The Value Of Fellowship - Zac Poonen

so during the conference and [Music] subsequently I recommended a book called the congregation the club and the church it's a book that can be read in one day less I mean two three hours but I find that most believers don't have a habit of reading and that is one of the main reasons they don't grow spiritually they are so lazy they like babies who always want to be spoon fed spoon fed spoon fed they never think of chewing some food themselves they want milk milk milk and they wonder why are we so defeated in our life why are we so defeated in our home why are we getting angry after ten years of listening to the message I'll tell you because of spiritual laziness and it won't change in the next 20 years you'll be just the same even if you come to CFC one of the things that helped me the most in my life was reading books written by godly people whom I never met some of them are diet great men of God through the centuries and if you develop that habit I can tell you if you don't already have it if you develop that habit you will grow more in the next one year then you've grown in your entire Christian life till today but I still don't know how many of you will take my advice because most people are too lazy they are very eager to study for their profession if there's some advancement in their profession they read up the latest books and work hard because that brings money this will only bring spirituality and for them since money is more important than spirituality that's what they get the Bible says seek and you will find that's a law if you seek for money you'll get money you seek for knowledge you'll get knowledge you seek for spirituality you'll get spirituality it's not that we don't need money or we don't need knowledge but remember the first four words in the Bible in the beginning God if you make that the law in your life that in everything God will be first I'm not saying that he has to occupy 24 hours of our day he may sleep for seven or eight hours I sleep for about six but okay then you have to work for about eight nine maybe ten eyes need to eat and shower and be with your family I'm still believe all of us can easily have at least half an hour to one hour every day if you watch less television and all the rubbish that goes on there and if you prove to God if you prove to God that your word is more important to me than television you will find a radical change in your life and the reason I suggested reading that book that little booklet which take so little time to read and which I suggested that you pass on to every Christian that you know from some other church so that people recognize what is the difference between that congregation and a club in a church now you can sit in CFC for 20 years and never be part of the church if you read that book you'll understand it that's why I asked you to read it is it possible that you're sitting here for many years and you're still not part of the Church of the true churches God sees it and if you read that you'll understand but in a nutshell what is said in that book is about the two arms of the cross that the vertical arm refers to our relationship with God and the horizontal arm of the Cross relates to our relationship with each other and if you don't have both then you're a congregation or a club you know a lot of people who sit in big churches have no connection with each other maybe they'd like to listen to good messages and have a relationship with God then there's only one arm of the cross and there are other churches where they don't care much about their vertical relationship but have good relationship with each other help each other and good way that's a club but a true church is one where people first of all have a passionate devotion to Jesus Christ so that in the final day when we stand before him he will not have to say to us I never knew you see the word no is a husband-wife relationship word Adam knew his wife and it's Christ knowing the church Christ knowing you means it's such an intimate relationship you know the Bible says a man must leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife that means that's what all of you who got married did you had a great when you got married from the very first day you had a passionate desire to be united to your wife even physically do you have such a passionate desire from the day you were born again to be United to Jesus Christ if not there's something wrong with your conversion I think you should know that I know for many years I used to ask Christ to come into my heart nothing happened and I could have sat here in those days in the CFC church saying I have accepted the Lord I think the first time I did it was when I was 13 I said Lord come into my heart there was no change I was still interested in the movies and a lot of worldly music and things like that so I kept on doing it I don't know how many times you asked Christ to come to a heart but one day it became real and I don't think that has happened to many of you when it became real so what happens to a baby when it comes out of a boom when it's really full term birth you know there are babies that born at six months and one mark of a baby born in six months is it'll never cry it'll never cry for milk it's quite happy to just lie down there it's alive but it's as good as dead and if you leave it like that it'll die so they put such babies in an incubator and they warm it up and feed it in various ways because it can't suck milk and I think a lot of people are like that they were born prematurely born prematurely means they didn't repent properly without a proper repentance they just accepted the Lord that means they didn't see how serious and dangerous their condition was that