0:00 So we all know that in the body of Christ there are different ministries. It's not like the Old Testament where there was only the occasional prophet. But 0:17 all of us have if you are really surrendered to the lordship of Christ and you acknowledge Christ as your head and you're not a paralyzed member of the body then you have a function. It may not be 0:34 the same as other people but you have a very important function. And some of the hidden parts of our body like the liver, kidneys actually have a more important function than our little fingers that are visible. So don't imagine that because you don't 0:54 stand in the pulpit or you're not visible, maybe you're a mother with many children and you never get uh much visibility or don't get opportunity to travel it doesn't mean you have don't have a ministry. It can be a very, very 1:09 important ministry. If we only seek for ministry that's visible, we're seeking our own honor. Think of the kidneys and the liver working inside they work inside my body for 72 years and uh never sought honor, never sought to be 1:27 visible. But they've done a tremendous job. Isn't it wonderful if Jesus can find members in his body like that who are quite content to be what God planned for them to be in the body of Christ. 1:44 They're not in competition with anyone but are fully willing to cooperate. This is what is so rare to see in Christendom today. And personally I believe that it's because most believers have not 2:03 seen the new covenant. I know God has given me a particular ministry. It's more visible than that of others. I don't believe it's more important. And I don't believe I can function alone. I mean, for example, if I'm like the 2:20 tongue of a local body. You know that the tongue cannot function without the heart beating all the time. If the heart stops beating, the tongue stops beating. And I'm very conscious of the fact that a lot of people pray for me. Makes a lot 2:35 of difference when I speak. And it took me many years to understand what my calling was. I think maybe at least 10 15 years after I was born again. And it was through trial and error. I first wanted to be an evangelist. 2:54 I thought that's the only thing I knew, preach the gospel. And I tried for many years. I never seemed to have much success. And I mean, there was the occasional person that came to Christ, but it wasn't in any great numbers. 3:06 And gradually, I discovered that that was not my calling. I wanted to go to the unreached parts of India as a missionary. I quit my job to do that. God didn't call me for that. But over a period of years, God began to show me that his calling for me was to 3:24 teach the word to his people. It was not my first choice. It was my second choice, but that was God's first choice for me. And I accepted it. And then, as I developed in that ministry, it required a lot of study of God's 3:41 word. Every ministry requires a sacrifice of your personal time, inconvenience. But there, you know, even in teaching, God began to show me there was a specific type of teaching that God wanted me to do. 4:00 There was a There was a specific special calling. Just like every part of the body has a special calling. And so the Lord asked me to study his word thoroughly, and I've tried my best to do that for more than 50 years. And he also asked me 4:20 to listen to what preachers were preaching. You know, as many as I could as much as I could find out from books and articles and magazines and tapes and CDs and what were all the preachers, Christian preachers, the 4:39 well-known ones anyway, who had the most influence in Christendom, preaching. And I tried to do that, to listen listen. And then the Lord said, "You've got to listen carefully and see what are the things in the Bible which 4:54 they are not preaching. What are the many things I have taught in my word which none of these people are preaching or almost no one. Your calling is to preach that." So I began to discover that I had this It was not just teaching the whole 5:12 Bible. I mean, I can take a Bible study on Ephesians or Galatians or take a Bible study on justification and sanctification and baptism. There are hundreds of things you can teach. But I found that my calling was specific. 5:26 And I gradually realized when I read the Old Testament prophets that they also had a a specific thing that God put as a burden on their heart. And that's all they preached. I mean, if Jeremiah preached for 40 years, but if 5:40 you went and listened to him most of the time, you'd be hearing him say the same thing. And the Lord showed me that preachers were not willing to preach the same thing again and again and again because they loved their reputations so much 6:00 that they didn't want to the people to think oh these guys are lazy. They've only got one message to preach about. The Old Testament prophets were not scared of that. They only didn't care less what people thought about them. They didn't seek 6:15 man's honor. I saw preachers, you know, who would go from place to place and they would have a list of sermons. Uh usually a Baptist pastor has about 150 sermons. So once three years are over, they've got to move to another church because 6:33 they've finished all their sermons. And then the traveling preachers, you see, I've been in the ministry nearly 50 years and I know what people do. Uh the traveling preachers uh they also have a list of sermons. 6:51 And they write down in such and such a place I preached this sermon, so I can't preach that again over there when I'm invited when I'm invited next year. And then such and such a place you've got to be very careful if you 7:02 want to preserve your honor, I tell you. You've got to work hard. And uh I saw there was so much of humanness so much of Christian ministry. And it was so different from the way 7:20 the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles proclaimed God's word. No wonder we don't see New Covenant churches. You cannot build New Covenant churches with Old Covenant preachers. It's impossible. Impossible. 