0:05 So brothers and sisters, I want to share with you something about building the church as the body of Christ in CFC Austin particularly. I want to start with Matthew 16 and verse 18 0:23 words that you are familiar with. You know Jesus had asked the disciples in verse 15, Matthew 16:15, "Who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the 0:42 Messiah, the son of the living God." And Jesus said, "Simon, you're blessed. Why are you blessed? Because you did not understand this by any man teaching you or by your own cleverness teaching you." That's the meaning of flesh and blood 0:59 did not reveal this to you. My father in heaven gave you a revelation as to who I am. Keep those words in mind. My father in heaven gave you a revelation 1:15 and on this revelation verse 18 I will build my church. It's not Peter who's the rock. The rock is the revelation that he spoke about in verse 17. On this revelation of Christ, the son of the living God, I will build 1:33 my church. And when it is built on that revelation of Christ, not just a knowledge of Christ that you came by studying the Bible or a knowledge of Christ that came by hearsay that you heard in some message, a revelation that 1:48 came into your heart from the from the Holy Spirit as to who Jesus is. On the basis of that revelation, the church can be built. So the revelation is very very important. It's a word never found in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, 2:06 the word was knowledge, understanding. And the sad thing is many people are trying to build the church today with knowledge, understanding, going to Bible schools, etc. That will not do the job. And that's why there's confusion and 2:20 chaos in so many churches. The church is built on the basis of revelation. And revelation is always given by the Holy Spirit. So on this revelation that that comes from heaven, the Lord builds his church. And the church that the Lord builds, 2:38 there's one characteristic of it. It doesn't say it's big. It may be only two or three or it could be two 300. The important thing is not the size. The important thing is not how clever people there uh there there are in the church. 2:50 It's not even how good the preaching is or much less how good the singing is. These things are all secondary which man gives so much power rather importance to. Is the singing good in that church? Is the preaching good in that church? 3:06 The important thing is does that church overcome the powers of darkness? That is the main test. And Jesus said on this revelation I will build my church and the powers gates of hell means the powers of darkness will not be able to 3:23 overcome that church. That is what we have stressed right from the beginning of the first CFC church that was planted 50 years ago in India and wherever we have the Lord has planted CFC churches this is what we have stressed only Jesus 3:38 Christ can build his church. He said that I will build my church. So when you see a church that is crumbling and falling apart, you can be pretty sure that Christ did not build it. Nothing that Christ builds will be overcome by 3:51 Satan. Sometimes a church is started by Christ and after a while men take over. Strong men begin to express their opinions or they begin to compromise in their personal life and become careless with sin and then the devil takes over. 4:08 But if we allow Jesus Christ always to be the head of the church and to build the church the way he wants to do it here is the promise God's promise the and all the powers of hell will not be able to shake that church and that's how 4:24 we want CFC Austin to be built and to be strong in the days to come. Of course, every part every born again member in the church also has a part to play in this to keep their life under the authority of Christ. So we have to 4:41 be careful to go by some of the principles taught in scripture in relation to building the church and being disciples. I want to turn you first of all to Luke chapter 16. A verse in Luke 16 which is a warning to 4:58 all of us. Luke 16, we read here Jesus telling the apostle uh sorry telling the Pharisees in Luke 16 and verse 15. One of the characteristics of a Pharisee and there can be Pharisees in Austin 5:16 CFC. There can be characteristics in the best church in the world because Pharisees are the Lord the devil doesn't only put sinners to come and pollute the church. He sends Pharisees in to pollute the church and Pharisees can be a 5:33 greater danger than those who commit obvious sin. What is one of the characteristics of Pharisees? First of all, it says in Luke 16:14, the Pharisees were lovers of money and they were scoffing. And then Jesus said to them, here is a characteristic of 5:48 Pharisees. Luke 6:16:15. You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your heart. Listen to this. The primary one of the primary characteristics of Pharisees that Jesus 6:07 said was they justify themselves in the sight of men. In other words, if something is pointed out to them as wrong, they're immediately quick to say, "No, no, no. It's not like this. This was the reason. That was the reason. That was the thing. 6:21 This, that, and the other to show that I'm a saint, folks. I'm not a sinner like you folks are saying. I'm a saint." Number one characteristic of a Pharisee. Even when sin is exposed, clearly, they will justify themselves. 6:39 And but it says God knows your hearts. You can fool people but you can't fool God. And then he says that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. You can convince people that you're a very capable 6:55 person. It's a very dangerous thing dear brothers and to see to come to the front in a church to be an elder is a dangerous place because you are the target of the devil and even those of you who stand up and sing in front 7:14 in in Bangalore in our church we never urged people to stand in front we'd always put them on the side where nobody could see them and lead the singing so that they don't get proud and try to show off how great their singing 7:27 abilities are. And we we don't make rules on that. Everybody can do it as they like. But there's a tremendous danger. Singers are in greater danger than preachers. And they can be highly esteemed. And it says here that which is highly esteemed 7:43 among men is detestable in the sight of God. Men esteem preaching ability. Men esteem singing ability. God does not value this at all. God values humility. God values purity. 8:00 God values love. These are the things in many churches. The thing that is valued is good singing, good preaching. That which is highly esteemed by men, is detestable in the sight of God. And I say that to all those who lead the 8:18 singing and to all those who stand up and preach. Be careful that you're not seeking to get the esteem of men with all your clever statements and all that. It's a great danger especially for younger people. It's very dangerous 8:31 especially when younger people begin to lead the singing. They are in extreme danger not of ruining the church, of ruining themselves. The church that is built on the foundation of Christ can never be destroyed. But it's something 8:44 that sometimes people can get a m message like this and take it seriously for one week. one week they're really serious and see the same people one month later they completely forgotten what they've been exhorted and warned about so be 9:00 very careful about self-justification you are those verse 15 who justify yourselves very very very d very great danger I'm just trying to show you some of the dangers there are in building the church another 9:19 I want you to turn with me to 1 Peter in chapter 4. In 1 Peter chapter 4, we read he's he's writing to believers. He's talking to believers who are to 9:37 speak verse 11 as the utterances of God. You know when you speak speak as the utterances of God. Speak as if God himself is speaking through you. And to such people he says make sure verse 15 is what I have in mind. 1 Peter 9:52 4 verse1 15 make sure what should you make sure that none of you suffer as a murderer thief evildoer or as the King James version says a busy 10:10 body in other people's matters. So there are 1, two, three, four characteristics of people mentioned. The first three are obvious. I hope none of this church will end up 10:27 as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer. But there's a great danger of many people in the church being busy bodies in other people's affairs instead of minding their own business. getting occupied with finding out what's 10:46 happening there and what's happening in that family and what's happening over there. It's got nothing to do with you. Even if something is happening in the church, the elders know how to handle it. But there are so many busy bodies 10:57 who don't even know all the facts and begin to inquire and comment and all that. And now here it says here that there are four categories of people that he says don't become like this. And imagine a busy body. One would think 11:13 that's not a serious thing to be a little busy body or it's a small thing like you know like you you trip over a little stone and get up. It's not like that. It's a very serious thing. I'll tell you why. Because a busy body in other people's 11:27 matters. In other words, a man who does not learn to mind his own business and know his boundary. Now if you're an elder in a church, your boundary includes the whole church. Your church, not other people's churches. the elders 11:40 in Austin which is CFC their boundary does not include the churches in other parts of the world no not even something just outside in other parts of the US their boundary is CFC Austin now if you go outside that boundary 11:56 you're a busy body in other people's matters and the same thing applies to people in the church in Austin you people who are not elders your job is not to act like an elder if you submit to the elder You must trust them 12:10 that the actions they take are right. But when you try to give your opinion, you're being a busy body in other people's matters. If God felt that you were good enough to be an elder, he would have given you that position. 