Where Is Your Mind Set by Zac Poonen

[Music] just like jesus warned as we approach the end of time we're going into a time of tremendous spiritual deception when the world is concerned about an economic recession that's not the most serious thing that would affect a whole hearted disciple of Jesus Christ because I'm not talking about those who just want to go to heaven and have accepted Christ I'm talking about the only type of person Jesus wanted to be a part of his church wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ to love God with all their heart all their soul all their mind and who seek to love one another as Christ loved them and who seek to love their neighbors as they love themselves that's a wholehearted disciple and we may not have achieved there but if that is our goal really longing for it then you're a wholehearted disciple for a wholehearted disciple economic recession is never a problem because jesus said that if you seek the kingdom of God first all the other earthly things we need will always be added to us every wholehearted disciple and his family will always have enough for food on the table for a shelter overs head and clothes to wear to educate his children everyone they need not fear in the midst of the darkest times if you live in Psalm 91 we don't have any fear of that and when people are concerned about what's happening to their money etc I think of an Old Testament story where they took the ark the Philistines took the Ark of the Lord you read about in 1 Samuel and they placed it in front of their Idol Dagon and we read in the morning that Bagon had fallen down and broken today it's Mammon that's falling down why should that disturb the worshipers of the true and living God if it does disturb you you're a worshipper of Mammon that's pretty clear but what should we should be concerned about in this time his deception deception spiritual deception which is rampant there's more than one verse in Scripture which says that in the last days there's going to be a tremendous amount of deceiving spirits that are going around Jesus when he when the disciples asked Jesus about what's the sign of the last days the first thing he said was don't let anybody deceive you the very first thing and he repeated that two three times in Matthew 24 Paul writes to Timothy saying in the last days the Holy Spirit expressly says that means he's underlined it saying that there were many deceiving spirits we can wonder why a loving Heavenly Father allows deceiving spirits to move around among Christians it is to sift the chaff from the wheat that's the reason don't you use a sieve particularly the wheat you buy in the shops in India acharya is a Sioux and the rice and everything in to sift out even the stones etc it's a very useful thing deception is a sieve it's a it's something with which we sift out the rubbish God preserves that which is good so we need not fear if you're wholehearted but it's good for us to see clearly what the scripture says like I've repeatedly said in the last few days weeks if you do not study the Bible you deserve to be deceived if you do not study the scriptures in these last days you deserve to be deceived because God's given us this book I mean you can't say like people said 6 700 years ago we don't have a Bible in our home that was true the printed Bibles became available in the last 500 years but you've got not only one version you've got many versions in your home the question is whether we read it we ask the Holy Spirit to show us the truth of God so this is under in the next three Sunday's God willing I want to speak on the subject of turning the world upside down and that's a phrase found in Acts of the Apostles chapter 17 in the King James Version it says in verse 6 these were words actually quoted by a lot of unbelievers in Thessalonica when Paul came there and there were many Jewish people who had learned the synagogue and who were concerned that what Paul was preaching was so different from what they had heard in the synagogue for so many years now the reason why this is interesting to read these Encounters of Paul with Jewish people in the synagogues and the Acts of the Apostles is because this is exactly how any true servant of God will will find what he find in these last days when preaching in most churches the same type of reaction because like the Jews drifted away from the truth of God from Moses time in 1,500 years Christians have also drifted away in fact they drifted away pretty quickly in a hundred years they drifted away as we read in revelation 2 and 3 but the drift is being then there been a few ups and downs in the last 500 years ago and 200 years ago but gradually as we approach the end of time now it's really Christians have drifted away from the truth of God from the genuine gifts of the Holy spirit the genuine part of the Holy Spirit missed out the central things of the Christian theme and so that's why it's interesting Paul's encounter in the synagogue that says in verse 2 of Acts seventeen II as it was his custom he went for three Sabbath's reasoned with them from the synagogue explaining giving evidence that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again and then Jesus whom I proclaim is your Messiah the one you're looking forward and then they some of them were convinced along with some god-fearing Greece but the Jews becoming jealous and that's happening today also Christians are jealous whenever they see a ministry that draws people away to godliness from their own churches they're not worried whether somebody is becoming more godly they are jealous because somebody's leaving their dead lifeless church and these were people are jealous that they're dead lifeless synagogue people were leaving and joining up with Paul who was preaching the truth of God it's the same thing happening today and they took along some wicked men from the marketplace