Without Christ We Can Do Nothing by Zac Poonen

the Bible says that as believers we have to bear with one another and one of the things we discovered in our conference in Bangalore is we have it's very difficult to decide whether we should put on the pan for the ASC or not because we have people from Tamilnadu who shiver in the bank normal Bangalore temperature and then there are others who sometimes we have foreigners who however cold it is they still feel it's hot so there's a lot of opportunity bear with one another and you know we are basically all human beings we are all selfish everyone we think only ourselves and it's a great opportunity to say well Lord a little bit of inconvenience for me if somebody else can be a little healthier and happier it's okay those are all minor things compared to major things you know I I remember once when I was in Tamil Nadu and we were staying in a small little room in the conference time and the power went out and so nothing could run and it was so hot she opened the windows the mosquitoes were there and and I lay there in bed and I said Lord what mike-mike condition is luxurious compared to the Apostle Paul when he was travelling there was nobody to receive him anywhere and he he shivered and he sometimes you know he was in heart probably I don't know how many mosquitoes with him and often without food and I realized that you know as Christians we haven't really experienced much suffering and when we go through life with a fair amount of ease in traveling we have cars comfortable homes conditioning and all that we gradually developed a lifestyle of ease and comfort there's nothing wrong in that I'm not saying you shouldn't have these things but what can happen is that we think that that is that's our we deserve all that and we forget what the early Christians went through even persecution for example a little bit of opposition and we think it's very serious and we don't realize that so many Christians they are suffering for their faith I mean just yesterday my wife got a letter from somebody in India one poor sister who from a non-christian background who just refused to marry a non-christian husband and so the father just beat her and hammered her and took her to the police station and drove her out of the house any of you experienced that that is suffering the center out of the city and she had to run to one of our another city where one of our CFC churches helped her to be in a hostel and took care of her I say thank God that there was some place she could go to but those are the people who are suffering the rest of us what we call suffering is that dropped in the ocean so we need to learn to give thanks for the many many good things God has given us that's just in passing and I want to and we get many letters like that many many very unhappy marriages people who are in such a terrible state they want to commit suicide so it's tremendous privilege we have to be able to contact these people and write to them and help them and I want you to pray that you yourself God will use you every one of you see you may not be able to preach and teach like others but can't you pray Lord will you there's some needy Souls somewhere whom I can help and encourage in some way will you please bring me in touch with that in some way I used to pray that for years I said lord I don't know where they are but if you will I'm here to serve you I'm willing to go through any inconvenience if I can help another soul no you are level better and to know Jesus a little better if all of you will pray that prayer say Lord I don't want it just attend meetings that's good but what's the purpose of attending means to be strengthened so that we can serve the Lord not in preaching only just in encouraging someone who is discouraged maybe saving some young person who's on the verge of suicide can you think of what a tremendous thing it is if you can God can use you like that just to help somebody and all you need is perhaps just to speak a word or phone up someone or write an email or something like that but God has to lead you and God has to see that you are willing to be inconvenienced are you willing to be inconvenience tremendously where your time is not your own where you're willing to sacrifice time and money in order to help someone to know Jesus better if you offer yourself to the Lord like that I can tell you one thing he can use any one of you the weakest and the most helpless God will use he's looking for people who are willing to say Lord I'm available to you I'm not able but I'm available that's what I've often said to the Lord you may think I'm very capable I'm not if I have any capabilities because God fills me with the Holy Spirit and I seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day that's the only ability I have and I say Lord I'm not able but I'm available anytime anywhere you call me I'll go I'll do it but you got to give me the ability it's a great prayer for all of you to pray don't be satisfied with a Christian life where you just drift along come to meetings and you come to the end of your life and all you can say is I attended so many meetings or you know Europe Sharjah is a very generous Church I tell you that is one of the most generous CFC churches you give money praise the Lord for that but even that it's not everything let's say Lord I want to be available to you to be a blessing to other people blessing of Abraham God told Abraham I will bless you and you will be a blessing to others many of us pray Lord bless me it is one of the most common prayers that comes from Earth to heaven Lord bless me bless me bless him I don't know how many people also go on to pray Lord make me a blessing to somebody else as well see that there's the two sides to the blessing of Abraham Genesis 12 verse 2 the Lord said I will bless you Abraham and families will be blessed through you so you know you don't get unless you ask if you sit back and say