Zac Poonen - Living in Victory Over Satan | Full Sermon

so we've been thinking about what Christ looks for in his church I want to turn to a verse where the first time the word church comes in the new test in the Bible in the New Testament it's where Jesus spoke about it for the very first time in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18 where Jesus was saying and the literal translation of that would be I say to you that your Peter a small stone a small rock and upon this big rock which you just confessed in verse 16 the Christ the Son of the Living God on that big rock I will build my church and the gates of Hell will not overpower it or is the margin of some Bible say the powers of spiritual death will not be able to overpower my church so whenever you see a church that has been overcome by Satan you can say that's not the church that Jesus built there's something wrong either in the foundation or the superstructure something in the way they built or gathered together and the way the church was led usually the fault is with the leaders but the church that Jesus built Satan can never overpower it and a lot depends on the leadership see we have discovered in our own experience that the leadership in a church is strong Satan can never get in and that's why in the New Testament church God is always appointed plural leadership I want to say to you that thoses one-man pasture system is never found in the New Testament it's as much an idea of man as child baptism a lot of people have rejected child baptism have not rejected the one man pastor idea they don't understand that one is as unscriptural as the other because God is appointed you know in the Old Testament it was one one King one High Priest and very often just one prophet at a time in one area even when there were two prophets living at the same time one would prophesy in one area another another they never worked together but as soon as you come to the New Testament the page Jesus begins his ministry sending people to phi2 and you come to the Acts of the Apostles the Holy Spirit says separate me Saul and Barnabas you read in Acts chapter 3 Peter and John go to the temple it's always two by two and when Barnabas drops out Paul takes Silas that is God's will because the church is to be like a family in a family there's dual leadership father and mother are the elders of a family and God puts them together so that they can jointly you know the woman's to be a helper to the man that means they got to work together to lead the family so that is God's plan but if it's an organization you know then you have a CEO and many pastors are CEOs well then call it what it is don't call it a church it's a corporation maybe a christian corporation it's not the Church of Jesus Christ not at all the Church of Jesus Christ the principles are taught in Scripture and where Jesus said where two are gathered together there I am in the midst so that's the second time Jesus spoke about the church here in Matthew 16:18 he speaks about the church and immediately he talks about the gates of hell and the church fighting together the church always winning that's the church I want to be in Christ looks for a church that's always triumphing over Satan maybe persecuted maybe hated despised and forsaken like Jesus himself was that doesn't matter but overcoming I mean the church may be crucified but it'll come out in resurrection and overcome that is the Church of Jesus Christ the world will hate it just like ahead of Jesus and do so many things to the physical body but the Church of Jesus Christ will be triumph in the second place where the church is mentioned Jesus spoke while the church only twice in the Gospels one is here and he speaks about conflict it's very important to realize the church is not in a picnic it's in a conflict to a lot of people the church's place where we have a lot of fun and entertainment and no it's a it's in a battle and it's a battle where we always win if we do it God's Way so in the Old Testament you read about battles and those are written for our instruction that whenever they followed God's instructions they hardly had to do an anything you remember when they walked around Jericho without firing a shot or firing an arrow they the whole city collapsed and came under their power they just blew the trumpet you know that's what we do we proclaim Jesus is Lord and the walls collapse that's what we need to experience we mustn't just read it in the Bible and say oh what wonderful things Joshua did we can experience it spiritually today so then the church is supposed to overcome the second place where Jesus spoke about the church was in relation to discipline of a brother who would not listen to spiritual authority you know brother sins in Matthew 18 and verse 15 it's interesting that Jesus spoke about discipline now a lot of people think there's no need for discipline and a church there is you know the Bible says that which father is there who does not discipline his children unfortunately a lot of fathers like that today but God disciplines his children in fact he says in Hebrews 12 every are not disciplined you're not a real child of God every true father disciplines his children the form of discipline may be different in God disciplines in different ways but here he speaks about a brother who sins and you go and reprove him because notice the aim there are two ways you can reprove yeah when a brother sins and that can happen in a church and what is God Christ want to see in the church loving discipline and reproof you see reprove a brother not in order to say hey you're wrong you don't deserve to be here no no look what it says you to win your brother the whole aim is to win that brother whom the devil has got ahold of which you must do it in wisdom and if he doesn't listen to you then you take two or three others and you or you go to the elders and speak to them and if he refuses to listen to them as well then tell it to the church that's the second time he speaks about the church again it's conflict you see the devil has got now got ahold of one brother in the church made him sin and he's the devil has got such a grip on him that he's not willing to receive correction he's not even willing to receive correction from the elders Jesus considers that possible Dean I've seen it happen where my brother is not willing to listen even to the elders correcting in those two or three our elders and then you have to treat him like a non-christian here he was a born-again Christian and now he says the Lord says treat him like a non-christian or a sinner now don't try to be more spiritual than Jesus this is the most loving person that walked on the earth who said that if a person doesn't listen to the discipline of the elders in a church treat him like a non-christian and I've seen many believers who try to be more loving than Jesus and get into the grip of the devil and destroy the church I've seen that because the understanding of love is human not divine so when you see a brother sin I'll tell you what to do lay aside your own understanding go to Matthew 18 verse 15 and do what it says there don't talk about it everybody else