0:00 Thank you very much for that, welcome. There is no part of this body, our human body, that is independent of the others, no part, 0:27 not even the heart. And there is no part of the body of Christ that's independent of others, there is no part of this human body that does not serve the others and is served in return. We may think of the heart as the most important part of our body pumping blood into the body 0:49 of the heart stops, that's the end of our lives. But do you know that the heart could never function? If the hand doesn't take the food, put it in the mouth, the teeth don't chew it, the stomach doesn't digest it, the heart wouldn't function. 1:06 So, the strongest member in our body is dependent on the weaker ones. I've learned that through 57 years of being a believer. And I hope all of you will remember, especially anyone who is tempted to think a bit too much 1:27 of himself, to realize that you are what you are, not only because of Jesus our head, but because of the other members of the body who pray for you, probably without your knowledge. I know hundreds and probably thousands pray for me, I don't even know them. 1:44 But I know that's why I've been able to serve and I'll never forget that. So my subject today is the church that God can approve of. God's approval is not something that everybody seeks, God's blessing everybody seeks. 2:07 I cannot think of any Christian who doesn't seek for God's blessing, but among all the millions of Christians who seek for God's blessing, there are only a few who seek for God's approval. Every church in the world seeks for God's blessing. 2:26 I'm sure this church has also sought God's blessing and it's right, we cannot survive without God's blessing. But I personally think there are very few churches, among all that I've traveled many countries in the last 50 years, that earnestly seek for God's approval and seek to find out what 2:46 is it that we can do to get God's approval. So many people pray and fast, not for God's approval, it's usually for God's blessing. We've got to go beyond that, dear brothers and sisters, and seek for God's approval. Because when we stand before the Lord, it's not God's blessing alone that's going to make 3:12 us happy. But if we can look back over our lives, I often do that, you know, I use my imagination to think of the day when I will stand before my Savior and He will be on the throne and He will, the Bible says, He's going to evaluate the lives of every single one of His children. 3:32 2 Corinthians 5 says that, that whatever we have done in our body, we shall give an account to Him in that day. He will evaluate everything I did in my life, right from the time I was converted. Because of my ignorance, He overlooks. 3:51 But from the time He gave me light according to the light I had, God would not judge. I was converted when I was 19 and a half and God wouldn't judge my actions those days by the light I have today. He would judge my actions those days by the light I had then. 4:08 Today He judges me by the light I have today, but He will evaluate me. And the evaluation will not be how many blessings I received from Him. But how much did I express my gratitude for what He did for me on the cross? 4:28 How much have you expressed your gratitude to Jesus Christ for what He did for you on the cross? I left my job in the Indian Navy exactly 50 years ago in May 1966, it's 50 years and 2 months now. And I want to say, these have been the most exciting years of my life. 4:49 And I'm so excited to serve the Lord. It's never a strain, it's never a burden. I have no complaints, it's been exceptionally good. God's been exceptionally good to me and God's people have been exceptionally good to me. 5:08 And those, the enemies of the Lord have also blessed me by allowing me to be tested and tried and to prove God's faithfulness. So there's nobody I can really complain about. It's been a wonderful life. I would say to anyone, the best thing you can ever do is to serve the Lord, especially if 5:33 you seek for God's approval, I want to turn to 2nd Timothy and chapter two, Paul, this is Paul's last letter, by the way, 2nd Timothy in chapter two and verse 15. This was Paul's last letter to Timothy. It was as far as we know, the last letter he wrote. 5:55 And Timothy was probably around 45 years old then. He'd already been working with Paul for 25 years, the most wholehearted of Paul's workers. Paul says that in Philippians chapter two, but here in 2nd Timothy chapter two, verse 15, 6:13 he tells Timothy, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God." He's not blessed by God, he's already been blessed. Be diligent means work hard with all your energy and effort to present yourself to God as one 6:39 whom he can approve of, as a workman, not a lazy person, and one who does not need to be ashamed of anything in one's life, you're ashamed of thousands of things in our past life, but right now, having been cleansed in the blood of Christ, to present ourselves to God as one 6:59 who's not ashamed. Do you think that's possible? Yes. Accurately handling the word of truth. So to present yourself to God as one whom he approves of. We need to present, if you're a married man, I often think of that. I have four sons and my burden right from the time they were born was, "Lord, I want to not 7:21 only present myself, if I were alone, I'd present myself, but you've given me a family. I want to present my family to you, that they will be approved by you, and the way I've brought them up will be approved by you, and that my sons will grow up to be approved by you." 7:40 And now I have these sixteen grandchildren, I pray for them, that they will be approved by God, and that in their generation, they'll be witnesses for Christ, so that from generation to generation, there'll be a witness for Christ on this earth. 