Zac Poonen - The Inner Life Of Jesus

it's about in prayer [Music] our heavenly father we seek you with all of our hearts that you will give us a word according to our need this evening thank you for all that you've been to us this day we want to honor you and glorify you in everything in our life we want a time of open heaven lord even at the end of this day thank you for being with us we pray that we shall see jesus and our hearts will be drawn to him this is our desire father holy spirit of god we pray that you will exalt jesus in our midst help us to see more clearly that we can be drawn to him lord we pray amen we were looking at john chapter 17 and verse 3 which says this is eternal life that they might know thee the only true god and jesus christ whom thou has sent when the apostle paul told timothy in 1 timothy 6 17 lay hold of eternal life timothy was already a believer for a number of years maybe 45 years old been a believer 25 years at least and paul tells him [Music] lay hold of eternal life what did he mean when he told him lay hold of eternal life he was telling him to get to know god more and more we read that in 1 timothy chapter 6. he's told to flee from things like the love of money etc fight the good fight of faith and sorry not verse 17 verse 12 lay hold of eternal life take hold of it that's a great exhortation that all of us need to hear to run away from the things that will draw us away he says the love of money is the root of all evil you man of god run away from those things and take a hold of eternal life it's more than just going to god's word i want to turn you to a verse in john chapter 5. to me this has been a very challenging verse john chapter 5. verse 39 you search the scriptures because you think eternal life is in them but it's not there it's in me because these scriptures testify about me and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life in the christian world there are those who are called liberal christians who don't believe the bible is god's word then there are evangelical fundamental christians who believe the bible is god's word but i have found in moving in both groups that in both groups there are people who don't know jesus don't i don't mean that they're not born again but they don't know jesus personally they don't seem to know him better and better and better you know if a husband and wife are married for a number of years if they've had really had a good marriage it's not enough to say after 30 years we're married i mean a wife should know her husband much better even after 10 years than the way she knew him when the day they got married to be born again is like getting married and every year if you're not getting to know jesus your bridegroom your husband better and better and better and better i would say your marriage is a bad marriage just like in an earthly marriage if a wife does not know her husband any better after many years and all she can say is i'm married that's how a lot of christians are i'm born again but it's not supposed to be just that we go to the scriptures to come to jesus now that's the difference in the old testament in the old testament they couldn't come to jesus they only had the written word and they had scribes who would explain the written word there was no person they could go to blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the lord day and night do you know that's an old testament verse when i go to the scriptures i don't study it as a law when i go to the scriptures it says these scriptures testify about jesus that's what i read here and the whole purpose of the scriptures is that i might come to him that i might see jesus in the scriptures now even in the old testament scriptures jesus was there right from genesis to revelation to malachi but they never saw him in fact they studied the scriptures so much and yet when jesus came into their midst they said this is not the messiah this is the son of the devil prince of devils bill's book that is how blind you can be after studying the scriptures and what i want to ask you my brothers and sisters who you who come for so many conferences have you come to know jesus better have you come to draw closer to him when you read the scriptures do you see jesus there do you know that the main ministry of the holy spirit is to show us the glory of jesus in the scriptures first of all and secondly to change us into that likeness this is the truth we have proclaimed in cfc for 37 years remember this verse you search the scriptures because you think eternal life is there in some verse you know how people are converted by reading john 3 16 or romans 6 23 the gift of god is eternal life i receive it you think eternal life is there it's not there you can make the same mistake of the pharisees the whole these scriptures testify about jesus and yours it says you don't come to me that you might get that eternal life you go to a verse and that is the reason why the experience of many christians is very frustrating they haven't had a proper birth there's not been the operation of the holy spirit in them i think of it like this supposing mary tried to have the the baby jesus born in her womb without the holy spirit by struggling and exercise and meditation and study and all that it's ridiculous the only way that that baby body could come inside him was the holy spirit there was no other way and for you to struggle and meditate and this that and the other it's not going to work you've got to get the holy spirit when you read god's word second corinthians 3 verse 18 is what we have constantly proclaimed in this church as the the clearest verse in the whole scripture that defines the dual ministry of the holy spirit the coming of the holy spirit was to have its with two ministries that he had to fulfill among