happen exactly like god said there will be deception there'll be wars there'll be famines there'll be earthquakes and no matter how much you pray it's going to happen so it's a waste of time praying that it won't happen in prayer for a particular situation that god's people will be protected that's okay they will deliver you to tribulation we can't pray there should be no tribulation and they will kill you we can't pray that they won't kill us we can pray for protection for ourselves you'll be hated by all nations we can't pray that we should not be hated many will fall away we can't pray that many will not fall away lord let nobody betray one another and know what's going to happen verse 10 let there be no false prophets you can't pray that there will be many false prophets verse 11. lawlessness will increase people's love will grow cold lord let nobody's love grow cold in the church it's just not going to happen it's going to happen people's love will grow cold [Applause] but the personal world to us is the one who endures to the end will be saved so i have come to see that i don't expect a church where everybody is spiritual it wasn't there true in the days of the apostles and it's never going to be true it's to live in a world of illusion to think that we are finally going to build a church where everybody will be spiritual it is just not going to be true but we have to make sure that we ourselves endure to the end and i believe in the context of verse 12 and 13 put together it is enduring in love until the end that means i must not allow anything to prevent me from as it says in ephesians 3 from being rooted and grounded love in relation to that verse i've often said that should be a permanent address we're never going to shift from that home our permanent address is rooted and grounded in the love of christ no matter how people behave around us my attitude is always going to be rooted and grounded in fervent love for jesus christ and in fervent love for other people whether they agree with me disagree with me call me the devil hate me doesn't make a difference rooted and grounded in love myself because my the love in my heart is completely independent of the behavior of others if we are like a branch in the vine in jesus we're not getting any sap from any other source we get out of love if we that connection with the [Music] wine or the tree gets a bit loose then we come out of love that can even happen in a home where you get irritated with your partner or any such thing we have to make sure dear brothers and sisters when it says here most people's love verse 12 will grow cold it's going to happen whether you like it or not and it's called it happens in the church in fact that wonderful church which paul built in ephesus things the one place where he stayed for three years he said the next one he preached night and day for three years to calculate that that's two thousand sermons can you imagine a church that listened to the apostle paul or two thousand sermons do you think boy that church was and during the end it didn't about 30 or 35 years after it was planted paul it died read in revelation chapter 2 that church is so bad and his leaders that the lord says i'm going to de-recognize you as a church i'm not going to consider you as a church anymore you are babylon that's essentially what he meant when he said i will take the lamb stand out of your midst and if you read revelation 1 the lamb stand was the big sign that it was a church of jesus christ when that's taken out his name's sake is a christian church just like must use the church yesterday but the lamb stand is gone that is the church all planted and not really planted where he spent three years preaching night and day a church that listened to two thousand sermons of balls drifted away in a few years but paul warned him about that also before he left in acts 20 you read that he called the elders and said i know what's going to happen when i leave i sense that the wolves are raining outside they're just waiting to come in they could not come in as long as i was here because i had spiritual authority the wolves are the agents of state and they couldn't come in but they sat outside the door saying well paul's not going to be here forever let's see who's going to keep us outside once wall is gone because they knew the spiritual state of all those people who nodded their head to paul and said yes brother paul we agree we agree agree but the devil knew their spiritual state he says these files are not like fall they're not radical they're not wholehearted they've got other interests in their private life they got the right language and they say the right thing in the church meetings but i know their interests in their heart and what they live for paul is the only guy i'm scared of and sure enough and paul said that he wasn't prophesying in acts 20 return there for a moment [Applause] he was not prophesying that was 29 after my departure savage wolves will come in and destroy this flock verse uh 31 is where he said i preached night and day for three years 2007. so when he said after my departure savage rules will come in it was not a prophecy it was a warning it need not have happened they had taken that warning seriously and repented and said lord i mean if i were one of the elders there listening to paul and paul saying hey after my departure savage rules will come in i would sit there and think why in the world should the savage rules come in just because fall is gone i'm here i want to be wholehearted like paul i'll search my heart say lord is there something in me that if the wolves can see that i'm a bit of a compromiser or i don't have that authority spiritual authority to keep all these wolves out or i'm too much of a men pleaser or someone who's not willing to speak the truth strong and straight i would judge myself and he says another thing that not only that even on the wolves from outside from your own cells from 30. you elders i don't know how many elders was