7:54 You need to pray that for yourself and your family. And if you have grandchildren, for grandchildren too, it's never too early to start praying for them. That they will be approved by God. Not just blessed, we pray for God's blessing on our children and grandchildren, but I want 8:11 to urge you, my brothers and sisters, concentrate a little more in praying that they'll be approved. And then for our church, and the churches I have responsibility for, your church here, what should we be praying? Will God bless us? 8:25 Yes, praise the Lord. We can never move without that, but I would urge you to pray that your church will be approved by God. It doesn't matter one bit what men think about this church. They can criticize it, it doesn't matter one bit. 8:44 They approve of it, don't be proud of that. It means nothing. It means nothing. Does God approve of it? That's the only thing that matters. So that's what we want to think of as a church, and the church comprises of individuals. 9:04 Church is not this building, it's individuals. All of you who are committed to this church are the church, are this local church. So how should it be with you? So I have to speak to the individuals here. That's the church. 9:20 It's not an organization, it's not a system. So as I share, I want each of you to think of yourself, just yourself. Not of this congregation, but of yourself. As one part of this church, as one part of the body, that you do your part to present yourself 9:40 approved to God. The Bible speaks of the Christian life as one in which we grow. We sang about grace today. I want to show you a verse in John's Gospel, chapter 1. An expression which I don't know whether you have noticed. 9:59 It says in John chapter 1 and verse 16, it's talking about the fullness there is in Jesus Christ. Upon His fullness, it says we have received, not grace, but grace upon grace. And I could say grace upon grace upon grace upon grace upon grace. 10:26 This is the Christian life. If you just receive that first forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, that's good. Well, you've got to go a long way beyond that. To receive forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. 10:44 To have that initial salvation by grace. We are by grace are we saved through faith where all our past is blotted out is the beginning. It's like sending our children to elementary school. We're so happy that whatever age that is, five or six, they join a school and they started 11:07 their education. But you're not happy that they are sitting in the kindergarten. You're happy that they joined school and they are studying. They know that two plus two is four and they know that B.A.T.E. is bad. It's great. 11:19 But you don't want them to spend the next 15 years just knowing that two plus two is four. You want them to move on. You want them to move on to middle school and high school and to graduate. Every father and mother wants that. 11:36 And I want to say to you that God, your father, wants that too. He doesn't want any of you to be sitting in the kindergarten forever. Spiritual kindergarten. So when you turn to one John and chapter two, first episode of John chapter two, we see what 11:59 the elementary and the middle and the higher classes are, high school levels are in the Christian life. Three levels and those three levels are mentioned in verses 12 to 14. 1 John chapter two and verse 12, I'm writing to you little children. 12:23 That's the elementary school. That's the lowest level. And your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. We go to verse 13, I'm writing to you fathers. That's high school because you know him who's been from the beginning. 12:42 I'm also writing to you young men. That's the middle school. He says, you've overcome the evil one. I've written to you children. Again, he repeats to the elementary ones because you know the father. And verse 14, again, he repeats, I've written to you fathers, those are in high school because 12:59 you know him who's been from the beginning. And I've written to you young men, those are in middle school, because you're strong. The word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. So to each of these three groups, he repeats it twice. 13:14 So those are the three stages in the Christian life. And I want you to lead you through them because this is how he gets God's approval. It's like graduating from school and as eager as you are that your children should graduate 13:31 with good grades in every class and every level. I want to say to you that God is just as eager that every one of his children. I mean, if you've got three children, you don't want, you don't want just one of them to graduate 13:44 well. You want all three. And if God's got five or six hundred children in this church, how many of them do you think God wants to graduate at each level and move on to the next one? 50%? Are you happy with 50% of your children graduating, going to the next level? 