Walking In The Light In Honesty by Zac Poonen

okay we were seeing yesterday how things that started well declined very quickly and that begins with adam and eve it started so well in perfection and drifted away from god so soon and he saw that how in the times of joshua after his generation the next generation drifted away the same thing with paul and that's happened as i said throughout christian history that a group begins well really seeking to follow the lord they've come out of death systems and then over a period of time maybe 40 50 70 years they declined and then they live on a name they don't have the life anymore and that's happened throughout history through numerous church groups so how do we ensure it doesn't happen to us every group when they look back at the history of the christian church and they saw this decline and you know what they said it won't happen to us and it happened to them the bible says in 1 corinthians 10 verse 12 to 14 let him who thinks he stands take heed let's step forward that's a warning on corinthians 10 verse 12 so it's very easy when the moment you begin to think yeah yeah it won't happen to me that's the time we are in danger of falling and the only way to escape from falling is first of all to acknowledge that we are capable of falling if god doesn't hold us we cannot stand on our own strength one of the first things we need to recognize and that is humility one of the major parts of humility is to acknowledge that i cannot remain faithful if god doesn't support me or to use an example it's very simple it's like a a branch in a tree an apple tree and the branch saying i can never produce any fruit if the tree doesn't supply sap to me and we all understand that and no matter how many years of experience that branch has the moment the sap stops flowing in the branch dries up no more fruit i have seen that happen to some wonderful christians who were like fresh branches in christ once a few years later they've dried up and then they're like the branch falls off the tree they've fallen away from christ exactly the same thing happens and it always happens because of pride so humility is to recognize i can do nothing without christ it's impossible the two statements we need to make we must always not without lips but with our heart let me tell you those two statements the first is in john 15 the confession of our life i'm not so much interested in the confession of our lips that is important but more than the confession of our lips is the confession of our life the pharisees had a confession with their lips but it was not a confession from their life so john 15 jesus said he's using the same example of a branch in a tree in verse five and says apart from me you can do nothing not some things not a few things zero now do you really believe that even if you've had many years of experience as a christian like many of you already have that now you can sort of live on your own without the same dependence on christ that you had some years ago that is pride and i think because of all these years of experience now i'm not like those new believers who came in yesterday to christ no no i've got experience i'm not going to fall that's the guy who's going to fall first and the more we walk with the lord i'll tell you from my own experience the more i walk with the lord the more i feel that i'm absolutely convinced i cannot do anything apart from christ all the time even when i speak i'm like a branch depending on on the lord for the sap to flow through me and then the fruit will come it's like that see the branch doesn't struggle to produce an apple it's very restful it just rests in the branch and it's very important for all of us my brothers and sisters to come into that life where we have learned to live in simple faith and dependence upon the lord and where we never have high thoughts about ourselves no matter how much we have grown or how much god has blessed us or how much better we are than everybody else it's no different the moment pride comes in it's like you know it's a law so anyway i'll come come to that first of all the first confession is apart from christ i can do nothing 50 years from now i'll be able to do nothing a hundred years from now i'll be able to do nothing apart from christ john 15 5 the second confession is the opposite of that philippians 4 13 philippians 4 13 [Music] i can do all things through christ who strengthens me this is the opposite it's the other side of the coin it's like a coin that is a coin it's got nothing on the other side it's fake the coin has got something printed on both sides and one side is apart from christ i can do nothing and the other is i can do all things through christ who strengthens me you know whenever you face a situation which looks like difficult and possible you need to say i can do all things through christ who strengthens me you face a very provocative situation in your home or in your office or the church i faced so many situations like that in my life when i was in the navy as a young believer and much more as with all these different churches and the problems that can arise in churches i say i can do everything through christ to strengthen in fact i need to remind myself of that all the time so i have this verse in front of me all the time i keep it in front of my just below my computer i can do all things through christ who strengthens me i need to remind myself of that all the time and i keep it in front of me you don't need a fancy picture you can write it on a piece of paper and keep it in front of you the important thing is to remind yourself all the time and sometimes the verse in front of us reminds us if sudden situation comes up oh i can handle that through christ who strengthens me there's no situation in your life i don't know what you guys are facing or what you will face tomorrow or next year if you can be established in this truth apart from christ you can do nothing