well what I've done is enough I don't want too much inconvenience in you in my life I don't want to be inconvenienced think how much Jesus was inconvenience to save us I often meditate on that I find when I read the Gospels he was perpetually willing to be inconvenienced I think Nicodemus came to him probably at midnight would you ever go to somebody's house at midnight whom you have never met before Nicodemus had never met Jesus when I read a cynthy simple thing like this that Nicodemus went to Jesus said at night he went at night because he didn't want the other Pharisees to see that he was going seeking Jesus he was a bit scared but also you know you would be very hesitant to go to somebody's house at midnight unless you know unless that person has given you the impression hey listen I'm ready to be inconvenienced anytime day or night here in need is come and see me call me up I get calls at two o'clock in the morning three o'clock I say I will never never complain about anything if you are willing to be inconvenienced to any extent I'm telling you something even you young children God can use you to bless many many people so let's offer ourselves to the Lord like that what I want to share with you is something concerning God's ways to know God if I were to ask you what is the definition of eternal life you know we speak in the church in please I do in a very simple way that even children can understand so even the children should learn this what is the definition of eternal life now most people would say eternal life is to live forever but people who go to hell also live forever they burn in hell forever have they got eternal life no eternal life let's look at the definition with Jesus Cael turn with me to John 17 and verse 3 John's Gospel chapter 17 and verse 3 this is eternal life this is the definition Jesus came that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent so eternal life is not referring to the length of your life every human being who is born once he is born from that point on what he's going to live forever there's no animals donkeys and dogs and all don't live forever but human beings once they are born they live forever after maybe in heaven maybe in hell but they live forever but that's not eternal life because we know the people who go to hell don't have it on a line god so loved the world that whoever believes in Him whose that he sent his son to die for us that whoever believes in Him should have eternal life not everybody so here the definition of Jesus is of eternal life is that we come to know God so this is very important if I were to ask you do you have eternal life I think most of you say yes I receive Jesus as my savior so I have eternal life but do you mean by eternal life that you know God and that's something we have to grow in see what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2nd Timothy and I'm sorry 1 Timothy in chapter 6 now when Timothy got this letter I think he was about 45 years old here already he was he joined Paul when he was 20 years old and he was with Paul for 25 years as a wholehearted radical faithful fellow worker with Paul Paul treated him like his son he was the finest of Paul's co-workers and at the age of 45 after he had walked with God for 25 years or more he may have walked with God for even 30 years I think he was seen converted when he was 15 or so here's a 45 year old man who's walked with God for 30 years co-worker of the Apostle Paul you know what Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 6 verse 12 1 Timothy 6 verse 12 fight the good fight of faith and take hold of eternal life to which you were called called now if somebody were to write to you and say take hold of eternal life how would you understand it how would you understand an older brother who loves you very much telling you brother sister take hold of eternal life how do you do it I'm sure all of you have read 1 Timothy sometime in your life what did you do when you came to this verse 1 Timothy 6:12 if you have never read 1 Timothy okay but if you read 1 Timothy even once and you came to this verse what did you do with it did you stop and say Lord what does that mean to take hold of eternal life my question is do you read the Bible seriously do you stop when you don't understand something that's how I studied the Bible and that's how I understood the Bible little more I come to a verse and I can't understand it and it's like a stoplight read I can't I can't move I can't move because I haven't understood this verse next morning I open my Bible and still have the same worse there's a red light you can't go from here and I say Lord I'm not gonna go out around this to this verse and sometimes for a few days then I got it the light becomes green then I go you know if you read the Bible like that we may not go through the Bible 25 times in our life but the Bible will go through us that's been my prayer and say Lord I don't want to go through the Bible 20 times or 50 times I want the Bible to go through me once that means every verse in the Bible which is for me must go through my life once so I in my younger days you know I read a verse like this I didn't understand it and most of the people in the church ayat and it also did not understand it there's no way I could go to but when you understand that we read in John 17 eternal life is to know God and to take hold of eternal life means to get to know God better and better and better and that's a secret of the Christian life is to get to know God and Jesus Christ better and better and better that means to know the way he thinks for example here's a young couple who love one another who just got married and even though they may love one another very much as a the wife doesn't really know much about her husband because he just got married maybe last week so if somebody comes to their home and asked the wife well here's something we need an important decision that your husband is