Zac Poonen - The Shallowness in Some Christians | Must Watch

praise the Lord it's a great opportunity again to be with you all I'm very thankful that I have been invited back here by Pastor Weaver and by the persistence of Hermon during the last two years one of the things that I have been burdened about as I've looked at Christianity around the world is the shallowness of the lives of most Christians just just tell you a little bit about myself I'm 75 years old I was converted 55 years ago when I was an officer in the Indian Navy and I had my ambitions there but when I was 26 the Lord called me to quit my job and for nearly 50 years now I've been serving the Lord mostly in India and most of the last 40 years has been in planting new churches in many parts of India towns villages etc and the Lord's blessed our labors and we've been greatly encouraged as we've seen people not only turn to Christ but understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ our burden has been not just to make converts but to make disciples if you turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3 we read a little expression there in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3 called so great a salvation our salvation is described as a great salvation and it said here how shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation now I presume that most if not all of you have not rejected this great salvation there's a difference between rejecting and neglecting the rejecting means I don't want this neglecting means God's given you something very precious and you're neglected it's like a very precious field of service and it's neglected and we need to ask ourselves whether we have neglected such a great salvation and I think most Christians have and the reason doesn't lie entirely with believers themselves I think a lot of the failure is due to the teachers who have taught them an incomplete salvation it's like in a school particular class if most of the students fail it's more than likely that the problem is not with the students but with the teacher he's he's not a good teacher so when Jesus gave up what is known as the Great Commission to his disciples after heaven he said first of all I want to show you two verses which I believe constitute the Great Commission one is mark 16 and verse 15 go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation he was believed in his being baptized shall be saved you as disbelieved shall be condemned so that's mostly what people call evangelism today concentrates on this going out into the unreached areas of the world and seeking to lead people to believe that they are sinners they need to turn from their sin and trust Christ who took the penalty for all theirs on the cross Christ who rose again in his living and it stops there and and go onto baptism of course and then thereafter the desire becomes to get one more person to that place and then another and another another so we get a whole lot of convert to have accepted Christ as their Savior the sins of their baptized and they consider themselves saved but this is only one side of a great comission and like a currency note if only one side is printed it's a counterfeit or a coin there are two sides to it the other side is what has been left out by most Christians and that's in my have found in Matthew 28 verse 18 this is the other side of the Great Commission remember the first was go into all the world preach the gospel to all people and he who believes and is baptized shall be saved he who doesn't believe will be condemned but here the Lord gives something more he says in verse 19 go and make disciples now a disciple is a learner and a follower if a person is not following Jesus you cannot say he's a disciple there is a narrow gate and a narrow way jesus said that leads to life it's not just a narrow gate he didn't say there's a narrow gate that leads to life he said there's a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life there is a crisis of conversion followed by a process of following Jesus this is what Jesus said leads to life so make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit and we still haven't finished teach them to do everything that I commanded you so when we have completed that we can say we completed both sides of the Great Commission so we first bring that person to faith in Christ for his forgiveness of his sins and then teaching what it means to follow Jesus Christ and then once he's responded to that call to become a disciple we have to teach him according to this verse every single thing that Jesus commanded we have to teach him for example that if he lusts after a woman that's adultery that anger in the heart if it's permitted to remain is equal to murder that is not enough to love his friends he must love his enemies that whenever he prays or gives or fast he must do it in secret and not tell him and tell anybody about it I'm just mentioning certain things found in Matthew five six and seven the Sermon on the Mount that he should not judge anybody and that he should not be anxious but trust his Heavenly Father to provide for all his needs that's Matthew 6 so oh these are some of the things that Jesus taught that every word that he speaks he like to give an account in the day of judgment so when you look at Christians around the world you ask yourself are they really being taught all these things do they hear all these things and very often the answer is no they have not rejected the salvation they've neglected it and it's to such people who are doing this going making disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age now I've seen that last part of that statement in many homes lo I am with you always even to the end of the age but I say hey that's the last part of a long sentence you're trying to claim a promise without fulfilling the