0:00 [Music] One of the things we see in the gospels is that Jesus always entertained 0:17 questions. He was always happy to answer question. Many times in the gospels you read people asked him this and that and the other and even his enemies would ask him and he would answer. Sometimes they didn't like the answers but he 0:35 always was happy to make things clear. And the other thing I noticed that sometimes his answers were not complete. He left it like that because God does not want us to have an intellectual understanding 0:54 of all our answers. The Christian life is not an intellectual life. It's not like mathematics where you work out the whole thing and you finally come to the solution at the end and you know every step and you can do that any problem 1:07 anytime anywhere those type of problems. The Christian life is one where we have to live in constant dependence upon God. So knowing the answers in our head does not help us to become spiritual. It clarifies some 1:24 doubts. But God's you know we are body, soul and spirits. Our mind and our emotions are a part of our soul. So when God gives us his word, it comes first into our body. If we read through our eyes, if you hear through our ears and 1:41 then it goes to our mind, it's what's happening right now. You're hearing with the ears and it's going to your mind. But that's only body and soul. Whether it goes to your spirit or not is dependent on you. I can reach your body and your 1:58 soul, yours and mind. But with some people, it just stops in the mind. They can be lost eternally. and they get no benefit from it. But those who allow the word to go from the mind to their 2:16 spirit, they are the ones who become spiritual. So the question is how does it go to the spirit? You know in the Old Testament there's a thing called a tabernacle which is the tent. That's the place where God met with them and that 2:30 tabernacle had three parts. One was the outer court which is just a big compound. we can say covered with sheets and inside it was a tent. The tent had two compartments. The tent was completely covered on all 2:48 sides and you could not see anything from outside. outer court was open and the outer court was the altar symbolizing the cross of Calvary where Christ died and where and there was a gate and the gate was always on the eastern side and that's also got a 3:08 meaning because when you walk into the gate your back is to the sun that was to prevent people from worshiping the sun simple thing like that if you had the gate on the other side they'd be facing the sun when they worship 3:23 So they were going into the tabernacle to worship. The back was to the sun. The back is to everything contrary to the true God. Anyway, so inside this tent there were two compartments. One was called a holy place with certain furniture there and 3:39 the most holy place. Between the two was a curtain and that curtain was the one that was rent when Jesus died on the cross. But nobody could go inside that except the high priest once a year showing that that is where God dwelt and 3:53 the fire of God was in that most holy place. So this corresponds to body which is the outer court which everyone can see. Our body everybody can see and inside that was this tent which symbolized soul and spirit which is 4:09 inside us and nobody can see. So the tent symbolized soul and spirit. So when you uh pursue the analogy between soul and spirit is this thick curtain and it's only if you rent that curtain you go into the spirit otherwise 4:24 you remain in the soul. So you can be a soloulish Christian or a spiritual Christian and most Christians are so Christians they understand everything intellectually they're or they're emotionally stirred. There are two parts 4:41 in the uh soul mind or intellect and emotions. And you find among Christians there are two types. One are very intellectual. Everything it's a Bible scholar type of thing. They may not be spiritual but we intellectual Christians. They are the 4:58 answer to everything and they always want to get an analysis. The answer to everything must be clarified intellectually. And then there are the emotional type who are always shouting hallelujah and praising and even if they 5:10 live in sin they'll keep on shouting hallelujah. They're emotional emotional that's also not spirituality. Now the intellectual thinks he's more spiritual than that guy because he understands this. The emotional type of Christian does not 5:23 understand anything but he's his is a shallow emotionalism. This guy's is a shallow intellectualism. Both are equally dead. But the intellectual guy thinks he knows more because he knows all the answers. Neither of them are 5:37 spiritual. You got to go through the veil into the most holy place. And what is the veil? The veil is a picture of your self-will until that is crucified, torn, which means you keep on 5:56 saying not my will but thy will, not my will but thy will. The that's what Jesus did for 33 and a half years. He came from heaven. He said not to do my will but the will of him who sent me. Let me show you a verse in John 6:10 chapter 6. That is the definition of the veil. Rent veil. If you want to know the definition of the rent veil, here it is. John 6:38. I have come down from heaven. Now if you were to ask the average person 6:29 why did Jesus come down from heaven? He will say he came down to die on the cross. That's not what Jesus said. He never said I have come down to die on the cross. He said I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent 6:46 me. That is to tear this curtain. My will is this curtain. I got to tear it so that I can go into God's presence. And the reason why many people who understand everything in their head don't go into God's presence is because 6:59 their self-will is not destroyed. The reason a lot of people who shout hallelujah and exciting you know the charismatic Pentecostal types. They don't go into the holy place either. They live defeated lives. They love money. They do 7:12 all types of things which are contrary to God's will because they have not seen that yielding the self-will to the will of God is what leads you into God's presence. So here it is. I come from heaven not to go to the cross but not to 7:28 do my will but the will of the father which includes among many many many things dying on the cross. That's only one item in the agenda. So if you were to ask Jesus why did you come from heaven? He say I came not to do my own will but the will of 7:44 whom sent me. That describes his entire 33 and a2 years. If you say he came to die on the cross you're talking about the last six hours of his life. Do you understand that? We must be mature Christians who understand what 7:57 Jesus did on earth and perhaps some of you are hearing this for the first time. So now how how does this apply to your life that when you hear something it has gone into your mind and some of you it may be stirring you emotionally also. 8:11 Boy that's exciting to hear that even what you heard today. Now don't think you've become spiritual. You go home and you daily you say no to your will. When you're tempted in any situation, you know what 8:29 is God's will and what is your will and you yield your will. Then little by little you enter God's presence and that becomes a consistent habit in your life. That's the meaning of taking up the cross. The cross is what? Here it is. 8:43 Not doing my will but the will of the father. You keep on doing that. You live in the father's presence all the time. It's a wonderful life. Psalm 16:11 says in God's presence is fullness of joy. That's the only place where you can 9:00 rejoice all the time. When the Bible says rejoice always, you cannot do it outside the veil. But if you keep on denying your will, I guarantee you will rejoice 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You will never grumble. You never 9:15 complain. You'll always be rejoicing because in God's presence is fullness of joy and God's presence is the other side of the veil where you deny yourself. This is so simple but if you practice it, it'll change your life. Okay. So much for an 9:33 introduction. Now we'll answer these questions. Is there any difference? It's good to have that introduction to the question answer time because answering questions is intellect to intellect. You may understand it. You may be excited 9:49 about it but please remember run the veil after that. Is there any difference between the anointing of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit? See these are all terminologies but for our understanding I would 10:04 say the anointing as I have understood it. For example, let me put it like this. In Jesus' life, he was filled with the spirit from the birth. But he was anointed for service at the age of 30. What was it happened after that? He 10:20 didn't become more holy after 30. He was just as holy when he was one year old when he was 31. But he could not preach with anointing until he was anointed. So there are many people who are filled with the spirit who if you get them put 10:37 them in a pulpit. They may be very boring because they are not anointed. They're not called to preach but they live very godly lives. They may be very unselfish helping the poor and doing all types of things truly Christlike life 10:53 but they