Zac Poonen - Our Love Must Grow in Discernment

I was thinking as he was singing that song as we sang that first line and went to the second line I said to myself hey you're not singing that to Jesus you're just singing the song I said Lord I want to be aware that I'm talking to you and saying Jesus Yolo not worthy I remember in the olden days when I could go through a whole song and not even realize that I didn't sing it to the Lord at all and sometimes wake up after the song is over I remember in the olden days when we had song books well people sang the next song I turn back to the old song and I said Lord I didn't mean that let me read that slowly - you mean it that has helped me through the years you know there was a man a Roman Catholic monk who wrote a little book called the practice of the presence of God and some of these I mean there are a few very few probably zero zero one point zero zero one percent of Catholics were really god-fearing who knew the Lord and who knew the presence of God and they wrote some amazing things it's something which I want to encourage you like the first words of Jesus in his ministry after his baptism was his reply to Satan man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and I've always linked that with Genesis chapter 1 where every day it says and God said and that is the first day and the next day and God said and that was the second day and the next day and God said write through and every time and God said something something happened only because the earth and the heavens submitted yes God whatever you say Abbot let the earth separate from the sea happen and the trees comfort happen and the fish come and the sea happened why doesn't it happen with us and God says something either I'm not receiving it like the earth and heaven did or I'm reading a printed world but not hearing the Word of God man shall live not by bread alone and I would say not even by the printed book but by every word that proceeds present-tense proceeds from the mouth of God so that is why I often tell people to read the Bible slowly it doesn't matter if you don't finish it in a year if you have heard God every day of that year that's more important than finishing the Bible in a year what I used to do in the early days was have two sessions for my Bible reading one is to hear God and the other is to just read large sections so that I know the Bible that also is important and and I was single I could do that and I encourage all people who are single if you don't study the Bible when you are young I tell you you won't be study it when you get married go and ask any married man which he learned whether he has time to study the scriptures mice time suddenly dropped and that's why I encourage my children to study the Bible when they were young you if you've got children to teach your children to study the Bible when they are young however small they are today I encourage my grandchildren to read the Bible study it we must do that because they don't realize yes very soon they grow now they go to college they've got so many other things to study if they're not grounded in Scripture it's terrible and even at that young age it says Samuel could hear the voice of God he'll I told him speak ins here speak Lord your servant is hearing I say that sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night I say speak Lord I'm hearing your servant is hearing why not tell our children about Samuel story and tell them at a very early age when they can understand if God can speak to Samuel in the Old Testament why can he speak to you today man shall not live by bread first and lunch but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God which means God is always speaking every day God is speaking that is the message in Genesis chapter 1 there's not a single day he does not speak Genesis chapter 1 and you go to Revelation chapter 1 the last book of the Bible and if this is John says I heard the voice of the Lord like a trumpet and we have multitudes of Christians who say I can't hear God well if you are deaf you can't hear God but he heard it like a trumpet and he's 95 years old he kept his conscience clear so that's how we hear God and that's the first word that came out of Jesus mouth anyway I want to speak more about that tomorrow but I want to share something from 1 John 1:7 in this connection 1 John 1:7 if we walk in the light as God is in the light we have fellowship one with another that is with us and God and also between us and others were walking in the light it doesn't disturb me that I cannot have fellowship with everybody in a church because I can sense whether somebody's walking in the light for a period of time and then fellowship can only build with those who are walking in the light why did Jesus spend more time with Peter James and John and with 11 not with the 70 whom he sent out you know he sent out 70 he read in Luke chapter 10 two by two they cast out demons they did so many things but they were not in that inner circle of eleven you can serve the Lord and go and cast out demons even and rejoice a the demons are subject to us in your name but more blessed are those eleven who were with him it says he chose them to be with him that is the primary thing he chose them for and then to go out and serve Him you read that mark chapter three he chose them to be with him and go out so it's because Jesus saw that in these people there was a greater hunger and among those also there was a still smaller number of three there was no partiality with Jesus absolutely zero so if he chose some out of a crowd there must have been something he saw in them that made him select those 70 out of a bigger crowd from the seventy eleven and from the eleven three it's like that in a church also you can have 70 people in a church and then in that there's a smaller circle of eleven and this is a smaller circle of three and an elder who's walking with God though he's a shepherd for all seventy he may not have fellowship with all seventy he may have a closer fellowship with eleven and a soup closer fellowship with three I found that in Bangalore where we have sometimes five 600 people on Sunday morning sometimes I wonder whether they are even believers all of them because I publicly said there I said I feel that some of you sitting here are not born again you come here because it's a nice Church we don't take an offering it's a good good people who go to fellowship where we have free lunch and the children or a nice good place for your children to grow up in one of the reasons why you come to a place like I've heard some people select a church because they got a better parking lot where you don't have to wait to find a place to park your car what are the ridiculous reasons people choose a church but that's not any more ridiculous than choosing something like this is it because I hear the word of God I am challenged to walk closer with the Lord or some other factor these are nice people nice people will not help me to walk with God so to do a fellowship with God I must walk in the light and that walking in the light is very simple mmm it means not a complicated thing it just means being honest you know like the walk in the darkness means I want to hide something all people who commit sin do it in darkness murder