condition there's a condition to that promise law and with you always to the end of the age and that promise their condition is go and make disciples baptize them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit teach them to do all that I commanded you and lo I am with you always to the end of the age I'm not saying that the Lord is not near you but this is a special promise given especially to those who are seeking to make disciples and teaching people teaching those disciples to obey every single thing that Jesus commanded and there we see the tremendous limitation hmm in my own country when I left the Navy in 1966 I spent nine years traveling all across India north to south east to west Oh most of the states I traveled looking at Christian churches Christian missions that had been founded there for many years and many of those godly missionaries who came in the past when I look the result of their work 70 80 90 years later it's very shallow even though they did a wonderful work then and I see the failure most cases is that discipleship is not being preached and that is why we don't experience the fullness of salvation that the Apostles experienced when Jesus spoke about John the Baptist he made the statement in Matthew chapter 11 now the reason I quote scripture so much is because like Paul said I don't want your faith to rest on the wisdom of men but on the word of God my words are unimportant just like yours the Word of God jesus said heaven and earth will pass away but his word will never pass away faith comes not by hearing clever men persuasive men emotional men faith comes by hearing the word of Christ so that's why I quote scripture in all my sermons I quote scripture extensively so that even if you don't look at a Bible immediately I hope you will listen to the message some time later and compare it with Scripture it says about the berean Christians in acts 17 that even when the Apostle Paul preached and he as it were told and well brother Paul thank you for your message but we check out the Scriptures and come back next week and tell you whether we agree with you or not isn't that a wonderful attitude do you know the result of that the result is that there is no episode to the barians there is an episode to the Corinthians correcting the errors there there's an official episode of the Galatians correcting the errors there there's an epistle to the Philippians sorting out the problems there in the Colossians but no episode to the barians why is that because they have the habit of checking every preacher's message with the Word of God a wonderful habit to have and that's why they were always safe it's a safe attitude to have so let me turn to you what turned you to Matthew 11 where what Jesus spoke about John the Baptist says here in Matthew 11 verse 11 Jesus said truly I say to you among all those born of women there's not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist he was even greater than Mary the mother of Jesus I wonder if my Roman Catholic friends realized that that Jesus himself said that the greatest person born of women was not Mary it was John the Baptist but he said this is the important thing the least person who comes into the kingdom of heaven is greater than him that means the potential in this person was born again and enters into God's kingdom is far higher than the height to a John the Baptist could reach under the Old Covenant John the Baptist was the greatest prophet under the Old Covenant but under the New Covenant which she calls the kingdom of heaven here we can rise higher the least person can rise higher than John the Baptist what way not that everybody would be a prophet like John the Baptist but that we could come to a higher inner life partaking of God's own nature which even John the Baptist could not have that we can have rivers of living water flowing from our innermost being which even John the Baptist could not have in John chapter 7 Jesus spoke about that he said in John chapter 7 he described the fullness of salvation like this he who believes in me now many people know john 6:47 he who believes in me has eternal life okay that's great John 6:47 he who believes has eternal life but is there anything further for those who believe yes the next chapter John 7 was 38 he who believes in me it's the same condition no extra condition as John 6:47 he who believes in me from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water and this he spoke about the holy spirit which those who believed in him would receive because the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified so a careful student of scripture reading that verse will say how is that the spirit was not yet given heed see I seen many instances in the Old Testament where the Spirit came upon people the spirit closed Gideon it says in judges chapter 6 the Spirit came upon David when Samuel anointed him a double portion of the Spirit came on Elisha which Elisha had and there were many prophets who said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me Isaiah said that the difference is this if I were to take up an empty glass here and put a lid on it and if I were to pour water on it not one drop would go inside the glass the inside of the glass could be filthy but this pure water would flow because it's covered with a lid flow over the lid and flow like rivers in many directions bless thousands of people this is how the spirit was upon people in Old Testament times that's why you could have a glass like Samson whose heart was absolutely filthy with adultery but the Spirit was upon him and could flow and bless many people and the Old Testament prophets were like that even John the Baptist who the spirit was upon him from the time he was born was upon him not in sight and blessed thousands of people in his time but that man when he was locked up in prison