Zac Poonen - Questions and Answers [Must Watch - Session]

in in question on Sep times as I've often said there are questions concerning knowledge and questions concerning life just like the two trees in the Garden of Eden tree of knowledge good and evil and tree of life so our mind can approach the Bible to find out what is good and evil and we can get a lot of information or we can approach the Bible to seek for the life of God and those are the type of questions that should really stir our hearts the other type of questions can be mere curiosity I want to know about this and I want to know about that I always say does is it going to help you in your daily life today if not don't worry about it because this book the Bible can be a tree of knowledge of good and evil to you or the Tree of Life same book that's what I've discovered to the Pharisees it is a tree of knowledge of good and evil that's the law the same Old Testament Bible where Jesus read to the tree of life so it all depends how we approach it if you approach it with humility like a child can be a tree of life to you if you approach it with a critical attitude or you want to find fault in it I'll tell you something God will allow you to find what you think is a contradiction or you think is a fault and you may continue to believe that all your life and miss out on the Word of God and discover when you stand before the Lord the explanation for it and you say wow I hadn't thought about that and because of that I neglected the Bible so I've studied the Bible I'll tell you honestly 54 years and I have never found a single contradiction in it spiritually related to life nothing I don't look at it to get answers for things that don't help me in my life I look at it see this is not a book of geography or history or mathematics or science I can go to other books on science and mathematics to get the answers with that this book is in is meant to draw me to God and it has done that so it's a question of what you go to this book for okay Jesus submitted to a perfect Father in heaven this is related to the question we were having in the married couples meeting I was saying how Jesus and the father were equal in husband and wife or equal but Jesus submitted the father so the wife must submit to her husband so in that relation to this Jesus submitted to a perfect father how can a woman submit to an imperfect husband very intelligent question obviously asked by a woman a wife who probably has not probably who definitely has an imperfect husband just like every wife here I'm an imperfect husband there is no perfect husband on earth now the thing is our example is not only Jesus submitting to his heavenly father but for 30 years submitting to imperfect Joseph and Mary that's our example how did Jesus who was perfect never sinned knew everything perfectly submit to to thoroughly imperfect people like Joseph and Mary who were not even New Covenant Christians they were Old Covenant people under the law and Old Covenant people were all defeated people and yet Jesus submitted to them and that was the father's way of saying you don't have to find out whether someone is perfect before you submit you just got to find out as God placed you there I could ask this question also if you are working how can you submit to an imperfect boss have you any of you got perfect bosses at work will you say to your boss you're imperfect I got submit to you you wouldn't do that because you'd lose your job immediately and whoever asked this question I'm sure you want your husband to submit to an imperfect boss otherwise you won't have any income in your home so the god allows us to submit to imperfect leadership every elder in every church is imperfect there's nobody perfect so that's where why Jesus has become an example for us for 30 years submitting to imperfect earthly parents another question is how and when should we sympathize with others the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 if one member suffers all members suffer with it obviously this can only be in a local church where you know of what a person's going through I believe that our sympathy must be christ-like in other words we need to be wise that we help a person to overcome their sorrow and not drown in their sorrow by saying oh we feel sorry for you I usually tell people I remember once when one believer came to me and said oh brother Zack they're treating me pretty badly in the office and some of my relatives are treating me badly etc etc so I said hey have they crucified you yet put you on a cross yet he said no not yet I see you've got a long way to go forget it that you're complaining about mosquito bites yeah I mean we were to follow Jesus who was crucified and said Father forgive them for they know not what what to do be a man and follow Jesus so I didn't think that my putting my arm on and say oh brother I'm so sorry for you they are treating and so badly would have helped him I wanted to challenge him to a higher life there's a song that we sing called I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me as sinners condemned unclean how marvelous how wonderful is my saviors love for me one line in it one verse in it always challenges my heart he had no tears for his own griefs but sweat drops of blood for mine he had no tears for his own griefs and I said Lord I want to follow you many years ago I said that to the Lord I will follow you and have no tears for my own griefs but griefs but tears for the sorrows of others and I've tried to follow that rule my life has become extremely happy and I'll tell you why because I believe in Romans 8:28 that if I love God and I'm called according to his purpose God will make everything work for my good and he's done that he's done that all my 54 years of my Christian life he's made everything work for my good so that's the sympathy I would give to someone a sympathy that would challenge him hey listen okay some people are treating you badly are you going through some trial or difficulty or sickness but don't you believe that God Almighty is in control don't evil they're just two verses I would share with that person 1 Corinthians 10:13 God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability remember that never so don't ever say this is becoming too much for me if you say that you're saying God is a liar or you're not a child of God because that promise is only for God's children secondly Romans 8:28 says God will make to those who love him now called according to his purpose he makes everything work for good everything means everything and that's why it says in everything give thanks I cannot give thanks for everything if only 90% of things God makes it work for my good but since God makes everything work for my good I can give thanks for everything and I would also perhaps use this example I say to people what is the greatest evil that was ever committed on this earth the greatest the worst sin and anybody ever committed against another just crucifying the Son of God there was never a greater sin that is committed on this earth next question what is the best thing that ever happened on this earth crucifixion of the Son of God see how the worst thing became the best thing for us and that is to teach us a lesson that God can take the worst thing that somebody does