Three Life Changing Truths by Zac Poonen

well most of the time I speak without any points today I'm going to have three points so can you focus that video on that word without Christ I can do nothing so that's my first point you know my other two points please focus on that verse there now without wit Christ I can do everything and then the third one is be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to you so there's a reason why we have put these verses up at the bank those are some of the truths that we emphasize here first of all without Christ I can do nothing what does that mean I mean some of you can make computer programs that earn a lot of money some of you can do physical things and intellectual things and some of you can play music so well what does it mean when it says without Christ I can do nothing it means I can do nothing of eternal value everything that you can do has got some value on this earth whether it's from the realm of science or computers or music or anything but of eternal value you cannot do anything if Christ does not enable you so we got to look at all the things he accomplished without Christ gives us a lot of honor on the earth in fact a lot of preachers preach sermons without Christ how do we know they draw people to themselves they preach in order to get admiration they preach in order to be respected to get a name and many people who don't have discernment you see most believers don't have discernment my guess is that 75% of believers don't have any discernment they sit with their mouths open and say wow what a man of God they're going to get a big surprise when Christ comes again and discover that that entire man's ministry was zero you get a surprise you know Jesus said that but our people are going to stand before him the last day and see waited miracles in your name he said I don't even know you get away from me get lost go to hell read that passage sometime Matthew 7 22 23 it'll really jolt you but people who you know so many television evangelist who do what I call magic tricks to fool people which people they say it is the same category as the miracles that Jesus did far from it but many believers don't have discernment to see through that at bat man they end up in hell nothing he will but if the Lord one day says to him you did all this but I don't know you you go to hell so there are many things that we can glory in and in the church we teach as we must humble ourselves John chapter 15 John chapter 15 and verse 5 I am the vine and you are the branches if you abide in me and are abiding you you will bear much fruit apart from me or without me you can do zero believe that I believe it with all my heart I didn't believe it in my early Christian life I thought I could do a lot of things but the more I have grown close to God and absolutely convinced I can do nothing of eternal value I can't even preach a sermon if the Holy Spirit does not anoint me and give me words to say thoughts in my mind before I stand up to speak or while I'm standing up there those would be of eternal value but anything that comes out of self-confidence will accomplish nothing the Old Testament the Lord said every Israelite must be circumcised it's a cutting out of the flesh otherwise he's cut off from the people of God the carribean 3:3 says circumcision means no confidence in the flesh cutting off confidence in the flesh and that is the mark of those who have entered the covenant circumcision of the heart little confidence in oneself no boasting in oneself without Christ I can do nothing and the example jesus uses is so great clear a branch in a tree even if it's brought fruit for 50 years it has to say if I'm cut off from the tree today after 50 years of experience of bearing fruit tomorrow I'll bear zero fruit that is humility I don't know whether you have that type of humility that recognizes then anything of eternal value that came out of your life came only from Christ pouring out his spirit through you all the rest that you accomplished in your life is wood hay and straw which will be burnt out let me encourage you to learn this lesson deeply without Christ I will never never do anything of eternal value and that is why we need to pray see people are smart and clever and capable they don't pray why did they need to pray they can do a lot of things without prayer prayer is an extra Linux defined prayer prayer is an expression of my helplessness to God as long as the doctors say I can fix this child of yours ezel is just leaving to me you don't pray but when the doctor said I've given up all hope no hope for your child and we pray see prayer is when we have come to the end of human ability and strength and capability you'll see that in your life that you pray only when all other possibility of solving the problem is gone but it's a wonderful thing if we can learn right that you don't have to wait till if you come to that desperate point all the time just pray without ceasing that means live in a live a life of continual dependence upon God to me prayer without ceasing is like the branch remaining in the tree all the time that's all abide in me and let me abide in you that's prayer without ceasing it means constant dependence upon God inwardly even if you don't say it with our lips lord I know one thing I can do nothing without you it'll last and I want to spend my life doing what will last there's a very popular expression that's known throughout the Christian world called only one life