The Final Examination of the Christian - Zac Poonen - May 25, 2019

[Music] one of the things I'm very thankful to God for his physical health as you get older and you see many people sick and unable to move about or knock down with something or the other I'm very thankful that God has given my wife and me health to be able to travel not for our own comfort it's never easy to travel I'll tell you that I never in the early days travel is exciting you go for place to place but after four or five years the excitement wears out and when we've been traveling for 50 years like we've been doing it's wearing and tiring but the joy I have to tell you honestly it really is I'm not exaggerating is to see hungry people like you who are eager to hear the word and who are eager for fellowship that just thrills my heart and it's a great joy to be able to go to different parts of the world where God has now planted different churches of related to CFC and where there are people who are really seeking not perfect people none of our churches are perfect none of our people are perfect I'm not perfect first of all but people who are seeking to press on to perfection at different levels some are in the kindergarten still some are in the first grade second grade some are little higher up but everyone's got one goal to complete their earthly education they don't want to drop out of school God has placed us on earth to get an education a spiritual education got a spiritual education when he was on earth do you know that me show you that verse there are many interesting verses which sometimes we miss Hebrews chapter 5 the education that Jesus got when he was on earth what could he learn being Almighty God as God nothing but he came to earth as a man and when he was a little baby the language they spoke in those days with a language called Aramaic I don't know what that is probably a version of the Hebrew but he had to learn the whatever is the ABC equivalent in that language right from childhood and he had to learn India to learn that two plus two was four and three x three was nine and to learn all that and grew up and and to learn the scriptures and so there was an education beyond that I mean this is the education all of us get not children can get but in Hebrews 5 verse 9 it says no sorry verse 8 Hebrews 5 verse 8 although he was a son that's the point he's eternal son of God who knew everything from all eternity but when he came to earth it says he emptied himself Philippians 2:5 he emptied himself and became a man emptied himself of all that position and power and knowledge he had as God otherwise you know come here as God if he had come here as God he'd be no example for us it's like an angel with wings trying to teach us how to swim across a river I'd say get rid of your wings first otherwise you can't teach me and if Jesus came to earth as God as some people believed he was only God then he cannot be my example he cannot say follow me I'd say I can't follow you like I said if an angel with wings tries to teach me to swim I'll say I can't follow you sorry but if he takes off his wings and gets a body like mine then you can teach me to swim because this body is pulled on by gravity and I say our human body is pulled down by sin temptation pulled down by temptation rather if you yield to that we sin if you don't yield to it we don't sin so Jesus had a body that was subject to temptation but he never fell into it he always overcame it always we have fallen many times from childhood but he never fell but he was eat as a body subject to temptation and so from childhood he had to be tempted in the areas that children children are tempted then how young boys are tempted and young men are tempted like that all the way to adulthood how full-time preachers are tempted etc so he learned obedience from the things which he suffered now when we hear the word suffering we immediately think of physical suffering that's the only suffering we can think of cancer injuries and injuries to the body and all that but the suffering Jesus endured was not physical physical injury is not a serious thing as serious as spiritual the Bible what is the things that he suffered from which he learned obedience so every word that is important he was tempted to disobey but he learned obedience that's the first thing we learned throughout his life he was tempted to disobey his father but he resisted it and he obeyed that is overcoming temptation and because there were desires in his body that temptation tried to attract those desires he had to say no to that and that in saying no to it was suffering that's the suffering spoken of here you know when you have to deny yourself something that is a suffering and that is a suffering that Jesus went through inwardly where basically we have a self that sits on the throne of our heart when we are born into this world that wants its own way okay all of you who got even one year old children know that there's a self inside that child that is stubborn it wants its own way from the age of one as soon as it climbs out of the crib wants his own way that is what is in man it's called my will now having my will is not a sin yielding to my will is a sin Adam had his own will he was not a robot he had my will when he was created he wasn't he did not sin it's when he went into the garden Adam and even yielded to my will instead of God's will that's when he sinned God's Will was don't eat from that tree of knowledge you got an evil my will for he was I wanted it's attractive to me it makes my mouth water the devil's just told me that it can make me very clever and make me like God I'm gonna listen to him what about what God said well forget about that God is loving he'll overlook it well he did not overlook it they got thrown out of Eden for disobeying God once if you want to know how serious one sin