believers first of all we see in the mirror the word of god we see the glory of the lord we come to the scriptures to see jesus that's the first thing the holy spirit does and then he changes us into that image from glory to glory to glory there is no clearer verse that i have found after more than 50 years of study of the bible that describes more perfectly the ministry of the holy spirit so when i seek to be filled with the holy spirit i know i'm filled with the holy spirit of the spirit of god shows me jesus in the scriptures and then changes me into that likeness that is the goal towards which god wants to work with all believers to show us jesus in the scriptures and then to make us like him like i said in the old testament when they meditated on god's word and so it was a law it was a letter and it killed but i want you to see this when jesus took those same scriptures he saw something other people didn't see because he had the holy spirit within what those scribes and scholars did not see in genesis to malachi jesus saw and i see the same thing today there are a lot of bible scholars today but they don't seem to see jesus in the scriptures i see jesus everywhere because the holy spirit shows me jesus here and jesus there let me show you luke chapter 24. in luke chapter 24 we read of a three-hour bible study that jesus took for two people these were two disciples who were going verse luke 24 13. from jerusalem to a village called emmaus the distance was seven miles and that's how i get three hours if you walk at a leisurely pace on village roads it'll take you three hours to cover those 11 12 kilometers and jesus came near and approached them and we read that what jesus did was he it says in verse 27 beginning with moses that is genesis in those first five books and with all the prophets that means all the way up to malachi so we can read it like this beginning with genesis and all the way to malachi during those three hours as they were walking walking walking jesus explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures so what did jesus see in genesis to malachi christ in all the scriptures what did the scribes see when they studied the same books law and they preached the law and brought people under condemnation and i find that two types of preachers today there are those who preach you know from the new testament but what you get is rules what you get is something like a self-improvement program and laws and things that you have to keep and if you keep those laws you're accepted in the church and if you don't keep them you're put out but we're supposed to see jesus in the scriptures supposed to see jesus if jesus could show himself in genesis to malachi if i walk with him he can show me jesus today from matthew to revelation so i want to encourage you to study the bible in a different way say lord help me to see you we sometimes sing lord i want to see you open my eyes that i might see you i want to see you lord that should be our prayer so and ask the holy spirit to show us jesus you know when jesus before he went up into heaven he spoke to his disciples and said when the holy spirit has come you know what he's going to do john chapter 16 let me read you what jesus himself said in verse 14 when the holy spirit comes he will glorify me he will take of mine and will show it to you isn't that great the holy spirit will take some things of jesus and show it to me now you see there are two types of christians i would call them external christians and internal christians that means people are only concerned about their external life and that doctrine but not concerned about their inner life and then there's another type of christian who is concerned about his inner life jesus when he was rebuking the pharisees and you know there's a great chapter in matthew 23 where jesus was condemning the pharisees for so many things but have you noticed it i've mentioned this before that there were two things for which jesus commended or appreciated the pharisees with all the wrong things they had there were two things which were good about the pharisees and i want you to see them first of all matthew 23 and verse 2 and 3 jesus told his disciples the pharisees are sitting on the chair of moses everything that they tell you to do do do you think jesus would tell you everything that the roman catholics tell you to do do or everything that the buddhists tell you to do do or everything that the lutherans tell you to do do you think he'd say that he would only say that if somebody's doctrines are absolutely right all that the pharisees tell you to do do that's the number one good certificate he gave to the pharisees that doctrines are absolutely right from a to z secondly another good thing he said about them matthew 23 verse 23 you vote you scribes pharisees hypocrites you clean the outside of the cup but the inside is full of dirty things but you clean the outside of the cup that means your external life is clean your inner life is corrupt i'm not talking about that now but here is a good certificate that jesus gave about the pharisees your external life is clean you've got a good testimony so what are the two things he said about the pharisees good things your doctrine is absolutely right your external life is clean i want to say to all of you sitting here if your doctrines are absolutely right and your external life is absolutely clean you could be a pharisee sitting here have you ever thought of that sometimes we glory in the fact we've got the right doctrines in cfc our external life is so clean nobody can find anything wrong with us we don't cheat we don't steal we don't harm others our external life is clean our testimony is good we may maybe just a bunch of pharisees sitting in our church because the inner thing is what god sees