adultery is all done in darkness walking in the light means I don't want to I'm not saying that I'm perfect I'm saying I don't want to hide anything and the proof of that is when I walk in the light see what it says there I still need the blood of Jesus to cleanse me from the sin which I saw in the light in the rest of that verse so that proves that walking in the light I'm not free from sin but if I walk in the light the blood of Jesus cleanses me and if I don't walk in the light the blood of Jesus does not cleanse me what does that mean that means you and I come to the light I still have sin which I need to be cleansed from perhaps unconscious in maybe not conscious and I need to be cleansed every day because Jesus taught us to pray our Father who art in heaven give us this Howard this day our daily bread and the next is forgive us our sins again daily the meaning is the same just like I pray for daily bread I need to pray for daily forgiveness it's not that I am committing adultery every day maybe I didn't sin consciously the whole of yesterday that means I'm not aware of anything that I spoke or did just consciously wrong yet I have to pray or give my sins because well the only person the only time we can stop praying that is when I'm sure I'm completely like Christ Christ never had to pray forgive my sins and one day when I become like Jesus I never have to pray that prayer until that day I have to pray it Lord there are things in my life which I maybe I behaved in a non christ-like way towards someone and he was gracious enough to keep quiet and not tell me about it and must be there I'm always conscious that there must be maybe there's some way I hurt my wife today which I don't even realize I mean she was gracious enough to overlook it but I don't want to continue like that I want to get light on myself maybe I should have encouraged somebody today because it says encourage one another daily there's somebody I'm not saying I condemn myself that I didn't do it but was there some opportunity for me to see her encouraging word to somebody and I missed it I remember reading a poem it says I was I cheated somebody today what is this appointment what I cheated someone something which belonged to him I stole and it ends with saying I was supposed to give him a word of encouragement which I didn't give I stole it I said wow what a sensitivity to sin that I stolen something when the Bible says encourage one another daily and I should have not that I condemn myself that everybody a but sometimes you feel hey that was an occasion I spent time talking with that person for so long and I did not give that one word of encouragement I just left it at that I went not in every conversation but sometimes when you're convicted about it we don't go into self con nation because I've seen that the devil when he can't make your conscience insensitive he makes it oversensitive well you condemn yourself unnecessary things so be careful there but walking in the light means I don't live in constant condemnation no I refuse to listen to the devil who is the accuser of the Brethren he accuses people to God II accuses me to myself and I'm not gonna listen to him a lot of people live under depression because they are listening to the devil accusing them you didn't do this you didn't do that you didn't do that you can well there are a hundred one things I didn't do but I'm not going to live under the condemnation of Satan because God is merciful and he knows how much I can do and he does not ask us to do beyond our ability but walking in the light means where I say Lord there's something there I didn't do it right oh yeah I didn't or I should have done this year or I should have said a word here or I said something extra over there which I shouldn't have spoken about or I was too hard on someone I've had occasions where I've had to go to people in our church who are younger than my youngest son and apologize and say listen I'm sorry brother I corrected you which is necessary but I think I corrected you too hard I'm sorry please forgive me was the Lord convicted me that that was not right - that's right - correct him but not with such strong words and I found through the years this is walking in the light it's very easy then we have fellowship with God and it's only when we are in fellowship with God that we can hear him speaking to us you heard me quote this many times and I never get tired of it in John chapter 3 sometimes we have to repeat something a number of times i remember what charles finney the Krait evangelist in america and 19th century said he said i've discovered that you had to preach a truth ten times to somebody before he understands it I said okay I'll follow that rule reach a message ten times let people think brother Jacques got nothing new to preach is the same old stuff I've heard eight nine times the person who says like that will never grow but the person who says hey I needed to hear that again because I didn't hear it properly the last time that's the person who gets it and then you know it's like in Genesis chapter one every day something happens something happens something happens and what is the ultimate goal on the sixth day man is in the image of God that's the final goal even with us and in the last day that God speaks to us we will become like Christ so that's the goal towards which the whole world didn't know that that's a goal towards which God was working first a second a third the ultimate goal was 60 a man who's in the image of God and the work God is doing with us the ultimate goal is ultimately men and women who are in the image of Jesus Christ so that we can be his younger brothers and sisters and that's dependent from Genesis chapter 1 to listen to him every day and that's to walk in the light so Genesis champ sorry John chapter 3 we read the contrast which you've heard me say before I'll repeat it again verse 20 everyone who does evil hates the light and the opposite of that should be everyone who does good comes to the light but that's not what Jesus said verse 21 everyone who does the truth comes to the light so the opposite of evil in Jesus light and then Jesus language and coming to the light is truth not good nobody is good jesus said why do you call me good there's no one good but God so if Jesus said that you practices what is good comes to the light then I say there's no hope for me but when Jesus said the opposite of practicing evil is practicing the truth which means being honest I'm a prostitute I am a thief for I did this wrong oh that's easy the worst sinner in the world look at the thief on the cross he just said I'm guilty I don't blame anybody and he says if the Lord saying really you don't blame your parents for bringing up wrong no no do you bring your bad company you got no you blame the judge you accuse me falsely know me Lord 100% ah you're fit for paradise that come with me to paradise today and I've taken it like that mm-hmm then I can be the worst criminal on earth like that man was everybody having a bad opinion about him but he came into the light before Jesus Christ and he entered paradise the same day can I believe my walk on earth can be a walk in paradise if I'm honest like that thief like I've often said before you kneel at the foot of the cross of Jesus sit at the