0:32 The more and more I have observed Christians, even those who have pursued holiness, I have come to one conclusion after 50 years of observation. 0:50 One of the things I said was yesterday that holiness without brokenness is an illusion. The primary mark of holiness is humility. Um I don't care how gifted a man is, 1:10 how apparently holy he is, how passionate he is for evangelism, if he's not a humble person, if he doesn't have the spirit of humility and the spirit of a servant, 1:26 my respect for him is zero. Not even one out of 100, zero. I don't care how gifted a speaker he is, I don't care how passionate he is for evangelism, I don't care how big a church he has, I don't care how many thousands of co-workers he has, my 1:43 respect for him is zero. I mean, you have your choice, you don't have to follow me, but I have found that that has protected me from respecting the wrong people and wasting my time listening to people who cannot help me. 1:59 Because, you know, there are so many voices in Christendom today. And uh especially in the days of the internet, there are thousands of voices. You can spend your time listening to them and never make any progress in your 2:11 Christian life. I have come to be very selective in what I read and what I hear. Because there's very little of godliness on earth today. And uh there are very few people who are really 2:30 walking the way the apostles walked of planting churches according to the pattern we find in the New Testament and seeking to encourage people to walk as Jesus walked, who have the attitude to money that Jesus had and the apostles had. Very, 2:48 very rare. There's a lot of people who have the right doctrine, a lot of people who get attached to CFC. I'm not impressed by all of them. I'll tell you honestly. It's godliness. It's godliness. And uh we work with so many people. Paul 3:04 had many co-workers, but he didn't respect all of them. I have many co-workers. I'm sorry, I don't respect all of them. Paul said about his co-workers, there's only one among all my co-workers whom I have real confidence in, that is 3:21 Timothy. He he doesn't seek his own. He he's concerned about the things of Christ. Let's turn to that verse. It's a very challenging verse. It's challenged me for many, many years myself. 3:41 Philippians and chapter 2. We saw it yesterday how the Apostle Paul have uh us to look at the attitude Jesus had uh who humbled himself and became a servant and who 3:59 did not seek his own. If he sought his own, he would have never left heaven. He left heaven because he wanted others to have what he had. And he was willing to pay any price that others may have what he had. That's the meaning of Christ loved the church 4:18 and gave himself for it. Many of you who are sitting here, elders and others who are very eager to build a church in your locality, let me ask you a plain, straight question. Are you willing to pay any price to build a church? 4:35 Whatever God asks of you. I mean, only if God asks if you Supposing God were to tell you, "Sell all that you have and give to the poor and come and follow me." Would you do it? Is there a limit to how much you'll obey God? Thus far and no further. 4:53 That's why you find in your life also God also says to you, "Thus far and no further. I won't lead you any further." I'm not Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying you got to sell all that you have. I haven't sold all that I have. 5:09 Many years ago once I did it when God told me to do it. But not today. But my point is is there anything that God that some area in your life where you will not obey if God tells you to do it? Philippians 2, Jesus was willing to give 5:32 up everything to build the church. We want to build the church not paying the price that Jesus paid. And we find we have all types of problems in our church. Naturally. Christ gave himself totally. He gave up everything 5:51 because he loved the Father so much. And when Paul was concerned about the church in Philippi to which he was writing and he says here, "I want to send somebody to encourage you fellows, to build you up." He looks around at all 6:03 his co-workers. He's not looking around at believers in the church. He's looking at his co-workers. Whom can I send to help these people? And he says in chapter 2 verse 19, "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I may be 6:20 encouraged when I learn of your condition." Now, Timothy was not the oldest of Paul's co-workers. He was much younger than Paul. And there were other co-workers of Paul who were much older than Timothy. Why didn't Paul send one of the more 6:34 senior, older co-workers? He says, "Because I don't have anybody else." Listen to that word. I don't have a single one of my co-workers who's got the spirit of Timothy. First of all, he will genuinely be 6:51 concerned about your welfare. Willing to deny himself any extent to seek your good. And secondly, he seeks the interests of Christ, all of them. They all seek after their own interests. They will serve the Lord when it's 7:10 convenient. They will serve the Lord if it does not disturb their own plans. They will serve the Lord after they have made their own plans for themselves and as an extra, serve the Lord. They don't seek the plans of Christ 7:23 Jesus. They don't seek the things of Christ. This is a law of God that he gives in the measure in which we have given. That's a law. We need to understand God's laws here. See what said in Luke chapter 7:43 6. In Luke chapter 6, he said verse 38. 8:03 Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. And here's the law. By your standard of measure, 8:21 it will be measured to you in return. And if you are only getting a teaspoon of grace from God, the probably probability is that you only give a teaspoon of your life to God. The best part of your life you keep for other purposes. 