12:26 But when he has not given you that position, you must not be a busy body in matters that elders decide. You must humble yourself and say, "I'm an ordinary member of this church. I'm an ordinary brother. So, let me stay within 12:42 my boundaries. Let me not go outside of my boundaries." It's very important to stay within our boundaries. Those who are busy bodies are those who go outside their boundaries. And this is such a serious thing in God's eyes. Not sometimes 12:58 mentioned as a sin. People talk about adultery and theft and murder and all those sins, but being a busy body in matters that don't concern you. Some what's happening in some other family has got nothing to concern you. You're 13:12 not trying to help that family. You're just about gossiping about that family. This is particularly referring to gossips. Those who speak about things which don't concern them at all. A busy body in other people's matters, please see here, 13:28 is in God's eyes is the same as being a murderer. 1 Peter 4:15 is the same as being a thief and is the same as being an evildoer. They're all put in the same category. Murderers, 13:45 thieves, evildoers, and busy bodies in other people's matters who meddle in matters that don't concern them. That's very very important because why do I say that? See, we've been planting churches for 50 years now in many 14:01 countries in the world. And I have seen that this matter of being a busy I've we don't have a single murderer in any of our churches and no obvious thieves. I don't know whether people are cheating the income tax people or that I don't 14:17 know but otherwise big thieves we don't have evildoers we don't have but busy bodies and other people's matters. There are numerous people that we've had to correct in our churches and that is why I warn all of you. This is the greatest 14:31 danger. I don't think anybody sitting here in CFC Austin will end up as a murderer and hopefully not as a thief even in small matters and hopefully not as an evildoer. I hope you will also be equally careful not to be a busy body in 14:48 other people's matters. Okay. The next thing I want to say is I want to turn you to this verse about boundaries. It's very important to understand boundaries. What is your boundary? It's like, you know, what would you think of a man who's bought a 15:06 house and uh while his neighbor is away, he moves the fence just one foot into the neighbor's property. The neighbor's away on a vacation and he moves his fence one foot, just one foot, the whole length of 15:22 that side of his house. He's occupied one foot of the neighbor's property. And because it's a small distance, perhaps the neighbor does not notice it. And he does the same thing on the other side. He's expanding his own house 15:37 property by slowly encroaching on his neighbors. That is called going outside your boundary. I want you to turn to Acts chapter 17. In Acts chapter 17, we read verse 26 and 15:55 27. Very important. You see, this is related to being a busy body in other people's matters. God has made from one man, this is Acts 17:26, from one man every nation of mankind and to live on the face earth. And he 16:12 has determined the appointed time that we can understand that you were not born in the first century or the 10th century. We were all born in the 20th or 21st centuries. So God has determined the appointed time when we should be born on the earth. The 16:29 exact date of our birth was determined by God. I believe that about my birth that God determined that date and it's true of all of you if you're a child of God. And but not only the time in which you should be born that you should be 16:43 born in the 20th or 21st century but also God has determined the boundary in which you must live the country in which you must be born or the country in which you move to and finally grow up. God determined all that and he's allowed. 16:58 There's nothing wrong in migrating perfectly. Nothing wrong in that. But when in the boundary of your habitation means God has drawn a circle around you and your home. Just like I said, you should not try to encroach into 17:11 neighbors property. We must not be busy bodies in other people's matters. Like we read in 1 Peter 4 because our boundary is our own little circle God has drawn around us. And within that boundary that means within the circle 17:26 God has drawn around you. Maybe God has run a bigger circle for some people, smaller circle for some people. For example, a man who's called to be an elder. He's got a much bigger circle because he's got many people he's got to 17:38 care for within his boundary. But if you're not an elder, those people are not within your boundary. And it says here inside your boundary, verse 27, what should you do? You must seek after God. If everybody would concentrate on staying within 17:55 their boundary and seeking after God, there would be no busy bodies in other people's matters. The thing is they don't seek after God in within their own boundary. They are always want to find out what the other person is doing and 18:07 whether he's keeping within his boundary. But if you seek after God within your boundary, you can grope after him and find him and you will discover verse 27 that he's not far from you at all. He's very close. So the reason why many people don't get to have 18:23 a close relationship with God is because they are busy bodies in other people's matters. They outside their boundary. They go outside their boundary. So let me encourage all of you grope for God within the boundary God has placed 18:38 around you. Don't be a busy body in other people's matters. Say Lord I don't know Jesus well enough and in the circle in which you have put me, I want to know you. I want to know you better because Jesus said to know God is eternal life. 18:53 John 17:3 this is eternal life that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. So that is and that can happen only if I stop getting becoming a busy body and trying to poke my nose into other people's 19:10 affairs and being curious about what's happening there and what is happening there and what is happening in that family and what's happening to that person and what is doing what this person doing and who is this person 19:21 falling in love with and who is that person doing something I'm not interested I if they ask for my help I'm ready to help anybody but otherwise I I want to mind my own business. Mind your own business is a very very good 19:36 exhortation and seek for God within your boundary. So that's another very important thing I want to say. Don't be a busy body in other people's matters and within my own boundary when I seek to know God better and better. 19:54 I want you to turn to Luke 14. Now in Luke's gospel chapter 14 we read about the conditions of disciplehip. You know in our churches we don't emphasize how to go to heaven when you die. That's not our message. Jesus said go and make disciples in 20:13 every nation. Not teach them how to escape hell and go to heaven. Unfortunately a lot of preaching of the gospel is how to go to heaven when you die. Well, I'll tell you honestly, I don't preach that gospel because I'm not interested in 20:29 taking people to heaven. That's God's business. I am interested in making disciples for Jesus Christ on earth. That's what he's commanded me to do. And not only to come make disciples on earth. Matthew 28 20 2820 says, "Teach those disciples after 20:46 you've made them disciples. Teach them to do everything that I've commanded you." And that's what I've been trying to do for 50 years in many parts of the world, in many churches. Take every part of the New Testament, whatever Jesus 21:00 taught, and to teach people to do what they do. In fact, one small bit of it is in that book of mine which you have been studying in Austin CFC. All that Jesus taught. That's only a small part of it because that deals only with the Gospel 21:15 of Matthew. But that covers a major part of what Jesus taught. That is what we've sought to do. Not just to how to go to heaven. I'm not interested in ever teaching people how to go to heaven or how to escape hell. That is not my 21:30 gospel. My gospel is how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, how to follow him, how to not only enter through the narrow gate of repentance, but also to walk the narrow way of taking up the cross every day. Jesus said there is a 21:46 gate, a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life. And the narrow gate is repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The narrow way is take up your cross daily, put Christ 22:04 first in your life and follow him. So here in relation to that Jesus says in Luke 14 and verse 26 if anyone comes to me and does not hate I'm reading the exact words of Jesus 22:21 not modified like some people modify it. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and his own life, he cannot. C A 22:39 N O T cannot. Impossible for him to be my disciple. Now, how many times have you heard anybody preach on that? I preached it regularly for 50 years because I see that's the number one condition of disciplehip. And Jesus said go and make disciples. He 22:57 did not say go and tell people how to go to heaven. So if I want to go and make disciples, I must tell them the number one condition of disciplehip. It's just like when a kid joins school, the first thing they teach them is not physics. 