and the Lord did not release him from prison he began to doubt unbelief came into his heart just because he was facing persecution just for a few days he even began to doubt whether Jesus was the Messiah he had seen the dog descend upon him he had heard the voice from heaven this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased and yet in from prison he sends messengers to Jesus in Matthew 11 saying are you really the Messiah or do we have to wait for someone else you see this greatest prophet doubted Jesus even though he had seen that's how it was under the Old Covenant when the spirit is not within that's why Jesus said the least person who enters into this new covenant life will rise higher than even John the Baptist what happened on the day of Pentecost was that lid was removed or we could use another illustration in the Old Testament that was a tabernacle which had three parts outer Court holy place most holy place corresponding to man's body soul and spirit the Spirit is the heart between the holy place in the most holy place was a thick veil that's similar to this lid on top of the glass I spoke about a veil that blocked off man's heart or spirit so that man could not enter into communion with God and God could not enter into man's spirit but when Jesus died on the cross that veil was rent symbolizing not only the way right into God's presence was opened but also that God could enter now that innermost part of man which is now open because the whale was rent and now the spirit could come within because man's heart was now cleansed in the blood of Christ the reason why the spirit could not dwell in any Old Testament believer was their hearts were dirty no amount of blood of bulls and goats would cleanse their sin and the spirit would not enter a dirty heart but when Christ came and the rain was rent and he had atoned for the sins of humanity then anyone who received him and had his heart cleansed the cup was now cleaned then the spirit once the cup is clean cleansed by the blood of Christ the only way it can be cleansed the spirit could come within and that's what he says here when he says the spirit was not yet given that's the meaning because in the previous verse he said now from his innermost being the reversal flow formerly the rivers flowed from over him but now it put flow from his innermost being the inside of the heart would be filled first and then it would overflow the heart would be cleansed and it wouldn't be like Sampson or even like John the Baptist it would be from within it would flow out and in this way the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified I find many believers when they come across some difficult verses like that they tend to just ignore it and move on that way we will never understand Scripture and we can miss out on some rich treasures I wonder whether you have noticed what I've shared with you right now it's quite likely that a number of you have never noticed this and yet it's been there in your Bible all these years that you've read it that's just one little treasure among many many many things that I've discovered in Scripture as I've learned to read it slowly and ask for the revelation of the Holy Spirit because I believe there's only one book among all the billions of books there are in the world that God gave for man only one and anyone who really believes I don't mean intellectually agree a lot of people intellectually agree but they don't believe in their heart but if they really believe in their heart that Almighty God wrote only one book for man to read and to be guided by I'm amazed that so many Christians who believe that don't read and study this one book it's one of the things I decided when I I took my baptism about 54 years ago and one of the first things I began to do after my baptism was to study God's Word while I was working on a ship and I would spend all my spare time studying God's Word and that's how I came to know the Scriptures and through the years I've been studying the Bible 54 years now and I've discovered new things even now it's like a well that never runs dry now I want to say to you dear brothers and sisters if you neglect the world you will neglect this great salvation that is the number one reason why people who have not rejected the salvation have neglected it and therefore they have missed out on something God wants you to have think of if your father was a not a billionaire but a multi billionaire and think of you are the only son or daughter and your dad wrote a will describing where all his money is stored in which all banks and and where all which all cities and countries he has property and he wills it all to you maybe it's four or five pages the will I want to ask you would you read it carefully is there a single person sitting here who would not read that we'll carefully we would all read it because money means a lot what about God does he mean less to us than money one of the things I decided you know like every human being we all love money we have a lot of beggars and tramps in India I've never met a beggar or who doesn't love money every rich man loves money there's not a human being who doesn't love money but Jesus said that the love of money can hinder our love for God we can have money but we must treat money like a servant money is a wonderful servant but a terrible master and unfortunately has become a master for many Christians that money means more to them than God that's why they would study a will written by a rich father more carefully than they read God's Word because they say reading that will I can acquire all the property that my dad left for me reading the Bible what do I get spiritual riches do they mean something to you would you let some crooked lawyer cheat you of your inheritance no if you feel that a crooked lawyer is trying to cheat you out of your