can't speak for nuts. And then there are other people who are very clever who can preach so well but they don't have a life that backs it. Jesus had both. So that's the difference between filling and anointing of the 11:08 Holy Spirit. You know Satan before he became Satan. We don't know his name. By the way, I want you to know that nowhere in the Bible is Satan's original name mentioned. Some of the archangels we know the name Michael Gabriel. I'm sure 11:23 Satan had a name but it is not mentioned in the Bible. is just called the anointed cherub that covers and the Latin word for that is Lucifer. That's not a name. It's just a Latin for that expression. And so he's 11:42 known as Lucifer, but anyway, let's call him Lucifer. He was anointed. That means he could do so many things. He has such tremendous understanding. for example, that hasn't gone away. And when he fell into sin, he did not lose the knowledge that he had. 12:00 His intellect and emotion is still there, but his will was completely against the will of God. That's how he became the devil. So when a person is ungodly, he can still be very clever. Nobody knows the Bible better than Satan. So if you 12:17 see a man with tremendous Bible knowledge, it means nothing. There's only one person better than him. Satan is that that's not a great thing. Or a person or you see a person some of these charismatic song services is so 12:32 emotional with the way they do it up in front with lights and everybody gets so excited at the end of it. They can go home from that and commit adultery after that. It's happened also. I remember years ago one Canadian person told me that some of his 12:47 friends told him that it was we they enjoyed dating Pentecostal girls because they were so emotional that when they would give us great freedom to handle their bodies and commit sin because that emotion breaks down the natural reserve 13:02 that is in a girl. God has made woman with a natural reserve to be modest and protect herself. You know uh Song of Solomon chapter 8, it says a girl can be like a open door or like a brick wall. And if it says if my if the girl 13:21 is like an open door, we got to sort of restrain her in some way. So girls can be like an open door or like a brick wall. The brick wall is safe. So we have to be careful there that you don't get worked up in these emotional services. 13:37 get all excited with the strobe lights and the various instruments and think we you can come away from summer meeting like that and say boy I've really what a wonderful time with God not at all you had a wonderful time with your emotions 13:50 the same way here you can we don't beat drums and all that over here you can come away and say that was a wonderful meeting intellectually that guy emotionally you intellectually what's the difference if you go away from this meeting and learn 14:05 to deny your will from the time you go home in your home in your office when people irritate you on the roads when somebody cuts you off that's where you can become spiritual okay so the difference between anointing and filling is that's how I 14:24 understand it we are filled with the spirit for our daily life anointing is for ministry okay that's a a definition but it doesn't have to be cut and dry can someone who's trying to live a godly life, be full of the Holy Spirit, but 14:38 not understand or be able to explain it because they haven't been taught it. Absolutely. Because a person can deny his will every day and yet he's not intellectually clever enough to be able to explain it like I can. I had a my intellectual cleverness 14:55 is something I inherited from my parents. My parents were intellectually clever, both of them. And so I inherited that like you have inherited. It doesn't make me any more spiritual than anybody else. God equipped me with that so that 15:09 I could understand the Bible and our personalities. For example, it's got nothing to do with intellect. Some people are outgoing and some people are more introverted. So a person can live a godly life and be full of the spirit but he's not able to 15:24 explain it. Perfectly okay. Equally the other way around. Somebody can explain it and he's not able to live it. Not able to but doesn't want to live it. He doesn't deny his self will. I hope you understand this difference. Denying 15:35 yourself every day is what makes you spiritual. Nothing else. Even if you don't can't explain it. How do I know the Lord's baptized me in the Holy Spirit since I do not speak in tongues? Well, there's a very important verse that I share with all 15:51 people who have this question about tongues. Just one verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 30. Let me ask you the question. First 16:08 question 1 Corinthians 12:30. Do does every Christian have the gift of healing? Is that a very difficult question to answer? No. So here it is put in that way. All do not have the gifts of healing. 16:26 Right? Next statement. All do not speak with tongues. or do not interpret tongues. So it's so clear and in the in the even though there's such a plain statement like that yet there are many people particularly in Pentecostal 16:43 churches who say everybody must speak in tongues. Now when a person goes contrary to the word of God in one area to a specific statement of scripture you go against it and say no I disagree with that. I say I disagree with the Holy Spirit saying that all do 16:59 not speak in tong. they do. Okay, brother, I don't argue with you. Continue your argument with the Holy Spirit, not with me. So, this is speaking in tongues is a gift God gives to very few people. And uh I don't know why he gave it to me. He 17:18 gave it to my wife long before he gave it to me. And I'll tell you why he gave it to my wife. Uh I'll just tell you in one minute. My wife was a very highly equipped doctor, studied in the best medical college in India. But when she went out 17:33 to serve among lepers, I said that's the type of person I want to marry. And the servant of God brought us together. We got married. And here I was. I had no bank account. I mean, I had zero in my bank account. I had given it all away. I 17:45 had no income. I was trusting the Lord. And I was working among extremely poor people who could not even give me any money. So we struggled a lot. For four years, I had to live in one room of my parents' home, my wife and I. Now, how 18:00 many girls look forward to getting married and staying with their husband's parents even for one month? And she stayed for 4 years because we were poor. We couldn't afford it. I couldn't afford house rent, leave alone anything else. 18:16 But I said, "Lord, you called me and if I have to suffer like that, it's fine. But my wife is also suffering." But she accepted it, endured it. Then we had a baby and we wouldn't even sometime wonder whether he'd have enough buy 18:31 enough money to buy some milk powder for the baby. And we were so dependent. Of course, I didn't take any money from my dad. He was a poor pensioner. I just used the room he lived in. And we lived extremely simply. And she was she was 18:43 such an outstanding evangelist as a medical student going to witness in the villages. She used to go regularly to the women's jail and witness to the prisoners there and witness to all the students in the college. And here she 18:55 was now stuck in her home and she was thoroughly discouraged. One day one sister came to her house and he invited her to her house for prayer and she said let's have a time of prayer. This is what my wife told me. I wasn't there. She went to that sister's 19:13 house and she said, "Lord, I was so zealous in my single days. What has happened to me? I have backsliden so badly. Please have mercy on me. Help me to come back to you." And she had a baby. The baby was sleeping. Our eldest 19:28 son. And uh please forgive me. I want to come back to you. And she was so sincere. She broke down. And suddenly she found herself speaking in another language which she couldn't understand. She was one all her life she 19:46 grew up in the brethren assembly which believes that tongues is of the devil. That's where she grew up in. And here she was speaking in this unknown language. And she said when she tried to come back to English, you should go back 20:00 to the other language. And she enjoyed that more than English. And she continued like that for some time. And she it blessed her so much. It felt as though the Lord was ministering to her. And she came back home. I saw her and I 20:15 knew something had happened. That was 5 years before God met with me and gave me that gift. But what I say is it changed her life completely. But it was not the speaking in tongues. It was the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 20:33 And we can be with or without tongues. That's just a testimony. Okay. Another question. I've been thirsting and asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When do I stop asking and simply start praising God believing he has filled me 20:45 with the Holy Spirit. Now I'll give you my testimony. I prayed for years and years and years. Even after my wife received, I had not received for many years. She received this five years before me. I would fast and pray and 20:59 along with others. And I I was thoroughly defeated in my thought life and