0:18 There is an expression that Christians use very often. The glory of God. But if you were to ask a a Christian, "What do you mean by the glory of God?" 0:41 Most Christians will not be able to give an answer. What about you? Some of you have been believers for many years. You've read about the glory of God in the Bible and you've spoken it in your language. 0:59 Tell me, what does it mean? Uh this is where we need to read the Bible slowly. I don't think there's anybody in the 1:18 world who says that except me, read the Bible slowly. If you hear anyone else say that, tell me, I'd like to meet him. But I found tremendous blessing when I 1:36 read it slowly. See what it says in Psalm 1. There's a a promise here. And but the promise like other promise 1:59 in the Bible has got a condition. Everything God gives is free, but there are conditions to receive them. For example, salvation is free. You don't pay for it. Then 2:21 you don't pay for it. But then why is it everybody in the world doesn't get it? Why would you want one person to get it? 1%. It's because even salvation has got a 2:41 condition. You have to repent and believe. And that's not a work. I picture it like this. born facing the world and sin. Now And God is behind us. 3:06 That's how everybody's born into the world and we grow up like that. God says I've got a free gift for you, salvation, forgiveness of sins. How can I get it? 3:24 I don't have to do any work. It's free. But if my back is to God, I can't receive it. Well, that's common sense. You have to turn around. That turning around is not a work. It's just to receive the free gift. So, that is repentance. 3:47 Turning around. Putting God in front of me. and the world and sin behind me. And then faith. Faith is also not a work. See, if I give you something you don't stretch out your hand, you 4:06 can't take it. Faith is only taking what God gives. So, repentance is turning around and facing God and faith is taking what God gives. It's free. 4:27 But there's a condition. Not a work, but a condition. So, same way here we read. There's a fantastic promise here. I want you to see this promise first. Think 4:45 What's the word for promise? And uh it says here the promise is in verse three, the last part. Whatever this man does, he will prosper. It's going to go well with him, whatever 5:07 he does. Spiritually, materially, anything. Whatever he does will prosper. Isn't that a good promise? I like to have that promise in my life. I study the Bible, I will prosper. 5:31 No, no, no. If I study the Bible, it I will prosper. And if I do some work on the earth, I will prosper. Whatever he does will prosper. Uh so if I do a work in the world, it 5:51 will prosper. If I study the Bible, it will prosper. Whatever he does, he will prosper. So there's a condition. Verse one, don't walk in the counsel of 6:09 the advice of wicked people. The world is full of people who want to give us advice. Whole world. Everybody is proud. They think they can 6:27 give an advice to other people. Most Most of the time I don't want to listen to this advice. Because they're all ungodly people. I'd like to listen to advice from a godly man like Paul. Oh, I'd sit and listen to him for hours. 6:50 I can listen to him for hours with his advice. But the world is full of people who think they know so much. The world is full of proud people. Ready to give advice to others. But they don't know God. 7:12 So we must not listen to the advice of people like that. It says here they don't stand in the path of sinners. They don't stand in the cinema queue. They don't stand where the sinners are 7:36 standing to get something which is evil. They don't sit in the seat of scoffers. That means they decide whom they're going to sit with in fellowship. There are some people who sit and all 7:55 they talk about is evil of other people. I don't want to sit with such people. It will defile me. You know, nowadays you see these people going around with a mask. They're so scared of a little germ 8:16 coming in. It's good. It's wise. Much more when somebody is gossiping to me, I want to put a mask over my Listen, I don't want to listen to that. 8:38 Go and tell somebody else. He does not sit in the seat of scoffers. So, what is my aim? I want to come to the place where whatever I do will prosper. And then, those are things I don't do. 8:56 Verse one. All the things that I don't do are mentioned in verse one. Then it says in verse two what I will do. His delight is in the law of the Lord. 9:21 And in his law he meditates day and night. He doesn't say he reads it day and night. That's impossible. You can't spend your 24 hours reading the Bible. But if you read even 5 minutes But if you read it in 5 minutes and you 9:40 meditate on it day free time you meditate on what did I read this morning? In the middle of your work when you're traveling in a on the road or anywhere think about what did I read this morning? But if you spend 1 hour reading the 10:03 Bible in the morning and you don't meditate on it during the day this promise is not for you. The question is not how long you read it. A lot of emphasis in Christendom is 10:22 spend so much time reading the Bible. It's not what the Bible says. Bible says meditate on it. That's what I mean by reading slowly. Read slowly and think about what you're 10:40 reading. Day and night means if you wake up in the middle of the night you can think about what God spoke to you. It's a wonderful way to live. I've been trying to live like that for 10:57 many years now. I don't read the Bible for a long time. I try to meditate on it whenever I get a free time. anywhere If you're sitting on the 11:16 toilet. You're free there's nobody there you can think about what God is trying to say to you. Sitting on a bus or a train. Anytime you're free. What's your mind thinking about? mind thinking about? 