and there's an so i said there's this external type of christian who's only taken up with doctrines and my external life must be good everybody must see me as a good person and then there's another type of christian who says i'm not happy with just that i want the inside of the cup to be clean i want my inner life my thought life my attitudes to people the motives with which i do things not what i do what i do is my external testimony but the reason with which i do things which god sees i want to judge myself if i preached and sought honor for myself that people don't see i want to judge myself if i sang or did some ministry and sought some honor for myself what i did was a good thing but it was cut up before god because i sought honor i cleanse myself that's the inward type of christian and i want to say that every single person sitting here belongs to one of these two categories and you know which one you are you are an inward type of christian if you are cleansing yourself of wrong thoughts all the time wrong attitudes to anybody believer or unbeliever attitudes which nobody sees wrong attitudes towards other brothers elders have wrong attitudes to other elders brothers have wrong attitudes to other brothers husband and wife wrong attitudes nobody's there they smile and look all right on the outside but wrong attitudes if you can keep wrong attitudes in your heart to a single human being i want to say you're an external type of christian you're a pharisee your outer cup is clean you haven't seen the inner life of jesus so an inward type of christian is concerned about his thoughts and his attitudes and his motives because he knows that god looks at the heart and not at the outside and he also knows that when christ comes back let me show you 1 corinthians 4 when jesus comes back we know we're going to stand before him for judgment all of us and when we stand before him for judgment what is he going to judge isn't it good to know right now my brothers and sisters you young people who go to schools and colleges supposing you were given the question paper one month before the examination and not by bribing and cheating not by those methods but openly the examination authority says we'd like you to have the question paper one month before the examination wouldn't you be delighted well your clever people may not be but i would be delighted if i got the question paper one month before and here's the question the question paper is given here when you're going to come to the final day of judgment one corinthians 4 verse 5 don't judge other people now that means don't give marks to people now wait till the lord comes because when the lord comes there are two things he's going to bring to light first of all the things hidden in the darkness the thoughts the attitudes to people those are all in the darkness inside nobody can see your thoughts nobody can see your attitudes the lord is going to bring it into the light and the other thing the lord is going to bring into the light is the motives which are inside men's hearts and not a word is said about anything else there's no need to bring to light the things you did on the outside everybody could see it but the hidden the things in darkness the thoughts i know that when i stand before the lord this is what's going to happen let me picture to you here i'm standing before the lord and supposing there's a video scream and the lord will say now i'm going to show all of you the thoughts that went through zack's mind from the time he was born again all the life before born again is all blotted out but from the time he was born again well you all saw his external life you saw him in the pulpit and all that but i want you to see his thoughts what he was thinking about what were he's thinking about when he was by himself yeah look at the screen you can see his thoughts and i'll show you now his the attitudes he had to different people look at his attitudes towards his enemies towards his friends towards his wife towards others see those attitudes and then i'll show you the motives in his heart why he preached why he did certain things here's the motives i believe it with all my heart is going to happen i don't have the slightest doubt that's the question paper has been given to me this is this is the thing i'm going to be examined in the final day now if tomorrow you've got a physics examination and you're not going to have any examination in english literature are you going to study literature i wouldn't if i have to go to physics examination that's what i'm majoring in i wouldn't be studying english literature i'd be studying physics don't you think it's a crazy person who knows that it's physics examinations all the papers are going to be in physics and he's studying english are you off your head or what it's exactly that's what i say about christians who know that the bible says what god is going to judge is all your thoughts all your attitudes all your motives and you spend your time trying to have a good testimony before men you spend your time trying to show off your bible knowledge you're like that crazy guy who's studying english when there's a physics examination coming up most christians are crazy they're studying for the wrong examination how many of you can honestly say that you're more concerned about your thoughts your attitudes your motives than what people think about you than the impression you're giving to other people you are an inward type of christian and that's the type of christian who recognizes that god looks at the heart man looks on the outward appearance god looks at the heart and an external type of christian is living before man's face an inward type of christian is living before god's face now i'll tell you the blessing that comes when you are this inward type of