Three Important Words by Zac Poonen

[Music] [Music] there is a statement in 1 Samuel chapter 3 which I believe is very relevant to the time in which we are living it says there in the first verse 1 samuel 3 and verse 1 and the last part word from the lord was rare in those days and visions were infrequent so that means those were days when hardly anybody gave a word from the lord and hardly anybody heard a word from the lord and spiritual vision was missing and that's why the state of affairs among God's people was like it was described in the time just before Samuel which is the book of Judges the reason it was like that because it was because the word from the Lord was rare in Moses time there was a regular word from the Lord but now word from the Lord was rare and visions were very infrequent now we're living in such a time and part of the reason is because most of God's people believers are very lazy to study the scriptures I think people among God's people God's people study the scripture is much more a hundred years ago when we didn't have CDs on the Bible and tapes and all types of things part of the reason is a hundred years ago there was not so much entertainment available in the world and even if there was God's people never got involved in it the people of God would not go to movies and there was no television they had a lot of time together as families and time to study the word now we can live like that today if we want to but we have to be a little disciplined and most believers are not disciplined and our children are growing up with very little knowledge of the Scriptures very little desire to study the scriptures that is one of the great tragedies of our time the great God Entertainment has taken over the church and as a result of this we do not understand what the scripture says when it refers to certain matters because our understanding of different words is not from the Bible but from the dictionary or from the secular world because we are not students of the Scriptures and so generally speaking I find all over Christendom most of Christianity has misunderstood certain words and their important words so I want to speak about three misunderstood words the first word is the word believe the second is the word worship the third is the word Church what does it mean to believe in God what does it mean to worship God what does it mean to build a church and the way we're going to study it is by looking at the very first time that these words occur in the scriptures and that's very easy to find out if you take a concordance anybody can find out the first time the word believe occurs in the scriptures the first time the word worship occurs in the scriptures and the first time the word church occurs in the scriptures so the first time these words occur they amazingly they give us the meaning that's one good way to study the scriptures to see which is the first time that word occurs in the Bible so we look at belief first because all of us are staking our eternity on the meaning of the word believe supposing we've got the meaning of the word believe wrong all our eternity is at stake because we say salvation is by faith and if we have misunderstood faith then we have completely missed the road gone astray and a lot of people have so these are very important words because nowadays everybody talks about faith much more than hundred years ago a lot of people talk about worship nowadays you don't have a clue what it means according to the Scriptures but they think they're worshiping God and there's a lot of talk about the church there again most people don't understand so the first occurrence of the word believe is in Genesis 15 now all these three are New Testament words but they occur in the Old Testament at least the first to occur in the Old Testament and the first time the word believe comes is here in Genesis 15 where God tells Abraham don't fear Abraham verse 1 you're gonna have a great reward and Abram says what reward are you gonna give me I don't even have a child so what's the use of blessing me materially I like to give it all to my servant and the word of the Lord came to him saying verse for your servant is not going to be your heir but someone that comes forth from your own body will be your heir and then it was night God told him to come outside the tent and said look up at the sky can you count the stars you know we can't count the stars there millions of them if you're see if you're able to count them so shall your descendants be he said that to a man who had no children he was 85 years old his wife was 75 years old they probably married already for 45 years and married for 45 years no children and to such a man God says your sea is your descendants are gonna be like the stars millions of them [Music] what would your reaction have been if God had said that to you you know sometimes when we study the Scriptures it's good for us to put ourselves in the place of that person do that whenever you study the New Testament when Jesus speaks to somebody put yourself in that person's place and see what reply you would give so if God told you you'd been married 45 years you're 85 years old now and your wife is 75 and God says to you you're gonna have millions of seed like the stars in heaven what will you say what did Abraham say Abraham said amen then verse 6 he believed in the Lord and that word believe is a Hebrew word called a mean old testament was written in Hebrew and we used two Hebrew words in our English hallelujah and I mean hallelujah means praise the Lord I mean most people don't know what it means for many people it just means the prayer is over we can open our eyes but it means