it's amazing how when Christians backslide and become jealous they'll gang up with criminal lawyers and all types of people take people to court and do all types of things many terrible things happen when you backslide and that's exactly what happened here they took a long wicked went for the marketplace criminals gangsters and formed a mom imagine using these weapons to and think still thinking that they are doing God's work and they attack the house of Jason who was one of those who Paul had converted they were seeking to bring him out of the people when they did not find them find Paul and his team they began grace dragging Jason out and some brothers and shouted these men who have turned the world upside down have come here also now even though that's an expression used by those unbelievers I think it's very true I mean these were religious people and they found their whole religious these were not ungodly heathen idol worshippers who were doing this these were religious people who had the Bible of that time which is the Old Testament and they couldn't understand this revelation because they hadn't studied the Bible Paul was using the same Old Testament and showing them that Jesus was the Messiah but they couldn't see it now I find the same thing with many Christians today when we show them something from Scripture and show it plainly there it is they don't see it they don't see it because they love that tradition more than scripture they love the honor of men more than the honor of God and anyone who seeks to please relatives friends pastors priests bishops Pope's etc will never know the truth and anyone who loves their inherited culture and tradition more than the Word of God will never know the truth they deserved to be deceived because they have placed something above God's world that tradition the opinions of men culture or whatever it is and I tell you a lot of us Indian Christians are guilty of placing Indian tradition in many many areas about the truth of God's Word there's a verse in Psalm 138 I think it's verse 3 which says God has exalted his word above all his name can you imagine something exalted above the name of God the word of God and when you dishonor God's word and put your tradition about that or culture or your opinions I think you deserve to be deceived I don't want to do that but if you put God's Word on top you will find that your way of life is the opposite of the way of life of the world that's what I mean by turning the world upside down actually not upside down but right-side up because Jesus came into a world that had become upside down the day Adam sinned God created man to walk uprightly the Bible says that in the Old Testament the books of Moses it says God created man to walk uprightly he didn't create man to walk upside down and Adam was created to walk upright but spiritually the moment he sinned first of all by listening to his wife instead of stopping his wife he became upside down right there and his wife became upside down and they were to upside down people who produce upside down children and grandchildren forever after and we have a whole world of millions and billions of people who are born upside down live upside down in the midst of them came Jesus living up frightened different from it was 180 degrees different from the way everybody else was living and he gathered together apostles they gathered others who were gripped by this truth it was not just that Jesus died for their sins and the millions of people who believed that but that Jesus came to change our whole way of life as the meaning of repentance could be turning about 180 degrees or turning right-side up so what these people said Thessalonica said was absolutely true they were turning the world upside down the only way difference was that they were actually turning the world right-side up making man once again live the way God originally intended him to so if you're interested in that you can listen and of course our example is Jesus himself he was the one man the first man who walked on this earth who in every area walk right side up there were a few people in the Old Testament like Moses Elijah John the Baptist few godly men who were somewhat opposite to the world but not totally Jesus was the first person totally completely opposite to everything that this world stood for and that's why he's the mediator of a new covenant and the beginner of a new creation you know the real church I don't mean everybody who attends Sunday morning church services I mean those who committed their life to Christ who married to Christ just like a bride totally committed to a bridegroom who are keeping themselves pure and talking about them their whole value system is completely different their way of thinking is completely different from the way of the world and so it's good for us to compare our way of thinking our values with the values of the world to see for ourselves whether the Holy Spirit has succeeded in turning us right-side up because you won't force anybody if you want to sort of come horizontal just 90 degrees you leave you there but if you want to come all the way up right like Jesus he'll take you there but always with your permission the Holy Spirit never does anything without your permission that's one thing about God that's one difference between God and the devil you've often heard me say that you read in the Bible about the Holy Spirit filling people and demons possessing people you never read about the Holy Spirit possessing people and you never read about demons filling people the devil doesn't fill people he possesses them the Holy Spirit never possesses people he fills them and the fundamental difference is this that when a demon or a devil possesses somebody he controls him completely the person doesn't have any roll over himself on herself we were in a conference last week where there was this demon-possessed girl