11:36 You want to prosper? You want to prosper financially? God can help you there also. It's not by studying the stock market, it's by meditating on God's word. And you should be a living testimony to 11:55 the world that my life has prospered because I meditate on God's word. I can say that. 60 years I've spent not reading the Bible, but meditating on the Bible. So, if you ask me, "Brother Zach, do you 12:19 go through the Bible once a year? Have you finished it 60 times in your life now?" No, no. I haven't read it through 60 times. But I've meditated very frequently, almost every day of my 12:37 life since I was born again. And it doesn't matter if I read only one verse in the morning or one whole chapter. The blessing is on reading, the blessing 12:56 is on meditating. Because often what we read is like the seed that is sown and the birds take it away. What's the use of that? Meditate is to let that seed go down into the ground and take root. That's 13:16 meditation. And then what will you be like? You'll be like a tree that is absolutely unshakeable. You know, the thing that gives strength 13:37 to a tree is not how big it is. It's the roots. In a big storm storm and the small tree stands. 13:56 And the big tree collapses. Why is that? Yen? It's roots that determine whether you stand or fall. So, here is a tree that's got deep roots. And not only deep roots 14:18 its roots are going into the river and sucking water into the into the tree. And look at the promise. When the season comes, the fruit will be there. You know, most fruits come in a certain 14:39 season. It's not all the year. So, in the season, there'll always be fruit. Uh we used to have a mango tree in our house. Some year, no fruit. 14:58 Something wrong. And another year, there'd be fruit. If you're like this, every year, in the season, you'll have fruit. And the leaf that will never be dry 365 15:18 days of the year, right? That means here is a brother who's never discouraged or a sister who's never discouraged. Because 15:37 he meditates on God's word. You know, that is the type of life God wants us to live. So, when we read God's word come across an expression like the glory of God. What have you done when you read that 15:56 expression many times in scripture? If you read slowly and meditate, you will stop and think, "What does it mean?" In the younger days when I didn't study it carefully, I thought glory means some 16:14 big bright light. That's because I didn't study carefully. And I suppose many of you you also think glory of God means some very bright light. But bright light you don't need God. You 16:34 can just have a good lamp that will give you a bright light, too. The glory of God is something different. You know, Moses once prayed to God. He prayed like this. 16:52 In the book of Exodus uh chapter 33 verse 18 17:09 I pray you, Lord, show me your glory. 33 verse 18. 33, okay. And see what God says. 17:38 This is my glory. I will make my goodness pass in front of you. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious, and I'll show compassion on whom I'll show compassion. That's the part of my glory that you can 17:58 see. That is my goodness. And that's enough for us to see. But he says, "You cannot see my face verse 20 because if you see my face, you'll die. You can't live." But I'll allow you to stand on a rock 18:21 there. And you'll do when my glory is passing by. I'll hide you there. You can't see it. Then I'll pass by. And you'll see my backside verse 23, but 18:40 not my face. You know, the glory of God is was not even Moses, the greatest man, could not see it. Now, you turn to John chapter 1. We read that Jesus came to earth in the 19:04 flesh. Verse 14. Verse 14. word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw his glory. 19:24 The glory of the Father. Which Moses could not see. God said, "You'll die if you see it." Here they saw it. What was it? 19:44 It was not just a bright light. There was a bright light on Jesus' face on the Mount of Transfiguration for a moment. That was only for a brief moment. Immediately fell like dead people. Peter, James, and John. 20:08 They fell down on their face. So, if Jesus had lived like that all the time, everybody would have been falling on their face in the world. So, it was hidden, that glory. But what 20:23 is the saw? In gay Yoan Sadan and so It was the fullness of grace and truth. That is the glory of God that we can see. 20:42 And that we need to see. The glory of God with John saw in Jesus, we can also see. Full of grace, full of truth. Full of it. 21:03 And there we see a balance. And gay now and over someone near a park room. This like this like this like this like this like this like this like the human body, there's a balance. One side was muscular and strong, another side is skin and bones. It's 21:18 ugly. But all of our bodies are balanced. See, if one eye is big and another small, it's ugly. One hand is long and one hand is small. 