christian when an external type of christian reads the bible searches the scriptures you know what he sees in jesus he sees jesus but he will see only the external life of jesus he did miracles he fed the 5000 he preached like this and he did that and he went here and went there and jesus raised it and you have multitudes of christians saying we must do what jesus did to for them to walk as jesus walk means you've got to raise the dead and heal the sick and feed the multitudes and care for the lepers and all that that's great but the internal type of christian you know what the holy spirit shows him shows him the inner life of jesus the external christian sees the external life of jesus and gets occupied with all these things and the internal type of christian sees the inner life of jesus and the holy spirit shows him how jesus attitudes for example he shows him i'm telling you what the holy spirit showed me because i've longed to be this inner type of christian i want to prepare for my final examination i don't want to study for subjects that are not coming in the final examination i'm not that crazy stupid person i know what is coming in the final examination the question paper has been given to me and i'm preparing for that i know that inner life is more important and the holy spirit shows me the inner life of jesus starting from the time he left heaven and when as i told you the holy spirit shows me that inner life and then wants to make me like him that's the best part of it otherwise i'd get frustrated so what is the thing he shows me first of all why did jesus come from heaven to this earth that's the first thing the holy spirit shows me he had all the comforts of heaven there was no need for him to come to this earth the only reason he came was because he saw that other people did not have the life he had that wonderful fellowship with god in whose presence is fullness of joy and there are pleasures in heaven greater than the best pleasure you can get with food the best pleasure you think you can get with sex even legitimate sex with your wife a million times better than that are the pleasures of the right hand of the father you haven't tasted it if you think sexual pleasure is the greatest thing in life you're an external type of christian there are pleasures at the right hand of god which far exceed any pleasure on this earth have you tasted some of it have you tasted the pleasure of fellowship with god of worshiping god the internal type of christian gets it the external type of christian is only interested in god giving me a better house or healing my sickness or giving me a job or giving me a pretty wife or things like that these are external type of christians i've gotten i'm not here to judge them but god bless them i hope god blesses them but i know what the final examination is going to be and i say i've often said in cfc if you will listen to the word that you hear in cfc you will get 100 in the final examination we prepare you just like these training courses prepare people for medical entrance and iit and all intensive study if you go through the intensive courses we teach in cfc you'll be prepared for that final examination and you'll be you'll get 100 so the internal type of christian looks at jesus why did he come to this earth he came only because he wanted other people to have this wonderful life he had and the holy spirit says do you want me to make you like jesus i say yes lord have you tasted something of the wonderful joy of heaven being filled with the holy spirit a life of perpetual joy of victory and freedom and rest look around you and see so many people who don't have it who are frustrated defeated are you willing like jesus to sacrifice deny yourself in order that they may have that life and i say yes lord will you say yes lord it'll mean sacrifice the lord will say you'll not have to think about your own comfort and ease you won't have a holiday one of the verses the lord showed me in this connection was john chapter 5. you know when there was this man whom jesus healed who was carrying his bed on the sabbath day and the pharisees and the jews said why are you carrying this bed on the sabbath day and he said the one who healed me john chapter 5 and it says told me to take it up and walk and for this reason john 5 and verse 16 the jews persecuted jesus because he was doing these things on the sabbath day when you're not supposed to work and listen to jesus answer i've never forgotten it in my life let me paraphrase it listen to this ever since adam sinned my father has never had a sabbath the only sabbath he had was before adam sinned when adam and eve lived with him but ever since adam sinned my father has had no sabbath he's been working and working and working and because he is working i am working the sabbath that jesus had was an inner rest but he says i have no rest as long as man is in this fallen condition i have to keep on working i want to ask you how many of you have that passion if you really say that the message in cfc has transformed you changed your inner life changed your family life as it has done mine do you have a passion like jesus who was willing to sacrifice everything in heaven to come down to this earth that other people might have that life even if it meant inconvenience sacrifice self-denial everything for you if other people got this life you're happy this is the true spirit of jesus christ where you don't think of your own comfort you don't think of your own program i remember once when i was at home some years ago and i was writing an article very important article for those days we used to have a monthly paper and i had to finish it and somebody rang the bell and i went to went to the door and some complete stranger i'd never met him before he said brother zach i've