The Pathway to True Worship by Zac Poonen

[Music] it's a wonderful thing to be gripped by the Lord Jesus in our teenage years because you have your whole life ahead of you before you have made some of the most major decisions that people make on earth what job to take where to live whom to marry there are many people who find christ after they have taken those decisions and they can cannot go back on some of them and sometimes they've married the wrong person or messed up their life in so many ways but it's wonderful to know Jesus when you're young I'm so thankful that I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 19 years old that's 57 years ago and I can honestly say that my life has been very exciting and it gets more and more exciting as time goes on to know Jesus personally it's the most wonderful thing in life I hope you'll be able to say that if the Lord tarries and you live as long as I am but there were certain things that the Lord impressed on me very early in life I did not come to Christ to go to heaven that's one of the first things a lot of preachers who scare people and say you'll go to hell if you don't receive Christ it's true people who live in sin end up in Hell eternally and they say turn from that and trust in Christ but in my case I did not give my life to Christ to go to heaven I loved him because he first loved me and that's what made all the difference in my life and even today I'm not looking forward to go to heaven I'll tell you honestly I'm looking forward to being with Jesus and there's a lot of difference you think it is the same but it's not the same if you're longing is to be rid of this evil world and rid of sorrows and sicknesses and trials and problems and heaven will be comfortable I don't know whether you'll have a satisfying Christian life on this earth I've had a very very satisfying Christian life with many many trials many difficulties and it's through those trials and difficulties that the Lord gave me a ministry so I don't regret any of them the opposition of men has never bothered me because I've learned to walk with Jesus all the time so I want to encourage you young people to begin your Christian life with devotion to Jesus Christ and never to lose that because that's the secret of the Christian life it's not doing things for him what is being with him and living in a relationship with him and the more we fellowship with Jesus Christ personally the more we imbibe his spirit and that's how we come to an overcoming life and that's how we come to a life that's completely fulfilling so in my relationship with Christ from the beginning I meditated a lot on the cross on what Calvary meant for Christ what he went through to save me how he gave up everything to save me from an eternal hell and his love for me gripped me so much that I felt there was nothing I would withhold from him you know if you begin your Christian life recognizing how much Christ loves you it'll be much easier later on to fulfill his plan for your life so I was gripped by wanting to love Jesus and then the other thing that came to me when my I was young at that age was that God had made a plan for my life before I was born no I don't know how many of you believe that but it's written in the scriptures in Psalm 139 the days of my life were numbered before that was even one of them and they were all written down in God's book so the way I understood it was that God had planned my life where I was to be what I was to do whom I was to marry everything and I had made my own plans too before I was converted before I was 19 I've made my plans and I thought is it possible that I can make a better plan than God can make for me no God sees the whole future he's all the dangers that I can face and he sees what potential I have what he's created me with and he can make the best plan for my life I can never make a better plan than his and so I decided right there early in my life that I would try to find out what was God's plan for my life and I said Lord whatever it is I'll accept it I found that sacrifice was a very important part of God's plan if you're not willing to choose the way of sacrifice I can tell you right now you will never fulfill God's plan for your life Jesus Christ is our example and his life was one continuous life of sacrifice right from the time he was born and grew up as a little child he was Almighty God and he had to humble himself and be like a little child in a home obeying imperfect parents he was perfect some of you young people probably see a lot of imperfections in your parents and you think you're better than them whether there was one person on earth who was really better than his parents it was Jesus as he grew up I'm sure he could see many imperfections in Joseph and Mary because they were imperfect but he was perfect but the Bible says right up to the age of 30 he obeyed that he submitted to them that wasn't easy you children know it's not easy to obey your parents when you're a teenager Jesus submitted as a teenager and there was a sacrifice that the sacrifice was to deny his own will that was a sacrifice he had to make and also he had four younger brothers and two younger sisters we read of them in mark chapter six and that must have involved a lot of self-denial when you know how it is when you have younger brothers and sisters and particularly you're really upright and good those younger brothers and sisters can try to irritate you try to get you angry and Jesus wouldn't be angry and that would work them up even more his entire life was sacrificed before he even began his ministry and then of course his whole ministry was a life of sacrifice - there's a little expression in Hebrews chapter 3 half chapter 13 which I want to read to you in Hebrews 13 and worse 15 and 16 Hebrews 13 verse 15 and 16 through Christ then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God see the praise we offered to God right now was good very good but that may not have been any sacrifice in it because we didn't have to deny ourselves anything to praise God right now we enjoyed it a sacrifice of praise is when I give thanks to God when things are