Zac Poonen - 80th Birthday Celebration

welcome to all the family of God and we are ready to begin the celebration so let's hold stand up and welcome brother psych as he is closed 80 years and sister Annie along with him let's give them a good hand as they come in and don't stop in the heaven will not stop [Applause] [Music] louder and louder [Music] [Applause] [Music] please be seated thank you that was wonderful in heaven is going to be much much more we will really glorify God and that's what we want to do today and all that happens this morning we want to pro defy our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ and that's why we are gathered here this morning to celebrate the 80th birthday of brother Zack he closed 80 or November the fifth we thank God for him and for sustaining for their boys and all their families and in him all the families of this world have been blessed and all of us can testify to that I mean yes praise the Lord that we have been blessed through the years through the life of our brother Zack and sister Annie and their family their boys and their families we thank God and we have here this morning to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ he's with us and he joins us in this celebration that he has given 80 years to his servant our beloved brother Zack who many of us have had the privilege of working together with all these years and I thank God for the 45 years we have worked together with unitedly without a smell of discord or strife we praise the Lord this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes and I think of a word in Hebrews 12 says since we receive a kingdom a government that cannot be shaken let us show gratitude not just have gratitude but let us show gratitude and that's what we want to do today it says by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe and it says in universe in Thessalonians says we request of you brethren that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work that's what we are doing well being God's Word that we appreciate those who diligently in our brother psyche has diligently labored among us and it's had charge over us in the Lord given us instruction and we esteem him very highly in love because of his work that's 1 Thessalonians 5:12 in the message it says and now friends we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience overwhelm them with appreciation and love and that's what we want to do today we want to overwhelm them in awe of Alma brother with appreciation and love in Romans 12:10 it says love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring each other so what we are doing is nothing you know strange or weird we are obeying God's world to esteem highly those who have labored it in diligently among us and we take delight in honoring our brother sang and it says one word in 1 Timothy 5:17 the elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching and and it's not money here that we have never received through the years we're not taking any support from the church right from the day one that we decided that we would support ourselves and that's what brother sock has done all these forty-five years and so we don't give him like it says in the translation of the Bible the double bonus or give him a double salary but the least we can do is that we esteem the overwhelming with appreciation and gratitude so we want to thank the Lord for the 80 years he's given our brother Zack and we want to bow our heads in reverence before the Lord our Father whom all of us come all the families of the of the family of God we come from one father so let's bow our heads and commit this whole day and all that happens to the glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ a heavenly father we bow before you this morning as your family a family of God on earth will taste a little bit of heaven you've given that in our lives in our homes and we wanna taste a little more of that today as your presence father is here with us through your Holy Spirit hallowed be your name in all the earth and in our midst and in all that we do and your kingdom come your government come upon this earth soon it will be done on earth as it is in heaven for yours fathers the kingdom the power and the glory forever we worship You Lord Jesus will give you all the honor and glory for the years that you have blessed us Shepherds after your own heart that you have given us we thank you for our brothers Hank for the 80 years that you've given him on this earth we thank you for our sister Annie for the great support that she's been to him a blessing that she's been to many families - yes Lord truly in them all the families of the earth have been blessed and for that we gather this morning to return thanks to you to show our gratitude for all your love and goodness and mercy to us truly everyday for all these forty-five your mercies have been new and every morning and they are new this morning great indeed has been your faithfulness he'll give you praise and honor and glory to me all that we do today glorify your name or Jesus even in our eating and drinking we want to do that to the glory of God bless you we commit this whole program to you in your precious name our Lord Jesus Christ amen oven now I'm going to hand over this program the organizers of all that happens today Robbie and his team who worked very hard working late hours into the into the night the early morning I know how much asleep they got last night but all the many many Robbie in the whole team thank you very much for all the hard work that you have put in and Sunil who has worked along with them we thank you Sunil that you have where are you that you have agreed to emcee this whole program today welcome to you I know also in your children we are so glad that you can be with us and welcome also to Sanji glad that you can be with us and Santhosh and sunday we are happy that you can be with us we miss your families I know they are watching we want to tell them we miss you we miss having them with us so thank you for being here and we hand this over to you so nice thank you brother in we truly believe this is the day the Lord has made and so we're here to celebrate it so I'm going to invite the choir to lead us off with one song this is the day of the Lord is made and we'll take it from there this the Lord has made [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] can you all join me then sing the song okay everybody stand stand up sing together [Music] [Music] [Music] oK we've got a very fun event planned so especially for the kids make sure you're paying attention we've got some it's it's not Church it's not sermons it is going to be very entertaining especially for both kids and adults so I my first question for the kids is or you for the adults let's see how well you know the Bible well let's start with the kids first do any of you know how old brother Zach is 80 okay yeah it's written all over right so but that was an easy one now you start with the easy questions first okay second question do we know anybody in the Bible who actually perhaps started their ministry who had most of their ministry after the age of 80 does anybody know Moses good good answer anybody else not exactly written but there's somebody else who had a very big role after the age of 80 even though he had a role before he was 80 anybody else anybody could take off Joshua John John that's good anybody else did I hear Daniel Daniel was on what I was thinking of how many of you know that Daniel there's a picture of we we see sometimes of Daniel in the lion's den as a young man but the reality of it is if you study the number of years he spent in Babylon since the days of Nebuchadnezzar he was probably around 80 years old a little bit over that he was around 80 years old when he interpreted the writing on the wall and a little bit older when Darius took over and when he was thrown into the Lions Den and this is this is amazing because we think of these people as young people so what I want you to do now is just like how you think of Daniel and Moses let's think about my dad brother Zach that way right now think about this Moses is in ministry let's start with Daniel Daniel shut the Lions mouths at the age of 80 so we're going to profess and claim that the Lions mouths the mouths of the accusers are going to be shut my brother's act through the law starting now from the age of 80 right right thank you secondly let's let's talk about Moses what happened when Moses was 80 years old was he in the promised land kids do you know what happened when he was 80 years old where was he was he striking the rock what was he doing burning bush that's exactly right he was 80 years old when he was too nervous to go and go before Pharaoh and so what we want to also profess that my dad has been doing this for years but we can say brother Zack at the age of 80 is going to deliver the people of God from bondage we heard we heard yesterday about you know this journey to the promised land some people who spent 40 years in the wilderness died there some people decide to stay in the border and hang out there and then there's ones that actually take us into the Promised Land I want to read a quick verse which is verse that Moses wrote Deuteronomy 1 verse 31 you turn there if you have your Bibles if now I'll just read it out it talks about I'll just paraphrase it here in the wilderness where you saw the Lord your God carry you just as a father carries his son all the way which have walked until you came to this place and I was just blessed thinking about my father and and the way he's been to me and to many of us over here he has in many ways in many silent ways and prayers in sermons and personal counseling has carried us has literally carried us like a father carries a son through the wildernesses of our lives into the Promised Land delivering us from bondage to sin delivering from us from bondage to legalism bondage to the approval of others and we praise God for that we really want to honor him today for that so we want to really echo this verse and us for us to honor brother Zack as the father the Spirit of the Lord upon him as a father carrying this his son all the way into the Promised Land we hear we heard about people who kind of get in the Promised Land kind of settle at the border what do we do to ensure we stay in the promised land and we're not going back to the old ways going back to the land of Reuben and the land of GAD and the half tribe of manasseh that we heard about yesterday here's the verse that I'm going to interpret all the kids know this verse Exodus 20 verse 12 says honor your father and mother that your days may be prolonged in the promised land and the land which God has given you so let me interpret this verse a little bit differently what is our what is one way that we can preserve ourselves in the promised land it is by honoring our spiritual father so that's why we're here today to honor our spiritual father as that is one way the Lord has told us that we can continue to remain in the promised land brother yen already talked about the voice which talks about the elders rule well deserving double honor 1 1 Timothy 5:17 so we want to continue with that theme this is not glorifying a man this is glorifying God and obeying Scripture to honor a man of God who has been a spiritual father to all of us so in that vein we're going to start the program with a video off that sort of walks through the life and ministry of rather Zak and how God has used him as his workmanship the verses in Ephesians 2 which themselves about us being his masterpiece how God has used Ra'zac to become his own become a masterpiece and how God has used his ministry also to turn us individually into master God's own masterpiece for him so let's tee off that video God's masterpiece efficients tooten describes how we are called to be God's masterpiece created in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things God has planned for us brother Zack Boonen is a masterpiece of God God laid hold of him at a young age and has accomplished a glorious work in him to serve the purpose of God in our generation the Indian Navy commissioned Zack Boonen to serve India but the lord of heaven and earth commissioned him to build up the body of Christ in India and other parts of the world God gave brother Zach a passion to study the Word of God and to obey it though he had a desire to play the accordion he chose to spend more time studying God's Word than building his musical talent as the saying goes large doors swing on small hinges that small decision altered his destiny and ministry God gave brother Zach great wisdom as he diligently studied proverbs and other scriptures this saved him from many youthful mistakes and pitfalls God was grooming him quietly to be an anointed Bible teacher God equipped brother Zach with outstanding communication skills to explain Scripture in such a simple way that even a child can understand where everybody recognizes there are zeros this is the church [Music] God preserved brother Zack from his youth in a pure and simple devotion to Christ can I ever sing that Jesus died for me and it becomes something I'm familiar with never Lord never it says it in heaven they sing a new song it's always fresh the lamb was slain how is it fresh because they can never use the wonder that Jesus died for me God enabled him to be gripped by walking the way of the Cross he was faithful in denying himself and taking up the cross daily God put him through the best management schools of trials obedience and faithfulness brother Zack came through this like gold refined by fire this laid the foundation of his family life God provided brother Zack with a wonderful gift of a life partner who has been a hidden pillar in his ministry God enabled them to build a godly home and to raise four boys as disciples of the Lord God enabled him to live free from debt since his early days of marriage when they had a very small income yet his home life reflected godliness with contentment we were very poor extremely poor so poor that in the first couple of years of marriage we didn't couldn't even rent a house I had to live in one room of my parents home and it was at that time that we decided that money will not be important for us our children will be important God enabled brother Zack to set a unique example of supporting himself financially til today he has served the Lord and the church not taking a salary or even royalties on the books he has authored [Music] got baptized brother Zack with the Holy Spirit when he was going through a low point in his life and longing that his inner life would match the words he was preaching it is unthinkable that God will call you to serve Him and refuse to give you his power I thought of that and I said that's right I knew God had called me to serve Him how can he refuse to give me his power and I realized it was my unbelief unbelief was like a closed door in my heart that was preventing the Holy Spirit come to fill me that is how CFC was formed it was right two brothers who were rejected and thrown out because we preached the baptism in the Holy Spirit and we were united in spirit and we had to sacrifice something God continually put a prophetic word in brother Zacks mouth words of encouragement to lift people from the igloo God led him to constantly seek a life of victory over sin he proclaimed this message of overcoming sin boldly with a passion to raise up overcome eyes I took Romans 6:14 very seriously sin cannot rule over you I say Lord you can do it I can't do it but I have faith that you can do it brother Zach's longing was to make disciples who wholeheartedly followed the Lord seeking victory over sin many people across the globe were gripped by this message the Lord led some of these people together in unity and local churches were born in different places God use brother Zack to raise up more than 100 Shepherds to take care of his flock in many parts of the world [Music] God gave him an apostolic ministry and gave him spiritual authority to oversee these new covenant churches in many parts of India and the world brother Zak is an outstanding leader yet his great delight is to be known as an ordinary brother anyone can approach him even a small child what an example of Jesus he has manifested in his humility I often say the three secrets of the Christian life are humility humility humility if you understood who understood the three secrets of the Christian life it is no secret what God can do what he has done for Jesus he will do for you what he has done for brother Zak he will do for you God can make you and me also his masterpiece if we feared ourselves to him we thank God the brothers