to you and turn it to become the best thing for you that's one of the messages that comes from Calvary's cross his typing typing scriptural it was scriptural under the Old Testament but there's not a single verse in the New Testament that commands us to type in Matthew 23 Jesus told the Pharisees you type mint and dill and anise and cummin you should do that but he didn't tell his disciples that he told his disciples in Luke 6 you must learn to give not tithe but give and in the measure in which you give it God will give to you so the new testament commandment for disciples is not nothing but giving replaces die thing in the or and it's important how we give that means jesus said when you give don't let your left hand know what your right hand that means give it secretly and second corinthians 9:7 says give cheerfully in other words not how much you give which is Old Covenant but how you give which is New Covenant so God's not seeing whether you calculate it ten percent exactly and gave it and some people say well if you preach like that nobody will give anything that's right some people are such misers which probably proves they are not even converted and they won't give anything well God does God's not a beggar and he's not going to squeeze them to get money out of them God God's got enough grateful children to support his work he doesn't need to squeeze the counts of misers to get money for his work God's work will go on wonderfully even if all the misers and among his children keep their money to themselves the question is why do we give you know when I got converted I'll tell you one thing I've been a believer 54 years I've never paid my tithe till today I've never believed in it when I was single and had plenty of money I'd give 50 percent of my income to God's work I didn't believe in tithing nobody I don't know what people believed I I and my giving was out of gratitude I was grateful for Jesus having given his life for me and I said Lord I can use this to help the poor or help your servants or you know help your work to go further I'd buy some Bibles for poor people and maybe give books to those who couldn't afford to buy them etc and do good to people with that so that's a good thing to do I mean if God's given you more than enough for your needs is good to share some of it with others but then there's also a matter of righteousness for example if you go to a church regularly and use its facilities there's a lot of expenses a church has for lighting and taxes and so many other things if you use the facility it's like asking would you pay rent for a house you live in well if you go to a church facility you should be upright and share in the expenses of that church that's righteous it's totally unrighteous of a Christian to go and stay in a hotel and not pay for it it pays bill and totally unrighteous to take advantage of the facilities in a church and not pay for all the expenses there and if there are servants of the Lord there who are supported by the church and you feel that the ministry in the church is edifying I don't believe in supporting any odd ministry but if you find the ministry in the church edifying and building you up then you have to look at it as a doctor who's treated you and healed you of some sickness would you pay such adopter I find Christians are very upright in paying doctors who treat them for their body and don't care much about people who have done something far more important for their soul so the Bible says that the laborer is worthy of his hire so there's nothing wrong in supporting a person who is if a person is supporting himself that's another thing but if he's blessed you there's nothing wrong Paul says there's nothing wrong in supporting such a person but he had to be careful also you to be wise I think a lot of giving is very unwise is no use supporting a church which has already got plenty of money you draw better to give it to some poor church and certainly not to all these television evangelists who are fleecing money from people to live in a grand lifestyle themselves so be secret in your giving be cheerful in your giving and be wise and faithful in giving and then the question of percentage is totally unimportant give according to your need you may find something very interesting if you go to our CFC website see if our website is called CFC India com everything there is free all the messages sermons books but there we are one column on finances where we tell people how to give and saying if you're not born again you can't give to God if you've got a grudge against somebody that's not settled you can't give to God sure if you're in debt okay I don't mean a mortgage a mortgage is not a debt because you've got a house to replace the money taken but any other debt that you have you should clear that first etc sometimes when you get time you can read that how do you view spiritual authority in the church how far can and should elders go in their authority this is an area where there's been a tremendous amount of abuse especially since the rising of the charismatic movement there's been more abuse of spiritual authority in the charismatic movement than probably in other areas but others have picked up on that and Helders have you know begun to a lot of lorded over people who in areas where they have no authority we must remember there's a sphere of authority that means an elder has got a sphere of responsible I can tell you things about which don't come in that sphere and that's fear is matters relating to the church he can't tell you what shirt to wear or what house to buy or what job to take or whether you should move from here to another place or any such thing he can't even tell you you should stay in his church maybe if you leave the church it's like I was telling somebody go if you if your posture doesn't object you're buying a new car why should he object to your finding a getting a new church a better one so what's wrong in that tell your pastor I got a new car he'd say praise the Lord until he pastor I found a better Church would you say praise the Lord that's what he should say so don't allow him to interfere in areas where he's got no responsibilities but in matters related to the church I believe that you must submit with matters related to the church you should not go to a church and cause confusion there by stirring up dissension and disagreement I mean if you're not happy with things in a church just leave it quietly don't create rebellion is never from God I've been in many churches in my lifetime and left them because I couldn't agree or I found they were coming short in certain areas I found something better and I moved on and in fact some people have told me brother Zack you are so unstable you're always moving from one church to another I said I've been unstable all my life I moved from the kindergarten to the first grade in first grade to the second grade and second grade to third grade I never stayed like these rock-solid people always in kindergarten forever so I've been perpetually unstable from childhood and that's why I've grown and same way in the church if I find a better Church I'll move on and I've said that to people in our own church in Bangalore I see if you find a better Church don't stay here go there I want you to be a better disciple of Jesus