difficult for me and when I can't understand why God allows me to go through this difficult path and I say Lord I can't understand but I will praise you that's a sacrifice of praise when God does not give you what you want when he doesn't heal you of a sickness that you ask him to heal you are and you're still praising or a child dies when we prayed for her that's a sacrifice of praise there are many other situations like that where there are very few people have understood praise everybody understands but the sacrifice of praise very few people give it's easy to give thanks to God where everything's going well the sacrifice of praises when things are going wrong when things going and go against what we want and it says yeah let's offer a sacrifice of praise to God continually continually means it's like breathing there's one thing I do continually breathing so Mike what I learned from that verse is that my life must be a sacrifice of praise to God continually which means irrespective of my circumstances and the people who praise me or criticize me it doesn't make any difference I want my life to be a sacrifice of praise to God continually and the fruit of my lips giving thanks to his name in all circumstances now this is not possible in the Old Testament you'll never find a verse like this in the Old Testament the only sacrifices they offered in the Old Testament was a bull or a sheep or a bird or the grain these are the sacrifices they may be old old testament it didn't really cost them anything really I mean if you've got a bumper crop and you gave 10% of that to God what did it cost you nothing and if your whole herd of cattle and you gave 10% of that to God didn't cost you anything but in the New Covenant it speaks of a sacrifice that costs us something and giving thanks when I don't feel like giving thanks in the Old Testament there was no commandment no commandment anywhere in the Old Testament which said always give thanks but in the New Testament there is in everything give thanks 1 Thessalonians 5:18 in everything Ephesians 5:20 says at all times in everything give thanks the only person who can do that his 1 was chosen the way of sacrifice and I want to tell you most Christians do not obey those verses you ask yourself do you give thanks in everything you give thanks at all times I never did it for many years after I was born again the things I'm sharing with you I wish somebody had laid hold of me when I was 19 converted and said hey Zack I want to teach you some things which other Christians don't talk about he learned to give thanks in everything fight against sin and overcome it give up all murmuring and complaining I wish I had heard it then I didn't so many years of my life was wasted wasted in the sense that I didn't offer to the Lord the sacrifice of praise and difficult situations of course I knew how to give thanks to God when I got what I wanted when prayers were answered when things went well but this continual sacrifice of praise so I'm saying that few young people if you learn that when you're young this tremendous fruitfulness that can come from your life God leads us into a place of abundance through trial and it says you're further in verse 16 and don't neglect to do good and share so first of all in the vertical direction to God and then in the horizontal direction to human beings to our fellow believers and others you know like the two arms of the Cross is the vertical in the horizontal so there's a sacrifice of praise in the vertical direction and all types of circumstances that God takes us through the reason we give thanks is because Romans 8:28 says that God makes everything work together for good to those who love it and who are called according to his purpose if you believe that I believe it that there's nothing that any human being or demons or circumstances can do to me which will not work for my good they will all work for my good is it difficult to give thanks if everything is working for you good not at all therefore I conclude that the people who don't give thanks Christians are the ones either they don't love God how they don't believe that God is Almighty enough to make things work for that good as it says in Romans 8:28 every Christian who doesn't give thanks is an unbeliever in Romans 8:28 any Christian who believes in Roman and Romans 8:28 will give thanks in all situations because everything is working for is good I mean it's difficult to give thanks if you think something's working for evil I would find it impossible to give thanks if I feel something is gonna do harm to me but if something's gonna do good to me why wouldn't I give thanks so my Thanksgiving is dependent on my faith in Romans 8:28 that my God is Almighty you know to make everything work for my good and if you young people can be gripped by that right from your youth and then the horizontal part to share you know whatever God gives us it's not for ourselves alone a lot of people are miserable because they are misers and I think it's very appropriate that the word miserable begins with the word mi ser all mais as a miserable don't God teaches us to be generous God so loved the world that He gave and he gave sacrificially and Jesus came to earth and he gave he was always giving he didn't seek anything for himself he was the one creature who never asked anybody for money never he never took an offering after he preached his sermons the unique example he's the type of person we need to follow his life was always giving to others he was not thinking of getting he was thinking of giving and if you have learned if you learned from your youth to give and to share rather than stretching out your hand to get you know what it says in this verse verse 16 with such sacrifices God is pleased God is delighted when he finds a child of his like that who's thinking of giving rather than getting who's thinking of sharing what he has and sacrificing to bless other people and if you can learn these lessons when you're young it'll be fantastic your life will you'll have a glorious life these are some of the things I learned I had to learn on my own and one of the verses that I