7:37 So if you've heard me, you always hear me speak the same thing. Now you understand why. And uh There's another thing I I remember hearing Charles Finney, or not hearing, reading what Charles Finney said. He was one of America's greatest 7:55 preachers 150 years ago. Great revivalist. He said he's discovered through years of preaching that people don't understand something unless you say the same thing 10 times. It doesn't seem to sink in. And I've discovered 8:11 that even 10 times doesn't do it. Take a simple thing like knowing God as Father. You know, like you sang just now, "No earthly father loves like Thee." Do you Do you remember the words? Or did 8:30 you just sing it by rote? "No earthly father loves like Thee." "No mother ever so mild." in the Western world writing English. 9:56 I've read all of them, most of the well-known ones anyway. Among all those that I have read, there was only one man that I read who knew what it was to worship God. And that was Tozer, A.W. Tozer. That man knew what it was to worship 10:16 God. And some of these old mystics like Bernard of Clairvaux, whose song we sang just now. Jesus, the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast, written in the 12th century. Some of these men knew what it was to 10:35 worship God. Some of these Roman Catholic mystics were imbalanced in other ways, but there's something we can learn from them. They knew how to worship God. And uh I believe that that's the reason why 10:53 so much of our work is shallow and what why God cannot bear witness to it because we know so little of true worship. Uh once I understood the importance of 11:11 this, I said, "Lord, I don't want to be a preacher. I want to be a worshiper all the days of my life. And preaching and serving is only going to be an overflow 11:29 of my worship. That's all. So that the overflow is not there, the cup is still full. I'm worshipping and I'm very happy. If you become a worshiper, I can tell you something from my own experience that you'll never be disgruntled, unhappy, 11:48 grumble, complain, murmur. It's all It'll all be disappear. You'll never have a bad mood one single day. 24/7 you'll be free from bad moods if you become a worshiper. But if you're just going to be a servant, you know, busy trying to do 12:03 this and trying you're going to go somewhere and plant a new testament church there, you're going to witness to people and bring people to Christ. I'll tell you right now, you'll get frustrated and you may have a nervous 12:14 breakdown and you'll create a lot of problems in God's work. Make a nuisance of yourself as well. You'll never build fellowship. The important thing is worship. Because Jesus said 12:33 you know, in the last temptation to Satan, you shall worship then you shall serve. Matthew 4:10. You must first worship the Lord your God and then serve. If I serve him without worshipping him 12:54 the service is going to be ineffective. It's so clear. You know, there's certain things that in just in those three temptations, those three statements that Jesus made that are fundamental in knowing how to serve God. 13:14 First man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. If I want to serve God, knowing God's word must be more important to me 13:33 than my daily food. Number one. Can you honestly say it's true? I don't mean just teasing your conscience to read the Bible 15 minutes a day. You can read the Bible 15 minutes a day or even 2 hours a day 13:51 and not hear the word that man should live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth, that proceeds, not that proceeded 14:11 20 centuries ago and is written down in printer's ink in black and white, but as you read it, that God speaks to you and the word is proceeding from his mouth. I'm not talking about new revelations outside the Bible, don't 14:26 misunderstand me. There is no revelation outside the books of the Bible, but from here that God speaks. That is how man was to live. It's the number one principle of Christian life. The answer to the first temptation. And the second principle is the answer 14:44 to the second temptation. You must never try to tempt God by doing something stupid and saying God led me to do that. The multitudes of foolish, particularly young people, who 15:04 do all types of things and say God led me, God led me. They're tempting God and they're leading other people astray. When the the devil asked Jesus to jump off the temple and come unhurt down and get honor. Jesus said no. The principle is when 15:23 there are stairs, use the stairs. Don't jump off. It's a very simple principle. It's common sense. And that's the second principle of the Christian life, use your common sense. If there are stairs available, don't try to jump off the roof. 15:35 It's as simple as that. Don't tempt God and saying I'm going to trust God here. Well, it's like people who say I won't I won't take medicine. I trust God to heal me. Well, if you're in some jungle where no medicine is available, I believe God 15:51 will heal you. But if medicine is available, and God has provided it, use it. Use the stairs. And that has many, many applications. Because a lot of this so-called I trust God and faith is for boasting. So that you can testify to other people, 16:09 you know, I jumped off the roof and I descended unheard. And boy, what honor did I get? Don't get fooled by the devil into all that. Most people mess up their life with these type of stupid things which uh ordinary human beings won't do. And 16:26 they look at these fanatic Christians doing stupid things and making a mess of their life and say, is this Christianity? So that's the second