my words. I couldn't control my anger. And I said, "Lord, I want but I confess my sin immediately. I'd ask forgiveness all that." But I said, "Lord, I want 21:12 victory." And always I pray. People say, "You must believe when you ask." I say, "I can't believe what to do." I was this intellectual type of person who is I've got so many questions. And so I was very difficult for me to believe. My wife was not that 21:30 intellectual type. So it was easier for her. So what happened? One day I was praying with another brother. I told him my problem. He was a spiritful person. And he said, "Zach, it is unthinkable that God will call you to 21:45 serve him and refuse to give you his Holy Spirit." That sounded so clear to me. A simple reasonable statement. I said, "Yeah, that's right." He said, "Let's pray." And I knelt down and for the first time I stopped asking 22:02 God for the Holy Spirit. I had asked enough for 6 months. I said, "Lord, thank you for hearing my prayer. I believe you baptized me in the Holy Spirit." And immediately I found myself speaking syllables uh which I didn't plan to some type of thing and 22:22 then I switched back to English and again switch back to the other language. It was not something I wanted to do. But I had the assurance before I spoke in tongues. But I saw there there was a time when faith came into my heart. I 22:39 said, "Lord, I believe you have accepted it." Now I I'm not asking you to do that as a technique, but ask God to give you that assurance in your heart. And when you have that assurance, start praising God. Okay? I've sinned against God very 22:55 much by being immoral. I've repented now. What to do next? You got to be very careful because all old habits that you have can come back again if you're not careful. So, you must be very careful that you don't go back into those 23:08 things. Ask God to help you. Seek fellowship with others who are godly. That's a great help. And uh you know if you have a problem with pornography or something the there's one word I can give you from scripture. 1 Corinthians chapter 23:28 6 is talking about immorality which includes pornography. 1 Corinthians 6. You can't fight it. You keep fighting it you lose. But it says here, it doesn't say fight against 23:47 immorality. 1 Corinthians 6:18, flee from immorality. That means if you're tempted with a girl who's trying to attract you, don't try to fight the battle that you lose. Run. If you're sitting with your 24:05 computer, tempted with something, pornography, shut down the computer and go somewhere, meet with somebody else or go for a walk or something. That's the meaning of flee. If you it's on your phone, switch off the phone, put the 24:17 phone somewhere else and flee, you will overcome. But if you don't do that and try to keep battling, I guarantee you lose again and again and again again. The answer is flee immorality. Now, it's very interesting when the devil comes to 24:33 you, it doesn't say flee. You know what we should do? It says in James and chapter 4 and uh verse 7, James 4:7, submit to 24:52 God and resist the devil and he will flee. The devil comes against you and a tempting woman comes against you. Who is stronger? Do you know that a pretty 25:12 woman can be stronger than the devil? You resist the devil, he'll flee from you. But it doesn't say you resist that pretty sexual temptation. He says you must run away from that. That's what we read earlier. There you flee. Here the devil 25:27 flees if you submit to God first. So immorality is the one thing where it's one of the most difficult sins to conquer. If you flee, you'll be you'll be safe. Every time you're tempted, you flee. That means put down that thing that is tempting you. Go away 25:42 from that place which is tempting you and turn away that thought. Switch off the computer or just run away. Take a walk. Go somewhere. If you keep doing that, one day you'll be an overcomer. If you don't do it, I tell you, even as a 25:56 married person with children, you'll be defeated, defeated, defeated. Yeah. God will give you grace if he sees that you are cooperating with him. He'll give you the power of his holy spirit. Okay. When people disagree without emphasis in CFC, how do we 26:14 discern between not throwing pearls before swine pigs, but also boldly proclaiming the truth we've been shown? There you have to ask God for wisdom. saying is this person really ins interested in a godly life then I will 26:29 continue the conversation but if he's only interested in argument I'll say let's not talk about that let's talk about some other subject where we can agree uh so you got to discern which type of person what type of person this is what 26:47 does he want if he's really sincerely seeking for victory I'd spend any amount of time with him but if he's only interested an argument that'll be throwing pearls before pigs. I will not I won't call him a pig but the principle 26:59 is there. I don't uh throw something valuable to someone who's not interested in doesn't value it. Okay, I've accepted the message that Jesus is a forgiver of my sin. How do I come to know him as a savior from sin? Yeah, just like you had to repent from 27:17 your sins to be forgiven and ask confess your sin to be forgiven. You have to say, "Lord, I'm sick and tired of this defeated life." You got to see how this the other one was going to take you to hell, but this defeated life is ruining your life 27:34 completely, making you useless to God and useless for his purpose on the earth. So you say, "Lord, I want to be useful in my life. I want to show my gratitude to you for what you've done for me. So please help me to live a 27:48 worthwhile life on this earth and not waste it." and I want you to please deliver me from falling and cry out to God. It takes time. You have to show that you're really serious about it and especially run away from scenes of 28:06 temptation. Then God will help you. How do we live by faith and still be practical in everyday living? Living by faith does not mean you don't use common sense. We have to use common sense. And living by what does faith mean? 28:24 Faith means living in dependence upon God. Unfortunately, this phrase living by faith has been applied to full-time Christian workers who don't receive a salary. They say they live by faith. I've never received a salary for 60 28:41 years. I never asked anybody. I never sent prayer letters asking for money in my life. Just God took care of me. I here and there if I received something, I took it. I never told my needs to anybody. Never got into debt. But living 28:54 by faith is not that. Living by faith means independence upon God. Which of you can live without depend depending upon God. You need dependent on God all the time. That's how every Christian should live by faith. If you want to be a good father, 29:09 you have to depend on God. If you want to be uh a good helper in the church, you have to depend on God. That is living by faith. Faith is dependence upon God. I always use the example of the branch in the tree. That's my best 29:22 example of faith. That branch is helpless. Cut off it's useless. Even if it's been there 50 years, when it's cut off, useless. There's no point of maturity that that branch comes to says now I can live on my own. Jesus said you're the 29:40 branch in the tree. So this is faith. The best definition of faith I found helpless dependence on the tree and the sap that flows from the tree into the branch is the Holy Spirit. And this beautiful fruit comes apples or mangoes 29:57 or whatever it is. And you ask the branch how in the world do you produce this? Says I don't know. I don't do anything. I just keep myself open to the sap flowing in and automatically the fruit comes. I can tell you that from my 30:09 experience. It's not an effort for me to serve God. Not at all. I never get tired of doing it because the sap is flowing and as long as the sap flows the fruit will come. And it is not me producing it. I don't produce the sermons. It's 30:27 like you asking the branch, how do you produce these mangoes? How do you produce these apples? I don't do anything. I just remain in the tree. It's the Christian life is exactly like that. If God has called you to a particular task, now if you're not a 30:45 mango tree and you try to produce mangoes, you won't produce it obviously. So if God has not called you to preach and you try to preach, he won't it won't work. But for the particular calling that he has, if if this is tree is 30:56 supposed to produce oranges, it'll produce only oranges. So each gift is different in the body of Christ. But the principle of dependence on Christ is what we call faith. So that is how we you know faith is dependence on God for everything in 31:12 our daily life. Okay. How will I know if I am anointed to do any ministry? Well, first of all, you'll have a burden. I know my ministry began with a burden. A burden. It began with Lord, my sins are forgiven. People are lost in the world 31:30 around me. let me at least give them the gospel. I did not start teaching first. I started by giving out tracks and buses and when I traveled in a train, I would pass out tracks to people. I give out tracks to my fellow officers in the 31:45 Navy and witness in that way. And then I started preaching. When got a little more bold, I would stand on the streets and preach the gospel. I never taught anything. I couldn't teach. I didn't know the Bible. But as I did that more 32:00 and more, God I kept on studying the Bible. Then within three years, actually within about two and a half years after my baptism, God anointed me and I got to know the word and gifted me because he saw that I was serving in whatever capacity I could. 