inheritance you take that will to another lawyer and say please read this and tell me what I'm entitled to but the devil has cheated many many christians of their inheritance let me give you a little glimpse of what we have missed out the Apostle Paul was the second person in the Bible who said follow me some people say it's wrong to follow a man how can it be wrong when the Holy Spirit Himself writes a tells Paul to write follow me you know that Paul said that in 1 Corinthians 11 be imitators of me follow me as I am of Christ Jesus was the first person in the Bible who said follow me no man in the Old Testament ever could dare to say follow me they could say listen to me hear me I am preaching God's Word and they preached God's Word accurately but not one of them could point to their life and say follow me Jesus was the first but he was not the last Paul said follow me verse 1 as I follow Christ and the picture I get is of a perfection is the mountaintop like say Mount Everest 30,000 feet and Jesus has is at the top perfect he lived on earth a perfect life what Paul did was look for the footsteps of Jesus how did he live I want to live like him he told me to follow him Jesus never said admire me nowhere in scripture did Jesus say admire me admire me and yet most Christians are admiring Jesus we never told him to do we can worship from that's fine but more than anything else he said follow me follow me and I'll make you fishers of men if any man wants to follow me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me Luke 9:23 so Paul took that seriously and he decided to follow Jesus and he in pressing on to perfection he found the footsteps of Jesus the principles by which he lived and he lived in those principles and he doesn't say just follow me he says I'm following Christ by the way and you fellows if you can't see clearly the way Christ walked looked at me you know it's like if you there's some man who's reached the top of the mountain and I can't see him because he's so far away I'm happy to see somebody else who I'm sure is walking in those same footsteps and I can follow him and in Philippians 3 Paul says further he says not only me Philippians 3:17 he again says the same thing brethren join in following my example so don't think it's such a bad thing to follow a man if he's a godly man there are very few whose lives we can really follow because many Christians their private life does not correspond to their public life then of course you can't follow them or there are many things in their life which they may be born again but it's not a good testimony maybe they lose their temper frequently maybe they are frequently anxious worried tense they can't seem to trust a Heavenly Father to take care of all their needs we can't follow such people we love them as fellow believers but we can't follow such people but there are a few and I thank God that in my life I come across a very very few godly men whom I could follow in my younger days that helped me tremendously not just the Scriptures but godly men who could show by their life that it was possible to live this life described in the New Testament because very often you know an example is worth a thousand words i meanit's know you somebody proving on a blackboard on a board the theory of swimming and proving to you that swimming is possible it's far easier if a man takes us women pool and sees see how I CRO go across then gravity is pulling me down but I still go across this water that challenges me more to believe that swimming is possible then if somebody convinces me through some theory so it's like that people can preach so many theories from the pulpit but if you see one life of a man who manifests the characteristics of Christ particularly his humility and particularly is free money and his patience and goodness and compassion that's a man worth following so Paul says follow my example and he says observe others who walk according to the same pattern that you have a now see since it's just not just me there are a few godly men of course you can't follow people like Dimas who forsook Paul and was once a co-worker of Paul but for a second following the world you Paul wouldn't have encouraged you to follow him but he says there are a few in fact earlier on in Philippians 2 he says among my co-workers right now he says in Philippians 2:20 I have no one but Timothy imagined among Paul's co-workers I mean if you got into Paul's team that itself was a great honor but Paul says to the Philippians I want to send Timothy to you philippians 2:19 because among my present co-workers were with me there's not even one like him who is genuinely concerned for your welfare just like Jesus was genuinely concerned for people here was a young man Timothy who like Paul was genuinely concerned for others why did he learn that from Paul and 1 verse 21 who did not seek after his own interest where did he learn not to seek after his own interest but those that of Christ Jesus from Paul so here was Paul and here was a Timothy following in Paul's footsteps so did not just fall and so the challenge that comes to us my dear brothers and sisters is that we should be men and women like that even if you have climbed only 500 feet up this 30,000 feet Mountain we're still a long way Paul maybe at 5,000 feet okay and way behind him I've climbed only 500 feet I can turn around the people are only at a hundred feet and say hey follow me as I follow Paul and Timothy and as they follow Christ this is how we are to be witnesses of Christ there's a lot of difference between bearing witness for Christ and being the witness for Christ you know the difference between bearing witness and being a witness bearing witness is by our words I bear witness to Christ saying he died for the sins of the world he rose again he ascended he's coming back that's bearing witness a true