thing, use your common sense. God's given us common sense. And don't uh say faith is to tempt God. There is a 16:42 place for faith. Faith is where God has told you to do something. You know, Abraham believed that he could have a son at the age of 90 because God had at the age of 100 because God had said it. Not because he determined I'm going to 16:56 get a son. No. Faith is not something you work up and work up and work up and up. Last you got it. No. God speaks and you believe. That's faith. Otherwise, there's no basis for faith. So God hasn't told me to jump off the 17:13 God tells me to jump off the roof of the temple, I'll do it. God Jesus told Peter to step off out of the boat into the water. That's almost like jumping off the roof of the temple. He did it. And then he walked. And Jesus would have done it, too, 17:29 if God had told him. But not without that, it's not faith, it's tempting God. Then the third principle is the third temptation, you shall worship and then only serve. And here's another fundamental mistake of people who try to serve God. 17:44 They're not worshipers. They don't fall on their face before God and adore him. Know him as Father. Uh let me turn you to John chapter 4. I remember 18:03 how this verse gripped me so much. I don't know whether you've seen it and whether it grips you. I've often said to people, we read the Bible too fast. We 18:20 That's why we don't get much out of it. When you read a verse, sometimes God may ask you to stop. Sometimes I just read number of verses and I keep going on and then suddenly I come to a verse and it's like, you know, driving along a 18:34 road and suddenly there's a red light. What do you do? I hope you stop. That's how we must read the scriptures. You're reading, reading, reading, reading, reading and suddenly it you come to a verse and it's like a red light there. You got to stop. And 18:51 the Lord says, "Stop there now. Read. Meditate on that verse." It's not in every verse. I don't stop in every verse of the genealogies to meditate on those names. It's all smooth sailing through the genealogies as far as I'm concerned. 19:07 But but certain verses I stop. And uh uh sometimes I have to stop the whole day and next day when I get up the red light is still there on that verse. I can't move on. This is one of those verses. 19:24 Uh Matt John 4 and verse 23 and 24. An hour is coming and now is. Slowly now. We got plenty of time at the stoplight to stop and think. 19:42 The hour has not yet come. It's coming. Until that time when Jesus spoke these words nobody could do it. Nobody. He's talking about worshipping 20:00 in spirit and in truth in that sentence. Nobody could do it till now. All the things you read in the Psalms about people clapping their hands and the symbols and the whatever they had in those days and shouting and everything 20:17 that is not this. That was good but it's not this. People who think that the the Psalms are the greatest example of worship they haven't understood this verse. An hour is coming. We're in the new covenant. 20:40 That's why pardon me but I disagree with some of the songs people sing. These are not the days of Elijah. These are the days of Jesus. These are not the days of Moses and Ezekiel. These are the days of Jesus. These are not the days of David and 20:54 raising the tabernacle of praise. That's a charismatic teaching which I don't believe at all. These are the days of Jesus Christ. I'm not a follower of David or of Ezekiel or of I thank God for the prophecies they prophesied. I read them. 21:08 But we're in the fulfillment of those prophecies. It says those things were only a shadow. We have the reality. They were not wrong. The law was not wrong. The law was a shadow. But now I have the reality. I mean I realize that in songs there's a 21:26 certain amount of what's called poetic license. Poetic license means those who write hymns are permitted to say something which is not exactly true. But so long as you get the spirit of it, it's all right. So when I sing those things I songs, I 21:41 try to get the spirit of it. Because I I believe in meaning every single word. Not every single sentence, every single word. When I'm talking to God in prayer and when I'm singing. Singing is prayer. And I have disciplined myself. 22:00 It wasn't like that for more than 15-20 years of my life. I used to just sing along. But now I don't because I see that every word I speak I have to give an account in the day of judgment. It's become very real to me. That I mean seek to mean every single 22:14 word I sing. And if I can't mean something or I can't understand something I say, "Lord, I can't understand that. So I'm not going to say something which I don't mean." I mean my children don't come and tell me something which 22:26 they don't even know what it means. We don't talk to each other like that. We always say something which we know what we mean. Just think about it. Sometime take a hymn book and go through your favorite hymns. I would encourage you to do it. I've done 22:42 it. And take just take 15 minutes to go through some of your favorite hymns and ask yourself the numerous times you've sung it, have you meant every word that you sung? You'll get a big surprise. And your relationship with God will 22:59 become more meaningful. So that hour is coming but not yet come. It is going to come on the day of Pentecost. But, it now is. Now is means there's somebody who's already experiencing this life. That's Jesus. Jesus himself was already in that life. 23:16 But, not the others, not even his disciples. So, that's why there are two things. The hour is coming and now is. For all of you, it's going to be in the day of Pentecost. For me, it's already there. When the true worshipers 23:27 I believe Jesus is a man on earth was a worshiper. Even though he's equal to the Father, he had