but keep both eyes wide open before you go because you may find some things that you don't like so it matters relating to the church which are really related to the administrative you know what I mean is if they say Church starts at 10 o'clock don't go at 10:30 core 10 and if they say we're going to sing song number 235 don't sing 236 sing 235 these are the areas where a person has got responsibility Church matters they don't have authority over your personal life no I would say this if you have confidence in a person you can go to that person for advice and that need not be your pastor or that your church leader you could seek advice from somebody somewhere else whom you have more confidence in so in our church we say there are two forms of spiritual authority I find in the world neither of them in Scripture one is the Roman Catholic system which is like a pyramid structure with a pope on top and Cardinals and Archbishop's and bishops and parish priests and if you happen to be living there whether you like it or not you got to submit to that parish priest it's imposed from above Authority you got to accept it it's the same with the Assemblies of God interestingly enough Assemblies of God is a Protestant denomination but their leadership structure is a hundred percent like the Roman Catholic by election they elected general superintendent on top under that their continent and country and district and area and local pastors like a pyramid structure it's imposed from above but and in the new and then there are these independent churches where people have started something they are answerable to nobody and when they have a problem they don't know what to do and they usually become like little dictators and if anybody disagrees with them they just put them out and the guy can commit adultery and nobody can turn him out from the pulpit and he can continue because it's his church but when you look in the New Testament you never see either of these you don't see a pyramid structure you don't see independent churches if you honestly read the Acts of the Apostles give the Acts of the Apostles to a newly converted heathen who's never read the Bible ask him what pattern do you see in the New Testament he will say I see a bustles going planting churches and appointing elders to lead those churches and it's not a denomination they're all independent churches and they look up to the Apostle as a spiritual father to guide them and either and control them he doesn't take money from them he doesn't control them in any way but he's always available like a like the father of married children who does not interfere in their children's homes but he's always available to guide them if they run into problems that is the pattern you see in the New Testament but that is almost never seen in the world because most people don't believe it's possible but if you don't believe something is possible it won't happen I remember when we started in India we said we want to demonstrate in the 20th century in a poor country like India that the teachings of the New Testament work even today and we approved it for nearly 40 years so don't let anyone run your life if you we say in our churches authority is accepted from beneath not imposed from above if you find that you have confidence in a brother you can submit to him and seek his advice you don't have confidence and he happens to be your elder and submit in all church matters and when you want advice seek it from someone else okay what should the doers of God's Word be doing under the new covenant what well the doors of God's Word must read it find these Commandments for example I'll tell you one of the prayers I've been praying if you feel let do it you can pray yourself Lord before I leave this earth I want to obey every single commandment that Christians that you've given for Christians not the ones you gave the Israelites like tithing and Sabbath and all that but every commandment that you're given for Christians I want to obey before I leave the earth do you think that's a good prayer or not when you send your children to school do you want them to study all the subjects or just half of them when you when they go to college do you want them to come do all their courses only some of them we're so particular that our children must complete all their courses in school and college what about completing all the commandments before you leave this earth we are in a course of education on this earth so that's a prayer I've been praying Lord show me there's a single commandment I have not obeyed why does God give us enemies for example to obey a commandment which says love your enemies how in the world could I obey that commandment if I don't have a few enemies why do people curse you well to obey the commandment which says bless those who curse you so we thank God for those who curse us because they give us an opportunity to obey another commandment that people all around us giving us opportunity to obey the commandments so make that a prayer if you feel free that way and the other prayer I pray a second one is Lord before I leave this earth I want to claim and experience every promise that you have given in the four Christians not the promises you gave Israel about land and property and all that but every promise that you're given for Christian sin shall not have dominion over you that I can be anxious for nothing that I can rejoice always I can be free from bad moods I can live without murmuring and complaining Lord I want to experience these promises in my life a good prayer to pray before you leave this earth so start soon and you will never know what those Commandments and promises are unless you read the Bible carefully regularly okay so that's what doors of God's Word should do dang what is the new one of the New Covenant what is sin the best definition of sin is Romans 3:23 all have sinned and come short of the glory of God sin is coming short of the glory of God what is the glory of God the glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ John 1:14 so anything on Christ like is seen any habit that you have what Jesus Christ would not do he's seen a lot of people who justify their have it saying I'm like this but what Jesus do that he wouldn't do it it's in any habit that let's put it like this anything that you cannot do in fellowship with Jesus maybe that's a better way of putting it I mean if you're watching a TV program do you think you're going to have Jesus sitting on the couch next to you enjoying it it's okay but if that particular program he cannot enjoy you shouldn't be watching it if you follow this rule you don't need a big list of what our sins and what are not sins can I do this in fellowship with Jesus sometimes you know you have to sign a statement you're not too sure is that absolutely righteous or not can you let Jesus sign there as a witness then it's okay so it's a wonderful thing to ask ourselves the Holy Spirit will tell us you can't do that you couldn't be shouldn't be reading this book or etc that's my definition sin what does it mean to live under the law to live under the law is to try and keep God's commandments in my own ability and trying my best to keep them without seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit you either live under the law or you live