and with christ you can handle every situation you can ever face now i say that boldly now because i've got enough experience to see how he strengthened me through all that is amazing situation you'll be amazed to hear some of the things the lord led me through and i have that faith that because he's done all this so far i know that from now until the time jesus comes i can do everything through christ who strengthens me i'm looking forward to the coming of christ and until that day i can do every single thing that god wants me to do and sometimes it's very demanding things that the lord expects from me sometimes there are serious problems in some churches and i need to have wisdom to handle it and i say lord i don't have it like some of you may have problems in your homes and what do you do say lord i can do everything i can't do anything without you but if i depend on you this problem can be solved some of you may have problems with your children what are you going to do isn't it wonderful to have jesus there to help you you know if you have a church full of such people who confess these two things apart from christ i can do nothing and with christ i can do all things you have a very strong church it's not just the churches about a lot of good music and a lot of good preaching see today there's more preaching available on the internet than any time in human history there is never a time in history when people who could hear so many sermons and so many false teachings the internet is flooded with false teachings and if you don't have discernment you will listen to the wrong thing and some of those preachers are very convincing and especially those who do these fake miracles like magic shows you know that the magic show is not real that guy is just fooling you on that on that platform when he does a magic show and some of these preachers today what they call healing such as magic shows just fooling you but the number of believers who are fooled well i believe in healing i've experienced it in my life i've seen when praying for people people heal but i also know that everybody is not healed and i also believe that god wants us to use medicine so i'm not one of these people who say that everybody who's sick will be healed such a person has got to find a verse in the bible for it it's not there the old testament gospel is the gospel of healing and prosperity the new testament gospel is a gospel of spiritual healing and spiritual prosperity in the heart so remember these two verses i told you the two sides of a coin apart from christ you can do nothing and with christ you can do everything you please remember these two verses john 15 5 in philippians 4 13 and memorize them and confess them often especially when you're in a tight spot or a difficult situation you know it could be a difficult situation financially it could be a difficult situation in the home or in your job or anything say lord with your help i can handle this confess it you know we mustn't only believe with our mouth that's another thing i want to tell you our faith becomes stronger when we confess it don't just keep your faith secret in your heart i don't mean confess to people that's a good thing when you get an opportunity i'm not saying you should go around witnessing to everybody you see but if you're playing a place of work be always available i say lord i'm always available to be a witness for you if you open a door i'll confess you but i'm not going to go around giving a track to everybody i meet or to witness to everybody i see they'll get fed up with me that's a bad testimony i don't see jesus is doing it i don't see the apostles doing it but to be available i'm not asking you to witness to everybody you mean but i'm asking you say lord be available help me to be available and if you open a door i'll take it and share something so but here is something which we must do which we must confess with our mouth see let me first of all show you revelation chapter 12. i want to show you two verses about confession the importance of confession with our mouth in revelation chapter 12 it speaks about satan he is called with two titles we saw one of them i think yesterday revelation 12 9 he is called the deceiver of the whole world that includes you and me because we are in the world he tries to deceive us we don't get deceived because the holy spirit keeps us in the light the other title given to him in verse 10 is called the accuser of our brethren read those verses i want to teach you all a very good habit when you read a verse in a book you're reading for example every book that i've written you'll have plenty of verses every page any page you turn to on this side or that side there'll be a verse of scripture and if you get into the habit of looking up those scriptures you'll become familiar with the bible a lot of lazy people hear a verse they never look it up in the bible 50 years later they are ignorant of the bible and their life is shallow because they are too lazy to look up that verse in the bible develop the habit of looking you know if in the early days when i was trying to improve my english if i read a word somewhere in the newspaper or somewhere else which i didn't know i would put that paper down and take a dictionary see what's the meaning of that so today when i read some message somewhere they quote a verse and i say hey i don't know that verse i put that message down and i turn to the bible and look for that verse that's how i have become familiar with the bible and i will encourage all of you to become familiar with the bible and help you tremendously in the long run see how eagerly those of you go to work seek to be familiar with your job otherwise you lose your job well you need to be more familiar with the bible than with the job you're doing revelation 12 verse 11 he's called the accuser of the brethren and it says here there are a certain group of people in those days who overcome