is go to Genesis chapter 3 and read why was why were Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden for how many sins one they lost paradise and came to a sinful earth for one sin that is to teach us at the beginning of the Bible how serious one sin is sometimes we think oh just once I just lusted once uh-huh that's not serious is it a little bit of cancer a little bit of poison a little bit of potassium cyanide he don't need much it's like that so my will is what makes us sin and Jesus had a thing called my will sure otherwise he was not like us and he never did it that was a suffering yet when you say when you have to say no to my will you see how much a child has to suffer inwardly when you say no you're not gonna get that a child says dad I want this no you're not gonna have it I want to go out and do this with my friends no you're not going to those friends are not good you're not gonna go out with them and that child suffers what is suffering there it's not physical suffering this inward my will is being slain and he has to do his dad's will now in the same way every temptation that comes to us is basically appealing to my will come on do what you feel like doing and you know that God is saying in your conscience that's not good a lot of things he says go right ahead there's nothing wrong in that you're gonna have your meal fine go ahead you got to go and work fine many other things your time to go to sleep fine but there's certain things where God says no that's not good for you but my will says I want it and you yield to my will you sin whether it's watching pornography or getting angry or stealing money or submitting false tax returns whatever it is it's my will you know God says to you in your conscience that's not my will but you say keep quiet I'm gonna do my will because I am going to gain something through this either a little money or a little pleasure or little something for myself or my you know my dignity and my prestige I'm gonna establish myself as the head of my home and I'm gonna keep my wife in the proper place and make her submit to me that's not the way you're supposed to live with your wife but my will why is it husband and wife clash because both of them have got it both of them have got a thing called my will and they clash is this my will that Jesus had but he did not yield to it and therefore he suffered you read that in John chapter 6 in John chapter 6 you read a one-line summary of the earthly life of Jesus Christ his entire thirty three and a half years is summed up in one sentence John 6:38 I call this the one-line autobiography of Jesus Jesus writing his own life story here it is I came from heaven that's how it began and what did he do on earth for thirty three and a half years I never did my own will for thirty three and a half years but for thirty three and a half years I did the will of him who sent me that is the biography of Jesus Christ's life in one sentence and when he says follow me he said this is the way I lived do you want to follow me or not this is where we have to follow him I did not do my will but the will of him who sent me that's where suffering came and all through his life he offered his body took the father to do his will turn with me now to Hebrews in chapter 10 these are all in your Bible and sure you read them sometimes because we don't meditate on the Word of God we don't get into the depth of it like I told you if you eat food and it doesn't get digested it does you no good at all your food when you eat it it's like reading the Bible when you meditate on it it gets digested then only gets converted into parts of your body until then it does not get do you any good you like that throw it up and get rid of it so the Word of God it must produce fruit in you so listen to this seriously when Jesus came all through his life he never did his own will as told you having your own will is not a sin Adam had his own will when he was created that was not sin when he yielded to that will he sinned always every sin is a yielding to your own will against the will of God where your will is agreeing with the will of God it's fine you do it where God says do it you do it but where your will clashes with the Word of God your will says this in God's will says this that's where disobedience comes in in Hebrews chapter 10 we read about Jesus coming into the world in verse 5 when he comes into the world that is when Jesus comes into the world he says it's not sacrifices and offerings you want but a body that you want isn't it a wonderful verse to preached in a church God doesn't want your offerings have you ever heard a church preach that we preach it we got about the only church that preaches it I don't know whether you know our attitude to offerings in CFC the first GFC church was born in India it started in our house 44 years ago and one of the things I discovered through by then I had been a Christian for 16 years I was 35 years old and as I observed Christianity in India from the age of 19 to 35 all Christian denominations I observed them very carefully I visited many of them Roman Catholic Protestant Methodist Baptist Presbyterian Brethren Pentecostal I visited all of them and I saw one thing in common it was a statement made by a French atheist in the 18th century called Voltaire he was an atheist very skeptical of all that he saw and he saw these various Christian groups in his day Roman Catholic Lutheran's and even the Methodists were there those days the early days of Methodism and different groups and what he said was I've observed all these Christian groups very carefully they've got different doctrines you know some preach this doctrine some preach that doctrine but when it comes to money they all have the same doctrine they all love money it is a very interesting statement I observed exactly the same thing which was