it will be so you know whenever somebody prays for something and you say I'm in or somebody who preaches something and you say Amen they're saying it will be so you're expressing faith that's why you can't say I mean if you don't believe that it will be so the word I mean means I believe that the Lord will do that that's that's what Abraham said God said you're gonna have seed like the stars the heaven Graham said yeah I meant did it be so no questioning nothing like how can that be or have you really thought about it Lord I'm 85 years old no didn't the Lord take that into account didn't the Lord know that this guy was barren without children for 45 years of married or whatever it is so all taken into account when the Lord gives us a promise every factor has been taken into account I mean he don't know how to say oh I didn't realize you're 85 I forgot that no he's taken everything into account when the Lord gives a promise every factor has been taken into account and if we say Amen it will be so than we have faith that is faith so Abraham didn't get the child immediately he had to wait for about 15 years but he got it and then through that seed came so many millions now all over the world his descendants so that word was literally fulfilled wasn't fulfilled in one day or one week but it was fulfilled when God says something it will definitely be fulfilled there is a time frame but God's promises to be fulfilled sometimes we are impatient and that's where we make a mistake in relation to faith we think we can inherit the promises by faith but notice how this promise is referred to in Hebrews in chapter 6 in Hebrews chapter 6 it says here that we must not be lazy verse 12 we must not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises you cannot inherit the promises with faith faith must be coupled with patience to wait for God to fulfill what he has promised and he gives the example of Abraham where God told Abraham verse 14 surely I'll bless you and multiply you and so verse 15 hebrews 6:15 having patiently waited he obtained the promise so faith is coupled with patience many promises God gave to people in the Old Testament they had to wait and it was definitely fulfilled in God's time nothing was delayed nothing went beyond God's time it says about Jesus in Galatians 4 that in the fullness of time God sent his son that means that the exact time he was supposed to come he was born not one day late not one moment late not one moment too early exactly at the right time God does everything exactly at the right time but the promise was given 700 years earlier that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and like that God can give us a promise but we must remember there's a timeframe for that to be fulfilled we trust him if God has promised it it will definitely be fulfilled and it says here in Genesis 15 that because Abraham trusted the Lord like this it was counted to him as righteousness Genesis 15:6 God justified him that's another New Testament word Abraham was justified by faith that means Abraham was declared righteous just because he said I'm in if God has said it it's true I'm not gonna doubt it that's all there is to justification justification by faith means that when you come to Romans and chapter 4 the same thing is picked up which Abraham the promise given to Abraham it says here in Romans 4 and verse 9 the last part we say faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness and that promise you know it says in verse 17 a father of many nations in the presence of God whom he believed even God who gives life to the dead calls into being that which does not exist the Lord told him in the last part of verse 18 so shall your descendants be and what was Abraham's response listen to this this is the basis of faith without becoming weak in faith he looked at his own body as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old actually around 85 and the deadness of Sarah's womb but with respect to the promise of God he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith giving glory to God faith does not shut its eyes to reality he doesn't say oh Abraham pretended that his body was very healthy he pretended that he was a young thirty year old that's not faith that is stupidity a lot of people tell you to believe something which is not true that's not faith you remember that story where there was a man who was blind you read about it in mark chapter 8 and Jesus you know took him out of it Ceyda and touched him and said can you see and he said not very clearly I see men like trees he couldn't distinguish it in a man in a tree when he saw men walking they look like trees walking well you can be sure that such a man hasn't got proper eyesight and when the Lord asked him can you see properly he said no if it was today is one of today's Pentecostal preachers he'd have said don't say no say yes say I've been healed confess that you're healed and you'll be healed but that would have been a lie if he had said I can see when he could not see and a lot of people are fooling believers deceiving them bringing them into tremendous problems by making them confess a lie saying that's faith that's not faith if something is not true how can you tell a lie how can you say I'm healed when I'm not healed and I believe Jesus that is the only case where jesus healed a person in two stages and I believe he did it for our sake to teach us that if you're not fully healed you don't have to tell a lie and the Lord said okay we'll pray for you again can you see now yeah now I can see clearly we don't have to say we're healed when we are not healed because that would be a lie and the devil is the father of