either speak to him if you don't have the courage to speak to him go and tell the elders the elders speak with him and he doesn't listen treat him like an unbeliever the aim is to win money and then it says here about the authority the church has you see here is a situation where Satan has come in actually through one person and it happens again and again in the church if you don't know how to handle this you won't be able to build a church you have to recognize it and this is where a lot of you know carnal believers sitting in a church cannot understand why an elder brother discipline someone and very often they don't know the facts and they go around talking talking talking and they become more of the agents of the devil creating more confusion but if they're a strong if there's strong eldership in the church what however much these people go around gossiping the devil will still be defeated it all depends on strong eldership I can tell you from our own experience we we've been functioning 39 years as a church that started with three four families in our home 39 years ago but right from the beginning that two of us have been in leadership I hand it over that 15 years ago - there are others now in leadership there but all the years we were together and all these years we still work together the devil has never been able to come into our church even once there have been occasions like this mentioned here in it Matthew 18:15 where we've had to discipline people and they've had to be even put out of the church only two or three in all these 39 years but we have not been hesitant to do that when necessary if they won't listen but the devils never been able to come in because between us we've been united both of us this other brother and I in the leadership of the church if if the devil tried so much to separate our as many times because we have a higher our disagreements we are not zombies just saying yes to each other we when we disagreed decided we would not be disunited this agreement is not disunity we can have different opinions because we don't see things exactly the same way sometimes you look at a building from one side and I look at the from the other side and we think we are seeing it from the same time or not it's the same building but we've got different views but we should not be disunited the reason why God puts multiple leadership is so that we can have different views of the same point of the same subject so it's it's good that people have a different view so I always tell the elders I work with in our churches I said don't ever force an elder to have the same viewpoint as you because then you've destroyed him it's like a husband who forces his wife to have the same view as his no let her take the photograph the building from the south side and you take it from the north side you'll get a better view of the whole building so that's called being complimentary to each other so the devil's not being able to come in into our church because we've been united this is the same in our home because my wife and I have been United the devil was not able to come into our home do you think the devil didn't try to attack our home he attacks the homes of God's servants more than any other Christian home I'll tell you that to try and destroy their children destroy the home but he hasn't succeeded so I want to tell you if this is why the devil tries to separate husband and wife because husband and wife reunited Jesus is in the midst where two or three are gathered together they're in the midst if he can separate them Christ is no longer in the midst then and he can come right in and you may be strong enough to attack stand against the devil but your children are not and he gets your children that's his name so don't be foolish as husband and wife stay united well what are the silly things we fight about usually some earthly thing I always say tell people 2,000 years from now when you look back over the things you fought over you'll feel so you're so stupid to fight or something so worthless and the Devils accomplish this purpose you've got to be very careful in a church the leadership must be extremely careful to remain united so that Christ is always limits the devil can never get in because he's conquered so this is very important and he in this context of binding the activities of Satan on earth verse 18 Matthew 18:18 speaking about the church what's the church now doing binding on earth something that'll be bound in the heavenlies heavenlies means where satan is not the third heaven which Paul went to where God is but between the third heaven and earth is the heavenlies Ephesians speaks about where there are principalities and powers and forces you know Satan is not in Hell by the way he's in the heavenly sits from there he comes down to earth and his demons possess people and we have to bind those heavenly evil forces heavenlies means the second heaven now the third heaven evil forces by our authority on earth and this is where we need to turn see verses 18 to 20 together where two or three have been gathered together in my name now this is one of the most misread verses I'll tell you how most Christians read it and you will see how you perhaps have read it also where two or three gathered together in my name there I am in the midst did I read it right I read it again where two or three gathered together in my name there I am in the midst did I read it right I'll read it a third time where two or three gathered together in my name there I am in the midst no gathered together by somebody else not gather together gather together is you and me deciding here that's gonna meet together let's start a church gathered is by the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit's gathered us together there he's in the midst it's not any Tom Dick and Harry deciding to start a church is the Holy Spirit gathering two people together and uniting them and there Jesus is in the midst and these two or three verse nineteen must be agreed it's very important agreed in spirit and the Greek word there is some funny or from which we got the musical word Symphony is saying these two three people who come together must sound like a symphony there must be no discord if they don't have to be two-three hundred two or three is enough but there must be a symphony between them in their spirit and then whatever they asked and now remember this is not asking for cars and houses is asking verse eighteen to bind satanic activities on earth remember read a verse already is in its context binding satanic forces on earth it will be done you can lose people who have been bound by satanic forces in your church and you can bind those satanic forces who are trying to cause confusion in your church we have seen that happen again and again and again and again the Bible opens with the story of two people gathered together by God Adam and Eve and the very next chapter is Satan coming separating them that's how the Bible begins and then the first book of the Bible by the way is job which is written before Moses wrote Genesis and the first if that's that is the first book of the Bible and it's interesting that God wrote about