Walter the Athey is discovered in the 1700s I discovered in the late nineteen hundreds is the same in India every Christian group is after money they're always sending letters to America or Germany or somewhere to send them money for this and money for and sometimes those Christian organizations exist only on a piece of paper the folks out in the West don't realize that there's no building here there's no church here there's no orphanage here but there's a paper with the letterhead saying some fancy name grace of God orphanage or something that it only exists on paper and sometimes where where they have children in their orphanages is a man's own children or his sister's children or brother's children gathered together and I saw all this going on and I saw all these people from the United States sending money to all these places and I I'd never been to the US then way back in the seven sixties and I thought these American people must be the most gullible people on the earth they don't even find out whether what's happening here is where this money is going it's just being swindled by this clever crook who calls himself a director of a non-existing orphanage and collects money yeah they were sincere people out there who gave the money but they didn't come here to check up what is actually happening here so and then I realized every group is like that the priests are after money the pastor's are after money there they take an offering I remember I heard of one church here that one of my sons attended when he was a student and he said dad you cannot believe what I saw they right at the beginning of the service they passed the background and collected money and then the sermon went over and then my time they had counted the offering and at the end this pastor says we haven't got enough money we are passing the background a second time they say can you believe it I said no I can't believe it but it's happening it was a craze everywhere in the world it was like this and I said Lord if we start a church it has to be different in the area of money otherwise we are just going to go down the same path with a slightly different color blue green orange whatever it is but is the same old love of money we don't want that so we made some policy decisions there right at the beginning I'm basing it on this verse offering you do not desire verse 5 what is a Lord desire he doesn't want our offerings it says here so clearly that means God's not after money he owns the whole universe why does he want your money Willie a billionaire on earth come ask you for money have you ever heard of a billionaire coming and asking you for money that's the way I felt like it there all these people begging for money asking this person that person for money I felt supposing the I don't know who's the world's richest man today but whoever it is if his son or daughter came to me and said hey mr. Putin can you give me some money hey you want money and your father's the richest man in the world ah I know your father must have disinherited you that's why you're a pauper okay what do you want you want ten dollars here it is the richest man's son coming and asking for money because the father disinherited him so when a somebody richer than the richest man is our Heavenly Father he's not a billionaire he's a trillionaire or whatever it is quintillion heir or whatever you call it he owns the silver and gold and everything on earth and his son that's you this pastor or preacher saying can you please give me ten dollars for our work it's an absolute shame and I felt Lord we're not gonna do that even if you have a rotten old church building because we can't afford anything better we will not beg for money we will not insult you our Heavenly Father by such cheap actions so we made some policies one no preacher or elder in our church we never had pastors we called everybody elders no preacher or elder in our church will receive a salary zero and we followed that now for 44 years we have a hundred and fifty elders in all our nearly seventy five two hundred churches with thousands of believers not one of them receives a salary not one of them is paid by the church for any service I say if you want to be paid find some other church not our church we are not here to criticize you but we say that's not the way God has called us to go secondly we will never take an offering in our church we sticking a bag in front of somebody's like saying give me some money now it's almost like these people who put a knife behind you and say give me your money it's something like that give me your money and I'll tell you how much to give at least 10% so we I don't see all that in the Old Testament it was true they had to give 10% of their grain or their sheep to support the Levites but in the New Covenant it's not like that since God loves a cheerful Giver now how can you know whether man is cheerful when you stick a bag in front of him so we said we will never pass a bag around and they graduated from bags to plates because in a bag you don't know how much the guys putting in but when you put a plate in front him the guys be embarrassed to put just one dollar there he has to put more of it as others are watching him so it's very clever the way people discover new new ways of getting money from people so we decided we're not gonna try any of these gimmicks we say we will never take an offering but we read in the Bible in mark chapter 12 that Jesus sat next to the offering box you remember that story and a widow came and put two mites into that offering box and Jesus saw it and he took all his disciples and see what this Widow put in there so I said offering box that's the thing we'll keep an offering box and Jesus will sit near it like he did in the old days because he's the same yesterday today and forever and he's the only one who'll watch who's putting