0:07 It's always a pleasure to dedicate children because they are the closest to God's kingdom among all of us. And I just want to say a word to all parents here. Train up a child in the way he should 0:26 go, the Bible says. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. Your part is to train up the child. God's part is to ensure that he will not depart from it. My wife and I took that very seriously 0:45 when our from the time our children were born. From the youngest age, we taught them obedience. And we taught them to speak the truth. We taught them to respect parents and respect older people. Those are the main things. 0:59 We did not have a lot of things to give them, but we taught them the fear of God. And I want to encourage all parents here to teach your children to respect parents, respect older people, always speak respectfully. I see in this 1:17 country young people are grown up, they don't respect older people. They speak in such a rude way sometimes. That should never be true of a Christian child. And parents must teach their children to speak respectfully to any older person. 1:35 And they must learn to obey their parents at home. And then you can raise a generation in your church for the glory of God. That's a responsibility we have. Very, very important. So, you can bless your church by 1:53 teaching your children the fear of God. Okay, we are time is limited and we have about 34 questions. So, if I take 2 minutes per question, it'll be over an hour before we finish. So, please be patient and 2:11 some who have asked questions, you may not get the full answer. I'll try my best to cover everything. I think these are important questions. First is spiritual life, then personal life, then questions related to family life and then church life. So, first of 2:26 all, questions related to personal spiritual life. I'm making slow progress in devotion to the Lord. Will this slowness prevent me from receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Not at all. You need the baptism of the Holy Spirit in order to make 2:39 progress in the Christian life. See, it is the needy. It's the person who is Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." You don't come to drink when your stomach is full of water or your mouth tongue is 2:53 not dry. It's when your tongue is dry and thirsty that you want water. And that's the type of person who should seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. So, the more needy you are, the more qualified you are to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 3:06 It's not those who are perfect. It is to become perfect that the Lord gives us the power of the Holy Spirit. And the only qualification is a thirst and faith. Do you believe that if evil fathers give good gifts to their children, God the 3:20 Father will give you the power of the Holy Spirit? Don't look for experiences. Don't look for somebody else's testimony. Say, "Lord, I'm needy. I'm thirsty. I'm coming to you." And ask. And believe that Jesus is a loving 3:33 savior. God is a loving father. He will not deny you. Why does God people God make people wait? I I remember I waited for a long time. I think part of the reason was to increase the thirst in my heart that I became desperate. And the other is to 3:48 show me what a total failure I was without the power of the Holy Spirit. and I learned those lessons, then I was ready to be filled. That's the reason some men God waits. Another question, is there a difference between sin slowly losing its power over 4:01 me and an experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The baptism of the Holy Spirit does help us to overcome sin, but is primarily a to equip us to be witnesses for Christ. You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Acts 1:8. And 4:17 you shall be witnesses unto me. So, the primary purpose is to be a witness for Christ. That includes my life, because I can't be a witness for Christ with my words if my life is going against my words. It's a condition with a lot of Christians today. 4:32 Their life speaks so loudly and their words are opposite of their life. They speak one profound things in their word, but their life is speaking something completely opposite. So, we need to have power in our life and in 4:44 our words. And the baptism of the Holy Spirit will help you. Baptism is a word which means immersion. It means being immersed in the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus can do that. John the Baptist told people, "I immerse you in water. 4:58 Jesus will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire." So, you go to Jesus and say, "Lord, here's your promise. I want to be immersed in the Holy Spirit by I don't want somebody else's experience. I want you to fill me and 5:09 you I want you to assure me I receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit without any external evidence." I I've never experienced any shaking or uh uh uh uh some type of current going through my body or any such thing. I've never seen a vision in 5:29 my life. I've never heard Jesus speaking to me with these ears. My entire life, 64 years, has been faith. And you think that's I have not lost anything by not seeing a vision or not hearing a voice. Faith is superior to all of that. 5:46 You know what the verse that helped me? Thomas, the disciple, said in the day of resurrection, "I will not believe until I see Jesus with my own eyes