read a book of yours and i've been so blessed i want to come and talk to you well i said okay come in and he sat there and he was telling me his testimony and my mind was always on when is this fellow going to leave because i got to finish my article and he didn't seem to leave he just went on and on and on and on and on you know how when people give their testimony they don't know when to finish and here i was getting all impatient and as i listened to him i saw a person who was in deep need and i could share with him i felt inwardly the lord saying forget about your article that's not as important as this man and i could pray with him and send him on his way rejoicing i mean it went well past lunch time and everything and as i went back to my article the lord spoke to me and said i told you to go into all the world and make disciples here without going into all the world i send somebody right to your house to your door and you're getting all upset because your program is getting upset i said lord never again you can disturb me as much as you like cancel my programs my predetermined programs for the day as long as i have health in this body as long as i can move from one place where even if i have aches and pains and everything else i'm gonna serve you i'm gonna [Music] seek to lead people to this wonderful life you gave me i'm a debtor because god's put me in debt to all men because he gave me a life that is so much above what most christians have experienced many times when i stand before people the lord says look at these people they are slaves when they should be kings and queens they're slaves to secret habits in their life they're slaves to wrong attitudes they're slaves to the deception of satan they're supposed to be kings and queens set them free i've sent you to set the captives free and this great burden comes in my heart lord anoint me that i can set the captives free this is jesus have you seen this jesus or have you only seen the one who gives you cars and houses and lands and jobs and pretty wives we haven't seen the inner jesus because we are external type of people there's so many things the lord begins to show us and when he lived on this earth you know it says the holy spirit will take up mine and show it to you he began to show me the next thing as he grew up in nazareth how there was his mother and joseph and his mother were not new covenant people even new covenant husbands and wives fight so you can imagine how much joseph and mary fought do you believe joseph and mary fought unless you're a roman catholic i suppose you believe that i believe they fought i've seen new covenant husband and wife fight what about old covenant people can you imagine jesus seeing mary and joseph having an argument and quarreling and him still respecting them him still respecting them because he obeyed the command which says honor your father and mother some of you young people just because you know a little bit of the lord you think you're smart and your parents don't know so much and you despise them learn from jesus see the inner life of jesus he did not despise his defeated parents if you know the lord better than your parents that's fine but you still got to honor your parents that's what we teach in this church and i saw that in jesus and i would not despise my parents maybe god gave me more light than them and i saw in jesus how he was obedient in little things i saw little pictures like you know jesus playing games outside with other 12 year old boys whatever was the equivalent of cricket in those days i suppose all through the centuries there was always a bat and a ball whether it's cricket or baseball or whatever it is and whatever they played in nazareth in those days and it was jesus turn to bat and mary says hey jesus come here i want you to do some work for me. what do today's 12 year old boys say mommy just wait 5 minutes and 5 minutes usually means 55 minutes because it's my turn to bat jesus dropped the bat and said hey fellas mommy's calling me and people call him hey you're mama's boy he was willing to face that this is what made him the perfect servant of god you think the way you behave at home does not is not important for your ministry it's fundamental for your ministry honor your father and mother that it may go well with you teach your children to honor your honor their parents it'll go well with them i taught that to my children because i wanted it to go well with them jesus obeyed not when he was just 8 or 9 or 10 or 12 when he was 18 19 20 25 28 he obeyed you got to see the inner life of jesus and he had to grow up with four brothers and two sisters at least all younger to him all can you ima and it was a poor carpenter's home and here he was living they didn't have separate bedrooms the luxuries that today's children have separate bedrooms wow they all slept on the floor poor poor carpenter's children where did they sleep on the floor the boys decide the girls that side of the same room and when the temperature got hot with all the arguments there were among the boys jesus could not quietly retreat into some bedroom and lock the door there was no bedroom to retreat he had to live there and you know have you noticed this that when there is a one good boy and all the others he'll gang up to somehow irritate him and make him angry or sin i mean you see that in school you see that everywhere they're sort of upset that this guy doesn't get upset and i can imagine those four brothers and two sisters ganging up and say let's work up jesus he never seems to get angry we're gonna let's see who can make him angry today and he lived like that for years in that home and he never got angry you think he wasn't tempted some of you think you have problems in your home look unto jesus and run the race i tell you my whole