there it says he called the elders in verse 17. let's say there were about five of them five elders sitting there that's all you're speaking to he wasn't speaking to a big church he said from yourself you fight people you will start speaking all types of perverse things not saying that jesus christ is not god or he didn't die for the sins of the world but usually begins with de-emphasizing something which are too strong take up the cross every day well not everything's so rigid about that the drift has started people will start speaking perverse things and then not only that they'll draw away disciples after them and despite when i'm sitting there i sit there and i say boy am i going to draw some disciples in the church after me turn against that brother there and that brother there try to build my own kingdom here paul's not a dumb guy in this bed of the spirit i would really judge myself and after paul's left i would all i would call the other elders say brothers do you remember what paul warned us please let us judge ourselves make sure that none of us seek our own that prophecy is not proof that but i don't think they did that and that is why we see the results 30 years later in revelation chapter 2 the lord says you've left your first love you're still doing you're still having your meetings and your conferences and your hymn singing and your sunday meetings everything's going on well if i were to paraphrase with revelation 2. your doctrines are all right you haven't gone astray you're exposing all the false apostles and the false adoptions but the love that you had for me in the beginning is gone that fervent love for me you had when you first got converted but grip to the truth and the fervent love you had for believers in your church who had weaknesses and were not like you and you would still love them in spite of their differences that's god now you've become an expert and a specialist but you've lost your love but you use them all that knowledge and all the wonderful sermons you preach if you don't love me like you did at first i take away the lampstand don't repent voice was to the eldest the senior people in the church and you know they didn't repent princesses lost anointing and so these are warnings to us turn to second timothy [Applause] our first time at least paul had a lot to speak about what's going to happen in the last days [Applause] one of the things i've often suggested to you is when you study the bible please try to ignore the chapter division so the chapter divisions are not inspired by the holy spirit man put them in broke up the bible into chapters and verses just so that we can refer to it more easily there are wonderful truths that you can discover if you ignore a chapter division i'll just give you two examples before i come to what timothy 4. turn with me to john chapter 7. [Applause] you also have the habit of reading a chapter a day good but uh i would encourage you when you finish the chapter read the three four verses of the next chapter also before you close the bible here's one example uh jesus had preached a great sermon in john 7 37 about being filled with the holy spirit and then they they answered and finally verse 52 you're not from galilee if this is talking about the pharisees to nicodemus there was no prophet arrived out of galilee and said in verse 53 everyone went to his own home and i missed something if i closed the bible there he says but jesus went to the mount of olives i don't think when i meditate on that i don't think he went to the mount of olives because i'll tell you why i think he went through nobody invited him to come home it's homeless in capernaum area by the city of galilee they moved there from mexico and that is a three-day journey you come to jerusalem and it's amazing all these people who are blessed by that sermon none of them said hey lord stay with us tonight i cannot imagine that jesus said no no i'm not going to want to stay with you he's not that type of person i conclude that nobody invited him but he never made a big fuss with the artist as well i'll go and sleep under the trees that's what he did i've learned something from that never to expect something from someone that hey i'm your brother or i'm a preacher those are things you care a little bit for me none of all that zero that's what i see in jesus and the wonderful thing is early in the morning next day he comes back and again he began to speak and he doesn't say like some preachers would so you know last night when i was sleeping under the motherboard it's just sort of give a hint to people that nobody invited me none of all that you know how some preachers give hints to people about something that you they expect you to do for them so here it says that jesus began to teach them and continue doesn't really happen i love that lord never let me give a hint when i speak not only in a sermon but even when i'm speaking to a person to hint that you should have done this for me and you never did it don't talk like that your wife or to anybody be like jesus i live before my father he always arranges the very best for me and i'm sure he had a wonderful time with the under the trees in the mount of olives which gave him the message for the next morning it was good that nobody invited him otherwise they were just sitting talking perhaps and he they missed out on that time god wanted to send it themselves something good comes out of everything i'll give you one more example of that and that is in hebrews chapter 11 the danger of missing out on something if you stop at the end of a chapter chapter 11 it says about this wonderful list of evil straight men of faith hebrews 11 fantastic men who split the red sea pulled on the walls of jericho stop the sun miracles that none of us have ever seen in our life but it says in hebrews 11 40 god the last words god has provided something better for us something better than splitting the red sea something better than stopping the sun or something better than killing