they were headed for hell they didn't see that I mean the thought of Christianity is just a nice little religion to belong to it wasn't something life and death business sin was not as serious as cancer I don't know even today how many of you can honestly say I believe that anger is worse than cancer can you honestly say that to God I can I can honestly say to God lusting after a woman is worse than cancer to me I would be more disturbed if I lust it and got angry then if the doctor said you're in the fourth stage of cancer a fourth stage of cancer so what I'm with the Lord but I don't think I'll tell you honestly I'm not criticizing you I'm just trying to wake you up I don't think most of you see that and I have to tell you because I'm a servant of the Lord and the Bible says that I have to give an account to God in the final day not to you I have to give an account to God about what I preached to people whether I told them the truth or whether I try to be popular or whether I said things to tickle their ears and make them happy and end result is in eternity the Lord says too many people who sat listening to me I didn't know you now if that happens in spite of my warning them then I'm not responsible but if I did not warn them for example I did not warn them that anger is more serious than cancer if I didn't tell them that you won't hear it in any other Church then I am responsible to God the Lord will ask me why don't you tell them that anger is more worse than cancer that lessening out to women is worse than cancer that love of money is like something that will take you away from God using money keeping money under your feet as your servant is a very good thing it's like you have a servant woman working in your house very good you have two servant women working in your house law the work can be done you have three servant women that's like a rich man but if those certainly that servant woman takes over the house and tells you the master and mistress what to do have you ever seen a house like that where the servant determines and the master and the mistress humbly obey the servant I've never seen it but I've seen it among Christians where money is the master instead of being the slave I'm not saying we don't need money have the servant have three servants have ten servants earn as much as you like but make keep money as a servant otherwise you cannot serve God you cannot even love God you just said that you cannot love God and love money so these are things which you don't hear in other places so the reason I ask you at the beginning whether you read that book is just to see how seriously you take the exhortations in the church because a small thing like that if you don't take seriously I don't know whether you take the more important thing seriously at all and then what's going to be your feet I'm going to ask all of you if Jesus were to come tonight how many of you would be able to hear the Lord say to you this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased the way he lived on earth or this is my bill whom I am well-pleased in the way he lived or she lived from the time not time they were converted from the time they came to CFC at least happy with the way they lived I'm happy with the way they responded to the message you have to answer that to God God is my witness that I live every day every single day of my life judging myself repenting I have to repent I'll tell you why only for one reason I'm not yet 100% like Jesus Christ I'm discovering things in my life which I did not even know last year so spiritual progress is where every year at least you discover some new area of on Christ likeness in you not the old ones new areas like when you go from first standard to second standard you learn something new not the same old things you learned in first standard you go to third standard you learn something new I want to ask you whether since the years you came to CFC have you been discovering something new [Music] every year in your life of unpriced likeness that you're cleansing away just like you want your children to progress from each class to the next and to get good marks and not just to get 40% but I get 80% 90% are you as eager in the Christian life otherwise it's not really going to be very great the day when you stand before the Lord are there gonna be a lot of disappointments and a lot of surprises I believe there'll be many surprises people whom you didn't think much of God maybe you despised some people here in CFC and you may find that they were very faithful in their private life they were seeking the Lord privately and they sought fellowship with others during the week whenever they got time and they came to help in the church in any practical way whereas you just came along for Sunday meeting went away not bothered about anything else only eager to see one thing is my name on the commitment list to break bread you know that a lot of people in the commitment list will not be in the kingdom of God I believe that with all my heart they will never enter heaven because they are not eager to have their name in the book of life they're eager to have their name and cfc's commitment list now I'm telling you some plain truths because it's very very important you don't want to go a doctor who doesn't tell you the truth about yourself one area I told you it's not just enough thoughts one of the areas where our life will be refined more and more is our speech if we are really walking with the Lord Jesus said learn from me Matthew 11:29 learned from me for I am gentle and humble in heart what am I going to from Jesus not how to sing not out a preach learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart now Jesus was not you would think Jesus was not gentle and humble