21:40 There's a balance in the glory of God. And but all of us are not balanced. Even when we accept Christ, we are imbalanced one side or the other. So, to partake of the glory of God, we 22:01 must see where am I imbalanced? And say, "Lord, I got to work on that part." See, my left side is very strong and my right side is weak. Then I must work on the side which is 22:22 weak. And make it equal to the other side that's strong. So, think of these two areas, grace and truth. It's a balance that must be found in 22:44 every Christian. We all tend to be imbalanced. So, I need to see where am I imbalanced? This is same thing as expressed in other 23:04 ways. same thing is expressed in other ways in Romans 11. In other words, 11 verse 22. See the kindness and the severity of 23:22 God. There are two things. What did God tell Moses, I will let my goodness pass in front of you. That is my glory. Is that what he said? Is that right? 23:42 Goodness. Goodness. But we think goodness, what does it say here? Kindness and severity. So, kindness alone is not goodness. That is why people translate kindness as 23:59 goodness is not correct. You turn back to Exodus 33 and let's get it exactly. With God, we must be exact. 2 + 2 is not 5. It's not 4 and 1/2. It 24:20 is 4. It's not 5. Not 3. Not even 3.9. The glory of God, Exodus 33 verse 24:36 19, is his goodness. I don't know what is what's the right word in Tamil for it, but goodness is a clear word in English. Now, in Romans 11:22 25:02 that goodness is described as kindness and severity. So, in the Tamil that may not be so clear. We must understand the goodness of God is not only in his kindness and he's in 25:21 his severity, too. A good father is not only one who is kind. But he was strict. 25:41 A father who is not strict, I would say he's a useless father. I can guarantee his children will go astray. And the father who is very strict but not kind, his children will also go astray. I've seen fathers like this. 26:08 They are either strict or more overly kind. Both their children go astray. Those of you who are fathers and mothers all of you who are fathers and mothers think about this. 26:31 Now, that's why God gives us parents. If one person is imbalanced one way, the other person can restore the balance. So, if one is too kind, the other can be strict. If one is too strict, the other can be 26:50 more kind. But Both father and mother are strict, it's pretty dangerous for the kids. Or if both are just kind, there's a game the children go astray. Parents must reflect the nature of God. 27:17 They must show the nature of God to the children. What is that What it means What is it we must show our children? No, what should we show our children? God's kindness and God's strictness. That is grace and truth. 27:42 And the same thing in the church. You see, I've worked with many elders in different CFC churches. I've seen some elders are very kind. Nobody else is there to be strict. The church goes 28:01 like they say in English, to the dogs. It gets spoiled. And then there are other elders I've seen in some churches very strict. There's no kindness there. That church also goes to the dogs. It gets ruined. That That's why you need the balance in 28:22 the eldership. That's the same thing like in a house, you need father and mother. God never never appointed one pastor for a church, nowhere in the Bible. That is Old Testament, one high priest. 28:45 In the New Testament, Jesus always sent his disciples two by two. Have you read that? Never alone. He didn't send even Paul alone. Paul must go with Barnabas. Because Paul was a very strict man and 29:02 Barnabas was an encourager. And between them it was perfect. That's why the devil came between them and broke them up. Because he doesn't like to see that balance development. Now, most people will like a kind elder 29:22 who's not strict. An elder who is kind. They don't like that. But they don't realize what's good for 29:41 them. Supposing you have a doctor who who will only say kind things to you. "Oh, there's nothing wrong with you even though you're dying of cancer." You want to listen to a doctor like that? It's not a good doctor. At the same time, you don't want a 30:01 doctor who scares you even if you have a little fever. No, you need So, remember this in your home or in your church. Appreciate kindness and 30:17 severity. That's how God is. Or like it says here, kindness and severity. Romans 11:22. That's how a church grows in a balanced way. That's 30:37 how a family grows in a balanced way. So, So, a or mother who seeks to be popular with the children will never bring them up properly. Our elders who want to be popular with 30:56 the church members will never build a church properly. elders They will not be able to build the church. 31:14 So, in everything in the world there's a balance. So, even in creation there's day and night. There's day and night in 24 hours. It's not all day, it's not all night. It's We need a balance in everything. 