who was sitting quietly through the two hours the confidence soon as the conference is over and we were all going gone out and sitting there she suddenly started rolling on the ground and screaming and all it wasn't heard was a demon she couldn't control it completely him but when the demon was cast out then she was okay demons possessed evil they control them and whenever you find something controlling you like that that's not the Holy Spirit only spring gives you freedom whenever a pastor or a preacher tries to control you forcing you to give your money that's demonic 100% demonic I had no hesitation to say that it's ignorant godless men who try to control others a godly man will give advice but he will never tell people what to do that's God's prerogative the Bible says God is jealous for our spirit that means he doesn't want anybody else to come between him and us Jesus is the one mediator between God and man he doesn't want Mary or pastor or you or me or anybody else to come between him and one whom he purchased with his own blood one who is his bride and a godly man recognizes that I've often said to people listen the source of power is God it's like an electric power point I'm only an extension cord you know what an extension cord is if you can't reach the plug point yourself you put an extension cord and that passes the power but there's no power in the extension cord you know that that's a true servant of God he's only an extension Lord and the person plugs in only to him and the man himself is not plugged into God they're not gonna get anything and these people who are plugged into this extension cord should not remain plugged into the extension cord forever it's only an initial stage like little children you know we have to take and then do everything for them but we don't do that forever they should grow up and start doing things themselves so we were plugged into an extension cord a servant of God who leads us to Christ you should gradually come to the place where you plug into the socket yourself and then you can become an extension God for somebody else that's God's will but anyone who makes you feel that he's the source of power he's like that magician Simon in Samaria who read in Acts chapter 8 made himself known to people it's a great power and all that he was demon-possessed but he got baptized not converted pretended to say the right words whom even the Evangelist Philip yeah sometimes non born-again people telling full believers I mean they can fool me too they can't fool God and he got baptized but when some time later Peter came along and exposed and that's one thing we've seen in this church through many years that people come along after a while they get exposed because God is in our midst he's in the business of bringing more and more light and making people feel uncomfortable if they continue to live in their sin and either they get offended and leave or they get converted and repent so the message that the Apostles proclaim and that we proclaim is that Jesus came to make us right-side up in Philippians in chapter 3 let me show you another verse which refers to the same thing Philippians chapter 3 this is a wonderful passage I would encourage you to read this chapter very slowly because it gives us an inner look into the inner life of the Apostle Paul that made him the man he was and I want to say dear brothers and sisters if you have these values then only will you be able to turn the world upside down then only will your way of life be a rebuke to a world that's got another if you have the same values that Paul had very Paul get it from you got it from Christ let me show you a few things in Philippians 3 I don't have time to show everything but I want to say this first seventy whatever things were gain to me those things I thought I'd lost the sake of Christ everything that I once considered valuable I'd thrown away it's all rubbish I've thrown into the trash can cuz I found Christ my dear brothers and sisters if your conversion was not like that you have started wrong I'm not saying you're not born again but you're like these babies born in six months premature some of that body parts are not fully developed inside they've got to be put in incubators and sometimes all that life they're to live with some type of medicines and treatment and all because some foolish evangelists pull him out of the womb before he was ready to be born you see there's a period of preparation before a child is born and there's a period of preparation before a person is can be really born again he's got a repentance he's got to turn from his selfish self-centered life to the measure in which he knows he's not done that if your conversion was not like this all the things in this world that were valuable for me I've thrown it in the trash to him because I follow Christ it's like a girl who's dumped all her old boyfriends because she found it lost the man she wanted to marry I thought everything is lost I've suffered the loss of all things and count them verse 8 but rubbish that's what I meant throw it in the trash can everything else everything and now I want to be found only in Christ Paul spoke about being hidden in Christ you know in such a way that you can't see Paul it's like something you put inside a box and you can't see it anymore it's inside but you don't see it Paul wanted to be like that in Christ so that holy Christ would be seen and there's another little secret that I've discovered in the world there's a tremendous lust in people's hearts to be visible they want to be seen they want to be known they want to be recognized they want to be honored they want to be respected they want everybody to know their name they want everybody to know them if they do something they want good they want everybody to know that they are the ones who did it if they pray they want people to know what men of Prayer they are they fast