lies and a lot of preachers are encouraging believers to tell lies to be the mother of lies that the devil produces so don't get into bondage like that if you had asked Abraham the next day after God gave him this promise have you got millions of children Abraham what should he have said yes or no no but didn't God say yesterday that you're gonna have millions of children yes have you got them yet now are you going to get them yeah that's different so don't you believe this type of false teaching on faith which has got no foundation in Scripture which is just being used by money loving preachers to deceive others abraham believed God and God said that's your righteous and it says here God said so shall your descendants be he looked at his own body it says he contemplated his own body means he considered the state of his own body it's weak he considered the state of Sarah's womb dead he didn't pretend that everything's okay but then he looked at God's promise God has said okay then it will be done and being fully assured listen to this this is faith verse 21 being fully assured that what God had promised read it he had already done know he was going to do he was able to perform so faith doesn't mean I have to say I'm healed when I'm not healed faith doesn't mean I have to say that there I don't feel any pain now when I'm feeling when I'm full of pain that's a lie that's saying that God has already done it that's not faith Abraham was fully assured God will do what he has promised that's faith therefore does accounted to him for righteousness and not for his sake only but it's credited to us also if I believe in Jesus God has raised him from the dead that righteousness is put to my account also you know because we can't come to God just because our sins are forgiven I hope you know that if you come to God and say Lord long my sins are forgiven I confess to all my sins they're cleansed in the blood of Christ I'm still not fit enough to come before God because I still have a corrupt nature I haven't got rid of that all my sins are forgiven that's completely zero now but what about this corrupt nature I still have I cannot come before God with that and that's why God has not only got to forgive our sins he has to justify us that means he has to clothe us with the righteousness of Christ so that we can stand before God otherwise we'd understand without corrupt nature before God we can't stand there we'd be burnt out so that's why God is to forgive our sins which deals with our sins and then justify us so that our nature is covered by the righteousness of Christ and that is by faith and that applies to the things that we believe God has promised for example there are certain things that we can have only when Christ comes again the Bible says in 1 John 3 verse 2 we shall be like him when we see him you can never be like Christ till he comes that means there's no human being whose total personality has become like Christ's who's thought life unconscious attitudes everything now even the Apostle Paul said I'm not yet perfect so we can pray that God will make us like Jesus but it'll be fully fulfilled only when he comes again in the same way the Bible says that when Jesus comes he will make our body like his body it says in the last verse of Philippians 3 he will transform our weak body into the body of his glory so I can't expect to have perfect health in this body when the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 4 that the outward man decays 2nd Corinthians 4:16 I mean that scripture the outward man decays but the inner man is being renewed no matter how much I pray for a full head of hair I won't get it no matter how much faith I may have but I will get it when Jesus comes believe you me you won't recognize me that day my hair will be black and I won't be running glasses either you really won't recognize me because my vision will be corrected but it'll all be when Christ comes again don't ask for it before and live in a world of imagination and delusion you know supposing you say well Lord you said anything you asked for I'll give you I want all mosquitos to be destroyed in Bangalore I trust you with faith it's not gonna happen no matter how much you believe the world is under a curse and the curse will be lifted only when Jesus comes again so it's like praying the Lions should not be wild and the poison snakes should not be poisonous and this should not be thorns we got to be realistic we got to compare Scripture with Scripture you can ask for anything in my name but the world is under a curse the outer man decays keep all these verses in scripture at the back of your mind before you try to claim something in faith otherwise you live in a world of unreality like a lot of people are doing right now and being deceived but there are certain other promises you know like I told you there's a time frame for God's promises certain things are when he comes again there won't be any wild animals when Christ comes again there won't be any mosquitoes snakes cockroaches all that God nothing's gonna that's ever going to be harmful or it's gonna exist then we're gonna have perfect bodies but until then we have to wait but there's certain other promises that we can have right now for example when it says in Romans 6:14 that sin shall not have dominion over you that's for now that's not for when Christ comes again you doesn't say when Christ comes then sin will stop ruling over you right now you're under grace you can have dominion over sins sin cannot rule over you if you are under grace that's for now so the things that we must claim now we must claim No Lord I can wait for a perfect body I'm not praying that I