31:40 Our body, as I said, there's a balance, left side and right side. And in many other areas If you ignore the balance, you go astray. Let me show you another example. How do you go to life? 32:02 Is it a gate or a way? See Matthew 7. and verse 14 The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. 7:14 32:29 So, how do you get to eternal life? Is it through a gate or a way? No, no, no, eternal life. no, no, eternal life. The answer is both. I need to go through the gate. 32:50 I mean to be born again. That's just entering the gate. It's like coming to the starting line of a race. Um a race. A bottom. The starting line 33:09 is being born again. Being born again. But from there you got to run the race. So you go through the gate and then you have to go the way. So you find among many preachers 33:35 they only talk about the gate. They read the verse like this. There's a gate that leads to life. And they're not true. There's a gate and a way that leads to life. And you see how 33:55 most people don't even notice that when they hear that preacher. And there are other people who say the main thing is just the way, the way they they're not even born again. They have to come through the gate first. But to get into that way you have to be 34:17 born again. So remember this in your Christian life always. Everything of God there is a balance. There's a gate and there's a way. 34:33 The gate is narrow, the way is narrow. If you just get through the gate, you're not going to get to life. If you only come through the gate, you don't reach life. You have to go through the way. So, don't listen to a preacher who only 34:53 tells you about the gate. And don't listen to a person who does who doesn't tell you you must be born again. No, no, no. A preacher who does not tell you that you must be born again. Because he's he's only talking about the 35:15 way. So, you need to hear about the gate and the way. Balance. Everywhere is the balance. You must read the Bible slowly. Read that one verse slowly, you will 35:33 understand it. Like all these other verses I showed you just now. I'll show you another example in Acts chapter 20. You ask Paul, "What did you preach in the whole world, everywhere you traveled? What is the main message you 35:52 preached?" It say in Acts 20 verse 21. Two things. Jews and Greeks means the whole world. The Greeks was an expression for the 36:10 rest of the world who are not Jews. So, this is the whole world. What did he preach? Again, a balance. Repentance and faith. Not only repentance 36:30 not only faith. Faith alone will not save anybody. Repentance alone will not save anybody. It's the balance. Now today most preachers only preach faith. Particularly all the Pentecostal 36:49 charismatic church they only talk about faith faith faith faith faith. Yes, that's important. That's like saying right leg right leg right leg right leg right leg. So I get up and speak about left leg. 37:11 The brothers they say brother Zach are you against the right leg? No no no what those people are preaching is so much I'm trying to bring a balance here that's all. I go to some other church they're only talking about left leg I'll preach about 37:26 the right leg there. There are there are some churches like that repent repent repent repent repent that's all they preach. And they're all full of discouraged gloomy people because they don't have any faith. Because all they hear is about 37:47 repentance. And I believe many of you have suffered because of imbalanced preaching that you've listened to. Or you hear about a God the Father who's very strict. And you're scared and scared to come to 38:09 him for anything. Afraid to come to God for anything. And there are other people who say God is so kind. He's like a grandfather who will give you anything you want. But he's not a grandfather, he's a 38:28 father. You know, for years I was a father, now I'm a grandfather also. When I became a grandfather for the first time, I had my first grandson. I came home to Bangalore and people 38:47 asked me a question. What what is your final difference now that you're a grandfather? I said with my four sons I was very strict. I would punish them. 39:05 Bible says use the rod. And but when I saw this grandson I thought how can anybody punish this sweet little child? I never 17 grandchildren, I have never punished 39:24 any of them. I give them chocolates and sweets. Grandfathers are the most imbalanced people in the God is not a grandfather. 39:44 He's a father. Who is kind and strict. Remember this. Because there are so many wrong concepts of God that people are proclaiming. If you get a wrong idea of God, it will 40:03 affect your Christian life. So it says see the kindness and the severity of God. See what it says about God as a father. See Matthew chapter 7. 40:24 Here is how God is a father. Matthew 7, verse 9 9 to 11. If a son asks for bread, will you give him a stone? If he asks for fish, will he give him a 40:44 snake? You evil fathers know how to give good things to your children. Your father in heaven will only give good things to you. That is one aspect of God as a father. That he only gives good gifts. 