when he took a whip and chased out those making money in the name of religion there's a difference when a man is representing God as Jesus was at that time or a preacher in the pulpit he doesn't have to be gentle and humble gentle and humble is in our life but if you want to see Jesus gentleness and humility you see that in his washing people's feet and in his compassion towards the lepers lepers were outside the city they were not allowed to come to the city and Jesus used to go imagine if the lepers were outside Bangalore he'd go all the way outside Bangalore to meet them that's part of his passion to bless poor people but gentleness and humility is a good way for all of you are not preachers to ask yourself is your speech becoming more gentle and humble I believe that a Christians life is known by his speech I believe that he says in James chapter one I'll tell you why I say that in James chapter one says in verse 26 James 1:26 let me paraphrase it if a man thinks or a woman that he's a spiritually minded Christian think many of you think like that but you cannot control your tongue you're deceiving yourself and your Christianity is worth zero there is one verse in the Bible that tells us your Christianity is worth zero you cannot control your tongue the way you use your tongue in ordinary conversation is a test of your Christianity how many marks do you get zero or 20 we should get a hundred or we should be getting more and more every year it should be progressing towards hundred but if we are the same level I find some people are going down they're getting - ten - ready very very important these are things that we constantly teach in the church judge yourself and see in these areas where God speaks to us through his word then this matter fellowship see we have through the years from the beginning fought against Christian tradition which is not in the Bible we're not saying they are evil there's a difference between sin and tradition if you hate somebody kill somebody but these things are sin but for many Christians tradition is very important that's why some people never leave their churches because they have certain traditions and even if they leave their churches when it comes to marriage they say we must go to that church with its traditions and its rituals so you know that Jesus was not only against sin but he was against tradition very important to understand that we preached a lot against sin in this church let me show you what Jesus said in mark chapter 7 see one of the traditions that the Pharisees had was that before you eat you must wash your hands and all of us wash our hands for we but this was more than that it was a ritual where you washed your hand right up to the elbows as a religious ritual so in mark chapter 7 the Pharisees came from Jerusalem and they saw some of Jesus disciples mark 7 verse 2 eating their bread with hands that were not washed now you if you eat food without washing your hands that's not a sin if your hands are dirty you'll get sick but many stomach has got so much acids and all you may not get any times we heat without washing hands we don't get sick why these these Pharisees were not concerned about health no it was a ritual the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash the hands observing the traditions of the elders verse 3 which means a rich ritual washing like the surgeons wash their hands before they going to an operation theater to get rid of all the germs see the Pharisees were more concerned about germs getting out from their body than sin getting out of their heart they were not concerned about sin in their heart or their speech there's a get rid of all the germs from your hands and we can also be like that they were very careful about that and when they come from the marketplace verse 4 they don't eat unless they cleanse themselves and it's the word there is baptize themselves where baptize means immerse so they had some type of ritual there to immerse their hands order and wash and there are many other things it says in verse 4 which they received in order to observe like the washing of cups pitchers and copper pots we wash all our vessels but this is a ritual very very important and then the Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat their bread with impure hands Jesus himself wasn't following those rituals it's not that Jesus was unclean but he wasn't following the tradition and slip what Jesus said he didn't tell his disciples yeah that's a good idea you guys should wash your hands he didn't say that he rebuked the Pharisees and said Isaiah prophesied about hypocrites like you they honor me with their lips but their heart is far away from me that means their religion is all on the outside while in there hard and in pain and rain means emptiness they worship Me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men and it's a very important thing to see here that when you hold on to the tradition of men verse eight you actually end up neglecting the commandment of God and he went on to say so much of our traditions you see this you are experts verse nine and setting aside the commandment of God to keep your tradition for example Moses said honor your father and mother or he who speaks evil of father or mother shall be put to death but you say if a man says to his father or his mother the money I could have given to help you I've given to the church to God you don't you don't allow them to give any money to his parents you know if you don't help your needy parents you know that's a sin I don't know how many of you realize that yeah your parents have taken care of you from the time you were a baby and you don't uh you don't take care of them yourself or you don't love your marriage partner to take care