Zach has been an excellent tool in his hands who crafts us into the masterpieces that we are all called to me sorry jahaziel cha Zack ponen Hamada [Music] so we're not going to move on to the the fun part which is the cake cutting and the bit birthday song so I'm going to invite the family all of us represented here we've got my three brothers Sanjay Santosh and Sandeep my dad and mom obviously my old family happens to be here so I'll ask them my wife a new girl my kids Zachary Cain in Liana and mica so why don't you guys all come up and the rest of the Coonan clan Sanjay's family south are just a family and Sonny's family will virtually join us online they're watching on live stream and we'll celebrate together so the first thing we're going to do is if the choir can bring up the the birthday song [Music] [Music] god [Music] all right so you can take you can all take your seats so that everybody can see and not have to reach over people's heads to see okay so now we're gonna have dad first of all you get only one blow even though you're 80 years old you gotta get try and get both the candles in one blow so let's see you strike and you got to start from all the way back there no I'm just kidding you can come you can come closer if you want okay here we go one two three all right maybe this is an American tradition but when you blow candle you usually make a birthday wish did you have anything in mind I want God to be glorified in all of your lives amen that's a copper out of a part of that God be glorified in all our lives that's the best birthday wish we can wish for so now I'm gonna ask both of you to combined hold hands which you're I'm sure you guys are quite used to doing and hold the whole the knife together and let's cut this cake together go ahead my wife is my helper like Eve and now mom I'm gonna ask you to take that piece of cake and feed dad with it personally since he just said you're his helper so let's prove that put that to the test all right you okay beautiful what an example thank you so much happy birthday we've got a couple of gift tokens that we want to recognize so I'll ask brother yin to come and reveal a special scroll that we've got for you and now we do us resign to reveal that scroll just by putting on that tank isn't that beautiful [Applause] lovely let's stand up and give an applause for all the 80 years that God has given a brzenk and for sister Annie also while we're still while we're still standing I'm gonna ask this to Vicki to actually present a bouquet to dad and mom combined [Music] and lastly one more gift we've got a special book that is enclosed in this special gift wrapping that I'll let brother Yin describe a little bit better oh brother Charles brother Charles why don't we come have you come up and present this come on up okay I let you into the secret this is a album specially made by a brother in the church Selvam of JBC with all the churches the photographs of all the churches all the brothers and sisters and all that has been written that's in this book that sometime brother sang can sit and you can go through that's really what it is so let's give him a good hang this will grow the chance move made the presentation okay thank you very much family we'll move on to the next part of the program oftentimes when we when we're distributing when we want when we have snacks and things going around the popular thing is to watch a movie right you watch snacks and you watch movies so we're going to watch we're going we have a small movie a healthy clean Christian movie that has been created it's a very short movie very entertaining so kids pay special attention this is especially for you guys this is a movie about vehicles a lot of you a lot of the kids like to play with toy cars toy trains whose favorite toy is a is a train raise your hand of your favorite toys to play with there's a train I know Zachary my son used to love playing with trains yeah I see some kids over there whose favorite is a scooter raise your hand if you love scooters okay I see a few hands adults can raise the hands too and whose favorite is a ship who like ships Oh a lot of people love ships then you're gonna love this movie this movie has a special a special piece about ships so we're going to kick that off are we we had another 30 seconds or so for the ushers to clear and then we can kick this off so this movie is called as you go it talks about three or four different vehicles and and you'll find out why those vehicles are important why a scooter is important why a train is important why ship is important and what and most most of all what is that got to do with brother Zach so let's find that out right now let's go ahead and see that off so do you know what today's topic is going to be I know Uncle rise in petrol prices is it a race between the vehicles you know in Bangalore the scooter goes at 80 kilometers per hour but the car only goes at 15 kilometers per hour the scooter can handle any traffic jam okay so you choose a picture and I'm going to tell an interesting story from the picture hey Roshan Amer saying why is Poonam riding a cycle today he is usually zooming on his scooter all around the Navy base you didn't know Boonen has some verses painted on a scooter and you heard what happened yesterday the naval commander threatened him remove the words on the scooter in 24 hours but you know what wooden respectfully told him so God told me to write those words on my scooter so I cannot remove them Boonen has now left the scooter outside the base because the message on his scooter is so important to him it's crazy man if I were him I would have just taken off the words but you know what today the story of the message on Poulin scooter is spreading like wildfire I'm telling you no one will forget the words for a very long time promises he who honors me I will honor India and Pakistan are at war the war is escalating every day this indo-pak war is witness to one of the largest tank battles of its time in recent military history good morning officers this emergency meeting has been called to finalize the strategy for our naval fleet to attack karachi harbor the tension between india and pakistan is escalating every day Pakistan has laid out mines and underwater explosives to protect the Karachi Harbor these explosive mines can destroy our naval warships in minutes the Indian mine sweepers have to be deployed before we send out a naval fleet the mine sweepers have a difficult dangerous and deadly mission since the mine sweepers are the first ships in enemy territory they will be an easy target for long-range guns they face a very high threat of being destroyed and being sunk the young officers chosen for the minesweeping mission will render the highest service to our country India with their own lives I will intimate you about the officers selected for this mission in an our Lord please give me a strength to accomplish this dangerous mission on the minesweeper I trust your plan for me Lord because every day of my life is recorded in your book be smile this fire has been declared the war is over I think that God stopped the war only to save uncle VAX life the Lord of all the heavenly armies caused the war to cease and preserve this man from death on a minesweeper the Lord had a much greater mission for Zack Coonan to accomplish good he only happened yes this is a true story uncle can we have the Train Serena the young naval officers were enjoying a short vacation during his vacation Zack went to Bhangarh Pitt to preach the Word of God along with a very devoted man of God brother buck sing praise God for the wonderful meetings [Music] the Lord called me from the womb he has made my mouth like a sharp sword and he has also made me a select arrow he has hidden me in his quiver he said to me you are my servant Israel in whom I will show my glory suddenly it seemed as though God was speaking directly to him to leave the Navy and devote his whole life to serving God the Lord says I will make you a light of the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth lord I am ready I am ready to leave the Navy and it will be my highest honor to serve you full time so Zack when are you planning to leave the Navy how did brother buck sing get to know I just decided this in my heart a few minutes ago lord I thank you for giving me this confirmation of your call on my life - one of the most godly men in the nation thank you lord how uncle boxing no what God had said to uncle Zack you know what Amos 3:7 says surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing his plan to this circuit that's it for today let's pray I'm good can we have the stories next because yes we can do that yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you thanks for the team that puts that together it's very professionally done movie and a great testimony hopefully you got a little bit of insight some some of you may have learned stories about dad's life that you did not know before in terms of hit before he was a spiritual father to Oliver had a physical father to me and total spiritual father to all of us he had these amazing experiences where God gave him boldness that was the story of the SCOOTER where as God's protection was over his life the story of the ship and where God's calling and confirmation came of his life which was the story of the trains and we're so thankful for that testimony so now we're going to move on to another special portion to progress from that which is a sort of a theme over here where we've gone from the early days of brother Zack to his calling and now we're gonna go to the period of the formation of the early church so I'm gonna invite brother Ian to come on stage and join me with along with dad if you can join me as well and we're just gonna have a short panel in which I'll interview them and ask them a couple of questions and they can hopefully share some insights with us about the forty-five years of ministry starting with the early days in 1975 yeah go ahead so four questions for you guys take as long as you want and we'll I think people will benefit from these so progressing starting with the the early church many people here know that both of you met or the friendship that between you started growing when you guys when when both of you attending a Baptist Church in the area and then both of you miraculously had an experience where you were filled baptized with the Holy Spirit in unique ways unbeknownst to each other could you tell us a little bit about that experience individually okay I think I met Ian first in Hyderabad when I've gone to have a conference in 71 or 72 and then he moved to Bangalore and he was became the assistant pastor in the Emanuel Methodist a man who Baptist Church and they asked me to be the pastor and I said no I won't be the pastor but I'm willing to preach every Sunday without the title and without a salary that's how we got to know each other but I was in tremendous spiritual need because I was utterly defeated in my thought life even though my external life was clean and I began to seek God earnestly for the baptism in the Holy Spirit God had touched me earlier but I needed something more and I did not know that it was also a need then we invited a British charismatic preacher who was visiting Bangalore to speak in our church and he came and spoke and he always gave an invitation and I said and the Lord said you must declare to that church today that you have been a hypocrite stat for the whole congregation and say you were a hypocrite I said yes Lord I don't care for the approval of men I want your anointing and I will tell them the truth that my preaching is not in keeping with my inner life and I was ready to get that day and this man would give the invitation but of all the times in it if he never gave an invitation that so I was but the Lord said to me you later Isaac on the altar you're willing to give up your reputation I don't want you to do it because some of the people sitting there are bigger hypocrites than you so don't worry so I came back home and I asked this brother he had come for lunch and I was praying with him not saying look I don't seem to be able to come to this of the baptism the Holy Spirit and that's when we prayed together and the Lord met with me and I suddenly of speaking in some other language I couldn't understand it I stopped I came back to English and again I began to speak some words in a swap happen so he said you were speaking in tongues and that's how but since he and I had been praying for it regularly I didn't want to be disappointed so I kept quiet about it actually you know for me and I think for both of us it all began in a youth camp in 1974 I think it was October November of 1974 the Baptist Church youth camp and Razak was one of the speakers we had another English brother with us and nothing really seemed to happen the messages were so powerful we were concerned for many of the young people there and you know they were just doing things going in smoking drugs and a lot of lot of tomfoolery was going on and one night the last night of the camp we three of us gathered together and on our knees and we throw our hands up in despair I particularly because I I had responsibility for the young people and I said lord I don't know we don't know what to do nothing's happened all these days but that night I believe was the beginning at least in my life and I believe recycle so that we just throw our hands up in despair and I know very clearly the Lord said to me the problem is not with the young people the problem is with you and I cried out to the Lord I said Lord whatever it is I want you to meet my need and that from that time we began to seek the Lord both of us independent of each other I was scared to say anything to Zach because thinking that you think I've been coming Pentecostal he didn't say anything to me but both of us began to seek the Lord independently we used to meet together for prayer sometimes we never said anything about the baptism Horace I actually was baptized in the Holy Spirit ironically when I was in the Brethren Assembly on top of the roof of the Brethren assembly where I lived like some of the brothers live here in CFC when I left my job on the railways in response to God's call in a few months after I was baptized in water I was seeking the Lord on I read from the scriptures and I knew there was much more than forgiveness of sins that God has promised as power and I said Lord I want this power and I was baptized in the Holy Spirit I spoke in tongues and my whole inner life began to change after that but then because I was in the Brethren Assembly and I had mentors who might respect it they were men of God who discouraged me from going that way and say no you know I you received the Holy Spirit when you're converted you don't need to have another experience and I closed up in unbelief for seven years I was in full-time Christian work and became a real hypocrite my inner life and outer life began to be further and further apart after I closed up something happened there was a withering up inside and I lived like that you know finding an escape and religious activity you know Bible clubs and rallies and evangelism and all that until you know God brought us together I met brother sank when we were just married we hadn't had our first child invited him home to our home in Secunderabad when I was a full-time worker 14 and that's where we met first and then I got so frustrated before time Christian worker so disillusioned even the very first few months when I left my job I said this is not what I believe God called me for I was the same rat race I experienced on the railways was there in full-time Christian work and I so disillusioned anyway I joined the Baptist Church to church again that did not reach or believe in the Baptist in the Holy Spirit and we were together we used to pray sometimes and I didn't know what happened to brother Zach Sunday was that gospel service in the evening in the Lord and metal brother Zack in the afternoon and Monday morning I used to borrow a scooter so I went to return it to him and he asked me yeah on Monday there was a meeting that was arranged last minute you know for some of the families some of the people who could come together the same brother who was invited for lunch my brother Zhang Qian and had prayed with him that evening of all the evenings he gave an invitation that if you haven't need and you won't prayer come forward and we will pray together with you so I was scared and I was kneeling there Zack was there sitting at the bank all the board members were there and I I was in terrible need I said I said lord I don't know I but I I believe that you can meet this need the Lord said to