41:08 He will give you. But that's only one side. Now, let me tell you the other side of God as a father. Hebrews 12. And verse 5. In the middle of that verse, 41:30 "My son, don't regard lightly the discipline of the Lord or faint when you're reproved by him. This is not gift. This is discipline. Because verse 6, those whom the Lord 41:48 loves, he disciplines. And he scourges every son whom he receives. No, no, no. Read verse 6. And 42:12 Yeah, in the in In the English, sometimes the time is not a very accurate translation. In the English, it says scourges. That is using a leather whip like they used on Jesus. That's the meaning scourge. Scourge is a word for use of a use a leather belt. 42:33 That's what I used. I followed God here. That That's the same God who gives good gifts also. The same hand, he'll give bread and fish and then take the belt. 42:51 That's how Jesus was. He put his hand on the leper and comforted them. Those lepers, nobody touched them. Jesus touched them. Jesus already took that. And then he went and took the whip with the same hand and whipped the lovers of money out 43:09 of the temple. And if Jesus is in your church, he'll do both. If you're If Jesus is in your church, Alium is not church. He will use both. 43:34 The comforting hand and the whipping hand. If God loves you, he'll do both to you. I want to say to you, if you have never received a whipping from God, you 43:54 have not known him as a father yet, I'll tell you. You're just fooling yourself that you know God is a father. I have received tremendously comforting words from in scripture. I have received strong words of rebuke 44:14 from the same scripture. That's how I know I'm hearing God. If you only hear words of comfort, you're not listening to God. And if you're only listening to rebuke, again, you're not listening to God. Everything, remember this, in everything 44:37 in the Christian life there is a balance. For example, I'll give you another example. I can go the whole day giving examples. Mark 16. Going to all the world 44:58 and preach the gospel. To everyone, verse 15. And if anyone believes in verse 16 and is baptized, he'll be saved. Verse 16. 45:15 Chapter 16, verse 16. That's one part of the commission the 45:35 Lord gave his disciples. Here's the other side. And again, my turn to put it on after these people are believed and baptized, what do you do? Matthew 28. 45:53 Going to all nations, verse 19. And make disciples. So after they are born again and baptized, you got to make them into disciples. And after that, what do you do? 46:12 Verse 20, teach them to observe every single thing that I commanded you. Show me a church where they teach every single thing that Jesus commanded. Jesus, Jesus. 46:36 Where they teach about overcoming anger. That is Matthew chapter 5. Or overcoming sexual lust. That's Matthew 6 chapter 5. Or loving your enemies, that's also Matthew 5. Or when you pray, don't tell other 46:58 people how much you pray. If you don't tell if you fast, don't tell people how much you're fasting. Matthew 6. If you give money, don't let anybody know how much you gave. Have you found churches preaching all 47:17 this? Everything that Jesus said. Don't judge others, but judge yourself. Matthew 7. Be anxious for nothing, Matthew 6. You cannot love money and love God, Matthew 6. And I've only covered three chapters 47:40 now, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. 5, 6, and 7. That's all. What about all the other things Jesus said? I'll give you one example. Matthew chapter 12. 47:58 Have you ever heard any Have you ever heard any preacher preach on this? What is the commission Jesus gave? One side, go and preach the gospel, get them believe and baptize. Then make them disciples to follow me. 48:24 And teach them everything I commanded. So I told you a few of the things just now. Here's another one. Matthew 12 verse 36 Every careless word you speak you're going to give an account in the day of judgement. You tell me how many times have you 48:46 heard a message on that verse? I've never heard a message on that verse in my life. I don't hear it on the internet. I preached it many times. 49:04 Why? Yeah. I'm not special. I'm just doing what Jesus said, teach them everything that I taught you. This is balance. Go and bring them to Christ, let them be born again. And baptize them and let them be 49:25 That's the gate. Then now the way. Now teach them every single thing I commanded you. And if you do that 20 Then I will be with you always to the end of the world. But I see a verse 49:49 on the wall. uh so-so till Jesus said, I'm with you always till the end of the world." I said, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. Uh just there's a condition to that. Don't just put that verse there." That that's not for everybody. 50:06 "Teach them everything I commanded you, then I will be with you till the end of the world." Where does it say I'll be with you at the end of the world even if you don't do that? See, we have man as a tendency to take a promise without fulfilling the 50:25 condition. See, in all of our CFC churches now we are encouraging people to memorize a verse every day. Every every every week. And 50:42 most of the churches are using the same sequence that is set up by the church in Colorado. And they put it on their website what all verses to memorize. So, everywhere in the world they're using the same One verse is one week it'll be a 51:03 promise, next week it'll be a command. Believe this promise. Next next week obey this command. Next week believe this promise. Next week obey this command. 