23:11 It's not chemistry. It's not mathematics. The first thing they teach them is ABC. The alphabets. Unfortunately, many people join come to churches and they are not taught the first condition of disciplehip. This is the ABC. The 23:30 very first thing anyone the condition is for anyone you want to be my disciple okay if you don't fulfill these conditions verse 26 last part you cannot you just cannot there's no second class of disciplehip there are no first class 23:44 second class third class of disciples there is only disciple or not a disciple so what does it mean to hate father mother children and so on in other places it says honor your father and mother we must love our like Christ loved the church. And yet here it 24:02 says hate. So we need to compare scripture with scripture in order to understand what it means. And Jesus often used illustrations to make his point clear. So whenever I read the scriptures, I try to use an illustration 24:16 to find out what does this mean? And it makes it much more clear to me. I have to love my wife as Christ loved the church, but I have to hate my wife also. Here I've got to honor my father and mother, but I've got to hate my 24:28 father and mother. Here I've got to bring up my children and the fear of God. But is here it says I must hate my children. I must love my brothers and sisters in the church. But here it says I must hate my brothers and sisters. So 24:38 how do I balance these two apparently contradictory statements? It's not contradictory. It's apparently contradictory. So here's an illustration. I look at I want to you I see it like this. I must love my father, mother, 24:55 brother, sister, wife, children and all like the light of the stars. I'm using an illustration now. You know stars are very very bright. If you go near a star, it's fantastically bright, brighter than anything you can see. Many stars are 25:09 even brighter than the sun. But when we stand on the earth and look at the stars, they are like little light dots in the sky at night. Many, many dots. So I I say okay my love for my father mother must be a light definitely there 25:26 must be no darkness there. So but it must be like the light of a star. I my father I look into the sky the star star father mother children brothers sisters light everywhere no darkness there must be zero hatred or bitterness against any of 25:46 them. love, love, forgiveness, mercy. That's the light of the star. But then in the morning, the sun comes up. That is Jesus Christ. Illustration again. And that light is so bright that I can't see a single star. It's as if my love for my 26:06 father, mother, husband, wife, children have all disappeared. They're there. But the love for Christ is so powerful that the other love sort of fades into insignificance. It's not disappeared. It's there but it's so much less 26:24 compared to love for Christ. So the way I understand this verse, the basis of that illustration is that my love for Christ must be so supreme that I will never allow my love for my wife, for anyone close to me to come between me and my love for Christ. Love 26:42 for Christ must be so bright that I everybody in other words the way I understand it is everybody else must be loved through my love for Christ. When I was getting married, when Annie and I were proposed to each other, I 26:58 told her right at the beginning before we got married, I told Annie, "You will always be number two in my life. You'll never be first in my life." Now, that's a terrible thing for many people, for a man proposing to his wife to say, so I 27:13 had to explain it. What I mean is Christ will be first. And I said, "I always want to be number two in your life. I never want to be first in your life." And today after 57 years of marriage, I tell her the same thing. I've said to 27:27 her for 57 years. You will always be number two in my life. Christ will be number one. And I always want to be number two in your life. And for Christ to be number one in your life, the result is we have a supremely happy 27:39 marriage. The same way with my parents. I respected my parents right up till the time God called them home. But I never allowed them to replace Christ in my life. When Christ called me to serve 27:56 him, I decided to follow him. I didn't have to consult my father. And initially when we started building a local church with just very few people, I was already having a wide ministry around the world. And my dad told me, "Why are you giving 28:11 up all that wide ministry just to meet with 10 people in your home?" I said, "Dad, this is what God's called me to do. He's not called me to be a well-known preacher in the world, but to build a local church. And my dad died 28:24 without fully understanding that. But today, my dad is in heaven. He was a born again child of God. And today, when he sees the work of CFC, he will look down if he can see what's happening here, he'll say, "Son, you were right. 28:39 I thank God I didn't listen to my father. I listened to Christ." That's just an example. So we have to love God, love Jesus Christ more than our father and mother while we honor them. We must love Jesus Christ more than wife, 28:55 brother, sister, anybody. Even though we love, seek to love our wives as Christ loved the church. In other words, Christ must always be supreme in our life. That's the only way to build the church. So you remember the verse I started 29:10 with. Jesus said, "I will build my church. Only he can build it. We are only instruments. We are a hand or a tongue or a leg, some small part of the body, but Jesus Christ is the one who builds the church. And so we have to 29:25 just offer ourselves just like the parts of my body offer themselves to the brain to to the head to be controlled. The hand doesn't do things on its own. The brain, the head tells the hand what to do. Tells the legs where to go. That's 29:40 how we are to be submitted to Christ. That's how the body of Christ works and is to be built. So this is the thing that we need to emphasize. Now the great danger is that once God begins to use us a little bit, now see for example, I remember the days 29:58 when there was no CFC Austin. I remember the days when CFC Austin began with just a couple of people and see how much it has grown today. What is the great danger now? The great danger in every church is when 30:14 God blesses it is of pride. P R I D E. Pride. And what happens when a church people become proud or an individual becomes proud? Very clear. 30:31 God becomes your enemy. God opposes you. It's an amazing thing. Can God oppose his children? Let's turn to 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. It says, "Be in the middle of that 30:49 verse, be clothed with humility towards each other." Many of you are sitting here in Austin, CFC. You come properly dressed to the church. You don't come in your night clothes to the church, do you? 31:09 You don't come in dirty torn clothes to the church. We are very careful. There are people who use the expression Sunday best referring to the best set of clothes they have which they must wear on Sunday. Well, I'll tell you what your 31:23 Sunday best should be when you come to the church. The dress that all of you should have, the clothing that all of you should have be clothed with humility. 1 Peter 5:5. 31:41 That is the clothing that we should wear when we come to the church. Clothed with humility towards one another, towards God. Certainly that's easy. But towards one another. Now let's stop for 32:01 a moment. Whenever we read a verse in the Bible, don't rush past it. You know doctors say when you eat food, don't swallow it. Don't swallow anything that you put in your mouth, chew it. God has given us teeth. If we are not supposed 32:17 to chew our food, we would be not given any teeth. We just swallow everything that you don't need to swallow. Why has God given you teeth? Because you got to chew it, chew it, chew it. And then the food is digested better than if you just 32:30 swallow it. So here you read something, don't just swallow it, chew it. What does it mean to be clothed with from head to foot with humility towards my brothers and sisters in the church? Well, I'll tell you in very simple words 32:49 from another verse that is 1 Timothy uh sorry Philippians not 1 Timothy Philippians and chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 we read an exhortation which says verse three one sorry Philippians 33:11 chapter 2:3 speaks about humility towards one another. This is the dress or the clothing we should have every time we come to church and all the time because the church is not just Sunday morning. The church is the body of 33:28 Christ. In other words, throughout our life, our attitude towards one another must be this one. Sorry, Philippians chapter 2 and verse three middle. Uh so let's read the whole verse. Do nothing from selfishness. 33:45 Boy, what a command. Do zero from selfishness. Do zero from empty pride. Nothing I do must come out of pride trying to show off. That's especially an exhortation to 34:05 those who stand in the front. Whether you're leading the singing or preaching, don't try to show off. Those of you who lead the singing, are you listening? Don't try to show off. Those who preach here, are you listening? Don't try to show off. That 34:24 is empty conceit. But instead with humility of mind. That means while you're standing up there singing or while you're standing up there preaching, if somebody could open up your mind, they should see humility there. A humble attitude. Why do I say that? 34:42 I'll come to you that in a moment. Regard one another one, Philippians 2:3 as more important than yourself. That is humility. Have you taken Philippians 2:3 seriously all of you? This is how you can build CFC Austin. 