satan and how do they overcome him verse 11 first of all by the blood of the lamb the blood of jesus christ cleanses us from all sin but the bible says 1 john 1 7 that it's only if you walk in the light 1 john 1 7 if you walk in the light the blood of jesus cleanses you from all sin otherwise it doesn't count you if you hide something in your life you will not be cleansed never try to hide anything from god you can hide things from people that's okay but don't ever hide anything from god that means don't pretend because you can't hide anything he knows in any case he sees everything why do you have to pretend that you didn't do that or you didn't have that attitude you can fool people saying no no i didn't do that or i didn't think like that but god said don't try to fool me walk in the light means be honest do you know that the only thing that jesus required from people when he was on earth was that they should be honest that's what it means to walk in the light it's not a difficult thing you don't have to be a believer for 20 years to be honest a sinner can be honest you remember the samaritan woman in john 4 jesus said go and bring your husband have you read that carefully let me tell you i don't have time to turn to it read it sometime in john 4. the samaritan woman jesus came inside of the well to meet her and said go and call your husband now that woman had divorced five husbands jesus still loved her and was now living with a man with whom she was not legally married she could have easily she didn't know jesus was a prophet she could have easily said just wait wait sir i'll go and bring my husband and she could have brought that man she was living with and said here's my husband how would this strange man whoever he was she could say oh she know whether this is my husband or not i'm living with him but they were not legally married they were not publicly married living together doesn't mean you're married and that passage in john 4 makes it very clear today a lot of people live together and say it doesn't matter well it does matter because jesus distinguished between those who were married and those who were living together when he spoke to the samaritan woman very clearly and that woman did not do that even she didn't go and bring that man because that is not her husband she said honestly i have no hesitant to read that in john 4 and jesus said to her you have spoken the truth he was honest and so her sins were forgiven five divorces were forgiven like that and god began to witness use her as a witness in samaria you read the end of the chapter the whole town came out to listen to jesus because of the witness of this one woman you believe god can use a five times divorced woman you use that woman more than he uses a lot of believers proud believers today why because she was honest she could have pretended that that was her husband and when jesus said you have had five husbands he knew he was a prophet and she was then thankful that she didn't try to fool him and he said the one you're now living with is not your husband so she was forgiven because she was honest and she was a terrible sinner what are the difference between the two thieves on the cross one was honest honest that is the only difference the other fellow said lord bring me down from the cross the other fellow the person on the right side he didn't say bring me down from the god he knew he deserved it he just said lord remember me and it's very important for us to learn that the most important thing god wants from us is not holiness or victory over sin first but truthfulness you will make great progress in your life if you are always truthful and that's why when my children were small at home [Music] i had four boys they're all following the lord today by god's grace but there were two things i emphasized when they were at home and they were small i didn't care if they accidentally broke something or if they fought with each other they'd all children fight but only they were not they were not allowed to hit each other they could speak verbally that's all the moment if anyone touched another i would intervene make them go and lie down in bed or take a timeout or something but otherwise children argue and all it is but there are two things i emphasize one never speak disrespectfully to your parents or to anyone older than you even if it's a servant woman or a beggar you know a lot of beggars will come to the gate don't be rude to a beggar and shout and say get away no that person's older than you be respectful just because he's lower in society and he's a beggar one of the first things i thought be respectful to people who are older than you and i see them today they are 40 50 years old today they still are respectful to people older than them teach your children to be respectful to parents those are older than them and the second thing i taught them was never tell a lie i don't care if it's the biggest calamity you problem you created come and tell me the truth i'll forgive you but don't you dare tell me a lie because i'll find out and you think my children grew up without telling lies there's no child in the world that grows up without telling life psalm 58 says all children tell life but they got out of it quickly because i was very strict on it i said don't you ever try to deceive me and i'm very thankful that i emphasize these two things you guys will bring up your children please emphasize these two things they must speak respectfully to you as parents and to others who are older than them and you know i see so many christian young people nowadays who call older people by their first name hi so-and-so that older person is double the age of this young fellow and he calls him by his first name he is no respect there this is the world we are living in you let your children grow up like that i tell you they'll be disrespectful to god one day and they drift away from god so be careful so be very careful