51:22 You know how how they say in the military? Left, right, left, right, left, right. It's like that. It's not left left left left left left. People like that. Promise, promise, promise, promise, promise, promise. You try walking like that with your left 51:40 left left like that all the time. You won't be able to move forward. No, there's a balance in scripture. There are promises and there are commands. And so, 51:58 I'm just giving you a few examples. There's so many areas like this. I can find wherever I look in the Bible, there's a balance. See for example, let me give you one example how Jesus spoke to Peter. Matthew 16. 52:20 If you read the Bible slowly, you'll see all this yourself also. Matthew 16. Here verse 15. He said to his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" All the disciples were there. 52:40 Simon said, "You're the son of the living God." Simon, you are blessed. Verse 17. Because you didn't understand with your human cleverness. No, my father in heaven revealed this to 52:57 you. What a blessed person you are. And I say to you Peter, you are you're a rock on which on this rock which you just confessed, I will build my church. This confession you made. I'm going to use you. 53:18 Build this church. And Peter, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind will be bound, whatever you loose will be loosed. Wow. What a fantastic encouragement. Uthagam. 53:41 But Jesus is balanced. Are you serious or do you have some money left? So next he says I don't understand verse 23 He turns to Peter and says, "Get behind me, Satan." That's the balance. Within 1 minute When Peter's head is suddenly getting 53:58 big big big big, "Oh, the keys of the kingdom are in my hand." Jesus puts a little pinprick into that and it goes down. You see how balanced Jesus is? He loved 54:16 Peter so much. That's why Peter became the great leader on the day of Pentecost. Read the Bible slowly. You will see things which I'm showing you. It's all there in your Bible. How is it you didn't see it? I'll tell you why. 54:37 You read the Bible too fast. I'm always thinking. You read, you don't meditate. I didn't even plan to delay. There are many things like this. When you read something read on. Don't just stop there. Read the next verse. For example 54:58 Have you read this? John 7 verse 53 At the end of Jesus preaching in the temple He was in Jerusalem. 55:16 His home is in Capernaum, about 100 km away. He knew he could come and he came to Jerusalem. And he was preaching in the temple. We read with verse 37 in the last day of the feast he shouted and preached there. And then after the message was all over, 55:38 verse 53, everybody went to his home. Jesus is like supposing after the meeting yesterday, everybody went home and my wife and I are standing here Everybody's gone home and my wife and I 55:57 are alone. Where do we go? It didn't happen. It's never happened in all my life. But it happened to Jesus. Everybody went home. And Jesus is standing all alone. So he says, "Where to go?" 56:16 Thank God it's not raining. I'll go to the Mount of Olives and sleep under the trees. Read the next verse. You say there's no next verse. You say there's no next verse. There is a next verse in chapter 8. Chapter divisions are not made by God. 56:40 They're made by man. You stop at the end of the chapter. Read the next verse. Everybody went to his own home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. That's the full That's the full sentence. If you read it slowly, you'll notice it. 57:02 If you have the habit of reading one chapter a day, you'll miss it because tomorrow you'll forget what was written in chapter 7. I'm teaching you some good Bible reading habits. And I meditated on that and I was blessed. 57:20 So Jesus never tried to put himself somewhere they didn't want him. Everybody went home. Nobody asked the Lord, "By the way, Lord, you're in Capernaum, where are you staying tonight?" Can you imagine Jesus being stranded 57:41 like that? Left alone. Lord, I cannot imagine how these other people treated you like I never experienced it in 56 years of ministry. Never, never, never. 58:01 But my Lord, he experienced it. Because I'm sure some of his servants also experienced it, so he had to experience it first. Because he had to be a forerunner for all of them. And now see what happens. 58:21 Next morning he comes Mark 2:8, verse 2. And he again begins to teach. Now, if it is one of today's preachers preachers, he would have preached like this. Well, last night I had to sleep on the on tree under the trees in the Mount of 58:39 Olives. Just to make all of you feel bad that you did not invite me to your house. Have you heard preachers sometimes say things like that just to make you feel 58:59 bad that you did not give them some money or you did not do something for them? I never felt blessed by that. Not I could not none You see, everybody must have thought one of the others must have taken Jesus to their house. 