8:40 You got your own plans. And uh you're not committed totally to God's work. See, many people their secular job is more important to them than the work of God. 8:59 So, they will take very active part in a particular church in one place, but when they find better prospects somewhere else for their secular job or they get transferred, they ditch everything and go there. They say, "Okay, I can do something for the Lord 9:12 there." Not because the Lord led them there, because there are more prospects for money and job and promotion there. I believe God will use them. He'll use them with a teaspoon of grace. I'm not saying God gives them leprosy or sends them to 9:29 hell, but there'll be tremendous they'll accomplish 1% of what God wanted to accomplish through them in their lives. And they'll discover it when they go to go and stand before the Lord in eternity. And they look at another person 9:41 who sacrifices everything secular, who will refuse a promotion because he's committed to a church here, who will not go there even though he can get five times the salary there because he's committed to a church here. And I'll see that God honors him. 9:58 Are you like that? Paul's co-workers, I mean, I was challenged when I read that passage. Paul's co-workers were seeking their own. I mean, if you got into Paul's team, that itself would have made you felt, "Boy, I'm somebody. Paul 10:14 selected me. He didn't select everybody." He once said, "John Mark is not fit to be in my team. I don't want him." It was a tremendous honor if Paul selected you to be on his team. And then in his team, some people who started out very well, 10:30 over a period of time, they began to seek their own. And everything was according to their convenience. God's work was not first. Their own secular job was first. I'm not saying God will not use you. He'll use you about 1% of what he could 10:45 have used you if his work was supreme. I don't know whether you see the insult there is when we treat God like that. Supposing you invite a guest to your house and say, "Come for a cup of tea." 11:03 And you have only one cup there. And that's for me. When I drink up 80% of that cup and give my guest what's left in that cup. Here's something for you. I invited you for tea, right? 11:20 You wouldn't do that to a beggar. But we do it to God. Many believers that I know do it to God. Their own work and interest and life and family is number one. 80-90% is drunk. We give the drags 10% to God. I'd like to do something for 11:40 you, Lord. You died for me. Can I do something for you? Here are the drags of my life. I've made my own plans. I've got a lot of things to do, but here are the drags of my life. Drags of my time, drags of my energy. Do you ever think that God would use you 11:53 in the same measure as another man who has given 100% to God? No. You will excuse yourself saying, "Ah, but he's got a gift God's given him." God would have given it to you, but he doesn't give it to you because he gives according to the measure in 12:09 which you give. We try and excuse ourselves saying, "Oh, God hasn't given me that gift." Why didn't he give it to you? Because you gave a teaspoon to him, he gave a teaspoon to you. In the same measure in which you give, you will get. 12:25 It's a law. You need to understand God's ways. There's no partiality with God. If you're totally committed, he'll be totally committed to you. Look look at the example of Jesus. John 17. This has been a great verse for me. 12:41 It was a secret of Jesus' life. Why the Father would commit himself so totally to him. John 17 and verse 10. In his prayer to the Father, he said, "All things that are mine are yours. 12:59 And therefore, all things that are yours are mine." Every single thing in Jesus' life, his time, his energy, his health, his money, his everything, his relationships was God's. He was willing to turn around to his own mother 13:18 and say, "Don't interfere with my ministry." How many of you will turn around to your mother and father and say, "Don't interfere with my ministry." He said that to his mother in John chapter 2. Oh, we want to please people. Well, no 13:33 wonder you get only a teaspoon from God. G For Jesus, his father was everything. ALL THAT I HAVE, I DON'T care whom I offend. All that I have, Father, is yours. And the father said, "Really? Well, in that case, all that I have is 13:50 yours, too." Do you think that God did more for Jesus than he would do for us? Supposing you go to God, any one of us. I don't care who you are, sister, young person, 15-year-old boy like Sadhu Sundar Singh who saw a vision of Jesus when he was 14:06 15. Are you older than 15? Sadhu Sundar Singh was younger than you when he saw a vision of Jesus and changed his religion and became a totally committed Christian and is today, up till today, the most outstanding Christian that India's ever 14:22 seen. He started at 15. He He's been a tremendous challenge to me. Right from my earliest Christian life, he was totally committed. Will God do the same for you? Yes, he'll do it for anyone. But his laws are, in the same measure 14:40 you give, you will get. I'll tell you honestly, my brothers and sisters, if you ask God to give you light, you will see in so many areas we are so stingy. We're tight-fisted. And that's why we don't get much from God. We pray, we 14:59 pray, we come for meetings, we come for conferences, and we still live the same up and down, up and down life, and sometimes go lower and lower. It's not God's will. We need to understand God's ways. In the measure in which you give, you will 15:13 receive. As I said, one of the great things I've discovered through the years is that those who have really seen one truth one truth that Jesus 15:30 became a man just like us and was tempted exactly like you and me did not have any resources other than the Holy Spirit which he offers us and overcame sin. Those who believe it thoroughly in their 15:49 heart their lives are changed. Their ministry is changed. It's not truth number 45. It's not even truth number two. It's everything. Jesus was came in the flesh was tempted like me 16:08 did not sin and therefore has opened a new and living way for me to walk in those in his footsteps to serve like he served to have a fire in my heart even if I'm 100 years old like he had till the end of his life that it'll never decrease, never go 16:27 down, it'll get more and more. It can be for anyone if you have seen it. If that is not truth number 45 or truth number two for you, but you've seen it and been gripped by it. Not as a doctrine, but something you've seen in revelation. 