to teach your children to speak the truth that's the matter woman spoke the truth and so she was forgiven so the blood of the lamb we read in revelation 12 11 cleanses only those who speak the truth otherwise they're not cleansed if you walk in the light the blood of jesus cleanses you but the other thing we see here is in revelation 12 11 please look here they overcame satan how did they overcome satan by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony now whenever we read the word testimony we immediately think that means getting up in the meeting and testifying i have accepted christ as my savior or this is the word the lord gave me yesterday all that is good but that is not the testimony spoken of here here if the context is satan here it is speaking about overcoming satan they overcame satan by the blood of jesus christ and by the word of their testimony to satan there's a lot of difference between your testifying in a sunday meeting for all the other believers to hear and you're testifying to satan you won't overcome satan if you don't testify to him it says here they overcame him by the word of their testimony to satan have you ever spoken to satan has satan never spoken to you of course he has who's the one who put some bad thoughts into your mind who's the one who tells you to be bitter against somebody else who's they tell you who's the one who tells you don't not to forgive somebody who's that the one who tells you to lust after some woman who's the one who tells you to be unrighteous and money matters or sign a false statement the devil's always speaking to god's people who's the one who accuses you saying you're good for nothing who's the one who keeps on telling you i know you prayed and confess your sin but you're not forgiven you're not forgiven who's the one who tells you that it makes you feel condemned the devil he's always speaking to you how are you going to overcome him you got to speak back to him you have to learn even you young people to speak back to satan and tell him to his face satan the blood of jesus says cleanse me when he reminds you of some terrible thing you did maybe five years ago or yesterday but you confessed it turn to him and say lord of jesus clench me satan you got no power over me even much older godly men i i remember i think it was martin luther or some godly old man 500 years ago who was much used by god and the devil was harassing him reminding him of all the terrible sins he had done in his life just like he reminds you and me of what he what we did years ago and this man of god just kept quiet and the devil kept him running you know you remember did this five years ago do you remember you did that 20 years ago and you did this nobody knows it but you did this you did this you did this this man listened and finally he said satan that's not all i've done a lot more than that make the list complete and when you've made the list complete you can write across the whole thing the blood of jesus christ has cleansed me from all sin and the devil didn't trouble him after that speak to the devil tell him that the blood of jesus christ has cleansed you from all sin and don't let him keep on harassing you reminding you of sins that you have already confessed one hundred times have you confessed something a hundred times i have because i felt so bad about it till i knew that i had to confess it only once you don't have to confess this in a hundred times god's got good hearing i'll tell you that you don't have to tell him a hundred times well he says i know that you told me that a hundred times already forgiven long ago then who keeps reminding me of it the devil the word of your testimony concerning the blood of christ that's what it says here then you overcome it so the confession is very important now turn with me now to romans chapter 10. here it says in romans from chapter 10 verse 8 what does the word of god say the word is near you the word is in your heart and in your mouth the word of faith which you are preaching so listen to this how to be saved question is how to be saved how to be safe from the accusations of satan how to be saved from self-condemnation from discouragement here's the answer romans 10 9 believe in your heart confess with your mouth and god has raised him from the dead you will be saved you believe in your heart and you don't confess with your mouth well you won't experience that salvation you know in electricity you always see wiring there are two wires you can't have electricity wiring in your house with just one wire you always need two wires and those two wires are brought to a switch and when the switch is off those two wires don't touch all that you do when you put on a switch is make those two wire steps the light comes on but if those two points those two wires are even one millimeter apart there's no light and they touch the light comes on you believe in your heart and contrast with your mouth when you touch you're safe like that please remember that illustration you'll never get electricity with just one wire and if you just believe in your heart that's not enough it says believe in your heart and confess with your mouth first of all to the devil get into the habit of telling the devil satan you can't touch me you were defeated on the cross this is so important you know the devil doesn't like to hear it i tell you something that happened in my home many years ago some sister from our church brought another lady who was having some problems he was not converted and a nominal christian and said they wanted prayer and so they brought this lady and my wife and i were sitting there in the sitting room and so i told this lady please give your heart to christ and trust him he died for your sins and receive him as you'll see man she said yes yes yes i said now tell the devil you were defeated on the cross speak to the devil he's been harassing you all this time and you know what happened he opened