a man who is the target of Satan because he was such a godly man so you see in the beginning of scripture where this Genesis or job Satan is a very prominent figure there right at the beginning it's very important to see that and when Jesus speaks about the church Satan is mentioned there the church we think about the church trying to reach out and help the poor and feed the homeless and all you can do all that I'll tell you Satan won't object to all that so long as you don't disturb his kingdom the primary function of Satan please listen is to register the victory of Christ in the territory of the devil and the whole world is the treachery of the devil it's in darkness and the church must stand there is a light and that's why we need to build a church what Christ looking for in a church a church that can have the same testimony that he had he was the first body of Christ and I want you to see here what Jesus said in John's 14 just before he went to the cross he said in John 14 verse 30 John 14 verse 30 he says I'm not going to speak much more with you now because he's gonna die soon the ruler of this world that Satan is coming but he's got nothing in me that means for thirty three and a half years Satan tempted Jesus in so many ways trying to get a foothold in him he was tempted the Bible says in every point as we are whatever temptation you're tempted by Jesus was tempted by and he overcame and he overcame as a man filled with the Holy Spirit not as God if he overcame as God he would be no example for us like an angel flying across a swimming pool with his wings tells you to follow him he can never teach you swimming and if Jesus had come as God says follow me I can straightaway see I can't follow you Lord I'm man I'm pulled by this law of gravity called sin and I find if an angel has to teach me to swim I have to first time to get rid of his wings take a body like mine get into the pool then teach me how to swim and if Jesus were to say follow me not admire me but follow me yet take a body like mine be tempted like me and overcome and he did that that's a wonder of his humanity tempted like me and he didn't sin he felt that pull from Satan otherwise it's not temptation and he overcame it in the part of the Holy Spirit and in thirty three and a half years the devil could not penetrate him to me that is the greatest miracle of Jesus did many people think the greatest miracle is raising the dead and they go around trying to imitate Jesus and doing miracles they don't succeed they just frustrated and their fool other people that they're doing the same miracles Jesus did a lot of fake healers like that and Christendom today deceiving a lot of Christians look around and see how many people are healed it's not like the healing ministry of Jesus not even remotely like it but the greatest miracle Jesus did was that he never sinned in in word or deed or thoughts our attitudes to people or even in motives try and live like that for one day it'll be a miracle if you can be completely free from a sin in thought word deed attitude motive towards every human being for one single day it's a great struggle and that's the great miracle that Jesus had a body like mine tempted like me and for thirty three and a half years never sinned showing us that if we yield to the power of the Holy Spirit if you pray like he did if you cry out like he did and if you hate sin like he did and if you love the father like he did you can live like that the devil wants you to believe that you can't it's a lie the Prince of the world comes and he's got nothing in me today we are the body of Christ and the Satan comes we should be able to say he's got nothing in our church he's got no foothold in our church do you have a longing my brothers and sisters to build for your savior a church like that I have a great longing I've had that longing for many years for my Savior who gave everything in order to build a church that would be pure and he's committed that charge to me and do you I take it for myself and he says to me I want you to build it search for me on earth I'll help you I'll give you the power of your Holy Spirit but it must be like my body where Satan has got no place it doesn't have to be big but it must be a true representation of my body that the Prince of the world comes and he finds nothing there that is the church that I have sought with all my heart to build for the last 39 years and I've said Lord I'm willing to pay any price and whatever it is in terms of money time energy ridicule misunderstanding criticism being called the devil and I faced all of that it doesn't make a difference I say Lord I'm only concerned about one thing not concerned what people say about me or what people think about me even the praise of men about what is accomplished is worth nothing I've already taught people the opinions of men are fit for the trash can whether they call you a devil or call your prophet put in the trash can it's not worth anything it's only God's opinion about you that matters he's the only one who knows 100% of you the best of men the closest to men know about 10% of you what do they know about your thoughts what is your wife know about your thoughts even though you've been married so many years you can have filthy thoughts and she doesn't know it you can love money in your mind she doesn't know it you can be very clever it's worth noting even your wife's opinion about you is not really worth much I mean she can see your external graciousness and externally that you don't lose your temper and all those things okay well that's just 10% you know that 90% of us is inside our thoughts attitudes motives who knows that only God and if he doesn't give a certificate of us all the opinion a man is fit for the trash can remember that my brother's otherwise you'll get so taken up with discouragement because people think badly of you or with pride because people think highly of you fit it's fit for the trash can if you don't get clear on this point I'll tell you you'll never be able to build the church so when we think of Satan coming and it's got nothing in us one of the things has helped me is to see what is Satan's nature then he tries to communicate to us because Satan's communicated his poison to the race of Adam and we are born with that you see children who fight where did they learn it from it's not that the just parents teach them to fight it's they're born with it it's the Satan is like that he wants to possess and grab and fight and quarrel and it's all of the devil and we have to build a church where Satan's got no place in us the number one characteristic of Satan that we see in the Bible is pride we read in Ezekiel chapter 28 now the reason I mentioned the characteristic of Satan is because that's what must not be found in the church the gates of Hell will prevail against the church if Satan comes succeeds in putting his nature into the people in your church and this is the expunged body of the leadership of the church to keep preaching against it teaching against it live against it fight against it bind satanic activity so that this is not found in the church and the same thing applies to your home my