anything there we're not gonna have people watching it Jesus will sit next to the offering box just like it says in mark 12 and he will watch who puts in and who puts in less or more that's between him and them not between him and us so we decided to keep the offering box and say those who want to give can put it whenever you want so that's how they have won in the door there that's how we do it in every church not always in a door but a block somewhere but we have some conditions written in most of our churches above that offering box five conditions number one are you born again in the third episode of John for each of these conditions there's a verse in the third episode of John it says only those who are born again do not receive anything from non-christians or Gentiles so that's number one condition it's a great privilege to support the work of God but you have to be a child of God first the wise God doesn't want money from anyone who's not his child now that's not taught in many churches they passed the background say whether you're born again or not just give money we say no you cannot put money in that box we put a notice there if you are not born again don't give secondly are you in debt do you owe money to somebody then what you're putting there is that guy's money not your money that guy's say hey give me my money first before you give to God right and Jesus said that give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar you remember that sentence then give to God what belongs to God so who has first priority over your money Caesar that maybe somebody you borrowed some money from or taxes give that first jesus said then give to God what is God's so that's the second thing if you're in debt Romans 13:8 don't owe anybody anything give that then if you're in debt don't give money here your house mortgage is exempted because that's not a debt because the money you borrowed there's a house there it's equal there's no debt there or you took a car on a loan there's a car there it's no debt there but other loans that you took I say clear that first and then thirdly 1 Timothy 5:8 says if a man doesn't take care of his family he's worse than an unbeliever so do you have needs in your family that are urgent maybe you're too poor to feed or educate your children then go ahead feed and educate them we don't want those children growing up one day saying the church stole our dad's money and so we never got enough food or education we don't want any child in our church to ever say that feed them clothe them educate them and then give to God and then fourthly do you have anybody who's got to have you hurt somebody in some way jesus said in Matthew 5 if you hurt somebody and come with your offering to the Lord don't put it don't give the offering to God go and be reconciled to that person then come and give your offering so that's the number four condition we put there if you have hurt somebody go and ask his forgiveness then come and give your offering of this God will not accept it and number five give cheerfully that means don't give in order to get a reward from God some people say give 10% to God God will give you a better interest in the bank we don't teach all that type of stuff we're not doing business with God he's not a businessman he's a father and he doesn't want your money give cheerfully not reluctantly to ease your conscience or some pressure from someone or to do business with God I'll do this for me what do you do for me no give cheerfully say Lord I don't want anything from you I'm so thankful for what you've done for me here is my offering of gratitude if you have fulfilled these five conditions give and you know India is a poor country and we decided to follow that not only in the cities but in the poorest villages and somebody asked me once Brothers Act with all these filters that people have to go through do you friendly does anybody put anything into this box I said sure do you know that every church building that we ever built in India and we have built a number of them we have to build church buildings in India because you can't rent many places they belong to non-christians they will not give it for church purposes if you have a meeting in a house in the house is rented belonging to a non-christian he tell us to vacate if you're gonna have Church meeting so we are compelled to mean we can't meet in many houses and we have to meet and in a proper church building but every single church building that we have built in the villages and the towns and cities of India we have built with taking zero loan from a bank now if we explain this church policy with these five conditions which bank will give a loan in any case they say that's the way you collect money sorry we can't trust you to repay the loan and so we never went to a bank and we every building I just want to say that to say that if you honor God you honor you in the poorest country in the world sure so that's the policy we followed we said God does not want your offering Hebrews 10 5 what does he want then your body romans 12:2 in view of the mercies of god present your body do you know the equivalent of the old testamental physical lamp was Jesus on the cross the Lamb of God the equivalent of the Old Testament circumcision was the cutting off of the lusts of the flesh that we do and throwing them away the equivalent of the Old Testament going into the Red Sea and coming out from Egypt is a picture of water baptism the equivalent of the Old Testament cloud coming down upon the Israelites is the baptism in the Holy Spirit they : to the Old Testament Egyptian soldiers buried under the Red Sea is the old man which got crucified on the cross the equivalent of the giants of Canaan are the lusts in our flesh that we have to kill God kill the old man he killed Egyptians but we have to kill the Canaanites we