32:15 You know, if you serve in whatever capacity you have, God will increase that capacity and give you more and more a wider wider ministry. That's how it's grown. You can't suddenly jump into something big or some other gift God 32:30 wants you to have. I first wanted to be an evangelist. That was my burden. I wanted to go to some unreached part of India and I said Lord I'm ready to go willing to make any sacrifice. But God did not give me the gift of evangelism which is bringing 32:45 people to Christ. He began from the beginning to give me the ability to teach God's word. And now when I look back over my life and look at Christianity around, I find there are a lot of missionaries and evangelists who 32:58 preach the gospel but very few good teachers of God's word who explain scriptures clearly, spiritfilled teachers. Then I knew why God trained me not to be an evangelist which I wanted to be but to be a teacher because God 33:11 saw that is the going to be the need of the church 30 years from now. So God looked at the future in the church in India and said you got to be a teacher. I accepted it. It was not my first choice. So if God wants you to be 33:25 something, he'll gradually give you a burden for that. Then he'll anoint you as well. How completely like us was Jesus when he was on earth. He was tempted exactly like us. He never sinned. Did he have an old man? See, old man is a word that is 33:42 misunderstood. The Bible says in Romans 6, "Our old man was crucified with him." Let me show you two verses. Romans 6 and verse 6. Our old man or our old 34:02 self was crucified with Christ. Crucified means dead. So your old man is dead. But you go into the next chapter, Romans 8, next chapter after that, it says, 34:19 "If verse 13, Romans 8:13, the last part, if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body or the flesh, you will you you will live." So the flesh we have to crucify. The old man God 34:36 crucified on the cross. Now from what I've seen 99.9% of believers absolutely don't know what is the difference between the old man and the flesh and so they get confused. So let me explain to you today in such a simple way you'll 34:51 understand for the rest of your life. Your old man is that old person that lived inside you that wanted to sin. Today if I ask you do you want to sin? If you say yes, I'd say you're not born again, 35:10 brother. A born again person does not want to sin. That is one of the marks. He's not saying he will not sin. He does not want to sin. That want to is the old man. The flesh is the source of temptation within you. The corrupt 35:28 nature that is tempts you all the time. So to use an illustration, there are many lusts in the flesh. It's like a gang of robbers that's coming to your door banging. They've been doing it from the time you were young. And every time the 35:45 old man opens the door, old man is the guard or person at the door. He opens the door. Yeah, welcome. Come in. You want to lust? Yeah. You want to steal? Come. You want to tell lies? Come. Welcome. The old man is always opening 35:59 the door for these temptations to walk right in. One day, you know what God does? He kills the old man. That's what happened when you were born again. He puts a new man in there. Now the the robbers are still hailed and hearty. They are why alive. 36:18 They come in and say, "We want to steal. We want to do this." The old new man says, "Sorry, there's another guard here now. It's not the old guard. You cannot come in." Then you say, "Why does the believer sin?" I'll tell you. 36:32 If the new man doesn't eat food properly, he doesn't have strength to keep the door shut. And thus robbers push their way in. That's why believers sin. But there's a difference. The old man used to open the door for him. This guy is 36:46 trying to keep it shut. But he can't. So what should he do? He must read God's word. He must be filled with the spirit regularly. Then he's strong enough. Keep the door shut. Now why is it God made it like this? He could have made it such 37:02 that the door is automatically shut. Then you will be like a robot. You know people can make a robot now uh with all types of abilities. And God could have made 37:22 heaven full of robots who would obey him 100% perfectly. Even the angels are not robots. You know, some of the angels sinned. That's how the devil and his demons came in. God has given angels free will. He's given man free will 37:38 because he wants people in heaven who serve him joyfully. That's why he gave Adam a free will. Have you ever thought why didn't God send an angel along with Adam and Eve into the garden? Then they would never have gone to the tree of knowledge. He let them 37:57 free to go because he wanted people who will obey him joyfully. So Adam and Eve go you. If you say why did God put that one tree there to tempt him? Otherwise, how will you know whether he wants to obey God or not? There must be at least 38:15 one thing to tempt him. It's like, you know, if you have little children and you're going away for a while and you tell your children, you can do whatever you like, but please don't open that one drawer. You know what they'll do first thing you 38:27 do after you go. Any of you got children know the answer? That's the one place they'll go to. Now you know why Adam and Eve went to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Exactly the same you see in your children. So God wants people who will choose him 38:44 freely voluntarily. That's why he's given us a free will. Otherwise as I said we'll be like robots. And now with artificial intelligence, boy, it's amazing. You can have a person, you can have a robot sitting here and preaching a perfect 39:01 sermon just like me. One of my grandsons the other day, he he's a college student. He sent a he went to chat GPT. These are all technical things. These artificial intelligence and wrote to chat GBT on 39:20 the internet. Give me a sermon like Zach Punin would preach and in a less than 10 seconds he told me. He got a full sermon. I've never seen anybody describe 39:36 what I teach as clearly. Just one page. Just one page like this. a perfect summary of everything that I uh I could read it out to you sometimes. Absolutely amazing. Where did he get it 39:53 from? Chad GPT has never met me. But this tremendous ability when such a split second it can search everything in the internet. And now if I had nothing on the internet, they'd never be a he'd never be able to find out. But I've got 40:08 so much material on the internet and YouTube and all the articles and all types of things. It it's so fast that compresses it all and writes it in beautiful language. This is what's happening today. So preachers can prepare 40:28 sermons. They don't need to be anointed and can be all very clever and sound very right. That is why I have to warn you in this day and age in which we live, live, seek for discernment. When you listen to a person, don't listen to whether he's 40:45 saying exactly what brother Zach teaches. He could have got it from Chad GBT and may not be with from an anointing. See whether there's an anointing there. See whether there's a humility in that person's life. See whether that love person has a love and 41:01 a compassion. See whether he loves money. These are the tests. Not how accurately can he teach what brother Zach teaches. I warn you all of you be careful because we are living in days of great deception. So that's the difference 41:18 between the old man and the flesh. Okay. Does James 1:12 mean that if I fall in a temptation, I have lost the crown of life? No. James 1:12 says, let me read it. Uh, blessed is a man who perseveres 41:40 under trial. Once he has been approved, he'll receive the crown of life, which his Lord has promised to those who love him. And you know, it's not with one temptation that you get the crown of life. It's a lifetime of temptation and various types of 41:53 temptations. Endure, endure, endure, endure, then you receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. And when I put those two together is promised to whom? To one who overcomes temptation or to the one 42:07 who loves him. Both are the same. The one who perseveres under trial, verse 12, is the same as the one who loves him. So you read that verse carefully, you'll see the crown is offered to the one who perseveres under trial and the 42:20 crown is offered to those who love him. So if A equals B and B equals C, A equals C. Right? So therefore the one who loves him is the one who perseveres under trial. Got it? So if you do that, then you have a crown of life. You don't lose the crown 42:39 of life just because you slipped up once. Um many Christians teach 1 Corinthians 1:8 and9 says that once you're saved you're always saved. Now it's a great danger if you take one verse of scripture 1 Corinthians 18 and9 God will 42:55 confirm you the abandoned to the end blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus. Okay