under grace which is this power the Holy Spirit gives grace by the way is the power the Holy Spirit gives us that's why it's called a spirit of grace so to live under the law is to live by our own ability without seeking the power of the Holy Spirit and we can manage a pretty good life Israel keV lived under the law and their life was much better than all the heathen nations around them and your life may be very much better than a lot of other people because you keep live under the law and it's far better than having no law but it's not as good as being under grace under grace means you live at a much higher level you don't just not commit adultery you don't do it in your heart you don't just not commit murder you're not angry with people so it's a much higher level that's what it means no yeah okay how should we respond when people want to speculate about life on other planets yeah he's in given the answer yeah Deuteronomy 29:29 the secret things belong to the Lord our God another question why did God not redeem fallen angels I don't know the full reason for it but I think it's because they chose to sin on their own but as Adam was prompted to sin by a by the devil but as the devil sinned on his own so there's no redemption for them but I don't know the full answer to that as a young man what was it that convinced you that the Bible was the Word of God important question why should I accept the Bible as the Word of God because you know we preach from here and assuming that it's all God's Word well I'll tell you as a young person the first thing that started me in assuming let me say not convinced about it but assuming that the Bible was God's Word was when I saw some really godly man whose life I admired and a sheeted and it was so christ-like in his humility and anointing and he believed the whole Bible to be the Word of God I said and he would say that that's what changed his life I said well I better try it I mean it's like if somebody else had the same sickness as you and he said I took this particular treatment and it cured me completely I'd be ready to try that treatment so when you're sick and defeated by sick of sin and defeated by sin and you see this man who's also was a sinner like you but who came to a godly life and he said he came to it through accepting the Bible as God's Word could want to try it that's how I started and today I believe it because I've proved it over for more than 50 years every promise that I have claimed according to my faith has worked and everything God is a promise there it's true he's never allowed me to be tested beyond my ability in all my 54 years I mean I face some strong trials but he's given me grace so years later you'll be able to say it from your own experience but in the beginning as a young person the way to start out is to follow the example of others you know it's like a little child has confidence in his father and he believes that what his father is telling him is true like I heard the story of a 10 year old in a six year old standing outside and arguing about the Sun and the ten year old says hey the Sun is moved from the east to the west I saw it moved and the six-year-old said and all it's not true you remember what daddy said that it appears as the Sun is moving is the earth rotating on its axis and ten-year-old said well I believe what I see and the six-year-old said I believe daddy so you know who is right so sometimes what we see can be wrong okay what advice can you give me regarding my home church if I find I'm not growing there should I move to another place like Loveland for Church provided it's the right Church in Loveland there are many churches in Loveland also don't forget okay certainly I would compare it to this supposing you're sick and you've gone to a particular doctor in a hospital for treatment and you're not getting any better are probably getting worse would you consider going to another doctor or going to another hospital or would you say I'm going to be faithful to this hospital even if I have to die here I don't think you would do that you see when it comes to our physical health because we don't even have to ask that question see I'd like to go where I can get the best treatment why don't we ask the same question when it comes to spiritual health or supposing your child is going to school where they raise learning absolutely nothing and he's failing in every subject would you consider moving him to another school or would you say I'm going to be loyal to the school the answer lies there we must find the best school for our children and we must find the best hospital for treatment and we must find the best Church where we can follow the Lord without somebody trying to control and rule our lives and without somebody always asking us for our money that's my advice why do we readily change hospitals and schools for something better because we value health we value education why do we have a question when it comes to a church because we don't value spiritual life as much as we value education and health that is the plain truth that's why we want the best school the best Hospital but any third-rate Church will do and that shows your spiritual condition okay is it wrong to spank our children in India No it's not against the law in India thankfully we can array the Scriptures a lot of so-called Christian nations are more against it but I can see the reason why in Europe and America there are laws against this because there's been so much of abuse of children and you know I've heard of read of true stories of fathers were so upset with their little baby because it's crying when some TV program is on bang the head against child against the wall and kill it what do you do with such father's stories like that and you know the torture poor children by locking them up somewhere without feeding them certainly you know when situations like that where children are being tortured by evil parents they have to be some type of laws to protect those children that is the reason and therefore you know there has to be some type of law against physically hurting children because how do you determine at what point it gets so bad so I can understand the reason for those things but I want to say also in the matter of discipline that it's not necessarily always to spank there are many forms of discipline like withholding a certain privilege which the child wants very much for example we would prevent our children from which say where you can't go and play games today you gotta lie down in bed that was a pretty severe punishment for children who love to play so there could be withholding certain privileges as a form of discipline is also a means of teaching them to obey their parents so we got to be wise in all this and there's no law in Scripture which says this is the way the Bible says fathers must bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord Ephesians 6:4 but we are not told in the New Testament exactly how to discipline there are verses in the Old Testament when when you come in the New Testament what it says is we're to discipline our children there's no doubt about that but how to do it in a particular situation we must see God for wisdom it's exactly like if you were you know for example we have a church in Saudi Arabia in the capital city of Riyadh