saw in Proverbs was this in Proverbs 11 and verse 25 proverbs 11:25 the generous man will be prosperous now the world doesn't believe that the world believes that the stingy man will be prosperous the man who hoards and hoards for himself will be prosperous but the Bible says the generous man will be prosperous and he who waters others will himself be water that's a great verse so if I want God to water me all the time and keep me fresh that's all I gotta do is give to others what God's given me spiritually materially physically I'm very thankful that one of the things I discovered early in life was that I must never serve God for a profit and you young people need to learn that right in the beginning because yes we're surrounded by a Christendom today that is always with preachers are always seeking to gain for themselves if they see a big crowd that's a great opportunity to take it take an offering so and get something for myself imagine Jesus spoke to thousands of people but he never took an offering from them the God is pleased with those who have a spirit of sharing and sacrifice to others and to water others what that means is that if I seek to share with others what I have God will water me and I found that through the years I have four sons and they're all following the Lord today but as they were growing up I couldn't always be at home because I was traveling to so many places preaching the gospel and one of the things I said to the Lord was Lord I'll take care of your family you take care of mine and he did he did that when we had little and I want to tell you this it's a wonderful thing to experience God in times of shortage and trial and difficulty I feel sorry for people who have plenty of money that when they have a need they don't have to go to God they can just write a check or go to the bank and draw money I'll tell you honestly I feel sorry for them because they missed what what I what I learned in times when I had very little where I couldn't go to the bank and drive to go to God don't you think you have an experience when you go through trials to some of you may be going through difficult times and some of you young people may come from poor homes than others who are wealthier homes and sometimes young people look at others from wealthier homes and say boy they can get this they can buy this they can have these clothes they can do this they can that don't envy them you learn a lot more when you have less because you have to turn to God every time and as you water others God will water you and that's a very precious experience but in it all seek to develop this relationship with Jesus which is very very important this intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ one of the books in fact the first book of the Bible that I studied when I was 20 years old was the Song of Solomon which to me pictured my relationship with Jesus Christ and you know I read verses in Song of Solomon like this Song of Solomon chapter three verse one on my bed night after night I sought him whom my soul loves that was my experience as a single young man many many times and it still is night after night whenever I'm awake I seek Him who my soul loves while other people are tossing around in bed thinking about other things worrying about things or angry with somebody or wondering how to make more money the next day I'm thankful that the Lord taught me early in life to seek Him night after night I want to urge you young people when you lie down in bed seek Jesus make that a habit in your life read God's Word and meditate on it it's so very important and the other thing the Lord taught me was to be a worshiper you know I came out of a church which is called a Syrian Orthodox Church that's the church I grew up in perhaps wrinkled as a baby and I didn't know much about the Bible but when I got converted at the age of 19 I decided to study the Bible thoroughly and in six months I read through the whole Bible and then I began to study it and study it every morning as soon as I got up I would kneel by my bed and pray and then sit at the table before I went to work I was working in the Navy and study the Scriptures then go to work and come back our single and at the end of the day again I'd spent hours studying the scriptures and kneel down by my bed and then go to bed I would encourage you to do that I thank God that there were no television those days to distract us I mean and I don't have television at home I don't get distracted even today there are so many things I want to tell you young people that can make you miss God's plan for your life not evil things the devil knows that some believers cannot be drawn away by evil things but by good things there's a proverb in English which says that good is the enemy of the best and if the devil can make you do evil he'll make you do good things and miss the best permissible things so it's one of the important things you need to understand what Paul understood when he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 he says in verse 12 all things are lawful for me but all things are not profitable do you know there are many lawful things on earth that you can do but all of them may not be profitable for spiritual development and growth so you have to be selective if you're not going to be selective you're gonna miss out on God's plan for your life Jesus couldn't do everything that he wanted to do he was selected what what to do he sought his father I mean think of the the way in which Jesus lived that even to when he was hungry in the wilderness at the end of 40 days and he had power to turn stones into bread and the devil told him to do it he said I haven't had a word from my father so I won't do it [Music] imagine he was hungry after 40 days of fasting and he would not use his power until his father told him boy I said Lord make me like that but I always am seeking you all things are profitable all things are lawful but not all things are in God's will for my life do you know that did Jesus turned those stones into bread he wasn't hurting anybody he wasn't stealing from anyone and he was not being a glutton after 40 days of