life has changed when the holy spirit began to show me the inner life of jesus because i wanted to be an inner type of christian and i thought of jesus walking to school with the other boys and old people sitting by the roadside you know those narrow roads you can hear everything that that old man is saying and one old man says to the other you know that little boy there the second from the right his name is jesus his mother is mary we don't know who his father is we don't know how he was born he was born before she got married and he hears that how do you feel like if you heard it when you went to school that you were an illegitimate child and you hear it and hear it and hear it that's part of the inner suffering of jesus he came suffered that for you and me and what the lord says is are you willing you ask me are you willing to let people jesus was not an illegitimate child he was the most perfectly born child in the world all the others are legitimate compared to him but he was scandalized and misunderstood and the lord asked me are you willing to let people tell all types of false stories about you are you willing to keep quiet because you want don't want to sin because you want god to prepare you for a ministry i said yes lord yes i will not complain when people write false stories about me tell false stories about me that's the way my savior went and i'll go that way and i'll keep quiet ministry doesn't come by studying the bible you've got to go through the way jesus walked the road of suffering in the bible it's called suffering in the flesh that means my inner life i have to die but it becomes easier when i saw that jesus went that way if you just tell me to take up the cross there's no encouragement there but when i see jesus the way he went that says hey lord that's wonderful i see your footsteps i see the i think of the holy spirit shows me how jesus worked he worked hard i believe there were calluses in his hands his hands were not smooth like a lot of people today his hands were hard working hard working hands they work hard because he was he wasn't a lazy person he worked with his hands in the carpenter shop in the book of proverbs it says a good wife works hard with her hands and has got a very gentle tongue so i tell young people when you're considering marrying someone shake your hand and see whether it's calloused or soft you'll know what type of wife you're gonna get one drawing room lady with soft hands and always putting lotion and sitting there or the one who's got calloused hands working in the kitchen you'll know pretty quickly you don't have to ask any questions today's young girls have got a hard tongue and soft hands proverbs speaks of a girl who had a soft tongue and hard hands jesus worked hard god didn't send him into some rich king's house where he could just have servants and ayahs and all types of people to care for him and cooks to cook for him he we worked hard and the lord showed me if you want to follow jesus you got to work hard and be absolutely honest in business it's not easy to be honest in business there's a lot of sin in business i know that and jesus was a businessman selling wood furniture or whatever it is and his aim was not to become the richest carpenter in nazareth but to work hard and in that workshop he learned to know his father better when things went wrong he had to learn how other people suffered he would never cheat a customer in any area he would rather suffer the loss himself and i can imagine that if a widow wanted something he'd just give it to her free and say take it i won't charge you you can't become the richest carpenter in nazareth if you have that attitude his aim was not to make money his aim was to earn his living he made a profit of course in what he sold otherwise he couldn't support his family of four younger brothers two sisters and a mother there's nothing wrong in earning profit in business but he wouldn't cheat anyone the inner life of jesus have you seen it it will change your whole life when you see it it affects every area of your life 90 of jesus life 30 out of 33 and a half years you know how much that is 90 of his life he spent at home and in his place of work 10 percent of his life he went out preaching ninety percent of his life he was in his home and in his place of work why because ninety percent of your life and mind we spend at home and in our place of work and he had to be an example for us 10 of our life we go for conferences and meetings and other things like that and that 90 percent his faithfulness there is what gave him the ministry in that 10 and that's what the lord showed me if you're faithful in your home if you're faithful with money if you stay out of debt pay back everything that you've wronged other people in and be absolutely righteous and upright and trust the father for your needs you know for example i'll tell you why i have tried my best to stay out of debt and by the grace of god i've never been in debt for 73 years it's because i cannot imagine jesus going to somebody and say hey can you lend me some money my heavenly father sort of let me down and i don't have enough money now can you help me a little bit i could not imagine that jesus would ever go to somebody like that no if he couldn't afford something he wouldn't buy it today we have young people who say they're wholehearted christians they want to buy this and that and the other they use their credit card and this that and the other and get into debt and then sing songs oh jesus you're the center of my joy it's all rubbish he's not the center of your joy your credit card is the center of your joy just be honest no wonder we have young people growing up who are shallow who don't have a ministry who could be prophets who are not prophets because they are not faithful