foot of the cross of this thief and learned something from him then go to the cross of Jesus what do I learn from the thief first total honesty not to blame anybody else like Adam did get rid of that Adamic habit that's why he lost paradise the thief got paradise because he did what the opposite of Adam did yeah Lord it's me not my wife not anybody else it's me it's me even when you think 90% or 99% of the fault is with somebody else there is no situation where there's a conflict where you can say zero fault is with me even in any husband wife conflict or not a single situation where a zero is with you I remember one situation in our church years ago where somebody he was a fairly good person whether it was probably a hidden pride in him and they dropped out of our church or I didn't want to judge his pride I say I didn't see that at the beginning later on it became evident but when he fell away I said Lord why did that happen I've never rebuked him or corrected him I've never said anything to hurt him and the Lord said to me that's true but you never said anything to encourage him either really I had missed out there see I want to be more careful who is there who doesn't need encouragement what about a whatever person has lived with the pigs and wasted all the goodness of God throughout his life wasted it filthy smelly spiritually and he comes back and you see this guy's coming only for food I know the father welcomes him and I give him food irritant I'm not saying that's always true but you need discernment because everybody who comes the food is not necessarily come up with repentant heart but this chap had a repentant heart but we need to discern those were coming only for some physical financial help and those were really repented otherwise I find in a country like India it's one of the greatest needs in the early days of the church we got thoroughly fooled we didn't have discernment you don't blame ourselves we were young in the Lord we tried to do good to everybody help people financially give them food and people would come and stay in our homes and they exploited us like anything but we learnt within one or two years and we decided ok we will make foolish mistakes but you've learned something if you learn something through your mistakes it's worth it and we decided we were gonna be a church that makes disciples so we're gonna concentrate on making disciples you know Jesus for example there was so many blind men that he healed but he never started any home for the blind or home for orphans or he never did that because if he'd got taken up with all that he wouldn't have many disciples I find Paul also didn't go around making a home for orphans and blind people very good people who do that I say that's your calling to it brother but Paul realized even a thing like slavery which is such an evil thing to employ a person as a slave that you don't pay him anything you just bought him in the market and would any of you do it today keep a slave in your house you don't pay him anything and you can treat him like you treat furniture and he's got no rights and that already writing the inspired by the Holy Spirit he never says masters let your slaves go free never know where he said just treat them kindly why was that he sometimes we can be try to be more spiritual than Jesus himself more spiritual in the Holy Spirit I've seen a lot of Christians who used their human understanding the Bible says trust in the Lord and don't depend on your understanding someone with understanding when those days would have said hey we should liberate the slave that's Christianity already said if you want you to do that I'm not gonna do it because Paul knew if he gets into that type of campaign liberating the slaves he'll never be able to make disciples and I've seen that in India India is one of the poorest countries in the world with millions are not exaggerating millions of beggars who don't have enough to eat don't have many of them sleep out of the cold and die now if you have a calling like William Booth in the Salvation Army go ahead and do it but if a person doesn't have that calling he can waste his life trying to do it and I realized I said I told the Lord I said I'm so challenged by William boots testimony that I've often said it publicly too that if I was living in the late 1800s in Britain I would have definitely joined the Salvation Army because it is bringing people to Christ it was delivering the little young girls taking the prostitution and small children being made to work long hours in factories and helping so many people and delivering people from drunkenness so that the wine shops closed down I said boy what a ministry but I said Lord I'm willing to do it but I don't have the calling of William Booth I'm sorry I will not attempt something you know I can get a name Oh brothers act cares for the prostitutes and the drunkards and sees and does that or like David Wilkerson the drug addicts I say Lord I don't have that calling I'm sorry and I don't want to pretend I have it and I don't want to try and do that to get a name for myself far from it I will never be able to do the will of God if I don't see what God has called me to do and rejoice in what Mother Teresa does what William Booth does what David Wilkerson doesn't say praise God they are members of the body but another part of the body I have to do my part and I'm not jealous of them I'm delighted that they do something I can't do a hand can do something which the tongue cannot do so to recognize our calling and say I'm here to make disciples so we learnt it early in our beginning as a church and we decided that we will not help people financially until they have been in our church for at least two years and proved that they're interested in discipleship and not just in a free luncheon a nice place to bring up our children you want to see are you interested in discipleship welcome then and when we really proved that somebody's interested in this outer shell we have literally spent millions of rupees helping people you know who are need medical help or educate their children school colleges are too poor to send their children and then children do well in their studies so it's a question of priority so in all these things I find that we have to constantly be hearing the voice of God if we want to grow in discernment and I believe that discernment is the greatest need even in an CCF if you if you all don't have discernment you'll be fooled I want you to turn with me to verse in Philippians in chapter one it's a very important verse I feel because I feel that a lot of people even in CFC Bangalore and here I don't think y'all have discernment and if you don't have discernment you'll be easily fooled by people who appear to be right see it says here Philippians 1 and verse 9 and this I pray you know the Philippians are wonderful Christians because they are the one people from whom Paul received money as far as we know it's the only Church all did not receive from the Corinthians he did not receive from the Ephesians he did not receive hundred tehsil reigns we read that in Scripture so I will not take it you know they gave me wouldn't take it but when the Philippians sent him he would take it which means he had a respect for the Philippians and we read in 2nd Corinthians 