fasting to either little bread is not flattening it's just it's a necessity and yet he wouldn't do it without seeking his father father do you want me to do it I want to encourage you young people to seek God's will about little things about little little things like that say Lord I want to do your we'll all say say to yourself there are many things lawful for me in this world but if I want to fulfill God's will for my life it's not everything is for me I have to silly aside certain things because they are not profitable fulfill God's will and he also says all things are lawful for me but I will not be mastered by anything don't let anything master you don't let food master you a lot of young people are mastered by food food is lawful but I've never seen a godly man in my life who was mastered by food no glutton ever becomes a godly man or woman never because he makes his he makes his stomach his god I will not be mastered by anything sexual desire is a very strong desire in young people and I asked the Lord once I said Lord widen to wait to leave a man is say 25 or something before he has his desire so that he can just get married I mean instead of that he is tempted from the time he's 14 or so and what the Lord said to me was that he wanted man to master it before he got married and all of you young people are drawn by the power of sex and with all the advertising and things you see on the roads and the billboards and everywhere magazines everywhere in the airports there's so much of temptation in this area don't let it master there's only one way to overcome sexual temptation and that's why running away from it says in the same chapter verse 18 who run away from immorality don't try to stand there and fight it I'll tell you who we should stand and fight Satan James chapter 4 verse 7 says when the devil comes resist him and he will flee from you but if a temptation to immorality comes it doesn't say resist turn and run when you're tempted at the computer to click on a link that you know is evil pornographic there's only one thing to do get up and run so the Bible says run away from it you can resist the devil and he will flee from you but sexual temptation is stronger don't try to resist it run flee flee is a strong word from immorality run away from it number of the number of people have messed up their life and ruined God's plan for their life in this area is amazing God showed us on Calvary's cross that he runs this world on the principle of sacrifice and you got to choose that way Lord I have to deny myself I have to have to spend my entire life denying myself jesus said in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23 if anyone wants to come after me and it applies to any of us young or old do you want to come after Jesus daily denying yourself let him deny himself every day I have to give up something which attracts me I deny it for Jesus sake that's sacrifice that such sacrifices God is well pleased and I want to tell you that that is what real worship is I told you that one of the things that God began to teach me early in life was to be a worshiper and even today I'm much more interested in worshiping God than in preaching honestly I don't have any lust to preach I have a great desire to be a worshiper because Jesus said in Matthew chapter for his reply to the devil was thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and then thou shalt serve Him Matthew 4:10 first worship then service if I don't worship I cannot serve and if I don't wash it properly I won't serve properly and now I want to clarify what worship means I have hardly ever found a church that explains to their congregation what worship really is I've spent years teaching our churches what worship is so let me show you in John chapter 4 this is very important Jesus told the woman of Samaria when she asked him a question about worship the woman said I want to know something about worship she said in John 4:20 the worship here or in Jerusalem or here or there and Jesus said woman an hour is coming and he was referring to the day of Pentecost and it already is when worship will not be a matter of here or in Jerusalem or there it will not be a matter of place because the true worshipers will worship the father verse 23 in spirit and truth and the father seeks for such people to worship Him when I read that verse I said father in heaven are you seeking on earth for true worshipers I want to be one of them I don't want to let you down if you're seeking for worshipers on the earth and so many people are busy serving I want to be a worshiper then my worst service would be more effective and I found that to be true so there's an expression Jesus used here called worship in the spirit he said that hour has not yet come the hour is coming when the true worshipers will worship in spirit in other words in all these thousands of years from the time of Adam up until now up until that time there were nobody who was worshiping in spirit but he said the time is coming soon when he will learn to worship in spirit what does that mean you see the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that man has got man is a Trinity God is a Trinity God is a Trinity in three persons but man is a Trinity in the sense he's got three parts to himself spirit soul and body like the three parts of the tabernacle and in the time right up into Jesus time man worshiped with his body and his soul but not in spirit he said that an hour is coming when the true worshipers will worship in spirit in other words up until now nobody's been able to worship in the spirit and if you look at the tabernacle the outer court symbolized the body the holy place symbolized the soul and the most holy place symbolized the spirit and that was a veil that was there teaching that nobody could worship in the spirit nobody could go there that's one of the meanings of the most holy place being blocked off with a veil nobody could worship God in the spirit only in the body and the soul those Jewish people could come to the outer court and the holy place that's it what does that mean who worship thing with body and soul is good you clap our