me and very clear very I still remember it very clearly is your ministry here greater than you need I said no Lord my need is greater than my ministry here I don't have this church throws me out I was weeping and I went forward there were got a fever ten others who came forward among them some missionaries who were for 39 years missionaries and that put me to shame I went forward and the first time in my life I was convicted of the sin of unbelief I never saw unbelief as the greatest sin that I could ever commit and worse than murder worse than murder worse than adultery the very worst sin and I saw then that unbelief because of unbelief I closed up I didn't believe that God had met with me and then I thought it was myself I thought I imagined something and I repented of it I asked her I said Lord I am sorry I it was it's like a rebuff in your face I didn't believe you what you did in my life 7 years ago and I asked the Lord for forgiveness and a moment I did that is like a dam broke within me and the Holy Spirit on me I began to speak in tongues again you know just into my just to myself not loudly and that was the beginning so when I went in mitten brother sang on Monday morning he said you went forward in the meeting last night or what happened I then I told him I said I didn't tell you all these months that I I was in need I was seeking the Lord for the baptism the Holy Spirit but I was scared to tell you lest you think I was becoming Pentecostal and we just both of us just hugged one another and our relationship with each other fellowship with each other took such a change and that it was no looking back after that that was 1975 and that's how the Lord Wedgwood me and when I repented of my unbelief the Lord pour the Holy Spirit upon me again which he had given me earlier amazing testimony of how God worked independently in each of you and strengthened your friendship as a result dad I got a quick question to you about the follow-up from that the church the CFC Church and Bangalore started at your home soon after that in 1975 would be interesting to let people here know what that church was like different from what it is today what are some of the trials hardships inconveniences that you went through in in the 1975 version of CFC that perhaps the average attendee here may not be aware of or may not may not be relevant today we were thrown out of the Baptist Church and we didn't know what to do so I told Ian let's meet in my house that evening and we met together and pray what should we do next Sunday we don't have any church to go to we again started meeting and gradually few others started coming many of these people never are not here today people came and went and they even went and the news went round because I was quite well-known in many parts of India already in 75 because of my books and I was travelling preaching the news suddenly went round that Zack Coonan has gone into false teaching he is speaking in tongues and speaking about the baptism the Holy Spirit today it is not so unpopular that time it was that's how we began CFC we were considered heretics people called us the devil and that Satan's throne was in my house and all types of things we just decided to keep quiet it was a wonderful time the reproach drove us to the Lord which is a good thing thank you okay now a question for both of you there's an interesting one which I think a lot of people have privately asked me but nobody has perhaps up the guts to ask you so let's ask it here a lot of people look at you as two completely different personalities you know some have said one is a lion and when is a lamb well we all know brother brother Yin is the lion right isn't brother Yin the lion or is it I'm not sure because my my dad is absolutely a lamb but I mean that's how we use it [Applause] some have compared you to Paul and Barnabus but without the sharp contention that arose some have compared to you to many others let me read Colossians 3:11 which is a verse which talks about and I'll read it from the latest Indian Living Translation which says is a renewal where there's no distinction between Greek and Jew circumcised uncircumcised barbarian Scythian Malayali and I go Indian that's what it says in this Indian translation but Christ is all and in all so so I'll let you decide who is the barbarian who's the Scythian between the two of you but what how is it possible for a male ally and an Anglo Indian to get together and that ever lead to any major disagreements between you two or just differences in opinion and how did you resolve that so let's start with your brother in no that's I should clarify let's start with the lion north trick question yeah major disagreements we had we had disagreements but we never found out true not because I was Anglo Indian and Razak was Molly Ali and not because he wore his shirt outside and I won't mind in that abandoned strangely you know that was considered and he should not he will go shirts then you know shorts that's and he wore wines the person I wore more Kazan's and I had somebody tell me tell me no no that's only you should wear you should register person actually so there was no disagreement or we had freedom to I had freedom to be myself I didn't have to become a Molly Ali and I didn't try to make him an anglo-indian but we had wonderful fellowship together disagreements we may have had on on matters in in that in matters in the church in dealing with people but never in trying to you know put each other into a mold I had absolute freedom to be myself and I thank God for that and I'm sure Razak also had that dad do you agree with that assessment no no disagreements over the yeah I mean I didn't realize that people were observing I was wearing chapels all the time I just felt more comfortable that way Jesus wore slippers I used to wear slippers too anyway that's the point is throughout history Jews and Gentiles read in the Bible they could never get together and when Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross he was bringing Jew and Gentile together and I don't know in India of any male early and Anglo Indian who have worked together wholeheartedly in any sphere whether it's political or religious or anything so God had to take two opposites like Jew and Gentile for this country mulally and Anglo Indian and demonstrate here are two people who are so opposite and not only in our community but in our temperament you know I'm like a lamp you all know that no I'm only joking I really felt that you know Barnabas is called Barnabas because he's the son of encouragement and ian is a great encourager all of you who have counseled with him personally will tell you that but somehow God you know I always feel Jesus used to put his arms around sinners and he also had a whip in his hand when he went into the temple and one person does not have to do both it's so he and did the part of comforting people with the hand of Jesus and I took the whip which is also in the hand of Jesus both important ministries it's its grace and truth combined and as we have grown together both of us have grown in these areas that we have learned to become strict and compassionate but in the beginning when we started we had these major strengths like Paul and Barnabas you see Paul was the type of person who when he went in his first missionary journey he met this magician and he said you enemy of all righteousness and God will smite you Barnabas would never say anything like that and a lot of things I say very strongly and probably again will never say that but God put us together because just like Paul and Barnabas needed each other we needed one another and that's how the church was built just like the early days it's a repetition of what we see in the Acts of the Apostles one one thing a lot to that is I know that you've traveled a lot and it was very necessary for us to have a steadying elder remain in Bangalore while you were traveling like the Apostle Paul we needed the James in Jerusalem as an example of somebody who is sort of the overarching arm protecting the church protecting the Ark while you were when brother Yin was certainly that and we're extremely thankful for both of you in the complementary trees you played and the strong friendship there okay last question and what's not rather yen with you in the mid-90s we've the church as a whole face too strong trial where the church and my dad would take into court and what by religious people how did you each personally handle that and how did that bring about a unity between both of you as well as in the church yeah before that when with this particularly particular religious group that we had fellowship with when you know for various reasons we were an independent church and we didn't feel that we should be in under the control of anybody else particularly people from overseas with his brothers was to have fellowship with us and so when brother Zack had decided that you know that we part ways with them I was not an agreement for that and I remember when in the old church working down walking down the aisle and I said to Zack I said III cannot associate with you on that and so he said to me he said Ian I was the one who invited those brothers here so I take that responsibility and I don't think we want to have them here again for different reasons that was the beginning that led to the court case and all that happened about the song book but I through the years I always saw that as I shared in the conference that Razak that the Lord had put me alongside him I feel in a church there is always an overseer somebody would seize over the heads of others and that's what I saw him in him so in the giving direction to the church I felt that I should be under authority then submit to him because God had given him that grace to give direction the way in the church should go and look back now and I think that was yeah that was the best decision that we have made and that's how the church has been blessed and grown so when the court case came in yeah we stood together and we continued to frame trust the Lord that that that case would be closed and it was the Lord brought brought it to an end after so many years but we remained United in that even though I don't at the beginning I didn't see quite clearly but as I said you know in our church God gives one brother who's an overseer who will see your head and it's usually the the others working together will as they come closer we'll see yeah that is the best decision that was made thank you Dad anything you wanna add to that yeah I see from the beginning we were an independent church we had fed up with denominations even today we see CFC is not a denomination each church is independent we have no headquarters we have no central collection of money we have no we are a fellowship and not a denomination just like Paul planted churches and so we would not become a denomination and we didn't want to become a part of another denomination but we would invite godly people from different countries we had people from England from the charismatic movement who came like Otto Wallace and others who came and spoke here and different ones who came to our church and spoke and we heard of these other god-fearing people in Europe we invited them and they would come and we appreciated the godliness they priests in their family life and all that but I think they misunderstood they thought that they could take over the work in India and make it part of their work and at that point I put my foot down and said no you're not gonna take over anything here we are an independent Church each church is independent so God bless you we love you but we don't want you to come again that was it but we continue to appreciate anything good and anyway there was many other events that led to misunderstanding which some of the others finally felt that they should take us to court because we were singing some of their songs or something like that I don't want to go into the details and the court case went on it was initially we had to go and it brought a tremendous unity in the church here you know it was like a mini persecution which is necessary for a church and that United the church instead of dividing it and then in the initial stage we high court throughout the case but then they appeal to the Supreme Court and it went for ten years we said we will not fight with flesh and blood we will only fight the devil and we will not hate anybody we will love and we believe that God will sovereignly intervene and in a very wonderful way God sovereignly intervened and they closed the case and that was the end of it we love them today and we have nothing against anyone I'll tell you it made us much stronger in our own convictions and it made us more confident in the Lord that he was supporting our church thank you what an amazing testimony Jesus was taken to court by religious people as was Paul in the early church and what a great honor that CFC could be considered worthy to go through that same trial how about a round of applause for brother yen and brother Zak thank you so much we're now going to move over to a portion of the program where we're gonna hear from a few of the elders some are gonna be recorded testimonies a couple of going to be live so we'll start this off by a couple of video clip testimonies brother pravakar and brother Joseph Cordova curve lad we meet Jesus Christ every time when we read through the gospel records but we had to grope to find a man in our days who walk in the footsteps of Jesus as Paul did yes belonged and searched for a spiritual father like Paul but we could not find anyone in our days but at last we found you and we praise God for that brother yes what we read in the Bible about Jesus we could experience and enjoy in our lifetime as we see Jesus living in you brother it is not some feeling but reality and we wholeheartedly thank God and our Lord Jesus Christ for that personally I have enjoyed unbroken fellowship with you for the past 40 years and I am sure our relationship in the Lord is like that of Paul and Timothy I am proud to have a spiritual father like you though there are hundreds of teachers in the kingdom today God is my witness that in these 40 years you never questioned me even once why I did not consult with you in any matter yes you gave me such a freedom and I would like to imitate you in these days also brother till I die I want to maintain this father-son relationship with you and I want to be under your authority to the end of my life myself and on behalf of hundreds of our brothers and sisters in Christ I wish you long life brother Jack dear brother Zack on behalf of CFC velour may I mention four aspects of your life and ministry that had influenced us all one you never sought to attach anyone to yourself you always sought to attach all to Christ this is marvelous isn't it amazing secondly dear brother it's almost impossible to find a servant of God challenging his listeners to follow him in his life and ministry you did it and rightfully so by being an example thirdly isn't it wonderful that you didn't build a diocese with a bishop and a headquarters when the Lord called you with a burden to raise pure testimonies from the rising of the Sun to its setting you sought to build independent churches connected to Christ and with fellowship with one another finally number four dear brother you never sought any man's honor or applause you sought and lived for the glory of God alone in your private and public lives so beloved brother it's a pleasure and joy to wish you many many blessed and fruitful years ahead of you god bless you and thank you brother [Applause] thank you brother / baka and brother Joseph kirua I'll now invite brother Victor who's our elder in the church in terracotta probably to share for a few minutes it's a very happy birthday - blah blah Zach the name of our Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of all of us gray our blog dwell you and your family have been signs and wonders in this world by the grace of our Lord Jesus and his immeasurable love your obedience and devotion has reconciled many to the Lord we praise God for your Ministry of reconciliation like Jesus who showed the world that ever Heavenly Father is full of grace and truth at full of love in this generation we have shown God as a loving Heavenly Father to us I want to praise God for that but that has two phase sets on His grace there is truth many of us have seen the truth phases of the Zack I have seen little more of other face it also in 1988 at the - - green conference I met with Zack for the first time in a return home after the meeting my first deed of repentance was apologies to my wife those were the days I had put my ministry before