brothers and sisters those who've you got families your home remember is a little church with a few members make sure Satan doesn't get in there the first characteristic of Satan is pride says in Ezekiel 28 I don't have to go into all the details there he's called her the king of Tyre in verse 12 that means the real ruler of Tyre who was inside the human ruler and he was he started off verse 12 last part full of wisdom and perfect in beauty he was supposed to use all this for God and he was the he was an anointed verse 14 he was full of wisdom perfect in beauty and anointed with gifts verse 14 and blameless verse 15 point imagine a perfect human being beautiful and appearance wisdom and anointed and blameless how if you have a servant of God like that it's amazing and his heart verse 17 was lifted up because of his beauty in his wisdom and his position and his anointing exactly like many preachers and sermons of God their hearts been lifted up because of their beauty in their wisdom their Bible knowledge and their anointing and their giftedness and what they've accomplished in their ministry pride you got corrupted and immediately as soon as it comes the Lord says I cast you to the ground that is how many people fall into sin because God's withdrawn his grace from them you suddenly hear of a gifted preacher having fallen into sin because God withdraw his upon His grace that's all there's no other reason and the reason God withdrew His grace is because God saw what you didn't see then that person's heart was lifted up because of his beauty his wisdom or his anointing or his gift or how people admired him when people said things to me didn't throw it immediately in the trashcan he preserved it and frequently meditated on it and ruined himself be careful a wise man learns from the mistakes of others so that he doesn't do it himself Satan's number one characteristic is pride we had to be very very careful my brothers and sisters it's very easy you could be proud of your beauty you know you can look in the mirror and say what the Pharisee said lord I thank you that I'm not like other people I'm so good-looking and fair and you know there are different reasons why the Pharisee can boast I'm not like other people thank you or you're very educated and clever and smart lord and thank you I'm not like other people or you can you know the word better than everybody else in the church you see lord I thank you I'm not like other people in the church I really know the Scriptures it's all the Pharisee or lord I thank you I'm humbled unlike other people that's also the pharisee and pride is most most deceptive and it is garbed in the garb of humility so what's our hope I'll tell you I've found through the years you know everybody's tempted with pride the great scholar is tempted to be proud of his Bible knowledge the rich man is proud tempted to be proud of his wealth the clever man is tempted to be proud of his cleverness and the spiritual man attempted to be proud of his spirituality there's only one solution I've discovered that pride comes through comparison you know as I've sought to find out Lord how can I ensure that the devil has no place in me solely then I can ensure that he has no place in my home which is my little church first and then in the largest church overage God's placed me as an elder what's God looking for what's Christ looking for in the church that the devil has no place in it no pride you must build a church where people are not proud nobody there they'll come in like little children with a lot of pride that's how they come in but they must the preaching of the word must be such that it drives it out and it has to be driven out of the elders first so as I've sought in my own battle in this area to try and understand how to be like Jesus because the first thing Jesus did was not live a holy life that as after he came to earth he didn't show his love the first thing Jesus did was humble himself by just coming from heaven to earth remember that was the first thing that Jesus did and that's the first thing you and I must do before we pursue holiness in love and feeding the poor and caring for the homeless and taking care of the orphans and the widows and all the wonderful works we do and preaching sermons and singing songs and all that before all of that follow Jesus in his humility that's the first step and that's the first step a lot of people don't take and they try to follow Jesus and become Christians without taking the first Depp is like without learning the ABC you go into third or fourth grade and try to understand physics and chemistry and you can't even read that's exactly the condition of many Christians they haven't learned the first lesson of humility and they're trying to follow Jesus crazy it's like sending children to school and they don't learn the alphabets no now don't know how to read and they treat each them try to teach physics and chemistry they're confused so this is how I've discovered I've said I've seen that pride is always the result of comparison and I used this example in India we don't have grades in school ABCD we have marks out of a hundred so if a child got ten out of a hundred in mathematics can he be proud what do you think the answer is yes if everybody else got five and four and three and zero he can be so happy mommy I came first in the class he's so happy when he comes and this is how pride comes comparison you're not even ten percent like Jesus not even 10 percent you didn't even get 10 you probably got about 5 out of 100 or 1 out of hundred but you are proud why is that because everybody else got half or quarter or one-third out of 100 or something I am it's by comparison now you take that same child who's got 10 out of 100 in mathematics and put him in another class where everybody's getting 99 and 100 how does he suddenly become humble how did this pride proud person become humble because he saw he was lost in the class not only lost everybody was getting about 90 marks more than him he's getting a hundred he's getting ten how did he suddenly become humble by comparison how did he become proud first by comparison there I learned the secret how did the devil become proud he compared himself with all the other angels and he was more good-looking wiser cleverer higher position greater anointing greater gifts and he became proud then he looked at God and he was nothing compared to God that's why he was determined I've got to go above that that's how he became the devil he was a perfect angel before that so I realized as long as I compare myself with others my Bible knowledge with others my preaching ability with others my anointing with others the results of my ministry with others or anything with others it's a danger of pride if I find people are much better than me danger of discouragement either way it's dangerous so I realized the solution is to look at someone who got a hundred percent all the time that's Jesus Christ and that's why the Bible says let us run the race looking unto Jesus all the time I want to tell you it's something I pursued for many years now it's a guaranteed guaranteed cure for pride if you take the medicine daily and