14:10 God is a father, a better father than any of us. And I want to say to you, he's eager that 100% everyone in this church moves on to the next level. And that's your responsibility to ensure that you are diligent. 14:30 See, if any of us have children who are intellectually or mentally challenged, okay, we can be compassionate towards them. They cannot go through school or something like that. But if they're lazy, there's no excuse for that. 14:51 We can be compassionate towards someone who's mentally challenged, but not towards a lazy child. And I want to say, the Bible says, be diligent. He's speaking about hard work. So what God is saying is that each of us have to work hard. 15:06 If Timothy, at the age of 45, having been a believer for 25 years, had to work hard, Paul says work hard, so that God can approve of you. I want to say to you that this church has to work hard. And by this church, I mean you, individual, you, yourself. 15:26 You can only do your part. You can't even do your wife's part, you know. You can't do your husband's part. You can only do your part and make sure that you work hard to present yourself approved to God. Now, speaking about something I have not tried to do. 15:45 At least for the last 40 years since we started planting churches, I have really sought to work hard with all of my heart to present myself, my family, and the churches we plant as approved to God, completely ignoring the opinions of men. 16:03 I often say that the opinions of men are fit for the trash can, except the opinions of really godly men. The opinions of godly men are not fit for the trash can. The opinions of other men are fit for the trash can. The trash can, I couldn't care less for them. 16:21 But if I was living in the time of the Apostle Paul and if Paul had a certain opinion about me, boy, I would really value it. I wouldn't discard that because I think, here's a man of God who feels something's wrong with 16:33 me. I better listen to that. Take it seriously, my dear brothers and sisters, so that in the day when Christ comes again, you will have no regret. You don't have a chance to live your life again. I'm personally convinced, and not all may agree with me, but I'm absolutely convinced that 16:51 there are going to be many hundreds of thousands of Christians who, when they get evaluated by Christ at the judgment seat that is coming, there will be regret over the way they lived their life. They look back over their life and say, "Boy, I wish I had taken it a little more seriously 17:10 over there." Think of that rich young ruler who came to Jesus and wouldn't give up his money. I don't know where he is today. If he repented towards the end of his life, he's in heaven. If he didn't, he's in hell. But wherever he is, go and ask him, "What do you think of that day when you turned away 17:30 from the Lord, the Lord who gave you the same calling that he gave to Peter, James and John, forsake all and follow me? They did it and you didn't. See where they are today in eternity and see where you are. Do you have a regret?" 17:51 What do you think he'd say, even if he did get to heaven, do you think he'd look back over his life without any regret? I want to ask all of you, remember that day is coming, Christ will come again, we'll be caught up in the air and we will stand at his judgment seat. 18:06 Will it be enough that you finally made it to heaven? Or are you desperately eager like I am? My Savior will say to me, "Well done, good and faithful servant." If you don't have that passion and that desire, I want to say to you, you don't have much gratitude 18:28 for what Jesus did for you on the cross. If you're just happy that you're earning a good living, you built a good house and you're comfortable and you ease your conscience by putting a few dollars into the offering box, 18:41 is that Christianity? Is that how Jesus gave himself for us? I often meditate on the cross and what Jesus gave himself for me. That's what made me give everything up for him. And that's what challenges me even today. I keep saying, "Lord, I haven't done enough to show my gratitude to you for all that you've 19:03 done for me." And that little verse goes, "I cannot work my soul to save for that my Lord has done, but I will work like any slave for love of God's dear son." Say that. All your life, "I cannot work my soul to save for that my Lord has done, but I will work 19:26 like any slave for love of God's dear son." Not for a reward. No, I do not serve the Lord for a reward. I will not be disappointed if I get no reward in eternity, the Lord has already done enough for me. I mean, if someone has already given you a million dollars as a gift, would you ever 19:44 go back to him asking for anything more? And after all that the Lord has done for me on the cross, I don't want to go back for him to anything more. I say, "Lord, you've done more than enough, but I want to work like any slave for love 19:55 of God's dear son." How many of you can honestly say, "I will work like any slave." A slave is one who gets no salary. That's the