35:01 Regard one another as more important than yourself. Not more spiritual. Don't read wrong words in there. You cannot regard others as more spiritual than yourself. That's impossible because you may be 10 times more spiritual than other people sitting 35:15 there. But regard the other person as more important. Jesus did not regard others as more spiritual than himself. How could he was not he did not say, "Peter, you're more spiritual than me." That would be hypocrisy. Jesus was the most spiritual but he 35:30 regarded them as more important. And the proof of that is that the last day on of his life on earth, he washed the feet of all of his disciples. That is the job of a slave in those days. The slave was the one who took the bucket of 35:46 water and washed people's feet in Jewish homes. And Jesus took did that job to show all of you are more important than me. I am your servant. And if Jesus took that place, how can we ever any of us think of serving him any 36:04 other way? Particularly all of you who stand in the front, whatever ministry you fulfill in the front or whatever leadership position you have, please take the example of Jesus and call yourself a washer of feet. I sometimes say we are cleaners of the 36:22 toilet. That's what I've said in CFC in Bangalore. I say today we wear shoes and socks. We don't have to wash anybody's feet. But I'll tell you what's needed in in a church building. The toilets need to be cleaned. So maybe some child used 36:35 it and didn't flush it properly. Go and clean it. That's her job. If you can see yourself as a cleaner of toilets or washer of feet, take the low place and consider others as more important than yourself. And don't keep blaming 36:52 that this person did that and that person did that or this person didn't keep the toilet clean. My job is to clean it. I'm not here to blame anybody. Take the low place. Esteem others as more important than yourself. And then 37:06 he goes on to say verse 5, have Philippians 2:5, have the same attitude in yourself that Jesus had. That's our example. That is how we build the church. Otherwise, we going to have the best songs in the world, the best singers in the world, best preachers in 37:22 the world. I tell you in Jesus name, you will not build the church of Jesus Christ there. You'll bid build a grand impressive structure that impresses people, but the gates of hell will prevail against you. Satan will prevail 37:34 against you. Now, the advantage of remaining in humility, not just being humble once in a while, but all the time. We read in one Peter and chapter 5, we were looking at that just now. be clothed with humility. And why 1 Peter 37:50 5:5, why should we be clothed with humility? Because God is against all proud people. God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. I remember meditating on that and I said, "What does that mean?" And so I looked at it 38:10 like this as I meditated on it. If I become proud for anything, proud of my good looks or proud of my knowledge or proud of my Bible knowledge or proud of my singing or proud of the church I'm in or proud of anything or proud of how 38:24 clever I am or what a good job I have or what my salary is or how wonderful my house is. Proud of anything, God is opposed to me. In other words, as I'm seeking to walk in the footsteps of Christ, God will stand against me and 38:41 push me back. Think of that. That is the meaning of God is opposed to the proud. If there's pride in my heart, no matter how much Bible knowledge I have, no matter how much you how spiritual you think you are, no matter how many years 38:57 you've been a Christian, if you have pride in your heart, God will stand in front of you and keep on pushing you back. You're not going to make much progress in your Christian life thereafter. No, forget about spiritual progress. If God 39:13 is pushing you back, on the other hand, if you humble yourself, God gets behind you and pushes you forward. Wow. Who can stand against me? That's the meaning of God gives grace to the humble. He comes 39:31 behind me and pushes me forward. No devil, no demon, all of the demons of hell will not be able to stop me when God gets behind me and pushes me forward. And I make tremendous progress in my Christian life in a very short 39:44 time. I get revelation on God's word again and again and again again. And even if my singing is not the best in the world, with my broken singing, I will bless more people than all those people with their beautiful voices. 40:02 And with my broken words, which I may not be able to preach as well as others, I'll be able to bless people and lead them closer to Christ more than all these great fancy preachers who studied in Bible schools. The important thing is God must put you 40:17 forward. That's the meaning of giving you grace. And another wonderful thing that happens when God gives you grace. Romans 6:14. Romans 6:14 says when God gives you grace, he gives grace only to the humble, nobody else does he gives grace 40:36 to. He gives grace to the humble. It says then when you're under grace, verse 14, Romans 6:14, sin cannot rule over you. All of us have grown up in a life where sin ruled us from the time we were children. We told lies. We cheated. We 40:55 rebelled against parents. We did so many wrong things. We fought with people. We had grudges. Got married and fought with wives, husbands all the time. Sin ruled us. And here comes a wonderful life where sin can no longer rule us. 41:15 But you need grace. And God gives his grace to the humble. This is the wonderful message of the gospel. and I'm sorry to say is not preached sufficiently. God is against all pride. So meditate on that. I don't have time 41:32 to go into detail in all these things but meditate on it. Then I want to warn you about another thing. It says in James in chapter 3, James chapter 3, it speaks about wisdom. 41:49 The qualities of wisdom. The qualities of wisdom mentioned in James chapter 3 are James 3:17. Peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of 42:08 mercy, good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Please turn with me in your Bible to James and chapter 3 and verse 17. Did you see it? And I want to read it in the King James version. In the King 42:26 James version, it reads like this. The last uh peaceable, gentle, pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality, 42:43 which is translated as unwavering in the NASP. But I like that without partiality. There's a lot of partiality in our hearts. We favor certain people. If somebody does something wrong and if he's a friend of ours, we cover it up. 43:03 But if somebody else whom we don't like does the same wrong thing or even less than that, we advertise it. Why is that? Two people did the same thing. One person we cover up, the other person we tell everybody about it. That is 43:20 called partiality. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus if you're partial. Partiality is one of the evils in the church. And we have to get rid of it. If you want to build the church of Jesus Christ with wisdom, James 3:17 says, "One of 43:38 the qualities of wisdom is it does not show partiality to anybody." It's one of the things I've had to fight with as an elder because in one Timothy, Paul tells Timothy, "Make sure when you deal with people that you don't show partiality to 43:54 anyone." 1 Timothy 5. He's talking about verse 1 Timothy 5. Please turn with me to 1 Timothy 5 and verse 19. Don't receive an accusation against an elder unless there are two or three witnesses. I followed that principle for 44:14 50 years with all the elders I worked with. I will not receive an accusation against any elder unless I've got some evidence for it from other witnesses. So I investigate whenever I get an accusation against an elder. That's I'm 44:31 Paul is writing to Timothy. Don't receive an accusation against an elder unless you can verify it with two or three witnesses. That's what I've done all these 50 years. And the result is sometimes I discover it's a false charge against an 44:47 elder and I throw it in the garbage bin and sometimes I discover it's a true charge against an elder then I take it up and take action on it without partiality. I say Lord help me. And if a person is discovered to be in sin 45:04 he must not be privately rebuked. It says in verse 20 he must be rebuked in the presence of everybody. That means the whole church must know that this elder committed sin so that all the others will be afraid. Oh, even the elder is exposed in sin. 45:24 Everybody will be afraid of sinning. Have you read these verses? He's talking particularly about elders in verse 19 and 20. Rebuke in the presence of everybody so that all the others will say, "Hey, if they deal with an elder 45:37 like that, what will be my condition?" And then Paul tells Timothy, "There's a great danger, Timothy, now that you may love some of these elders as your personal friends and that you will cover it up. Don't do that." Verse 21, I 45:50 solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and his holy angels. Now, every verse in the Bible is written in the presence of God and the presence of Christ and the presence of his chosen angels. Why in the world does 46:04 Paul have to mention this here? particularly is there any verse which in the Bible which is not written in the presence of God or in the presence of Christ or in the presence of his holy angels every single verse all the more 46:16 than 30,000 verses in the Bible are written in the presence of God and Christ and the holy angels but when he specifies that he's talking about a particular danger that you are facing there and so he says I solemnly that's 46:29 another thing I solemnly charge you take this seriously Timothy in the I solemnly charge you in the presence of God because one day you're going to answer to God in the presence of Christ in the presence of show angels. What is he 46:42 saying? Don't show partiality to any elder. He's talking about elders. Verse 19 and 20. Don't show partiality and don't be biased towards your favorite elder. 