of his or her parents something seriously wrong with your Christianity I'll tell you that I don't care what church you sit in in the Lord the Lord will quote that word in the day of judgment the Lord will quote this verse to you did you read it and you don't look at this verse you don't permit him verse 12 to do anything for his father or mother whereas Jesus was hanging on the cross and they're hanging on the cross he wanted to help his mother to find a place where she could stay he had four younger brothers but he didn't hand her over to them he handed over to John was a disciple he had more value for a fellow disciples and his own relatives he's a shirt that US does even on the cross that he was he had more confidence in his disciples than in his own blood brothers and sisters but he says you don't help your father and mother means you're cancelling the Word of God because of your tradition and you do many things like that so see the steps you go first of all verse 8 you neglect God's commandment verse 9 you set aside God's commandment and finally verse 13 you completely cancel god's word the progressive going downwards where i was trying to show you the tradition was why the disciple the pharisees got upset with jesus they didn't kill Jesus because he washed people's feet they didn't kill Jesus because he said you must not lust after women they killed Jesus because he stood against their traditions and one of the things from the beginning in order to emphasize in our church breaking with tradition many of us when we started CFC came from different different churches and one of the traditions people have in churches was you don't eat meat or fish some people eat fish you don't need meat on a Friday because they believe Jesus was crucified on a Friday first of all Jesus was not crucified on a Friday he was crucified on a Thursday because you cannot have three days and three nights in the grave you're crucified on Friday simple calculation will teach you that and Jesus said Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth which is in paradise in the heart of the earth before coming back into his body on the Sunday but anyway they don't they believe it's Friday that Jesus died see they don't eat meat on Friday so he not Church CFC in the beginning one of the first things we did was have a chicken biriyani on a Friday that everybody could break free from that tradition now if it's a matter of taste for example some Pope people have grown up never eating beef because of their religion we don't force people to eat I say if you we're not a restaurant saying you must eat this food no we're not crazy like that if you don't want to eat some food don't some people don't like to eat any type of meat at all they just need vegetables fine we're not converting people to non vegetarians we're trying to break people from tradition and one of the other traditions we broke with was that Christmas December 25th is the birthday of Jesus Christ I mean I don't see that in the Bible so I don't find any celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ to me I'll tell you why because we are supposed to celebrate his birth and death every day we celebrate our birthdays once a year but for me the birth of Jesus Christ is something real every day his death is real every day as his Rock means his birth and death is what brought me into a relationship with him and so it's something very precious to me every day not once a year that's the reason it's not that we don't care to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ I see these guys do it once a day I want to do it every year and they do it with all types of Christmas trees and all types of other things it's you know that it's a Babylonian financial celebration to go down Commercial Street you see it's not only the Christians are celebrating it some time to make money no difference from what commercial street is like on Diwali day or Christmas Day is just another ritual now the reason I say that is I mean the reason why I don't believe Christ was born in December it's very simple he says the shepherds were out in the fields when Jesus was born and it's very well-known that it's so cold in Israel in December that no Shepherd is out in the field after October so it's impossible and so I believe he was born sometime in September because that's how he completed thirty three and a half years by the time Edith died in March the next year up to thirty three and a half years so anyway that's besides the point but their traditions like this traditions during where wedding time I once told somebody if you make a list of all the Christian traditions and churches and give it to me I'll break every one of them some people are scared just to show Jesus broke every tradition for example Sabbath you were not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath have you read in the New Testament how the Pharisees got upset with him for healing somebody on the Sabbath and have you wondered why so many people got along Sabbath day only why not on other days I have a feeling that Jesus would see a sick person and say to him come to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and hear you then just to irritate all the Pharisees the Pool of Bethesda you read in John chapter 5 hundreds of people relying sick there every day Jesus saw it saw it saw it he waited for the Sabbath day to go there and heal people why he could have gone all the other six days saying we don't a cause offense to any PD let's not cause offence to anybody if people are disturbed on Sabbath day the Lord could have said I'll go there on another day there are six days why should I go on the Sabbath day I'll go on another days to heal the sick that is the logic of many Christians