that's one verse. What did the devil do when he saw Jesus quoting a verse? The devil tempted him. Turn the stones into bread. Jesus said, "It is 43:14 written. Man shall not live by bread alone." So the devil said, "Aha." This is an it is written guy. Is it? Okay. Jump off the roof of the temple. It is written. Say now this is Satan quoting because he's communicating with an it is written type of person. It 43:32 is written. His angels will protect you. What was Jesus reply? It is also written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. When there when there's a stair stairs going down says, why should I jump off from the 43:50 roof? Very simple thing. If if there doctors and medicine, why should you say I won't take doctors and medicine? I'll trust God to heal me. That's like jumping off the roof and committing suicide. And many people have committed 44:01 suicide like that. So the whole truth is not contained in it is written. The whole truth of God is contained in it is written plus it is also written. That means compare scripture with scripture. So we just 44:19 read that the Lord will confirm you in the day of Christ. Then there it is written. But it is also written in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 13 sorry 44:35 uh verse 12. Hebrews 3:12 take care brothers believers you brothers that in you you don't develop an evil unbelieving heart which will make you fall away from God. 44:52 So it is also written in Hebrews 3:12. So if you quote one verse, you'll be like the devil just quoting one verse. You must compare scripture with scripture to get the whole truth. God has given us two legs to stand on. It is written, it is also 45:08 written. So lazy people is like a bird. A bird with one wing will go round and round and round and round. God has given bird with two wings go straight. So it is written and it is also written. This is how scripture is. There's a balance. 45:21 We learned that from the very first time Jesus was tempted. Okay. Uh how do we apply the principles of Romans 14 properly? That is the principle of give freedom to the other brother to have a disagree have a different opinion. Some 45:35 people use it to say we should give freedom to Christians to do whatever they feel comfortable doing even if we see that as contrary to scripture. Romans 14 is not talking about matters contrary to scripture. He's not talking 45:48 about adultery. If that person wants to keep on living in adultery, let him do it. You don't want to commit. No. Romans 14 is talking about things like what shall you do on the Sabbath day? Can you work on the Sabbath day? Some people say 46:03 yes. Some people say no. Go according to your conviction. If you say Saturday you should not work or Sunday you should not work, it's up to you. Some people say I'm a doctor. I my duty comes on a Sunday. I have to go to the hospital and 46:21 do my work otherwise some patients will die. He has to go to work. So it's dealing with not moral matters but other matters which have no moral significance whether you work or don't work. It's not a moral issue. But if it's a question of 46:37 sin, one person feels it's okay to commit adultery. Another person says no. Romans 14 doesn't come in there. Next question. I'm struggling to overcome pornography and masturbation. I can usually probably make it around a week. 46:48 How can I overcome this? I already answered that. What practical steps do you suggest to go deeper than where I am spiritually? Read God's word. Meditate on it and ask God to speak to you every day. Man shall not live by bread alone, 47:06 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And have you noticed? Read scripture carefully. Let me explain it to you. Matthew 4:4. Supposing I had read it like 47:23 this. Man shall live by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God. That's not what he said. Man shall live by every word that proceeds. Do you know the difference between proceeds present continuous tense and proceeded past tense? If Jesus 47:43 had said man shall live by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God, then I say you must read God's the Bible every day. When it says man shall live by every word that proceeds, it's a present continuous tense. God is always 47:57 speaking. He didn't stop speaking 2,000 years ago. He's always speaking. Even today, there's a word proceeding from God's mouth. Now, listen to it. When you're tempted to go and visit a girl who's a bit immoral, the word 48:14 proceeds God's mouth will stay in your conscience. Don't go there. When you're signing a statement where you can make a little more money, the voice in the says it's a false statement you're signing. It's not worth getting that money. Don't sign 48:28 it. Listen to that voice. That is the word that proceeds is proceeding from the mouth of God. And we all have a conscience and we hear it. You have all experienced it. And you know when you have disobeyed it and you know when you've obeyed it. I 48:43 would encourage you obey it always. You'll have a wonderful life. I've tried my best for many many years now to live with a clear conscience and that has been a tremendous blessing because it makes me able to hear God's voice more and more 49:00 and more and more like my main ministry is to preach and if I want to preach in such a way that people's needs are met I go to a congregation for example I sit here I have absolutely no clue what your need is and each person here may be 49:16 sitting with a different need But my father in heaven knows exactly the need of every person here. And if I listen to him and develop the habit of listening wherever I go, my father will give me the exact word that that particular group of 49:35 people listening to me needs. That's a wonderful thing. That's why you must develop the habit of listening to the word that proceeds from the mouth of God in your daily life. That means in my daily life and the Lord says turn your 49:49 eyes away from that or you know seeing maybe the news program on the internet and there's some very ugly female picture that comes in there and the Lord says turn the page. Turn it immediately. There's temptations all around. If you act immediately you 50:08 will keep on hearing the voice of God. It's because you're not acting immediately in some of those situations. You keep on in that page when you should be turning over. You pollute yourself. You defile yourself. The connection with God is 50:24 broken. You know, like a a wire which you plug into a plug point. If you open it up, you'll see there are many many strands of copper there. It's all encased in in a rubber casing. Now, many of those strands break and the current 50:40 still comes. But then finally, there's about one strand left. That's how it is with many many Christians. The connection with God is being broken, broken, broken. One day it just breaks and the lights don't come on when you 50:52 plug in the socket. Have you experienced that with some wires that you bent bent bent bent so much finally it's broken completely? That's what's happened to many believers. So be careful it doesn't happen to you. That's how you can progress 51:06 spiritually. That is the answer to how do I progress go deeper when than I am spiritually. and read God's word regularly because there are many new things. I'm discovering things from God's word constantly. I the other day I mentioned 51:20 something I discovered after many many years. I'd read it for so many years but I discovered it just the other day. I was reading in Matthew chapter 12. One example verse 22 a demon-possessed man was brought to Jesus and Jesus healed 51:37 the person immediately and the Pharisees said ah verse 24 this man is doing it by the ruler of demons he's got Satan's help to cast out this demon what a sin that is you know when Miriam the Old Testament questioned Moses why did you 51:56 marry that woman God said, "How dare you question my servant? She got leprosy." And here's some people calling Jesus the devil. What should they get? You know what they got? Forgiveness. That's the difference between old covenant and new 52:15 covenant. The old covenant, you get leprosy. If you question God's servant, in the new covenant, you get forgiveness. Because see what Jesus said in verse 32, you spoke a word against the son of man, it's forgiven. That was 52:28 Jesus' reply to these people calling him the devil. When somebody calls you the devil, what should you say? Forgiven. But more than that, what the Lord showed me was, "How do you understand this? Whoever speaks a word against the son of 52:41 man shall be forgiven him." Shall be speaks. That refers to the next 2,000 years. He was saying there somebody going to speak a word against from me in the year 2025. Forgiven now itself. Today somebody speaks against Jesus. He 52:58 was forgiven 2,000 years ago. And I say, "Lord, I want to be like you." And you know what the Lord said to me? Practice future forgiveness. So what did I do? I said, "Lord, I stand before you and I say, if anybody speaks or does 53:13 anything against Zach Punan for the rest of my life or even after I'm dead and gone, he's forgiven right now. I hold nothing against him." And my life has been very peaceful after that because somebody comes somebody tells me where 53:25 