46:58 Don't show any partiality to any elder. I have I can stand before God today and say in 50 years I have never shown that partiality to any one of the 300 elders in any of our churches 47:17 by the grace of God because I know this is something otherwise I'll have to answer to God and to Jesus Christ one day. I say Lord I don't want to lose the anointing you have placed upon me many years ago to do your work. I never want 47:33 to lose it. I don't care what any Tom, Dick, or Harry thinks about me. I don't care if people call me all types of bad names, but I want your anointing upon me. That's the most important thing I desire more than anything else. And so I 47:48 never want to show partial partiality to anybody. I don't want to appoint anyone. Verse 22 is appointing elders. Don't quickly hastily appoint somebody without knowing that person well for a long time. Otherwise you'll one day you'll 48:03 participate in his sin as well. Keep yourself free from sin. So don't lay your hands. In other words, it also means this that don't participate in the sins of others. Don't share responsibility for the sins of others. It says in verse 22, how can we 48:20 share the responsibility for the sin of another person? I'll tell you. If I see an elder sinning and I cover it up, I'm sharing responsibility for a sin. God says you're also responsible then because you saw something in and 48:33 you covered it up. Don't share responsibility for the sin of another person. Timothy, keep yourself free. Even though that guy is your good friend, keep yourself free from it. This is one of the big dangers. Now, God is in the business of exposing 48:51 sin in the church. And one of my favorite verses is what Simeon, you know who Simeon is? The old godly man who came into the temple when Mary came to dedicate Jesus in the temple. Let me show you that verse in Luke's 49:09 gospel chapter 2. Mary came to the temple to dedicate Jesus and Simeon, an old godly man came and said something about Jesus. Read Luke chapter 2 verse 34 and 35. I've taken this verse very 49:27 strongly as applying to the church. He said here this child that is Jesus Christ is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in the church. I look at as in the church. Israel means the church. That Jesus Christ is going to come into the church. 49:45 And when he comes into the church, many will rise up to a greater height and many will fall down who are standing at a great height. That means people who are esteemed very highly will fall down and people who are not even considered 50:00 important will be raised up. That's what Jesus Christ does. And Jesus Christ in the church will be assigned to be opposed by people. The true church will be opposed by ungodly Christians. And it says in verse 35, when Christ comes into the church, the 50:18 last part of verse 35, the hidden thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. That's another thing I have found through the years that when we allow the Lord Jesus to have free course in the midst of our church, the secrets that 50:30 some people are trying to hide will get exposed one way or the other. It'll get exposed. I've seen that again and again for 50 years. Nobody can hide anything where Christ is manifested in power in a church. One day, one way or the other, God will 50:47 expose it. So we praise the Lord for that. Like there's a great verse in Numbers chapter 32. I don't know whether you know this verse. It's a small little verse tucked away in the middle of some other statements that Moses makes. Numbers 32 51:05 and verse 23. If you sin against the Lord, you can be absolutely sure one day your sin will be exposed. Listen to this. When you sin against the Lord, one day 51:24 or the other, your sin will get exposed. If not on earth, when Christ comes back, it's better to be exposed on earth because you can deal with it. If it gets exposed only when Christ comes back, there's no way to set it right. You can't set things right at 51:43 the judgment seat of Christ. It's too late. Thank God. If your sin is exposed before Christ comes back. Be sure your sin will be exposed. Praise the Lord. I want to live in a church where sin is exposed all the time. And you should have that desire also. 52:04 Lord, if there's any sin in me, let it be exposed now before you come back. I don't want it to be exposed then. So, be very, very careful, brothers and sisters, in this area. In when CFC started 50 years ago, 52:24 there's a verse that the Lord gave us on the very first Sunday that we met in August, exactly 50 years ago, August 17th, 1975. The word the Lord gave us was for 52:41 Malachi and chapter 1. Malachi chapter 1, the Lord says, "Look at these people when they bring a sacrifice." Malachi 1 vers8 they bring a blind lamb or they bring a lame ox or they bring a sick goat 53:01 blind sick the things they want to get rid of they would give as an offering to god but as God said you must bring the best from your flock so what is the meaning of that for us today that people don't give the best to God they keep the 53:14 best for themselves and they give to God that which is cheap offering to god something that is cheap. Offering a service to God that didn't cost you any sacrifice. I remember when I the Lord called me to serve him. He gave me a verse from 2 53:30 Samuel 24:24. 2 Samuel 24:24 where David said, "I will never offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing." And I remember so clearly the Lord speaking to me, "You must never in your life offer to me something that has cost you nothing. 53:49 Jesus Christ offered everything on the cross. How can I give to him that which has cost me nothing? And I decided that day. I said, "Lord, I don't care what anybody thinks. I will never offer to you that which cost me nothing." Right 54:02 from day one, from the day I left my naval job 60 years ago, I said, "Lord, I will offer to you that which costs me something. It may cost me my reputation. It may cost me money. It may cost me health. It may cost me anything. But I 54:15 will not offer to you that which cost me nothing. But these people were roing offering to the Lord that which cost them nothing. The Jewish people in Malachi time lame goats and sick thousand sick bulocks and blind sheep 54:31 etc. And the Lord said I wish there were people priests who will shut the gates. Verse 10 Malachi 11:10 that when people bring something like that shut the gates and say we don't want it. We will not accept it. And I wish there were elders 54:45 in the church who would urge the church to be sacrificial in their life and shut the gates to people who want to show off and to show how clever they are or how impressive they are any of that. Shut the gates to such people. And the Lord 55:04 says in verse 10, Malachi 11:10, I'm not pleased with you and I will not accept an offering like this from you, but a day is coming. This is the word the Lord gave to us in CFC when we started 50 years ago and I remember it even today 55:18 from the rising of the sun verse 11 to the setting that means throughout the world something going to those days it was only in the small nation of Israel but he says a time is coming when from the east to the west my name will be 55:32 great among all the nations of the world we are living in that time and in every place people will offer to me an offering that cost them something an offering that is pure. Pure means that which cost them sacrifice. And then my name will be great among all 55:49 the nations. We want the name of the Lord to be great in the United States of America, in India, in every country in the world. And for that you and I must offer to the Lord that which has cost us something. 56:07 A sacrifice that is costly. Where we deny ourselves. Jesus said, "You cannot follow me if you don't deny yourselves. If you don't humble yourself like a little child, 56:23 go down. Don't seek to be big." What are the big sins that Jesus mentioned primarily in terms of building the church in the Jesus said teach people to do all that I commanded you don't just make them disciples all that Jesus taught 56:42 teach them all that I commanded you so when we studied that we studied primarily the sermon on the mount and in the sermon on the mount I want to show you something in Matthew chapter Matthew chapter 5 Jesus said the Old 57:01 Testament they emphasized righteousness and of the scribes and the Pharisees. That's what when Jesus came into Israel the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was the great thing. It was an external righteousness. A righteousness 57:13 that was there to impress people in the way they dressed their clothes, the turbans they wore and it was all external impressive. But Jesus said your righteousness must be greater than that. Also we can say the righteousness of the 57:28 scribes and the Pharisees were the ten commandments. They tried to keep the ten commandments nine of which were external. Only the 10th one was don't lust which is internal and they nobody could keep that. They kept the nine 57:41 commandments. But Jesus said your righteousness must be more than the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. And then he gave two examples many but the first two what were the first two examples that Jesus gave where 57:56 he said your righteousness must be more than the old covenant righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees followed the old covenant commandments of Moses. Okay. And he Jesus gave two examples. He said verse 58:11 Matthew 5:21. One of the commandments is you shall not commit murder. Verse 21, God Jesus said that's not good enough. Murder begins with anger in the heart. 