it'll soon be past only what's done for Christ will last and I've discovered through years through the years that many people do many things for Christ which will not last so I've changed it slightly only one life it'll soon be past only what Christ does through me will love not what I do for Christ it's not only one life loosening bars only what's done for Christ will last only what Christ does through me what I do for Christ may not last a lot of things going on today in the name of Christ he's not gonna last think of the final day think of the day when you stand before the Lord I think of it frequently but what's going to matter in that day like children you know the final examination what's going to be the result there he doesn't of all the students thought you were very clever and she teach a thottie of clever that you fail in the final exemption was huge the fact the final exam a thing that matters so I need to recognize on this earth without Christ I can do nothing nothing means absolutely nothing that is the mark of a humble man that is how Jesus lived on earth humility is not to say oh I've committed so many sins in my life I'm a rotten sinner if that is the mark of humility Jesus was not humble because Jesus never said I'm a rotten sinner and yet some people think the mark of humility is the answer the right time or rotten sinner think of that the humblest nidal walked on the earth never said that humility is not saying I'm a rotten sinner humility is saying I can do nothing without God just last forever Jesus lived like that you know that Jesus said in John chapter 5 let me read it to you where's 19 truly truly I say to you the son that himself can do nothing out from himself unless it is something he sees the father do and he says in verse 30 I can do nothing on my own initiative why do we say Jesus is our example because he also could do nothing without dependence on the father he said as I abide in my father you abide in me in other words he's telling us I am like a branch dependent on my father I mean not always all eternity he was the son of God he was completely self-sufficient but when he came to earth as a man he had to be an example for us in order to be an example for us he lived like the same helpless way that we are Christ came in the flesh 1 timothy 3:15 says the church is the pillar and support of this truth that Christ came in the flesh 1 Timothy 3:16 see these pillars are supposed to support something and the true church is supposed to support one truth Christ aim in the flesh 1 timothy 3:15 and 16 and you look around the world and see how many churches are supporting that truth or not and supporting some other truth so how you can become rich and how you can make a lot of money and all types of worldly things which everybody in the world pursues out so that's the first truth we emphasize then we go to the second one which is with Christ I can do everything what is that me I mean I can't run 100 meters in 9 seconds I can do it in about 25 seconds but not 9 seconds what do I mean but with Christ I can do everything I can do everything that is in the will of God for my life things outside the will of God I don't want to do no interest if God doesn't ever want to give me the gift of healing I have no interest in getting back you I have no interest in laying my hands on somebody and saying you're healed I am no interest in laying my hands on somebody and say be baptized in the Holy Spirit all oh if God tells me like you told Ananias to go and lay hands on Paul I'll do it but with Christ I can do everything without Christ I can do nothing so when we say with Christ I can do everything is limited to whatever is in God's will for my life you don't have to preach like other people but that may not be in God's will for your life I've often told all my fellow elders and all our churches don't try to preach like me God wants only ones a component in this church God wants one of you and one of somebody else I'm not wanting to be like somebody I want to be myself you must be yourself then you won't be in competition with others then you won't be thinking can i preach better than him can I play the instrument better than him you haven't understood it with Christ I can do everything that God has planned for my life [Music] not what God has planned for somebody else's life so don't ever desire to be able to do something with somebody else can do it's like the I trying to hear it's not supposed to hear the year is supposed to hear that's the meaning of the body of Christ me I supposed to see it should concentrate on that you're supposed to concentrate on what God's called you in the body of Christ to be and you can do it but only with Christ and you can do everything well in God's plan 1,000 things for me to do in my life with Christ I can do all those 1,000 things before I leave this earth so don't waste your life trying to do things which God has not planned for you competing with somebody trying to show that you can match that person in some area look at the best way in the world and a lot of us have wasted many years like that don't waste any more life time like say Lord that's a plan you made for my life for many years I was blind to it I did my own will foolishly wasted so many years I've done it too but a time came when I said no more I want to from now on hopefully your will for my life then you may say what about the years that are wasted let me give you an example the Apostle Paul wasted 30 years