difference between a slave and a servant. I will work like any slave for love of God's dear son. 20:11 If not, if you're not able to say that, ask yourself whether you have any gratitude for what Jesus did for you on the cross to save you from an eternal hell. So we come to the Lord and we begin as children. And the first thing we need to know as children is to be absolutely sure. 20:32 1 John 2 verse 12, "Your sins are forgiven you," 1 John 2:12, "for his name's sake." Not because we did anything. We got to be absolutely sure of that because if you're not sure, absolutely sure that your past has been blotted out, taken care of, that God doesn't hold it against you, you cannot 20:56 make progress beyond the kindergarten. You will sit in the kindergarten all your life and you'll be very insecure and the insecurity in your life will be manifested in wrong attitudes towards other people, jealousy and competition 21:10 and strife and murmuring and grumbling and so many things all because you're not sure that your own past has been taken care of. It's very, very important. You got to believe what the Bible says in Hebrews 8 and verse 12, "Their sins and their iniquities, 21:30 I will not remember anymore." It's not just that God forgives me, that itself is wonderful. All the evil things that you and I have done, He doesn't just say He'll forgive me. I will not remember them anymore. In other words, I will not hold that against you. 21:49 We don't have to come before our heavenly Father and think, "Oh boy, He knows what I did ten years ago. He knows that terrible thing I did three years ago." He doesn't. He knows it in his memory, yes. God's memory is better than ours, but He doesn't, when He says, I will, He doesn't say I'll forget. 22:08 Let me be exact. He doesn't say in Hebrews 8, "I'll forget your sins." He doesn't forgotten. But He says, "I will remember them no more," means when you come before me, I don't remember what you did. I'm not holding that against you. 22:21 To me, it's a great relief, I tell you. I mean, none of us would be comfortable if people knew all the wretched things that we did in the past. Well, I wouldn't be comfortable if I came before God and I think, "Hey, in the back of 22:35 his mind, he's thinking what I did yesterday or last year." No, He doesn't. If you have repented, repented doesn't mean I've given up a sin. It means I've turned away from that sin. Please understand this difference. You can repent from anger and yet not have got victory over your anger. 22:55 You can repent from sexually dirty thoughts and yet not have got victory over it. Repentance means, Lord, I have turned around. I don't want that life anymore. I don't want to sin anymore. When people come to me for water baptism, the question I ask them is this, "Do you want 23:15 to sin even once the rest of your life?" I said, "Be careful. I'm asking you, will you sin once?" None of us can say, "I won't." But do you want to sin even once the rest of your life? And if you can't give a correct answer to that, I would have to say, you're not really born 23:38 again. A truly born again person sees what Jesus did for him on the cross, that he suffered on the cross for my sin, that he says, "Lord, I never want to sin even once." Unfortunately we do, but I don't want to. So this is what repentance is. 24:00 Can I say, I've turned around and said, "I never want to." And I believe the blood of Jesus has cleansed me. One of the mistakes I did as a young person was, I'd look back over some gross sin that I did and I'd keep confessing that many times, thinking that you had to confess it many times, 24:18 that if it's a small sin, you've got to confess it once, if it's a big sin, you've got to confess it 20, 30 times, depends on how big the sin is. And I don't think I'm alone in that. I think all of you have probably done that. 24:28 And that's because we don't believe that God takes us at our word. Then I say, "Lord, I did that. I'm sorry." And he sees, "I'm sorry." God says, "I will not remember that anymore." Why should I remember it? That means I can look back, yes, I really believe, I really believe we need to clap hands 24:49 and praise God for that, that he doesn't remember our sins anymore. That means praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. That means I can look back now over 76 years of never having sinned when I stand before God. This is the meaning of justification by the blood of Jesus Christ. 25:14 To be justified means just as if I had never sinned. And to look back like that and to come before God and say, "God, here I am, 76 years without sin. Aren't you happy with me?" You think that's an exaggeration? It is not. 25:34 I'm not glorifying myself. I'm glorifying the blood of Jesus Christ. That's kindergarten. That's not post-graduate Christianity. That's kindergarten. Little children, your sins have been forgiven you for his name's sake. 25:54 I emphasize that because I see so many believers who are not clear on that. They're not. They still think God's remembering their sins. And when you think that you, no, I tell you the sin God remembers the one you've not confessed. 26:07 Sure. But if you confess your sin, it says, "He is faithful and just," 1 John 1:9, "to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And he says, "I won't remember it anymore." That's a wonderful promise. And if you can believe that, you can come before God with boldness. 