her mouth and looked at me and her face all twisted and said i was not defeated on the cross that was a demon inside her i didn't realize that i thought she was just an unconverted unbeliever but she was a demon-possessed woman she looked very normal but when i said to her tell the devil you were defeated on the cross she turned around into me and said i was not defeated on the cross well i told but i stopped speaking to her i spoke to the demon inside her i said you demon satan you were defeated on the cross jesus defeated you on the cross get out of here right now in jesus name the demon left and i told that lady now tell the devil what is this 15 seconds later tell the devil you were defeated on the cross and she said it proved the demon had gone just like jesus you know jesus would tell a demon to go and discover any believer can do that if you walk in the light if the devil knows that your conscience is clear and you know that he was defeated on the cross you have authority god's given us authority our savior so it's very important that we confess with our mouth i always tell people tell the devil you are defeated on the cross jesus is my savior even if you don't have boldness to confess in the church meeting confess to the devil very important so we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth and then it says we will be saved now i want you to turn now to genesis in chapter one the first paragraph of the bible you read here in the first part of the bible something very interesting in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth and the earth was shapeless empty [Music] dark does that ever puzzle you when you read that i know for a long time it puzzled me does god create anything shapeless empty and dark god is light it says later on then how did it become shapeless empty and dark in the same way that there are thorns and wild animals on the earth today which were not there in genesis chapter 2. you know in genesis chapter 2 when god created the animals and the trees and the plants there was not a single thorn there was not a single wild animal not a single poisonous snake anywhere in the world how did the world become so bad because of man's sin the moment adam sinned the earth was cursed thorns and wild and animals became wild all kinds of problems came because of sin god did not create when you look around and you see god did not create the world like this so when you go back to genesis 1 you say something must have happened between verse 1 and 2 which made the earth formless shapeless and empty because god doesn't create it like that then you say what is it that happened there why isn't it mentioned there well i'll tell you where it is mentioned what what happened there was one of the angels whom god had created the head of the angel sinned and became the devil he was the head of the angels at one time [Music] and you say why isn't it mentioned here because this book was not written for angels this book was written for man and so man's history comes in the first chapter and uh later on the devil god tells us about what happened to the devil in ezekiel 28. he turned with me to ezekiel on chapter 28. i hope you all know where ezekiel is teach your children to know where the books of the bible are ezekiel chapter 28 [Music] we read here about the lord telling someone in verse 14 you were the anointed cherub or angel who guards my earth he's speaking he's speaking to the devil here and he says you verse 12 you had the seal of perfection speak to the king of tower the king of god was the devil who was inside the earthly king you had the seal of perfection wisdom and perfect you were in eden now the earthly king of god was not in eden this is he's talking about the devil who was in the garden of god once upon a time and it was he was the anointed cherub verse 14 in the holy mountain of god perfect and it says here verse 15 you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created without any blame until one day unrighteousness came what is that unrighteousness verse 17 your heart was lifted up because of your beauty and your wisdom and your splendor see this was the head of the angels or the anointed angel and when he saw how beautiful he was he became proud it when he saw that he was cleverer than all the other angels he became proud of it and when he saw he was the head of all the angels he became proud of that there were three things the anointed angel became head of it's important for you to know it his beauty his cleverness and his position these are usually the things that men are proud of too their good looks their cleverness and their position in life what they've accomplished their wealth and etc etc and the moment this pride came into him is the lord says i verse 17 i cast you down to the ground and he became the devil how long does it take for a perfect angel to become a devil one moment less than one second the moment he got up in his mind he didn't say anything he didn't come out of his mouth and god looked into his heart and said this guy is proud of his good looks not realizing that i gave him those good looks proud of his cleverness not recognizing that i gave him that cleverness and proud of his position not recognizing that i put him in that position immediately he sinned and then what happened then what happened is what we read here in genesis 1 like an atom time the earth became cursed the earth became shapeless dark genesis 1 verse 2 and empty that is a result of sin but god didn't leave the earth like that the holy spirit began to move it says in genesis 1 2 and the word of god went forth genesis 1 3 let there be light and there was light and the whole of genesis chapter 1 teaches us how the holy spirit and the word of god worked together to take that rotten earth spoiled by the devil and made it a perfect earth so perfect that at the end of the chapter it says almighty god looked at it and he can look more carefully