of his life not just you know like half-hearted Christian but as a wholehearted hatred of Christian that's how he spent 30 years going and catching Christians and locking up in jail I don't know how many Christians he sanctioned their killing I don't know he wasted 30 years he literally up to 67 he was beheaded by Nero when he was 67 but cut be out of those 67 years of wasted in such a manner English gods will fulfill all the things that God is accomplished and God is planned for him inside yes how do we know because Paul says at the end of his life in 2nd Timothy in chapter 4 he says I have fought a good fight I finished my course 2nd Timothy and verse chapter 4 verse 7 I have finished not I finished 90% how can a man who wasted 30 years of his life finishes course that's an encouragement to me encouragement to you I can't say that I wasted 35 years of my life but when God filled me afresh and I was 35 years old with the Holy Spirit and six months later see as he started I can say to me that is like a new beginning in my life it is completely different it was an altogether different plane after that that's what I'd really began to have faith that I can live this Christian life and began to take it seriously what about the years before I can't say I did nothing see when we try to live without Christ nothing else we do a lot of things but it's in hypocrisy a lot of things on the outward without an inner life that's how it was with me but Paul God knew that this man Paul his wholehearted sincere but he's completely wrong and I will allow him to go astray not that God made him go astray but he was stubborn proud and God allowed him to see the folly of all that was there in the Jewish ways then he when he got converted he was radically converted and so in the remaining 37 years that's what God had planned for him and he accomplished him he said I finished my course I want to say at the end of my life that I finished my course I don't know when it'll be but I want to finish my course I hope that's your passion I can do everything that is in God's will for me with Christ's help and that's why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit with Christ I can do everything with the power of the Holy Spirit that Christ gives me I can do everything that is how Christ is with me he it's the only time I can say the Lord is really with me and I'm filled with the Holy Spirit and I get up to speak without being filled with the Holy Spirit I'll get up and bore everybody Christ won't be with me or if I do something else I'm doing it without Christ it'll not accomplish what God wants because that's why you must seek in everything Christ must be there with me that's why it's a good thing to ask ourselves you know if you're in a questionable thing I'm not sure whether I should do this or not ask yourself can I do this in fellowship with Christ you know many people use the pray as saying what would Jesus do that sounds very spiritual but it's not always gives me a right answer shall I build a house what would Jesus do I don't think he was ever interested in building a house what about postgraduate education what would Jesus do he was not interested in postgraduate education I can make a lot of things like that what about putting a fixed deposit in a bank what would Jesus do you can get you can become a hypocrite saying I'm always doing what Jesus did and do all these other things with Jesus never did it's not the way to do it and she don't ask that question what would Jesus do now I'm falling in love with a girl what would what would Jesus do you're going to get crazy that's not the answer let's be honest you know this WWJD people go with bands called WWJD what would Jesus do he doesn't work so what I've discovered is you know I just don't swallow everything that Christians which you've probably discovered by now that I don't follow at all Christians reach I want to see if it's real I say can I do this in fellowship with Jesus that's the thing can I do this in fellowship with Jesus can I build a house there because I want to live in such sure don't cheat anybody can I open a fixed deposit in the bank and fellowship with Jesus sure because Bible says like an ant I must be and it's prepared for the winter in the time of summer so the question is can I do this in fellowship so it's every whenever you're doubtful about something that starts this question and I doing this in fellowship with Jesus can i watch this TV program in fellowship with Jesus go ahead and watch it or maybe it's a movie and I watch you from fellowship with Jesus if you can't don't do it I want to do everything that is in the will of God for my life and if you spend your time doing a lot of things but they're not in the will of God what will happen is you won't have time to do the things which are in the will of God that's why we got to be disciplined in the use of our time with Christ I can do everything I must have that boldness yeah I find a lot of Christians judge themselves so much it then suggests themselves go to an extreme to that that they become very timid and I mean they're always judging themselves looking inward and looking miserable but that must be a boldness about they must be able to say like it says in Hebrews 13 the Lord is my helper or sick I will never be afraid what can any man do to me can you say that when you face a difficult situation Hebrews 13 6 the Lord is my helper it says we got to say that boldly I will never be afraid he shall never