hands raise our hands I do it I clap I raise my hands I raise my voice that's with my body and with my soul with my emotions feelings and and my intellect using words and emotional songs good the Psalms are full of it there's no worship from the spirit in the sounds you know that many people don't know that they think the Psalms is the greatest expression of worship yes up until the day of Pentecost but now it says the father is seeking not for those type of worshipers he's seeking for those who will worship in the spirit many Christians don't read the scriptures carefully if I had missed that I ever spent my life worshipping in body and soul all my life but when I saw there that the hour was yet to come and people were worshipping this where I said Lord I want to discover it but when Jesus died that veil was rent and now I can worship in this dirt so I want to know what worship in the spirit was what was it tap why did he say the hour is coming and now is not he also said it now is now is because there is one person on earth where should be in the spirit right now that was Jesus himself but all the others would have to wait for the day of Pentecost that's why he said the hour is coming verse 21 and yet it now is so that is what we see here and I as I began to seek God about this I found the answer in Romans in Chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 where the word words worship in the spirit comes one of the wonderful things I've found in the study of the Scriptures is that very often a difficult verse is interpreted in another verse and it's is this balance of two verses that gives us the truth don't go by only one verse the devil quoted one verse to Jesus he will give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways and Jesus said hang on there's another verse you shall not tempt the Lord your God that's the balance truth has got two wings like a bird don't go with just one wing one one verse of scripture all the cults in the world take one verse and build a doctrine around it there's a balance in Scripture a bird with one wing goes around and round and round and round if you live with one verse you go round and round and round so here's the verse that interprets what worship in the spirit is Romans 12:1 I see I urge you brethren by the mercies of God that means you know Romans is the book that's explained the gospel and it says in view of all these fantastic things that God has done for you what should you do in return go out and preach the gospel go out and give money to other people yeah wait before you do all that thou shalt worship and then thou shalt serve that's the order Matthew 4:10 so before you do all that in view of all that God has done for you be a worshipper how do I do that present your body a living sacrifice there's that word again a living and Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is your worship in the spirit that's how Danny SP translates it and I believe that's the right translation which is your spiritual worship so the way I worship God in spirit is by presenting my body first of all as a sacrifice to God and that reminds me of the burnt offering in the Book of Leviticus many people don't read Leviticus unfortunately but it's a wonderful book the whole book is about sacrifices but there are sacrifices for saying the sacrifices of Thanksgiving there are sacrifices of making peace with God but there's one offering which is called the burnt offering it's the most important one which is not first seen it's the very first offering mentioned in Leviticus chapter 1 where a person had to bring a bull cut it into pieces and put it on the altar and bernetta the fire would come and burn it up now one would think why go through the process of cutting up a bull if you're finally going to burn it up just put the whole bull there and burn it out no they couldn't do that then to cut it up piece by piece and put it on the altar and then the fire of God would come consume the offering that is how they worshipped the sin offering was not for worship that was the sacrifice for sin but the burnt offering was worship they were not asking God for anything it was an expression of gratitude and that's what mentioned here to present now today it's not a bull or a sheep it's my body and I can't place my body there and say God I give it I have to cut it up and it's only when we cut it up that we understand whether we are really giving it or not it's very easy for you to say Lord Jesus take my body it's all yours hang on cut it up I'll tell you what I mean Lord here are my eyes I give it to you my eyes have looked at many things that are sinful in past years my eyes have read many things that are sinful today I lay them on the altar as an act of worship I never again want to use my eyes for myself but for you I want my eyes to look at what is pure I want to look at use my eyes read the scriptures okay Lord hears my tongue I'm cutting up my body remember burnt-offering present your body a living sacrifice here's my tongue Lord I used my tongue boy from what all evil hurting others getting upset getting angry gossiping backbiting Laura giving it to the devil so many times even after being born again and even after claiming to be filled to the spirit and all but Lord today I'm giving it to you as an act of worship here's my tongue I want to use it only for the glory of God from now on never to lose my temper at anyone never to murmur nor complain never to gossip and back by it never to be curious to find out from other people information which is unnecessary for me nor I give my tongue to you and these hands Lord I've known a lot of evil with my hands I've written and typed a lot of things which are hurtful no more no more these hands are yours I give them to you these legs boy they've taken me to a lot of places I should never have gone to I offer my legs to you I'm cutting up my body piece by piece it's yours tell me it's that type of worship easy or this type of worship where we just sing and praise anybody will choose this sing a few songs that is not worship that is praise Thanksgiving very important but is not worship nowhere in the