witness being a witness means more than that it includes the words but it includes a life that backs up those words and when Jesus spoke about the coming of the Holy Spirit you know this is the distinctive feature of the New Covenant the fullness of the Holy Spirit within not upon but within where my heart gets cleaned up and fill and then I overflow in blessing mm rivers of living water you know rivers are always meant for other people to drink do you know that if you believe in Jesus God's will is John 7:38 he or she who believes in me does that include you he or she who believes in me let's stop there John 7:38 does that include you if it does and see what the rest of the world says out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water it may start like a trickle as the scripture has said when you go to the Old Testament scripture and say where does it say in scripture that rivers of living water will flow it says that in Ezekiel 47 in Ezekiel 47 the Lord gave a Zeke a low vision and in that vision he saw house which is a picture of the house of God now today representing our body and he says from underneath at the outers of the house the water the last part of verse 2 Ezekiel 47 - water began to trickle from the south side it wasn't a river just a little trickle and that's how our life in the spirit begins life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit begins as a trickle and the man led me further and then the water reached up to my ankles it was no longer a trickle now the water had reached my ankles then a little more and the water reached up to my knees verse 4 and then a little more and the water reached up to my loins and a little more and the water was high enough that it was like a river I had to swim in it my feet were taken off the earth now it's carried along by the river and it says further on everywhere the river comes on one side and the other verse 12 fruit of every kind and wherever the river comes verse nine life comes this is what Jesus quoted in John 7:38 as the scripture has said it doesn't begin like a river but don't despise the trickle don't despise the day of small beginnings well let it flow keep the channel clear keep your conscience always clear keep the hunger and thirst for Jesus constant and little by little by little it can become a river that blesses thousands and thousands of people the Apostle Paul was a human being just like the rest of us he had the same flesh like us he committed worse sins than most of us because he persecuted Christians seeking to kill them he supported the murder of Stephen we were not so bad in our unconverted days and yet God took that man because he was so sincere turned him around completely ignored the first thirty years of his life where he messed up going the wrong direction and turned him around and in the next 37 years before he died at the age of 67 or so God made rivers flow in so many directions that are flowing till today through his letters think if you take one man Paul out of the Bible how much is left think that God could use one man the influence of one man is it possible that you and I can be like that why not brother sister according to your faith be it unto you we limit God by neglecting our salvation by limiting what God can do through us we sit back and say oh no no no I have nobody what God uses nobody's if you really believe you're a nobody you'll cling to God and say Lord I'm nothing but you can do a work through me you took unlearning Peter and different people and unlearned and fishermen what a work you did through them this lasted 2,000 years we must have faith to rise up to all God has for us Jesus said in acts 1 and verse 8 when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and fills you from within that's what he meant because on the day of Pentecost it was not just upon but from within it came out you shall be be ye not be ei are you shall be my witnesses to the uttermost parts of the earth in other words your life will bear witness to me and your words will bear witness to me that's what being a witness means and that's why in the Old Covenant nobody could be a witness they could bear witness the greatest prophets including John the Baptist who he couldn't say follow me because I lost faith in the Messiah when I was imprisoned just because he didn't deliver me from prison I lost faith in him but today we know Christians have been in prison for years 25 years in a communist prison and they still hold on to their faith their greater than John the Baptist's they never lost their faith in crisis because John the Baptist was in prison just a few days before he lost his faith he thought if I have faith I'll always be delivered from prison so we find that we have wonderful examples in our lifetime of people who were witnesses they were they like Jesus said you will be my witnesses to the uttermost parts of the earth the work of God cannot be done by just one or two people but imagine of all of us sitting here decided that our heart is going to be totally given over to God totally do you think that would be a good thing or a bad thing that would be the best possible life you can ever live Jesus said at the end of his life in John 17 verse 4 I have finished father I have finished the work you gave me to do the Apostle Paul even though he had messed up his life for 30 years could say at the end of his life out of his 67 years he lived 30 years for the devil ignorant 37 years he lived totally for God and yet he could say in second Timothy 4:7 I have finished the course appointed for me you say well how can a man finish the course when he's messed up thirty years of his life well God makes allowance for the years of a person's ignorance some of you may look back over many years that you've neglected this salvation not rejected it but you've been like a student was always in