58:29 So you must not just stop committing murder. Verse 22, you must overcome anger. That is how your righteousness becomes greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees. If you just keep those nine commandments, it's your righteousness of the 58:45 Pharisees. But my righteousness must be more than that. And how is that? I equate anger with murder. What was murder under the old covenant is anger under the new covenant. If you're the type of person who gets angry 59:03 according to the new covenant, you're a murderer. If you're a person who always gets angry with your wife or you get always angry with your husband and yell and scream, "My brother, my sister, you are a murderer." According to the new 59:16 covenant, not according to the old covenant. The old covenant only if you take a dagger and stab your husband and wife, you are guilty. In the new covenant, you get angry. How many of you have read? In the very first book of the New Testament, 59:33 the fifth chapter. Have you got past the first fifth chapter or you want to go to much more important things later on? Don't try to jump past the fifth chapter of the first book of the New Testament. Anger in the New Testament is equal to 59:49 murder in the Old Covenant. I did not take that seriously for 16 years of my Christian life after I was born again because nobody taught me. I used to get angry at home. I never thought it was serious like most of you perhaps. Well, I hope you learned 1:00:05 something today. My hand is free of your blood today because I have told you that anger is equal to murder. And it says here, if you continue in anger, verse 22, last part, you can go to hell. We tell people, if you don't believe in 1:00:23 Jesus, you'll go to hell. Jesus said, if you continue in anger, you'll go to hell. Read verse 22 when you get time. Meditate on it. This is what leads people to hell. anger that is uncontrolled. I got so desperate because I couldn't 1:00:41 overcome it. I said, "Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit." That is when Jesus baptized me in the Holy Spirit in fire. I sought it. I'm sorry to say there are many Christians who don't emphasize it. There are people who say once you 1:00:55 receive Christ, the spirit has come in. After that, you don't seek for the Holy Spirit. That is absolute nonsense. The spirit comes in when you're born again. But our our heart is like a home with like a house with many rooms. Will 1:01:10 you put on light in one room? Is there light in the house? Yes. But 9/10enth of the house is dark. When can you say the house is filled with light when every room is lit up? So just having the spirit is like having light in one room. 1:01:25 What about the other nine rooms? Brother, sister, we must be filled with light, filled with the Holy Spirit. And it's possible to be filled with the Holy Spirit to have light in every room and one day you switch off the light in two 1:01:36 or three rooms you get dark again then you got to be filled again. So the filling of the Holy Spirit is something continuous because we have to always watch our life because darkness comes in and I'm sorry to say there are preachers who go around 1:01:49 getting angry angry angry and they say you don't have to be filled with the spirit. What absolute nonsense how the devil has deceived them. They're losing their temper at home and they say you don't have to be continuously filled 1:02:01 with to the spirit. I received the spirit so many years ago and he's there then how in the world are you getting angry all the time? There's a room in your house which is completely dark. You got to put on the light, brother. You 1:02:12 got to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Okay. Second example, verse 27. The old commandment said you shall not commit adultery. That's the commandment under the law. In the new covenant, I say if you lust after a woman in your 1:02:28 mind, you look at a woman with lust, you have already committed adultery in your heart. You look at a woman, that woman is not your wife, and you look at her with lust in your eyes. Oh, 1:02:45 I wish I could kiss her. I wish I could hug her. No, you haven't got as far as adultery yet. I just I wish I could kiss her. I wish I could hug her. Eyes full of adultery. It is equal to adultery in the Old 1:03:03 Testament. Looking at pornography, you see somebody else committing sexual sin with someone and you enjoy watching it. Your eyes are full of adultery. You are guilty. And it says here, your whole body, verse 29, can be thrown into hell. 1:03:20 Do you believe that watching pornography can lead you to hell? I preached that and I'll continue to preach it. And if you sin sexually, verse 30, with your right hand, that can also lead you to hell. It says in verse 30. 1:03:35 Yeah. Sexual sin with your eye over your right hand, it can lead you to hell. That's what the Bible says. And there's hardly anybody who preaches. I never heard it preached in my whole life. what Jesus preached in the fifth chapter of 1:03:49 the New Testament is not being proclaimed. That's the tragedy of Christendom today. That the whole council of God is not being proclaimed. You know Paul when he was leaving Ephesus after being there for 3 years, this was his testimony. 1:04:06 Turn with me to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. He says, "I preached to you now for 3 years." He was there for 3 years. Verse 31, Acts 20:31, "Night and day." 1:04:24 Acts 20:31, I preached to you with tears. Admonishing you means correcting you. And verse 20, Acts 20:20, I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable for you. Do you know that being free from anger 1:04:43 and being free from sexual lust is profitable for you? And I have tried my best to share this in every church I've sought to plant anywhere God has planted. I've taught it in houses publicly and also in churches. 1:05:01 And he says further down verse 26 and 27. Acts 20:26 7 I am innocent of your blood. I can say that honestly about all the churches I have responsibility for including CFC Austin. I am innocent of your blood because 1:05:20 verse 27 I did not hesitate to declare to you the whole purpose of God. I did not declare to you the old covenant saying don't commit adultery and don't murder. No, I proclaimed to you the new covenant saying don't get angry and 1:05:34 don't lust with your eyes. I did not hesitate to declare to you the whole purpose of God and therefore your blood is not on my hands. Some people say I've given the person the gospel that Christ died for his sins. His blood is not on my hands. Where do 1:05:50 you get that in the New Testament? Nowhere I can say somebody's blood is not on my hands when I have declared to them the entire purpose of God. 27 the whole circle not just one little segment of that circle that Christ died for our 1:06:05 sins. the whole purpose of God. And that's what anyone who preaches God's word in Austin, CFC or anyone anywhere else, I pray that you will practice the whole purpose of God and preach the whole purpose of God. Very important and 1:06:19 particularly in these days where there's so much of sexual sin. I particularly want to warn you about it. You know, you read in the news about so many pastors and so many people in America falling into sexual sin that one has to be 1:06:36 extremely careful. Extremely careful. A married person, we are told in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Let me tell you about how a married person should behave. 1 Corinthians and chapter 7. If you're a married person, 1:06:54 verse 4. 1 Corinthians 7:4, the wife does not have authority over her body. That means if you're a wife, your husband, it says your husband has got authority over your body. You cannot do anything with your body 1:07:12 which your husband does not approve of. He's talking about sexual relation. Sister, you cannot go and hug a man. You cannot. You must hug your husband. Because hugging is a expression of physical affection of love. Who should 1:07:30 you show that to? Only your husband. You can greet people but don't go and hug them. Don't do something that your husband will not like because your husband has got authority over your body. What about the husband? 