than man and said it's very good yeah the last verse says that now that is a parable genesis chapter one we can say is a description of the message of the entire bible and that is read it like this apply it to man genesis one verse one in the beginning god created man perfect but the devil came in made him proud how do we say adam and eve became proud it's only pride that makes a person go and eat something which god said if you eat it you'll die and they think they know more than god the devil says no you won't die yeah i don't think i'll die that's pride whenever a person listens to the devil he's proud god has said you'll you know the moment they ate they died spiritually and verse 2 became true in their spiritual life think of genesis 1 as a picture of man made perfect the devil came and man becomes formless shapeless dark words too but god doesn't leave him like that god has sent the holy spirit now to you and me you and i were formless shapeless and dark when in our non-converted days and the holy spirit has come to change us into his likeness and says let there be light and the light of the gospel comes into our heart and what's the next thing this is the thing i wanted to share with you what is the very next thing once light comes into the heart verse 4 god separated the light from the darkness what is the message there you know everything in the old testament is interpreted in the new testament i want you to turn to the second corinthians in chapter four and you get an explanation of that here 2nd corinthians 4 you read is referring to this genesis 1 passage 2nd corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. god who said in genesis 1 let the light shine out of darkness is the one who is now shawn in our hearts you know genesis 1 god said let there be light and there was light and he says that's what god has done in our heart and he is the light of the glory of god in the face of christ has come into our heart that's what's written in genesis 1. and then what is the next thing god did after that what did i say he separated the light from the darkness so you turn to chapter 6 and you read the next thing in verse 14 second corinthians 14 be separated from unbelievers because verse 14 second corinthians 6 14 what fellowship does light have with darkness see this is the interpretation of what we read in genesis 1. the new testament interprets the old testament therefore verse 17 come out from among them be separate and don't touch what is unclean and i will welcome you and i'll be a father unto you so what should we do therefore brethren verse chapter 7 verse 1 let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of god and then what will happen what happened at the end of genesis 1 man made in the image of god and the same thing will happen to you you'll be made once again in the perfect likeness of christ that's our hope so genesis 1 is a chapter that describes the message of the whole bible god made us perfect the devil came and spoiled everything everything came dark empty but the holy spirit began to move the word of god went forth you know every every day it says god said god said god said have you noticed that in genesis 1 every day god said something and something happened what is the meaning of that every day we need to hear god speaking to us that's how we are transformed and at the end of it we read on the sixth day man was made in the likeness of god if you keep listening to god every day like it says in genesis 1 you'll become more and more in the likeness of god my passion has been this ever since i read what jesus said man shall not live by food alone but by every word that proceeds from god's mouth my prayer has been lord let me not value physical food for my body more than spiritual food your word for my heart like some people have a motto no bible no breakfast no bible no food make a rule for yourself one day no bible no food today your life will be changed i believe believe you believe me what do we read in genesis 1 every day take some time to read genesis 1 slowly not right now but when you're at home every day we read god said second day god said third day god said fourth day god set fifth day sixth day god said and finally man is made in the image of god the same thing god wants to do with you every day or it says something god says something something finally you become the likeness of christ and write in chapter one verse two it says the holy spirit moved upon the earth and that's the other thing the holy spirit wants to move in your heart because the combination of the holy spirit plus the word of god that changes you once again into the image of christ and if a church pursues this it will never decline like the church in ephesus like i told you or it will never drift away from god like the people drifted after the days of joshua why do churches through the ages decline after a few years because people become slack look at i mean i'm not here to judge you but you examine yourself and ask yourself and answer a question honestly yourself look back to the time when you first accepted christ you never missed a day without reading the bible then but now aha you say well i'm not a new believer i am a believer of some standing people in the church respect me i can afford to skip reading the scriptures no wonder you lose your temper so often no wonder you lust with your eyes so often no wonder you grumble and complain no wonder you make life difficult for your husband or your wife no wonder your children go straight from god it wasn't like that in the beginning you wanted to hear god dear brothers don't get discouraged we cannot do anything about the past but we can do a lot about tomorrow say lord it's not going to be like this anymore i want the holy spirit to be upon me like genesis 1 wears to the holy spirit is upon and i want the word of god to come to me every day even if it's only five minutes say lord i want to hear you i do that