where we have some Indian brothers who work there but there are laws there that you can't go out into the streets and witness to it people you can't even carry a Bible openly in the streets they're very strict rules and so if you want to live in that country and work you got to follow those rules if you're not willing to follow the rules then you must leave the country and there's no virtue in going out into the streets and witnessing and being locked up and tortured in the jail for the next few months because they'll somebody will catch you immediately you don't accomplish anything there may be wiser ways of witnessing in such places there are people who searches in Dubai and Doha and Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and there are people who many people who come to Christ without this open witnessing you know in a place of work and sharing our testimony etc so there's you can't say well God says God in all the world preach the gospel we must be wise as to how do we do it in every country and so also in the matter of discipline the children do you have any words of encouragement for a wife who's been deeply hurt by a husband's past sexual sin well I don't know how you came to know about it either by his tell you or in some other way see this is the reason why I say that it's better that whatever you have done in your unconverted days if you're repented and forsaken it God's forgiven you and he says I won't remember it it's best to bury it and don't go digging that grave because it can place an unbearable burden on your partner see I don't believe that total honesty is always the best thing in a sinful world because some people some may not be able to bear it and total honesty is okay in heaven and also it depends on the spiritual level of your partner if the person is a really wholehearted spiritual person they can handle anything but they're very few like that and to person who's not really wholeheartedly spiritual to go and put a burden on their mind which they can never get rid of for the rest of their life would be something like placing a 1 ton weight on your wife's head which he has to carry for the rest of her life so and the other thing is I don't find a clear teaching in Scripture that says what the psychologists say that you must confess okay now having said that the best way to forgive the imperative encouragement would be to meditate on how serious your sin has been against Christ spiritual adultery is what the Bible calls unfaithfulness to God and we've all been unfaithful to God at some time or the other and that's what is called spiritual adultery in the Old Testament adultery was the picture God used of Israel going away from God to idolatry was called spiritual adultery Babylon is called a spiritual harlot so sin is like spiritual adultery that means I've been unfaithful to my divine husband Jesus Christ and so when I meditate on that and say think of how much I have been unfaithful to Christ that means how many adulteries I've committed in my life to my faithful husband who never did it once I say Lord I'm ready to forgive anybody what they've done against me that is you know the Bible says forgive as God has forgiven you and that's what Jesus taught us to pray also you know we with wind sorry not Jesus what Ephesians says be imitators of God and forgive as God has forgiven you so the example of God's forgiveness is the thing that challenges us to forgive others whatever they have sometimes it's very difficult I'll tell you it's not easy it's very easy to tell people come on forgive others but it's difficult I've never had a daughter who was raped and murdered by some evil man who took advantage of her no if I encounter somebody like that I know the Bible says he's got to forgive otherwise he'll ruin himself I have to tell him that but I don't want to tell it in such a glib way as if it's easy for him it's not at all easy I mean think if you had a pretty little daughter who somebody took advantage of and raped her and murdered her boy you'd find it very very difficult to forgive it's not easy I recognize that some forgiveness is not at all easy and I want to tell you that God recognizes it too but we have to go to God in such situations and say Lord what's happened now what to do please help me give me grace to forgive I want to obey your commandment think of it as your relationship with Jesus Christ don't be with men here not Jesus what do you want me to do the Lord says forgive Lord it's so difficult this is too terrible a thing for me the memory of it haunts me all the time lord give me grace Lord said I'll give you grace to overcome it to forget it and your your deep suffering as you overcome it will make you a better person will make you more like me more like Christ to hang you on the cross forgive others I really believe that the greatest sin that has ever committed on this earth is not somebody raping somebody's daughter and murdering her no it is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that is way above any other raping and murdering ten of your daughters this is more than that and when I see that as the greatest sin that ever ever was committed on the earth because he was a son of God that's why and he said forgive them I see a lord I want to meditate on that that's the way okay what about the salvation of people in the Old Testament and those who never heard had the Bible the Old Testament people looked forward to the coming of Christ they did not see Jesus dying but neither have you seen Jesus dying we look back 2,000 years to the coming of Christ they looked forward 1,000 years to the coming of Christ they had faith in a Christ who was coming we have faith in a Christ who has come and they expressed their faith in offerings etc we express our faith by believing in our heart and confessing with our mouths but it's really the same basis on which salvation comes every Old Testament saint whose sins was forgiven was forgiven on the basis of Christ's death but you say he hadn't yet died ah wait a minute in God's mind he had already died before Adam was created in God's mind Christ was already crucified because God knows the future and in God's mind it had already happened and the basis of what had already happened God could forgive everyone in the Old Testament - the next question is about people have never read the Bible well we can be absolutely sure that this sense of justice that makes us ask such a question has come from a God who is far more just than we are and he we can be sure is absolutely righteous and just in everything he does and he will never punish a person for the poor the person did not do if he has rejected Christ let me show you a verse 2 verses mark 16 where he speaks about preaching the gospel to all over the world mark 16 verse 15 go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation he who has believed it's been baptized will be saved the other category is he who has disbelieved will be condemned it doesn't say he was never heard will be condemned I don't want to add to Scripture Jesus said he who has disbelieved that means he hears the gospel and he says no he's condemned what about those who have never heard they are not mentioned here so I'm not here to speculate about how God is going to deal with them because there are a lot of things