be afraid I'm not gonna be afraid of man I'm not going to be afraid of anti-christian forces let me arise in this country I'm not going to be afraid of difficult times that may come in the future I'm not going to be afraid of the predicted famine that will come when there won't be enough food in the stores I'm not going to be afraid of you know jobs are going out of large jobs going to be lost in it may lose your job I am NOT going to be afraid or you know it my look after me when I'm an old man I'm not going to be afraid a lot of people say I made sure that some of my sons live in the same town so that somebody look after me when I'm old that's not my confidence my confidence is in an Almighty God who says I was the one who brought you to birth and I was the one who carried you all these years he I'm gonna dump you in the last minute read it Isaiah 46 verse 3 and for those of us who are getting old here Isaiah 46 in verse 3 the middle it says you the Lord says you have been born by me from birth and you have been carried by me from the time you came out of the womb your old age I shall be the same as I was when you were a little boy and to your gray hairs I shall bear you I've done it in the past I shall carry you in the future and I shall bear you and I will deliver you is it better to have a confidence in a God like that or in some human planning I'm not saying you shouldn't plan by all means plan for the future and let your confidence be in God not in all your human resources there's a thing called plan a and Plan B people talk about a planning it fails I've got a plan B READY I want to say I only got a plan E but his God will take care of me I don't have a plan B if he lets me down I'm finished you live like that and that doesn't mean I'm foolish that I don't plan for the future and I say with Christ I can accomplish everything God wants me to do if you feel weak in your heart there are many verses you know it's a wonderful thing if you study the Bible son 73 it says here my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart for all those are afraid of heart failure here's the verse for you sound 73 verse 26 God is the strength of my heart I'm not saying therefore you go and eat a lot of ice cream and ghee and all types of things and say God is a strength of my heart don't be foolish be wise be disciplined fast but God is the strength of my heart there are many times I have said this you know times when I felt weak when I had to go for some meeting and some 71 verse 16 in the King James Version I will go in the strength of the Lord my God and some other versions is translated differently that's been a verse that I quoted numerous times the King James Version of some centi 1:16 I will go in the strength of my lord there are times that I've had to go and preach somewhere and I've had to say that verse because I've already been preaching 1015 times in the last couple of days and I I say Lord I'm gonna go in the strength of the Lord he's never let me down to today I mean that may mean I there sometimes I have to sit down that's okay but whatever is in the will of God I can accomplish you must be able to say that and with boldness I'm not going to live in fear of the future or what will happen everything everything looks so bleak now the peace of God God's my heart and mind in Christ because I commit it all to him he is my help he will never let me down he goes ahead of me and he has said don't fear fear is not from God faith says with Christ I can do everything whatever you're facing my brother sister this is not you know the type of pep talk that positive thinking people say positive thinking people is just whipping using somehow working you up to say something but your confidence is not in God it's not I can do everything now it is with Christ I can do everything there's a lot of difference if you remove those first two words positive thinking is rather you can do everything believe that you can accomplish great things that's not what we preach that's human self sufficiency you to collapse one day with Christ I can do everything because in positive thinking it does not allow for you to accept when God says no that you can't accept you get a thorn in the flesh and the positive thinking chapel's tell Paul come on say this thorn will not last forever it's going to go away tomorrow say it Paul says I try to say that it doesn't work I prayed to God three times and God said I'm not going to take it away what do you thinking people can never accept no for an answer from God a man who walks with God can accept no okay I'll have that thorn in the flesh but I will still finish my course won't finish this course with a thorn in the flesh so don't be afraid we must never be afraid I will not be afraid the Lord is my helper I find many believers and see us here don't have that attitude I want to encourage you to have that attitude the Lord is my helper with Christ I can do everything I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so when we live life like this with humility with such humility I can do nothing without Christ and with such tremendous faith I can do all things through Christ the danger is that we can become very hard on other people who don't live at our level women caught in adultery Samaritan women were divorced five times sleeping with somebody it can be very hard on them and I'm sorry to say some people become like that that's why we need the third one be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to