they want people to know they give something to God they want people to know that's the world to turn the world upside down it means that if you want to be invisible like Jesus he would heal people and they don't tell anybody about it don't tell anyone I'm so happy that you're healed that's why I said I don't want people to know that I'm a great healer jesus said I want people I'm happy that you're healed man don't tell anybody about it just go home and rejoice that God did something for you so different from today's healers when a fellow is not even heating properly they're pulling in front of a microphone and tell him to give a testimony they forced him to give what had been working the core person stay on his stage except say I'm healed he looked a fool if he said anything else and the whole purpose is for the man to say he recognized what a man I am so different from Paul he's I want to be found in him I don't want any of my own righteousness to be seen or known I don't want any of that I want that which comes from God my aim in life is not to be a great apostle versed and my great aim in life is to know Jesus more and more this is where you see today's Christianity is so different today is Christianity with his projects and its ministries and so many things which looks so good they are good but that like that old English proverb says that good is the enemy of the best and here's the best that I may know him the power of his resurrection in my inner life and the Fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death why suffering because when a man walks upright in the midst of a world that is upside down he's going to invoke the anger and jealousy of a lot of other people I'll tell you this if you live for God God blesses you in such a way God blesses you God blesses your family God takes care of your need and you're healthy and strong and God there's so many wonderful things for you and people around you are just waiting for calamity to hit you and it doesn't hit you and they're jealous even Christians not even Christians with me Christians in your own church who are not properly converted I want to say this little guy my dear brothers sister please listen to me if you desire even the slightest bit of evil for another person you're in fellowship with the devil if you're happy when some little bit of evil happened to somebody maybe somebody you don't like you are hand in hand with Satan recognize that I don't get what church you go to I don't care if you've been in this church 25 years you're in hand-in-hand with Satan because you desire or you delight in some evil that happened to somebody else some sickness some something poor some sad thing that happened to his children or something that and you're happy dear me what are you general demon ask yourself wake up before you end up with all the other all the other friends in hell it's serious these are little ways in which God is showing you you haven't really repented how do I know because God showed me that many years ago and I found myself in the same I'm not throwing stones at you I myself found myself in that type of situation at certain times we're not really happy with something evil happen to somebody I didn't like God said that's evil now I acknowledged it I said Lord that's a little bit of Hell in my heart I don't want it I want all of my heart to be filled with heaven I'd only want one little corner of hell out of the devil in any corner of me please take it seriously even if you don't do it for the glory of God do it at least for your own good that's second best the best is to do it for the glory of God Lord this dishonor to you I don't want to do it but if you don't do it for that motive at leas do it for your own good and the good of your family and your children rejoice when it goes well with others when it goes and well with other people's children their family in their work and their business and everything else and grieve when it goes badly with others even if they are your enemies that is Christianity when Jesus saw a soldier who had come to capture him and get somebody his ear chopped off and fallen on the ground and for a fellow screaming with pain Jesus he wasn't delighted that followed deserves it for coming to catch me know he forgot about everything else and picked up that year from the ground and fixed it back follow that example that is Christianity anything less than that is demonic and don't hold hands with the devil because if you keep going like that you'll end up with him forever no matter what formula you repeated saying Jesus come into my heart no matter how many hundreds of times you took part in the breaking of bread I guarantee you'll go to hell if you desire even for other people I'm no doubt about it I give it you in writing because that is not God's nature to be born again means a turnaround so keep that in mind to know him and the power of his resurrection the Fellowship of his sufferings to be different from the world and therefore the world troubles us in many ways but he says my goal is not what this world is seeking for verse 11 my goal is to attain to the resurrection from the dead in order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead I want to encourage you to read the Bible slowly let the Bible go through you more than you go through the Bible [Music] think of this just for a moment slowly in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead two resurrections everybody's going to be resurrected there's a resurrection of the righteous in the resurrection of the wicked jesus said only two and he says I want to attain to the right resurrection it's not only here I'll show you another place where he said it but what I want to point out is you say hey I thought I don't have to do anything to attain to the resurrection of the Dead twenty-five years ago I said Lord Jesus come to my heart that's it I've already