liars like that or david or shutting the mouse of lines like daniel what is better raising the dead like elijah something better do you really believe that god has provided something better for us in the new covenant than even raising the dead god has provided something better for us and if someone were to ask you in hebrews 11 40. what is that better thing would you have an answer you won't have if you stop at the end of the chapter but if you read on you see the answer therefore therefore means what is the word there for for the word therefore therefore it is there because it's connected to the previous verse therefore god destroys something better for us and that better thing is first too to follow jesus who took up the cross and endured it how many people understand that enduring the cross in our daily life is superior to splitting the red sea and stopping the sun and creating the dead then your eyes are open to the new government because i tell you 99 of believers do not believe that they think the greatest thing they can do is raise the dead or do some miracle like that i tell you honestly i'd rather take up the cross and follow jesus every day than raise a dead person definitely bring me honor i can't fulfill god's purpose by raising the dead i can fulfill god's purpose if i take up the cross and that is the better thing that god has provided for me better than all the miracles mentioned in hebrews 11 i don't want to be like enoch who walked with god or noah or moses or any of those guys i want to follow jesus he says i want to run this race the better thing god has provided for us is verse 12 1 running the race that's before us and that involves a daily cross as we read in hebrews 12 2 that jesus took up the cross and sat down fixing our eyes on jesus when i read fixing our eyes on jesus i see two things i see fixing my eyes on jesus first part in his earthly life endure the cross and secondly now seeing him seated verse two at the right hand of the throne of god i have to have a double vision of jesus one is how he endured the cross despising the shame verse 2 and also seeing him at the right hand both are equally important i to run the rave i look at jesus the way he took up the cross every single day of his earthly life i say holy spirit god show me that i can really walk that way and run that phrase and also let me never forget that this one who did that is now the right hand of the throne of god so i can talk to him and exercise his authority and power yet taking up the cross i don't know how many believers understand today particularly among charismatics and others that this is the better thing we can hear all these fantastic testimonies most of them are false from these charismatic christians and we can have a secret desire i wish i could do that myself i never had that desire when i was a young believer who didn't know much but not since i understood the truth of the new covenant now i've seen this is the better thing god's given me the best why should i go back to second best so here's another example so turn back now to what i was saying one cannot be four verse ones but aha so that means i haven't gone to the previous version whenever you read therefore or but or end you say what's before that what is before that is the great secret of living a godly life a great secret mystery is a new covenant word not found in the old testament closest to it is psalm 25 14 where it says the secret of the lord that's a mystery he's with those who fear him so i can know this mystery if i have reverence god and i to the humble it says in psalm 35 he will reveal his way so if i have humility and the fear of the lord that's what it says in proverbs but humility and the fear of the lord have riches spiritual verses so then i can understand these mysteries not something which is unknowable but it's noble only by humility and the fear of the lord if i lack either of these two it will remain a mystery it is a great mystery there are only two there are many mysteries mentioned in the new testament the mystery of iniquity in relation to the antichrist and second thessalonians 2 the mysteries of the gospel in the parables jesus spoke in matthew 13 he says these are mysteries and there are other mentions of that in ephesians 3 history but only two great mysteries one is this the mystery of how to live a godly life i tell you it is a mystery because even many people who have heard about the new government for years still don't live a really godly life at home or in their relationships so i can say hey this is a great mystery for so many people who understood it who understood so well that they can explain it to others are not living in godly lives in their home or in their personal life or in their financial life or in their thought life it's a great mystery then that people can understand it thoroughly in their minds in such a way they can explain it to others and still not it's not a reality in their life great mystery indeed but just by the way before i proceed the other great mystery is ephesians 5. that is first i told you how to live a godly life second grade mystery is how to build a church this is only two great mysteries how to live a godly life and how to build a church and that's why in cfc we have always emphasized these two things what are the two messages we've emphasized in the cfc living a godly life and building the church is the body of christ that's it why because of these these are two great mysteries mentioned in the new testament see here uh he's talking about a man must love his wife as his own body in that earlier verse 28 a husband must love his wife and his own body and he says we are members verse 30. christ also does the church verse 29 and because we are members of his body he loves us in the same way just like a husband loves his own wife as his own body verse 29 christ loves the members of us because we are his body and this therefore man must leave his father and motherfleet to his wife he's not talking about