and put him put his my finger my into his wounded palm, etc." And so, Jesus appeared to him. 6:04 And there's a wonderful word at the end of John chapter 20. I don't have time to turn to all those verses. That's the verse that helped me. The Lord told Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed." Now, listen 6:18 carefully. He told Thomas at the end of John chapter 20, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." I said, "Lord, I'm one of those." I'm more blessed than the Apostle Thomas. He believed only when he put his finger 6:32 into his Jesus' palm and saw him face-to-face. According to Jesus' own words at the end of John chapter 20, "I am more blessed than him because I believe without seeing." Do you can you believe that? Believe without seeing. And that will 6:48 come by faith in God's word. Lord, I believe and say, "How can I know that it's true?" God will bear witness in your heart by the Holy Spirit. I prayed and prayed many times. I fasted and prayed and fasted and prayed. One 7:02 day, I had faith without any evidence. I said, "Lord, I know you have answered my prayer. I believe you received. Thank you." And after I said thank you, God gave me some evidence that I was filled with the Holy Spirit. It came 7:18 afterwards. So, don't wait for evidence first. Do I have to reach some standard before being filled with the spirit? No, but you have to have a thirst. If you're not desperate and say, "Lord, I want this more than anything else in 7:30 my Christian life. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and I don't want to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to be able to testify in some meeting." Yeah, you probably will never be filled with the Holy Spirit if that is your 7:41 goal. You say, "Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit to glorify you in my life even if nobody knows about it. I'm not getting filled with the Holy Spirit in order to give a testimony. Did you accept Christ as your 7:51 savior to be forgiven of your sin or to be able to testify in the church that Christ is your savior? There's so many selfish reasons. That's why nothing happens in us. Back of our mind I'm always seeking for some honor to give some testimony. I 8:04 heard some testimony of somebody else and I say I want that type of testimony. This is the main reason why so many people never enter into a genuine experience of the Holy Spirit. I heard so many testimonies and they excited me. 8:15 I heard of people who got thrills down their back and electric shocks and fell down floor. I don't want any of those things. I say Lord I want the reality inwardly. Even if I never testify about it. God knows the reality. That's important 8:29 thing. Don't seek for a power in order to be testify about it. No. Lord I want to please you in my life. That's all I want. I don't care if I never testify about it anywhere. And nobody ever hears my testimony. If I can reflect 8:44 Christ in my life, that's what I want. So go to God with a good motive. And you don't have to reach any standard. You've just got to thirst. Now the question is how can I grow in reverence for God in my daily life? Read God's word. 8:57 And wherever you see something you've not obeyed, you pray say Lord please help me to keep it and keep a very sensitive conscience. I always say a prick of conscience is like a nail getting into your thorn. A thorn or a nail getting into 9:12 your foot. What do you do if a thorn or a nail gets into your foot? You drop everything and get rid of it. That's how you must deal with your conscience. When your conscience tells you that was wrong the way you spoke to that 9:25 person. Go and apologize immediately. Pull out that thorn. When the Holy Spirit tells you this thing that you did is wrong. You cheated somebody. Settle it immediately. Ask forgiveness. Write a letter of apology immediately. If you follow this simple 9:39 principle, that's all I've done. Not great spectacular things. When I soon as I'm aware that I've done something wrong, I settle it right. I don't care if it's a child, I'll go and apologize to that child. I have no hesitation to say sorry. I'm 9:53 sorry for what I did or said. I'm not perfect. I'm still pressing on to perfection. The way I said that was not right. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for what I said. I'm willing to say that to anybody in the world. 10:06 Because if what I did is wrong, it's wrong. And so, don't be Don't stand on your pride and hesitate. I've seen people who are so hesitate hesitate so much to say the words, "I am sorry. Please forgive me." Some of the most difficult words for 10:21 people to say because of pride. That's the only reason. I remember in one meeting, one 60-year-old man got up and after hearing me preach, he said, "This is the first time, 60 years old, I've been married for many years, the first time I 10:37 realized I got to apologize to my wife." Imagine that. To learn something at the age of 60 is like It's like learning c a t is cat at the age of 60. To learn at that age that you have to apologize to your wife. You should know that the day you're 10:52 married. So, there's a pride in us which prevents us from learning these things. So, obey and reverence for God will come more and more in your life. Another question, I used to be defeated by sin, but seem to have come come seem 11:07 to have come to some level of victory. I struggle to believe