attained to the resurrection of the Dead which Bible do you have by the way which version is that here is in every question is this in order dad so that what did he do so that I counted everything as rubbish for say that I may gain Christ his commitment was total he was not like these married women who fool around with twenty other men that's what I'm saying even you wouldn't respect a married woman who fooled around with twenty other men but Jesus doesn't need it if his bride he's interested in a lot of things in the world other than him and which are contrary to him if his bride is interested in watching movies that Jesus would never watch watch television programs that Jesus would never read books that Jesus would never watch go after things that Jesus would never go after speak in a way that Jesus see they would never say in Jesus presence what type of bride is this it's not a bride it's a harlot and the Bible calls it James is one of those strong preachers in the Bible he says in James 4 verse 4 onwards beloved brethren you adulteresses brethren adulteresses I remember about 35 years ago and he started our church I spoke on this is not a new message brethren give me abduct RZA's and somebody got a bit disturbed and when do you in and awesome what is Razak talking about believers living in adultery that's right spiritual adultery is worse than physical adultery worse because in physical adultery you betray your husband in spiritual adultery you betray Christ which do you think is more serious brother bad but what do you think is more serious if you see that you will see how serious it is you men as much as you want your wife to be faithful to you ask yourself whether you're faithful to Jesus Christ whether you're allowing yourself to be attractive what would you think if your wife is attracted to your neighbor or to somebody else some distant relative would you be happy about that you think Jesus is happy with you when he sees you maybe you're not fooling around but maybe your wife you're not fooling around but she's just attracted likes to talk maybe you're not actually living in sin but you're attracted to that you want to go there I'm Lea in Christendom has drifted far father you know when the world watches certain types of movies because they're upside down and you watch those same movies you're upside down to what they value you value what excites them excites you all those violence and all that dr. strike excites that it excites you to any imagine Jesus sitting in watching excited he all that violence and sex on the screen you're married to another Jesus brothers sister you probably will never hear that in any other church but you hear it hear it you are married to another Jesus not the Jesus of the Scriptures Bible speaks about another Jesus and Paul was so concerned that the Corinthian believers who were born again and baptized the spirit and speaking in tongues about all the gifts of the Spirit he said I fear that you guys are going after another Jesus I fear that you are receiving another spirit who did he say that - he didn't say that the nominal Christians there were hardly any nominal Christians in those early days these are people who said the magic formula Lord Jesus come into my heart but they haven't counted everything is lost for the sake of Christ and those are the people you know who are the people who fall over the edge of a clue those are the people who are always walking near the edge of the cliff all the time there are one who one day the follower I want to stay as far away from the world as possible when I walk and not to find out how much closer can I go to the edge of the cliff without falling out how much closer can I go sometimes in question on secessions young people ask this can I do this without being worldly can I do this can I do this that's not my question my question is how far do I want how far can I stay away from that cliff I don't want to follow I don't want to take a risk it's an attitude of mind you know it's like a woman who really is in love with another man but who got this arranged marriage to somebody else you know numerous cases like that in India for woman's actually madly in love with somebody else but couldn't marry him the parents are in the marriage to mr. eggs and he stays with mr. eggs what to do society says you got to stay with him but her heart is after that fellow and secretly she'll pull him up and this is exactly the condition of many who say they are born again then marriage to Christ is an arranged marriage it's not a love marriage Paul's was a love marriage he didn't love anybody else my my love marriage surprises love marriage I love it more than I love my wife I've always done that for 41 years I want to ask you if your marriage to Christ love marriage or an arranged one because you want to go to heaven I want to escape hell Paul's was total and why did he do this I won't count everything is rubbish I want to know him I want to know the power of his resurrection I want to know the Fellowship of something it's so that one day I can attain to the resurrection from the dead I want to attain to the resurrection from dead I don't believe it just by saying some magic formula Raji has come to my heart I believe it's by a passionate devotion to him that one day he will come for his bride and he will gather those who were devoted to him that's the type of wife you want to marry and said that the way you want your wife to be passionately devoted to you Christ is no different he wants someone who's passionately devoted to him and will not fool around with the world and he says I'm pursuing this I haven't attained it I haven't become perfect he hasn't yet totally become like Christ but he says let us who are perfect according to the level of our conscience verse 13 have this attitude and listen to this verse 15 sorry verse 15 in the middle if here's a good prayer to pray if