you we have to conclude with that says in Luke chapter 6 oh by the way the second verse is in Philippians 3 4:13 I forgot to mention that Philippians 4:13 is going back to the second point I can do all things through Christ who strengthens the knee that's the second point I can do all things the first one John 15 verse 5 the second is Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and the third is Luke chapter 6 and verse 38 be merciful just as your father is merciful how do you know your father is merciful because he's been merciful to you he's being merciful to me otherwise I wouldn't know it so I have to be merciful to whom how do you mean merciful to other people just as my father has been merciful to me so really I mean a proper paraphrase of Luke 6:38 would be exactly what's written there be merciful to others just as God has been merciful to you it's a wonderful thing to conclude there to say Lord this humility that keeps me recognizing I am nothing and I can accomplish nothing without Christ this face that makes me bold to say I'm not afraid of anything I can accomplish anything God wants me to accomplish will never make me hard on others will never make me hard on people who have fallen in sub deep sin caught in adultery or divorced five times or a murderer who's murdered all his life hanging on the cross I will be merciful because I recognize how much God has been merciful to me how many mistakes of mine and blunders he overlooked and not only that how much he covered up all your blunders from the eyes of others he is not allowed others to see your stupid foolish actions Lord of foolish stupid actions we have done nobody in this church knows about it thank God God's covered it all up learn to cover the sins of others that you know don't go and expose them don't be a gossip be merciful to others as God has been merciful to you no boasting no condemnation it's a wonderful life there are many things that many other things that God has taught us through the years I just want to mention something about these two books so these two books have been released in the last one year through the Bible what does he know about it this is the result of fifty years of my rival study or 57 years and I took about 15 years to write it and it's in audio but this is you know made into paragraphs etc now the advantage of this is the commentary on the whole Bible so when people read it and tell me oh brother Zack I find this more interesting than the Bible I'm not excited I'm glad that this drives them to read the Bible which they thought was a boring book so if you think the Bible is a boring book read this book and you'll find it's not a boring book I have encouraged people to read three pages every day I want to encourage all of you to read three pages of this every day and if you miss one day doesn't matter you don't have to read six pages next day still read three pages you will still finish in one year and in one year you have such an overview of the Bible that'll help you to understand God the purpose of this book is not to help you to understand the Bible if you help you understand God who gave us the Bible that's why it's the most important book in the world that you need to understand is the Bible and this book is help you understand God through the Bible which i think is the only I've seen many commentaries in my life but I've never seen a commentary of the Bible written from the New Covenant perspective and that's why this is unique okay and it mentions a lot of the doctrines that we preach in this church or in that book this other book we published recently is called hero my son now I would encourage every young man to read this and young woman because this he mentions almost all the doctrines that we have preached in this church and taught in this church in the last 40 years so not just for young people but if you want to understand all the doctrines we preach them to be established in them here's a good book again I have suggested it's about 62 chapters and I've suggested to people to read one chapter only a day which is to three cages again if you don't exceed every day skip a day and read it but look up the verses you don't look up the verses you won't get the most from it so I want to encourage you to get a copy of that and you know we offer it at a discount here in CSC show me bow our heads in prayer I hope you're not overwhelmed by all that you heard today whatever sank into your heart take those digested the law to remind you later on of other things as needed but don't be timid be bold be humble be bold and say Lord without you I realize I can do nothing of eternal value and say Lord with you I can do everything that you want me to do on this earth before I leave I believe so I messed up many years of my life I'm still going to finish my course say that to the Lord and when God's done great things in your life and you look at other people who are failing and blundering immerse the 'fl to them if they have fallen into sins that you never fell into be merciful don't judge them Heavenly Father help us to find that balance in our Christian life that Jesus had the beautiful life that he lived please help us each one to walk as Jesus walked on this earth we pray in Jesus name on it you

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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: C-6BOYdLuHg

Length: 36min 47sec (2207 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 22 2017