scripture does not give us an answer to and I don't want to pretend to give an answer based on logic I'll tell you where ever scripture does not give a clear answer we all have a tendency to answer by our logic and our logic can be 100% wrong so that's why I don't even try to answer based on logic so let me read to you Romans chapter 2 now verse 12 onwards in those days he was talking about sinning without the law I would like to replace the word law with the gospel see how it reads Romans 2:12 all who have sinned without the gospel will also perish without the gospel and all who have sinned under the gospel will be judged by the gospel for not the hearers of the law just but the doers of the law will be justified but now listen to this Gentiles who do not have the law do not have the gospel do instinctively the things that the law requires because these things are in their conscience there are a lot of themselves and that they show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witness and what witness does it bear it can either accuse them or defend them not necessarily always accuse them and when will this count when will this happen this will happen on the day verse 16 when according to the gospel God judges the secrets of all men through Christ Jesus so that gives me an understanding that there's going to be a tremendous sense of fairness and justice at the final judgment that God will not judge a person for what that person never did or never knew about another verse is Romans 4 and verse 15 it's an interesting verse the last part of verse 15 it says where there is no law there is no violation see here for example if their traffic rules say you must drive on the right side of the road and you drive on the right side of the road so whether you go to some country where it says you can drive wherever your there are some countries like that by the way well you don't violate any law by driving on the left side of the right side there's no law about left side or right side where there's no law there's no violation and so where a person is not understood God's law is gospel there cannot be no any violation but he's got his conscience so we can leave that to God to be the judge in that area if Christianity such as going to church and being a follower of Jesus becomes illegal one day can you give any advice or counsel of strategy what to do like I said earlier we must be wise in how we witness if a country does not permit you to witness in a certain way there are other ways to witness and we don't have to deliberately violate the law but we can still be Christians and acknowledge that we are Christians and we the only thing is it's not that we're to keep quiet about the gospel that I sit at home and not share with anybody all I say is we must now do it with greater wisdom the Lord has told us to share what we have with others and we can pray Lord can you bring somebody to me whom I can share the gospel with for that matter let me ask you right now there is no hindrance to sharing the gospel with others right in this country in a country like this how many people are you sharing the gospel with how many have you shared with in the last 1 year probably zero what are you doing in a free country why you worried about what will happen when it becomes illegal if you are not bothered about witnessing for Christ now to our relatives and friends God's not going to give you the answer what you should do when it becomes illegal because he says you are not doing it when it is illegal in our church we have always encouraged people I see we don't conduct big evangelistic Crusades like great evangelists do almost all our growth in our churches from we started with about seven or eight grown up to 4,000 has been by personal witnessing somebody would ask a non-christian friend of his who works in his office hey would you like to come and listen to what we preach in our church next Sunday just one hour he said sure I'll come along because they are good friends he comes a few times and he gets converted and then he brings along his brother Xie he gets converted he runs with his mother she gets converted and then somebody else brings their brother and their family like that by personal contact and then they may say hey I've got a relative in that town brother Zach if you're ever going to that down please contact this person and I go there and maybe we start a little Church in that place because that person's interested and I feel sometimes that Paul though is not written in Scripture it was like that you know when he was in Lystra for example some of the Jews would have said hey Paul is a brother of mine in Thessalonica when he get there go and meet him and he may be interested so Paul's got a contact like that when he goes to Thessalonica somebody says hey I've got a friend in Ephesus would you like to go and meet him when you get there and like that there were little bridges that God connected Paul with from one city to another city to another city that's how Paul didn't conduct great evangelistic Crusades like Billy Graham or something there's no personal contact so I believe that we can all witness for Christ I tell people instead of giving you a five dollar birthday card why don't you get a book a Christian book or a CD or DVD or something and say here's something has blessed me I'd like to give it to you as a birthday gift you never know what result can come from that there are many ways of witnessing like this with literature with DVDs for personal contact or friendship sometimes through helping a person in their time of need there are so many ways to draw people to Christ I don't believe a church should be just inward looking and saying we're coming together and we sing together and we exhort one another and we have lunches together and forever will be like this and hopefully somebody will walk in from the street we haven't grown like that jesus said go so I want to encourage you to consider you may not be the outgoing type of person but if you have friends don't be ashamed to pass on a little booklet which may help them in you never know what the result of that will be I know one brother in India who buys hundreds of books and says this is how I give my money to God I use this to give out to different people not prayerfully not just I don't believe in standing on the street and just giving you our tracks and finding it all dumped down the street further up the street and some police official comes and catches you for messing up the street I don't believe in that and I don't believe either in going and sticking tracks on the windshield wipers of cars they'll get fed up with you so much better ways through personal friendship and contact and I will encourage all of you to do that and do it with prayer Lord lead me to somebody who could be interested whom I know so that could be a way of witnessing I feel in North America today there's so much about making money and getting rich even in the church how does one keep his eyes focused on Christ alone and then get caught up with a peer pressure well that's entirely up to you everywhere in the world there are people who serve God plus money not only North America that could be people in your church who appear to be very spiritual but they are serving God plus money leave them alone they