should have a body without any aches or pains no but I'm praying that I have a body in which I don't sin that's more important I'm praying it doesn't matter if my vision is weak that's okay I wear glasses but my vision should not be lustful that's what I'm praying it's alright if there's no hair in my head but there shouldn't be dirty thoughts inside my head that's what I'm more interested in the question of what you're looking for sin shall not rule over you that's for now and if you say Amen like Abraham yes you may not get victory over sin tomorrow but you keep saying I mean I guarantee it will take place in your life that's how it took place in my life I said I'm in and then took a long time it was still defeated defeat it's like Abraham waiting waiting waiting eighty-six years old no child 87 years old no child eighty eight years old no child 89 years old no child but he said I mean God has said my seat and one day you got a child it'll be like that in your life if you say Amen to God's promises Lord I believe it says in 2nd Peter in Chapter 1 that God has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness verse 3 everything necessary to live a godly life has been given us by God we say I'm in everything necessary for life on this earth has been given to us not for luxury but for life God is given and we see I mean and he take care of it when the Bible says when Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these earthly necessities of yours will be added to you you say yes it will be so you know our bodies will be healthier if we live by faith so much of our sickness and gloom comes because we don't trust these things which God has said we don't say I mean you know it says in 2nd Corinthians 1:20 that all the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus but they never become ours I'm paraphrasing it until we say I'm in you have you read that verse second Corinthians 1:20 all the promises of God are yes in Christ and then we add our I'm in and then God is glorified by those promises being fulfilled it's like if somebody gives you a check for 100,000 rupees signed by a millionaire and you take it to the bank to cash it you know what they'll ask you to do sign on the reverse put your signature there they will not give you the cash without your signing on the reverse that's how it is here are the promises of God Jesus Christ has signed it with your name there that's for you every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places for you but you don't get it till you write at the back amen it will be mine like the Lord asks the blind people do you believe that I can do this for you sin shall not have dominion over you do you believe I can do this for you you say yes Lord I mean it is not a question of Abraham you know the Lord telling Abraham can you go and do some exercise and get some get physically fit and try and have a child no do you believe that I can do this for you Abraham said I'm in the amount of exercise I do it's not going to produce any children and it's not a question of can you grit your teeth can you determine that you will not sin from now on no the Lord says can you believe that I will write my laws in your mind and in your heart and I will cause you to walk in my statutes that's an amazing verse I don't know whether you you all know that lovely version Ezekiel 36 which says Ezekiel 36 and verse 26 I will put a new spirit within you I'll verse 27 Ezekiel 36 27 I'll put my spirit within you and the result of being filled with the holy spirit is I will make you well in according to my laws and you will automatically be very careful to keep my Commandments it's not a question of you should walk that was Old Covenant or you must do this you must not do that no I will make you do it did you believe that see many of us have struggled and struggled and struggled to do what God says let me do it let me do it in you I will cause you to walk in my statutes I will you will become careful to keep my Commandments or I believe you see how important it is to study the scriptures not once that Jesus tell us that faith was to make money or faith was to get a better house or a better chariot or any such thing like you here today it was to live a godly life it was to overcome sin that's what he encouraged us to have faith for faith comes by hearing it says in Romans 10:17 and hearing by the word of Christ the word of Christ is the New Testament and if you read the New Testament you get the promises of God there and you hear and you believe if you don't read the New Testament you will not know the promises of God and you remain ignorant and you'll be a spiritual Harper you'll miss out on what God has for you in your earthly life I would encourage you to study the New Testament and put your signature and say I'm in to the promises of God they're all signed by Jesus Christ well there's a lot more that I could say on that but I want to go to the next two words the word worship occurs for the first time in Genesis chapter 22 you know when Abraham was asked to offer up his son Isaac the Lord told and take your son your only son whom you love genesis 22:2 why did he emphasize like that take your son your only son whom you loved he was emphasizing Abraham I know Isaac is the most precious possession you have on earth I know you love him even more than you love Sarah that was he was in the Old Covenant so it was okay in the New Covenant you must love your wife more than you love your son but he wasn't living in that light in those days he loved his son more than anyone on earth he loved and God could have asked him for anything on earth he'd have given it up but Isaac was the most precious