16:44 The person of Jesus, not the doctrine. I know many people who also preach that Christ came in the flesh, but it's a doctrine and they are some of the biggest legalists and worldly people I've ever seen in my life, but they preach that doctrine. 17:00 Carnal, proud Pharisees. But that's because they haven't seen Jesus. They've seen the doctrine of Christ coming in the flesh. We've got people like that some in our midst, too, who have seen the doctrine of Christ coming in the flesh, but they 17:13 haven't seen Christ himself. What is the secret of godliness? Let me tell you about a mistake I made when I read the scriptures. When I first understood this truth, 1 Timothy in chapter 3 1 Timothy chapter 3 says, the church of God, verse 15, 17:36 Paul is writing to Timothy and says, "In case I'm delayed in coming, I'm writing so that you'll know how you must conduct yourself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God." The church of the living God is called 17:47 here the family of God. The church was meant to be a family, not an institution. And this church is the pillar and support of the truth. Do you remember when Samson pushed down the pillars? The whole building collapsed. 18:06 The church is to be a pillar and support of the truth. Which truth? Here it is. The mystery of godliness, verse 16, that Jesus was revealed in the flesh and was pure in his spirit. 18:26 He did not sin in his spirit. His spirit was righteous. And even angels saw that. That is what we proclaim in the world. The secret of godliness, the way to live a godly life, the Living Bible paraphrases it like 18:45 this, "The way to live a godly life is not an easy matter." We all know that. To live in live even one day without having dirty thoughts, to live even one day without speaking a rude word, to overcome anger 24 hours a day, 19:01 to never to rejoice in the Lord all the time, to love righteousness and hate iniquity 24 hours a day, it's not an easy thing. The way to live a godly life is not an easy matter, it says there. But, the secret is here. The answer lies 19:13 here in seeing that Jesus came in the flesh, not in the doctrine. This is the mistake I made. When I first read this verse, I said, "Ah, this is the doctrine." And I spent a lot of time writing articles trying to explain to 19:27 people this doctrine that Jesus came in the flesh, and I found people were carnal. I met other people who preached Jesus came in the flesh. They were carnal, worldly, legalistic, hard-hearted, evil. And I saw you can even hold this 19:45 doctrine and be a Pharisee, who can go to hell. And then I saw, years later, that it was not the doctrine. The secret of godliness was not in the doctrine of Christ coming in the flesh, but in the person of Christ. 20:02 Ah, what a world of difference that is. The word was made flesh, not the word was made ink, printing ink. For some people, the word has become printing ink, a doctrine. They study the Bible. 20:21 The word was made flesh, brother, not the word was made printing ink. The word was made flesh, and we see it in Jesus, not in a doctrine. The Bible was given to us to help us to see Jesus, not to get a doctrine. I told you how great movements have 20:39 uh founded and gone astray because the founder knew God, the followers know the doctrine. There's a world of difference when you see Jesus come in the flesh, and when you know the doctrine of Jesus come in the flesh. The difference is between heaven and 20:56 hell. Many of us may think we have understood the doctrine of Christ coming in the flesh. It hasn't made you holy, right? But when you see Jesus himself, when the Holy Spirit shows you the glory of Jesus, then 21:14 you will come into a godly life. That is the secret of godliness, and that is the truth which the church must be a pillar and support of. Your church will never be the church of the living God till it becomes a pillar and support of this truth. 21:28 If it is a pillar and support of the doctrine, it will not be the church of the living God. As I said, I've seen numerous churches that preach this doctrine. It's not the church of the living God. And I've seen people who believe this 21:43 doctrine. I have no respect for them, zero. But I've seen people who have seen Jesus who may not be able to explain this doctrine as well as others. But who have seen that Jesus came like us, and I've seen their lives. It's something like saying, 22:02 a doctor may be able to explain the system perfectly, but his own digestive system may not be working. But he explains it perfectly. Another person who cannot explain the doctor the how the digestive system works because he's not a doctor, his 22:18 digestive system may be working perfectly. Do you think you become holy because you've understood the doctrine perfectly? Is a doctor healthy because he can explain every part of the human anatomy and physiology perfectly? 22:30 No. That's one of the deceptions that some of us get into. That because I can explain a doctrine clearly and I understand it clearly, therefore I have it. No. As I said, a doctor can explain everything about the human body, but he 22:46 may be sick. He may have cancer. He can explain all about cancer and get cancer himself. Another person may not be able to explain, but he has the life. What do you look for? There were two options that Adam had, knowledge or life in the Garden of Eden. 23:05 And Adam went for knowledge. And I fear that many of us who go for conferences and listen to messages are going for knowledge, not for life. And that knowledge brings death. Even the knowledge of good and evil brings death. 23:21 The knowledge of Christ manifest in the flesh brings death. I've seen it. I've seen it in hundreds of people. But when you go to life and say, "Lord, I want to see you, Jesus." himself even if I can't explain the doctrine 23:35 I have life. And then when I look at Jesus, I see that there's no partiality with God because Jesus was the elder son. As I you've heard me say this before that before Jesus came to Earth, he was called the only begotten son. 23:54 It's very important that many of you who come newly to our churches understand this. Jesus was called the only begotten son. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, John 3:16. But after his resurrection 24:11 he is not the only begotten son. He's always called the firstborn. When does an only begotten become a firstborn? If you have only one son, you'll call him my only begotten son. Begotten just means I gave birth. But 24:30 when does your first son become firstborn? When you have another child. Then you say, "This is my firstborn son." But you can't say it's no use saying it's a firstborn if you don't have any other children. Right up until the time Jesus was raised 24:45 from the dead, there was only one. God had only one son. Jesus. But once Jesus rose from the dead the same day that he rose from the dead He used a title for God which he never used at any other time. 25:05 He told Mary Magdalene in John chapter 20 and verse 17 in the middle of that verse, go to my brothers and say to them, I ascend to my father and your father. A title of God that he never used 25:24 before. Many times he would say my father, you read that in the gospels numerous times. Many times he would look at his disciples and say your father. But never did he combine the two and say my father and your father in one 25:40 sentence. This is the first time. Why? This is the first time he referred to his disciples as my brothers. And earlier on he said, "Yeah, these are my brothers who hear the word of God and do it." But now he specifically calls his disciples my 25:55 brothers. Do you know what he told them 3 days earlier? You read that in John 15. He said, "Till now I've called you servants. Now I call you my friends." Servants, now you've become friends. 3 days after the resurrection, he calls 26:12 them brothers. Did you see the difference? If you don't know that verse, turn back to it. John chapter 15 verses 14 and 15, you are my friends. You're not my brothers, you're my 26:31 friends. I will not call you servants anymore, but I call you friends. That was just the night before his crucifixion. But after his resurrection, what does he say in John chapter 20 verse 17, my brothers. Now I want you to see this. 26:48 You start as my servants, my friends, my brothers. I don't think we've understood that. You know, we have great respect for somebody. We say, "He's a servant of God." Oh, ho. 27:07 And what are you, brother? I'm only a son of God. You know, if I were to introduce you, uh supposing you came to my home and said, "This is my son and this is my servant." Oh, this is your servant? Oh, great. Great to meet 27:23 your servant. Oh, this is your son. We'll worry about him later. You see what the devil has done? He's made believers crazy. Servant of God is greater than son of God. How did the devil accomplish this in so 27:41 many believers who are intelligent PhDs, intelligent enough to get good jobs in the world? Because this comes by revelation of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe that to be a daughter of God is greater than to be a servant of 27:55 God? I mean, a daughter can also serve. A son can also serve. We haven't understood this. Because we haven't seen that Jesus became our elder brother. My My feeling is at least 75% of you haven't seen that Jesus has become your elder brother. 28:12 That's your fundamental problem. You haven't seen that Jesus came in the flesh. Maybe you understood the doctrine. If you understood the doctrine, you'd have come to a godly life. You wouldn't be living this up and down 28:23 life that you've been living for so many years. You wouldn't be going from conference to conference, up in a conference and down in the dumps after that, up again in the next conference. That's not the way God wants us to live. 28:32 That's the result of living by a doctrine. When you see Jesus, life changes completely. I'll tell you that. See Romans chapter 8, verse 28. A well-known verse. God makes everything to work for good to those who love him. 28:52 To those who are called according to his purpose. That's the verse we all like to understand. But we don't understand what that good is. God makes everything to work for my good means what? You go for an interview for a job and 29:08 you lose it. You don't get the interview. You say, "Well, God will give me a job with a higher salary." Not necessarily. He may give you a job with a lower salary. You wanted to marry a pretty girl. You thought it was God's will, but she went 29:22 and married somebody else. Ah, God will make everything work work for my good. He'll give me a prettier girl. No, he may give you an uglier one. Because that's not the good he's after. Good is not giving you pretty girls to 29:35 marry and higher salaried jobs. We haven't understood it. You try to buy a house, it didn't work. Ah, maybe God will give me a better house. No, he'll give you a smaller one. Do you understand what good is? The good is mentioned in the next verse. 29:51 The good is to be conformed to the image of his son. And if you can be conformed to the image of his son by marrying an uglier girl, he'll give that to you. If you can be conformed to the image of his son by getting a smaller house and a 30:05 lower paying job, he'll give that to you. Because he's not interested in giving you earthly good. He's giving you interest in giving you eternal good, which will last for all eternity. And you will understand its value only when 30:15 you get into eternity. But the man who is long-sighted says, "Lord, that's what I'm looking for." God, now read verse 28 and 29 together. God makes everything for good to those who are called according to his purpose. His purpose is what? That's described in 30:34 the next verse. To be conformed to the image of his son, so that his son might no longer be the only begotten, but the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. That's God's purpose. That everything, I believe this with all 30:52 