will never grow spiritually it's impossible hmm but just make sure that you don't follow their example we must keep our eyes focused on the Lord and say Lord I want to follow your example in everything and I don't want to he was a Jesus wholehearted now I want to be wholehearted like that and don't worry about other people let's mind our own business and if somebody wants to go that way let them go that way there are Christians who watch internet pornography secretly okay what they want to do it let them do it they destroy themselves but I don't have to follow their example and so even if there are people in the church like that if you if you feel jealous of them ha then there's a problem with you that you say hey how can they be in our church and they're going after money and I can't go out for money what's the reason for you're following the Lord don't compare yourself with others and it's only when you compare yourself say I want to have what he has I want to have a house like this I won't have a car like this I wanted this like this just mind your own business I find that Christianity is not communism it's very important to know that communism says let's make everybody equal and by the way it doesn't work because the leaders at the top make billions that's happening in Russia Romania everywhere but then take advantage of the other people saying let's equalize everybody it's a deceptive system but Christianity is not that he's not saying all these fingers must be made equal so let's cut it all and make them equal that's not God's Way God made them different sizes and God's made people having different boundaries of income we've seen that in India we have brothers who live in four bedroom houses brothers who live in one room but they love the Lord they're our brothers and sisters in Christ they help one another they are in need but we don't practice communism and say okay everybody equalized because if that happens what will happen is it'll make a lot of people lazy and here's a man who's worked hard and saved up being very careful with the expenditure and therefore he's got saved up some money and he's able to live at a certain standard and here's this lazy guy who's wasted his money in all types of unnecessary things and communism comes says let's make them both equal you share all your money with him it's encouraging laziness and depriving a man of all the pains he's gone through through many years of saving and hard work that's completely unrighteous and that's why Christianity does not teach that Christianity encourages us to save go to the end you lazy man it says in proverbs 6 see how it stores up for the future and you should save something so that in a coming day when you have need you don't have to be dependent on brothers and sisters to help you out but you've been like the aunt in that teeny weeny brain of that hand he's got enough thought for the future and the big brain of so many human beings they don't seem to think about that so I believe that we shouldn't worry about other people and otherwise we will get caught up in this peer pressure you decide in your life I'm not here to be like anybody else I want to live before God's face Jesus is my example and then there'll be no problem then there are some questions which don't have anything to do with living a godly life just one question I'm not interested in answering such questions let me just say a few words about the local church see it's very important that all of us belong to a local expression of the body of Christ God didn't Jesus did not come to earth to produce a bunch of holy individuals know there were holy individuals in the Old Testament Elijah Elijah John the Baptist etc Moses but in the New Testament it's a body it's one new man and a holiness which a person says he has with no relation to fellowship with others is a deception sanctification so called sanctification or holiness without fellowship is a deception and if you are a sort of a person I know a lot of people like to listen to my messages on the internet and listen to a lot of it in their homes praise the Lord and your aim may be a holy life but if you stop there you have come short of God's purpose you're like a student who studied up to the third grade and stopped there's more it's good that you've studied up to the third rate which is better than those who's studied early in the kindergarten but there's more in school don't you want your child to go all the way to the high school there's more more than holiness what is that fellowship that two people individually pursuing holiness come together and then another person come for seeing holiness comes together this is one of the prayers we have prayed for 38 years Lord there's anybody seeking a godly life in nearby where we are meeting in Bangalore please lead them to us and/or lead us to them maybe we'll meet them in the store or in a bank or someplace in a mall somehow bring a contact there's a person wanting a godly life bring him here to our church bring him here or bring us to them and if you don't do both of these tell us what's wrong with us why can't you lead such a person to us and I used to think if there was a god-fearing man like Jobe in the Old Testament living close to our church building and he walked past our church building to go somewhere else I said Lord what's wrong with us why can't this godly man come to our church and maybe something wrong and we began to seek God and the Lord began to show us that we were too legalistic in some areas and to pharisaical or that we were very he had some loose standard somewhere we need to tighten up or we were not warm and welcoming to visitors who came we just ignored them we had to straighten out all that and we had to correct all those things and then gradually God began to add and then we began to pray Lord not only youth in our area that may be in a wider area in the country and then in a wider area in other countries Lord you can lead us but nothing happens without a burden of prayer it's just like saying you can't have a child without carrying the child in the womb for nine months and you can't expect something to happen if you don't have a burden in prayer Lord we want people to be added to the church so I want to say to any of you who's a who's living an individual type of holy life your complete coming completely short of the New Covenant you don't have a clue about the New Covenant because a new come leads us to a body of fellowship as soon as the New Covenant start Jesus sends his disciples two-by-two unlike the Old Testament which is low in profits Elijah Elisha John the Baptist but now it is two by two Peter and John Solid Paul and Barnabas and when Barnabas dropped out Paul and Silas always there has to be an expression of the body and when people got converted in different places Paul didn't say okay live holy lives folks wherever you are no he got them together and made a church in a point elders that was the New Testament pattern but today I find a lot of Christians go to churches like going to restaurants some people like a Thai restaurant and some people like a Chinese restaurant and some people like some other Indian restaurant and like that some people like to go to this church and that church and the other day just tasting the food there I like the food