1:07:49 What about the wife? And the husband also the wife has no authority over her body. And it says in the same verse, the husband does not have authority over his body, but his wife does. That means the husband must not do anything with his body that his 1:08:03 wife will not approve of. You can't go hugging a woman. You won't do that with your wife standing right there. You do that when your wife is not watching. That's evil, evil, evil. It's demonic. How many people take God's word 1:08:22 seriously? We are building new covenant churches and we take God's word seriously. Keep yourself pure. Keep yourself pure. That is the great word for this time. 1:08:41 Paul told Timothy that in 1 Timothy 5. Keep yourself pure. It's it's such a lovely word. I I say that to Timothy was an elder and uh Paul knew that he was a he was a man who could be tempted. So he told him in these words, "Keep yourself 1:09:00 pure." Keep yourself pure, free from sin. Keep yourself pure. 1 Timothy 5:22 in the King James version says, "Keep yourself pure." Three words, keep yourself pure. That is my exhortation to every brother, sister, young brother, 1:09:19 young sister. Don't go touching a woman, a girl until you're married to her. Sisters, don't go touching a man and kissing him and all till you get married to him. That is God's standard. All those standards are being lowered in 1:09:37 Christendom today and particularly in Western countries. My word to all of you is keep yourself pure. Let Austin CFC be an example of a pure church where everybody values purity and love for one another and forgiveness. 1:09:56 Don't be a busy body in other people's matters. And I want to say something also to you. We have a responsibility for one another. Do you know that we are responsible for each other in the body of Christ? If the left hand is 1:10:11 injured, the right hand immediately goes and puts some medicine there and wraps it up. If the right hand is injured, the left hand will come and wrap it up. This is how the body of Christ must function, caring for one another. 1:10:23 How much more in sinful matters. So what is your responsibility? If you see a brother or a sister in something suspicious, don't gossip. Don't talk about it. If 1:10:42 you don't know that person well, go and tell the elders. Go and tell the elders. Brother, I don't know. I'm not sure. Please don't take my word, but please investigate. I feel there is something suspicious there in that relationship. 1:10:59 That way you can protect that brother or sister from going to hell. That way you can protect that brother and sister from defiling the church. That way you can preserve Austin CFC to be a pure testimony for Christ. And it doesn't 1:11:14 matter who you are. Don't say, "Oh, well only the elder brothers can do that." No. If you're a young sister or any sister, you say, "Oh, sisters can't give tell the elders that." Absolute rubbish. Even a sister can go and tell elders 1:11:27 that. Turn with me to one Corinthians in chapter 1. Do you know how the letter to Corinthians was written? Let me tell you the story now. How the first letter to the Corinthians was written and because of that the second Corinthians was also 1:11:42 written. What was the starting point for the writing of first Corinthians? And second Corinthians would not have been written if first Corinthians was not written. So what was the starting point for first Corinthians letter? Here it is 1 1:11:57 Corinthians chapter 1 11 Paul says I was informed concerning you my brothers by sister Khloe by sister Kloe's people that there are quarrels among you 1:12:14 what were the elders in Corinth doing when there were quarrels going on there they couldn't do anything about it themselves we read when they were breaking read. All of them were acting selfishly. We read in 1 Corinthians 11, 1:12:29 there were people taking each other to court. We read in 1 Corinthians 6, there was a man living in sin with his stepmother. We read in 1 Corinthians 5, there were all types of abuse of the gift of tongues. As we read in 1 1:12:41 Corinthians 14, there were all types of evil. They were breaking bread and committing sin. 1 Corinthians 11. Many, many things were wrong. And one sister had the courage to stand up. Praise God for sister Chloe. She decided to write 1:13:01 to Paul. She didn't think, "Oh, who am I? I'm only a sister." She saw something was wrong. She had a burden. She went wrote a letter to Paul. Those days there was no phone or communication like that. No internet. You had to send a letter. The 1:13:16 letter probably took two two months or three months to reach Paul. And she said, "I must write because I'm terrible." She had a concern for the church in Corinth which the elders did not have. Praise God for sisters like 1:13:26 Chloe. Throughout history, there have been some godly sisters like that who had a concern for the purity of the church. And so she wrote to brother Paul, "Brother Paul, let me tell you something. There's a man here living in 1:13:38 sin with his father's second wife. There are people here going to court, taking each other to court. There are people yelling and screaming in tongues. Nobody understands what they are saying. It's chaos in the meeting and there are people committing other 1:13:54 types of sins. They're not taking fornication and sin seriously. And so Paul writes to these people. He writes things like 1 Corinthians 6, free from fornication and immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:18. And many other things 1:14:10 he tries. You read the whole letter to Corinthians. Where did he get all these points from? He got those points from Sister Chloe, inspired by the Holy Spirit. I'm sure she was a woman of prayer, who said she was concerned about 1:14:27 the church of Jesus Christ because the Corinthian church was in an absolute mess. The elders were not doing anything about it. So, Sister Chloe said, "I'm not an elder. I can't do anything about it. I can't take any action here, but I 1:14:39 can write to Paul." And what did Paul say? Paul didn't say to her, "Who do you think you are, sister Khloe, to write to me?" He said, "Thank you, sister Khloe, for writing to me." And the Holy Spirit backed up that statement of Chloe. And the proof of it 1:14:53 is one Corinthians. And through one Corinthians came 2 Corinthians. So you think of a wonderful verse like this which has blessed so many people. In 2 Corinthians 12, one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 9, God says, 1:15:10 "My grace is sufficient for you." What a wonderful verse. You know who I have to thank for that verse? Sister Chloe. There would have been no one Corinthians and then there would be no two Corinthians if sister Chloe had not 1:15:25 written that letter to Paul. I'm not saying it wouldn't have come. God would if sister Chloe failed, God would have used somebody else. But God happened to use Sister Chloe. And I praise the Lord when I see Sister Chloe in heaven one day. I will thank 1:15:39 her. I'll say, "Sister Chloe, thank you. Because of you, I got two books of the New Testament. One Corinthians and two Corinthians. I got this wonderful verse. My grace is sufficient for you which has helped me tremendously in my life." 1:15:52 Sister Chloe, thank you so much. I just want to say, dear brothers and sisters, let us humble ourselves. If you have been convicted of anything today, don't get upset. Don't get angry with me. 1:16:10 I hope I tried my best. I prayed much that I would be led by the Holy Spirit in what I said. If I have spoken strongly, it's because it's needed. But I say before the Lord, I have spoken in love for Jesus Christ and for his 1:16:23 church. That's what how I always try to speak. I'm not seeking any anything for myself at all. I don't want a reputation. I don't want any honor. I don't want anything. I want Jesus Christ to be honored. And I want the church in Austin 1:16:36 to be a strong expression of the body of Jesus Christ. Not just any third rate church just having good songs and some preaching and Bible studies and uh having good meals together when you have a Bible study. That's not the type of 1:16:52 church I'm interested in. A church that reflects the glory of Christ with humble people, not gifted people. Humble people. I'm not impressed by gifted singers. Zero. I want to see if there are humble people there in any church. I'm not at all impressed 1:17:10 by gifted singers or even by gifted preachers. I said, are there humble people here? Humble people who are reflecting the life of Jesus Christ and who are concerned for purity in the church. That's the type of person I'm 1:17:24 looking looking for. You don't have to judge anybody else. Like I said, don't be a busy body in other people's matters. Just judge yourself. Keep yourself pure. That word of Timothy, Paul to Timothy, keep yourself 1:17:42 pure and help others to be pure. And if anything has even got a shade of impurity, avoid it. Even a smell of impurity, avoid it. That way we shall preserve the church. And I say, may God bring purity into the 1:18:01 church. May he discipline the church. May he bring judgment into the church so that a CFC Austin will be pure. The coming of the Lord is near. It's time for us to purify ourselves and judge ourselves. One last verse. 