possession he had and God told him to give him up and God didn't tell him to give him up immediately he could have told him just go around the corner of that mountain behind you and offer Isaac he didn't say that take him to Mount Moriah with just three days journey why three days journey because God doesn't want you to take a decision in a hurry God doesn't want you to say come on quickly decide that's the devil God says take time to think about it sit down and count the cost is what Jesus said don't be in a hurry to say yes Lord I want to do it I think about it do you know what it's going to cost you to do it before you say yes and raise your hand and all that so Abraham I'm not gonna force you to offer up Isaac do you think about it on the spur of the moment you may just say yes and go and offer him and afterwards you may regret it so take three days to walk all alone walk and think about it for three days he walked and walked and walked and walked and walked what do you think he was thinking about is it worth it serving a god like this who asks me for the dearest thing on earth and he says yes it is verse 4 Genesis 22 for on the third day he saw Mount Moriah and Abraham said to his young men is the first time the word worship occurs verse 5 stay here with the donkey I and Isaac will go up there and we will worship and return to you do you know what he called that action worship and because he was going to worship he did not want any of these friends to come along to see what a fantastic sacrifice he was making for God oh what a lust there is to want other people to see us when we make some sacrifice for God we want other people to know about it we want other people to recognize that we are so dedicated he said no this is all alone between me and God worship is something you do all alone between you and God and I'll tell you this worship is not having a praise meeting today lot of people use the word worship in a way that it is never used in the Bible even once can you believe that can you believe that Christians are using the word worship in a way that's never used in the Bible even once how is that just me haven't read the Bible most Christians blindly imitate what somebody else says oh they call it that we call it that they never check up with the scriptures to see is that what the Bible says I decided long ago I'm not just gonna swallow what everybody says the old world may say something is it in the Bible otherwise why in the world do we see it this is the Word of God today people gathered together on Sunday morning to praise the Lord and to thank the Lord which is excellent but they call it worship it's not worship it's not a worship meaning it's a praising meeting it's a Thanksgiving meeting very good excellent but a lot of people are fooling themselves that they are worshiping when they haven't worshiped at all they have praised the Lord that's right it says in Hebrews 13:15 the sacrifice of praise the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name very necessary it says God is pleased with such sacrifices it says in Hebrews 13 the sacrifice of praise oh there are so many things that Christians do and say which are tradition we think it's only the Roman Catholics have got tradition every group has got its traditions you'll never have a tradition if you study the Scriptures that's for sure your traditions will disappear I think of a lot of Christians who talk to God as Yahweh Jehovah it's like one of my sons coming up to me one day is saying mr. Putin mr. Bhuvan what happened son that is my name I know it's my name but that's not how I expect him to call me I go to God and say Jehovah Jehovah Jesus said call him father you understand but how many Christians understand that only those who read the Bible not a single New Testament saint ever called in jehovah these 20th century people who do that you don't read the Bible I don't do it just like I don't expect my children to call me mr. Coonan even though that's my name I call God dad because Jesus told me to do that I respect Jesus words I take it most seriously than most Christians do just I can give you examples like this so many worship we're in the New Testament does it say if we come and sing and clap and raise our hands that's worshiping God not in a single place do you know what worship is it is offering to God that which is most precious in your life offering everything falling down before him and saying you are everything to me God do you think all these people who clap and shout and praise for one hour on Sunday morning are saying that oh no but they imagine that they have worship you see how important words are otherwise we'll be deceived jesus said to the woman of Samaria in John chapter 4 John chapter 4 he said when the woman asked him in verse 20 where should we worship jesus said it's not a question of here or there and now it is coming verse 21 when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father you worship what you don't know we worship with what we know but an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth verse 25 23 for the father seeks for such people to be his worshipers God is a spirit those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth everything in the Old Testament was soulish body and soul there are three parts to man body soul spirit just like the Old Testament Tabernacle had outer Court holy place most holy place and the most holy place was wailed off nobody could go there meaning that or we could only use our body and soul in praising or if you want to call it worship worshiping God it was not worship in the spirit because the way was not open till Jesus died and the veil was