marriage he says this is a great mystery verse 32 i'm not talking about marriage now i'm talking about christ how christ left his father in heaven came to earth just like a man must leave his father and be united with his wife what he's referring to in verse 31 who in the world would have thought that that verse there which is quote this quotation from genesis 2 24 the time of adam and she'll leave his wife and leave his parents and claim for his wife i don't think that referred to christ in the church but he says i'm referring to christ on the church i'm not talking about husband and wife if the way christ left his father came to be united with us we have to leave our earthly connections and be united with him as his bride so this is the other great mystery how to build a church as a body of christ forsaking earthly connections united with him and how to live a godly life two great mysteries okay coming back to one timothy 3 16 we read great is the mystery of god in it [Applause] the living bible paraphrases excellent it says in the living bible it is true that the way to live a godly life is not an easy matter but answer lies in christ who came to earth as a man he was pure in his spirit how could a man be pure in his spirit through the flesh like ours by flesh i mean a self will like ours great mystery but he did it tempted in all points as we are yet without sin that's the mystery time of adam no human being ever lived and lived without sin jesus went through the whole range of temptation from a to z when he said on the cross is finished not just now since we're finished the whole range of temptation that man is capable of being tempted by was finished also a very profound statement it is finished and there's the secret of godliness the way christ was tempted but did not sin for me this is the thing that changed my life and brought me to holiness when the holy spirit began to show me that if you want to know the secret of godliness see how jesus was tempted like you are i remember when i first understood it i you say lord now i'm being tempted severely in this area you were tempted like this when you were 27 years old in nazareth how did you react to it the holy spirit of god showed me how did jesus react when he was 27 years old and tempted exactly like i am being tempted right now my thoughts or attitudes or anything i want to follow him it's a great mystery let's see because it's a secret because many people don't want to know it they want to indulge in their self-will and please themselves well then you'll never know it anyone who's determined to please himself and somehow live a godly life he will never know this he'll be able to explain it and preach great sermons in the church will not be true in his family life it will not be true in his personal life he will keep on committing what most people in the world won't consider sin just little slip-ups and all that all of what you like the person who's determined to follow jesus in every step is going to see the secret of godliness but now let's go to verse one chapter four verse one but the holy spirit clearly says that in the last days some i think it will be many will fall away from this faith which faith this secret of a godly life they will teach other methods of living a godly life such as don't get married verse three be a monk be a nun that's the way to holiness or even among some pentecostal churches you shouldn't get married if you're a full-time worker or fast fasting that's the way the holiness abstaining from foods god has created so many other means of holiness have nothing to do with the missed great mystery of living a godly life the spirit clearly says people are going to drift away from this mystery and try to produce other methods of holiness which he calls in verse 1 doctrines of demons whoever thought that somebody teaching fasting as a way of the holiness is a doctrine of a demon stay away from marriage can be holy is the doctrine of a demon it is in any christian church that teaches that i call it the doctrine of a demon because the bible says that forbidding marriage it's in the context of juan timothy 3 16 to live a holy life and there's a hypocrisy there he says of liars who all these people who stay away from marriage monks and nuns and all there's such a lot of immorality in their own minds and even the people who fast a lot of sin in their life the hypocrisy of liars claim to be holy with all these external disciplines and all that their conscience is steered that means their functions is no longer sensitive so in the last days this is especially in the last days we are living in those days second timothy chapter [Applause] three verse one in the last days difficult times will come what sort of difficult financially difficult no persecution no not even deception it will be very difficult like the living bible says it's going to be very difficult to be a christian in the last days [Applause] why because of this deception verse 5 people will hold on to an external form of godliness but deny its power now i say the form of godliness is the doctrine the power is the power of the holy spirit and there is no way to come to a godly life [Applause] without one taking up the cross bar of daily death and being filled with the holy spirit genuine fullness of the holy spirit the fullness of the holy spirit that enables us to put the flesh to death it says the spirit galatians 5 17 the spirit fights against the flesh and the spirit flesh fights against the spirit that's why we need the power of the holy spirit [Applause] and that is the power spoken of here a form of godliness is the doctrine it could be the doctrine of the new covenants i've seen people preach the doctrine of the new covenant who are not living a new covenant lies in their home or in their financial life or they get the reputation of being in a new covenant church but it's not the life they're living in their private life so those are the people referred to here they got a form of government