served in this restaurant okay today I think we'll go to this one it's not a family they don't belong to any family I want to ask you whether whichever church you go to is it a family that you belong to the church is meant to be like a family you don't go live in a home because the food is good no child does the mother am moving to another home because that mother make cooks better food than you I've never heard of a child saying that but the church is meant to be a family you need to find a church every one of you you need to find a church where you can become part of a family where which pursuing holiness but along with others let me show you a verse in 2nd Timothy 2 it says in 2nd Timothy 2 and it's easy to remember verse 22 2 - 2 - 2 Timothy 2:22 flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness faith love and peace not all by yourself but along with all those who call on the Lord from a pure heart you'll find it much easier to flee from youthful lusts if you are seeking fellowship with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart and then people have asked me this question how do I know whether somebody's got a pure heart I said sure I'll tell you Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks if a person is always talking about the stock market values you know what's in his heart if a person is always talking about how to make a little more money here you know what's in his heart if the person is always talking about the latest movies or some entertainment somewhere you know what's in his heart and you can find out pretty quickly who are the ones who are calling on the Lord from a pure heart because out of the abundance of the heart they'll speak when they come together with you they won't be talking about the latest gossip they heard concerning that person or the other person or the other person steer clear of such people but you find you meet with people who are really desiring godliness today when you come to that they want to spoke speak about the word and about purity and the Lord and about bringing up our children in godly ways boy you need to belong to a family like that and I believe that every person and as far as possible a church that follows scriptural standards that practices what Jesus and the Apostles practiced I mentioned earlier how there's not a single verse in the entire New Testament where Jesus or the Apostles ever asked money for their ministry or for themselves they always said give money to the poor that they said Paul said to the Corinthians give to the poor there are poor believers over there give to them let's do good to the poor they always care for the poor but never never once for the expansion of our ministry we need money for my work that I'm doing for the Lord can you tell me a single Christian ministry that operates like that today I hope there are some what is very difficult to find them and the other thing is where do you find in the Gospels people advertising their work this is what we are doing for the Lord here and this is what we are doing for the Lord there Jesus never did it the Apostles never did it where did we get these ideas from from the corporate world I could give you a list of numerous things where today's Christian church is hundred percent copying the corporate world no wonder there's so much confusion in such churches just like confusion in the corporate world is mixing up God and Mammon there's politics in many churches because of all this but if you follow the scriptural pattern the church can be like a family and the family also there can be struggled in problems but there are fathers and mothers who can help sort it out so that's the type of church that we need to belong to please consider that and take it before the Lord and say Lord I want to do something about it don't just forget don't let the birds of the air take away this word from your heart say lord please lead me to a place where I can really be part of a family where I can grow together with them okay there are a few books here which I'm was asked to just mention briefly first of all I want to tell you that all these books are priced at actual cost plus shipping from India there's no profit on this right I want you to know that in 40 years that we publish the books in India in our church I don't get one cent of royalty from books or DVDs everything is free and it's actual cost so there's a book for young girls and mothers and for suffering women written by three books written by my wife this little tract is for you know people who want to be challenged to believe to consider reading the Bible unbelievers amazing tracts is one for Christian families called the heavenly home there are a couple of books on different subjects about Satan know your enemy and here's a book for those who feel they made a mess of their life purpose of failure 50 marks of Pharisees I say if you read through this and you feel that none of them fit you you're probably the worst piracy of all there's a lot of Pharisees and all of us needed men of God secrets of victory how to live a victorious life a new covenant servant sex love and marriage written primarily from the Indian cultural standpoint but because there is no other book in the whole of India written from an Indian culture point is the only one so the but there are still things which are there which should apply to everybody seeking God's will and guidance this is a book I was telling you about the day of small beginnings about little instances in my life for those who want to study the book of Revelation verse by verse study of Revelation new wine in new wineskins about the New Testament church practical discipleship in relation to the home and money and the church three areas living as Jesus lived is it possible building fellowship one body in Christ how to gain God's approval and not just as blessing here serving God principles of serving God the Lord in this church is about the seven churches in Revelation message the Lord has a good foundation you know this is a book we encourage all new believers in our churches to read so that they can have a good foundation in the life it's about the basics of the Christian life knowing God's will and the full ways and goods for the full pur gospel are individual articles on Christianity and the church life the spiritual supreme priority is the most important things that we need to have is basic starting point as Christians and a spiritual leader how to be a leader so have a look at them if you want any of them the prices are there let's power heads and prayer you know there's one other book and that's a souvenir that the church in Bangalore made some months ago for my wife 70th birthday and that's there if you like a copy of it it was an expression of gratitude from the family and church members of Bangalore let's pray Heavenly Father we pray that you will helped us to find the answers to the difficult questions we face in life help us Lord to know the leading of the Spirit in these tricky situations and to find the way of life we know that you sent your Holy Spirit to guide us into all the truth pray you'll help us in Jesus name Amen thank you

Channel: Ahava Jerusalem

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Id: ArggSLSd-0E

Length: 71min 24sec (4284 seconds)

Published: Sat May 17 2014