Zach you know what that fellow he's wrote something against you. Oh I said I forgave him last year. Have you ever practiced future forgiveness? It's a very blessed experience to have. Listen to the word that proceeds from God's mouth. One example. I think 53:42 I'm disciplined in my spiritual life but I'm repeatedly defeated in my thought life. Can you tell me what's wrong? I think I already answered that. What is your guidance about books that include references to magic or witchcraft, Harry 53:54 Potter, Lord of the Rings, or even some so-called Christian authors like Chronicles of Narnia? I don't believe you should read any of them. I'm I'm not in agreement with CS Lewis's using those types of 54:09 examples which is sort of very close to uh the some of these things in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and all I would say we should not read that what do you gain by it is it going to help you become more spiritual for 54:26 information read other good books there's a lot of information in in many areas which He can read without being polluted with any slight contact with the devil and the demonic. Avoid it completely. That's my advice. What is a good way to examine 54:42 myself according to 1 Corinthians 11:28 where it says before a man takes part in the Lord's table, let him examine himself and so let him take part. Well, it's he the person in the question is also quoted second Peter chapter 1 and 54:58 verse 4. which says by these he has granted us precious and magnificent promises that we can escape the corruption that is in the 55:18 world by lust. I don't know what's the connection there but u we can partake of the divine nature by denying ourselves and being filled with the holy spirit but examining ourselves when we come to the lord's table or any other time I 55:33 have a habit of exam examining myself judging myself every single day I repent every day of anything that is even slightly uncristlike a little thought that came into my mind. I never expressed it. Just came into my mind. I thought about it 55:53 for some time. I said, "No, I should have." I'm not talking about filthy sexual thoughts. I think those things are gone from my life many years ago. But it's just a a judgmental thought. You know, one of the things the Lord 56:03 just told me now is don't condemn anybody because God is the only judge who's got the right to condemn. Second, don't accuse anybody because Satan is the accuser. Don't be like God who has a right to 56:21 judge and condemn. Don't be like the devil who accuses. Okay. I want to discern that. I need to do. Yeah. What this chap is doing is not right. As an elder, I have to correct him. I have to discern. I have to discern whether I should accept this 56:39 chap who wants to be a member of the church. I sense I remember one brother came to our church in Bangalore and he wanted to be a member. I looked into his eyes. I said, "This guy's not pure." I just looked into his eyes and I could 56:50 see he was not pure. Now, that's discernment that God gave me because I was an elder. And sure enough, he fell away. So, I said, "Sorry, I can't make you a member here." So, if you're an elder, you need discernment. So, 57:04 u that is how the more we partake of God's nature, we get discernment. I struggle with same sex attraction. Can you please provide spiritual guidance on how to overcome this? You know in the Old Testament the Lord said you got to stone people to 57:22 death who lie with somebody of the same sex. If somebody went and slept with a woman, the Lord didn't say stone them to death. He said they let them get married. Old Testament, not New Testament. New Testament it's adultery. 57:36 The Old Testament he says make they were all Jews. Get them married. But if he slept with somebody of the same sex, stone them to death because that's a sin. So you got to see that samesex attraction is a demonic evil thing of 57:52 the flesh. Some people say, "Well, I'm naturally born that way." Well, I'll tell you, a child is naturally born to fight with the father and mother and fight with the brothers and so what? We got to teach them to stop doing that. 58:06 And just like you tell a child not to get angry and throw the cup down and break it. In the same way you got to restrain samesex attraction in exactly the same way like a rebellious child. You know children put mud in their mouth. What do you 58:22 do? They may be enjoying it but you got to stop them. So when you sense this you got to stop it. I met brothers with samesex attraction. I said that's a sin. Repent of it. go and get married and find your sexual fulfillment in marriage and don't go 58:42 this wrong way. So, um when when do I finish? Oh, 4:00. Okay. Our child is 18 years old but still lives with us at home. Should we allow them to make decisions on their 59:00 own without forcing them or not attending church with us etc? No, if they live in your home, they submit to you. If they've left their home and set up their own home, they must still listen to you if you're the father and 59:14 mother. The Bible doesn't say, "Honor your father and mother as long as you're living in their home." Children, obey your parents. Honor your father and mother in anything that's godly. The thing is, once they've set up 59:27 their own home, we can't force them. When they're in your home, you can force them. That's the only difference. You don't feel like coming, you're coming whether you like it or not. But when you're they have set up their own home, 59:38 then we give them freedom. We invite you to come. But definitely if they're living at home, they're under the authority. Always you got to principle is not whether they're 18 years old or 25 years old. Who is the authority in this 59:54 home? Just like in an office, who is the authority in this office? The CEO, he passes orders. He's in the authority of that office. You got to obey the authority. In a home, the authority is the father and mother. And whoever is 1:00:08 living there, even if he's 25 years old, he must listen to the rules in that home. Age doesn't matter there. If he set up his own home somewhere, then it is different. But he set up his own home means he's earning his own 1:00:20 living. If he's a Christian, he should still listen to his parents advice because it's to protect him. Okay. I've struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety. Is this just a temporary medical condition or is it sin? Yeah, many women after delivering 1:00:37 babies do get into some of depression. I've not been able to understand it but uh some women have it and anxiety is normal in some cases but they must be encouraged. Husbands must encourage them, others sisters must encourage them 1:00:55 and it is a temporary thing. They're encouraged they can get over it. any type of depression is does not glorify God because the Bible says rejoice always in the Lord and a person who's depressed is not rejoicing always in the Lord. So we 1:01:12 would encourage him whether you feel like it or not say Lord I rejoice in you. It's a very good habit to say the right thing even if I don't feel like saying it. I don't live by feeling. I told you. Not by my intellect. Not by my 1:01:29 feeling. What is the veil? The will. My will can conquer my feeling and conquer my intellect. My intellect says this. My feeling says this. I say no to both of you. I'm going to do what God wants me to do. Learn to live in your will is 1:01:46 what I tell everybody. Don't live in your intellect and don't live in your emotions. You'll go astray. Learn to live in your will. Yield that will to God. Say no to your self-will. And sometimes it can be difficult for someone who's going through depression 1:01:59 and be to encourage them. Don't criticize them because criticism doesn't help. Encourage them to live in their will and say strengthen your will. Say no and say I'm going to do what God wants me to do. And anxiety you say cast your burden 1:02:16 upon the Lord. Read God's word. Encouragement is what many people in that type of condition need. And if you know such people, don't preach as much as encourage them. Call them up now and then and say something good to them. 1:02:29 Find promises in scripture that will encourage them. And if they keep on hearing it, they'll get out of it. Okay. Should we seek the Lord's will before having each child or should we just have as many children as we desire? Well, it 1:02:41 all depends on uh you know there's a proverb in the world which says cut your coat according to your cloth. That means if you have enough for two coats, make two coats. Otherwise, make coats that fit you according to the amount of cloth you 1:02:58 have. So, keep your family expenses within your income. That's the meaning. And so, you have to decide how many children can you have. I don't believe it's right to kill a child in the womb. But you can decide 1:03:17 before whether you say I can't have more than so many children. And you know God himself has made women in such a way that they don't conceive 30 days of the month. They conceive only about three or four days in a month. Those are the only days they 1:03:34 can conceive. God has made why has God made it like that? If God wanted them to have indefinite number of children before the days of uh all the methods which he can avoid, they would