my heart, that every single thing that people do to me, harm they try to do to me, take me to court or harm me, spread stories, scandals about me, tell lies about me, it will make me more like Jesus. And it has. And it'll continue to be so. No human 31:12 being, no demon can ever do anything to me. I challenge them to do something that will not make me more like Jesus, because I have a father in heaven who will never allow me to be tested beyond my ability, who will never allow 31:26 anything to come into my life, because I love him. I have only one purpose in life. My purpose in life is not to make money or to become a great preacher. My purpose in life is to become like Jesus Christ. And therefore, my father in heaven will 31:37 make every single thing that anybody ever tries to do, good or bad, will serve only his purpose for my life to make me like Jesus. That's my my life is at rest. That's why I don't get into a panic if somebody does something or doesn't do 31:50 something, somebody forgot to do something. Well, that's fine. God has got amazing plans in every little thing to make us a blessing to others if we stop complaining and grumbling. In everything, there is a purpose. Never never grumble. Say, "Lord, you're 32:10 you're in into make me like Jesus and making me like Jesus just doesn't mean my character, it means making me like Jesus in my ministry, so that I can serve others and be Christ to other people." I remember years ago when I was working in the Navy. 32:28 And you know, the ship was to be anchored out at in the middle of the sea and then we had to get into a little boat and go to the shore whenever we went out in the evening. And the boat would come sort of every 1 hour or 2 hours. 32:43 So, I remember once we had to rush back at a particular time to get the boat to go back to the ship at night. And as I came to the jetty to take my boat, I found the boat had already gone. And next boat, I don't know, maybe 1 or 32:59 2 hours. I said, "Well, praise the Lord." I was a believer already. Must be some wonderful purpose why I'm here. And there was a person there on my ship waiting for the boat, too, who had missed the boat. Just he and me. 33:15 And he came to Christ at that jetty. Was that worth it? I'd be willing to wait 2 years for a boat if I can bring somebody to Christ. Where's 2 hours? I've seen examples like that. I remember when I went 33:34 to Bahrain first some years ago. It was mainly to meet one brother. I sometimes travel to a country to meet one brother. I did that once when I went to Perth. I went to Bahrain to meet one brother from our church who was there. 33:52 I'd been I was already in Dubai and I thought I might as well go across and meet him. And from there I had to go to Doha. But when I was in Bahrain the folks in Doha told me "We're in the midst of holidays and they won't give us the visa for the next 4 34:09 days. It's all holidays all over the Arabian Gulf." It disrupted all my plans. I was stuck in Bahrain for 4 days. Well, I said these are holidays in Bahrain, too. Let's have some 34:27 meetings. So, we had some meetings. And in those 4 days a church was born there that's flourishing today. Did God make a mistake? No. If I'd sat there grumbling and complaining and murmuring I would have 34:46 not at all been in a good spirit to have any meetings. This happened to me numerous times. God makes everything work for good. Every single thing. If you miss a bus, miss a train, miss this, that, don't complain, brother. God is in the 35:05 business of making you like Jesus in your character and in your ministry. I could tell you numerous stories like that. But here we see that Jesus is called the firstborn, the eldest among many brothers. That's what I wanted to point 35:20 out to you. And I've often said I have four sons and I have tried my best to be like God to them. Which means total impartiality. All are the same. No one is a preference for me. I'm sorry for many Indian fathers and mothers have got 35:38 preferences among their children. That is because they are ungodly. I'll tell you this. If you have children and you have some preferences among them, I'll tell you to your face you're an ungodly person. With God there is no partiality. 35:53 And I wanted to be like God. Some some Indian parents love one boy and they don't love the girls or if they have one girl, they love that one and they don't love the others or if one is more intelligent, they love him or one is 36:03 more handsome or good-looking, they love. This is all ungodly. With God there is no partiality. And from that I learned a great truth that if I not at all a good father could be completely impartial to all my children, that whatever I did for my eldest son, I 36:21 would do for all my other sons, God will be much better than me. Whatever he did for his eldest son, he will do for me, his younger brother. If God doesn't do that, then I have to say, "God, I am a better father than you." 36:37 Is that possible? Do you believe Brother Zac is a better father than Almighty God? I can honestly say anything I did for my first son, I did for all the other three. Now, do you believe that Almighty God is a better father? 36:53 Whatever he did for his eldest son, he will do for you if you are a younger brother or sister of Jesus. That's what gave me faith. Oh, Father, what you did for Jesus, you'll do for me. It changed my life when I understood 37:09 this more than 30 years ago. That's when I wrote that song. What he did for Jesus, he will do for you. As he cared for Jesus, he will care for you. What rest it brought into my life when I saw that Jesus was just like me. He 37:25 became my older brother. And God is my father. And he's his father and my father. And he's my elder brother. And the way, you know, how when the soldiers came to kill the baby in Bethlehem, 37:44 how the father cared for Jesus and took him away just in time before the soldiers came. I've experienced that, too. 38:04 Where people wanted to trouble me, and God took me away from my home the night before they came. I could tell you many stories like this. He cared for me as he cares for Jesus. How