New Testament is this called worship even though every Church that I come across calls it praise and worship I challenge anybody in the world to show me one verse in the New Testament that calls that worship I've studied it I took up and coordinates and studied every word on worship in the New Testament because I wanted to know what God thought about it not what churches thought about it and I discovered what what shape was it here the other is soul and body it's good I'm not against it you see there are four steps in our communion with God the first is prayer very important Jesus taught us to pray we can ask for things whenever we have a need you can even ask for your daily bread material things ask for a house to live in money to survive on earth and ask for a job ask for a whole lot of earthly things marriage then we go to the second step which is Thanksgiving very few people get there there were ten lepers who pray only one gave thanks and that's about the proportion among Christians who pray and give thanks 10 % Thanksgiving is the thing we forget to do when the prayer is answered but that is the second step of communion with God thanking him there's no prayer there it's thanking thanking thanking then we go to praise praise is a step further higher where we are not thinking and what God did for us we're not thanking him we are praising him for who he is I mean even if he did nothing for me he's still Almighty God he's holy he's full of wisdom and I praise you for who you are and if you look read the words I bought into the habit of being very careful with my words when I sing songs because in the early days I would because I knew a tune and the songs were familiar I'd sing and sing and sing till I discovered I was telling God a whole lot of Lies which I didn't really mean so I decided to be very careful about the words and I discovered that all the songs that we sing prayer Thanksgiving or praise that's it so where does the fourth step of worship come in prayer Thanksgiving praise worship worship is here it's the most difficult of all and it's not with words it's presenting my body and saying Lord it's all yours it's presenting my mind it says in the next verse Romans 12:2 to say Lord my thoughts I want to give my thoughts to you my mind where I am boy I have spent my mind thinking of so many things sometimes lawful but not profitable and sometimes unloved I'll give it to you I don't want to be his it says don't let your mind be conformed to the world's way of thinking but to be renewed to God's Way of thinking this is worship and I'm very thankful that before I left this earth I learned it because there are so many Christians who haven't learned it in their entire life and I learned it long ago so I'm thankful that I and it made a lot of difference in my service my service they came so relaxed and easy and like rivers of living water instead of a strain because I learn to worship first if you think if any of you find you're serving God is a strain try learning to worship first you'll find service becomes a pleasure and a delight like it has been for me for the past so many years so as I said God who runs this world on the principle of sacrifice so if you can learn early in your Christian life as a young person this principle of sacrifice when I was about 22 years old God gave me a verse which I want to share with you I was still working in the Navy on a ship and one day I read this verse in 2nd Samuel in chapter 24 where David was asked by God to make an offering in a particular on the threshing floor of a certain farmer her owner second son of 24 so he went to that farmers place and said God's told me to make make a sacrifice for him here and give him a burnt offering and said to David David said I want to buy this threshing floor from you because I want to build an altar you neuron I said oh no oh King you don't have to buy it just take it free I'd be glad to give it to you as a gift you know how we all like to get something free well David was wise he said listen aronia if I get it free from you and I give something Ron also said you can take the bullocks here as an offering you can take the wood everything I'll give you free and David said if I get everything free from you and I give that to God that won't be any sacrifice in it it won't count for anything but if I pay the money and buy this land from you and pay the money and buy the bullets from you and pay the money and buy the wood from you then I give it to God it would have cost me something and that would be according to his understanding of Old Testament worship so the king said to aronia this is the word the Lord gave to me verse 24 second samuel 24 24 i will not offer to God that which costs me nothing and 54 years ago the Lord spoke to my heart is a young Christian he must never offer to me that which cost you nothing I said Lord by your grace I will never in my life offer to you that which cost me nothing my service for you must cost me cost me money cost me and it helped cost me rejection by people in the world and cost me countless hours of Bible study which I have to deny doing other things in order to know it so that I can serve your people and know your mind it must cost me something and boy the way God has rewarded me than my knowledge of the scriptures it's amazing how God is as I've sought to live that way he's given me answers to so many problems I faced in life by pointing out something inscription where there was an answer for that particular problem I faced and I come to this conclusion that there's no problem you can ever face in life for which there's no answer somewhere in scripture if you know where to find it but if you don't take the pains to study it you won't know where it is so I'm concerned that you young people from very early in life should be gripped by this principle of sacrifice don't seek to sacrifices giving not getting don't stretch out your hands to get but rather stretch out your hands to give because the world is got the principle of getting grabbing you know how a little child you put your finger in its Psalm and grabs it immediately every little baby's like that and