many times daily let us run the race looking under Jesus whatever Bible knowledge you have compare yourself with Jesus whatever ability or whatever anointing you have whatever holiness or goodness you have or however much good you think you're doing or how generous you are and how loving you are and everything else put it all together and just compare yourself with Jesus I tell you you'll fall like John the Apostle at the feet of Jesus and the Isle of Patmos with your face in the dust and he was 95 years old that and he'd already lived for 65 years of spiritual life he was better than any of us and as soon as he saw Jesus he was flat on the ground that's what the constant advice I give to my fellow elders not churches I said dear brothers put your face in the dust all the time keep your face in the dust this is what I seek to do my brothers and this is what I tell you to do the devil will never get power over you and you cannot fall you know if you stand you can fall if you sit you can still fall but if you are flat on the ground on your face can you fall no your safe is the safest place to be flat on the ground with your face in the dust before Jesus not once in a while not in moments with you feel humbled but all the time it'll take practice everything in life takes practice even when you were a kid you had to learn how to brush your teeth it took a little practice but it's sort of automatic now nobody has to remind you like your mom and dad had to brush your teeth this morning it's many things that we keep on doing after a while it becomes a habit and I want to tell you in Jesus name it can become a habit for you as it has gradually become for me to look at Jesus all the time to compare ourselves with him all the time I'm trying to tell you how the devil will get no hold on your life or your home or your church see it's because of pride that we get offended one of the first things we learn to overcome when we decide to follow Jesus in this area and look at him is getting offended things like anger can be deep-rooted dirty thoughts sexual thoughts deep-rooted takes time to get rid of it love of money takes time these are massive onions with many many layers you know particularly angers sexually dirty thoughts and love of money three that come to my mind immediately II so let's start with something was just a little easier getting your friended why don't you work on that first and you find then it's easier there's a song we sing called yield not to temptation for yielding is sin each victory will help you another to win so if you start with the easy things you can move on to the more important things when they teach you mathematics in school is if first they start with addition two plus two you don't go to calculus and all straight away that'll come but you got to start with two plus two start with the easy things and start with the easy things in the Christian life getting offended can you decide Lord by your grace I want to overcome this business of getting you're finding that no matter what people say to me or do to me it it doesn't change me if ten thousand people call you a prophet will you become a prophet no then why you what if worried if you have ten thousand people call you the devil the devil because they call you the devil you are what you are so what people call you a prophet or a devil is just the same thing it doesn't make a difference don't get offended by what people say don't get offended with people ignoring you God doesn't ignore you there sometimes people get offended that somebody didn't smile at them or passed by them without shaking their hand or not noticing them what conceit there is in us that people walk by us should notices who do you think you are that everybody should notice you when they pass by you let's have a little smaller thoughts about ourselves it'll help you a lot you know once Jesus said the they wake the gate is narrow to enter into life it's a wonderful way the way of life but if the gate is very narrow but you know he told us how narrow it was how narrow do you think that gate is one in sure quarter inch sure it says narrow as and needles I he said that to the rich young ruler who is not willing to give up his money yeah after he left him it's easier for a camel to go through a needles eye there he defined the size of that gate it's not 1 inch it's not quarter inch it's much smaller that's a needles eye why does a camel find it so difficult to go through needles are wide why do you find it difficult to go through means even your finger can't go through a needles eye you know the problem it's all too big there's a little creature called the amoeba people who study chemistry and all no no about that it's such a it's such a it's the smallest little creature on earth it's so small you've got to have a very powerful microscope to even see it it's such a teeny weeny thing and for an amoeba a needles eye is so huge and you ask an amoeba can you go through the needles I know sure if I can run in and out of it through it it's like me running in and out through that door it's there's no problem an amoeba this is I can go in and out of it easily what do you mean it's so difficult is not it all day because you find it difficult to go through it you're too big that's the problem brothers and sisters we don't enter into this abundant life that jesus promised us because we are too big in our own thinking we got high thoughts about ourselves about our abilities maybe your accomplishments and all the stupid things the devil keeps reminding you about which you have accomplished or what you think you are how much we listen to the devil and our health head gets bigger and bigger and we don't fit through the needles I what do we lose life abundant life I'm telling you from the stupid things I have made in my life I say all my sermons come from the lessons I learned from my stupidity in my younger days that's why I can be compassionate to people because I went that way myself I've been that way failure and defeat and you know from the pit I used to get angry with my wife and I got married yeah just normal normal married life you know fighting and quarreling and but it's gone it's gone I long for a life where I'd never raised my voice once at my wife any any day of the year and gods brought me there you can be there you've got to be small the way of life is wonderful where you don't get irritated and upset and angry and offended if you're small enough Jesus was small when they called him Beelzebul Prince of Devil's he said I want to paraphrase his words I am an ordinary man it's okay you're forgiven I asked the Lord for a definition of why he called himself son of man son of man son of man all the time and right or wrong this is the definition I got in my heart I'm an ordinary son of a man I'm an ordinary man was he an ordinary man not at all he was Almighty God walking in human form but you know what he thought of himself I'm an ordinary man and when I saw that I said lord help me to be an ordinary man all my days people can call me what they like they can treat me like rubbish what does it matter can be forgiven I'm an ordinary man the bigger we are the more