not at home can you tell me what he would do wife would say I don't know I don't know what he'd do in this situation where he comes home but if you ask that same wife 10 years later after and she has got to live with her husband and know her husband then she can say me I know what my husband will do I have lived with him 10 years and I know how he thinks I know his values and I think I can give you an answer as to what my husband would do not if they were fighting with each other but if they really loved one another and got to understand one another and know one another a wife will know a lot about her husband how he thinks and what he would do in a particular situation then even if he's not at home she'll be able to take the decision which her husband would take and when her husband comes back and she says I did this and she'll say bang-on that's exactly what I would do as well and that's the way we must know the Lord then as we live with him more and more and more we come to know the way God thinks you know that's one of the greatest privileges to get to have his nature and to get to know him and I want all of you to lay hold of eternal life Jake hold of eternal life is the most wonderful thing you can ever is greater than having a healing ministry or even a preaching ministry or anything to know God is eternal light to know Jesus Christ is eternal life to know him intimately like a friend don't miss out on this and from the time we are born again we must take all of eternal life get to know him see in the Old Testament I show you a verse in Psalm 103 Psalm 103 we read verse 7 and verse 7 yah God made known his ways to Moses and his acts or actions to the sons of Israel see Moses in the sons of Israel or on two different levels virtually the sons of Israel could only see God's actions he healed the sick he split the Red Sea when we were bitten by snakes he raised up a bronze Serpent and healed us when we were hungry he dropped manna from heaven however you thirsty he hit the rock in the water Florida these are the acts of God the things that God did and but he never understood God's ways why does God do things like this and why does he not do this but Moses he didn't find it out on his own and says God made known his ways to Moses why did God treat Moses especially in a way he couldn't explain to the sons of Israel and it's just like you can explain certain things to the 20 year old son that you cannot explain to a 2 year old right even if we explain it to the two-year-old he can't understand but a 20 year old son or daughter.you can explain and the person is able to grasp what dad or mom are saying it's like that you know Moses was close to God more mature he could God could say to him and like a grown up son he could say this the way I do things but he could not reveal that to the sons of Israel and I find among believers also there are those like Moses and there are those like the sons of Israel were only thinking of I want God to answer this prayer I want God to do this for me to do that for me only God's actions I want God to do a miracle here I want God to give me this give me that the other thing they are perpetually children but as a grownup person will not be thinking of what God can give him or answer for example you know if a father is a businessman and he's gone on a long business trip and he's come back home and the five year old in the 8 year old will what are they looking for they see that did you bring any toys for us did you bring any chocolates did you bring that's all they're thinking of well what is that God for me but a 25 year old son he's not looking for chocolates and toys he's saying dad how did our business go this is the business prospering did we get some orders can we expand our business these are two different levels and you find among believers also there are those who only think of Lord what chocolates gonna give me what toys can you give me some something for me some some answer to this prayer some answer to that prayer something here something there are always some gift God has to give me and then there are another level of believers will say Lord how's your work going on I want to know more about the spread of God's Word God's work in the world or in India for example how's the work going on in this God's word spreading that's a mature son and God sees those are only interested in toys and chocolates spiritually speaking and those are interested in knowing more about his work in his ways now I'm not trying to say this to condemn any of you but all I'm asking is how long will you take to grow up that's the question how long are you going to sit occupied with what God can give you here or give you there or do this for you and become a co-worker with him in his work God's doing a work in the world through the Holy Spirit that's why Jesus came do you remember when Jesus was twelve years old and there he was in the temple and Joseph and Mary completely forgot not forgot they thought well he must be with one of the other families he must be with the other children and you know let me test your Bible knowledge when they went back to the temple after how many days did they find Jesus three days boy you guys I really know the Bible at least some of you three days can you imagine your son being lost for three days 12 year old they meet him after three days and they seem in the temple and they said son why have you treated us like this we've been anxiously looking for you do you know what Jesus said didn't you know that I had to be about my father's business that's how it is in one translation the King James Version I had to be about my father's affairs how old was he twelve III I didn't come here to the father's house to get chocolates that Mary was mom I had to be concerned about my father's business it's amazing I've often thought about that I say Lord can I have that mind of Jesus there to be interested the father's business and not just what