in that 90 percent they want to have a mighty ministry in the 10 but they're not faithful in the 90 of their life dear brothers and sisters seek to be an inner christian ask the holy spirit to show you the inner life of jesus it says there he will take up mind and show it to you in everything in life i remember when i was taken to court i'll tell you honestly i was scared because i know that in a lot of lower level courts in india the judges can be bribed and they can put all types of putting all types of punishment on you so i was scared i'm honest because it was like a person being thrown into a swimming pool who didn't know how to swim i didn't know anything about law and when i stepped into that court the first day the lord said to me i've been to court before you religious people took me to court look for my footsteps here and you will see them everything changed i looked for jesus footsteps in the court there were footsteps of love and forgiveness love and forgiveness and i stood there from the very first day those who came to the court would remember that i had to stand for one hour i was the happiest person happier than the judge happier than my accusers because i had seen jesus footsteps and the judge looked at me he had seen so many handcuffed criminals and he saw one man smiling and happy there he never looked at me again never he kept his head down for the rest of the time i looked at him i felt like jesus standing before pilot feeling guilty and jesus was so happy it was one of the great days of my life i experienced jesus there because i wanted to you know i have longed for many years i longed to serve my lord because from my young age i was gripped by the fact that he did so much for me on the cross how could i repay it not with words and songs and money but with a lifetime of service and so [Music] the lord took me at my word and prepared me through all these different experiences so that i could have a ministry and i've discovered just like the apostle paul says that his ministry did not come by bible study his ministry came through different trials that god took him through and in those trials he experienced god that was his ministry so i'm very thankful that god's taken me through different experiences i've been through experiences where doctors have made a mistake when they treated my body or did surgery on my body i said fine i will have nothing against that doctor did a doctor make a mistake when he treated you gave you the wrong medicine perhaps did some surgery that produced more complications are you willing to convert that to something glorious i've done it and that's why god's given me some type of ministry i've experienced the lord's touch in those situations and every single thing has worked for my good i can say that honestly the mistakes that other people made the wrong things other people did the harm that people tried to do to me everything made me a little more like jesus and that's how a ministry comes but you have to be taken up with this inner life of jesus i used to see jesus in different places for example let me show you how to see jesus in the scriptures i showed you matthew chapter 4 this morning matthew chapter 4 it says here that when verse 12 when jesus heard john had been taken to custody he withdrew to galilee and matthew 4 13 matthew 4 13 leaving nazareth he came and settled in capernaum you read that verse do you see jesus there don't just read it and go on why did he leave his comfortable home in nazareth where his mother would cook for him his brothers were there sisters were there he had grown up there he knew a lot of friends there why did he go miles away to another place called capernaum and rent a house there because he had begun his ministry and he knew that people would come to him at all odd hours like ending nicodemus turning up in the middle of the night and he did not want to inconvenience other family members he said no i can't stay here and inconvenience them i will rent a small house by myself in some other town so that it's my own place and people can come and see me anytime i see jesus there i don't want to inconvenience my family because of my ministry do you see jesus in a verse like that that's what i mean by seeing jesus in the scriptures let me show you another passage we read in matthew chapter 12 when he cast out a demon people said the pharisees were jealous and they said in verse 24 he's casting out demons by bill's people the prince of demons this is the prince of demons and jesus knowing their thoughts you know what he said in verse 32 whoever speaks a word against the son of man it will be forgiven and the lord began to speak to me through that passage he said when miriam miriam moses sister criticized moses saying why did you marry this woman who's not an israelite you know what miriam got leprosy some young men laughed at elisha's bald head and said ah like elijah went up you also go up you bald head some bears came out of the woods they were young men eight of those young men when they called jesus bill's ebook what did they get forgiveness and the lord spoke to me do you want to follow moses or elijah or jesus when people speak evil of you tell lies about you what do you want them to get leprosy bears eating them up or forgiveness i say lord forgiveness i want to follow jesus are you disturbed that people speak evil of you call you prince of devils and all that what do you want them to get are you happy when some calamity hits them are you a follower of moses and elijah are you an old covenant christian has the holy spirit showing you the glory of jesus let me show you another example this is what i mean by seeing jesus in all the scriptures let me show you another one in john chapter 7 this is one of my favorites john chapter 7 is the time when jesus