have to modify it so exact these pictures in the Old Testament everything in the Old Testament has a picture here the serpent lifted up in the wilderness a serpent can a serpent be a picture of Jesus Christ yes jesus said that in Matthew that depth chapter 3 as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness so shall the Son of Man be lifted up on the cross second Corinthians 5:21 says Jesus became sin on the cross you know we don't realize what a price he paid there for us he actually became sin not his sin he had never seen him as our life he became sin it was a serpent there's a picture of Christ hanging on the cross boy that makes me weep and once make me love him like anything everything has a picture so what is the Old Testament type a picture of there they offered that tithe in the New Testament what should we offer our body not a time well you get that from brother Zack here Hebrews ten five not an offering but a body dear brothers and sisters let me tell you God doesn't want your money he's not a beggar he's a richest person in the universe but he does want your body I remember once when I was many many years ago before early it is my before CFC was born I was traveling I was coming from abroad into India and you know they were very strict on customs duties if you bring anything from abroad here to pay duty on that item that you bring even if it's a small item and the Lord told me don't be like other people who hide everything in the corners of their suitcases so that nobody can find out what's there put it right on top let the customs people see it and pay your duty and then the Lord said me something I've never forgotten I have no shortage of money the Lord told me I'll give you enough money more than enough to pay your duty but I do have a great shortage of righteous people don't add to the shortage of righteous people by being unrighteous yourself I have no shortage of money when I have a shortage of righteous people on earth I said Lord I'll remember that all my life I will never be a slave to money because you have no shortage of money but you have a shortage of righteous people I'm not going to add to that shortage by impurity by watching pornography by losing my temper I'm not going to add to the shortage of righteous people on this earth or by cheating the government in any taxes or by not paying back my debts and so all my life I'm 79 years old today I have never been in debt even one cent to a single man because I didn't want to dishonor God if he didn't have money my wife and I never bought something we never believed in buy now pay later No earn now then buy and we don't regret it little little things you know it's in the little things that we disobey God when your children disobey you where is it is it when they go out and murder somebody or they go and commit adultery or they steal a bank that's not why your children obey disobey your children's disobedience in the small things maybe they're out playing games and the mommy says come in time time to come for dinner or time to do your homework no mom just wait that's why they disobey you and humans disobey God not in the big things small little little things God wants your body he wants your eyes that you never sin with your eyes he wants your tongue that you never sin with your tongue that is what he wants not your money so Hebrews ten five offering you don't desire but Jesus is saying but a body you prepared for me Jesus didn't come to earth to pay Stites no he came to give his body and he said again you have taken no pleasure in offerings but as it is written in the Bible verse seven this book is the Bible I have come with this body never to do my own will but to do your will that is what God wants that you give your body to God and say father in this body I will never do my own will I will do your will that's what he wants not not your tights and your offerings and after saying that he said again a second time how many times does God have to repeat it because he knows how many Christian preachers will preach the opposite offering you don't desire verse eight a second time you don't take any pleasure in that but what does he take pleasure in verse nine I've come to do your will he has taken away that first covenant which required offerings and tights and all that he's taken it away in order to establish the second covenant verse nine which is he wants our body now do you understand that the current of the Old Testament offerings is your body I'd like to have a scripture to prove everything I teach everything the equivalent of the Old Testament typing and offering is you presenting your body so don't think you can escape by saying Lord I'll give you my tithe instead of my body let me use my eyes as I like to watch what I like to read what I like let me use my tongue to speak what I like to do whatever I like with my tongue let me use my body take it wherever I like but I'll give you my offering it's like bribing God you know how people bribe government officials here's the money let me do what I like in this company it's a bit corrupt but here's some money just keep quiet you think you can bribe God like that you give your money to God and say Lord let me do what I like in my body but here's your money to keep you happy you cannot bribe God and a lot of people give money to try and bribe God it does not work and if you don't discover it now you've discovered it in the day of judgment your money will be in the trash he will ask you what did you do in your body let me show you that also I'll show you everything in Scripture 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 2nd Corinthians in chapter 5 and verse 10 one day we will all appear at the judgment seat of Christ don't ever forget that in India in schools we tell children be be prepared for the final examination in the in in the olden