when he was in the middle of a lake, 38:24 there was this storm. The Father cared for Jesus. Once 200 people in a synagogue caught him. Imagine 200 people catching hold of one man. Took him to the top of a cliff in Nazareth. You read in Luke chapter 4 to throw him down and kill 38:38 him. The Father cared for him. And quietly he walked away from there. How can you walk away when 200 people have ganged up to catch you and kill you? I've often thought about that. How did he do it? It wasn't a miracle that like Philip was 38:55 once caught up by the hair, that Jesus was caught up and taken away. The Father didn't do it. It says he just quietly walked away. How can you quietly walk away when 200 people have grabbed you and taken you to the top of a cliff to 39:06 throw it away? Throw you down. I have a feeling, you know, like human beings are, they argue about silly things. And God allowed an argument to come up among these 200 people, which cliff shall we throw him over? This one or that one or 39:21 that one? And they were discussing for a long time. You know, when people get into a discussion like that, it takes about half an hour before they decide which cliff to throw them. And while they were all discussing, Jesus is 39:29 looking around and he's all alone. All the others are discussing about which cliff. He just quietly walks away. You believe Jesus will do that for you? I believe with all my heart he'll do it for me. I mean, if you don't believe it, 39:42 according to your faith be it unto you. But I believe it'll he'll care for me. So, according to my faith it is unto me. God cannot do more for you than you have faith for. You say, "Oh, no, no, no. I'm just a rotten sinner. God will never 39:56 care for me like he Jesus." According to your faith be it unto you. God will not care for you like he did for Jesus. Not because he doesn't want to, but because you insult him by not believing his word. Faith is an Unbelief is an insult to God. 40:13 God says there is no partiality with me. You read that in Romans chapter two. And you say, "Yes, there is partiality, God. You cared more for Jesus than you cared for me." And God says, "You insult me by your unbelief. According to your 40:26 faith, be it unto you. You will not be cared for like I cared for Jesus." But I honor God by saying, "I believe with all my heart there is no partiality with you. What you did for Jesus, the elder brother, you will do for me, even 40:40 though I'm totally unworthy. Not because of who I am, but because of who you are." How many of you mothers, if you're a good mother, will put equal amount of food in the plates of all your children, even if one of them is disobedient? 41:00 Or one of them is an unbeliever and the others are believers. Do you put more food in the believer's plate? You an evil mother? Are so fair? And you insult God by saying he's not. We have missed many things in our life 41:22 until today only because of unbelief. It's a law of God. Just like it says, the measure you give, you'll get. In the measure you believe, you will also get. Many, many times I have found in my life, I only have to believe there's no 41:41 partiality with God. What he did for Jesus, he will do for me. Provided I follow the same laws like Jesus did. I can't sit back and say what God did for Jesus, he'll do for me, and be proud. God will resist me. He never 41:57 resisted Jesus because Jesus humbled himself. So, God is willing to do everything for me, provided I live the way Jesus lived. And God will help me. For example, if I'm stingy and tight-fisted with my money. You ask yourself, what is your attitude 42:15 to all the money you have, all your assets, and all your wealth? And there you'll see the reason why God doesn't give you much because your assets and your wealth you possess. You hold it with a tight fist. You see why your Christian life is so 42:37 shallow and third-rate? I'm not asking you to give it to the poor. I'm asking you to open your hand and say, "Lord, I don't want to hold it like that anymore, tight-fisted. I want to open it and say, you can take it away from me if you like." 42:53 Everything. That's how Jesus lived. All that I have is yours, Father. The Father said, "All that I have is yours." How can you expect God to say to you, "All that I have is yours." If you have not, like Jesus, first said 43:12 to him, "All that I have is yours." Surely God will do for you what he did for Jesus, but you got to say what Jesus said. Otherwise, he won't do it because the laws don't change. You remember the devil told Jesus, "Jump 43:25 off the roof of the temple, the law of gravity will change for you." Do you think the law of gravity would change for Jesus at that time? Do you think if he had jumped off the temple, he'd have floated like some bird? Jesus wasn't so stupid 43:40 to think that I can violate God's laws and somehow I will float around to the ground. No. He said, "I won't do that. That'll be tempting God. There's a law of gravity. I know if I go off, I'll jump down. I'll fall down." 43:52 So, don't think that we can violate God's laws and think that God will do for me what he did for Jesus. He will not. But I can say this to every single person sitting here. I don't care who you are. Even today, if you failed in all your past life, if you 44:07 say to God today, "Father, all that I have is yours." I can say to you in Jesus' name, the Father will say to you, "All that I have is yours." According to your need. Maybe your need is to be a good mother. He'll say, "I'll give you everything 44:27 that you need to be a good mother." In my case, you're not called to be preachers, I'm called to be a preacher. So, that's one of my greatest needs. I say, "Lord, you got to give me words to speak to people." "All that I have is yours. 44:46 I will never seek my own. In any area, I will not seek my convenience. I will not seek money. I will not seek my health. I will not seek anything. I will only seek your glory." And the Lord says, "Sure, then all that I have is yours." 