26:28 Your sins have been forgiven for his name's sake. That is not something you learn 10 years after you're converted. You should know it the day you're converted. God does not hold my sins against me. I stand before Christ God. 26:43 I stand before my father clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The second thing about children is mentioned in 1 John in chapter 2 and verse 13, the last part of it. 13, the last part, "I've written unto you, children, because you know the Father." 26:59 There are two things. One is that our sins are forgiven, our past is taken care of, and that we know the Father. The last part of that verse, "I've written unto you, children, because you know the Father." That means you know that you have a daddy in heaven. 27:15 The Bible says, as soon as the Holy Spirit comes in, and whenever you receive Christ into your heart, you know that the Holy Spirit comes in right then. We are baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit maybe later. But the Spirit of God comes in as soon as you're born again. 27:27 If you're not received the Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:9 says you're not even a child of God. So as soon as you receive Christ, it's His Spirit that comes in. We seek later on to be filled or baptized with the Holy Spirit. 27:40 But the Spirit comes in and the first thing that the Spirit says is, "Abba." And the translation of that in English would be, "Dad." So the Holy Spirit comes in to our heart and assures us our past is forgiven. And from within cries out, "Dad!" 27:56 I've got a dad in heaven, which even the greatest prophets and saints in the Old Testament could not say. Do you know that Elijah could never look up and say, "Dad." You know that John the Baptist, the great prophet, could not look up to heaven and call God, 28:13 "Dad." It's an amazing thing that we can do that. And I wonder whether we realize the wonder of it. We don't exalt our sin above the blood of Christ. Anytime you remember sins that you've confessed in the past, you're exalting that sin above 28:32 the blood of Christ. It's an insult. I exalt the blood of Christ above my sins. That's why when God says, "I don't remember them," I'm saying, "I'm not going to remember them either." I'm sorry for them, I'm sorry for the pit I was in from which God saved me and that makes 28:46 me very merciful in my dealings with others. That makes me forgive others because God's forgiven me so much. That's for sure. In the same way, I appreciate the fact that God has allowed me to know him as a dad who cares for me. 29:02 You know the difference between an orphan and one who has earthly parents. An orphan is very insecure. If he has a need, he doesn't know where to turn. He may have a loving uncle or aunt, but it's nothing like having your own dad and mom. 29:19 And a lot of Christians, I find, are like orphans. They're so insecure. Some problem arises and they don't know where to turn. They don't have a dad in heaven. Like that little verse about two birds talking to each other. 29:37 Said the robin to the sparrow, "I would really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so." Said the sparrow to the robin, "Friend, I think it must be that they have no heavenly father such as cares for you and me." 29:57 Is that what the birds are saying when they look at your life? Look at this anxious couple, always worried about something in their home. And one bird says to the other, "Perhaps they don't have a father like we have, who cares 30:09 for us. We don't have a bank account. We don't have any savings, but our father cares for us. Do you have a dad in heaven?" This is kindergarten lesson, a lot of our problems in the Christian life is we haven't learned our kindergarten lessons properly. 30:28 You think kindergarten lessons are not important? If you did not study the alphabet properly, how would you be able to read any book? In middle school or high school, you wouldn't be able to study physics or chemistry or history 30:41 or anything if you don't know the alphabet. That's why we have to teach children the alphabet and the alphabet of the Christian life is to know that your sins are forgiven and that you've got a dad in heaven. If you have not understood that properly, I want to tell you all your life, your entire 30:59 school life, you'll have problems. I've seen Christians like that. The problem is they have not understood what they should know right at the beginning. I've got a dad up in heaven, very, very, very important. Okay. Let's move on to middle school. 31:16 1 John chapter 2 and verse 13. It says here, "I'm writing to you young men," verse 13 in the middle, "because you've overcome the evil one." And then it goes on to explain it further in the next verse in verse 14, "The word of God 31:35 abides in you," the last part of verse 14, "and you have overcome the evil one." How do we overcome the evil one? In the kindergarten, I'm only thinking of I've been forgiven. I've got a dad in heaven. I must not stop there. 