today who are men pleasers Jesus could have done that he deliberately went on the Sabbath day to irritate the Pharisees and to expose the hallowed traditions that's why I said if you make a list of all the traditions Christians practice I'll break every one of them just to hear it eight people to show that this godless thing that you fellows pursue now I'm not asking you to do it you may not have my calling but that is my calling Jesus everybody doesn't have to take a whip she is the poor people they chase the rich people out of the church the people who make money but that is the Ministry of some people my point is that Jesus was so radical and disciples of radical - and that's why with 11 people he changed the face of the earth in these 2000 years 11 people imagine lemon people changed from some small unknown country called Israel influence the whole world for 2,000 years how did they do that they were radical they were not at all interested in pleasing men they were willing to break with every tradition of any religion they were filled with the Holy Spirit they're willing to lay down their lives they didn't care for anything on this earth they were not interested in making money they were interested in spreading the gospel you get eleven people like that even today I tell you we can influence a major part of the place we live in but today we have a lot of Christians who are laid-back the only interest is going to church like that my dear brothers and sisters let's seek to follow Jesus Christ radically and one of the things Jesus did radically was I don't know how much fellowship the Pharisees had with each other they were more interested in their religion going to synagogue on the Sabbath day paying the tithe exactly and so many things like that but in relationships with one another there wasn't much of it there were Pharisees and Sadducees sitting in the meeting and they would all have a conflict with each other all the time there were different groups there see the Pharisees and Sadducees both sat in the same synagogue or they just could not hit it off with each other they hit each other but they didn't hit it off with each other they didn't fellowship religion so it's possible like that to be in a church to have prejudice against certain people maybe another community or someone not so educated as I am or something like that and then you don't fellowship with them you're like the Pharisees and sentences we must break down all these barriers that's the other thing did Jesus did he not only destroyed the traditions he read in Ephesians chapter 2 that he broke down barriers which disturbed fellowship between Jews and non-jews Ephesians chapter 2 it says he broke down dividing walls in verse 14 Jesus is our peace he made two groups into one breaking down the barrier of the dividing wall and verse 16 reconciled them both in one body you know there are barriers between human beings barriers of community I mean there's language which can be a problem but if you're really serious you will seek to fellowship with people even if you have limited language I never lived in Tamil Nadu all my life but but when the churches started in Tamil Nadu I tried to speak to them in Tamil with broken grammar and all types of mistakes but I was so desperate to fellowship with people and communicate with them that I would gradually speak and through my mistakes I learned to speak a little Tamil and I was eager to do that because I wanted fellowship and they forgave me all the mistakes I made in my grammar you don't need granny no don't need good grammar to have fellowship did you know that you need a heart that loves people that's all what I find there are people from Tamil speaking families in our church young people who never fellowship with the brothers from Tamilnadu why is that feel like that you have trained your children not to fellowship with people who are poorer than them let's add you kita there's something wrong your brothers and sisters we need to break down these barriers now I realize that language we can't learn all the languages there are in India but we must be willing to break down some barriers barriers of education level or somebody is not as cultured as you are or somebody doesn't say sorry or thank you so what I meet a lot of people who never say sorry or thank you that's fine that doesn't disturb me on I'm not asking people to be cultured in order to have fellowship with and many other things like that and one reason why we have a picnic on a Sunday which is almost great evil in the eyes of other churches is because we value fellowship more than just a message what do you know what do most people go on Sunday to a church for to listen to a message you can listen to a message every day of the year now if you go to youtube and you can go to YouTube and listen to better messages than you hear in most churches so if you're only interested in going to church to a searched meeting on Sunday is to listen to a message I tell you you don't have to go to church you can sit at home you've got an internet connection you can listen to a the message of your choice so the message you need to hear on a Sunday but what we cannot get on the internet is fellowship there's no way no technology will ever bring that and now the question is when we come together on Sunday so we want to have fellowship and that's why I'd say I'd like to have more picnics because then it gives more time for people to have fellowship with each other which is very very important where we take time to even though that's one thing I was thankful that here we have a place in the old building we couldn't even have a place to sit after the meeting everybody had to rush off but that's made no difference to some people even they have