rent then you could go into the most holy place then you could worship in spirit and you know in the outer court there was a lot of noise kidding killing animals and yelling and shouting and the animals screaming and all that and then you go to the holy places little quieter but still there's the incense and there's prayer and people moving around serving when you go to the most holy place it is silence it's God and you I personally find that the best and easiest place for me to worship God is when I'm all alone it's very difficult to worship with other people around I can praise I love to praise God with the church I love to thank God in the midst of the saints but worship like Abraham I like to be alone because then I know whether I mean what I am doing when I fall on my face before God you know you see again and again in Scripture job fell on his face and worshiped God the first book of Scripture and the last book of Scripture revelation you read that people fell on their face and worshiped God always you see Abraham fell on his face and worshiped God they fall down they bow their heads before God and that's why I have I'm so much against this pushing people back where they show their feet to God you and I know that if somebody shows you their feet it's an insult you know that what would you think if somebody lifts up the sole of his feet and shows it to you what do you think of a man who falls down and shows his feet to God that's the devil's making fools Christiane's left right and center and everybody's going for it and the devil sits backs and look at these fellas insulting God by showing him their feet never in the Bible do you see it the ungodly Roman soldiers fell backwards when they saw Jesus but the god men of God job Abraham everybody they fell and put their head down before God and worshiped they were surrendering everything they were saying Lord you are more precious to me than anything on this earth so I'll tell you how you can worship you must make a list either in your mind or on a piece of paper of all the things that are most precious to you on earth absolutely top most most most valuable and sacrifice them to God Lord I give them up then you have worship if you haven't done that and you come and clap your hands on Sunday morning and clap and sing well it's good but don't imagine your worship you haven't worshiped at all if it's your job you love it means a lot to you your career good but if it means to you more than God then you're not a worshipper I'm not saying you won't go to heaven I'm just saying you're not a worshipper at all don't fool yourself I'll tell you that no matter how much you clap your hands and shout you're not a worshiper don't fool yourself if your family means more to you than God your son your daughter means more to you than God good but don't think you're a worshiper don't fool yourself your reputation if that means a lot to you somebody insulted you and you get so hurt that you keep a bitterness against that person oh brother sister you're not a worshipper you godless carnal perhaps a Christian perhaps not even a Christian certainly not a worshiper how can a man who's offended because somebody insulted and be a worshiper he's worshiping his reputation he's worshiping his name his prayer is our Father in Heaven hallowed be my name that's his prayer how can such a person ever imagine that he's a worshiper christendom a fool you but you hear the truth tonight a worshiper is one who has given up that which is most precious in his life at the feet of the Lord and said Lord I want to say to you you are more precious to me than anything on this earth if you can say like the psalmist said in Psalm 73 verse 25 Who am I in heaven but thee and there's nothing on earth I decided beside thee Psalm 73 25 that is real worship to go to heaven and say well I only got you Lord oh that's easy that's like these cabinet ministers who joined the BJP when they are in power and during the Congress when they are in power and join the junta that when they are in power go to heaven and say O God I desire only you but what about here on earth the psalmist said I desire just like in heaven I desire I desire no one but Jesus I won't be running after money in heaven I won't be bothered about my reputation or my family or anything in heaven I'm just like that on earth Lord I desire only you in addition to you if you give me a few things I take them you don't give me that's perfectly okay if I've got you I'm happy that is a worshiper if you are looking for a comfortable life brother you're not a worshipper God may give it to you but if that means something to you it's not a question of having things it's a question of whether it means something to you do you know there are demands we have in our life we expect that God must do certain things for me such a man cannot be a worshipper I must keep my Isaac okay then you are not a worshipper that's all I'm saying anything on earth which is precious if I haven't yielded it to God I am NOT a worshipper no if you say Lord you got to make life easy for me you must give me a good boss a very pleasant submissive wife very obedient children supposing God doesn't give you either of those three any of those three and you have a grudge against God hmm well you're not a worshipper far from it a worshipper is one who has no demands and I tell you such people get the best because God adds all the other things to them so I would encourage you be a worshipper get alone with God go through that list of all the things that mean something to you your name your reputation all that and say Lord it's all yours I don't put anything above you and then the third world the church