they got a reputation that they belong to a new covenant church they got a reputation that they even teach some things about the new government maybe they preach in those churches but if the power of a godly life is not evident in their home life or in their thought life or in their speech it's that is why it says in verse 1 it's going to be difficult to be a christian not persecution but because it's going to be the whole lot of form of government stop people with a doctrine without the life verse 5 avoid such men don't seek fellowship with such people you'll be like them unless you can influence them change them but don't be a compromiser if your fellowship with them keep challenging them to godliness don't just sit back and be a diplomat okay we are in the same church we won't disturb don't like they say don't drop the boat i want to rock the boat wherever i go if it's not going in the right direction and just a diplomat you know don't offend anybody keep everybody happy the numbers in the church increase [Applause] i'm not saying that they should teach babies the truth no treat a baby like a baby either the child you speak chinese things but don't keep them as a child forever when they come nearly to the church i'm not touching you that we should tell them profound truths let them start with the forgiveness of sins but pretty quickly complete them to the cross the daily cross some of you when you get some time look through this book see how many hymns there are on taking up the cross every day almost fine the answer is zero even in a song like we sang today victory in jesus i can victory in jesus without thinking of the cross not being filled with the spirit those two things are not even mentioned there he plunged me in his precious blood and brought me to victory that's not how i came to victory i caught slaughter in the precious blood my sins were forgiven and i was defeated and defeated and defeated for years the lord opened my eyes and i need to be filled with the holy spirit and i need to deny myself take out the cross every single day then i got into victory how do you ever find anything like that you know and i tell you hymns have a tremendous power over us we don't realize that and those are not the hymns i think to myself when i'm alone i i've got certain favorite gyms that i sing to myself which are only a few verses that i remember like some of faber's hymns you know ever when tempted make me see beneath the olives won't clear shade my god alone how stretched and bruised and bleeding on the earth he made and make me feel it was my sin as though no other sins were there that was to him who bears the world a load that he could scarcely bear that's challenged me many times the voice in our verses like death to the world and its applause to all the customs fashions laws of those who hate the humbling cross so dead that no desire may arise to appear good or great or wise in any but my savior's eyes it has an effect on me if you're saying that i've been singing that was nearly 60 years and it has had an effect on my life i keep singing songs like that i tell you honestly i don't sing songs like he plunged me into the blood of jesus and gave me victory because it didn't happen but it's something more real which is oh some of eddie simpson's songs you know like he's got a lovely song and how can i waste my life and in short eternity is near in my life soon my body may die beneath aliveness assault how dare i waste my life i am not always and all for god i forgot him of his beautiful and always and all for god god many verses what i said was just one verse there are other hymns like that of christ and nation etc so the hymns we sing particularly the ones we sing to ourselves when we're alone uh make a lot of difference in our lives another one of mine which i love is uh still that he blesses is our good unblessed good is ill all is right it seems more strong if it'd be his sweet will there's another him of favors where think of it unblessed good is ill i don't want a good in my life that god does not bless i don't want a promotion or a money or and anything that god does not bless whatever i get must have the blessing of god on it otherwise it is ill unblessed goodness ill and all is right it seems most strong it'd be his sweet will i worship the sweet will of god and all thy ways adore may i live lovely more and more when i sing it i ask myself which is true i encourage you to sing some of these meaningful hymns it has helped me tremendously when i'm alone i mean i'm not a great singer but god doesn't bother about what i can sing well he sees my heart but i sing it to myself often even times on the bed and sometimes i don't have to sing it but save my heart and mind very precious the form of godliness is the great danger in the last days it's going to be very difficult to be a christian in the last days because around us will be humorous people who speak new covenant words the form the doctrine of godliness what is the doctrine of godliness this is a new government it's a form but without its power you know to we can have a lust for certain things which are not we don't look like evil for example i've often said if you warned your children about something they disobey you they mess up don't tell them i told you so never use those words to your children never use those words to a brother something you warned a brother you shouldn't do this and he went and did it and he messed up and he comes to you brother please help me i messed up never say i told you so i never my younger foolish days i've said it but it'll never come out of my mouth now because i'm not a great expert to stay effective god has the right to say but not me my word should be never mind let's fix it you messed up let's fix it that'll help and encourage that person more than i told you sorry i'd help them i told you solely show them that i'm the great expert it will make him my slave forever i don't want him to be my slave forever in fact whenever i give the person