the first grade always in grade one you've learned your ABC you learned addition and division subtraction but never made much progress beyond that how many of you would like your children just to learn the alphabet just to learn addition and subtraction and say that's it don't you want your children to progress go higher and higher wouldn't you be disappointed if you had a child it's always failing in grade one of course he gets 100% grade one but he's never progressing beyond that that's how God looks at a lot of chill out of his children were just satisfied with ABC my sins are forgiven I'm on my way to heaven is that all Paul said to the Corinthians you're like babes yeah I'm not saying you're not born again but your babies he says I cannot speak to you like I could speak to others who are more mature I cannot feed you with meat you know you don't put meat into the mouth of a three-month-old child it'll choke and die so you feed that child with milk so Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 I fed you with milk 1 Corinthians 3 verse 2 because your babies but how long they were babies Paul himself was in current for one and a half years preaching to them and he's writing this letter much after that they should have been young men by now he says later on in chapter 14 he said you should be men by now mature you're understanding but your babes and I believe that is the condition of many many a Christian they seem to be satisfied with my sins are all forgiven and I'm going to have they've not rejected the salvation but they've certainly neglected it and so they're not really the type of witnesses that they should be I often thought of a defeated Christian who knows the forgiveness of sins he knows that Jesus can forgive him but he doesn't seem to overcome sins that plague him day after day after day sins of attitude and sins of thoughts and motives and sins in speech and sometimes sins in unrighteousness and money matters and yet they would come regularly to church and sing the songs and assume that they are wonderful Christians are they I think if I'm witnessing to a non-christian see a person who doesn't know anything about Christ and I tell him about this wonderful way of salvation I say listen he'll committed a lot of sins in your life like I have right everyone will admit their conscience will tell them they have sinned and ice and I tell him listen I can tell you how I got all my sins forgiven you don't have to live with the guilt of that sin anymore Jesus Christ came from heaven the Son of God became a man and died on the cross to take the price paid the price for all your sins and he rose again proving that he's a son of God will you receive him and you can believe in him receive him and you can be forgiven this moment you don't have to do a single work for it he's just really nice I've experienced it so ok I'll do that but then he tells me he's in Zach I've got another problem I'm losing my temper always that my wife can this Jesus of yours deliver me from that and you haven't got that victory yourself then you have to be honest and say listen Jesus can't help you in all those things but if you lose your temper just asking to forgive you forgive and you'll lose your temper again the next day and he'll forgive you and you'll keep on losing your temper all your life but he'll forgive you he will say I don't want this Jesus of yours you keep it I'm looking for a savior who will not only forgive me but save me from my sins he's looking not for a forgiver but a savior you say you're offering a savior but you're only offering a forgiver that's the tragedy of a lot of Christian witness and so I say many many non-christians they have not rejected Christ they have not rejected this wonderful Savior and Lord of ours they've rejected a Christ whom they have seen in Christians and that is not the real Christ that's a counterfeit Christ because people like Paul they presented a real Christ let me read you a few verses of house Paul speaks about his own life first of all in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 2 and verse 15 he speaks about being a fragrance of Christ to God among those are being saved and he speaks about the aroma of life from the next verse you know there's an aroma that comes from your life a spiritual aroma that comes from your life it's like when a heavily perfumed lady walks by even if you're sitting in a distance away you get it the perfume the aroma of Christ is to be something like that it's wonderful to see Christians like that who are so gracious and humble and loving and concerned and helpful and this is an aroma of Christ because that's how he was and he says here in verse 14 proceeding this aroma this is how the aroma comes he speaks of the aroma and the fragrance of Christ in verse 15 and 16 and this is how this fragrance comes in verse 14 thanks be to God he says in second Corinthians 2:14 who always and the definitive word here is always and always means 24/7 24 hours a day seven days a week thanks be to God who twenty-four hours a day seven days a week leads me in victory in his victory in Christ and thus manifests the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him through me in every place I go let me say to you dear brothers and sisters as I tell you to myself this is what it means to be a witness for Christ not bear witness to be a witness for Christ where I allow God it says he is God who does it it's not me struggling and trying to live a pure life that is life under the law they always say life under the law is man struggling to please God and life under grace is where God does the work in me and makes me live like him so he says his thanks me regardless read slowly 2nd corinthians 2:14 thanks be to God who does this it's not me thanks be to God who leads me in triumph he's not saying well thank God I've been