59:21 And nobody nobody invited him. And And came back all fresh in the morning and they said, "Yeah, definitely one of the other brothers must have taken him to his house. That's how he's looking so fresh today." He was looking fresh because he was 59:38 speaking to the father in the morning. That's why he was fresh. And not a single person knew that Jesus slept under the Mount of Olives. Okay, what do I learn from that? If I go through some difficulty in some 59:56 situation, let me try my best to hide it from my fellow believers so that they don't feel bad for me. That can happen sometimes. People can be a little thoughtless. 1:00:14 And don't make them embarrassed. So, there are many things we can learn the balance in the life of Jesus. There's a balance throughout scripture. There should be a balance in our life. 1:00:33 Let me give you another example. Matthew chapter 4. Jesus said, you will discover this yourself if you uh read the Bible slowly. Now, just read this one verse slowly and 1:00:50 see if you see a balance there. 4 verse 10. Jesus said, "You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only." No, read the full verse. 1:01:14 Verse 10. Right. There's worship and service. And see, if you do read it carelessly, it'll be like this. You read casually and you think it is there. So, 1:01:36 it's not only worship. It's not only service. It's worship and service. That's the balance. There are some people who They only think of praising God all the time. No, that's wrong. You have to serve. 1:01:56 But others only think of serving. There's a balance. In my life, there must be worship and there must be service. We have to read the scriptures slowly, carefully. You have to read the full verse always. 1:02:17 Don't you read half a verse, you'll go astray. We have a tendency to do that. We think that's what it says. There's no need to read the whole verse. You shall worship the Lord your God and you shall serve him. Let me give you another example. 1:02:38 See, Matthew 22. Somebody asked Jesus, verse 36, "What is the greatest the great commandment in the law?" What is the great commandment in the law? Verse 36. They ask He asked for one commandment. 1:03:06 But Jesus gave him two. Why was that? Because one alone is imbalanced. He said, "Okay, I'll give you an answer, but I can't give you only one." You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. 1:03:26 Verse 37. But the second one, verse 39, you must love your neighbor as yourself. You know, if you read the scripture slowly, you'll find many areas like this where there's a balance. And your life will become balanced. 1:03:49 Most Christians I have met, they are imbalanced. They have favorite verses, favorite chapters, and then their life is imbalanced. Because God's word is meant to produce a 1:04:08 fruit in our life. If I only read one section, or things I like, or promises, promises, promises, I'll tell you what will happen. Those promises will not be fulfilled in your life. Because many of those promises have got 1:04:28 a condition. There's a command attached to the promise. You remember this all your life. The Lord wants us to have a balanced development. You know, if you have a baby, 1:04:48 and you see as it grows only one leg is growing, won't you be concerned? Or only one side of the body is growing? That is how God is concerned about so many of his children. Only one side is growing in their life. Their favorite side. 1:05:11 So, that's because they don't the Bible carefully If you read like this we'll find many many areas where the Lord wants to have us to have like you want your child to grow balanced. He wants us to grow also in a balanced 1:05:29 way. So let's take this seriously in the coming days. Say Lord, I want to be gripped by the kindness and the severity of God. I want to claim your promise and I want 1:05:51 to obey your commands. I want to enter through the gate and I want to walk the way. I want grace and truth in my life. I want to enjoy your kindness and I want 1:06:09 to enjoy your strictness also. Why is the father strict with his children? Protect them from evil. Don't mix with those people the father says. Because those people will lead you into 1:06:28 bad habits. Why is the father strict? Why does a father tell his daughter you must come home every night by such and such a time? Don't be later than that. Talk to a girl. Because he wants to protect her. 1:06:47 So the kindness and strictness of God are both necessary for us. And it's a beautiful thing to see a person who has grown in this balanced way in every area. If you have the habit of listening to 1:07:12 messages on the internet, listen to balanced messages. Messages that rebuke you and messages that encourage you. Then you'll be balanced. 1:07:32 If you listen only to one side, you'll be imbalanced. I've just shown you a few areas. There are many, many areas like this in scripture. For example, which is more important? 1:07:50 The word of God or the Holy Spirit? Think about it. You say the Holy Spirit. There are many people in the world today, particularly Pentecostal charismatic circles. They always speak about the Holy Spirit. 1:08:11 They don't place much emphasis on God's word. And they go astray. Because they get all type of ideas and God is saying this, God is saying that, and God never said that in his book. And then you go to another group called 1:08:27 the Brethren Assemblies. And they have 8 years, they never speak about the Holy Spirit at all. But I did really study the word. You know, there's an expression in 1:08:45 English called dead right. And you can't say it in Tamil. But in English you can say they're both dead and right. That means uh right in what they say, but pretty dead. In their life. So it's no use being dead and right. 