8 they were not very rich they were richer than Paul but Paul was very I don't believe we should ever take money from people further than us but Paul took it from the Philippians which shows me that there was something about this these people and he says some amazing spiritual things of them but one of the things he's in Philippians 1 9 is I pray that your love may abound more and more in real knowledge and discernment that love when it grows should grow into discerning love otherwise it can be a foolish love our heart must be filled with love the Bible says the Holy Spirit fills our heart Romans 5:5 with the love of God so I say it's like driving a car the gas tank must be filled with petrol or gas as you call it here gasoline but love must not be in the driver's seat because you can do a lot of foolish things wisdom must be in the driver's seat love is the driving force the petrol and the gas in the tank without it you can't move forward but wisdom decides which direction to take the car so we must love everybody it's true but we must grow in discernment I find that a lot of Christians almost I haven't even seen that verse by this shall all men know that you love one another what type of love Jesus love was so discerning I'm always amazed I was even thinking of that yesterday when I read something that so many people asked Jesus questions even a fictitious question like somebody saying a man had seven brothers and he died and the next brother married his wife next brother marriages were next well I'm sure it never happened what is the fictitious question she is uncertain okay in the resurrection there's no marriage but there was some other question once the Pharisees asked him he said I'll ask you a question was John the Baptist message from heaven or from himself and they thought hey if he says from heaven he lost why didn't you believe it if he say it was not from heaven the people who rebel against us so they very diplomatically they said we don't know say then I'm not gonna answer your question either I read that nicer Lord that's the type of discernment I need well because I get hundreds of emails from the internet now I don't know answer all of them I don't have time but number of my elders answer them but I see all the answer questions and I see all the replies they send also and I always say I need to guide my fellow elders and discernment where where should what type of reply should we give this person thank some people I said don't waste your time replying to that forget it like I got an email just a couple of days ago saying brother Zack we're listening to you we're so blessed by your message we want to teach you something the Holy Spirit has told me to tell you you must you're calling him Jesus his name is not Jesus name is Yeshua I've heard that for years must call him Yeshua that's his name my reply didn't reply to that actually I don't waste my time because he'll carry on such correspondence so but sometimes when people ask me face-to-face I tell them I say listen I've cast out many demons in the name of Jesus and every demon has recognized that name and left I know it's true and I prayed many prayers in the name of Jesus I've never prayed many Yeshua and I've got prayers answered so God also recognized it if God and demons recognize it I say what more do I want I don't care that you recognize that it's not important it's something like this you know if somebody loves you very much but he doesn't pronounce your name right are you gonna get offended with them I'm gonna spend all your life educating him how to call your name right like some Indian names almost nobody here can get it right the way they say it even after many years but I say I know what they mean so I say this is all crazy being occupied with well I'm sure these people who ask such questions are defeated by say absolutely sure and the devils made them concentrate on something like this and they wake up in eternity and discover they are not even saved so I'm just mentioning how we need discernment love without discernment you'll waste your life so discernment comes by hearing the voice of God don't lean on your own understanding that trust in the Lord that requires humility to say Lord I don't know what to do in this situation my understanding says this but let me check with you if that's right I'm not saying common sense is wrong I'll tell you honestly I live by faith and God plus common sense I don't throw away my common sense to me common sense is a very important part of life like no one brother in our church years ago at one of the churches in India wrote to me brother Zack I believe God is number the hairs on my head and I don't believe in any type of family planning I want to have children like the hairs on my head I said hang on please ask your wife father she also believes that before you do all that fortunately he listened to me and listened to his wife and he stopped with after yeah yeah earlier three or four on Morrisville what I mean is don't think common sense is against who gave you common sense it was not the devil like you know Philip was taken up by the holy spirit and transported from the desert to some other place and if I want to travel somewhere I don't quote that verse is he Lord you're gonna now lift me up no I mean if there is other forms of transport available or the distance I can walk why should I ask the Holy Spirit to lift me up and just saying common sense many things like that common sense is not against the scriptures for example though there are many verses in the Old Testament about having many children there's not even a single verse in the New Testament about the number of children has anyone noticed that God leaves it to the individual and I saw no certainly in a place like India I see the number of poor people in the slums who have mentioned and neglect them and many of them are run over by cars and they don't get an education they grow up begging eating food out of the trash cans and what shall I teach in a country like India so I say God is realistic so discernment in this particular situation am I supposed to wait for a word from God or just use my common sense which shirt shall I wear this morning how long are you gonna wait for God to speak to you if it's dirty throw it in the in the basket to be washed but if it's clean you can wear it there's no particular rule on what color you know a lot of Christians have questions about the color of dress you must wear I see do you know the Bible tells us it is specifically what color of shirt we can wear you know that when Jesus spoke about dress he said look at the flowers in the field God can clothe them like that can't eat cloth you what are the colours of the florists you can have shorts of all those colors don't worry about other people think they're showing off with that color it's a multicolored like the Hawaiians have doesn't disturb me I have a few shirts like that just to test people whether they know it's very important that we get recognized what is important in the Christian life and what is not I tell you this the devil is always seeking to take us off on a tangent on some crazy little thing which has got absolutely no importance in eternity you think that okay you feel you should only wear white go ahead and wear it nobody stopping