my family and I was a physical heart has been as it is said in 1 Peter 3:7 I learned from Bloods acts life about how to live in an understanding way with my wife gospel to the poor in Tamilnadu in villages like Manila many brothers and sisters would not be able to tell for a long distance and to attend the - team conference due to financial constraints so brzenk would travel by train from Bangalore to Trichy and then for hundreds of miles by bus Tilda Neelam I am reminded of mark 634 when he think of this compassion to the poor for every conference sister Annie would carry with their lot of medicines from Bangalore after medical counseling if someone needed surgery but that could take care of all the needs for the surgery I am reminded of Matthew 14:14 when they think of that thoughtful towards the needy in the past in Tamilnadu brzenk has reached out to many families affected by tsunami and monsoon floods and met all their needs he thoughtful towards those in need reminds me of some 41 1 educational help to the poor each year he midst then meets the needs of the poor children who need financial support to continue their school and college education his concern towards them remains me of the verse in John 13 29 meeting their needs for the church when people gather for church meetings either in a village or in City brzenk has provide financial support for meeting of the basic needs of the church such as buildings and toilet facilities I am reminded of the verse John 13 2029 and Philippians 2 20 when they think of it correction with love while correcting or taking disciplinary action against your brother or your family but as I has always done it with love and afterwards encourage them I'm reminded of 2 Corinthians 2:7 8 when they think of this so dear brother we praise the Lord for you a compassionate heart and we thank the Lord for two facets which is see new grace and truth thank you thank you brother Victor okay so now for some more fun the church in Chennai whom we all know has a special talent for force dramatizations and choreography thanks to brother and sister Michael overseeing this they have come up with a beautiful choreography the theme here is driven and we really wanted to incorporate a sort of tribute to some of the books of brother Zack and so we since if we didn't have times to do tributes to each one of them we picked one of them and this one happens to be the purpose of failure so this the theme of this choreography is built around the purpose of failure so enjoy this this is from the Chennai fellowship just give me Jesus [Music] walking miss Martin say just give me Jesus I know back instead [Music] distractions [Music] we're not saying soft cheeses and confusion starts to is overwhelming reaches in I know whose eyes see [Music] [Applause] [Music] leave my everything he's burning up the bride he's working I work out the perfect plan my father has [Music] here is I know more [Music] King back my life isn't hard to see ways when short Jesus will but every time I've done to him he cleanse my heart of every cent and tells me of his love for me [Music] yeah [Music] keep shining the dirt until the dawning day he works all things for God above a weight of glory prepared a momentary trials I do [Music] they as I [Music] [Music] and we are servants of the king your future is secure the crown of life is waiting and when I stand before my Savior then he reaches out to me I lay all my crowns before him fall to my knees and cry just give me Jesus and I'll be [Music] [Music] deeply thankful to God for Brutus Zach for the way I have seen him accepting the Bible as the infallible Word of God even the book the real truth may sound like another story of God creating the universe the angelic beings and how the chief of the angelic beings Falls because of pride and that God remaking the earth man falling into sin and the provisions of salvation etc but all these events are clearly aligned to revelations from the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture the Bible so that book is very correctly called the real truth when I read what the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2:2 15 be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth the picture I get in my mind is that of brother Zach whom I have known as a man who has never been put to shame because he has always accurately handled the word of truth we all know what were the exact wrote about how a person asked him a valid question from the Bible when he was very young and it was not able to answer it and that's brought him to study the Word of God seriously I've also had quite a few experiences of being ashamed because I was not able to answer valid questions from the Bible but having known exact for all these years through his messages and his books it has helped me also to see the value of being diligent to present my SuperCrew to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth the print edition of through the Bible has been a great help to me in accurately handing the word of truth I'm so timeful to God for all the help I received through the Razak in this one aspect of accurately handling the word of truth that is to accept the Bible as infallible truth of God our prayer to God is that brother Zach and Sistani will have many more happy healthy years together for his glory amen thank you to the Chennai fellowship and to brother Michael what an outstanding presentation and a very impactful one at that thank you very much looks like brother Michael was transported to heaven for that videotaping it was a very beautiful place so one of the things that we talked about my dad and how he is mentored people raised local churches raised the next generation of leaders one of the things that's not often talked about is how he's actually raised a few Apostles themselves and we had brother Victor who's this who is practically an apostle to Tamil Nadu churches and similarly brother George II Samuel is an apostle to several of the churches in Kerala so we'll hear from brother George II Samuel now for a few minutes I am trying here just to review in Nicola Cala conda's what God has done through our dear brother Simon in the past years when we are going through the church history we can see that the truth which were interested to the Fosters India church was later lost but God was bringing them back to the universal Church from 16th century onwards the truths of salvation by faith through Martin Luther adult baptism through anabaptists teaching of holiness through John Wesley baptism in the Holy Spirit and gifts of holy spirits etc through the Pentecostal movement God was bringing back all these truths to the universal Church gradually the other tradition says that Apostle Thomas came to the first injury itself to Kerala actually this was raised to Kerala only from the 19th century onwards the truth regarding the uniqueness of course fate and the salvation through faith came to Kerala through foreign ulemas missionaries like benjamin Bailey Henry Baker senior Henry Baker junior excellent then the teaching of adult baptism came through vinegar and other brother and missionaries in the beginning of the 20th century though the Pentecostal foreign missionaries including pastor cook the teaching of Holy Spirit baptism came to Kerala but God has used liberal sacrament to place the truth beyond Pentecostalism the overcoming Christian life victory over sin etc are placed by brass AK and CFC are such as stand for this truth grass AG proclaimed victorious Christian life is the birthright of all believers through his powerful preaching books series etc CFC also should for that and also accepted the biblical pattern of plural plurality in eldership instead of a single pastor oriented Pentecostal system all these things are discussed in detail in our Malayalam book beyond Pentecostalism but there are many adversaries also as we see in 1st Corinthians 16:9 yes bike when brother sac plays the gods were without fear and favor he was expelled from a mega Pentecostal conversion in Kerala where he was invited as the guest speaker but God has used the same incident to start to many CFC churches in Kerala in the same Pentecostal church compound if God willing bruh sake is going to preach the message of victorious Christian life a step forward from the so called of Pentecostalism in the Nestor month that is December 21st and 22nd [Applause] see God's faithfulness the Malayalam translation of his masterpiece through the Bible notice turn part is also going to be released in the same venue after the 80th birthday when he comes to Kerala first a first thing he is going to do is to preach in the same compound from which once he was a spell this we think will be recorded as a testimony of God's righteousness and faithfulness in the contemporary Christian history let me conclude my events by wishing all sincerity greetings to brass ak4 the CFC churches from southern tip Trevor Trivandrum to the Northern District Wynette of Kerala and pray for many many more happy fruitful here's to him praying for sister Annie and for the families of Sanjay Sanders Sunday when Sunil thank you thank you it was 1980 to me when I was here worship leader in the Pentecostal church GSF India I met brother Zack who was the main speaker of the tears of convention in Chennai I asked him brother Zack has he read the English hidden traces I committed my life as a disciple of Jesus but we practically being the disciple of Jesus I faced a lot of misunderstandings and even hatred from my own family circle without any hesitation Zack replied brother that is the price we have to pay that answer fixed myself with Jesus as his disciple till today other kaga ningún learned world when Zach's whole family came to Madurai I asked his three-year-old his last son what is your name he said Sunil I asked do you know the meaning of Sunil his father behind me said blue sky now we could see here for sense has disciples of Jesus he everyone ministering the Word of God so the whole families in blue heaven leanness including us all the body of Christ a large family in heaven leanness is their cognate mingle gudumba my blond body thank you brother Georgie and brother the retina Kumar thank you so much for that powerful testimony we now have a special song brought to us by some of our CFC brothers and sisters so I'll ask Suresh with an team to come on up and we'll kick this off the team here of this we've we've heard a lot of teaching in this church and only in this church you're here this elsewhere about the type of Christianity that promotes you know music power mega churches hyper grace teaching on cheapening the blood of jesus to cover all sins and not preaching an overcoming life a life of holiness the type of Christianity that emphasizes that goes after money and power and we've that's often been referred to by my dad as the spirit of Babylon and how we're called away from that to the Church of Jerusalem which is meant to be pure like we heard from brother Victor on the first day that we were that were meant to be regardless of our situation whether rich or poor whether in high-power weather Queen Esther or Mordecai makes no difference God has a great purpose for us if we remain intimate with him and we continue to seek an overcoming life and seek to be pleasing to him so the theme of this song is from Babylon to Jerusalem while I belong the not-so-great is rushing to her dreadful fate the plans who sent the man and his glory cannot stand but it's not my money music or quality for my but by a spirit through his judge God what's up what is right from him and through him and to him are all things forever all the glory be to him to Jerusalem [Music] we'll reveal every mystery destroy a party [Music] I prefer it is hard to leave us water soy has been lord [Music] so those [Music] [Music] my god [Music] it's been to see my God Allah nice big well Babylon the not-so-great is rushing to my dreadful fate demands and his lorry cannot stand for shocked by Maori music or politics of mine but by his spirit truly stood up what's up what is life for from him and through him and to him are all these forever all the glory be to [Music] to Jerusalem [Music] [Music] one Hospital brother sex ministry that plus me is his strong encouragement on freedom from condemnation his messages often reminds that Jesus will never be on the side of the table accusing against us I learned from him that past failures need or discouraged me instead I can learn useful lessons from it and progress on the way of victory Courtin even turn around those failures to something good this truth gives hope to people who have failed in life I understood one great truth from brother Zack that God the Father loves me as much as he loved Jesus God rejoices all me with a shout so enjoy not only that he is even secretly planning good for me in love I can live this life basking in the reality that Father's love towards me is infinite brother sac has counseled me on numerous tricky situations in life for me and for my others always I received some comforting words of wisdom which will clear the clouds and provide a new measure of hope and direction I am immensely grateful to God for connecting me to dear brother Zack this association led me to a new level of liberty in the Holy Spirit that I am enjoying today it also brought relief to people around me in my family and in my local church I wish brothers I could help and many many years of plus a new covenant ministry some years ago I had called Brassica over the phone on a personal matter I came to know that he was planning to go abroad to do God's work it was a time when some people had filed a case against our dear brother so I requested him not to go abroad as I felt those people might try to harm him in that place immediately the slag told me lovingly and firmly there brother I will never take any decision on the basis of fear that one statement has made me a deep impression in my heart and I have been seeing that to be true in his life on his ministry till today that he never takes any decision on the basis of fear by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ I also took the same stand in my life sometimes I have failed in that area but now I am growing in that stand by pure grace of our Lord Jesus Christ I have shared this insurance numerous times in many places as well as with many young people we were seeking life partner our job or considering going abroad etc they have all been blessed by our blood brothers acts principle that I have just talked about now proverbs 25:11 says timely advice is as lovely as golden apples in a silver basket I thank God and give all the glory to our Lord Jesus Christ for our beloved brother Zach who gives such a timely advice wish you happy birthday there brother thank you very much for your love and concerns thank you brother Abu Isaac and brother Prakasham for those great testimonies we will now move on to a tribute from the Bangalore Sunday School they've prepared a very very meaningful clip dramatization and a song of how the church should be built so let's tee off that video [Music] [Music] for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ first Corinthians three was 11 he loved him because he first loved us now Nick let's build God a house - let's have a Sunday meeting who's there Wednesday Friday singing praising fasting Saturday so while cleaning [Music] listen listen God is looking for godly homes family before ministry [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Wow that was simply amazing what a what a team what an important message build your family first bill that we often hear about the three levels level one from my dad level one your own personal life with Christ level two the godly home and until you've taken care of level two only then you progress to level three which is building the church so thank you to the Sunday school kids what an amazing job and the teachers for the immediate amazing Adam is an animation and transition let's give them another round of applause we've got a couple more quick video tributes and then we'll move on to the a portion of the agenda where we'll get the family a little bit more involved now that we've heard from the church so let's first hear from brother Vincent's and brother price of them yeah bruh Zach a very happy 80th birthday I met with Zach in 1991 at Bangla Conference I have neither seen him in person nor in photo earlier I was eager to know who but as Zach was and when I came to CFC Hall one person was shaking his hands and wishing people and thought that should be project since I was from a Pentecostal background it was a surprise that one who was arranging the chairs and benches came to the pulpit to