have been constantly having children every month of the days. 1:03:49 Why did God make 27 days of the month without possibility of having children to show that sex was not given only to have children? That's only for three four days in a month. The rest of the time it was for man, husband and wife to 1:04:01 find pleasure in each other. There's nothing wrong in that. But we need so that teaches us that it's not necessary. If God wanted them to have innumerable children, God would have made it such every day of the of the month a woman 1:04:17 would be capable of having children. She would ovulate and have an Oam that will produce a child. But it's not like that. So that teaches me that God himself does not force you to have children. You must use your common sense 1:04:30 and see. And that is different for each person as to what level they want to live. Each family is not living at the same level. So they must decide for themselves. And I don't interfere in this because I don't want to be a busy 1:04:43 body in another family's uh plans. Okay. Uh some of my Christian family members including elderly parents disagree with the teachings of CFC which I believe. How do I fellowship with them without being dragged into the spirit of 1:04:59 Babylon that they have? See, the spirit of Babylon cannot overcome you if you've got the spirit of Jerusalem. If you got the power of the Holy Spirit, that is much more powerful than any Babylonian spirit. That doesn't mean you got to argue with your elderly 1:05:13 parents. Definitely not. Respect. For example, I've dealt with so many people. You know that most of our work is in the villages in India where thousands have been converted from non-Christian families. I teach them to respect their 1:05:29 non-Christian father and mother. Always show them Christianity by respecting them. Not by bowing down to their idols. No, not by doing the wrong things they tell you to do, but in many other ways, serving them, caring for them, providing 1:05:44 for them. And but you don't have to agree with their teachings. So if you go if you have family members are not don't agree with the teaching of CFC, that's okay. You say, "Dad, I love you very much, but these are my convictions, and so please 1:06:01 allow me to hold them." I So, I'm not saying you can have fellowship with them. You can love them. Fellowship is a word for Christians. Fellowship is a word for believers. I can have fellowship only with a believer. I can have friendship with 1:06:15 anybody in the world. Jesus was the friend of sinners. So, I can be a friend of sinners, but I can't have fellowship with sinners. I can have fellowship only with born again believers who are of like mind. The Bible says don't be 1:06:29 unequally yolked together with people who are differently like it says you can't put a an ox and a donkey plowing the same field. No, they don't fit. It's just an example. So don't get into arguments with them. Love them, pray for 1:06:48 them, and u don't argue about CFC's beliefs. seek to draw talk talk about Jesus more than about CFC because if they have a disagreement with CFC okay CFC is not the perfect church but Jesus is perfect let's talk about him and sometimes their 1:07:04 understanding of Christ may be different but if you can manifest by your life that your doctrine has produced this type of life in you of respect and kindness and goodness and love that will speak to them along with your words what 1:07:20 are the practical ways in which I can encourage raise my wife and children at home by doing the dirty jobs in the home for her. That's one way. And uh helping helping with the children, changing their diapers and you know things which 1:07:36 they think men is beneath the dignity of a man to do rubbish. There's nothing beneath the dignity of a disciple to do anything. And u help your wife in the work she does according to your ability. And if you can't cook, don't 1:07:52 mess up the don't mess up the meal. Just be honest and say, "I can't cook, but I'll I'll wash the dishes and things like that to the limit of your ability. Help your wife and take your children on a picnic or 1:08:10 something like that. If some of my family's members keep taking advantage of my goodness and generosity, what should I do? Don't be foolish. Don't be so generous. If family members are taking advantage of your generosity, 1:08:25 remember that your money belongs to God. It's not meant to be just wasted on family members who want to take advantage of because you're a very kind, good person. Your money belongs to God. So say, "My dear friend, I can't spend 1:08:40 that. I'm sorry. I can't do that." Be good to them, but you don't have to. You're not called to be the servants of people who take advantage of your service. Okay? Do this for me. Do that for me. do the other thing for me. I 1:08:50 don't have to do everything for them. I'm not their servant. I'm a servant of the Lord. You are a servant of the Lord. So there's nothing wrong in saying whoever it is, my dear brother. It's your brother-in-law or brother or 1:09:01 sister. I'm sorry I can't do that. I've got some other things to do right now. Wherever I can, I'll be glad to help you, but I'm sorry I can't do that. If they take advantage of you financially, say I I don't think I can afford to give 1:09:13 you any more than this. Okay. What is a practical way for me to help preserve a healthy, god-fearing, godly relationship between my wife and my mother? Boy, that's a tough one. Between my wife and my mother. You know, the biggest problems in the world 1:09:30 are between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. You know that you need a lot of wisdom because I'll tell you one thing. If you're a husband, you know what the first commandment for husband is in the Bible? First commandment. You know the 1:09:45 ten commandments given to all Israel. What is the first commandment for a husband? What? Leave your father and mother. It's written before sin came into the world. Is the only commandment that came written before sin came into the world. 1:10:01 If I ask a question, what is the only commandment in the Bible given by God before sin came into the world? Genesis chapter 2. A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. So your wife must take priority over 1:10:15 your mother. That's number one. If you haven't done that brother, you have not obeyed God. Then you can't expect God to support you. But if you obey that, then say now Lord help me. I obeyed this. Now help me to bring a good relationship 1:10:28 between my wife and my mother. God himself will help you. And you got to tell your mother, "Mom, see I I obeyed you all the time. I was at home. I did whatever I could." But I'm married now and we have set up our own home. You had the opportunity to 1:10:45 have build your own home once. Please give us the opportunity to build our own home. We'll make mistakes. But mommy, don't you didn't you make mistakes also when you started? We're doing the same thing. Did you enjoy having your 1:10:57 mother-in-law tell you to do things? Please treat my wife a little better than your mother-in-law treated you. I'm just giving you suggestions. 1:11:14 Fortunately, my mother and my wife never had a problem in all our married life. Even though my mother lived up to the age of 90, never had a problem by God's grace. But that's partly because my wife was also a very good person and my my 1:11:31 mother was a laid-back type of person. Never interfered in our parent. So, I was very blessed that way. Okay. Will every church that believes in the baptism of the Holy Spirit always manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirms, 1:11:43 healing, etc. No. You've already heard the answer. Primary gift of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. Prophecy does not mean predicting the future. 1 Corinthians 14:3 says, "Prophecy means to encourage, challenge, build up." I'm 1:11:58 just paraphrasing those words. To encourage people, challenge people, and build them up. Those are the three functions of prophecy. It's written in slightly different words over there. 