emptied himself of that and came to earth as a man. That's why he could he had to pray. And that's why he worshiped. True worshipers will worship the Father 23:43 in spirit and truth. And this is the part that really gripped my heart. Such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. And I look up to heaven and I say, "Father, are you really 24:03 earnestly longing and looking all over the world seeking for worshipers? Do you find many?" Answer is no. Okay, I want to be one. I want to be one to satisfy your heart 24:23 because you are seeking for worshipers. The Christian world is seeking for better preachers. The Father is seeking for worshipers. If you want the honor of men, seek to be a preacher. If you want the honor of God, seek to be 24:44 a worshiper. You won't get much honor from men. It doesn't matter. When you stand before the Lord in the final day, you will see how much your life accomplished even though you were a weak, helpless, maybe 25:02 temperamentally limited in so many ways. I know the limitations I have in my own temperament. You don't know it because you didn't know me as a young man. But I know but I know the difference that happened when I decided to be a 25:18 worshiper, when the Holy Spirit filled my life and showed me the Father. The Father seeks for worshipers. I wish you would stop at that red light for a few days. Think about it. Meditate on it. 25:38 The Father wants you to be a worshiper. Will you satisfy his heart? I want to. I want to spend all my days because this is one thing I'm going to do for all eternity. We're not going to preach in eternity. But worship is something I can start now 25:57 and continue for all eternity. Prostrate before thy throne to lie and gaze and gaze on thee. It'll help you to overcome sin. It'll calm your restless mind. Even the legalists speak about the 26:16 Sabbath as a day of worship. Some say Saturday, someday Sunday. You know which is my Sabbath? 7 days a week. I live in a perpetual Sabbath. The Sabbath described in Hebrews chapter 26:34 4 which says there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. Do you know that? Hebrews 4:9, there's a Sabbath rest for the people of God. There's a place of continuous worship for God's people. 26:52 It's a place of rest. The day of worship is a day of rest. That's what the Lord was trying to tell the Israelites. One day in seven, you must stop all your work. Stop all your preaching. Spend the day with me. This is what he 27:10 taught Adam right at the beginning. Adam, I made you yesterday evening. That's the sixth day evening. Or morning rather. They They were that evening and morning those days. I made you at the end of the sixth day. So, Adam, 27:29 this is God telling Adam, "This is your first day. Don't worry about everything. I have made everything for you. I'm God. Before I make man, I make every provision for him. Now I made you. I've given you a wife. 27:50 I've given you a job, a gardener. I've given you a home, the most beautiful home that anybody will ever have, Eden. But I don't want you to work today. I want you to spend time with me today. Worship me. Your first day 28:09 is going to be a day of worship and fellowship. No work. I didn't create you to be a servant. I've got millions of angels. Look around. All these angels are there to serve me. I wanted a worshiper. I wanted someone who I could fellowship 28:24 with. These angels don't have my nature. I can't fellowship with them. They worship me, but it's not like you, Adam. I've given you my nature. I made you in my image. And you can You and I can have fellowship in a way that none of these 28:42 angels can have. I want you to be a worshiper, not just today. I'm just starting you off on that on this first day so that you will be a worshiper every day that even when you work in the garden, you'll be worshipping me all the time. 28:58 That was God's plan. And God was so terribly disappointed. You know, the the devil couldn't come anywhere near Adam that first day. It's a wonderful thing. It's great It's been a great comfort to me to know the devil didn't try anything on that 29:14 seventh day. He had to wait till the eighth day when he went into the garden. And I see that if I am a worshiper, the devil won't be able to come anywhere near me. It's when I stop worshipping God. 29:33 I get busy serving. I've got to do this. I've got to do this. I've got to do this for my family. And I've got In the middle of all this, I'm to be a worshiper. It's not that I don't do those things. I mean, I've had a family. I've had to 29:47 earn my living. I've had to do family. I've had to preach. Responsibility for many churches. But I see all these things are are in the overall realm of worship. I do these things. If I otherwise, I'd have a nervous breakdown. 30:05 I'll need a vacation. I don't need a vacation. Cuz I'm a worshiper. I'm living in a perpetual vacation. A perpetual Sabbath. Believe me, I'm not telling you lies. It's amazing. It can restore your health, 30:24 clear up your mind if you learn to be a worshiper. You won't get into a panic. You won't be so anxious. You won't be so tense. You won't react in anger as you normally do if you're a worshiper. So, 30:44 that's why it's important for us to know God as a father. I remember reading a you know, some people teach in some Roman Catholic teach. There are a lot of good things in 31:02 Roman Catholic teaching. I don't agree with all of it, but there's a teaching there that God is a very strict father. And but he's given Mary as a mother to sort of stand in between 31:21 and protect us from this strict father who's come to whip us. It's a wrong picture. Protestants don't think of Mary like that, but I they think that Jesus has come between God and us. God is very angry. 