preach with none other than Razak he gave the real meaning for the word son of man about Jesus Christ that it meant an ordinary man he never made others feel that they are insignificant by his attitude I have stayed with him during many public meetings and he always always interacting in a way where he never left others to feel that they are unimportant I really had an impact that the leadership in fellowship is different from the rest of the Christianity he's a great example of humility we can see and follow during the first conference I attended many brothers were asking me that I should immediately come out of Babylon referring to the church I was previously attending to and I felt very uncomfortable that day brozac asked me to come to his home and he clarified a lot of my doubts he never gave me even an indirect hint that I should come out of the church and join CFC that attitude office gave me a liberty and a great confidence in him that he is a person who knew God once I was traveling to do to green for the conference and I went to Madurai at noon I had got into a bus to two-degree there was a three seater and I went to sit there and to my surprise it was Prozac and another brother from CFC sitting with three oranges and brother told me that he was wondering who would be the third person for the orange but the Zach used to travel in a very bad road condition for more than 16 hours for many years to preach in the conference's without any rest as soon as he enters immediately would start preaching through such hard work and efforts now we have so many of our CFC churches as John the Apostle says we have heard seen looking to and touch the Word of Life we are really blessed to have Razak with us as a spiritual father thank you my birthday wishes to brother Zack and his 80th birthday brother once you had a good bible teacher to me then you are also a prophet to me and then you are an opposite to our churches but now who are a loving father to me and a forerunner to many in life and ministry like a lamp burning and shining so brightly every time our words are a fresh with something new to know and a treasure to store you are loving care exaltations and encouragement I was strengthened me and all the churches I love your Corrections because there is true love in that I seek your advice because there is heavenly wisdom in that we can get the teachings from others also but the father's concerned and Corrections can come only from your true father you have sent articles written by other men of God also even though you do not agree with them in some areas it reveals your heart's desire in our spiritual progress you are a true servant of God in promoting the kingdom of God without any desire to promote your name we was shown as that the ministry is a help to people and a sacrifice out of love you are strict wherever necessary and yet compassionate as a loving father if our Heavenly Father have not given me under your leadership I don't know how I would have been so I thank of our Heavenly Father for I having given you the spirit of the father while thanking you for all the blessings you have received through you I thank our Lord Jesus Christ the true light for having chosen you and kept an eye tear as a faithful servant till date may the Lord bless you more and more to be a blessing to many more people I wish you very happy birthday to you brother thank you thank you - thank you brother Perry system and rather Vincent for those testimonies we now move on to the family portion I'm going to invite dad mom Sanjay Santosh Sandeep come on up and we'll have a short panel talking through reinforcing this theme of family before ministry okay not often that we get the six of us to sit together all dressed up good to have it occasion to do that and speak the truth and well we always speak the truth privately can we do it publicly in front of the whole church - okay so dad let's start with you how did you we saw the Sunday School amazing skit that they made what is that what does that mean to you how did you practically apply prioritizing your relationship with your wife first and your children next / building the church I never put my family or my wife before the Lord because then I would not be a disciple always Christ was first in my life I wanted to marry a girl who would put Christ first and me second I told her that before we got married all our life put Christ first and me second and I will never put you first in my life and we are married now for 51 years I can say before God and I've never put her before Christ but Christ and ministry are not the same Christ is the foundation of my life so these three floors that you saw underneath it all is Jesus Christ and the father as my faith has found it there my life is founded there even today but I realized that I cannot do anything for the Lord if I don't walk with the Lord myself so it was very important for me to keep my conscience clear particularly after the time God met with me and filling me with the Holy Spirit and then I realized that if a man does not know how to run his home properly he cannot build the Church of God Paul gave that is one of the condition for elders if you cannot bring up a few children at home how are you going to bring up so many people in a church today Christendom is filled I saw that with pastors whose children are wayward Christian leaders whose children are not following the Lord and don't belong to his church and I said what is this this is not what the Bible teaches I mean they may be preaching wonderful things and they may be teaching so many fantastic truths great great amazing truths from Scripture but look at their children well some of them look at their relationship with their wives today there are pastors who divorced their wives so I felt I must live my life in such a way that I live in an understanding way with my wife and treat her as a fellow heir her throne is not lower than mine equal heir of the grace of life it says in 1 Peter 3:7 and then my children also must grow up like that so but at the same time I felt God had called me to serve him so whenever there was an open door to serve him I would take that opportunity and trust the Lord to take care of my children no I could not have done that if I did not have a wife who was 100% with me and to take care of the children when I was away there was never a instance you know I have sometimes been away from home for five six weeks in the ministry somewhere or sometimes many many weekends but God is taking care of it children were sick my wife never said come back the children are sick or I can't handle this God gave me a wife who was willing to take care of that and i say that if i have put my home first above as more important than my ministry it's mainly because i had a wife who was 100% with me in the seeing the importance of bringing up children properly so i would say it was God who took care of my family and second my wife that's how the family got taken care of even though I was travelling so much in the ministry so mom question for you how did you manage the home while dad was away and how did how were you able to establish the foundation I think a lot of us pay tribute to to you being sort of that anchor for us and the reason we are where we are can you talk a little bit about how life was in the Putin home I don't remember much of it so obviously we were very chaotic kids but how did you manage to keep for high-energy boys under control well dad while your husband was travelling first of all I remember that most of the weekends my husband would travel but the weekdays he was with us in the home to take you all to school and take care of practical things and also he managed the finances which I am very poor right so that major work was taken care of by Daddy I can say that the Lord gave me much grace and you all were very cooperative to know that I am a very very Libra we said we would speak the truth I think you understood that I was struggling to get victory in my own life victory over anger and things like that so you made it easier for me to get to that point but I'm really thankful that Dad was there and my desire was that all of you should love the Lord first of all that was my greatest desire that you should all follow the Lord and love him because I saw that was the most important thing and also that you should do well in your studies so that you could get good jobs and take care of your families great I know you and dad had very different styles of discipline you had I think mom used to say I'm going to let dad know about this when he gets back and that would put the fear of dad fear of God everything in us when she said that what was your way of disciplining us I know dad used dad dad I mean when dad started unbuckling the belt I mean we were we became the fastest athletes well mom what is your style of discipline and you have to speak the truth I got a karate black belt I never went through the stages of other brown this karate black belt did a tremendous job in keeping the children on the Prophet I was very I didn't want to get to the point when Daddy would have to use the karate black belt so I try my best to avoid that so my weapon was a comb which I always kept on mine in my head it was like kept my hair in place and also I could pull it out and give them a small tap but then as they as you grow older you remember you had to write imposition I will not disobey or I will not I will not so to tell you a few years back I found in one of your disks pages and pages of I will not I will not written so that you could just fill in what was needed and surrendering I know also I would tell wait till daddy comes home Anna and I make a list of all a diary of all the bad conduct which I picked out they were all so trivial like they put water on the hair there was no gel but they put water on the hair to make it little stylish and I thought they'll get sick with that water so even that would go in the diary and then before daddy came I would pull out the diary and call each one and say look you did this you did that and for each of them you would say I'm sorry mommy so then I'd strike out all that so when daddy came there's nothing to report to you there's a verse in the Indian Living Translation for that to thank God for a mediator that can go between us and the father so watch out if you ever see sister Annie with a comb watch out there's a word of discipline okay Sanjay what are your memories of dad growing up and what is he meant to you as a father first happy birthday dad a very very excited to be here I have to first attest to the fact that you said that you kept mom on a level playing field which is why as was testified she was the lion and you were the lamp very clearly in this relationship we knew who the two beasts more scared of but speaking of that comb that mom talked about it wasn't the very same comb but many of you boys know when we are young you know we'd have these combs in our pocket not the same poem that my mom used mom's comb was a little bigger but we have a little comb and we'd go to the back you know in the bathroom and you know trying comb by hair whenever there's a break and one time my dad caught me with the comb going to the bathroom and he said listen son I got a little secret to tell you my side is bald okay and your mom's side is great so when you get her old your little hair that you have is gonna be great so you may want to stop using the comb now so the my dad the thing that I appreciated about him was that he had a sense of humor what he was trying to do was tell me in a funny way it doesn't matter don't you know and I think that's what I through life even to this date I think the part that to me stands true you know through 50 years I'm 50 years old and just watching all of what he did to bring me up and now how I try to translate that to my kids and then how I watch him handle the grandkids it's it's it's gotta be not just this discipline there is a kindness and severity that's true but our memories of our parents need to be those fun times and there's times where we built a friendship and we that's what lasts and the grand scheme of things yeah I probably got spanked the fact of the matter is what I remember the most and I think all my brothers would say was the true friendship we had with our mom and dad and as we got older that friendship just became stronger number of spankings kept decreasing with each child partly because I grew more mature and I found that that is not always the best way in the beginning we start with the old covenant method in Proverbs and then we come to the new covenant method with gentleness the father corrects us I'm so thankful to be the youngest in the family I'm glad I was spared karate lessons so Sanjay as a result of all the smack Kings he was the you know he was the good child in the family he studied hard he did really well he was not distant disinterested or distracted by sports and things like that but we came to Santa or Sundeep and me we got into a lot of trouble when Sanjay left home Southwood what was life like after Sanjay left home and what did what was dad's role in your life in that period of time I had to balance things out so I picked the opposite extreme to see how how much I could be the to the exact opposite of balance things out now I'm just kidding about that but I missed my older brother a lot I still remember the day he left in 1987 I came home and I was vomiting for a long period of time but the church filled a role in my life that with the many of many of the young brothers here I found a home in the church is really what I would say but my memories of that and mom through those years the teenage years I see I don't have teenagers yet but I see other families in working with teenagers and I look back on what my teenage years were like and I see that how patient my parents were in waiting for God to fulfill his plan in my life and so often as a parent I can long and wish that my child could be fixed right now but I never got the feeling like my parents were trying to force me to be somebody I was not and they were patient for God to fulfill his plan in my life and I look back where I am now and that patience has borne fruit and even though there were many times when I'm sure they felt hopeless or felt at an end of themselves in having to deal with a teenager full of passion and even rebellion perhaps I see that they were patient and they trusted the seed that God had planted in our lives to bear fruit in time sadly so you have along with Santosh have had the honor of having dad both as a physical father and transitioning to a spiritual father as he's been an apostle to the church in San Jose and NC CF how how would you express the influence that he has had both to you as a physical father and how that's transition now into him being a spiritual father to you as well yeah I mean I'll say a couple of things about the Disciplinary methods there was the black belt there was the imposition the best the best disciplinary method was the cricket bat the cricket bat wasn't used on me the cricket bat was hidden and that was the best disciplinary method because if you couldn't find the cricket bat our worlds were cease to exist we didn't have life didn't have meaning if we couldn't play cricket in the afternoons or in the evenings so a dad and mom used to hide it and with with old us from playing mom not me dad would support mum I've gone ask dad can I play and he'd say go ask mum so mom figured out interesting ways to hide the cricket bat in some places where the lizard's heard and where the lizards go we don't go so the cricket bat kind of hung out there I think what to echo what Santosh also said I think I didn't realize how patient my parents were and dad was I think as you know at least three of us got married in our 30s not in our 20s and brother Victor was talking about 27 years old first child after two years all those things there are certain kind of expectations and we were not that fully aware of it because we were in America but I'm sure maybe some of you also put pressure on my parents when are your children getting married how come they're 30 and they're not married we didn't feel that pressure and I think one we were in America it's slightly different there but dad and mom I really appreciate the fact that they never pressured us to get married it was a different situation for us but the Lord that dad and mom both gave us so much freedom that we didn't even feel it we didn't feel the pressure that we have to get married we knew it we knew we wanted to get married but we didn't feel that pressure so I appreciate that and I think the church at NC CF is the best evidence of what the Lord has taught