1:18:19 1 John 1 John chapter 3 we all say Christ is coming soon okay 1 John chapter 3:2 the last part we know that when Christ appears we will 1:18:37 be like him because we will see him just as he is all of you believe that I know that Jesus is coming back and when he comes we'll be like him and if you really believe this that you, my brother, my sister, older brother, younger brother, 1:18:54 older sister, younger sister. If you believe this that you are going to be like Christ when he comes back, I believe it with all my heart, then what will you do? Everyone, verse three, does that include you? 1 John 3:3. Everyone, 1:19:09 everyone, young, old, brother, sister, everyone who has this hope. Which hope? That when Christ comes back, last part of verse two, I will be like him. We will see him as he is and we will be like him. 1 John 3:2, Christ is coming 1:19:25 back. I will see him and he'll make me like himself. I'm sure all of you have that hope. So if you have that hope, what should you do? You should purify yourself. Verse three, until you reach his standard of purity. Got it? You got 1:19:40 your homework for the rest of your life. Here is your homework for the rest of your life. Purify yourself until you reach Jesus standard of purity. Don't do anything that Jesus would not do. Ask yourself in a particular tricky 1:19:56 situation, what would Jesus do here? And do that. You won't go wrong. So dear brother, dear sister, I poured out my heart to you because I'm burdened. I'm burdened for all the churches for which God has given me some 1:20:15 responsibility. I want one day to stand before the Lord and answer to him and say, "Lord, I tried my best to do what you told me to do. Say what you want me to say." And in order to live this life, let me say to you, my 1:20:33 brothers, sisters, seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. You cannot live this life without being filled with the Holy Spirit. You need to be filled with the spirit every day. I pray to be filled with the spirit every day. Don't be 1:20:46 against the baptism in the Holy Spirit. There are many churches that never preach the baptism in the Holy Spirit. You need to be immersed just like you were immersed in water once you immersed in the Holy Spirit every day of your 1:20:59 life. I want to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. There's a beginning to it, but it's a continuous thing. Rivers of living water must flow out from us. Let's pray that will happen. Don't ever dishonor the Holy Spirit. You remember 1:21:14 Jesus said, "Those who speak against the Holy Spirit, there'll be no forgiveness for them." Says in Matthew chapter 12, serious word. I dare not speak against the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I'm sorry to say, there are Christians who 1:21:27 speak against the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There are Christians who speak against the necessity of being filled with the spirit continuously. I'm scared for what will be their judgment in the final day. Don't dare to 1:21:39 speak against the Holy Spirit. That's what I say. Be fear. If you better to keep your mouth shut and say I don't know rather than try to speak against the Holy Spirit. God bless you all. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, 1:21:59 I pray in Jesus name that you will bless CFC Austin mightily. that everyone here, those who have ears to hear, open their heart to what they heard today completely 1:22:16 to receive your word, to humble themselves, to seek you for the power of the Holy Spirit every day. And you're my witness, Lord. I seek you for that every day. Help them to seek you for it every day to glorify you and purify the church in 1:22:34 Austin and strengthen it. Expose the hypocrites ruthlessly and let everyone young and old be challenged to follow you. Bless the little children. Remove the stumbling blocks and we pray that everyone here will walk 1:22:53 in humility so that you can support them so that you can give them grace to overcome sin. Bless the elders especially that they'll be fearless in standing up and holding up the standards of God's word. Thank you, Father, for your love and 1:23:11 your care for your church. Thank you, Lord Jesus. You will build your church and the gates of powers of hell will never be able to touch it. So, Father, we pray this prayer in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. 1:23:26 Thank you, Josh, and all the elders for allowing me to speak to the church. Thank you, brother Zach, 1:23:47 for the strong words that we heard today. Thank you for pouring out your heart, for praying for our church, for the burden you have carried for our church and the care you have for us especially during these times. We are 1:24:03 immensely thankful uh for you and for your ministry and today uh we heard such a strong word and what should be our response? Uh I was thinking of this verse in Isaiah chapter 66. Uh God says for my hand has made all 1:24:22 these things. Thus all thing all these things came into being declares the Lord. But to this one I will look to him who is who is humble and contrite of spirit. And at the end it says who trembles at my word. Do we tremble at 1:24:41 the word that we heard today? when we tremble at at his word there there is hope and we we fear God and we seek to obey all that we heard today. Let us not be those people who hear and forget but let us meditate on those words that we 1:24:57 heard the strong warnings that we need to take to heart. One thing I have noticed all this especially during these weeks uh word of god is timeless and it is it is this word that gives us strong correction uh comfort and encouragement 1:25:12 and strength and uh this word is eternal written by holy spirit even in this particular sin that brother Zach mentioned about being a busy body it is such a practical word for all of us especially as part of a small church we 1:25:26 are we can say ignore okay I I'm not a murderer I'm not evildoer. I'm not a thief. But I could be a busy body. If I tremble at God's word, I will take even the small little word from that verse seriously. Then I can grope for God 1:25:42 within the boundaries of habitation that God has put around me. Then I will discipline myself. And I want to just read few verses from Ephesians chapter 5. This uh verses spoke to me very powerfully in these last few weeks. 1:25:56 It says, "Do not participate." Verse uh sorry, chapter 5:1 onwards, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. For it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in 1:26:12 secret, but all things become visible when they are exposed by the light. For everything that becomes visible is light." And then the next verse uh verse 15 uh therefore be careful how you walk not as unwise man but as wise making the 1:26:31 most of your time because the days are evil. So do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. And then the next verse is our favorite verse. Do not be drunk with wine but for that is dissipation but be filled with 1:26:45 the spirit. And these are not the times where we can we have we don't have plenty of time. We have very little time. Let's make most of the time. Let us not be busy bodies. Let us not uh step out of the boundaries God has 1:26:58 created for us. Let us take these warnings we heard today seriously. This is a word the Lord has given through brother Zach for our church particularly. These are the words very personal words. Let us take it as if Jesus is speaking to us today. Thank 1:27:12 you. Thank you, brother Zach, for uh pouring 1:27:32 out your heart. As I close, I want to present one question to all of us. Um, why do we come to this church? Why have you chosen to come? Now, most of us had probably heard 1:27:52 brother Zach's message at some point. And um, we're seeking for a true church. We speak the truth unfiltered. Also, some of us, a lot of us, I think, get excited when 1:28:11 sins are exposed in other churches. We're sick of the money untruthfulness of the scandals that happen in other churches. And when brother Zach exposes them, then we get excited. And 1:28:29 is it for those reasons that we come? But when the Lord exposes my sin, your sin, will I be just as excited when it applies to me. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 1:28:49 says, "Test yourselves to see if you're in the faith. Examine yourselves." I hope we all took this to heart today to examine ourselves. We still have time. As long as there's life, there is hope. I know this is maybe very confusing to 1:29:06 some of you. This may be very um disorienting. Please talk to God first. You have direct access to him through the power of the Holy Spirit. He's a helper. Um and also if you need to process some thoughts, please reach out to the elders 1:29:22 or some of the brothers that you have trust in faith in to process this together. As a church, um, we're going through a testing and trial. Um, Hebrews 12:26, it's promised. This trial is promised. 1:29:41 His voice shook the earth. But what yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven. It means that removing those things which can be shaken. You know about the reason why he shakes things that can be shaken so that we 1:30:00 know which cannot be shaken may remain which is pure and everlasting. So be let's be thankful that we are being shaken right now this this week today. 1:30:18 Um I want to end with this verse that the attitude with which we should enter this testing and trial is that count it all joy my brothers when you meet the trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith this will test your faith 1:30:37 who are you going to stand with the Lord's name testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect. And when we are done with this testing, we know the fruit, the result, which is that you may 1:30:56 be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, which means that only Jesus may remain, his glory, steadfast is, firm, unwavering, and loyal to Jesus. So, let's take into heart what we heard this morning and let's go to the Lord. 1:31:13 Let's close in prayer. Our father, we thank you Lord for shaking us to the core of why we come, why we came to this church, why we came to you. Lord, thank for exposing our hearts, the thoughts, man's 1:31:30 minds. Lord, thank for giving us an opportunity to repent. Thank for that we know why you came, Jesus, to save us from all our sins. Lord, we come to you, Lord, by the blood 1:31:47 that you sacrifice for us, Lord. Lord, you love our church, the Austin CFC, our hopes for this church, that we may remain pure bride to you until the day you come. Let this be a dear to us, Lord. Thank you Lord for all the 1:32:06 watchmen that you have are establishing you have established in this church Lord to keep this church pure. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