31:41 The father, but Jesus came in between to somehow protect us from the anger of God. And so, if you find, my brother sister, that you know Jesus, but you don't know 31:59 the father, you're probably because that wrong understanding has come to you. You know, Jesus had to tell his disciples, "The father himself loves you." God so loved the world that he gave his son. And once we understand 32:17 the love of our father for us, it makes a tremendous difference in our life. It'll remove insecurity. I know it did in my life. I was a very, very insecure Christian. As a young person. And one mark of insecurity is that you 32:34 always want to impress people. You always want people to to accept you. Children go to school, small little children, they want to be accepted. It's a great desire to be accepted by others. And if everybody shuns them, they wonder 32:53 why. As they grow up as teenagers, they want to be accepted by their peers. They don't care whether their father or mother accept them, they want to be accepted by their fellow teenagers. And that's why those teenage girls begin 33:09 to dress like other girls in the world, cuz otherwise they won't be accepted. If they dress modestly, the other girls will make fun of them. They can't bear it to be made fun of. They want to be accepted. And those boys want to be accepted with 33:26 their other teenage boys. And the other teenage boys say, "Come on, be a man. Take some drugs. What are you doing? Don't be a sissy." And so they take it because they want to be accepted. And Christian preachers want to be 33:40 accepted. Some because they want the money of the rich people in their congregation to get their salaries, they're afraid to offend the rich people. Some because they want honor. But always this desire for acceptance. You come to a church, you want to be 33:57 accepted. I remember someone once came to me and said, "Brother Zac, I went to that church and they don't show me any love." I said, "Which verse in the Bible says you've got to get other people to love you?" I said, "I've read the whole Bible and I 34:09 haven't found the 31,175 verses, not one verse says get other people to love you." A lot of verses which says you've got to love them. I said, "Do you know why you're supposed to go to a church fellowship? To love them, not to get them to love you. 34:29 So you went looking for the wrong thing. So you're at fault." He didn't expect me to say that. He thought I'd say, "Oh, don't go to that church. Go to some other one." You know, you're not supposed to go to a church to get people to love you. 34:43 Are you hearing that for the first time? We're going to a church to love others. Is there a blessing in receiving? Yes, Jesus said there is a blessing in receiving. But there's a greater blessing in giving. Did you know that? 35:03 There's no nothing wrong in receiving. But Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. In every area in your life, I'll tell you this. If you learn to give, you'll get a greater blessing 35:21 than receiving. You go to a church to receive, you'll be blessed. I'm sure you'll be blessed. You'll be blessed more when you go to give. And I'm not talking just about giving money. That is one aspect of it as well. If you're in need, 35:40 and you receive money from somebody, there's certainly a blessing there. But if like the widow with two mites, you give, there's a greater blessing. I've discovered that so many times. Uh someone once asked me, "Brother Zach, how do you remember these 35:59 verses here and there? I just seem to forget as soon as I read." I said, "I'll tell you. Learn to give." In other words, when you received a blessing from some scripture, don't store it, hoard it, 36:17 say, "I got something." Keep it to yourself. Share it. Share it with somebody what you got from that verse. I'm not talking about standing on a pulpit. You may never stand on a pulpit in your life. Don't you talk to people? 36:32 We talk to people every day. There's nobody else, share it with your wife. Or your husband. Do you ever share with your wife or husband some verse you got? Or you say, "No, no, that's only for the pulpit." Who said that? 36:51 Don't you speak on the cell phone sometimes to friends? There are 101 useless things you talk about on that phone. And that you text to each other. Why not share something you got from scripture? I I remember once somebody came 37:12 you know, salesman to the door of our house in India. And my wife is wiser than me in handling such people. And so uh she listened to what that person had to say. Well, and patiently listened. And she said, "No, I'm not I don't want 37:29 it." But she said, "I've got something to give you." And the person had to accept it and he gave her a tract. A the gospel tract. I I think on a phone once when somebody did one of these telemarketing calls somebody spoke to her and she listened 37:46 patiently for a minute or so. Then said, "I have something to tell you now. Will you listen to me for a minute?" Isn't that a wonderful way to give the gospel? So you know, when God gives you something, if you share it, that verse will remain 38:03 in your mind. Because it's more blessed to give. That's how to remember scripture. The more we share what God gives us, the more that will remain in our mind. And we'll be able to use it often. So coming to this matter of the Sabbath 38:21 rest. It's by knowing the Father. So, the great ministry that Jesus came to Earth to fulfill, I believe, was to explain the Father. Because no one had seen the Father at any time. No one had seen God. And the Pharisees had portrayed God as a 38:39 judge or a policeman, always trying to catch you. You're not full of joy when you see a car flashing lights behind you, right? And a lot of Christians feel that way 38:57 about God. Oh, what did I do wrong now? What's God going to say to me? He's come to bless you. You need to understand that. That's the main