to us through my dad the changed lives the people who are gripped with following the New Covenant there's no better testimony to that so I think it's it speaks for itself and I add something to that I many of one of the things that I didn't see as a child when I received correction was what happened after and I happen to observe that I think later on with perhaps when Sunil might have got a spanking or something and after that I saw my dad go into his bedroom and quietly be by himself and I understood later on that that was where he examined his heart and even before that I'm sure he examined his heart to see that the correction was done in the spirit of Christ I say that in the context of the church as well I've had the privilege of my dad staying with me more and more over the last few years in Colorado in my home and I set up a table in my office where I work I made sure he also sits there with me and I've I've seen I observe him quietly even in waist and he doesn't know I'm watching him and I see I know you know that many of you have received perhaps correction perhaps karate black belt spankings by email and what you have not seen is the year the hours and days and weeks perhaps of laboring in prayer and seeking the Lord and sometimes I watch him and his face is just furrowed silently praying to the Lord and I know it's related to something that's going on somewhere in the world that he has a responsibility for and I I've been the recipient of emails like that myself and I learned to think and to see the heart of a father behind that the correction and so if any of you have received that what you have not seen is the labor that's gone on before and after in secret one day we will see it and I think there were many people in Paul's day as well who perhaps resisted or rejected the correction they received and in heaven they'll realize the heart that was behind it was the heart of God the heart of love did not know was after I spanked them it was not very often but to leave something was very serious the Bible says the rod of Correction will drive foolishness far away but I have to say that number of times I lost my temper in correcting them and those are the day times when I didn't go to the bedroom I went into the toilet it was the only place that I could lock the door and I would sit there and weep before the Lord say Lord I'm sorry I lost my temper I want to discipline my children without getting angry and had to fight that fight that for a number of years but I couldn't apologize to my children then because they wouldn't understand it they thought they would think I'm apologizing for the spanking which is not true I was apologizing to God for the anger and I said Lord I want to come to the place where I can discipline my child the way you disciplined me without any anger but with love and that took a long time and what about apologizing to the children for spanking them in anger I said that I'll do in a consolidated way finally when they are 18 years old when they can understand the difference between discipline with anger and without anger so none of you should feel discouraged if you happen to punish your children and anger sometime but don't stop there get alone with God weep and pray and I tell you as he delivered me he'll deliver you thank you great Sunday made an interesting point about you dad I'm not putting pressure on you guys to again married but obviously you put a lot of pressure on me to get married since I was the first to get married at the age of 26 from I didn't want to stop you I was a godly girl I said go right ahead and somebody are getting married so that the rest of the brothers would get married would take one for the team but thank you for that that freedom one of the things I really respect about my father is the fact that how I've seen the greatness of him reflected in the life of Jesus in his life what I consider him the greatest man of God I have met in my lifetime and that's not because of any sermon he's preached even if he didn't preach a single sermon if I didn't clear a single sermon of his he would still be the greatest man of God I have met and it's because of the life of Christ I've seen him in him the love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control that I've seen in his life every day and the way he raised us and the way he's still teaching us and manifesting the life of Jesus to us and to his grandchildren and that makes him it's nothing about his gifting or his ministry and the encouragement we've heard that verse earlier this conference 1 Corinthians 9:24 all of us can run that race to win so all of us can aim to be imitators of brother Zack of my dad as he follows Christ and all of us can win that race regardless of ministry or gifting because the life of Christ is available to all of us if we pursue that so thank you Dad for that example a couple more questions to mom and dad mom one to you in more traditional churches the role of the pastor's wife is quite different than it is in your average CFC Church did you ever have a desire to be pastor Annie Putin alongside the stage with you you know sitting on the stage with the Zack Coonan or was that something that didn't appeal to you and what did that meet you dr. pastor this question I can honestly say I never wanted to be on the platform get that attention and prominence I don't know from my childhood I was not a person who liked to stand before people so I am so thankful that my husband didn't want and want me to be that type of person and also we heard in one of the meetings about our boundary I realized that my boundary was the home to take care of my husband and my children and all the practical things in the home and that was such a tremendous time consuming work I didn't have time for anything else I am thankful I didn't have to sit in prepare sermons and also after that I realized God gave me an education in my medical field I can use that to help people who are sick and that took the rest of the time thanks mom I can honestly testify I think all of us can I had a minor medical condition about a couple years ago that I went to three or four different doctors about and then finally had the humility to come and ask call up mom in India and say okay this is what I'm going through she prescribed something for me and I was healed in a matter of days so I can testify that she is her decision to be the doctor of the home to be the mother of the home is the reason we are where we are today both in terms of our physical health as well as in terms of our spiritual health thank you mom one thing I would just add that my mom has taught me and my dad's also been this which is just this lifestyle which to me has been I would say today a lessons that I take all the way to my work life and and that is to never treat people who are in a status symbol and society special and then people who are poor and lowly in a different way I mean this is obviously a sin of partiality that James talks about but of anything I thought I learned from my parents that the poor and lowly of the world are in a even special state in a bigger and better state obviously if they love the Lord and it's more likely if that you have rich and you're accomplished and you have gifts you're more likely not to need the Lord and I see a lot of people who they kiss up to people who are in in high levels of society and they treat people and that just should not never be us obviously not something I'm really grateful I learned from my mom thank you mom and dad for that example of Jesus okay dad the final question for you we celebrated your actual birthday on November 5th in the US a few weeks ago great celebration together and on this around the same time I've been told that there were a few people unknown to you that broke into your home to celebrate your birthday in your home can you tell us a little bit about what happened there and how that affected you maybe tell the story behind a home for 47 years in Bangalore no thief ever came in but one week after my birthday just a week ago some very good people I presume they are good people in their own eyes they wanted they were in need of some money or something and they thought here's a nice house there must be some gold and jewelry and money inside here so they broke the front grille and broke the front door and I don't know when they did it at night or something and went right in and broke open every cupboard and all the drawers in my office and every shelf and scattered everything and looked for gold and jewelry because if they had seen my wife they know we never wear jewelry but they didn't see that and they looked all over there was no money there was no gold no jewelry but those two metals which I got from the president which you saw in the picture they stole that and so Sunil told me perhaps God wants you to forget about your naval life completely it doesn't bother me because I never wore it it used to be just in my cupboard and it's not a loss and they never found anything I'll tell you what I did is what I always do when somebody takes something away from me I prayed for them I said Lord nobody's ever prayed for these thieves or burglars whatever they are but I pray that I will I forgive them they've not taken anything from me first of all there's nothing to forgive but I pray that I will see one of them in heaven and in heaven they will tell me because you prayed I'm here I've had experience through the years of people picking my pocket in the bus in the Train it's happened to me a few times and I've always admired them for the way they did it so cleverly that I didn't even feel it and I said Lord nobody's ever prayed for this big pocket I want to pray for him so that's what I've always done whenever anybody's stolen anything or done any harm to me or written some article against me or spoken evil against me the Bible says do good to those who are evil towards you pray for those who despitefully use you and I have literally followed that and I've prayed for those who harmed me or tried to rob me and couldn't succeed in anything so when I heard this news I was not here I was out of the country when I heard this house was burgled I said well praise the Lord I've always preached on the book of Job that Satan himself said in job chapter 1 that God has put three hedges around job because he was a god-fearing man the outer hedge is his property job 111 the next hedge is his family members wife and children and the third hedge is his own body in his life and God after getting God's permission that God opened up the hedge and jobs property was all gone so I say in my case God opened up the hedge a wee bit just a tiny bit and God allowed those people to come for some purpose I have believed in all my life as a Christian for 60 years I can testify not only as I have sought God's kingdom first he's added all things to me but another thing I can say every single thing that God is allowed to happen in my life has worked not just for my good but for my very best and this also I believe has worked in some way for my best to show me that I was not even slightly disturbed by what happened I didn't dream or want to find out if they took anything if he took anything that they take it it just make me a better pilgrim on this earth with less of the things of this earth you already have more than enough so it never disturbed me and I was very thankful that God proved to me that even in a storm I could sleep peacefully he doesn't disturb me one bit I've not even bothered the other great truth I've proved through many years of my life is that 1 Corinthians 10:13 god never tests us beyond our ability so he allows us to face trial when we are strong enough for it just to show you your muscles are strong you can handle anything so I'm thankful for all these things I believe that whether it was a court case or a burglary or people calling me the devil or people writing articles against me and so many Christian magazines and saying this there is a cult called putinism have you heard that they published that in one Christian magazine I said god bless them I will never be disturbed in my heart because many years ago the Lord told me if you want to fight the devil determine right now that you will never fight with flesh and blood I decided that many years ago I will not fight with flesh and blood so when the police came and asked me did you have any gold or jewelry or their cash I said nothing he smiled he said really there's nothing in your thoughts no I say ok I'm a testimony to the policeman also as a Christian a disciple of Jesus or amazing yeah go ahead mom yeah I'm really thankful we were not here in Bangalore when this happened but so many brothers rushed and checking the house and replaced the lock and did so much for us I I don't want to say the name but I am really thankful for the body of Christ and the brothers and sisters who pitched in and helped us I tell you that's very important people saw I think even the neighbors saw here's a man who's not even here people rush in the very same day and tidied up everything by the time we came back the grill was fixed the door is restrict the locks were fixed and all the clothes were all arranged and what a wonderful thing it is to be the church as a family this is my family the church is my home and this is where I'll be all the days of my life [Music] what an amazing testimony one of the brothers were sharing with me yesterday obviously they didn't the thieves didn't do enough research because they mistook you for a prosperity preacher then and unfortunately they weren't very well rewarded Thank You brothers thank you dad and mom for this awesome time of sharing we'll move on to the next special part which is a small skit that my brother Sanjay has planned for us Sanjay's is preparing he's in he's going over to makeup and costume right now he's taking this very seriously the theme of this is essentially it's called you all know the book that's called here All My Sons right he is he's already prophesying the future and he's imagining a book that my dad is going to write that's called here all my grandsons so he's he's going to be playing my dad over here and we'll we'll get that set up my grandchildren the book is this book is gonna be here on my grandchildren and he's gonna be playing that theme right now so this is also going to involve my kids who represent the 17 Puna and grandchildren the 13 of which are not here right now but they'll play that on behalf so why don't you guys come up on stage Zachary Cain and Leanna and Micah now so I'm going to try and act him as best as I can he has always he has a pen in his pocket the phone is also in the pocket okay I got the glasses on where's my bag so this is Zack Coonan sitting down imagine this is the pulpit as you know he he now preaches sitting down and it's no longer standing up and we talked about the book this is the sequel to the first book here are my children here are my grandchildren Micah who is this he says his uncle Sanjay no it's grandpa right now out of the mouths of babes okay but pretend it's it's it's grandpa for now and we got Zachary here we got Kanan we got Leanna my grandchildren I'm so excited to see you Zachary I always used to ask your your dad if he was working hard or hardly working so which are you working hard yes he says yes okay listen the thing that everybody cannot understand about Zach Coonan is is he a lion or a lamp there's always a hole everyone's trying to decide if I'm a lion or a lamp so I want to give you some lessons from my book and you can decide if I am a lion or a lamp okay and these are just lessons I'm going to give you one at a time so listen carefully because they're all in the book and I think they're good lessons for you to learn okay the they're always God was kind and severe kind and severe that's like the lie in the lamp my first lesson is always you need to be on time always be on time I would preach messages where some brothers and sisters would say would come to the meeting any time they want 9:45 you know what I decided one I was gonna go but at 9:31 one morning and lock all the doors to see who was there because it's the height of irresponsibility for someone to not show up on time okay I always be on time what do you think Kanan about but the other thing that's why you're strict about being on time you always I always try to go to be funny right what do you think of grandpa's jokes grandpa I already heard all of your jokes you heard all of my jokes what do you mean you've heard all my jokes you know your your parents your parent and your uncle's used to joke with me that all the jokes of Zack Coonan were numbered number one number three number five just like you they're saying