advice i will say a lot of people come to my home and ask for advice i tell them at the end of it i say listen now when you go home don't do what i say please go home and pray about it i'm not god i've given you better advice i want you to have a direct connection with christ take what i say and take it before the lord and if you feel free to do it do it if you don't feel to do it you feel to choose another part go that way and ask god don't go against your conscience and if i i also tell him this if after you choose the other way you the whole your life gets messed up and you come back to me i will not tell you i told you so i assure you i'll help you to fix it that's how i have built fellowship with many many people who do not look upon me as some guru or pastor who's never wrong but who's the helper i mean the holy spirit's called a helper who am i we're only helpers don't ever take a title bigger than the holy spirit people do i see all these particularly in charismatic circles you read about apostles so and so and profit so and so i think what about helpers also that's what i want to be even that's a big title because it's the holy spirit's title if i'm fully the holy spirit i'll be a better helper so be careful about those who form of godliness because there's no inner power and the reason they have a form of godliness is because they love the doctrine i believe in a church like ours but there's so much of wonderful teaching and they have so many sermons on youtube we can listen and listen and listen and if you've got a good mind god has got it all straight what we preach in cfc you can teach it you can go to a bible college and teach a class on what we teach and see if yet they may not be living their life and if that is true of people in our churches it is because of four reasons one was do they love money secretly two was for their love some type of pleasure could be sinful pleasure or an indulging in pleasure beyond where you don't deny yourself at all and third it's a they're not lovers of uh lovers of pleasure lovers of money and their guard is lovers of self first to uh i left you to the lodge because that's the most serious thing you can be a lover of money or a lover of pleasure or a lover of self instead of being a lover of god that's the right type of lover so there are three types of wrong lovers lovers of self-lovers of allah money and love of pleasure rather than lovers of god and that is why that is the form of godliness form of godliness is where persons claim the power is when a man really loves god with all his heart but he has the right doctrine but inwardly he loves money he loves pleasure and he loves himself and paul says further to come in chapter four so much he has to say about the last years to timothy i solemnly charge you in the presence of god and lord jesus christ he preached the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke absorb with great patience don't give don't give up on people keep on doing but if they don't listen go and preach it the next sunday and if you still say they're not going to keep on preaching it the whole year preach the same sermon as need be for the 52 sundays i'll seek honor preach the word reprove rebuke your thought with great patience because the time will come and i believe we are coming to that time they will not listen to healthy doctrine the word sound is high from a greek word which from which we get the word hygiene hygienic doctrine that's the correct translation hygienic doctrine is a doctrine of the new covenant which keeps us from filth and sin and impurity like the surgical surgical theory where all impurities are cleansed away they put all their equipment in a machine called the autoclave where all the machines are sterilized that is hygienic equipment and hygienic doctrine is that which is pure doctrine they will want to have their ears tickled with teachers who will tickle their years and i tell you christendom is full of ear tickling creatures who only want money from their congregation the result will be the people will verse 4 turn away their ears from the truth turn it by side to all types of myths that's happening in christendom today so that time has come how can we pray lord don't let these things happen it's going to happen and also when we look at church history it's good to read church history because we learn things from it also one of the things i've learned in church history is uh there have been many great movements that god has raised up through the years usually with one or two men being gripped by a truth which is not being proclaimed in the time when god raised them up say martin luther for example hundred and twenty years something like that the doctrine of justification by faith was just not being preached the roman catholic church can put money into the offering and the soul that goes to purgatory can slowly come up to god all that i mean things which we know is rank heresy today that was being proclaimed all over the world and people there was there was a bible but the bible was first bibles were printed only about 50 years before that but still there was a bible and they wouldn't read it martin luther read it and discovered the salvation as by christ and boy how the roman catholic church tried to kill us for proclaiming that he got a few co-workers and there is what lutheran church was existing even till today but it banks him within a hundred years or so after martin luther's time then in the 1700s god raises up martin luther preached the new birth and wonderful great man of god i respect him highly because i don't know whether i could have stood against the entire roman catholic church were chasing me to kill me like they did to him i i respect him he was living at that time he baptized babies judging from that he was truth was recovered slowly through that being buried for centuries one thousand two hundred years truth was buried and martin luther was doing an archaeology thinking up and discovering the first part of