I can get from the father if you're like that God will show you his ways and he'll show you you'll get to know him more and eternal life will grow in you you may think that eternal life is not something that can grow I got it on a lie for I don't have it it's not like that it's not eternal life is not something you have or don't have it's something that you can lay hold off and possess more and more or have very little of and a lot of the problems that many Christians have is because they don't lay hold of eternal life you know many many problems you face the solution to it is not to get God to answer some prayer but to lay hold of eternal life say Lord I want to get to know you more and more I want to know your ways then God is very eager to teach us his ways he was very eager to teach Moses and if he couldn't teach the other children it's because they were not interested so it's one of the prayers that you need to pray Lord I want to understand more of your ways in my life I want to get to know you better and many of our problems in our life will be solved if we make this our pursuit to get to know Jesus better to get to know God better see this verse in Romans in 12 he says in Romans 12 and verse 2 don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove or understand what the will of God is that it is good and acceptable and perfect what he's saying is your mind is from childhood our mind has become conformed to this world because of the values our mind has got from all the worldly people we are surrounded by in school as we grow up in college in our place of work our unconverted relatives we have all absorbed certain values in our mind and those are the values of this world and so we have a mind that is conformed to this world which says money is the most important thing in this world it's in our mind pleasure comfort these are very very important pleasure and comfort and money and appreciation by others very important and we've grown up like that and you must fight always to go on top of others you know from school itself they try and come first in the class and try and come first in the athletics do whatever you can to get on top and people cheat and everything these are the values we have acquired in the world from childhood all of us from the time you've gone to school we're going to work the values of this world have come into our mind that is called being conformed to this world in your mind and it says don't be conformed to this world in your mind we are when we are converted our mind is full of the values of this world and then when we are born again the Holy Spirit comes in and one of his major jobs is to make us think differently to think the thoughts of God have you ever thought in that expression to think the thoughts of God you know like I said the grown-up son the 25 year old son is asking his dad how's the business dad is it going well mr. five-year-old is not interested 10 year old he's only interested in toys and maybe ice cream things like that but the grown-up son is but a wants to know the mind of the father so don't be conformed to the world but be transformed that means it's not something that will happen like that suddenly it's a process by which we begin to understand God's ways and my mind begins to think like God thinks and that there I find the answer to many many of life's problems there I find that I become free from anxiety and fear and tension and quarreling and fighting that goes on in so many homes and between so many believers when we understand God's ways our life becomes one of rest and peace be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you can prove what is the perfect will of God for you see God's got a plan for all of our lives I don't know whether you know that it's one of the things that I got gripped by about 56 years ago when I got baptized I was baptized 56 years ago in January 19 1961 and very soon after that one of the first things that gripped my heart I was only what 22 years old at 21 years old the God has got a plan for my life I already had a plan for my life I was in the Navy and I wanted to go on and become big but I realized that God's got a plan for my life too I want to find out what that is see if you turn to Psalm 139 Psalm 139 he's talking about the time when we were in our mother's womb says in the first 13 you formed my inward parts and you wove me in my mother's womb he's talking about how God made us inside our mother's womb every one of us and he says verse 16 your eyes saw my unformed substance and in your book now God doesn't have a book like this when it says in your book it means in God's mind all the days that were ordained for me were 16 were written down when before there was even one of them that means before I was born God had planned out every day of my earthly life till the day I died already planned out I don't know whether you know that you don't know the day when you're gonna die or leave this world but God already knows that when you and I die if the Lord doesn't come before that our relatives may be surprised but God is not supposed God knows when we are gonna die he's planned it I'm not saying that all of us will live up to that life you can have bad habits so that you die before your time you can live in sin and die before your time you can have bad eating habits and die before your time there's so many reasons why you can miss out on God's plan I think a lot of people miss out on God's plan but God has planned something that's a tremendous encouragement for me to know and for you to know that before you were born God made a plan for your life and he planned exactly what you're supposed to do whom you're supposed to marry or what sort of life you're supposed to live how what you're supposed to accomplish for him now when you think of accomplishment don't think of being preaching and going around doing miracles of planning churches no no no it could be just as a mother like