a bigger place and we have lunch served every Sunday there are still people who rush off who will never sit on a Sunday to fellowship with others why is that the food is not good enough oh dear you mean one meal in a week you can't fast for fellowship I wonder how serious a Christian you are I don't believe you're a serious Christian or the children can't eat this food bring some food for them from home is that so difficult our meeting is only a 10 o'clock how long does it take to prepare a few sandwiches or biscuits for your children what all silly excuses people make I have to go home rubbish speak the truth and say I'm not interested in fellowship say the truth that's why I don't stay to meet with evil you're going to hear the true if you come here that's for sure and I don't care who you are even if you've been sitting up 30 years if you're like that that's what you are and you better realize it now rather than hear the Lord tell you that in the day of judgement is better to hear it now from me than to hear it from Jesus Christ in the final day value fellowship value fellowship you know when we make the commitment list keep asking how the brothers will make it I say you see this person really eager to have fellowship why should you have people on the commitment list who don't stay back after Sunday for the meeting I say knock their names off the commitment list they come only for breaking a bread these are things we should take seriously there's absolutely no excuse I have come to meetings when I'm sick when I have fever I've gone to meetings and being healed in the meeting you honor God he'll honor you I'll tell you that he rarely will and teach your children that also the children of course are very eager to be here to play games and things like that so these are fellowship is very very important so if you come to a picnic only to play games and you're not interested in fellowship might they again something's wrong there's nothing wrong in playing games but fellowship is the purpose of our coming together please remember this not just today but all the time and fellowship cannot come if you don't talk to people we are all so busy most people work so to go to work so early come back so late almost 12 hours of the day is gone for many people just going in you know commuting to work coming back and traveling that Sunday is really the only day that most people have and Saturday as well for some we must take time to build fellowship otherwise that's why I asked you have you read that book the congregation the club in the church otherwise we are not a church you read that you'll understand fellowship is very very important that horizontal arm of the Cross otherwise you're just a vertical pole I have fellowship with Jesus wonderful that's not a cross that's a vertical pole what about the horizontal part fellowship with one another it's like peoples I make sure that my conscience is clear with God what about your conscience clear with each other have you forgiven everybody have you asked forgiveness from everybody those are the important aspects of the horizontal so I just wanted to emphasize that I know you guys are eager to go and play the game so I'll stop now I'm only joking I really believe that you're eager to hear the word of God I only pray that you'll really see two things I mentioned today read at least one book in a month I would read more than that but at least read one new book some of our books are so small read one book in a month alia so cheap it can really change your life develop that habit and there are books by other godly men that you could read Tozer and people like that and the other thing is seek to build fellowship and they were possible even on a one-on-one basis not just on Sunday if somebody is living near you try and meet at least once a month and have some fellowship not a meeting just to get to know one another and make sure that you're forgiven everybody always I live in a state where I have nothing in my heart against anybody I can say that before god I love the people who took me to court and waste and made me go to the Supreme Court for ten years of my life I love them I don't wish any evil for them I wish the best for them and all the other people have spoken evil against me and done harm I can say before God I love them not only forgive them I love them and I want the best for them my conscience is 100% clear every single day that Jesus can come anytime I don't owe anybody even one rupee I don't make anybody work for me without paying for it because I want to be always ready for the coming of Christ if you are a serious Christian like that your life will grow with leaps and bounds and your fellowship with others will also increase and to tell you honestly I only want to fellowship with people who are serious Christians I don't want to fellowship with people who are just half-hearted because they're not interested I'm willing to help them to come up they want to I think they're not serious about following the Lord I say go and find some other church why are you wasting time here anyway I hope we will have more fellowship with one another today and in the coming days and that's the purpose of our organizing a picnic in case you did not know why we are having a picnic on a Sunday breaking with tradition and building fellowship god bless you let's pray Heavenly Father we pray that you'll help us to value the things that you value and to really seek to build to never to build walls that you have broken down and if there are walls to break them down and pursue peace with all thank you for this day in Jesus name Amen

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Length: 45min 4sec (2704 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 27 2018