in anything Lord I have a different attitude will you please reveal it to me Lord if in anything I have a different attitude which I have not yet seen please reveal it to me I pray that so often I say Lord is there is there anything in my life that's displeasing to you making you sad is there any area where I'm seeking my own still where I'm not upright I want to be I'm not perfect but I want to be if you want to be that's fine then you will get there but you don't even want to be you're not even asking God to show you where you're not perfectly upright God will never show you I'll tell you one thing God will definitely show you the truth about yourself if you have a passionate desire for it and if you won't get offended when he tells you I remember a brother in this church came to me once and said brother Zack I want you to give me a spiritual checkup I said you really want it I said okay I'll give it to you you sure you wanted Citians and I gave it to him and a few weeks he left the church why was that what do you think elin he got offended with the x-ray report he got offended with the stand report it wasn't what he expected it's like a joke I heard about a man who said the doctor said after seeing this x-ray but I had to go through a very expensive surgery but I since I didn't have enough money he just touched up the x-ray and gave it back to me and say you're okay and I didn't have to go through a surgery they want that that's sad but that's exactly what many Christians are looking for some preacher who will touch up the x-ray and say you're okay brother you're a wonderful product you're a wonderful sister you're one of the best brothers and sisters of the church yeah pray to God and said Lord if you if I have a different attitude please show it to me before it's too late many times I just said this fervently to God I said Lord don't give me any surprises when I see you face to face don't tell me that day about something you don't tell me right now if I'm deaf shout in my ear break my bones or wake me up if I'm you know carnal and not even knowing him speak to me at night in my dreams if I'm too busy during the day to listen to you I want to know and that's how God has shown me thing after thing after thing about myself not about other people I'll tell you one thing everything that I preach is what I've discovered in myself first because in my flesh that was no good thing and as I've discovered those no good things I saw to cleanse myself by the power of the Holy Spirit like it says in 2nd Corinthians 7 verse 1 that is cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh don't ask the Lord to clenching friends ourselves it's like I heard of a brother who once told the Lord Lord the devil's harrassing me will you resist him and drive him away and the Lord told him no I'm not supposed to do that you're supposed to do that but the Bible says you resist the devil and he will flee from you you can ask God to do what you're supposed to do then he was God to do the obedience which you're supposed to do I got asked I can't eat I'm so lazy and say God you do everything it's not gonna happen the Bible says you resist the devil and he will flee from you the same way in 2nd Corinthians 7:1 it says you cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh he will cleanse you from your past sins that of course I can do nothing about but I have to cleanse myself from the 15's of the flesh I find in myself if you have a wrong attitude if you find something in you which is the same sense of values that the world has friends yourself you take one step and god--all take the others I heard of a young man who came to a man of God once and said my brother will you I'm so lazy in the morning I can't get out of bed to read the Bible and will you please pray for me that I can get out of bed and he said if you promise when you wake up in the morning that you put one leg outside of your bed I will pray or God will help you to put the other leg on settles but if you're not even willing to do that you want God to lift you out of your bed and keep you on the chair I'm not gonna pray for that because that'll be possession demon possession the spirit never possesses he fills he gives us strength it's like the electricity board you apply it when you put a new building you apply for electric power they give you the power now if you ask the electricity board please come and put all the switches for me everyday they're not gonna do that hey you got to put on the switch yourself we give you the power but you gotta put on the switch in the rooms you want that's sensible miss exactly what God says you've got to use the power of the Spirit I give you to get rid of that selfishness self-centeredness in your mind so he goes on to say verse 17 brethren join in following my example I love men who can say that a very few men in my life who've been able to say follow my example you know that every true servant of God should be able to say that follow me as I follow Christ that's not pride that's humility I'm not yet perfect I haven't reached the top of the mountain a mountain like Mount Everest is about 10,000 meters I haven't reached 10,000 meters maybe I'm 1,000 meters but I was at 0 once 1000 meters I've got a long way to go but I'm telling the fellows who are at 0 or 200 meters hey fellas follow me let's climb this mountain is anything wrong with that that's not right since it's a mountaineer encouraging others to climb the mountain he can't say to the people who are ahead of him at 5,000 feet follow me they are ahead of him he can follow them but to say that people don't look at me don't follow me that means you're at the foot of the mountain that's why you're saying don't look at me and you shouldn't be at the foot of the mountain you should be climbing all the time every year we should should find us a little higher than we were last year it's like when God