Timothy's mother what do you know about Timothy's mother I don't know whether she was a good cook or she was a clever lady or postgraduate or nothing I know one thing that she brought up one god-fearing son such a wonderful son if she did nothing else in life that was a fantastic accomplishment that she brought up one god-fearing son who became such a blessing that Paul said there's nobody like Timothy so what was her task she had one son and she brought her up brought him up in a very very good way people who looked at her life would have said what is this what is this woman accomplished in life she accomplished more than hundreds of preachers have accomplished by producing one son like that so when you say God's plan for your life it's not some thing that is big in the eyes of the Christian world it's a question of fulfilling what God has planned for your life brother or sister so if you can be gripped by that Lord before I was born you may not have planned for my life and I want to fulfill that that's all I don't want to be great in the eyes of others I don't want other people to think I've fulfilled a plan but I want you to be happy with me at the end of my life all right fulfil your plan and to fulfill God's plan I must learn to think like God thinks because that's what we read in Romans 12:2 you can find out the perfect will of God if you allow God to change your mind to think like God thinks so that's a good thing for all of you to try and focus on Lord I want to change my way of thinking so that I gradually begin to think like God thinks that's a wonderful thing so that's what Moses understood yet so eternal life is to know God better and better to know his ways why he does things like this why he allowed certain things in my life okay having said that why did Jesus say in John 15 in John's Gospel chapter 15 and verse 5 jesus said I am the vine and you're the branches or you know in India you could say I'm the mango tree and you're the branches in Israel there were no mango trees so he had to use wine because that is the most common thing all over Israel there were wines with grapes but the principle is this you are like a branch in a tree and Jesus I'm the tree in you're a branch and just like a branch cannot produce a single fruit if it is not in the tree you can produce nothing if you don't abide in me it's a very simple illustration all of Jesus examples and parables and illustrations are very simple with deep meaning think of this for example this is we're trying to understand God's ways okay we are to be like a branch in a tree absolutely helpless you go to a branch and if you could talk to it and say how do you produce such wonderful mangoes offices I don't do anything I can't produce even one mango but I stay in the tree and the tree sends its juice it's called SAP into me the branch says and so mangoes appear on the branch I don't know how it's a miracle and if you ask the branch hey listen why don't you just pull away from the tree and start off your own Ministry of producing mangoes well you want to be so dependent on the tree cut yourself off I can't do it I won't produce anything but you've got 25 years of experience producing mangoes they don't care if it's 50 years of experience the moment I am cut off zero without me verse five without me you can do nothing do you believe that God's ways without Christ you can do nothing nothing means honey you can accomplish a lot even without look at the number of people in the world done so many things without Christ the meaning is you will not produce anything of eternal value whatever you produce will perish with this world only if you want to produce something of eternal value you've got to abide in Christ now we can say that a great scientist so invented so many things people have invented the well over a range in the aeroplane the computer and so many wonderful inventions but once Jesus comes back what is the use of all that it's finished there's no eternal result from all those works that you have done maybe you've done some great things in your life made a lot of money perhaps and built houses and all that but what have you accomplished in terms of eternity probably nothing that's what jesus saying without me you will not produce anything of eternal value and I say Lord I don't want to spend all my life just producing something on this earth imagine if I have spent or I'm 77 now and however long I live I say if all I have produced is something that's just going to disappear with this world why did I live here at all it's almost as good as my not having lived at all do you want you want to live such a life that it is said about you that they didn't even matter if that person lived it made no difference whether he lived or it didn't live at all it must not be like that for a child of God a lot of people in the world it doesn't matter one bit whether they lived or didn't live at all on this earth but it must not be like that with you my brothers and sisters it must not be said about you at the end of your life he didn't matter whether this person lived or not know if this person didn't live something would have been lost for all eternity that's the way you must mean it and I wish all the young people here will be gripped by that that God's got a plan for your life and you don't have to be very capable you don't have to be very smart you just got to be helpless and recognized without Jesus Christ I can do zero that's the first lesson you need to learn in the Christian light and all the miracles that Jesus did was to teach his disciples one lesson without Christ who can do nothing when you know the first miracle was in the marriage of Cana all the shops were closed there was no way of getting wine what's the message in that parable without Christ you can do nothing and every miracle was like that raising of Lazarus from the dead without Christ we can do nothing or the feeding of the 5,000 every miracle was