45:01 Do you think there's a shortage of water in the river of God? Many times when I've got up into a pulpit not knowing what to say, I say, "Father, the river of God is full of water. I know that. There's no dryness in that river. 45:17 I want you to flow through me. I believe it will. Because I can't think of any area in my life that I've not yielded to you. I have no plan, no ambition, no desire for anything outside of your will. I don't There's no place I'm 45:32 not ready to go. If you tell me to go, I go. If you tell me tell me not to go to some place, I'm not interested in going. All that I have is yours. And I've experienced that for many, many, many years. And I want to say to you, my dear 45:46 brothers and sisters, I would plead with you. I beseech you like Paul says, "Beloved brethren, think of what you have missed by being stingy with God. By not giving everything you have to God. Think what you have missed by making 46:04 your own plans. Okay, you made your own plans and you made a lot of money. And you went and got advanced in the world, but think what you could have accomplished for God's kingdom. I'm not saying you didn't do anything, 46:17 you did something, but it would have been a hundred times more if you had given up your plans and said, "Lord, I'll do yours." Did the time ever come in your life when you said, "Lord, from now on, all that I have is yours. 46:32 I will not hold anything back from you." In the Old Testament, there was a sacrifice called a burnt sacri- burnt offering. In the burnt offering, you had to cut a bullock and put every piece on the altar. And when the last piece was put 46:49 on the altar, the fire would fall from heaven. But supposing the priest said, "Hey, this is a good bit of the bullock's thigh. I'd like to take it home and have some steak or some good uh curry with that." And kept a little bit away, and 47:05 all 99% of the bullock was there on the altar. "Yo, God, send the fire." Like many of us pray, "Baptize me in the Holy Spirit and fire. Oh, God, send the fire, send the fire. We want the fire, send the fire." And we sing that wonderful 47:17 song. No fire. Because there's something you have kept back for yourself. You can pray, you can pray for a hundred years and sing that song, "Send the fire, send the fire, send the fire." You can sing it for a hundred years. 47:32 There'll be no fire. It's nice melody, you feel nice and go home, but there's no fire. There are other people who don't sing the song who get the fire. What do you want? Do you want the fire of God? Learn from that law of the burnt offering. When the last 47:49 piece was put there, there's no partiality with God. What he did for Jesus, he'll do for you. Why did God anoint Jesus with the Holy Spirit? Do you long for that? You say, "Father, I can never live this life without the power of your Holy Spirit." 48:07 I That's another thing I tell you, I believe a number of us do not value the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We have reacted against the extremes you have seen in Pentecostal churches and the fanaticism and say, "No, no, no, I 48:21 don't want that." Well, I don't want it either. You read in Leviticus chapter 10 about the false fire of Nadab and Abihu. But two verses earlier in the end of chapter Leviticus 9, I don't have time to show it to you, you see the real 48:35 fire. It's a contrast between the real fire the end of Leviticus 9 and the false fire in Leviticus 10. And I say, "I don't want the false fire, but that doesn't mean I want no fire." Many, many Christians have reacted against the false fire and are living 48:49 around with no fire, but they've got a doctrine. And they'll come to They like to come to a nice church. Yeah, this is a wonderful church because they don't take an offering here. So, I don't have to give any money. And 49:00 everybody's very nice and we have some good messages here. Brother, if you don't get the fire, you're wasting your time sitting in CFC. There's no difference between sitting in CFC or any other dead church if the fire of God is not in your life. 49:15 Jesus had a fire because he gave everything. It's a law of God. Give and it'll be given to you. Let me show you now. Second Corinthians chapter 9. Second Corinthians chapter 9 49:34 verse 6. And I'll read it in the message Bible. A stingy farmer or planter gets a stingy crop. A farmer who just puts a few bits of 49:53 seed into the ground, he gets a very small harvest. But a lavish farmer who puts all his seed into the ground, he gets a hundred times a lavish crop. And so what should you do? I want each of you, 50:12 as you're purposed in your heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God is able to make all grace abound to you. You see, this is the promise for a man who has given everything to God. This is the most fantastic 50:29 promise about grace in the whole Bible. There is no verse like this about grace in the whole Bible. Seven times you find in this one verse an abundance and um a totality. 50:46 Second Corinthians 9:8, God is able to make all grace abound, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. You notice that seven times? All grace, 51:07 abound, always, all sufficiency, everything, abundance, every good deed. It's the most fantastic verse on grace in the whole Bible. It covers every possible situation we 51:24 can ever face in our life. All grace. All grace means 100% of it. Not just in little teaspoons, abound like rivers. Always means 24/7. All sufficiency. That means sufficient 51:42 for every single circumstance and situation I can ever face in life. In everything, in every single thing in life, I'll have an abundance, not just a teeny weeny little bit, an abundance for every single good deed God wants me to do. 51:58 What more do I want on Earth? What more do I want on Earth in that verse? But, like it says in verse six, if you're a stingy farmer, you'll get a teaspoon of grace. You won't get that. But, Jesus said, "All that I have is 52:16 yours, Father." And Father said, "Sure, all that I you have is is yours, too." That's the law of God. We miss so much from God because our life is full of selfishness. The greatest sin we have is selfishness and pride. And if you can ask God to give you