remade the earth in Genesis 1 every day the earth was a little better than the previous day the second date was better than the first day of thirdly it was still better for day 15 finally in the sixth day it was perfect that's progression and that's how God remakes us every day it should be better certainly every year Paul said in second Corinthians 4:16 that he was renewed every day every day boy I want that life to reach the standard that Paul reached where he said I'm being renewed every single day every single day I'm becoming a little more christ-like than I was yesterday ask your wife if that is true ask your husband if that is true they're the best judges or your children or perhaps a servant in your home they will know whether you're becoming a little Christ's life as the verse in Proverbs which says even your animals will know in those days their animals the animal suddenly finds his masters not swearing at him anymore what happened he got converted yesterday he was SEMA geez a lot of his life the only animals will know it says when the dogs will know in your house when you got converted you becoming a little more christ-like and your children and your servants everybody will know something happens something's happening and people in the church as they see you and mingle with you they'll see that you haven't lowered your standards one bit you haven't become a compromising but you become more gracious you become more yielding you're not stubborn anymore like the old days those are the things brethren join in following my example and not only my example there are a few others like me who are walking in the same pattern that I've just spoken about in contrast this is the worst I want you to see now in contrast to all these people who are a good example there's another group of people and he's talking about believers I have to weep when I tell you about them I have to say I haven't wept enough I left a lot for myself but I haven't wept enough for other people like Paul good that was a fantastic standard I want to get there you begin by weeping for yourself for your sins for your failures for Yun Christlikeness but when you get to Paul's level follow my example you begin to weep when other people are not becoming christ-like boy what a place to reach do you want to get there I want to get there Paul was so strict when he spoke but behind the scenes he would weep for these people who were ruining their lives by living for money in the world he said I tell you weeping they are enemies of the cross of Christ that means they haven't understood that the cross of Jesus put a debt flown to this whole world system their end is destruction who are the enemies of the cross of Christ those who make their stomachs they're gone for who food is everything one way to find out whether your stomach is your God one way there are many ways is to ask yourself whether you get upset with your wife but she made a mistake in the cooking one day and I don't misunderstand me to say it pass the salt is not a sin you feel you need a little more salt and was in the cooking that's okay but to have a complaining addict even though you don't say it in so many words why the world you always do it like this how can you cook any better or what it's worse I can't even cook like somebody else's wife that's the spirit of adultery by the way when you compare your wife's cooking with somebody else's spirit of adultery there you may not know it but the spirit of adultery there but you are comparing your wife's cooking when somebody else's you said no that's not adultery okay may the lord give you life one day adultery is a fake onion there are many many layers maybe you haven't reached that layer we're comparing your wife's cooking with another person cookie is adultery okay maybe you're at a much earlier there we're only hugging somebody else's wife is adultery if you're faithful God will lead you down to the lowest layer of that onion you spoke about lusting with the eyes that's one layer there are other layers underneath which is you ask the Lord to show you if you go by the letter you stop there I don't know where the letter I'll go by the spirit the spirit leads you way beyond the letter even the letter of Matthew five so that's how you discover one way you discover your stomach is your God you're not upset because the food was not up to your expectations a man who makes his stomach is God is an enemy of the cross of Christ that's what the Bible says not me who are these people are enemies of the cross of Christ a man who worships food he says grace he gives thanks but actually many many people give thanks for huland immediately thereafter grumble about something on the plate I can't understand that give thanks two minutes ago then food is their God and they will even miss a meeting because they got to eat it's tragic if you miss a meeting because you see I'm glad your dinner - these are gone I'm not preaching what I don't practice I've never missed a meeting in 50 years because I want to eat dear brothers and sisters these bodily passions can be another husband another boyfriend who draws you away from Christ whose stomach is their God and will glory in their shameful things I like the message translation they're praising praises and how much they'd bench it Belgium Belgium that that's something the Gloria I think they should be ashamed of all they can think of is their appetites their mind is set on earthly things look at that phrase their mind is set on earthly things but they're believers they are the same way upside down like the rest of the world there are enemies of the cross of Christ the cross of Christ here's the verse it says when you really accept the cross of Christ in your life he turns you right-side up your mind is not set on earthly things you use earthly things like Jesus used money he worked as a carpenter to earn his living and when he was