days in the schools in India I remember when I was in school the most important examination was the final examination have you had many monthly tests to prepare you for that but whether you got promoted to the next class or not depended on how you fared in the final examination so the end of the school year we had a final examination in maths and science and geography and history and social studies and all that and only if you passed in that you could go to the next class so here is the final examination at the judgment seat of Christ we're going to be examined and what the this is what is going to God gonna examine that day here it is 2nd Corinthians 5:10 not how much money you earned not how many times you went to church No second Corinthians five friend we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that we will be rewarded or punished recompense means rewarded or punished it could mean both a recompense can be for good or for bad so you'll be rewarded or punished like in the school final examination you'll either pass or you'll fail you like to sit in the same class or go to the higher class recompose for what for what you did in your body according to what you did in your body whether good or bad not according to how much money you put in the offering box no not according to how much missionary work you did or how many times you went to church but what you did in your body 24 hours a day every day of your life that is going to be what you are judged with that's why we tell people be careful what you do with your body let me show you another verse I often say this is one of the verses which most Christians just do not believe a verse which most Christians that I have met do not believe in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 36 and 37 read it and tell me whether you believe it with all your heart Matthew 12 verse 36 and 37 you have had it in your Bible all your life I'm sure you've read it but did you take it seriously Jesus I tell you every careless word that men shall speak every useless word they shall give an account for it in the day of judgment not the big massive things careless useless words that you spoke to hurt people words that were lies words of anger words of gossip and judgment of others useless words that produce no profit one day you'll give an account in the day of judgment do you know there's a recording going on of your whole life in your memory our entire life from the day we were born has been recorded in a tape in our memory and one day all that the Lord will do is press the rewind button when you stand before him and play back on a video screen on a pray back on a screen this videotape of your memory for the whole world to see what you did what you spoke what you thought what your attitude was that also comes on that video tapes amazing video tape that you can record your attitudes and your motives with which you did certain things everything is going to be accounted for in the day of judgment that's why he's given your conscience it tells you that was wrong or what you're going to do is wrong what you're just going to sign there is a false statement continuing to look in that direction is wrong and you tell your conscience shut up I don't want to listen to you you say that your conscience again and again again the conscience will shut up and you'll have no more sensation to sin that is called spiritual leprosy my wife worked among lepers for many years so I got a little understanding of leprosy one mark of leprosy is when you get leprosy on your skin there's no more sensation there you can scratch it pull it do anything I've heard of people with leprosy trying to turn a stiff the key in a lock it's the lock is stiff they twist the key is bent that metal key and the hands are bleeding but the leopard doesn't feel a thing he doesn't feel a thing I've heard of people who leprosy at night when they are sleeping the rats come and bite off doze and eat them and the leper doesn't feel a thing he wakes up in the morning and say hey where's my tow gun that never happens to you because you don't have leprosy loss of sensation is one of the worst sicknesses you can have when you don't feel pain you think pain is a problem pain is one of the greatest blessings you got in your body never forget that because when you have a pain in your stomach you know something's wrong and you take some treatment for it when you have a headache you know something's wrong when you get you get hurt somewhere pain tells you do something about it you break a bone you feel pain pain is the greatest blessing in your body and pain in your conscience is the greatest blessing in your spirit don't devalue it pain is telling you something wrong in your body set it right and pain in your conscience is telling you what you're doing is wrong set it right you don't listen to it then we account for it in the day of judgment the only way the sins in our video tape can be erased thank God there is a way when you repent say Lord I'm really sorry for what I did there I never want to do it again please give me strength never to do that again that thing which is on my videotape which I did 20 years ago which nobody knows but you know and my memory knows it it's stored there the thing that I did 35 years ago which I myself try to forget because it's so terrible my video tape is not forgotten and it'll come back in the day of judgment lord I want it removed can be removed by repentance Lord I'm sorry for what I did I won't never want to do it again I believe that Christ hung on the cross and suffered hell for that sin please blot it out with your blood it will be cleansed that's the only way thank God if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to cleanse us from all unrighteousness thank God for the gospel but if you take advantage of that and see that's great then I