easily we get offended seek with all your heart to become an ordinary man an ordinary woman you will not get offended people may say you'll be able to keep your mouth shut you won't even have bad thoughts about them I'm telling you from my experience it will not be possible for people to work you up and get you angry even if they get angry with you they get irritated upset and say all types of things you will not get angry anger is the result of pride let me tell you this my dear brothers and sisters it may hurt you but it's get good to get hurt if you know the truth anger comes because there's some pride in you which makes you feel that nobody can talk to you like that nobody can treat you like that nobody can ignore you like that because you're an important person you're not an ordinary person well it's very difficult to go through the narrow gate then you won't enjoy the abundant life Satan will get a power over you and he'll get a power over your home and he'll get a power over your church what is Christ looking for not a lot of Bible knowledge and a preaching ability but be small in your own eyes Bible says in Galatians 6 if anybody thinks he's somebody when he's a nobody thinks he's a somebody's actually a nobody that's in Galatians chapter 6 verse 3 anyone thinks he's somebody and he's a nobody he's deceiving himself there's a lot of deceiving of oneself in Christendom we think we are somebody just because we have done something for the Lord you know when Paul said you know that well-known verse Philippians 3:13 forgetting the things that are behind pressing for - the things that are ahead of me when we caught that verse we are thinking of all the sins we have committed all thank God I can forget all the things that are behind you know what Paul was talking about I'm forgetting how spiritual I've become I'm forgetting how much I've become like Jesus already I'm forgetting all that I've accomplished for Jesus already all the raising of the dead and all the churches are planted in all the scriptures I've written forgetting all that that means Paul says I look at myself as one who's not done anything for the Lord till today not grown at all I'm a baby it was a mature Saint he'd been a believer for thirty years he's done great things for God he says forgetting the things that are behind that's what made him go full-speed for the goal do you forget the things that are behind or do you keep reminding yourself of all that you've accomplished in the past how spiritual you've become how useful you've been in God's kingdom but no wonder your progress is so slow like The Tortoise I'll give you a little suggestion forget the things that are behind stop comparing yourself with others don't let the devil pride is his nature and getting offended getting angry if you say to yourself every time you get angry Lord I'm proud that's why I got angry right now you didn't give me grace to overcome that Ephesians 4:31 says put away all anger if I say put away all the chairs from this room there shouldn't be one left put away all anger means zero anger I remember I went to a car factory a manufacturing factory in India once and I saw a little plate on the board there on the wall there we aim for zero defect I said wow what a motto for my Christian life I aim for zero defect I offer that to you are you aiming for zero defect we may not get there but I tell you that's your aim you'll get pretty close to it before you leave this earth that's the goal zero of Adam and hundred of Christ make that your goal that is my goal I say before God that is my goal I want to behave like Jesus Christ 100 percent I want to speak like Jesus I want to preach like Jesus I want to have the same attitude that Jesus had towards women and men and I want to have the same attitude towards the Pharisees as Jesus had I want to same have the same attitude towards the money changes in the temple like Jesus had you know it's balanced the kindness and the severity of God I want both of it in my life I don't want just the kindness I don't want justice severity I want grace and truth it's like saying I want flesh and bones not just flesh like jellyfish and not just bones like a skeleton but flesh and bones is beautiful grace and truth that's what we must have and God will help us then a second characteristic of Satan is discontent with what God has given you it's connected to pride but it's good to look at it another another aspect there must be zero discontentment in our life you know he was discontent with being the head of the Angels he was there God had already given him a position but he wasn't happy he wanted more discontent and he was thrown down when he came into the Garden of Eden he got Adam and Eve to be discontent with what God had given them sin came from discontentment it's like God saying to Adam and Eve he told Adam here's a huge circle with 10,000 trees you can eat from any of them there's one tree outside that circle don't go there and that's the very tree he went for he was discontent with this huge circle which God had given him and he wanted to go where God had not allowed him to go the same spirit of Satan discontent now we've got to be careful that that's never found in us you know that getting into debt is a form of discontent your salary is like a financial circle that God's drawn around you now I'm not talking about emergencies like a sudden hospital bill or something that is so urgent that you have to borrow not talking about such things but I'm talking about the lust to spend when you don't have the money to spend it the lust for example to go on a vacation and when you don't have the money so you use your credit card and use money because you see a vacation is essential do you know that's absolute nonsense that a vacation is essential in India hardly anybody goes on a vacation when our children was small I think we went on one vacation is about 15 years it's not an essential thing I'll tell you why we couldn't go we didn't have the money I wrote a scooter for 42 years in India vision I couldn't afford driving a car around but I decided one thing when the Bible says oh no man anything I said I'm gonna stay inside the circle as I said yesterday I'm not talking about a house loan or a car loan where you got something in you for the money that you borrowed but do you try and do you try to use your credit card carelessly do you think it glorifies God when you have a credit card debt which you could have avoided if you have learned to live a little simply say Lord let me live a little more simply there let me not go outside my boundary there's a there's a verse in Ecclesiastes and chapter 10 which says Ecclesiastes in chapter 10 and verse 8 the last part the one who breaks through a wall a serpent will bite him in the serpent is the devil the wall is the boundary God is drawn around you and your discontent with staying within that boundary within that financial circle that God's drawn around you and you want to go outside it and see okay I'm gonna credit card I can go outside it I can buy things I can't afford right now a serpent will bite you let me tell you something in the Hebrew language the word for serpent bite