thing Jesus came to reveal. No one had seen God at any time. 39:16 All the preachers had portrayed such a wrong picture of God. And I see Christendom today, you know, every false religion, every false religion, including false Christianity, portrays God as a policeman and a judge who's there to punish you, 39:32 waiting to catch you do some little thing wrong. And Jesus came with a completely different message. It's different from This is where Christianity is different from all the religions of the world. Go and study all the religions of the world 39:47 and see if anyone teaches God as a father. No. Everyone teaches that God calls holy people. Jesus came and said, "I didn't come to call the holy people. I came to call sinners." Which religion Which religious leader ever said that? 40:07 "I didn't come to call holy people. I came to call sinners." It's only Christianity. That's why it's the truth. Because the world is not full of holy people. The world's full of sinners. And it's Christianity that teaches that 40:25 God loves sinners. That's what convinces me this is the truth. The Father loves us. And Jesus said in John 17, I want you to see this verse. It was one of his prayers. 40:45 What do you think Jesus wants the world to know? We all know one has one thing that Jesus wants the world to know, that he is the savior of the world. That is the gospel. And that is the part of the gospel which 41:02 most evangelists are preaching. John 17:23 I in them and Father, thou in me that they may be perfected in unity. 41:19 So that, number one, the world may know that you sent me. That is the first part of the gospel. That the world should know that Jesus is the savior of the world. That the God sent Jesus to die for the sins of the world. 41:43 And you and I must be witnesses to that. I'm not saying that we make a nuisance of ourselves and thrust ourselves on people. But in a gracious, loving way proclaim 42:02 that Christ is the savior of the world. But there's one more thing Jesus said here that the world must know. When the world looks at our lives, they must know that God the Father loves us exactly 42:20 like He loved Jesus. He said that. The world must know first of all that you sent me to be the savior of the world, and the world must know secondly, as they look at the lives of God's people, that the Father loves us exactly like He 42:34 loved Jesus. Now, I want to ask you, however old you may be, from the time you were born again, maybe you were born again 2 years ago. I was born again 53 years ago. The length of time doesn't matter, but the point is, 42:53 as people have observed your life, at least now, forget the old early days when you didn't know these things. As people look at your life now, say in the last 6 months or a year, does the world feel that 43:12 here is a man and a woman who seem to be tremendously loved by God? Does it look like that? It won't look like that if they see you always in a panic or worried like everybody else or behaving like an atheist whenever 43:31 you're in trouble. What do atheists do when they're in trouble? They look for human resources to find their way out of trouble. When you're in trouble, if you look for human resources, there's no a difference 43:49 between you and an atheist. When Jesus faced trouble, where do you think He looked for? Where Where did Where did He look to? The Father. And that is 44:07 how we are to manifest our faith. And that's why God allows so many circumstances in our life to strengthen our faith. I believe that our whole life on earth is like exercising in a gym. 44:26 The trials that come and we face up to it and build our spiritual muscles. In many ways, you know, by standing for the truth in an office or a factory where we work 44:44 and we are told to do things that are wrong or to tell a lie or do something unrighteous. And there you're being tested. Your muscles and spiritual muscles are being tested. To see whether you will stand up 45:04 for the truth and be righteous and maybe lose your job or compromise and keep your job. That's going to determine whether God will be able to accomplish his purpose with which he sent you to this earth or put you on a shelf for the rest of 45:24 your life. You know that a lot of Christians have been put on the shelf because God says, "I tested him again and again and again and again. Every time the guy compromised. Because he wanted to keep his job. He wanted to please some relative. He 45:41 wanted to please some pastor. He wanted to please some friend. I can never use him. We'll keep him as a shelf on the shelf for people to admire. Useless." There are Christians like that. And the reason that God there's no 45:55 partiality with God. He tested them and he found them unfit to be his servants. They were compromisers. They sought to please men. They sought their own. And they sought their own convenience. They wouldn't go through any difficulty 46:12 or inconvenience. God said, "Well, or in So, when God allows different situations like the storm that came in the lake, why did God allow a storm to come in the lake when the dis- disciples had obeyed God? I don't have time to show you that 46:28 passage, but you you read in Matthew 14 and 15, you see that after feeding the 5,000, it says the Jesus urged the disciples to go across the sea. In other words, they didn't want to go. He had to urge them. 46:47 And when he urged them and they finally obeyed and went, they faced a storm. So, what I learned from that is if they had disobeyed and stayed on land, they would never face the storm. You know who faces the storm? The ones who obey God. 47:05 And when they face the storm, Jesus stilled it. Now, the question is, is it better to go through life never facing a storm or facing the storm and seeing the mighty power of God to still it? I know what is the better way. 47:24 Any day, I