as soon as i get up in the morning before i get out of bed i lay in bed awake i lie in bed every day i lie in bed and wait for a little while even if it's just five minutes i want to calm my spirit and say lord i want to hear you today i'm not reading the bible it's all dark and i want to hear then i get it then i read the scriptures and you don't have time to read the scriptures in the morning read it some other time during the day carry it with you carry a new testament with you if you go to work pull it out sometime and read it or have it on your phone and listen to it sometimes but don't miss this and remain in humility and when the devil tries to condemn you confess to the devil the blood of jesus has cleansed me from all sin be bold to say that and if you do that i believe you contribute to preserving your church in life and light because like i said yesterday if you have the aroma of christ in you you can influence the church just by sitting there even without opening your mouth if a very heavily perfumed lady came and sat in your congregation i tell you everybody around will get the aroma she doesn't have to open her mouth there's something about that perfume which is so powerful the aroma people are getting hey what's this and the aroma of christ is something like that they should never be a person with a true christian even if you never had a chance to witness for christ in your office they will know that you are different and they'll never forget it never i remember a naval officer whom i met about 40 years after i first met him when i was a young naval officer and he was my senior now he was an admiral and he met me in bangalore and he had retired and and he was so surprised to see me 40 years later and you know what he said to me he said zach i can never forget you they knew i was a christian i didn't go around with the border by saying i'm a christian no it's just the way i conducted myself right people would invite me to the movies and say i'm sorry i don't go for movies excuse me they ask me to have a drink and i say i'm sorry i don't drink and i didn't have to preach to them they gave me the opportunity to witness i remember those naval functions everybody would be standing around with a glass of whiskey and i would stand with a glass of orange juice i didn't preach because i didn't want to offend people but somebody would come up to me and say why are you asking for why are you drinking oranges ah you asked for it right now i'm gonna tell you i gave him the gospel he initiated it not me he can't say i i started preaching to him he asked me why i'm drinking orange juice and i tried to tell him that christ came to my heart but i'm saying i remember once uh some some officer was my senior was upset with my standing up saying that i would not be in charge of ordering whiskey in for the ship for the officers and he was so upset with me because he was a non-christian and he said i'm gonna march you in before the commanding officer for disobeying me i said sir whatever you may say it's against my conviction to drink alcohol or to order alcohol for others so he marched in which is a quite a serious thing before the commanding officer the commanding officer the roman catholic and this man complained about me sir this man this lieutenant is not taking my orders to order whiskey so the captain asked me why can't you do it i said sir i'm a christian and i cannot order whiskey for people and he laughed because he was wrong carly and he said i'm also a christian ah he opened the door for me to witness i said sir i also thought i was a christian because i was born in a christian family but i realized that i needed to receive christ into my life which i did when i was 19 that's when i became a christian what an opportunity to witness and he gave me he opened the door he can't say that i tried to preach to him he opened the door and said why and i said yeah alex thank you you know if you're always alert to be a witness for christ god will open some door and like i said 40 years from now they'll remember they'll remember you i remember another senior officer of mine makani also when he was on his deathbed in the naval hospital somebody went to meet him and that chad told me later on he said zach he was remembering you you know when people get near that death bed they remember eternity they think of eternity and then they remember the one person who taught that told them about eternity that was me so dear brothers and sisters be a witness for christ in your place of work and in your church be upright i started when i was 19 and a half most of you guys are all much older than that be faithful be honest and i tell you when you come to the end of your life you'll be able to look back over your life with a life lived in a worthwhile way more than somebody who just accomplished some great thing in the world or a great football player or athlete or anything something far greater than all that or became a billionaire that you lived a life a worthwhile life to give back to god the life he gave you and the word that you were a useful member of the church which you're a part of and preserving it from decline the great job you need every one of you is to make sure you do your part to preserve your local church from declining and that you can do by keeping your conscience clean and listening to god confessing to telling the devil that he was defeated on the cross and walking in humility yeah let's bow our heads in prayer please think about anything god has spoken to you particularly and say lord help me in that area not to forget what you have told me today thank you father for helping us today every brother and every family here we pray in jesus name amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 2,714

Rating: 4.9111109 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: xo3yPgqNQsg

Length: 56min 8sec (3368 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 07 2021