to teach the disciples one thing you can be very smart you can be very clever but he will not be able to do anything without me and that's one of the most important lessons we need to learn and when we learn that we will go to Christ constantly see for me for example God's called me to preach the Word of God or to encourage help build churches and guide elders and churches now you may think oh well brothers I've got so much experience he's been serving the Lord full-time for 50 years of course you can do all this it's not true it's absolutely not true today if I become proud and think that oh I've served the Lord for so long I can do manage it on my own now from this day onwards I will accomplish nothing of eternal value for God the same law applies to the branch that is only one month old in the tree and the branch that is 50 years old in the tree same rule without being in the tree you'll accomplish nothing so that's one of the first lessons you need to learn in understanding the ways of God eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ learn this first of all that without Christ you will never accomplish anything of eternal value and that's why Jesus told us to pray see what is prayer let me explain to you what prayer is prayer is an expression of my helplessness without God that's what parents Lord I can't do anything without you that's why I come to you I mean if I can do it without God why should I pray I don't need to pray if I can do that without God I pray because I say Lord I can't do this without you if I do something it will be just a waste of time I mean I can get up and give a lecture for forty-five minutes but it will accomplish nothing of eternal value and anybody's life God doesn't back it out there lots of people giving religious sermons I mean the Internet is full of them you can spend hours listening to them and get absolutely nothing because they are not inspired by God although although there are thousands and thousands of sermons that are accomplishing nothing and a little bit done with God's power accomplishes a lot more without Christ we can do nothing ask God to teach you that lesson so deeply in your heart that you will say lord I can't do it I mean I can do a lot of things in the world but to do something of eternal value I must depend on you and that's why I need to pray you think you can bring up your children in godly ways because you read books on how to bring up children and then a lot of messages on how to bring up children now he will be an absolute failure the children will grow up wayward rebellious and godless and the fault will be with the parents who did not realize I can do nothing without God's mom who did not go to God and say lord please help me I don't know how to bring up my children my wife and I have prayed that for many years we were not experts bringing up children we were not experts when our children were born we're not experts today we're like the branch that abides in the tree says Lord we cannot bring up our children properly unless like the sap has fro from the tree to the branch when it is God do it like that God does it like that so that no one can boast in God's presence and I did something for God do you know the number of people I have met even in CFC churches who very easily get puffed up and they've accomplished in two may be goddess bless their life for their ministry in some way they become puffed up or goddess bless their business and they make some money or gods use them to the car I mean they got a good job or done well in life or they brought up their children properly and they get puffed up I've done something inwardly for example glory the lord I thank you I'm not like that fellow look at this children look at mine if ever that thought comes into your mind oh no as for some of you praise God your children are going to grown up well and you look at some other brother whose children are wayward and you look down on him I tell you you don't know God if you look down on somewhere another believer I can tell you to your face you don't know God you don't know Jesus do you know that Jesus never even looked down on a prostitute he wouldn't look down an adult an adulterous woman and say ah I didn't commit adultery like you know he was compassionate he was compassionate to the thief on the cross he was compassionate to Mary Magdalene you live such a immoral life so to to look down on someone is to not to know God let me show you 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 it's a very important verse 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 you know when God calls he calls in a different way from which worldly people call for example think of a some big company say a big multinational company like Microsoft or some big company they want to select top people for their company they will select the cleverest the smartest the more Cape most capable the people who got the most qualifications isn't it now which is a greater work the work of some big worldly company or God's work God's work is much more important than all these earthly companies what type of person does God's elect listen to this 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26 consider your calling brethren there are not many wise people in your midst how is that God doesn't choose many wise people not many mighty people not many noble people but and God has chosen whom does God choose to do his work the foolish things God has chosen the weak things verse 27 God has chosen verse 28 the base base means the low level type of people who we would call Scheduled Castes or pellets or those who earn very low level in society and God has chosen the things that are nothing for the greatest work in the world which is more important than software companies and so many big big things God doesn't look for people who are very capable he looks for people who are nothing nobody unheard of unseen people who were not having they