Jesus used it for the first time first time it occurs in the Bible is in Matthew chapter 16 verse 18 where Jesus said on this rock I will build my church that rock is what Peter had just confessed in verse 16 Peter said you are the Christ the Son of the Living God and Jesus said that's right on this rock which you have just confessed Peter on that rock I will build my church cried the church is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God the thing I want you to notice here is that it is Jesus who builds his church none of us can build this church a church built by man will be destroyed jesus said I will build my church and the mark of the church that Jesus built is also here the gates of Hades will not overpower it the gates of Hades will not be able to overcome it that means all the powers of spiritual depth Hades is the place of the dead and it's referring to the forces you know gates were the strongholds in those days the forces of spiritual depth when they come against the church they will not be able to overpower the church with Jesus builds the church that man builds will be overpowered by the forces of spiritual death overpowered by jealousy you know people within it will be jealous of one another the elders won't get along with each other they'll fight with each other one will try to show I am better than the other one will try to show I can preach better than the other one can sing better than the other one can do this that or the other there will be competition there'll be jealousy that we strife they'll be backbiting there'll be gossiping those are marks of people who don't belong to the church that Jesus built those are marks in your life I want to say you're not part of the church Jesus is building jesus is building a church today and that church is all over the world there's a lot of them a lot of people in that church have already gone to heaven in the last two thousand years some are living on the earth and they're not found in my group or your group or any other group here and there but one mark of the church with Jesus built the church is not a building it's not a denomination it's people like the bricks in a building people like the members of a body one person another person another person people whom the Lord who have trusted in the Lord who have worshiped who have faith and who worship God gathers these people who believe and who worshipped and builds them into a church so the first two words lead on to this third word the church I want to be a part of that church I want to be a part of the church against which the gates of Hades will never prevail I say Lord build that church build build me into that church I want to be a part of it I want to be a part of your body and if I allow the Lord to do his work in me I'll tell you one mark of it is that the gates of Hell will not be able to prevail against you Satan will not be able to get a hold on your life and the wonderful thing is when you are blessed like that your children will be blessed your grandchildren will be blessed the seed of the righteous is blessed it's a wonderful thing it's a wonderful heritage to have a godly father it's a wonderful heritage to have a godly mother you don't know what a tremendous blessing comes upon your children that they can also find their way into this church that Jesus is building the gates of hell the powers of death the powers of jealousy backbiting criticism accusation all of that cannot overpower this church what a longing we should have that the Lord should build this church and when we meet together as a local church our desire is that we should be an expression of that in our locality here is a church you are there are a lot of people sitting around there who are sitting on the outer edges who are not really become a part of this wonderful body but in the middle of it all there are some who are being built together I picture it like when God picked up all the mud to make Adam piled up a lot of mud there took some of it and made a man and breathed into it that man walked away and the rest of the mud was still lying there from the same mud early he made this man and I think it's like that when God gathers a lot of people to build the body of Jesus Christ gathers them all in a room or in a hall meet regularly and builds those who want to be built yet built one day Jesus will come in the body we walk away some of them will still be sitting here because they didn't want to be built they didn't worship they didn't yield they didn't trust and they missed the opportunity to be part of the greatest building work that God has ever done you and I have that privilege today let's bow before God in prayer we bow our heads before the Lord let's take seriously the words that we have heard this evening I say Lord I want to trust in you I want to believe I want to be a worshiper I want to be a part of the church which you're building yes Lord I know that Satan will have no power over me thank you I know you're gonna bless me and you're gonna bless my family my children thank you Lord this is the way I want to go all the days of my life it doesn't matter to me if other people in the church want to go another way there they're welcome to go I'm not here to judge them but I don't want to go that way I've decided to follow Jesus I'm gonna go this way Lord I'm taking it seriously from now on thank you Father help us to walk in the light we have received today we pray in Jesus name

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 10,573

Rating: 4.909091 out of 5

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

Id: eMRQhlfAt6s

Length: 55min 17sec (3317 seconds)

Published: Thu May 29 2014