is the same as the word for debt or pretty close anyway it's a Serpent's bite discontent I realize this is of the devil trying to make me discontented now I'm not speaking from without experience when we were married we were extremely poor for 2-3 years we struggled we couldn't even afford house rent but we I decided we're not going to go outside our circle we may struggle we can't buy a lot of things we won't buy new clothes we wash with our hands instead of because you can't afford a washing machine that's fine but we will not go outside our boundary as I look back I see that those were years when God was testing me to see whether I would take his words seriously before he could commit a ministry to me is it possible that there's a ministry God could wanted to commit to you but he could not commit to you because he tested you and you failed you know they use tests aluminium for making airplanes and they test it in various ways put it in fire and in ice cold water and fire and ice cold water see that it just doesn't break up if it does break up we say we can't use that for an aeroplane we use it for children's toys or something used for something else you could have been used to be to have been made into an airplane and God says no fit to make a children's toy that's all because you didn't pass the test which you could have passed discontent prevented you from passing it but you can still pass now God gives you another chance he's not the God of the second chance he's the God of the thousandth chance praise the Lord so the times of ignorance God overlooked don't let the devil get a foothold in your life you got only one life to live my brother sister let it count for God to build the Church of Jesus Christ overcome discontent in your life in your home share the head of the home you have to say to your wife sorry darling we can't afford that I can't buy it your children want you to get something they may cry sorry we can't afford it you can cry as much Eli but we can't afford it and I'm not gonna get that do you have the boldness to say that are you serious about building the church or you want to build the church without paying a price it's not possible look at the price Jesus paid he always stayed within his boundary he never had a demand on others he was never discontent let me show you this example in John chapter 7 in John chapter 7 we read about Jesus preaching a fiery sermon it says he raised his voice it's one of those rare times where Jesus raised his voice and preached most of the time he'd speak very gently and softly but in John 7:37 he raised his voice he cried out if any man's thirsty come to me and people listened to him and said in verse 20 46 I've never heard a man speak like this man does the people who came to capture him so we couldn't capture him because he speaks so powerfully and at the end of that powerful day of preaching in Jerusalem remember he was living in Capernaum in Galilee and he'd walked all those 7080 miles 100 miles down to Jerusalem and he was preaching there a whole day and at the end of the day listen to these sad words John 7 verse 53 everyone went to his own home but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives next chapter first one did you read that everyone went to his own home and there was not one of those people who were blessed by that message who came to him and said Lord we know you're from Capernaum where you're staying tonight not one it's never happened to me people are always very good to me but it happened to Jesus they were blessed by that sermon they were never a number bother to ask him where you're gonna stay tonight he had no demands he had no complaints he was content he said well it's not raining I can go and sleep under the trees in the Mount of Olives no question no complaint he came back the next morning early in the morning verse two and all the people again sat down and he sat down and then and began to teach them and nobody asked him where were you last night Lord amazing but he never sort of hinted sooner last night as I was sleeping under the trees or any type of hint like you know how we like to give a little hint to people to let them know how they hurt us or how they ignored there was nothing about it Jesus nothing of that and that is the a those that when you give those little hints you can see how you were bit discontent with the way people treated you those the areas where we need to judge ourselves my brothers don't blame others the first thing that happened when the devil came to Adam was he started blaming his wife he's called the accuser of the brothers in revelation 12 that's another characteristic of Satan find something wrong in somebody even if you ought to blame try and put as much blame on somebody else and God comes to Adam and says have you eaten of the tree it's a multiple choice question which only two options yes or no you can take either one you like but he doesn't take yes he doesn't take no he writes underneath actually my wife took the fruit gave it to me and I ate it why all this explanation just say yes this is man trying to put the blame on somebody else do you have anything of that I told you yesterday that we must never toss to tell somebody I told you so that's the voice of the expert maybe you give some advice to somebody and he didn't follow it he messed up his life I've had examples like that you know because I never tell people what to do I'm not an Old Testament prophet I'm an elder of a church to give them advice because I want them to be connected to Christ you seek the Lord maybe he got his guidance wrong and he did something wrong I've done a lot of the wrong things in my life in my younger days why can't I be merciful to him he comes back to me and the devil will tempt you to say tell him I told you so shut your mouth love him and tell him how he can rectify the situation now it's like you know when your children are trying to build a toy or do something with Lego or something like that and you won't they won't let you help them because there's no no no dad I know how to do it and they mess up the whole thing and they come to you and said that I'm sorry we messed up what are you going to tell him I told you so I hope you'll never say that to your children you want to lose your children say that never never say to your children I told you so take that messed up thing and build it again you build a bond with your children I'm not saying as one who's never made mistakes I made a lot of mistakes as I but I've repented I used to punish myself children sometimes an anger but I always used to repent of it and go to God and say Lord forgive me I want to eliminate the anger I keep the discipline eliminate the anger so it's like that you know if you are repenting and judging ourselves all the time we'll come to a place where we'll never say these UNCHR ice-like things who is the one who keeps on saying it year after year the one who's not judging himself the Church of Jesus Christ we must build a church what's Christ looking for in the church he's looking for a church where people are taught to judge themselves first where the characteristics of Satan of Pride discontentment