love I want to face storms constantly. So that I can see your mighty power to still it and so that I can experience that the Father loves me just like he loved Jesus. That he will still the storms of life for me 47:42 just like he stilled them on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus was in the boat. He loves me as he loves Jesus. Do you experience that? That is what Jesus prayed that the world may may that the Father loves me. And I've looked at my own life like 48:00 this. Lord, when I come to the end of my life and if someone could be permitted to examine every area of my life from the time I was born again or at least from the time I came to know 48:18 the truth that they could look into my financial dealings, they could look into my private life, they could look into my thought life, they could look into my attitudes towards people, towards my enemies and towards women and everything, they could 48:33 look into every area of my life if they were permitted at the end of my life to get a video tape of my entire thought, word, deed, attitude, motive they should be able to say at the end of it boy, there's no explanation for this 48:49 man's life except that he must be having a father in heaven who loves him and cares for him. That's the challenge I've taken for myself. I don't know whether you take that as well. It's not a question of the impression we give. 49:06 You know, that's only 10% of our life. And the devil you know, sees those believers who are only interested in creating a good impression. They are the biggest hypocrites in Christendom. I'll tell you one thing, if you want to 49:21 be free from hypocrisy and free from being a Pharisee determine that you will never care for the opinions of men. If you seek to please men you cannot be a servant of Christ. Seek to know the Father and seek for his approval over your 49:39 life. Father what do you think of me? What do you think of me? I remember hearing of a young boy who was playing the violin in a concert. And he played it so well 49:58 that, you know, a huge concert with hundreds of people sitting there. And they asked him at the end, "What was the secret? How did you play so well?" He said, "Well, up there in the balcony my instructor, my teacher was sitting 50:14 there who had taught me. And my eyes were on him all the time as I was playing. I was watching what he was saying through his actions. And that's all that mattered. I was completely oblivious to the hundreds of 50:32 people in the hall. And I said, "Lord, that's how I want to live. I want to keep my eyes on my teacher and be completely oblivious to all the people around me, what they think, what they say. Especially when I preach and at other 50:52 times, too. What does it matter? Their opinion doesn't matter. We got to train ourselves to be like that. The Father, his opinion about me, that's all that matters. And you know, if we know God is our Father, we'd be free from all anxiety. 51:08 I believe personally for myself that's the way I've tested it. If I were to ask people, "Do you know God is your Father?" All of us will say, "Yes. God is my Father. Jesus Christ has saved me. God is my Father." Well, I say the 51:20 test is do you do you get anxious about anything? Well, then you don't really know the Father as you should. Because when Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 6, "When you pray, say Our Father who art in heaven." 51:40 That means one who loves me, Our Father, but one in heaven who runs the whole universe, controls everything. In the same chapter, towards the end of that chapter, Matthew 6, three times he said, "Don't be anxious." Matthew 6:25, 51:58 verse 31, "Don't be anxious." Verse 34, "Don't be anxious." See, in 10 verses, three times he says, "Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious. Don't be anxious." And the reason he says is, "If God cares for the birds of the If 52:17 your father feeds the birds and their food, won't he care for you?" He's speaking about the father all the time. That's the point. Your father, he cares for the birds, he'll feed you. He clothes the flowers. Don't you think he will clothe you?" 52:35 And then he says, "All these things, verse 32, Matthew 6, the Gentiles eagerly seek. But your father knows that you need all these things. Therefore, don't be anxious. The hairs on your head are numbered." 52:56 So many things Jesus said to teach those disciples. "You are evil fathers compared to your heavenly father. And you give food to your children. You think your heavenly father won't give good things to those who ask him? 53:10 And those who are seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Luke 11:13, Jesus said, "You evil fathers know how to give good things to your children. Don't you think your heavenly father will give the Holy Spirit much more to 53:20 those who ask him?" Why don't they get it? They don't trust him. You come to God saying, "I'm not too sure whether you'll baptize me in the Holy Spirit." I'll tell you, in a hundred years, you will not be baptized in the Holy Spirit. 