full-time work about three and a half years he received money he never asked people for money he never made his needs known to anybody but he was supported as we read in Luke chapter eight verse two and three by certain rich women supported him with money receive it but he never was dependent on anybody so he's an example for those who work and earn their living as a carpenter he's an example for those who are depending on their parents to support them when he was a little child and he's also an example for full-time workers who are supported by others in the last three and half years of his life he's an example for everybody the godly way a man of God should live up right using earthly things but never hankering after them never dependent on any human being dependent only on his Heavenly Father he needed to sleep and I love that passage in the Gospels in Mark's Gospel where it says have you read it when he was in a boat he put his head on a cushion he used the pillow he wasn't one of those ascetic Spartan people one's a pillow I sleep on the wooden board who wants a comfortable bed I sleep on the floor he wasn't like that I mean he was ready to sleep on them he slept on the Mount of Olives sometimes comfortable bed and that meant never meant anything to him he could sleep on the on the ground but if he had a comfortable bed he'd use it that's Christianity he was called a glutton and a wine-bibber because they would ask him Lord would you like a second helping yeah I like that give me that second helping you know spiritual people are not supposed to have a second helping you know that isn't where you act spiritual just for your honor you love it so much but you see they'll think I'm a glutton so I better not eat and you tell it like I don't want that now if you deny yourself because you feel there's not enough for the other people around the table that's a good thing like I often say when you go to some poor persons house don't take a second helping of the desert or the ice cream because they may have a lead on it for you and if you refuse a second helping the children behind the curtain will say hallelujah because they will get it after you leave so be thoughtful be considerate but you don't have to be a liar pretending that spiritual people don't have an appetite it's a million your appetite of God Jesus was so balanced he could eat he could take a sec helping but remember all of you who are now happy to take an L a second helping let me tell you the other side of Jesus he could fast for 48 days got it be balanced and not 40 days but fast once in a while at least don't make your appetite your God yeah there's more to this we can look in the coming Sunday's but I hope you've got an idea how the things that this world sets their mind upon is what makes them upside down whose mind is set on earthly things when the cross of Christ comes it turns us the other way around see Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1 and 2 if you have been raised up with Christ keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God set your mind on the things above not on the things that are on this earth that's the opposite of what we read in Philippians set your mind it's not a question of using your mind occasionally for any things like I've used the picture of a rubber band very often here is heavenly things up here our key things are down here your mind like the rubber band must be tied to the heavenly things you stretch it to the earthly things for your eight hours of work to get admission for your children in college to get food cook food to look after your babies do all types of earthly things get clothes for your children and so many things then once that's all over when all your earthly things are over the rubber band is released comes back to heavenly things that's how it should be but people in the world the worldly person is the man was not the rubber band tied to this end to the earthly things and it's occasion is on Sunday morning for two hours like right now two heavenly things and once you go back from here bang back again to some earthly thing that you're occupied with mind is set there's a difference between our using our mind set on heavenly things but we use it from you maybe you have to spend 12 hours a day sometimes at work that's fine but your mind is not set on it you can keep that rubber band stretch for 12 hours to everything or 16 hours cause you're going to child is sick maybe 24 hours but there is released and you're free from all those things what are you thinking of is it earthly things or is it happening beware of the movies and of television and AB advertisements which are the ways by which the devil makes your mind set on earthly things who tells you you need this and you need that you need the other thing you got to love you keep your mind occupied with this this this this this and they mean so much to you may God help us to be free let's pray the Holy Spirit has come to set us free Jesus came to open the prison doors so that they may not be any prisoners inside but even though the prison door doors are open some prisoners prefer to stay inside the prison that's up to them you won't drag them out but I want to tell you the prison doors are open you can be free you can walk out Jesus has opened the prison doors Heavenly Father is me bow before you I pray that everyone here will have at least one thing if not more but they want to think about when they go away from here where they got to read arrange and reorder their priorities but there'll be some definite result in their life as a result of what they heard today we humbly asked Jesus Lee

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 10,642

Rating: 4.828877 out of 5

Keywords: Zac, Poonen, Revival, Repent, God, Sermons, Jesus, SermonIndex

Id: ZMFTrGHJWB0

Length: 58min 32sec (3512 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2010