accusation I told you so I told you so many times I told you a thousand times not to do that it's like the guy who said I told you a thousand times not to exaggerate maybe you told them three or four times it's we're so careless in the words we use sometimes you have to be very careful it says let your speech always be with grace let me speak so we have to be very careful in this area not allow Satan to get a foothold in any of these areas when it comes to through pride or accusation or or discontentment or accusation turn to 1 Peter 4:17 I always call this one of the marks of a new covenant church it's called a household of God the family of God 1 Peter 4:17 the time for judges come for judgment to begin in the household of God that's another phrase for the church in the household of God judgment must begin with us first have you ever heard this expression me first it's a bad word in cultured society me first because in the world they do put themselves first even though the actors that they don't we put ourselves first in every area except in judgment when it comes to judgment it is the others first judge everybody else around me and me is lost or or never at all I don't even figure in that list but in every other area of me first in judgment others first that's because the world is upside down when Christ comes in we are born again he straightens us up makes us stand on our feet now and not on our heads and he says in every area but others first now except in judgment there you put yourself first judge yourself first not your wife not your husband judge yourself first this is the household of God this is what Christ is looking for a church where everybody is judging himself birth first but how you know when I speak and I spoke about this in the early days people thought well brothers acts always looking inward I said you know I never look inward never in my life I know in my flesh dwelleth no good thing I don't want to look inside and see that more and more of that that's not how I judge myself not at all do you know how I judge myself the way Isaiah did it Isaiah chapter 6 we heard about it yesterday he saw the Lord sitting on a throne he wasn't looking inside at all he was looking at the Lord on the throne and he saw the Lord on the throne he saw his need that's when he judged himself and that's the way to do it looking under Jesus I see his life his perfect life and as I read the scriptures I see how he lived on earth and my meditation on Scripture is not to preach a sermon or take a Bible study I'm sorry to say there are many people who study the Bible and think of that's a good point for my sermon or Bible study boy that's not why God gave us the Bible daaad God didn't give us the Bible to get points for a Bible study or two points for a sermon he gave us the scriptures like a mirror to see ourselves to see the glory of Jesus and when he saw the glory of the Lord he suddenly saw himself oh and he primarily was convicted about his tongue Oh Lord the way I've used my tongue I'm a man of unclean lips and now I see how everybody around me the careless way they use their tongues have mercy on me and it says the fire from the altar a burning coal came and touched his lips and he was cleansed and he's okay now you can go and preach this is how I sought to judge myself by constantly looking at Jesus in the scriptures and seeing for example just one example I gave you right now people ignored him he had no demand that you must make it more convenient for me and nothing just go and find some convenient place to sleep and come back and not even hint or make anyone feel uncomfortable that they didn't consider where he would be sleeping the previous night think of seeing the glory of Jesus there and say Lord I want to be like that I want to be like that in my home I want to be like that my home your wife ignores your your husband ignores you say Lord I don't really want to and even that don't even want make make her or him feel that I've been ignored it's wonderful are you becoming a little more like Jesus every year God wants a church where it's becoming more and more like Christ we don't get there overnight that's the message of the first chapter of Genesis that ruined earth God could have made it perfect in one moment but he didn't he took one day another day another day another day till one day finally said it's very good and that's how it's going to be your ruin messed up life one day at a time our outer man decays but the inward man is being renewed day by day till one day we become like Christ this is the church that Jesus wants and this is the direction in which we should be leading our churches and this is the type of church the only type of church this worth building and the devil will have no power over it demons will be cast out this mighty Authority in the name of Jesus we are fighting a foe who was defeated on the cross we don't have to be afraid of him I've seen that sometimes when casting out demons and we have to do that often in India casting out demons from people the name of Jesus I'll tell you my testimony I have never seen a single case - today of demon-possessed people have cast out a number of demons where I've had to say it more than once in the name of Jesus get out the demon is gone if it doesn't go then like Jesus said you better go and pray and fast something's wrong with you because he was defeated on the cross but he doesn't listen to you because he says Jesus I know and Paul I know what do you think you are I know all about your life you don't have any power over me you want the devil to say that to you and you try to build a church no I'd be ashamed of myself if the devil dared to say to me Jesus I know and Paul I know her who do you think you are you have no power over me because you've got something of me in you you got my pride you got my discontent you got this habit of getting offended and getting upset you're trying to cost me out dear brothers let's count for Jesus Christ in these days the wholehearted the time is short Christ is coming soon don't have any regret when he comes again God speaking to you one more time in this conference to count for God and wherever wherever you are be a part of a church either build a church this glorifies Christ or be a part of one that glorifies Christ let's pray have any father since we bow before you help us to be gripped by the truths we have heard and pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Ahava Jerusalem

Views: 7,538

Rating: 4.8759689 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, truth, christian, bible, Jesus, Christ, Holy Spirit, God, love, grace, peace, must watch, amazing, faith, believe, now, best, video, youtube, google, facebook, free, heart, hope, mercy, future, internet, Lord, word, alive, life, right, overcome, pure, holiness, awesome, joy, strength, music, prayer, time, I AM, sin, cfc, always, glory, fellowship, destiny, father, men, light, wisdom, way, zac poonen, heaven, spiritual, Authority Over Satan, power, blood of Lamb, spiritual warfare, testimony, life and death

Id: _ynBsvJa1p4

Length: 70min 5sec (4205 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 28 2016