53:31 Because you're insulting God with the very first sentence. By your attitude. "Lord, I want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, but my heart, I'm not sure whether you'll do it." Forget it. Don't waste your time. Pray. Go and do something else. 53:47 But if you come to God, now I have a definition of faith that I have I can't quote a verse for it, but it's a definition of faith that I've sort of produced myself based on these teachings of Jesus. And that is It's helped me a lot. If it helps you, 54:02 take it. Faith, you know, but I'm talking about things which God has promised. I'm not talking about asking God for a better house or a better car. Those things are not promised. Those are the things that the Gentiles eagerly seek. 54:16 So, my father knows what I need, not what I want, but what I need. He gives me what I need. If you're a wise father, you don't give your children everything they want. You give your children what they need. And God is a very wise father. He 54:30 doesn't give me everything I want. Thank God. I I'm ruined my life. He gives me everything I need. Your heavenly father knows that you need these things. So, faith is to believe 54:46 that God is more eager to give me what he has promised than I am eager to get it. Whatever it is. God is more eager. For example, John the Baptist said, 55:08 "Jesus, he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire." It's a promise. Now, what I want to ask you is, all of you, do you believe do you really believe that all your eagerness to be filled with the Holy Spirit is not even a drop 55:25 in the ocean compared to God's eagerness to fill you with the Holy Spirit? The day you believe that, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit. You won't have to wait. I'll tell you from my own experience. The day I believed that God met with me, 55:40 it changed my life. I had thirst for so long, but the moment faith joined up with thirst, the answer came. Faith is God is more eager to give me what he's promised than I am eager to receive it. Okay. Here's another promise. Romans 6:14, 56:00 "Sin shall not rule over you." No sin. God is more eager to fulfill that promise in my life than I am eager to receive it. Are you eager to that sin no sin should rule over you? Are you eager that you must you will never look at a pornographic picture 56:19 again? Are you eager that you'll never be anxious again? Are you eager that you'll never be in a bad mood again? Are you eager that you'll never complain again, never grumble again, never get angry again, never lust with 56:32 your eyes again? Are you really eager? Let me tell you, God is a million times more eager than you are to do that in your life. Do you believe it? One or two believe it. No wonder you don't get it. I'm not surprised. 56:53 I know how it was in my life. I did not believe it. I thought I was more eager than God, and that's the biggest insult you can give to God. To tell him, "I am more eager than you are 57:10 that I should live a holy life." Really? How the devil has fooled you. Believe God. He's a loving father. He made every provision for Adam before he created him. He didn't make Adam on the first day. 57:32 Okay, Adam, now sit down here. I got a lot of things to do. I'm I'll make the earth, the sky, and the stars, and this, and that, the garden. And Adam says, "When is this all going to finish?" It wasn't like that. He made every single thing. 57:47 Every last animal and creature and garden and every flower and fruit and when everything was ready, he said, "Adam, now I'll make you. I'll give you a wife." Do you believe that God is interested in your having a very, very happy married 58:04 life? Are you? I know you are. Do you believe that God is much more interested than you are in giving you a very happy married life if only you will stop saying that the problem is with my wife 58:23 or the problem is with my husband. Just stop saying that. It may take you a few years to stop saying it, unfortunately, because you've said it for so long. Die. Dead people never say the problem is with my wife or my husband. 58:39 Is there anything that the devil has done in your life which the which God almighty cannot solve any problem? Do you ever find somebody coming to Jesus with a problem and Jesus scratching his head and saying, "Boy, that's a tough one. I don't know how to 58:53 handle that." Never. Never. I took a series of studies once on the on the miracles. All the miracles that Jesus did and the title of the series was God can solve every problem. That's the message of the miracles. I like this verse, so I'll close with 59:12 this. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 8. The last part. 1 John 3 verse 8, the son of God appeared. that two reasons why he appeared. 59:30 The first reason we all know, verse 5, he appeared to take away our sin. Number one, the son of God appeared 1 John 3:5 to take away our sin. Number two reason, 1 John 3:8, middle, the son of God appeared to destroy the works of the 59:46 devil. Not only to take away our sin, but to destroy the works of the devil he's done in our life. And I remember reading one translation of that verse. To untie the works of the devil and I get a 1:00:05 picture. Uh my mind thinks in pictures when I read scripture and helps me a lot. I get a picture of me born into this earth as a sweet little baby with a perfectly innocent sinless with a ball of string beautifully rolled 1:00:24 up. And as I grow up, I tie that ball into string into knots one after the other with disobedience to parents and rebellion and all types of things till now, by time I'm 20 years old, it's not a beautiful ball of string 1:00:42 anymore. It's millions of knots tied together impossible to untie. Jesus has come to untie it and give me that beautiful ball of string again. Says, "Son, 1:01:01 start your life again." That's the gospel. He came to untie all the knots the devil has put in our life. He's a loving father. If you get to know God, your life will be 1:01:18 effective, your home life will change. You'll be able to accomplish God's purpose for your life. Let's bow in prayer. Heavenly Father, help us to know you better, 1:01:40 to satisfy the longing of your heart to be worshipers, to demonstrate to the world around us that we have a father in heaven who cares for our every need, who will never leave us nor forsake us, 1:01:59 who will stand by us through thick and thin. Thank you, Father. I thank you for what this revelation has done in my own life, and I pray it'll do the same miracle in the lives of everybody here. I pray in Jesus' name. 1:02:18 Amen. Amen.