you but don't stop somebody else faith plus common sense I pray that your love will grow in discernment very important and I found it through the years because of that decision we made by the blunders and mistakes we made you know we made a lot of mistakes in our churches and we have learned through our mistakes some things we are still learning even after 44 years we are still learning and we'll never stop learning until we become like Christ we want to keep on learning but it's only a proud person who says I've got nothing more to learn I've always got something more to learn every day until you come to the sixth day when man has become completely in the image of God until then I have to keep on hearing God speaking not just the sixth day sixth thousandth day or the sixty thousand day I have to keep listening till I reach that last day when I'm completely like Christ until that day I have to keep on hearing that's how I grow in discernment and that requires a certain amount of humility sometimes how shall i distinguish is this an area where I have to use my common sense or I have to wait for God to speak yeah if you're a humble person God will show you even that they don't worry about if you know and that requires I find that it requires a tremendous freedom from the opinions of others I find that very often we can't hear what God is saying because I'm so concerned what that other guys will think of me what what will he say if I do this I certainly honestly I couldn't care less what he says if he's going to stumble a person Paul said if my eating meat offered to idols somebody sees Paul going and buying meat offer in front of an idol all says I don't believe in that that's just a piece of brass it's not an idol you put that piece of meat in front of a wood wooden thing or a brass thing he doesn't change the meat I can enjoy it but this guy says no that's an idol and he saw me buying it so then I won't buy it for his sake was I don't want to stumble him people have asked me this question Ravi Zack is it alright to drink a little bit of why I said I will not go against scripture all Paul told Timothy take a little wine for your stomach's infirmities some people seem to have constant stomach infirmities so they keep on saying I'm joking they find some way some excuse to drink wine but the Bible doesn't say don't drink it it says don't get drunk with wine and I said I'll only say what the Bible says we shouldn't get drunk but yet in my home I don't have anyone I don't take it at all and the way God spoken to me is if I take a little bit somebody comes to my house and sees me take a little i have not sinned and if i offer him a little bit he has not sinned either but if he's a young believer i think of what paul said if meat will cause my brother to stumble i will never eat meat what's wrong with eating meat all of us eat meat why does Paul say I won't eat meat if it's offered to idols I don't believe in meat offered to idols it defiles the meat in any way why should my freedom be stopped by his conviction that's what Paul says he says but then you're not acting like read romans 14 and so I thought if this guy sees brother zag drinks a little why he doesn't know that I may stop with just that much that's it one small little cup and finish I don't take anymore he thinks this guy Zach must be doing he had all the time and he starts on that road and becomes a drunkard one day and he was a fine Christian till then and he ruins his family and he goes to hell who sent him to hell who helped him to get on that first step to hell I said no Lord I would rather deny myself that little pleasure or what the doctors say a little bit is good I mean you take coughs cough syrup there's a little alcohol in it whether you know it or not so I'm not saying we shouldn't take it for medicinal reasons I remember when I was a little boy my mom used to give me a ste spoon of brandy for something that could help or something broad problem or something lad so I'm not against medicinal use of it but you can be very careful because where does it stop because in some states now even marijuana is legal and they say for medicinal reasons take a little where does it stop so I just want to be careful I'll never make a law for other people Paul lived by certain principles which he never imposed on others he said this for me I he never said that all of you Apostles must not take any money from others like me no he said Peter John go ahead you can't stitch tents like I can stitch and you can't carry your fishing boat around everywhere so by all means receive gifts and support yourself like that there's nothing wrong with it Jesus himself received gifts and supported himself he never did any work so Paul recognized the way I'm doing it is because of the particular situation we are in in our day with so many preachers are make money out of there preaching that I want to be a little different that's exactly the reason why we took that policy and CFC many years ago we publicly said and I've even said that in my book God's work done in God's Way there is nothing wrong in a servant of God receiving money as gifts regularly from people Jesus lived like that and you cannot go higher than Jesus but in a particular situation Paul felt there was a need to be a little different to be a testimony in a corrupt situation and I said we found ourselves in a situation in India exactly like that where every single church and every single Christian organization was already sending reports and getting money from all over and swindling people and poor people and you see these television preachers you see the people sitting in their congregations poor people and this guy takes money from them to buy in a plane this is because I don't have time to stand in the line to check in the airports really it's so urgent to create the gospel across that you can't even wait half an hour in a check-in line to go to that place all these silly excuses which poor dumb people sitting there swallow it and give money and this sham exploit I believe that judgment will be severe so in that situation there was a need for us to take the stand that's why we've taken the stand in all our CFC churches that none of our elders will ever receive any we don't say they won't receive any gifts even Paul received gifts from the Philippians but they will not be dependent financially on somebody supporting them month by month and we followed that for 44 years with a hundred and fifty elders in all our churches and it's gone very well protected us from scoundrels and Brooks so in everything we need discernment where shall I do it and where shall I not do it I meet Paul had said no Philippians I will not take it you send some money to you I'm going to send it back to you that would have been crazy it would have been an insult to the Philippians did that so he had discernment why if somebody said hey Paul you lose your testimony that you received gifts from someone I am not bothered about it because I live before God's face people say what they like yeah I did receive from the Philippines but God knows the principle by which I live I'm not dependent on anyone financially so in all these things sometimes we can make rules for ourselves and the purpose of it is to have a testimony before men that means we are