light 52:34 on that, say, "Lord, deliver me from all pride and all selfishness." We spoke about that yesterday. You know, there are different ways in which our pride is manifested. One is in the spirit of independence we have. 52:52 We heard brother Prabhakar share such a lovely word the first day of how Jesus said to John the Baptist, "I need you. I need you to baptize me. Otherwise, I can't fulfill righteousness." What, Lord? You can't fulfill righteousness without 53:11 the help of another human being? Aren't you almighty God? Yeah, John, I need your help. Where are the elder brothers who go to others? What is the difference between John the Baptist and Jesus and John the Baptist? Can you Can you 53:30 measure it? Difference between Jesus and John the Baptist? How many elder brothers will go to someone so much younger than him and say, "Brother, I need your help to fulfill all righteousness. To build this church, I need your help. 53:49 I'm sorry to say we don't have many elders like that. Many are self-sufficient and that's why in many churches after many, many years, it's just one elder like a Pentecostal pastor who runs that church. In the beginning, I can understand, but 54:07 even after many years, then for namesake, for window dressing they will appoint some yes, sir. Little boy you just keeping yes, sir to me, I'll appoint you as an elder. And he says, yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And we show everybody we got two elders. Who's 54:23 fooled? I'm not fooled. God is not fooled. The devil's not fooled. It's because there's a lot of pride in us. We think we're self-sufficient. Even Jesus said, I need John the Baptist. That's how he started his ministry. At 54:38 the end of his ministry, you see him in Gethsemane telling Peter, this bumbling Peter who was going to deny him three times. Peter, I need you to pray with me. Because my soul is so heavy. My soul is troubled. Have you ever gone to a person 54:57 much junior to you and say brother, my soul is troubled. Will you pray with me? Oh, we can't do that. We are elder brothers. We don't go to some I'm 50, 60 years old. We don't go to some 20-year-old young brother and say 55:12 brother, please pray with me because I'm pressured. Jesus did it. Do you see why his life was so wonderful? That's how he began his ministry to go to John the Baptist and say, I need your help. At the end of his ministry, he 55:24 goes to bumbling Peter, James, and John and says, I want you to pray with me because I need your prayer help. Oh, may God give us more men and women like that. who got the humility to acknowledge I can't do it all myself. 55:42 There are times of pressure when I need prayer support and help from others. That's humility, brother. God gives his grace to the humble. He will do for us what he did for Jesus when we have the same attitude that Jesus had. When we don't sit as big 56:00 kings and maharajahs who think that we can do everything on our own. That is a form of selfishness. Humility means I go down and then I can possess the kingdom. See what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18. You know, we were talking about the 56:17 kingdom of heaven. Uh the poor in spirit possess the kingdom. Here's another verse, Matthew chapter 18 and verse three. Truly, I say to you, unless you're converted and become like children, you will not 56:35 enter the kingdom of heaven. That's another verse. The poor in spirit enter God's the kingdom of heaven. You got to become like little children. Let me encourage you to do what I have done. 56:53 I have many times meditated on little children. The attitude of a little child, say, "Lord, I want that attitude because I know heaven belongs to such people." And if I have that attitude now, I can have a heavenly life right now. 57:11 The attitude of a little child, dependent. Daddy, I can't do anything without this. I don't understand this. Or who goes to Daddy and say, "Daddy, did I do it right? Is my spelling right? I spelled this difficult word. I wrote 57:28 happy birthday card for you. Is my spelling of happy correct?" Do you have the humility to go to some brother and say brother how was the sharing of my word today? Was it boring? Was it too long? 57:47 Oh, no. We don't ask anybody, right? Of course, it's perfect. YOU CAN BORE PEOPLE TO DEATH IN YOUR church and you never ask anybody how was my sharing of the word today. We're not like little children. Of course, we know 58:01 everything perfectly. That's why we don't grow. That's why our churches are dead. I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, all of you who share the word of God in your churches. If you have some respect, please listen to me. Go to 58:16 people after you've shared the word. Go to your wife. Go to other elders and say, "Tell me honestly, brother, what did you think of my sharing the word today?" He may tell you, "You were boring. You were too long. Brother Zacharias 58:30 told you so many times to speak for 20 minutes, but you speak for 1 hour because you think you are so important." That word will humble you. In 2 weeks, you'll be a different person, which has not happened in 20 years. Let's humble ourselves. 58:47 Like Jesus went to ordinary people. This is humility. God gives His grace to the humble. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that 59:07 you will give us light. Father, that your son came to earth in our flesh and lived that perfect life. I want to go that way all the days of my life. If I live to be 100, I want to go that way. And I pray many here, young people, 59:26 little 15-year-old boys and girls, will be gripped like Sadhu Sundar Singh was at that age to be disciples of Jesus. And older people, give us all more humility, Lord. We are all a bunch of proud people thinking we know so much 59:40 just because we have so much doctrine. Forgive us and have mercy upon us, we pray before we destroy ourselves even more. And give us grace to go down and value other younger brothers and to pray with them to build the body of Christ that your 59:55 name may be glorified in India. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