the same thing all grandpa that I've heard that joke before I never got any respect from my children I don't know if I'm getting respect for my grandchildren either anyway anyway the other lesson is this very important very very important don't fall asleep in the meetings don't fall asleep in the meetings I would see so many people falling asleep in the meetings I'll tell you the story about one of your uncle's okay his name is Sanjay he was falling asleep once in the meeting I think it was nineteen I don't know eighty-two maybe he was falling asleep and he used to sit in the corner near the corner in the old CFC playing the piano and he fell asleep once like this and you know what happened a lizard fell from the roof right and Sanjay doesn't like lizards that made him stay awake for the rest at least for the rest of the next few years so never fall asleep if not in the middle of the meeting I might say all of you who are asleep stand and then somebody said looks like you and I are both standing up yeah that's a joke too you don't remember that joke but the most important thing is to keep God first in your life what do you think Liana what do you get discipline from dad of chocolates from grandpa chocolates another lesson was this do you know what this is this is this you don't have this anymore it's called a cassette tape I found this under the pillow of one of your uncle's it wasn't your dad I think it may be an uncle Santosh Orcas Andy and it is rock music rock music that's not allowed in our house and you know what the same thing now I have another lesson for you Facebook that's the spirit of Babylon all these people aren't on Facebook that's the spirit of Babylon so no rock music no Facebook okay your children are all scared okay but you know what the eyes of God are watching to and fro all over even though you might think I'm bald okay I have eyes all over my head eyes all overhead that watching 360 they can walk from Tamilnadu to Kerala it's the u.s. all over okay what are you passing notes there in the meeting Liana what are you passing notes here mica what is this note this is the note I used to always give to other brothers who are taking too long it says brother your time is up you're not supposed to give me the note I'm supposed to give somebody else to know okay all right okay I'll wrap this up pretty soon mica says the time is up listen I want you all to know that grandpa loves you and that's the most important message because while many of these stories happened they were just part of the what I wanted to show his love but there's another person I want to call who's also very important and that's my wife let me call her little honey can you come up come here okay let's let's wait for for Grandma to come ah do you know who this is do you know who this is this is grandma this is my wonderful wife okay you know what she's kissing me on my bald head I am so thankful that she could have picked any man with lots of hair who had a real job what she picked me I'm so grateful honey for picking me many many years ago most of all children I want you to know that our Grandma and Grandpa we love you and we love all the children God has given us the world not just our own grandchildren the children we love all the children and there's a wonderful beautiful picture okay that I like to show and we put up the picture this is one of my favorite pictures ah what do you think of this picture Zachary well grandpa if you grew Frazee facial hair you look like that guy over there wait you're telling me if I took my glasses off and I have a beard maybe I can grow my beard for the next birthday my 81st birthday I look like that man there yeah and I promised to put a turban like this guy right here if I wear a beard you'll wear a towel like that guy okay let's do it I brought a beard here this is this is a grandpa Zach when he's 81 and come you're back where you can wear the towel in your head all right okay we have to look just like this thank you very much but that's I think what we what we all love about my dad the fact that he loves to have some fun I thought we would just give a little bit of a little snapshot of what it's like with all of us grandchildren having fun and I know I'm sure this book will be a sequel coming out at some point in time dad happy birthday a little bit of our fun as a token of our gratitude ooh thank you thank you Sanjay and thank you kids I was I mean I think all of us can probably relate to this picture in some way or the other in which brother zach has played this role to us as a spiritual father corrected as we heard earlier corrected us with the karate black belt of words of Correction but then many soon after as we've received it comforted us and hugged us and welcomed us back home we thank God for that example of the prodigal father and four brothers acts role in playing that spiritual father to us as well okay so in the theme of this whole idea what we talked about what the sunday-school we want to continue the theme of family over ministry what the Sunday school team Sunday school kids dramatized for us we want to show you a little bit of a video clip of how we in the Putin family including my my dad have prioritized church at home Church at first church before it is this expanded Church is I immediate family and I expanded family and how we've taken church at home and created our own sort of Sunday school program at home within our own family so this is a small video clip that the 27 Putin's the 10 Putin adults and the 17 grandchildren have put together for you Sunday school style so please enjoy this a all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Romans 3:23 we believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved acts 16:31 see children obey your parents in the Lord but this is good Ephesians 6:1 deep depart from evil and do good Psalm 34 14 he even a child is known by his doings proverbs 20 verse 11 fear not for I am with you Isaiah 43 5g God is love 1 John 4:8 2012 I I am the vine and us branches John 15 verse 5 J jesus wept John 11:35 [Music] okay keep that tongue from evil Psalms 34 13 Oh look unto me and you shamisen isaiah 45:22 and no man can serve two masters matthew 6:24 oh oh gift thanks unto the Lord for he is good songs 1:18 yo Pete praise ye the Lord stones 147 cute flesh what this away is 5:19 after this 20% s seek first the kingdom god method 633 teeth trust in the Lord all forwards you until I said shiet is fun Isaiah my music see then Judas mine says the Lord Romans 12:19 w-wait painted white and precious process again it's a completer one wash here is the ward matter 540 [Music] [Applause] [Music] so I think I shared this at my mom's 75th as well a couple years ago the last kid you saw say that the youngest of the grandchildren is actually Santosh his youngest Xander he was too young to say a verse he's learning how to talk but the last kid you saw that was son deeps youngest who's name is Noah this is a quiz question for the kids how many of you know who the grandfather of Noah was at dushala that's right it's a good good answer what is what is famous about Methuselah the longest life right so who's the grandfather of this Noah whom you saw okay so what are we going to wish on brother Zach the longest life write that so let's continue to pray for that and profess that so I'm gonna invite my dad to respond that we're coming to the end of the ceremony I'm going to write my dad respond to this birthday certainly won't don't want to live for 969 years I you know the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4 he said it's when you read the Bible slowly like I've always taught people to read he said we want Estonians 4 and verse 15 we who are alive will when the Lord will descend we who are alive verse 17 will be caught up and I say Paul are you expecting to be alive when the Lord comes says yes that's why I said we otherwise he should have said those who are alive that's correct English those who are alive but he said we inspire by the holy spirit who knew all about the future inspired Paul to write we who are alive so I've learned something from that I don't care how old I am I'm gonna say we who are alive the coming of the Lord will meet him in the air but some years later when the Lord told Paul you're not going to be alive he wrote in 1 second Timothy 4 and verse 6 the time of my departure has come sometimes the Lord tells not always sometimes he tells some of his children ok your time on earth is over he doesn't say that to everyone and when that came then he never said we who are alive then he said I finished my course I'm going to I shall now meet the Lord and He will give me a crown of righteousness so one of the great blessings in my life through I've been a believer now for more than 60 years I came to the assurance of my salvation in July 1959 60 years and three months ago and I'll tell you something for before that for many years I struggled to know whether I was saved but in the last 60 years and three months not even for a single day did I doubt that I was born again so people ask me brother Zack are you a Calvinist who believes that once you're saved you're always safe no and I'm not I believe what it says in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 14 that if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence until the end we shall be made partakers of christ and i believe what it says in revelation 3:5 he who overcomes I will not remove his name the book of life so I believe people's names can be removed from the book of life I believe that he who endures to the end will be saved not others and I also believe that if we hold fast then we are made partakers of christ then you say how can you be so sure that you'll meet the Lord I said that's because I have such a personal relationship with the Lord now what about the other believers I don't know about them they may be lost I don't know about all the others I don't know you know about all of you here you may go to hell I don't know I know I will not how can you say that for the Zagg it's like asking me will you ever divorce your wife yes yeah I'm not sure you think I'll say that never I'm absolutely sure and I'm absolutely sure the Lord will not divorce me and then you asked will your wife divorce you I'm absolutely sure she will never divorce me I'm absolutely sure I will not divorce the Lord our relationship is the same but if you ask me see that couple that just got married the other day do you think they will divorce each other I don't know I can speak for myself but I can't speak for that couple of that couple of the other couple same way with salvation I can speak for myself I am absolutely certain I shall spend eternity with Christ but I'm not sure of many many believers around me you can have that assurance if you have a deep personal relationship with Christ more intimate than any earthly relationship that's what's given me a security in my life that's enabled me to speak God's Word the other thing the Lord has taught me particularly in the last 45 years I love you the goddess said I'm your father I love you just like I love my son Jesus when he was on earth I said thank you Father and the Lord says I love everyone who has forsaken everything to be devoted to me forsaken everything doesn't mean give up your job no you don't have to give up your job but forsaken attachments to earthly things not attached to relatives not attached to property not attached to your own life willing to die to all such willing to die everyday to all such of my children God says I tell them I love you as I love Jesus not to everybody maybe only 10% of God's children that he says that because the others are hanging on to so many earthly things and I said Lord I want to be in that ten percent who you love just like you love Jesus I used to think that God could say that to all his children no he says that in John 17 23 that the world may know that father that you love them as you love me but he said that not to everybody he didn't turn to the crowd and say that he said that to eleven disciples who had totally made Jesus Lord of their life and he says that today to everyone here who has totally made Jesus Lord of your life it's for you it became truth for me forty five years ago and it has held me it has made my life secure it has freed me from anxiety and fear because I I am loved it's a wonderful thing to be loved you know what little babies need to be loved you know what we need to know that we are loved by a father in heaven why do we cling on to so many earthly things because we are not sure whether our father will forsake us why do we tell lies or cheat or finds false statements to make a little more money in the office because we think otherwise I won't have enough money for my needs I have never cheated any human being or never cheated on my taxes in all my life I've never been in debt in my whole life God has provided all my need and my children's need if you are willing to live simply and don't want to waste money I know people who get married and immediately get into debt they first of all to get into debt for their wedding itself no we had a very simple wedding my wife and I very simple because we could not afford anything more yeah it was not in some big reception hall Otto's just in the compound of the church we ate on banana leaves and whatever it was a very simple type of meal and we said we can't afford more in our home also we live simply and I want to say to you don't cheat or tell lies to make more money there'll be a curse on it jaha's ii the servant of naman the servant of elijah went after naman and got money in a wrong way I'll never forget that mimin said Gazi you grab Damon's money you got his leprosy also and the leprosy will be on you and your children when you get money wrongfully by telling lies for cheating into your bank account there's a curse on it because it is unrighteous money and when you finally die in that you that money goes to your children that will go to your children also that curse please get rid of all unrighteous money repay it now it's one of the things a lot taught me when I got converted before I was converted I had cheated the government and all I paid it immediately emptied my bank account I took me four or five months to save that money emptied it and I've never regretted it just telling you a few lessons I've learned and the other thing is whenever you do something wrong immediately confess it to God immediately confess it to the person whom you hurt your wife or anybody I'm sorry that was my fault never be hesitant to say that was my fault don't say that was my fault but you also did something wrong no don't say it like that that was my fault if your fault was 10% the other person 90% forget the 90% I was at fault 10% I see Lord I want to be quick to confess my sin to you and to man and to ask forgiveness I've asked forgiveness from unbelievers I've asked forgiveness from people who are younger than my youngest son I have no hesitation because the only person who hesitates is one who thinks he's perfect and I'm not perfect no so if I do something wrong I settle it immediately the little principles you can learn in life and I go to bed at night I know I have nothing in my heart against anybody in the whole world I love them all and I wake up in the morning I say thank you Jesus my first thought is not Jesus I want to talk to you begin your day like that even if you have only a few minutes even only one or two minutes begin your day like that 1 or 2 minutes with God is a wonderful day way to begin your day that's what I've done and my life has been I'll tell you honestly I'm not exaggerating my life has been extremely happy restful free from anxiety free from fear free from discouragement to which I was a slave and don't make demands on other people don't make demands on your wife no she's a human being whatever she can do she does some waves are very capable some wives are not never compared your wife with anybody else don't make a demand on other believers sometimes when I go away for a trip I may ask the brothers in the CFC office to do something can you do this but I might come back after three days and I tell them before I go itself if for some reason you are not able to do it or something went wrong or something broke or you didn't get time or you had some emergency at home so you couldn't do this forget it it's not serious then I conclude with this sentence the only things serious in life is sin that's what I tell so don't think I'll be disturbed with you if I come back any final you did not do it no not important don't sin the only things serious in life is sin it's been a great help to me so when I think of somebody messed up