31:48 I've got to go on to facing temptation and trial. I remember one of my grandchildren once asking me when he was about seven years old, he said, "Grandfather, why doesn't God destroy the devil?" I said, "Boy, that's an intelligent question for a seven-year-old to ask. 32:05 I better tell him that." And I said, "It's because, you know, our body would not become strong if he just ate food. We have to do exercise and whenever we do exercise, whether it's running or doing something with our hands or lifting weights or anything, we're subjecting our muscles to resistance. 32:29 And when we subject those muscles, the leg muscles or anything to resistance, that's how they become strong." So God has allowed the devil to exist, to resist us. Otherwise, who'd resists us? The angels are not going to resist us and God's allowed the devil to exist, to resist us so 32:45 that as we resist him, we become strong. So you got to resist the devil. When the devil tells you not to obey your parents, you say, "I'm going to resist you. I'm going to obey daddy and mommy." He understood it. I hope you've understood it. 33:03 Why God has not destroyed the devil. He's allowed him to exist and not only to exist, but to irritate you and trouble you and tempt you. And if you yield to it, it's like that lazy person who says, "Well, I'm not going to do any exercise. 33:21 I'm just going to eat." Well, you know what that person will be after some time, fat and flabby. You know the difference between a fat person and a strong person? That's the difference between a fat Christian who knows such a lot about the Bible and a 33:36 strong one who can overcome Satan, who can overcome temptation. Do you want to be a fat Christian or a strong one? All the Bible knowledge you cram in your head by coming to meetings and services and all that, that doesn't make you spiritual. 33:53 It's a strong Christian who is spiritual. How do you prove, show yourself approved to God? Just by reading the Bible for half an hour in the morning? I'll tell you something. I would rather miss reading the Bible in the morning and obey the Bible during the day, 34:15 than ease my conscience that I read my Bible for 15 minutes and go and tell a lie or get upset with somebody during the day. Any day. Or lust after some woman. Better you don't read the Bible. The purpose of reading the Bible is that we obey it. 34:33 So the word of God abides in us and we overcome the evil one. It's very important. That's why it's very important to read God's word every day, sometime at least during the day. You, your day was started in a hurry and you didn't get time to read the Bible in the 34:50 morning. Don't get discouraged. I think you have enough of God's word stored in your mind for you to meditate on it, even though you forgot to read the Bible in the morning or you didn't get time for it. Don't condemn yourself during the day. 35:03 try to bring back to your mind. Maybe when you're driving your car or sitting at work, something that you read and you remember and meditate on it. Let the word of God abide in you. You know that you, if you eat your food and it doesn't get digested, it doesn't help your 35:22 body. You just throw it up again, but it's when it's digested that it gets converted into blood, flesh and bones. In the same way, the Bible speaks about meditating on his word, blessed is the man, not who reads the word, but who meditates on his word day and night, Psalm one, the first Psalm, blessed 35:43 is the man who meditates on the word of God day and night. That doesn't mean we read the Bible day and night. It means we meditate on something which is in our mind whenever we get the opportunity throughout the day and even in the middle of the night, if you wake up, it often happens 35:58 to me to wake up in the middle of the night and I, let me think of something that I read in God's word, something that God wants to say to me. I want to recommend that to all of you. And if you ever wake up in the middle of the night and that can happen, with older people 36:16 like us it happens frequently. Say what Samuel said, speak Lord, your servant is listening. And you hear something that will really bless you, something that you stored up in your head, the word of God abiding in you. 36:36 The word abide means that's my permanent address. You know, we have a permanent mailing address, my residential address. This is my permanent residential address. I don't plan to shift. This is my permanent home. The word of God abiding in us means I have received the word and have stored it up and 36:55 stored it up. And that's why when Jesus was tempted, he could immediately bring out one verse. And the word of God is not just like one sword. It's like many swords in an armory. And here the devil came to him with, turn these stones into your bread, your physical need. 37:13 Meet your physical need. That need could be for food or for sex or anything. These are physical needs. And you have a sword to take it out and say, no, God's word says I can't do that. God's word says it's wrong to have those wrong sexual desires. 37:29 God's word said it's wrong, for example, to steal food, even if I'm hungry. Now, whether you steal a sexual thought or steal food, it's wrong because that's not the way God intended for us to meet these needs. There are needs there. 