that teaches me something that man's born with his spirit of grabbing there was a whole Testament person called Jacob his name meant grabber because he came out of his mother's womb he was a twin with Esau and he saw he saw going out and he grabbed he saw his leg and say hey I want to go out first and he came up grabbing his brother's leg and saying we'll call him grabber and that's what he was in his life he grabbed his elder brothers birthright offering him some soup later on he went and he wanted to grab one of his uncle's daughters and got the wrong one and ended up with two of them he was a grabber ultra-light he grabbed his uncle's property sheep and all that he was called a grabber and one day he met with God it's amazing how God cares and loves people and if you being a grabber this is a good verse for you Genesis 32 it says one day Jacob is alone with God now I'll tell you something about that Jacob this is Genesis 32 24 sometimes it's very difficult for God to get you alone if you can't meet with God very often in the crowd you got to be alone it says Genesis 32 24 Jacob was left alone and God met with him I have noticed some homes where they're always playing music some cars when they drive the car is always some music on how the Christian music it's the best way to ensure you never hear what God is trying to say to you it's not evil sometimes God can speak to you through that music as well but I find it's so important to listen to what God is saying to me I think of these police men police officers who drive crews their cruisers they've got a walkie-talkie and they're connected to the headquarters and if they haven't blaring music going on in their Cruiser they'll never hear what headquarters is telling them I've thought of it like that if God's got something to say to me and I'm just listening to this music all the time I won't hear what God is saying to me there is a time and a place for everything there's a time and place for Christian music but I find generally speaking very few Christians take time to be alone with God that's why they don't know God Jacob was alone with God and God laid a hold of him and tested and he asked him what is your name you know many years earlier his father Isaac Jacob had put on animal skin pretending to be he saw hairy he saw on his father Austin what's your name he said he saw he was not only a grabber but a liar but now got us and what is your name Jacob grabber Lord I'm a grabber that's the second thing if you want to meet with God you've got to be honest with him tell him you're a grabber and God says let me go and now you see the difference he says in verse 26 I will not let you go God unless you bless me those words have blessed me for years that's the way to come to God in prayer here was a man who spent his life grabbing his brother's leg his brothers birthright his uncle's daughters his uncle's property no you'd let go all of that he was grabbing hold of God and saying God I will not let you go unless you bless me I remember when I was seeking for the baptism and fullness of the Holy Spirit that's how I prayed I said Lord I will not let you go until you fill me with the Holy Spirit if it takes 10 years I wait 10 years but I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit I urge you to seek God like that and he'll meet with you he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him he's always been a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him Hebrews 11:6 if you have not been rewarded by God I want to tell you you've not diligently sought him there were only two parables that Jesus spoke on prayer one was the widow who went to the judge and kept on knocking knocking knocking knocking until she got the Justice she wanted and the other parable was a man who went to his neighbor's house asking for food for a visitor who came at midnight and knocking and knocking and knocking and the neighbor says don't disturb me he says no I'm going to disturb you I want some bread those are the only two parables Jesus spoke on prayer persistence persistence and in both cases they got what they wanted why is it very often you don't get what you want because you don't have this attitude saying I will not let you go until you give me this Lord I'm not talking about material things I'm talking about spiritual things that can make you fulfill God's plan for your life so the grabber finally grab God okay I want to say a few words also what worship from the Old Testament we read in Genesis 22 by the way this is the first time the word worships comes in the Old Testament first time Abraham had come to Mount Moriah God had told him to give up his son because his son was becoming an idol in his life Isaac God saw that and said go and kill him and Abraham went to Moriah and there as he was going up he told his servants wait here and he says in Genesis 22 5 I'm gonna go up there and worship it's the first time the word worship comes in the Old Testament Abraham had already walked with God for 50 years and he knew a little bit of what that type of worship was what was it it was giving up that which he was holding on to possessively Isaac if you learn to give up to God he will give it back to you with a double blessing if Abraham had held on tightly to Isaac hedeman and Idol and it would have destroyed Abraham's life sometimes we have to give up so Abraham gave up and did God take him away no God doesn't take away what's good for us he still Abraham taken back that's another thing you young people need to learn not to but learn to give up and let God give back to you in his time I've learned that in my life I remember as a young person God gave me the gift of preaching when I was 23 years old and there were other people were older than me in the church as I attended who were jealous of my ministry I was young they were the elders and they wouldn't give me any opportunities to preach and the Lord said keep your mouth shut I will open doors for you when the right time comes sometimes it will just keep me quiet I remember one church I sat for three years without opening my mouth and the Lord said keep your mouth shut those are