that I won't one day fall back. Yeah, keep trusting the Lord. Don't fear that you'll go back and up in hell. See, we will remain weak until the end of our life. 11:23 Because we have a flesh. That's God keeps us like that so we are constantly dependent on him. The best picture God has given me of my Christian life and of faith is a branch in a tree. You got You've seen fruit trees. You 11:41 probably have some in your own garden. And you see an apple growing from that. How does that apple grow? What does that branch do? The branch is not struggling, struggling. It's just remaining in the tree. And there's a 11:53 thing called sap, a liquid that flows from the tree into the branch. Beautiful picture of the Holy Spirit. And then what does the branch do? The branch is not struggling. It's just effortlessly in the tree all the time. 12:07 That is how I preach, also. Whenever I preach, my attitude is, "Lord, I'm in the branch in the tree. I don't know what to say." A lot of things I prepare to say, God doesn't allow me to say. He tells me something else. So, I'm in the tree. 12:22 It's the best way to live the Christian life. It's the best way to preach. Because if the sap is flowing, always there'll be fruit. But you grow in it, you know. In the In the beginning, you're a tender branch. Nothing is growing. But over a period of 12:34 time, you see, "Wow, lovely apples coming from it." So, but remain in the tree always. Don't let that connection with Jesus ever go. The only thing that will break your connection with Jesus is sin. Nothing else. Not sickness, not poverty, 12:50 not people hating you or telling lies about you. Nothing. Your own sin. That's the only thing that will disconnect you from the tree. So, remain as a branch in the tree. And you'll never fall back. Another question is, "You mentioned you have no fear of final 13:05 judgment. Could you please explain a little more what made you fearless about the final judgment? How can I be fearless, also?" Well, I have no fear of the final judgment because I believe with all my heart, all my judgment was 13:15 taken by Christ on the cross. He suffered eternal hell for me on the cross in those 3 hours when he said, "God, why have you forsaken me?" That's why I have no fear. Not because I'm better than you. The same Christ who died for me died for 13:29 you. But perhaps you don't believe it sufficiently. That's why you have fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. When faith goes out, fear comes in. Fear fear is just waiting to come in to push faith out. But you have faith comes 13:44 comes in, fear goes out. There's only one of the two that can dwell in your heart. Either faith or fear. So, if you believe that Jesus not believe in what you are, no. Jesus Christ took all my punishment on the cross. He took the curse. He took 13:58 everything away from me. That's why I have no fear. And if you're keeping your conscience clear all the time, every time a conscience comes, immediately settle it. Let me give you one example. If some if you feel at sometime you have 14:12 hurt somebody, maybe your wife, maybe your husband, maybe somebody else, maybe your son or daughter. You did something bad that hurt that person. Drop everything and go to apologize. If it's someone outside, pick up a phone 14:27 and say, "I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you or did to you." Settle it immediately. I've just made a practice of that for the last many many years. I'm not perfect. I'm pressing on to perfection. I may say something that may 14:41 hurt my wife or hurt some brother. But I'm soon as I'm aware of it, I don't care who it is. That person may be half my age. I'll call them up or write a note, an email, or something. "Please forgive me. I'm sorry." What do 14:54 you lose by that? I've said that so many times and my life is supremely happy. Does it humiliate me? I don't think of any humiliation. There's no humiliation greater than hanging naked on a cross. I used to meditate much on my savior 15:11 hung naked almost naked on a cross for me. And I said, "Lord, I'll never be ashamed to do anything for you." So, don't be ashamed to ask forgiveness. Okay. What steps or rules should I apply in my life once I decided to follow 15:25 Jesus? Read God's word regularly and keep a good conscience. Those two simple rules. Read God's word regularly, keep a good conscience, and you'll be able to follow Jesus onto the end. What should I have if I would do if I 15:40 have an insensitive or under sensitive conscience? I don't have a strong enough conviction of sin in my life. That grows. When we are first converted, our conscience is dead. It's like putting a 1-ton weight on a weighing machine and the needle doesn't 15:56 even move. 1-ton. And the weighing machine doesn't even move. What do you find as as you develop the habit of confessing your sin to the Lord, asking people forgiveness, hey, you find the needle's moving now. And lo and behold, 16:12 even a 1-lb weight is moving the needle. Your conscience becoming sensitive. It grows. And then after a little while, even 1 oz and the needle moves. That's how we become more and more sensitive. Some small little thing which 16:27 never even bothered me in the past, I'm sensitive to set it right. Some small financial matter, little matter, I settle it right, settle it immediately. If you're very sensitive, I believe God will do in some way or the other. If I'm If 