something was it sinful oh then it's serious was it not sinful because of human inefficiency or because they tried and they didn't bungle it up or they broke something and they tried their best perfectly okay it's not the same it's the motive than God sees never tell your children I told you so I won't do it supposing your small children are trying to fix some toy house or something which is broken and you say no I'll fix it for you I don't know that I can do it and they try to do it and they don't they're not able to do it and they come to you and say daddy can you help me never say I told you so never let the words I told you so come out of your mouth to your children or to your younger brothers or to anybody that is the voice of the expert who never makes a mistake I told you so I'll never say it you know what I say never mind let's fix it never mind let's fix it and when it's done I say then let's learn some lessons for the future always say let's fix it you'll get a bond with your children then that remain forever a little they'll grow to admire you and love you and they will duplicate it with their children these are little principles the only thing serious is sin sin is very serious it's worse than cancer that's why any sin mentioned in the Bible anger sexually dirty thoughts murmuring eliminate completely I decided I used to murmur and get angry and wrangled I said it's completely I don't want cancer in my life I never want to murmur or grumble about a single thing in my home or in the CFC office or in any church or anywhere let's fix it when God saw Adam and Eve sinned he asked them they tried him tried to put the blame on others and all that but God said let's fix it right there in Garden of Eden he said the seed of this woman will crush the head of that snake for the devil I see I learned from him let's fix it of course there'll be a little punishment but let's fix it he gave him a promise this problem is going to be solved don't worry it's like that when Peter was sinking in this sea Lord did not say why didn't you trust me that's how we react no no no no give me your hand Peter let me have hold your hand let's fix it afterwards I'll ask you why didn't you trust me so we do correct but after fixing it not before fixing it never start with why didn't you trust me you wouldn't have sunk if you had trusted me this is the language of evil people who think they are experts we ruin our children by like that you think I've never done it I've done it but I've repented I never had a spiritual father to teach me like I'm teaching you I wish I had I would have made less mistakes with my family you guys are lucky that you have somebody to teach you so I'm teaching you not from a man who's never made mistakes but learned from my mistakes I put my hand in the fire and discovered it burnt and so I can tell you don't put your hand in the fire that's how I'm speaking and I wish for all of you that you'll have godly children that you'll have a wonderful relationship with your children it's very important to play with our children and they must see that we are at their level and Friends I used to say about my own children that I say Lord they are my children today I want them to become my brothers one day and they are my brothers today but I used to pray for that Lord I want them to be my brothers one day not my children but my brothers so our v1 these things is so different and the other thing which somebody called my trademark what his brother Zacks trademark that's what somebody called it the other day humility humility humility the three secrets of the Christian life it's from Philippians 2 verse 5 to 8 God became man number one and he became man he became a slave number two humility slave is the lowest no hang on the Romans never crucified slaves they crucified those who are worse than slaves that criminals Jesus was not a criminal but he took the place of a criminal on a cross that's what we read in Philippians 2 God became man number one humility as a man he became a slave humility and he was treated like a criminal and accepted it and said her father forgive them humility those are the three secrets of the Christian life and therefore God exalted him above everything in the universe who will sit at the right hand and left hand of Jesus I'll tell you I don't know the names but those who have humbled themselves the most not those who have accomplished the most or traveled the most or preached the most no no those who humble themselves to 9 because he humbled himself not because he's the son of God and so God will exalt to the right hand and left hand of Jesus those who humble themselves the most I don't know who they are it may not be Paul it may be some poor Widow from Africa who was faithful in her life she may be sitting on the right hand of Jesus anybody I don't know who they are maybe one of you well whoever it is who has humbled themselves the most in their life they are going to have the highest positions in heaven so please remember all this my brothers and sisters and you know I've also said about the Apostle Paul when he was 55 years old he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15 I am the least of all the apostles I never get tired of saying this I will say it a hundred times till it is drilled into everybody's head 1 Corinthians 15 I am the least of all the Apostles not fit to be called an apostle 1 Corinthians 15 9 he was 55 years old and he was not acting humble you know all of us sometimes say oh I'm nobody you don't really believe that you're just acting humble when you say you're a nobody but Paul is inspired by the Holy Spirit and he speaks the truth I am I really feel deep down in my heart I feel I'm not like Paul I like John or Peter or Andrew or any of these other people I'm down at the bottom he really felt like that about himself five years later he's 60 years old then he writes in Ephesians and chapter three and verse eight he's grown now spiritually he's come closer to God and now he writes I'm the least of all the believers he's gone further down he was the least of the Apostles now he's become the lowest of all the believers again he's not acting humble inspired by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit says this is what I see you are Paul in your own heart what do you think about yourself and the least of all the believers now he's 60 another five years later he writes in when he's 65 least of the Apostles least of all the believers and say how much lore can you go than that Paul no Christ Jesus came in to 1 Timothy 1:15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and I am the worst of all the sinners now Paul you say don't act humble I'm not acting humble the Holy Spirit inspired him to say at the age of 65 when he was perhaps the greatest Saint on earth I am the least of all this I'm the greatest sinner of all so what is growth in holiness what is growth in getting close to God it's not becoming more and more famous remember Jesus came down down down and the last day of his life he is washing the feet of his disciples including Judas Iscariot and that's another thing I prayed lord please help me whichever is my last day of life on earth to be at the feet of the lowest believers even at the feet of somebody who's betrayed me to bless him at their feet to wash their feet and I want to grow like this so what does it mean to be a sinner saved by grace we are not sinners no we're sinners saved by grace there's a lot of difference between sinner Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief so that means Christ has saved me but I recognize Who I am that there are areas in my life that are not like Jesus Christ yet that means there's some sin in me still which I don't know Paul said I'm not aware of anything my conscious life I'm clear our victory over all conscious sin but as unconscious areas in my life I'm not like Christ and therefore as God shows me as I come closer and closer to God I see but a sinner I am have you had experiences like that I have had experiences like that not regularly but once in awhile I suddenly feel like a revelation from heaven that I am the worst sinner of all I'm telling you the honest truth it's not something I read and say read and says can be artificial and imitation it's because a revelation of God's holiness that makes you feel that even if it was not written in Scripture I would have said Lord I'm the cheek raised sinner of all if you get close to God you'll feel that dear brothers you won't feel very holy if you're living close to God I will tell you that is the people who are far away from God who filled very holy and who looked down on others so we are sinners saved and saved by grace that means not because we deserve it so it's nothing wrong in saying til the end of our life we're not great preachers or teachers or apostles or this side of the other whatever people may call us I'm a sinner saved by grace so I want to sing a song and I'm gonna ask my children to come up and sing it with me but let me read it to you first it's based on another song which is sung by the Bill Gaither group it's not exactly the same and I got some ideas from there it's not original but the words are slightly different and the tune is completely different because that's more like a cowboy song and I'm not a cowboy so I can't sing like that but this is a tune I'm familiar with and I titled it what I was once and what I am now if you could see the wretched sinner I was once if you could see where I had started from you'll know it was a miracle that Jesus did when he reached out and saved a wretch like me today I stand a miracle of God's great grace a grace that chased me down and holds me firm and every day I'll say this till I see his face that I am just a sinner saved by grace how can I boast of anything that I have done how can I glory in what God has done where would I be if God had not forgiven me each breath I have is what he gives to me and now my life is his alone forever you'll never live to do my own will again but all my life I'll sing as I run this race that I'm just a sinner saved by grace this is my testimony and it's my honest testimony I can say every word of it [Music] see the register I must was if you could see where I died a miracle that Jesus did when he retired [Music] today I stand a miracle of God's greatness I chased me down and holds me firm and every day I'll say the sinners saved by grace [Music] God and not forgiving each breath I have is one and now my life is to do my will all my life I run [Music] to join with me in the second verse missing that second verse again [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so that brings us to the end of this awesome god-glorifying ceremony I'm gonna ask brother Yin to come forward and pray for my dad for what he has meant to us these past 45 years what he is meant to us for his life over the last eight years and what he will be for the many many more years to come so I'll appreciate brother Yin if you could pray for my dad really this has been heaven on earth we got a little taste of heaven we want to give thanks to the Lord I wanna pray for our brother Zack Henry on our heads and close our eyes yeah I saw the flow with gratitude we are part of a kingdom that can never be shaken we thank the Lord for our brother side Heavenly Father we humbly bow before you this afternoon and we just thank you with all of our hearts life and example of our brother Zheng for the day you brought him into this world Lord Jesus and when he was dedicated to you he became your servant he became your apostle his blessed us together with Sistani we thank you for her and for her life and example in US service a heart for the poor we thank you for both of them for family that they have brought up of boys who have been disciples of you Lord Jesus for the grace that you gave them they bring up these four boys in the ways of the Lord for they example that they are towards the wives and the children II have given them you want to thank you Lord Jesus for a generation a generation that you have to fulfill your purpose we want to thank you for our brother for filling him with your Holy Spirit anointing him and using him that this flame this torch has been handed over to or just towns cities and towns and villages in our country but all over the world and this fire will spread yes Lord Jesus we believe that in every country you're raised up for pure testimony for yourself that is what you promised him from the beginning and you've done it we see it with our own eyes and we thank you for the things that are yet to be revealed to us things that you have prepared that our eyes have not seen my ears have not heard all that you have prepared for those who love you we thank you for our brother me pray that you would give him the health and strength Lord Jesus and sustain II also thank you for keeping them and good health all these years Lord has they've traveled and worn themselves out for you we thank you that you will give them a double portion of your spirit give our brother double portion of your spirit a rich anointing a prophetic anointing met the eyes of many who are blind will be open in these last days we bow before you our Father and thank you for this your son that you have given to us we can follow Jesus as we see him follow you now we can imitate his faith we thank you Lord Jesus we thank you for examples that you have raised up in homage in the midst of a crooked evil perverse generation we thank you for what you have done it for the work of God that you've done to our brother churches that you have built Lord in every place and so we commit him to you this afternoon as a church churches from all over this land and all over the world and we commit when our brother sang consisteny to you lift up our hearts in praise and thanksgiving and will you do that my brother and sister lift up your heart in praise and thanksgiving to bless the Lord to give thanks to Jesus our Savior was your in arm it's all glory to him for raising up such a servant of his we thank you and praise you and bless you lift up your heart and if you feel free lift up your hands let's praise the Lord stand up let's all praise the Lord together and give him thanks and let heaven come down and glory fill our lives our homes and our churches stand up and praise the Lord my brothers and sisters we praise You Father in heaven we praise you with all of our heart this afternoon we praise you for what you're doing in these last days pour out your spirit upon us Lord strengthen us for the days ahead help us to be faithful Lord Jesus and we pray that you would strengthen the bonds between us thank you for brother Zhang Jian thank you for sister Annie thank you for Sanjay and his family for Santos and his family and all the children for Sunday pension in this blessed land grandchildren saved them from a perverse generation Lord Jesus we pray every one of them and every one of our children here save them Lord from a perverse generation they shall be lights for you Lord Jesus they shall stand for you fulfill the purpose of God in in their generation we believe you'll do this Lord Jesus thank you for all that you have blessed us have spoken to us and thank you for heaven that has come into our midst we give you thanks Lord Jesus and bless your name I mean I mean so if there's one thing we should take away from this awesome time of heaven here we are celebrating a man who has who has proven to his life to be God's masterpiece well we can't leave it out of that may it never be that we just sit back and admire may we be inspired by his life for God to make each of us his masterpiece as we've seen what God did for Jesus he has done for brother Zack what he has done for brother Zack he can do for each of us let's let's go out inspired and what God did for Jesus he can do for us just like he's done for brother Zack he can make us his masterpiece just as we have celebrated one one thing I want to point out in that vein is we have the the team has put up banners across the hall that's celebrate various things that we've learned from the teaching of brother Zack so I encourage each of you when you get time to walk down the hall and read that and let that speak to your heart so spend time as as we as we dismiss on that yeah if you want to keep a permanent reminder of these feel free to take a picture of the banners so you can have it permanently remembered [Music] you [Music]

Channel: CFC India

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Keywords: zac poonen cfc Christian Fellowship Church Church Fellowship Christian Zac Poonen, Sermons, CFC

Id: d9FHfGbhYkY

Length: 196min 51sec (11811 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 31 2019