can keep on sinning and keep on asking the blood to erase it and in the day of judgement when the video tape is played none of these things will be visible I will not be put to shame nobody will know hi yes they will because when the video tape is played they'll see all these big blank sections in it hey what were you doing that time there's a blank section the video tapes running and there's nothing happening there and then another place another banks have frequent blank sections of things in your life that are wiped out everybody will know they won't know what you did but they certainly know that you were up to some mischief there which had to be blotted out I don't want that embarrassment God will blot out my past but I'll tell you one thing he wants us to take seriously from now one last verse maybe you did not know all these things which you're hearing today but you know them now Acts chapter 17 it's one of my favorite verses which I say to encourage people this is a word for your encouragement Acts of the Apostles chapter 17 and verse 30 remember it all your life it's a message of hope and forgiveness acts 17 verse 30 God has overlooked your times of ignorance but now he's telling people everywhere to repent means turn from your sin acknowledge your sin and give it up what about maybe up till today you never knew how serious sin was how serious careless words were how serious some of those things were which you thought it's all forgotten it happened 40 years ago no 725 years ago even my wife doesn't know it is all forgotten nobody knows what no no no no it's in your memory but God is willing to overlook it because you are ignorant of the seriousness of sin I believe if you if you saw the seriousness of watching pornography if you only saw what damage it does to your soul permanently you would never watch another prone graphic thing even for one second but because you don't know that damage is doing to it's like the people who take drugs they don't know the damage it does you know that drugs ruin you so you avoid that but you don't know the truth the harm pornography does to you ignorance it's like illiterate poor illiterate women in some religion don't know cancer as a serious thing they can even take poison not knowing how bad it is so there's a lot of spiritual ignorance among people but you need now those times of ignorance is over you have come to the church you have heard God's Word I've often told people in my church it's a dangerous thing to come to this church if you're not serious about holiness if you are not serious about holiness I tell my dear friends please don't come to this church again go to some other church where they don't preach on holiness you will God will not demand much from you because to whom more is given more is required the examination level is much higher in the 11th grade than it is in the first grade sure and a church that is preaching 12th grade stuff will have a higher examination God will examine them by then some church that is only preaching kindergarten stuff so it's a serious thing that you've heard many things but okay the times of ignorance up till now you are ignorant of what you heard today and these days and that some of you who listen to me on the internet have heard before that you were ignorant God says I overlooked them it's gone I will not hold you responsible for that the blood of Jesus Christ takes care of that but now that you know repent he's not saying overcome sin he's saying turn away from sin run in the opposite direction and little by little God will help you to overcome it as well let's pray Heavenly Father please help us to take these things seriously that we can live a life on earth that glorifies you help us not to forget your world that is our body that you desire pray in Jesus name now just you know there are about 30-40 books at the back and I just want to mention some of them for your benefit most of these books like little ones are only about four dollars each and some hard bound buns at ten dollars each we don't just by the way I don't get one cent from this I don't believe in royalties I'll tell you why because Jesus and Paul didn't believe in royalties or what they spoke and wrote most Christian authors make millions through their royalties we get nothing we don't want it we trust in a Heavenly Father who is the richest person in the universe one very important book for those of failed in their life it's called the purpose of failure how God can bring something good out of your failure and this is a book of but various events in my life is like a little testimony of my life I never wanted to write it but one of the magazines in India wanted me to write little little articles for them every month for four years and they accumulated it and made a book out of it it's called the day of small beginnings it's it's entirely personal testimony of my life and this is a book which is the most recent one of how we have tried to do God's work in CFC churches in the last 44 years it's called God's work done in God's Way not just God's work when God's work done in God's Way and so if you're serious about doing God's work in your hometown or wherever you are in God's Way here's the book I would recommend and here's a book that santosh here the elder of this church is written called a congregation the club in the church there's a world of difference all churches are not true churches some our congregations some are clubs and some are churches you can read and know the difference god bless you all [Music]

Channel: River of Life Christian Fellowship

Views: 39,761

Rating: 4.8274508 out of 5

Keywords: final, examination, real, full, gospel, zac, poonen, family, discipleship, conference, 2019, sermon, rlcf, river, life, christian, fellowship

Id: ILprhdo-Krs

Length: 48min 8sec (2888 seconds)

Published: Mon May 27 2019