16:43 I'm desperate and say, "Lord, I never want to be in debt to anybody. I don't want to be in debt to the government. If I unknowingly uh cheated the government of tax, please help me to pay it off in some way." God will honor you, I tell you. He will 16:57 do many wonderful things for you if you're sensitive in your conscience. It'll become more and more sensitive. Do the little things, anything that the Lord prompts you, do it immediately. Another question. In addition to the 17:09 Bible, are there books that help you, Brother Zac? Well, I never read books which are only theology. I never went to a Bible school, thank God. None of Jesus' disciples went to a Bible school. No true prophet in the Old 17:23 Testament went to Bible school. The false prophets came out of the Bible school in the Old Testament. There was a school of the prophets called in the Old Testament. And all the false prophets came out with their certificates and fooled the kings 17:35 of those days. The true prophets, not one of them came from a Bible school. The apostles, not one of them went to a Bible school. Paul went to a Bible school before he was an apostle for 3 years, and that's why God had to send 17:46 him to three for 3 years in Arabia and said, "I've got all that trash out of your head, then you'll be my apostle." So, you don't become um, you know, it is not books that really helped me. I I was very selective in my books. 18:02 If I found when I read first two three pages of a book, if it spoke to my head but not to my heart, I'd chuck it. I would take a book that challenged my heart, that convicted me of sin, that drew me closer to Christ, not that gave me 18:15 information, you know, an outline of the book of Ephesians and an outline of the book of Romans. I I'd no time for all that. Something that would draw me closer to Jesus. There are a lot of books in the world. A lot of it is information. I don't want 18:28 information. I want something that challenges my heart. There are books that speak to my mind. There are books that speak to the heart. I would throw away books that speak to my mind. The book goes through my mind, but it 18:39 goes to my heart. There are some very clever books written by great Christian scholars even in our generation. I read one or two pages and I throw it away. This is not for me. I want something that goes through my mind to my heart, 18:52 through my eyes or my ears to my mind to my heart. So, very few pages I can make out. And the very very few, some of those books may not even be available today what I read when I was young. But I'll tell you what, what I have learned in all those the 19:09 most useful things that I've learned in all those books, I have put into my books. What I learned from them. So, you can get the benefit of what I got from my books by just reading any of my books on different subjects. 19:24 Pick them up and read them one by one and if you can't afford to buy them, all of them are free on the internet. Go to cfcindia.com. CFC stands for our church, Christian Fellowship Church. cfcindia.com. Go to the resources, books. 19:40 All those books are there. Click on one of those books, it'll open up. You can read it. You can copy that page and print it out if you like and you have your own book. If you can't afford to buy it. You can read them or read them online. 19:54 Copy them onto your read them online on your phone or on your computer. Everybody in the world can do it. So, you can read every single book of mine free of cost. We put it out there because we believe God's word must be 20:07 free. And even the Through the Bible thick book, the entire video is there. All 70 hours video is on the on our website free for anybody who wants to watch it. So, that's the way I would recommend that you read books. Next question is next section is 20:24 personal life. I'm born again, but I don't hear Jesus speak to me. How can I hear his voice? Well, in the beginning, it's you have to sensitize yourself to hear his voice. You begin by reading God's word. God speaks to us through his word. And 20:40 as you become more and more obedient to his word, you'll find gradually God speaks to you through his Holy Spirit. So, it's through the word of God and through your conscience. Those are the ways in which God speaks today. 20:52 God's written word, read it regularly. I I started reading the Bible regularly. I would begin my I was in the Navy and had a room to myself because I was an officer. So, every morning when I got up, I was single those days, 21:10 and we had to go to work at 9:00 and work till 4:00. So, when I was on a naval base, I had a room to myself. As soon as I got up, I would kneel down by my bed and spend some time praying. Then I would get up and sit at my table 21:24 with a Bible and a notebook, and I would study. And if I had a help to read the Bible, nowadays you see, for example, you go to our CFC website, there are a number of Bible studies there. For example, there is a series in 21:39 our on our website called verse by verse through the New Testament. You don't need to buy a book. Go there, and they are in 10-minute uh sections. Satish, is it at your CFC Pittsburgh? Will you stand up a 21:58 minute? This is the brother who's drawn all those cartoons about all my messages. Go to CFC Pittsburgh and see some of those lovely drawings he has made of the messages. But you have there this section put into 10-10 minutes 22:12 of verse