walking in triumph 24/7 for the last so many years no it's not any empty boast like that thanks be to God who leads me in triumph in Christ in every situation and thereby manifests through me the sweet aroma of the knowledge of God that this is the god I worship that through my life others see getting knowledge of God this is the card really this is the God that Paul worships look what he's done in his life and there we can see what a poor witness the lives of many Christians are when Paul was in prison in Rome he was imprisoned more than once one of the letters he wrote was Philippians and Philippians he speaks about in 1:13 this is how we know he's in prison when he wrote it my imprisonment in Christ has become well known through the praetorian guard and lying in that prison and remember those Roman prisons were dungeons they were not prisons like today with comfortable comfortable beds in a shower in a restroom and etc know they were dungeons and dug into the ground somewhere and with cockroaches and rats running around and it is a filthy place in fact Paul shivered there's no much once that he didn't even have a blanket to cover himself that he wrote to Timothy in second Timothy four please bring that cloak which I left behind why did he want it he was shivering in the prison but he writes to the Philippians in prison beloved brethren chapter four verse four rejoice in the Lord always 24/7 again I say rejoice he was doing it himself he wasn't sitting in a comfortable chair or couch than writing this he was in a filthy prison with not knowing when he would be released and he says how are you feeling Paul well I'm rejoicing all the time how can I do that God was producing through him the sweet aroma of Christ you know that different people were getting converted because at the end of chapter 4 in verse 22 he says the Saints here greet you and who are some of those Saints those in Caesars house those in some of the Praetorian Guard who were chained to Paul's hand and keeping this prisoner and I can imagine how when Paul was chained to this Roman soldier he had to be chained to for eight years eight hours and he talked to him and say hey are you happy in your life and he'll start a conversation and here he had a captive audience that couldn't run away for eight hours he could give him the gospel explain everything to him and the guy got converted and by the time he got can already do is time for him to go the next fellow would come to take over and he got are you happy with your life don't you feel your conscience troubles you about some things not all were converted but some of them were he was I mean if he was grumbling and complaining and miserable over there nobody would I wanted his Christ but they saw the radiance of Christ in this man locked up in prison unjustly and no complaints against anyone rejoicing in the Lord all the time and so he says they're Saints in Caesars family now that was through the power of the Holy Spirit it's a wonderful thing my brothers and sisters to open up our being to the Holy Spirit to fill us I'm not a Pentecostal but I believe in being filled with the Holy Spirit I've never been a member of a Pentecostal church but I believe in the Holy Spirit controlling every part of my innermost being to manifest Christ that is to make to give me power to be a witness for Christ and that's what Paul was he was spirit filled prisoner there and it's not just that he goes on to say verse six now remember this is a man sitting in prison doesn't know when he's going to be released doesn't know whether he's going to be beheaded in a few days he says be anxious for nothing again this is not some preacher sitting on a couch preparing a sermon he's locked up in a Roman Jail in filthy circumstances shivering and he says be anxious for nothing nothing means zero you see Paul isn't really true in your life is yes on by prayer and supplication by specific request with Thanksgiving thanking God that he's heard our prayer let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God even if you're in a Roman prison will guard your heart and mine and the meaning there is like a military garrison surrounding your heart keep you in peace and then further this is all a man writing in prison Philippians 4 in the middle I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I'm in I know how to get along with a little or much because I can do everything through him who strengthens me I'm just giving you a little description a few verses where Paul gives his testimony in difficult circumstances that type of Christianity he manifested he was a witness for Christ and such a man could say follow me as I follow Christ look carefully at the example of such people these are the ones who not only did not neglect did not reject but they did not neglect so this is the example I want to lift up before all of you and say to you as I say to myself I remember for many years in my own life I never took these verses seriously like most Christians I would read them I was a defeated Christian for many years after I was born again to be exact 16 years I could not say these verses were true in my life when I came to a place in my life where I was absolutely fed up and I said Lord this is not the way to go this is not true Christianity I'm missing out on something there's something that my father has written in the in his will for me as an inheritance I haven't got it there's something the devil has cheated me off I wanted I don't want any old devil to cheat me of what Christ purchased for me at such a tremendous price on the cross and the Lord allowed me to fail and fail and fail and fail you know sometimes we have to fail a lot before we become desperate and I had to fail for a number of years not externally I wasn't commenting adultery or stealing or certainly testimonies already good everybody thought