the years God broke me and I'm very thankful to learning those lessons then God my ministry would be when God gives it to me not my grabbing there are so many people I find who go looking for a ministry they're looking for it they are looking for there I want a ministry here I want a music ministry here I want a preaching ministry there don't seek like that you'll be grabbing on to you'll be producing Ishmael's when God will reject let God give this table and I've seen through the years of God has given me whatever ministry I have I've never had to grab once I can honestly say I never grabbed anything in my life in the Christian life I never wanted it the same thing when it comes to marriage you know a desire comes up when you're young and you see a pretty girl or a boy who looks attractive to you and what is the thought come I better grab her before somebody else gets her that's not God's Way I better grab him before some other girl gets them it's very easy to have that attitude and Miss God's best I believe this that if you live in the will of God and you've given your whole life to Him and you've said to him Lord I only want to fulfill your will for my life I have no other ambition on earth to become great or famous or make money or anything just to fulfill that plan you made for my life before I was born in that plan there will be somebody plans would be your partner in life I believe that and I won't have to grab God will give it to me what did I Adam do to get Eve you know what he did he slept he didn't go running around the garden saying Oh God give me a wife and what the Lord taught me from there was if you're asleep in the will of God one day I'll wake you up and I'll give you the wife you want you need that's exactly how God gave me my wife I did not go running around trying to grab this one or that one I sought to do God's will in the right time God where woke me up and gave me my wife was the perfect one for me all these forty eight years so I want to say to you young people don't be an unbelieving Grabber say lord I trust you if that girl is the one you've chosen for me in the plan you wrote for me before I was born there'll be an invisible reserved mark on her nobody will be able to get her anybody who tries it'll fall through and that man is the man God's chosen for you there'll be this invisible reserved mark on him reserved for you this is the God we worship honor him and he will honor you worship Him and you get the best in life go around grabbing and you'll miss what God has for you many people have missed God's plan I remember when you know I was extremely poor because I'd left my job in the Navy and resigned my job and my income dropped 85% and I've given away all my money for God's work that no bank account and no income and I was trusting the Lord to serve Him and this proposal came for me from Annie was my wife today and her father said I'll never let you marry him he doesn't have a job he doesn't have an income I said fine let's trust the Lord and we really loved each other and wanted to we believed God had chosen us for each other so it wasn't easy for me to give her up it was like Isaac really it was like giving up Isaac I said Lord if you stop this through her father's objection fine I won't fight for it and I'll just pray because I will never be a grabber and in three months her dad changed his mind without even seeing me it's amazing what God can do if you trust him this is worship to give up miss Isaac that you want God's just give it up and he'll give it back to you from the altar and it'll be much more precious when you get it back that way this is worship to give because I realize I deserve I have really nothing that I can call my own one last verse job was another worshiper it says one day job chapter one he heard that he lost all his property and his ten children in one moment one day and it says when job heard it he shaved his head Taurus robe he was sorrowful naturally if you lose ten children you lose you're sorrowful he fell down and worshiped and what did he say when I came from my mother's womb I had nothing I didn't even have a shred of clothing on me all that I got in my lifetime was the gift of God ten children plenty of property plenty of money and if today the Lord decides to take it all away blessed be the name of the Lord he gave he took away and he worshiped do you see the difference there these men when they worshiped they gave up they didn't grab they said God if you want to take what you gave me Isaac take it back sure these ten children you gave me job says you want to take them back or take them away I'll have no complaint I had nothing when I came to earth these are the greatest men of God in the Old Testament and I want to encourage you young people be a worshipper be a worship or not a grabber be one who says Lord he will have first place in my life I will never in my life offer to you that which cost me nothing everything I give you a service must cost me something it's it's a pity when I hear the way people seek to serve God today without sacrifice it's a very poor service be a worshiper god bless you all let's pray as far heads before God you young people are the hope for this country in the next generation don't let God down by any foolishness maybe your parents have done many foolish things in their lives but you've had the art they didn't have the opportunity that you have you're a teenager and this from this time in life that God lay hold of you say Lord I want to fulfill your plan for my life that's all I don't care how much money I make I want to fulfill your plan for my life Heavenly Father bless these dear young people I pray it will go exceptionally well with them and he will raise up young men and women will be flaming torches for you in this land build your church and confound the powers of darkness we pray in Jesus name Amen [Music]

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 22,379

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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: donbfSW6jp0

Length: 68min 56sec (4136 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 26 2016