by verse through the New Testament is put in 10-10 minute sections. So, if you have only 10 minutes a day, well, thank you very much. Please sit down. That's cfc.pittsburgh.com. Yeah, okay. So, you can get it in 10-10 minutes. You can 22:26 go to CFC India. That's also there, but it is in the same thing in 1-hour sections. That's all the difference. And you can go through right from Matthew chapter 1 to the last verse of Revelation. It'll probably take you 1 or 2 years to go 22:41 through it. But spend a little time, and you can study the Bible. That's how you can learn to hear his voice. Okay, my children are not following the Lord. This is the next question. Though they are in their 20s, what must I do? I said 22:55 yesterday, if you, husband and wife, can kneel down, settle every dispute between you each other, ask each other's forgiveness, get into a good fellowship with each other. That's the first step to bring your children to the Lord. And 23:08 kneel down and pray at least 5 10 minutes, spend time in prayer settling everything between you and asking the Lord cry out to him. If necessary, fast. Fast means skip a couple of meals and pray. Say, "Lord, we want our children to come 23:24 back to you wherever they are." I I sometimes use this example. It's like these lassos that these cowboys would throw on an on a horse or something and catch it and pull it towards you. It's like that you can Prayer is like 23:37 something like that. You throw around that person and your child. "Lord, I'm throwing this lasso of prayer on that child of mine. I don't know where he is. I don't know what he's living in, but I'm going to pull him in." As I pray, as 23:49 I pray, one day he'll come right back to the Lord. I believe that. If you are faithful, but if you are too lazy to do it, I mean, you've already done such a wrong by driving that child away from the Lord. Now at least rectify that by bringing him back by 24:04 prayer. It can be done. Okay? Don't give up faith. Believe that the Lord is on your side against the devil in bringing your child back to the Lord. Next question, I have depression and fear which is unfounded. Is it advisable to take antidepressants? 24:21 I'm not against medicines. I believe that even the pop The Apostle Paul told Timothy he gets frequent stomach aches. Paul must have prayed for him numerous times and he was not healed. Imagine the Apostle Paul praying for his faithful 24:37 co-worker Timothy, the guy was not healed. That explains to me why some people I pray for are not healed. If Paul could pray for his own co-worker and he's not healed, frequent stomach aches, and Paul asked him after the 20th time 24:51 he prayed for him, "Tim Timothy, I prayed for you 20 times. You still have stomach aches?" "Yes, Paul, I still have stomach aches." Okay, then you better take some medicine. That's his advice for him. In 1 Timothy chapter 5, you read it, take 25:02 some medicine. Yeah. So, that's what I tell people. There's nothing wrong in taking medicine, but consult a doctor because some medicines have got side effects and can affect you in other ways. It's good to consult a doctor 25:18 before you take some strong medicines. There are medicines available over the counter, but even those you don't get addicted to them. You got to be careful, but to overcome depression and fear, I don't think, personally, 25:32 antidepressants are the primary thing. Some people probably need it in the initial stage, but ultimately, you must be established in God loves God's love for you and some of those confessions I made that I spoke of earlier in our last 25:42 study, to speak with your mouth what you believe in your heart, what you read in your word. That will strengthen you. I used to get frequently discouraged, depressed in my life. Yeah, I used to sit with my head in my hand like this because I was so defeated 25:57 in my life, discouraged. When God filled me with the Holy Spirit, things changed completely. I can testify before God, I never get discouraged now. For the last, I don't know, 30, 40 years, and I was a slave to that for so 26:13 many years. If you surrender your life to Christ and ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and regularly read God's word, you can be completely free from it. Not that you won't have problems. If you're a true Christian, you'll have 26:27 many problems. And we've had our share of problems, my wife and I, we went through struggles, poverty, everything, but God is our father. And he's taken care of us, so I would say the best thing is to seek the Lord, but take medicines if needed, if a 26:44 doctor advises it. How should a woman share or prophesy without sounding like she's teaching? See, this word prophecy, unfortunately, is a very spiritual type of word. Instead of calling it prophecy, let's say sharing the word of God. Sharing a 26:59 testimony. Sharing something you got from scripture. Tone it down to a very simple expression. Prophecy is a very high-sounding word as if you're some sort of prophet or prophetess. No, no, no. It just means you're sharing God's word 27:14 with other people. So, how shall a woman share God's word? I'll tell you. Says that in uh in the book of Titus. Titus it's specifically told how older women and younger women should behave. Uh all the older sisters and younger 27:31 sisters, listen to this. Titus chapter 2 verse 3, older women should be reverent. They shouldn't be always playing the fool and joking and laughing. It's good to be humorous, but they must be reverent in their behavior, 27:47 not malicious gossips. Why does it say older women should not be malicious gossips? Because older women have a greater tendency to gossip than older men. So, older women, your danger is being a gossip and becoming a malicious gossip. 