seeking honor from men all did not remain financially independent in order to get honor from men no was for the glory of Christ that he did it it's very important discernment we have discernment if I'm always concerned Lord what will glorify you in this situation and sometimes it can look as if I'm very hard on someone somebody comes to borrow money from me and I say I'm sorry I can't give you it sounds hard now it sounds as if I'm disobeying that verse which says give to him that asketh you and one who borrows don't turn away he may quote that verse to me I say fine you can keep quoting that verse to me I still not lend you money because I live before God's face I know this guy is not going to use it wisely or he wasted the last time I gave him something so it's like you wouldn't give it to your children if they are wasting whatever you give them don't you love your children the same so I find in all these things all good fathers whether they realize it or not their love for that children always has discernment you never give your children whatever they ask for is it because you don't love them it's because you have discernment we must have the same discernment in the church if you want to keep the church pure from people who seek to infiltrate it the devil is not going to come and infiltrate it with some murder coming and sitting here and saying eh if we must fight for our rights and murder people who disobey me no no nobody will come like that there's a very subtle ways the devil seeks to corrupt the church and we've seen that through the years and we have to stand against it I remember in one situation you see we have taken a very strong stand against dowry dowry is something very common in India it's almost unheard of in the u.s. in Africa the man gives a dowry to the girl's father like a cow or something to marry her in India is the opposite the girl's father has to give a lot of money to the boy because the argument is the boy's father says I have spent so much money educating him and now your daughter's going to enjoy all that by marrying my daughter so marrying my son so you've got to pay up for it all the money I spent on educating him and so the girl's father has to give money every single marriage in India is like this in every single Christian denomination whether Catholic or Pentecostal charismatic whatever it is when it comes to Darice like walter the french atheist once said after observing all these denominations he says all they have they all have different doctrines but when it comes to money they all have the same doctrine I've seen that in India when it comes to dowry they all have the same doctor their differences are on baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit all Maori it's all the same doctrine why is that because it involves money and it's a tragic thing but it is true but we have stood against it from day one I refused to conduct marriages where dowries involved in fact I get a certificate from the boy and the girl before I conduct their marriage saying I neither I nor my parents have received anything from the other party and as so that they don't escape from that there's one more clause at it if this changes before the day of the wedding I will inform you so they don't give that certificate and then take the money the next day we have to close every loophole though and people have got offended the people who get offended are the unconverted parents of the boy they said because of this brother Zak I can't get any money when my son gets married so I'm infuriated a lot of unconverted parents of men I mean the parents of girls are happy because but if they join the church for that sake there are not disciples I tell them that also as if you came here because you got all girls and they say there's a good church to join because I can get boys without being Daria so that's the wrong reason to join this church but what I say is in all these areas we must be strong in our conviction but with discernment and in this area of money especially it to be very very careful that we stand for what is right but we live by the principles of the Lord you know for example there are the times when Jesus violated God's laws laws means the written not the principles of God but let me give you one example John chapter 8 you know the woman caught in adultery the Pharisee said Moses commanded us John eight-five that such people should be stoned and that's a law Leviticus 20 Deuteronomy 22 a law if a woman who commits adultery must be stoned who gave that law to Moses Jesus from heaven Jesus gave that law to Moses from heaven woman was caught in adultery must be stoned to prevent people taking adultery likely that was a reason then the same Jesus comes down to earth and he's confronted with the law the Pharisees don't know that he's the one who gave that law Moses told us hey Jesus gives another law verse 7 he who is without sin throw the first stone and he says verse 9 everybody went away until only one person was left was without sin Jesus and according to what he just said he must throw the first stone that's what he sent himself practice what he preached he who is without sin throw the first stone he did not practice what he preached would you accuse him he first of all went against what Moses said then he went against what he himself said as he did not come to earth to stone people he came to take the stones himself so that he could deliver people he said there's no one condemned you I don't condemn you that doesn't mean verse 11 that adultery is not serious go and sin no more I've often said verse 11 in John 8:11 we have the full gospel that CF c preaches in two sentences this is the full gospel we preach number one are you a sinner who repented come to Christ you don't condemn you first sentence second sentence don't sin again that's the full gospel some people think we only preached the second one it's not true we always begin with the first one that's why we preach on the power of the blood of Christ and justification and freedom from condemnation then we go to the second one and if some people preach the second one without the first one they'll never get to that second one that first one is the foundation I do not condemn you your sins and iniquities I'll remember no more you are justified by my blood you've got that foundation right then go to the second sentence now don't sin again and that's where many people have failed they don't even give that foundation right because they give them a foundation when they haven't even repented it's obvious this woman had repented otherwise Jesus wouldn't have said that so that's one example the other example we see is in Luke chapter 7 where there was this woman who was a prostitute who came to Jesus when he was in the Pharisees house verse 37 Luke 737 when it says a woman who was a sinner the meaning is my margin says an immoral woman and she brought a very expensive vial of perfume you know how much perfume costs I've never bought one but I've seen in these airports the prices of these small little bottles and I'm amazed this little bottle of perfume costs so much so many dollars what is in it and there are so many women who go and buy it so a whole bottle of perfume can you imagine how much it cost where in the world did this poor prostitute