1:09:12 So I need the word of God and I need the Holy Spirit. I look at it like this. I won't say anymore. This is the last example I give. The word of God is like my body. There are very important things like 1:09:32 long parts like the leg. I'm talking about my external body. Small parts like a little finger. Now if I make this little finger as long as my leg. I'll be a nuisance wherever I go. 1:09:56 At the same time I don't want to cut it off. You take a gift like the gift of tongues. There are some people who some Christians make it as long as their leg. Wherever they go it's a nuisance. 1:10:16 Tongues tongues tongues tongues it's all this Sometimes they make it 12 feet long. And there are other people who say we don't want it at all. Cut it off. Both people are wrong. You need keep them the right size. 1:10:40 Every part of the body is good. To love the Lord your God, love others as yourself. That is a massive, very important teaching. It's like the heart. And love others Speaking in tongues is necessary but it's like a little finger. 1:10:57 I can I can my finger, but I can't live without my heart. Word of God has got a balance in different parts. Some are more important, some are less important. What is the Holy Spirit like? 1:11:16 Like the breath in this body. Supposing you have all the parts of the body. All the doctrines of scripture correctly. But no breath. It's like dead body lying here. 1:11:40 Count the fingers, yeah? 10 fingers are there. What's the size of the leg? Correct size. Ears, eyes, all correct size, all are there. But useless because it's dead. The Holy Spirit. 1:12:00 That's what makes all these doctrines living. But Supposing you say only Holy Spirit. I want breath. I don't want hands, I don't want legs, I don't want I don't want ears or eyes, I need just breath. What do you do? 1:12:23 You'll be lying in a bed with half a body. Here's another example where we need the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. And you read the Bible, you'll see all this balance yourself everywhere. And if you want a balanced Christian 1:12:44 life, listen to this message again on the internet. And then go to scripture. And it will show me the other areas which Brother Zac did not have time to speak about. Because all of you got a Bible. 1:13:13 Start reading it slowly, carefully, meditating on it. I never read all this in any book what I told you today. I never seen a book on it. But I found this balance of truth as I 1:13:29 studied scripture slowly and carefully. And you can do it, too. You just have to read slowly and meditate on God's word. So, brothers and sisters, thank you for this lovely time that we've had these 1:13:48 wonderful morning afternoon sessions. God's been very good to us. And because we have the internet, we can keep on listening to many of these messages for years to come. You know, if you go to the YouTube 1:14:12 and put Zac Poonen and then a subject along with Zac Poonen you write grace faith love sex marriage 1:14:32 anger Holy Spirit fellowship body of Christ You'll get all the messages on that subject. Zac Poonen Tamil or Telugu. 1:14:51 Or Hindi. Or Romanian. And other language, you will get all the messages in that language. It's a wonderful gift God has given us in these last days. And it's absolutely free. Make use of it. 1:15:10 So that you can have a balanced understanding of God's word. And a balanced growth in your Christian life. For example, you write Zach Poonen money. Oh, you'll get a lot of messages on that. 1:15:30 It will give you a balanced understanding on how to handle money as a Christian. When we were when we began our work 45 years ago We said, "Lord, we know we have to start in Jerusalem. 1:15:48 We'll witness this in Jerusalem. For us, that was Bangalore. Then Judea. And that is the state around Bangalore, Karnataka state. And then Samaria, that is the whole of India. And then the whole world. 1:16:10 And we said, "Lord, how in the world can a small fellowship like this reach the whole world finally?" We started in Bangalore. We went to Karnataka. And then to other states in India. And then all of a sudden the internet 1:16:27 came up and we could reach the whole world. But we had that desire 45 years ago. 45 years ago, there was no internet. Nobody had even thought about it. But we had this burden. And it's 1:16:46 I believe God has given us these resources so that we can reach the world with the gospel. Many of you have met us through the internet. That's how you met us. Isn't that a good thing? 1:17:04 We really praise the Lord. God has given us So, use it all to study the word of God. Or get a copy of Through the Bible and read through that. Through the Bible that book commentary 1:17:22 Through the Bible. And read it and you'll find you'll really get established in the truth. God bless you all. Heavenly Father, please help us to be gripped by the 1:17:40 truth. Let the truth will grip us in our hearts. And help us to grow in a balanced way. So that the beauty of Jesus will be seen 1:17:56 in a balanced way in our life. And our children will see it in our homes. Thank you in Jesus' name.