don't even have an address these other people God chooses can you believe that for the greatest work in the world and he tells us the reason the reason is so that verse 29 nobody should be able to boast before God no one will be able to say hey God chose me because I'm very smart or I'm very clever or used to I used to get a hundred percent in mathematics that's why God chose me absolute rubbish that's why he picked out people like Simon Peter James and John and all world I don't think they even finished school none of them went to college they haven't finished school and Jesus picked them up to be the greatest apostles in his church God's ways we need to understand God's ways because it will humble us let me show you another passage which tells us in James in chapter 2 James chapter 2 and verse 5 listen my beloved brethren didn't God choose the poor people in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom which he has promised to those who love him now only people when they want something impressive they may select rich people people with a lot of education and smart and capable and here God goes around and chooses the poor people like Peter and James and John were extremely poor we need to recapture those early values of what true godliness is because we live in a world where Lord of emphasis is placed on cleverness and smartness and wealth and things like that and God doesn't care about any of these things one of the smartest people in the Old Testament one of the smartest people in the Old Testament was Moses at the age of 40 from childhood he had grown up in Pharaoh's Palace and by the way Egypt was the world's superpower in those days there was no other superpower only Egypt and their education level was so great that they used to build these pyramids which even today people are wondering how they built it in those days that was the level of their education and fantastically wealthy superpower military capabilities in such a country grew up a man called Moses at the age of forty a mighty man who could speak well and God says you're not fit for my service that's what we read he was not fit she acts at the Apostles chapter seven we are trying to understand God's ways acts in the Apostles chapter 7 verse 32 Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians he had the finest education in Egypt because he was in Pharaoh's Palace officially the grandson of Pharaoh and he was a man of power in speech and in action that means he was a very eloquent speaker and he was a mighty man you know we read later on that he hit one fellow with one blow and killed him this is a very strong man and it says there how he killed one man is struck down the Egyptian was 24 and he thought listen to this verse 25 he thought all those Israelites will realize God is going to deliver you through me you see how smart I am you see how well I can speak you see how strong I am but they didn't understand and God said to Moses you can you're not ready you're too strong you're too clever they're too smart in your own eyes I have to give you another education and he takes this mighty Prince of Egypt and takes him into the wilderness and makes him look after sheep for not one or two years for 40 years humbles him and makes him so weak in his own eyes then I don't have time to show you you read in Exodus chapter 4 that when God calls him he says lord please don't call me I'm not capable of speaking and not this is a different Moses not the Moses when he was 40 years old 80 years old he was a weak helpless person like a branch that says without the tree I will produce nothing without God I can do nothing God says now you already now I will do some of the greatest wonders the world has ever seen through you Moses because you have now understood the lesson of the branch in the tree so you stopped there I want to ask all of you my brothers and sisters have you learned that lesson in your life have you learned that with all your ability and smartness and now you look down on others and you think you're clever and smarter and richer and all that it counts for nothing before God if you haven't learned helpless dependence upon God where you've got to pray about everything and you lean upon God and you don't feel that you're better than anybody else you know what the Apostle Paul said about himself he said I'm less than the least of all the believers I'm the least of all the believers that's why God used him so mightily so in God's eyes it's not your smartness but your humility that is the greatest human being in this room I don't know where it is but the greatest person in this room is the one whom God can see is the humblest in his heart God sees all of our hearts and he sees whoever is the humblest person in this room he is the greatest person in God's eyes not the one was most educated or knows the Bible or any system so this is what eternal life means to know God to know his ways to lay hold of eternal life that's great our heads before God and let's ask God to let these lessons sink into us so that you never forget it and those of you who are always feeling oh I'm good for nothing and so we can so helpless be encouraged you're the very type of person God wants you are more useful to God than the other fellow who thinks he's so smart and the one who thinks he's very smart he's recognized that all your smartness is useless to God he is looking for humility God gives us grace to the humble Heavenly Father and help us to understand your ways the world does not understand it but you have revealed it to us in Scripture help us to be gripped by so that we can live by useful life and fulfill the plan you have made for our life before we were born we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: SermonIndex.net

Views: 7,838

Rating: 4.7349396 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: aYZPFQGROqk

Length: 57min 42sec (3462 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 05 2017