get it from from her earnings as a prostitute she took her entire life's earnings as a prostitute and bought this vial of perfume there's a law in Deuteronomy which says you cannot bring the wages of a prostitute into the house of God wages of a harlot that summer and you trying to run 20 22 or something you cannot bring the wages of a harlot into the house of God and here's this is the house of God Jesus is the house of God here and she brings the wages of a prostitute and pours it out there and Simon who is the Pharisee who knows Deuteronomy he says if this man were a prophet was 39 he would know what sort of sinner this sir woman this is touching him as a sinner that means an immoral woman then Jesus says this woman has been forgiven much so she loves much was 47 and she tells her your sins are forgiven that's amazing that Jesus accepted what he himself told Moses in Deuteronomy you must not accept I'm just showing you this example not for you to violate God's laws but to say that Jesus never lived by the letter of the law I've seen Christians who live by the letter of the law and make life miserable for people the law was given to teach us the principles of God's life God's life is what he manifested of the Lord that's what we need and it's possible to build a church with so many exact rules and regulations and I've seen churches like that where people are in a condemnation and everybody's a legalist and they end up like Pharisees and they keep all those laws and go to hell just like the Pharisees in the Bible so you see I see that that's a great need for this word I keep coming back to that Matthew chapter 13 study the Scriptures be deeply rooted in them I spent years studying the scriptures and even though I forget so many things as I get older I believe the doctors say that a lot of your brain cells keep dying as you get older and it's true older people that memory fails them and I forget people's names very easily and so many things that but I say Lord in this hard-disk of mine up here please keep the scriptures I don't mind if other things I've deleted but scriptures I never want to forget scriptures have a passionate desire that in your brain in your hard disk the knowledge of Scripture is there but according to the Spirit of Christ not according to the letter and it says here Jesus said in verse Matthew 13 verse 52 the scribe must become a disciple and then he can bring out of his treasure things from the Old Testament and things from the New Testament but he'll bring it out in the Spirit of Christ if he's become a disciple if he does not become a disciple then he bring out a lot of bunch of rules from the Old Testament and a bunch of rules from the New Testament and make people's lives miserable so the scribe is the one who steady steady steady steady steady you know somebody's calculated there was 613 commandments that God gave to Moses we know the ten main Commandments but there were 613 altogether in Exodus and Leviticus and all and he scribes then will laws us to if you find a bird with its little ones in a nest what should you do it was a law concerning that what you discover after marriage your wife is not a virgin what to do there were scribes who studied the law all these little little things I want to do if the person got a little spot on his hand which looks like leprosy or even on the house there were laws on this and nobody could study all these laws because they were there look bubbles available but there were scribes who studied studied studied studied and so if you wanted to know something you go to the scribe and he says yeah rule number 397 says this oh okay but he says his cried must become a disciple he doesn't neglect the scriptures but he's used the scriptures to make him follow in Jesus footsteps and then you understand the spirit of the law otherwise even the letter of the New Covenant can kill see 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 2nd Corinthians 3 it's a great chapter on the new covenant and the old covenant and he says God has made us adequate verse 6 into 3 6 as servants of a new covenant and 1 mark of it not of the letter like the scribe but of the Spirit who makes us a disciple this is similar to that the letter may make you a scribe led by the Holy Spirit you become a disciple and the letter kills you can preach the letter and kill people in a church I heard people preach a letter in their preaching good brothers it kills me you to preach in the spirit and you're gonna study the life of Jesus to understand that not that the letter is unimportant like you know people say oh it doesn't matter whether woman covers our head or not because the Bible says the same chapter 1 Corinthians 11 our hair is given her for a covering I say listen you're accusing the Holy Spirit of stupidity if you wrote 16 verses just to say that the hair is covering you don't take 16 verses tell a woman the hair is you're covering your hair itself must be covered there is the glory of a woman it says there and the glory of a woman must be covered and it says a woman is a glory of the man the glory of the man must be covered so if you read 1 Corinthians chapter 11 a woman covering her head is showing the glory of man is covered in the glory of the woman which is a hair is also covered but people who don't see understand the spirit of it go by the letter and that kills her you know I remember I was with a group of people who come from the Mennonites community and they teach their women Bible says pray always so you must cover your head always you're supposed to pray always you cover your head always so I told the leader here listen the Bible also says men must also pray always but they must not cover the head so if you out in the rain you must not cover your head you're out in the snow don't wear a hat and don't ever wear a cap because you should be always praying right ah when they are caught like that they find some excuse to get out of that loophole because nobody has confronted them like that I used to have great delight in confronting people who are legalist with these type of questions from scripture because I tell you there's a lot of legalism Krishna just like there are a lot of antinomian Santino means are those who say the law is not important to extremes so to be led by the spirit make it your passion Lord I want to be able to listen to the Holy Spirit which will not make me a legalist killer sticking to the letter of the law making me a scribe but which will make me a disciple and which will give me wisdom to know how to answer each person how do you obey a scripture like this turn with me to proverbs 26 how do you answer obey a scripture like this proverbs 26 verse four and five don't answer a fool according to his folly or you'll be like him answer a fool as his fully folly deserves so that he's not wise in his own eyes how do you do it you have to obey scripture and you see a fool in front of you what do you do you follow verse four overs five the Holy Spirit will tell you is this fool a or fool B only the Holy Spirit can tell you should you answer it or should you keep quiet I find that great need for it in all the letters I get from the internet I have to decide is this fool a or for B that I answer this or not answer it so you got a sense is this a genuine question