1 Corinthians 14:3. He who prophesies it 1:12:15 does not there's nothing to do with predicting the future. Predicting the future is Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament prophets did not encourage church to build up. No, there was no church then. They were prophesying this 1:12:26 is going to happen. This judgment is going to happen to this nation. All Old Testament prophets are like that. The New Testament prophecy is different. It is to encourage, challenge, build up. So if you got a word, you may be a new 1:12:40 believer, just converted last week, and you read the Bible and you found something to encourage people with, something to challenge them with, something to build them up. Prophesy, prophesy, share the word. Maybe you don't get a chance in the church, call a 1:12:53 person on the phone. You can prophesy on the phone. Did you know that to your friends? Speak a word that encourages them, challenges them, builds them up. You have prophesied over the telephone or somebody comes to visit your home. 1:13:06 Women can prophesy in that area. Some sister comes to visit her. Challenge and courage build up. Yeah, that is New Testament prophecy that they can do. In my church, I fellowship more with some than others who are not very spiritually 1:13:21 minded. How do I do this without being judgmental? Do you know that Jesus had three special disciples among the 12? Yes or no? Peter, James, and John. Was he showing favoritism? No, they were more responsive. I find that in a church I 1:13:38 fellowship with everybody, but some are more responsive. I naturally I spend more time with them. It's not my choice. They are more responsive. So I I'm more attracted towards them. It's like that. So there's nothing wrong in 1:13:50 fellowshipping with some people more than others. You're not being judgmental. You're open to everybody. But if someone is more responsive to what you say, naturally, you want to help them more. Okay. How do I grow in love for my 1:14:03 fellow belie brother without despite seeing their faults? Well, just look at yourself and see how Jesus fellowshipped with you despite despite all your faults for so many years and say, "Lord, you're born with me for so long." I always find whenever 1:14:19 I have difficulty fellowshipping with anybody, I think of how the Lord has fellowship with me with such an imperfect guy like me. He fellowshipped for so many years and he waited for me to improve and improve and improve and 1:14:31 and he's still working on me. So I say, "Yeah, Lord, I can look at your example." You know, always the solution to everything is to look at Jesus. How has Jesus treated me? Let me treat others like that. You'll find the answer 1:14:43 to many, many problems. Okay. How how do I know if I'm integrated to a church? Well, I'll tell you one thing. Do you go and clean the toilets there? Yes or no? You clean the toilets in your church building. You volunteer 1:14:58 to do the dirty jobs. Then you're definitely integrated into the church. But you say, "Give me a chance to preach." Then I'm not so sure you're integrated into the church. You may be seeking your own. You're integrated in a 1:15:10 church when you're willing to do any dirty job in that church. Say, "I believe I'm a part of this church. I'm willing to do anything, brother. You're the elder brother. Tell me what I can do to help." So that's how you know if 1:15:21 you're willing to serve. I am a part of a local church which is not affiliated with CFC but I'm not satisfied. What would be some strong reasons to leave this church even if it is Bible based? For example, the lack of plurality in 1:15:33 elders, poor testimony such as anger issues in the elders, constant bickering and gossip, or should we stay and pray? Well, I would say if there is no, you must always look for the best Christian fellowship in your locality. And you know what I've told 1:15:49 some CFC people, believe it or not, it's on the internet. this brief message of mine. If you go to another town and there's a CFC church there, please go there. But if you discover that that elder is not a very spiritual person, 1:16:04 not every elder of CFC is very spiritual and you're not getting much spiritual food there. And you hear of another maybe a Baptist church, the humble, God-fearing man leads that and is leading people to godliness. I say go 1:16:17 there. Can you imagine me telling people to leave a CFC church and go there? I'm not loyal to CFC. I'm loyal to Jesus Christ and to those who will lead people closer to him. I don't care what label they have. We tried to do that in CFC. If 1:16:36 you're in Bangalore, I know the church we started. I definitely tell you to go to CFC church. In some places, I would definitely you're in Loveland, there's no church better than RLCF. I have no doubt about that. But some places I 1:16:49 don't know. I can't say the same thing. So you got to choose. But there may not be a CFC church. Then you got to look for whichever is the best church you can find. You won't find a perfect one. RLCF is not perfect. CFC Bangalore is not 1:17:01 perfect. There is no perfect church in the world. If you want to be look for a perfect church, you'll have to stay all by yourself. And then you'll find your wife is not perfect either. What do you do? Okay. Does God give a burden for 1:17:18 local churches to focus on social work, evangelism, etc. Or is the New Testament seems all churches had only one burden to build the body? I believe the function of every local church is to be a witness for Christ. You shall be w acts 18, the Holy 1:17:35 Spirit will come upon you and you shall be my witnesses. And there are many ways in which we can be witnesses. Sometimes it's medical. I remember my wife would come with me for 25 years. Every year we went to the poor villages in the south of India among the 1:17:51 poorest people in villages where there was not even a pharmacy let alone a doctor and we conduct medical clinics to help and encourage these poor what they what's he preaching to them about sin when the guy is sick he needs treatment 1:18:04 he needs surgery perhaps so we do that and they're drawn to the lord so we do social work wherever it's possible that's not primary we went there to preach the gospel so My wife would do the medical clinic in between the 1:18:19 conference sessions. So we try to help as much as we can but our primary desire is to build the body of Christ. And I say if I were living in Noah's time, I would concentrate all my energy on building the ark. I would 1:18:38 invest my money in building the ark. And today I believe the church is because the ark is the only thing that's going to remain when the world is judged. Today I see the church is the only thing that's going to remain when the world is 1:18:50 judged. So I want to do everything to build the church of Jesus Christ. It's the only thing that's going to remain. Believe me or not, it's true. So in whatever way we are to do it according to our calling and ability, we got to do 1:19:01 it. And that can be through social work. It can be through anything. But we must always aim building the body, building the body. Various things help towards it. If someone doesn't seem to be willing to repent by preaching to them about God's love, 1:19:17 should we try to convince them by warning about hell and God's punishment? I believe we should do both. Jesus, there's nobody in the Bible who preached about hell more than Jesus Christ. Did you know that? Take a concordance and look up the word 1:19:32 hell and see who preached about hell most. You'll find it is Jesus. And he told his disciples about it. Nobody preached about hell more than J Jesus. So we need to preach about that. And nobody preached about God's love 1:19:48 more than Jesus. So this is not a either or. It's both and. Okay. In socializing with others, how do I strike the balance between trying to impress others and having low self-esteem. Don't try to impress others. That's completely out of the 1:20:03 question. That is seeking honor. Low self-esteem. You shouldn't have that also. Why should I have a low self-esteem? I'm a child of the king. Aren't you a child of the king? Why should you have a low self-esteem? I mean, in terms of the 1:20:16 world, you may not be very great or clever or rich or anything, but I'm a son of God. What greater or a daughter of God? Your girl is a daughter of God. You're a son of God. Be recognize that we don't go with our heads held high because of that. We 1:20:30 bow and serve other people. That's how I prove I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I wash disciples feet. And um verse three I I remember I said Lord here nowadays we don't wash people's feet because everybody's wearing shoes. 1:20:46 There's no need to like the pope you know takes off everybody's shoes and washes their feet and gets everybody to take a video of that. We're not in that category. So I'll tell you what the Lord told me in India with the habit of people have 1:21:01 the habit of when they come into the house they leave their slippers or shoes at the door and then walk in. And Jesus said, "Go and pick up the shoes and give it to them to put it on. Do some lowly job for them which most Indians will never do. It's a 1:21:13 disgraceful thing to pick up somebody's shoes or chapel. Do it. Show them that you're a servant in some way." Okay. What should our attitude as Christians be toward government financial assistance for the poor? Housing subsidies, social security for the 1:21:28 elderly, even tax exemptions for churches. I say anything that the government gives you, take it. And if you don't have to tell a lie, you don't have to make false statements. I mean the government is running the country and we are obeying 1:21:45 the government paying taxes and doing everything else. And if some benefits they give you, don't be super spiritual and say no take it. I I would take it and there's nothing wrong in that if they offer you financial assistance for 1:22:00 anything. Only thing don't tell a lie to get it. Okay, it's 5 4:00 and all the questions are over. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, whatever were not, whatever 1:22:19 questions are unanswered, let them I pray that everyone here will seek the power of the Holy Spirit and wisdom from the Holy Spirit to find the answer. Thank you for this day and for being with us throughout the day. Bless us in 1:22:31 the rest of the day. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening patiently. [Music]