truth justification by faith then john wesley came along 200 years later and preached holiness by the time the lutheran church which martin luther started kicked out john messi they wouldn't let him preach there he had to be preached in the open air because they wouldn't let him preach in the prophet he was a reformer of that time and uh but he also baptized babies then a hundred years later came the baptist in the brethren movement that baptized babies and they formed the churches without pastors and elders and all that but did not emphasize the power of the holy spirit i've seen president assemblies today i grew up in them all the doctrine is correct but it's like doctor in the dark tower like the cars it doesn't move every part of the dog's car is correct because it doesn't have the power to move then came the pentecostal movement in the early 20th century all these and they also slid down pretty quickly most of them went after money and honor and all that so what we see if you read church history is one thing god raises up one or a few people to bring something to life which is not preached until now building upon now we can't despise them because today we are standing on the john wesley was standing on the shoulders of martin luther so he could see more clearly further distance and others came and stood on john wesley's shoulder and could see still further and we're standing on the shoulders of many many people so if i can see further than them it's not because i'm better than them i'm standing on the shoulders of these wonderful men of god who each were standing on the shoulders of others so our vision is wider horizon never despise them i don't i respect them very highly but what i say is the movement did not last because did not have such men of vision who were dedicated and committed so they just like i often say the followers knew the founder they did not know god those early ears knew god those who followed them knew the founder and his doctrines they didn't know god themselves a personal touch with god like the founder had that's how the movement decays so decay comes when we know a doctrine your wonderful relationship with some elder or leader don't have that personal connection with god the conscience says it is gives us revelation on his word frees us from the love of money and the love of pleasure and all these things which we have to fight a constant battle from i tell you i'm fighting that battle even today because these onions never get finished you peel off one layer and things are slush i got to the bottom of it no another situation crops up and i say wow there's another layer underneath that of something that i have to peel off some more and i believe it will continue like that until jesus comes when the last layer is peeled off and i will be like him completely but it's our job to keep putting off these layers not that dirty love of money that we had in the beginning but very very subtle subtle set of little things a little thought a little thing here or certain love of pleasure not love of filthy pleasure like it was in the early days very very subtle areas i'm not again i'm not saying that we should not relax i believe in relaxation especially for the sake of our children we must be willing to have for times of fun and pleasure with him i believe jesus remember seeing a movie of jesus which is the only movie that i saw i dared to show jesus like that you know i said we're playing with the disciples pushing them around and have you ever seen a move jesus you know just like equals they're pushing them and they're pushing them back i said great i said this is the jesus i believe in he was absolutely normal with the other from this great leader who is everybody stands in a respectable business i believe if he was playing with children he would play around with them kick the ball with them and have fun with them and they're very normal that is real holiness the many things we see is we meditate love the life of you purpose of the holy spirit is to show us the glory of jesus more and more in scripture transform us into that likeness but if we pursue that in our personal life my dear brothers you will be the most effective and useful brother church even if you can't preach not preach for nuts it doesn't matter you will be the most effective brother in this church to really say holy spirit of god show me how jesus lived this is a better thing god is first i don't want to raise the dead or split red seas there's something better god has proved to me tell me how jesus took up the cross every day i want to go that way and see jesus at the right hand of the throne of god always ready to support me help me answer my prayers never in a single moment of my life to have any bitterness towards anyone or to have an unforgiving spirit towards anyone and uh never an unwillingness to apologize to anybody whom i've hurt even slightly even as a young brother or a child that's how jesus was and and his passion for purity and yet recognizing that i don't have all the light paul's only said in one corinthians 4 verse 4 i'm conscious of nothing against myself that's my goal every single day of my life i'm conscious of nothing against myself someone who's more mature than me will see things in me that are wrong okay i haven't yet come to that brother you're in 10th standard i'm in sixth standard sixth grade you're in tenth grade naturally you'll know more than me so one day i'll get there i'm working my way little by little so let's make progress like that and i believe then we can mix of all the decay going on around us and be what god wants us to be filled with whatever god is placed on

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 17,451

Rating: 4.9250584 out of 5

Keywords: rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship, church, god, jesus, bible, scripture, standing, true, last, days, sermon, zac, poonen

Id: uwsKble8GYw

Length: 56min 2sec (3362 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 29 2021