it says we people sent people to Jesus to trap him to trap him something he would say and Jesus could see through that there's no law which says that it sits as holy spirit that's why I say the Christian life is not just obeying certain letters of New Covenant law it's being led by the Holy Spirit Romans chapter 8 and verse 14 all who are being led by the Spirit of God these are the real sons of God what about those who are red led by the written scripture was sincere yeah children of God they haven't yet become sons of God you know the difference between a child and a grown-up son galician says in the Old Testament God treated them like babies now he's treating us like sons do one of the contrasts of Old Covenant to the New Covenant is children versus sons as many as are led by the Holy Spirit these are the sons of God not led by the letter of the law but we begin with the letter of the law sure because in the beginning of your babies we don't know we don't have discernment but as we grow up we should be growing up to discern what is the Holy Spirit telling me and to brothers may do things differently in a matter which is not sinful then many situations like that where two brothers with a clear conscience can do things completely differently and I will not judge him because you know the Bible says to whom more is given more is required you know that verse in Luke 12:48 so it's I use this example a student in the tenth grade gets questions in his examination which a student in second grade does not get and mathematics for example student in second grade is not going to get questions on geometry and calculus and things like that and so God doesn't expect that 2nd grade student to know perhaps even long division geometry and algebra no but a person in a high grade god this teacher expects that person to know hey you're in the eighth grade you should be algebra and geometry so I say we must recognize as we grow the Lord expects more from as tumors more is given more will be required this has helped me tremendously not judging other people so I see another brother and I say he's doing something which I would never do but I can't say it's sin it's not like murder or stealing or anything but something which I wouldn't speak like that or I wouldn't do that and then instead of judging him I say well maybe he hasn't studied that subject yet he hasn't studied algebra and geometry how can I judge him that he's getting that algebra some wrong that's really delivered me from judging so many people even judging your wife maybe she hasn't come to that level and which God's given me light on it but hasn't given her light on it I don't want to judge her that does not mean she's inferior to you because she may have be higher than you and another subject where she's got light where you don't have light that keeps us humble doesn't keep us thinking that my wife is perpetually inferior to me in every area so the Holy Spirit will always keep us in the footsteps of Christ he said Lord I want my love to grow in discernment to condemn another person is always wrong to have a low opinion of another person is always wrong to value everybody but not to be fooled by everybody and not to imagine that I can have equal fellowship with all the seventy No maybe only with eleven fine and not to be bothered what people say about the particular ones I fellowship with for example I remember the first time I think when Santos came to one of our conferences and he had already been an elder here and preaching in different places and I thought boy if I ask him to speak in a Bangalore conference what people think the brothers AG is asking one of his sons and I said lord I want to do what you say I don't care what people say but I mean it must be in my heart there's zero partiality they're just the same as anybody else I think I look at it like that and I've tried to be like that towards all matching they're all saying but if God anoints somebody with a gift and I don't recognize it just because it happens to be my son and something wrong with me so I got an example from scripture the James and John were the first cousins of Jesus his mother's sister's children and he must have known them from childhood Mary's sister salame had two sons called James and John Jesus played around with them they knew them from childhood and then when they come in the midst of his disciple first of all the question why did he select them and then secondly why did he make them part of the inner three people gotta say now this guy's just this is what they call it nepotism you know making your family members part of the inner circle Jesus was not bothered no explanation in no telling his disciples a by the way I want to tell you why I selected James and John you know the Lord led me no explanation wonderful and so I said I'm not bothered what people say but you know I always wait for a confirmation because it's two wires that make electricity come one wire alone is not enough and while I was thinking like that Ian Robson my fellow elder came to me and said hey Zak I think you should get on Santosh you speak oh I got my confirmation wonderful how when you're hesitant in some situation something happens and God leads you but I'm just giving you an example how something which we think is a genuine desire I don't want to appear as if I'm partial can hinder us from doing the will of God Oh God may want you to do something you have to do it whatever people may say or think that requires boldness freedom from the opinion of men what 25 years in my home I had a little wooden plaque my sitting room that I saw every day which said if I seek to please men I cannot be the servant of Christ I didn't need it after 25 years because it was a written in white I had another words also on a wooden plaque in my sitting room for years you fear God you fear nothing else I still haven't your God you need fear nothing else sometimes some words are very very important they come home to our heart and me you know the Old Testament the Lord said write the laws on the doorpost walls and he wanted them to be to remember them so if we are humble enough I believe ultimately it's a question of humility to say Lord I don't know what is right for me I'm like the plant like the branch in the tree I can produce nothing even if I have 50 years experience I don't know how to produce fruit but if I stick in the wine stick in the tree and let the SAP flow in let the Holy Spirit directly very important not just the letter of the law and I hope that all that I've said this morning would have helped you to be dependent on the Holy Spirit I mean my message is not something you can put down in four or five points but I hope something came home to you to depend on the Holy Spirit and make you dependent not on a message you heard even but in the Holy Spirit be filled with the Holy Spirit seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit all through your life is the greatest secret in the Christian life is not taking up the cross is being filled with the Holy Spirit who will lead you along the way of the cross amen

Channel: NCCF Church

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Keywords: NCCF, CHRISTIAN

Id: -QrRIUKtu0k

Length: 72min 56sec (4376 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 04 2019