I was a wonderful Christian well yeah I knew that I was a hypocrite my inner life did not correspond to my outer life so my desperate prayer to God was one thing I said Lord I'm not asking for any supernatural gift of healing of miracles or any such thing I'm asking you only for one thing that my inner life will correspond with my outward testimony what I testified to should be true in my inner life just do that for me and I won't ask you for anything else and finally yet when I hit rock bottom the Lord met with me and fill me with the Holy Spirit which I don't believe is a once for all experience it must be a continuous fullness of the Holy Spirit a by day by day about 40 years ago that completely changed the direction of my life and I began to experience some of these things which which I read in Scripture not all of a sudden by little by little I began to come out of that pit and started climbing this mountain so I want to say that there was a reason I think way that happened because Jesus said come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden Matthew 11:28 I will give you rest rest means a life of victory and I paraphrase that as come to me those of you who are sick and tired of your defeated life I'll bring you to victory many people are not sick and tired of that defeated life they're quite content that they are occasionally defeated here defeated there a bad thought here and occasional watching pornography here and they seem to be quite happy because they say well the blood of Jesus cleanses me they treat them they treat the blood of Christ like tap water oh my hand a little dirty never mind this water here is a soap I can wash it off I don't believe such people come to a life of victory they treat the blood of Christ like it says in Hebrews twenty ten 29 as a cheap thing it's not a cheap thing God has to allow us to fail and fail and fail and fail and fail like the disciples who went fishing they fail and fail and fail and fail and failed whole night now the Lord knew they'd fail why didn't he come early Wendy come earlier why didn't he come at 10 o'clock at night why did he wait till 5 o'clock in the morning before he appeared to them in John 21 because they had not hit rock bottom they hadn't given up all hope they thought yeah a little more effort and I'll make it and I think some people are seeking for a life of victory like that just a little more effort I grit my teeth a little I'll make it next year no you won't all your new year resolutions don't go past the 10th or 15th of January you know that that's about it no it's not that it's when we hit rock bottom and say Lord I cannot make it I want you to fill me give me the inner power to live this life so that I can follow in the footsteps of Paul and Christ and at least be an example a few others that little by little trickle of water will come out of me to bless others even though I messed up so many years of my life so far one closing worse before I finish accidie apostles in chapter 10 in Acts chapter 10 and were sorry I'm sorry acts 17 accidie Apostles chapter 17 and verse 30 this is a verse to encourage those who feel I wasted so many years of my life Lord is there any hope for me this is for you this verse especially remember it acts 17 verse 30 s talking about God having overlooked the times of your ignorance that is all the years when you were ignorant truth that you heard today the possibility of a life in Christ of overcoming having over God overlooks the years of ignorance where you messed up your life now God is declaring turnaround repent means turnaround isn't that wonderful when God met with Paul on the Damascus Road Saul of Tarsus he overlooked all those 30 years of ignorance and said never mind Saul don't get discouraged turn around now I can do something with your life now and what a lot he did and so the word of the Lord comes to you whoever you are God overlooks the times of your ignorance and there may be many long years but he commands you now turn around I can still do something with the rest of your life let's bow our heads before God in prayer in my services of meetings I usually never asked anyone to come forward but I ask people to do what Jesus said sit down and count the cost sit down count the cost and ask yourself is it worth following such a savior whatever price I may have to pay yes it is say Lord yes it is thank you for overlooking the times of my ignorance help me Lord make these days this weekend a turning point in my life meet with me that my life will never again be the same told me with your Holy Spirit in the innermost part then lead me in the way everlasting Thank You Heavenly Father I believe there are at least some if not many who are responding to your call this evening and I pray you'll give them an assurance that you will do for them more than you they can ask or think for you're such a loving father you'll never give a stone the one who asks for bread you'll never give a serpent the one who asks for fish but good things to all those who ask him the Holy Spirit to those who ask thank you for hearing us in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Ahava Jerusalem

Views: 12,944

Rating: 4.875 out of 5

Keywords: sermon, truth, christian, bible, Jesus, Christ, Holy Spirit, God, love, grace, peace, must watch, amazing, faith, believe, now, best, video, youtube, google, facebook, free, heart, hope, mercy, future, internet, Lord, word, alive, life, right, overcome, pure, holiness, awesome, joy, strength, music, prayer, time, I AM, repent, sin, cfc, always, glory, fellowship, father, men, light, fruitfulness, wisdom, way, zac poonen, knowing, heaven, forerunner, spiritual, soulish, carnal, veil, holy of holies, tabernacle, temple, Shallowness, ahavajerusalem

Id: lxRhhqedQzo

Length: 60min 7sec (3607 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 09 2016