37:42 And there's a word of God that I can stand up and hold against the devil. Just like Jesus. You know that the devil tempted Eve with her physical need and tempted Jesus also with his physical need, turn these stones into bread, and he'll tempt you with your physical need 37:56 too. If he could tempt Jesus with it, why not you? But you must have a word that abides in you that you can quote to him in the sexual area. If a man lusts after a woman, desires her body and imagines that he's doing something with 38:15 her body in his mind, it's equal to committing adultery. And then just like the devil told Eve, not really. God doesn't really mean that you can't eat from this tree. No, Eve says, God said, you'll surely die. No, you will not die. 38:35 Have you heard God? Have you heard the devil saying that to you? That's not serious. I know it says that in Matthew chapter five, that he should not lust after woman, but it's not serious. You will not die. Have you listened to the devil like, like Eve did and believe that you will not die? 38:53 You know what Romans 8:13 says? Let me read Romans 8:13. It's a very important verse for believers. Romans chapter eight and verse 13. If you live now, by the way, if you read the previous verses, it's written for believers. 39:15 If you live according to the flesh, you will die. You must die. It's just like the Lord telling Adam, if you eat from that tree, you will die. And the devil says, you will not die. And when the Lord says, this is the equivalent of what the Lord told Adam today to us. 39:34 If you're living according to the flesh, according to the lust in your flesh, you will die. And the devil says, you will not die. What's the difference between what the devil tells you and what he told Eve? The word of God must abide in you if you are to overcome the evil one. 39:50 This is how we present ourselves approved to God. This is how this church can be approved to God. Each person takes that word seriously and say, we want to present ourselves approved to God. That's why a church that's approved to God is one that's constantly leading people to turn 40:07 from sin. It's not the amount of offering you have in your offering box that determines whether you're approved of God or not. Unfortunately, so many churches today, they think the approval of God comes by the number of seats that are filled on Sunday morning or the amount of money in the offering box. 40:30 The elders get excited when there are more people or there's more money. What have we descended to? Are we like the corporations in the world? They say our products, we've produced more cars this year than last year and our income, 40:47 our profit is much more than the previous year. All the corporations in the world glory in that whether it's toothpaste or cars or whatever it is, but the church of Jesus Christ is different. He said, you cannot serve God in money. 41:01 What do you think Jesus Christ, if he were to come right here, right now and examine this church, what do you think he would be looking for? Would he be interested to know how many seats are filled? Would he be interested to know what was your offering this Sunday? 41:19 Or would he be interested to know what is the attitude towards sin to all these people who claim to be members of this church? Would he be interested to know what would he be interested to know what is the truth of 41:46 the church? What is the truth of the church? Would he be interested to know what is the truth of the church? I think we see things going at this present time in decline in this nation and in Christendom particularly, we want more people to be saved, sure. 42:04 And to serve God, money is required but that's not the main thing. I'll tell you this, if you seek for the power of the Holy Spirit to serve God, he will take care of the money. I've seen that, I've proved that to him. 40 years of serving the Lord and planting so many churches in one of the poorest nations 42:25 on the earth, in the poorest villages, never once have we run short of money. We've built meeting halls, we've provided for so many conferences where we provide everything freely. Never once have we had a mortgage or debt or anything. 42:38 Money is not the main thing, my brothers and sisters. I would say to you with all my heart, seek the kingdom of God first. And all your other needs will be added to you. I proved that in my personal life before I got married, I proved it in my married life and 42:56 my family for all these years, even in times when we were in dire need and poor, we proved trust in the Lord. And I proved it in churches and cities and in the poorest villages. In a couple of villages where there was no church for 2000 years. 43:10 I proved it even there. God is faithful in the poorest countries in the world, but he sees whether we seek his kingdom of his first. And do you know what the kingdom of God is? In my early days, I thought seeking the kingdom of God was to do missionary work. 43:27 God, the kingdom of God, Romans 14:17 is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Seek for righteousness in your life. Seek for peace with God and with all men and in your heart and seek to live a life of joy and thanksgiving instead of complaining and grumbling. 43:46 That is the kingdom of God. Seek for righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 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