preached that great sermon on being filled with the holy spirit rivers of living water will flow from you we read in john 7 38 39 and at the end of the message that day it says in verse the last verse john 7 53 everybody went to his own home next verse but jesus went to the mount of olives why because his home was in capernaum he didn't have a home in jerusalem and it's amazing that they listened to this fantastic preacher and nobody had the courtesy to go and ask him jesus where are you staying tonight by the way it's never happened to me i'm invited to many places in the world but always they find a place for me to sleep at night but it was not like that for my savior when he was in jerusalem nobody asked him where are you going to stay tonight so jesus looked up to the skies and said praise the lord it's not raining father thank you i think i'll just go and sleep under the trees and he slept under the trees in the mount of olives and i said lord judas is scary it had money in his bag couldn't you take some of that and stay in an inn that night so that you could be fresh stay in a hotel and the lord said to me a lot of that money was given by poor people poor widows i won't take their money to live in grand hotels i won't do it he wouldn't do it i learned faithfulness with money especially when it's given by poor people i got it from here it's amazing how the holy spirit shows you the inner life of jesus when you want to see it you can read that and get nothing because you're an external christian next morning he comes to the mount of olives and again he starts to teach and all the people verse two came to him and he began to teach them and not one of them asked him by the way lord where did you sleep last night when people are thoughtless unconcerned about your convenience don't complain that's what i learned from jesus if you want to serve god and people don't con are not concerned about your convenience and your needs don't complain just be thankful and continue to teach you may be exhausted you may be tired but continue to teach the lord says i'll take care of you and i can testify he has taken care of me 50 years god is a good god all the time dear brothers and sisters seek to be an inner christian you won't have any regret when christ comes back the holy spirit has come to transform us into the likeness of christ in these little little things as you see the glory of jesus how he lived on this earth gracious forgiving you know that other passage that i've often quoted also where jesus in matthew chapter 15 [Music] he was speaking by the shores of galilee and suddenly he felt a prompting in his heart john 15 and verse 21 he went and withdrew to tyre and sidon and i looked at the map at the back of my bible and i discovered that tyre was 70 kilometers away he walked 70 kilometers do you know how long it takes to walk 70 kilometers there were no chariots or buses those days you had to walk 70 kilometers would have taken him a whole day he went there and you read that he healed one woman's demon-possessed daughter and the next day verse 29 came back 140 kilometers to help one person who was not even an israelite i said lord jesus please make me like that where i'm willing to be inconvenienced to travel in difficult circumstances to help people even if it's one person i've had more than one occasion where i was prompted to visit a home another time another home and when i went there i discovered that they were going to commit suicide that day and they were saved at least two instances i said lord i want to live by this inner prompting i see jesus walking down the road and the holy spirit's saying stop he stopped and the holy spirit says look up in the tree there's somebody sitting there and he calls zacchaeus down and says i want to come to your house and he saved that man this is the only worthwhile way to live on this earth and i want to tell all of you in jesus name if you're if you're living in the new covenant you can live like this you know what you need to be filled with the holy spirit if any man thirst for this life i thirst i thirsted so much i fasted and prayed and cried out and said lord this is the only life i want to live i don't want money i don't want honor i want this life the way jesus lived on this earth i've seen jesus i want to be like him and if you have this passion you will seek to be filled with the holy spirit and god will fill you with the holy spirit not to get up and give a testimony but so that your life can bring blessing to others it will involve sacrifice for you self-denial for you but you won't talk about it but your life will flow with blessing to others don't think ministry comes by bible study or by human cleverness no it comes by hungering and thirsting to have that inner walk with jesus day by day let's pray dear brothers and sisters has the spirit of god spoken to you do you find a hunger and thirst in your life to have an inner walk with the lord have you seen the emptiness of all that this world can offer you maybe you've seen it before but you backslid again come back to the lord and say lord this is the only life i want to live on this earth this is the only life i want to live you young people i wish many of you would be gripped i wish you young brothers will grow up to be prophets in the church in the days to come that you young sisters will grow up to prophesy and bless others my burden is for the young heavenly father help us we need another generation of men and women who prophesy and build your church who've seen the hidden life of jesus and who want to walk that way help us lord each one we humbly ask in jesus name amen

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Id: CCvlwpGercU

Length: 64min 18sec (3858 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 04 2021