28:04 So, the Bible warns you, be reverent and don't become a malicious gossip. And don't get enslaved to too much wine. You may not have that problem, but teach people what is good. Teach your children, your grown-up sons and daughters, and other sisters, teach 28:18 them what is good. And encourage the younger women. Well, here's what they should prophesy. How to love your husband. This is what a woman should teach others. So, here is the the word is teach. They may teach. Verse 3, what should women teach? Teach 28:36 what is good. An example, encourage younger women to love their husbands by your testimony. This is how I love my husband, an older woman says. That's what you should teach. But if you have not loved your husband, you got nothing 28:48 to share. But, they should teach younger women how to love their husbands and how to love their children. Not how to make money. And teach the younger women to be sensible. By from your own testimony, this is how I was sensible. 29:04 And teach them to be pure. You can teach that only if you yourself are pure. Teach them to be workers at home first. Not workers in the church first. You can go and clean in the toilets in the church and sweep the floor, but don't 29:16 try to preach in the church first. First, teach your children. Teach and be and teach them, verse five, to be subject to their own husbands. And how will older women tell younger women how to be subject to their own husband? 29:29 Dear sister, this is how I was subject to my husband and I'm telling you give them some examples. And teach them so that the word of God will not be dishonored. What a lot of ministry, verse three to five for sisters. That's what you got to teach. 29:45 God's word has got an answer to everything. And if you're teaching that instead of getting up in the church and expounding some great scripture, that is the greatest ministry you can have. And that's not necessarily in the church. 29:55 That's when you visit somebody's home. When you write an email to somebody. When you pick up a phone and speak to a younger sister. That is prophecy. Okay. Verse five. Next question. Coming to the United States, obviously an immigrant, we began 30:12 with a lot of difficulties and little money, which kept us humble and pure poor in spirit. As our bank balances have increased, our humility now is artificial and we have seem to have become spiritually blind. How can we fight this? 30:26 Let me tell you something. You do not have to be poor in order to be spiritual. If you say you had difficulties with money and that kept you humble, that is not spirit that is not Christian humility. Uh Moses was the humblest man in his 30:44 time. And he was a leader of 2 million people, 600,000 men, and many Imagine being a leader of 2 million people, and he was the humblest man on the face of the earth at that time. So, the Bible says in Numbers chapter 12. 30:59 So, it's if your the fact that you were didn't have money, and that kept you humble, that's a wrong type of humility. You should have got your humility by looking at Jesus. It's a human artificial type of humility that keeps us humble. We don't have very 31:17 little. Our house is so small. And then the house becomes big, you get more money, you lose you lose your humility. That's a wrong type of humility to start with. Humility comes by looking unto Jesus. So, how did he live? 31:32 So, uh, as our bank balance It's true that money tends to make us proud. And rich people tend to be more proud than poorer people. It's true. And what the person is honestly saying, as our wealth increased, we began to become 31:46 proud, unfortunately. But, there are many wealthy people who are extremely humble. I know them personally. It's It's got nothing to do with money. It's a question of whether they look to Jesus. It's by looking at Jesus that we 32:01 become humble. I'm not the poorest man in India. There are many people poorer than me, many, many people. But, I don't think poverty makes me humble. No. I My humility comes by looking at Jesus, not by the size of my bank account. 32:17 Even if one day I bank account becomes huge, that will not change my humility, because my I got nothing to do with that. My humility is dependent on following Jesus and looking at his life. Jesus said, "Learn from me." Matthew 32:31 11:29. "Learn from me, for I am humble in heart. If you learn from him, you will be humble whether you're rich or poor, even if you're a millionaire or you got a hundred million dollars in your bank account, you can be the humblest person 32:49 in your church if you're looking at the Jesus. And you can be a homeless man on the street and be very arrogant and proud. It's got nothing to do with your bank account. Let me tell you that. Abraham, I believe was a very humble 33:04 man. And he was one of the wealthiest men in his time. Job, he was the wealthiest man on earth. And yet he was so pure. He said, "I will not look at a woman to lust." That's long before what Matthew said of in Gospel Matthew read about Jesus 33:21 saying don't lust after women. Job did it 2,000 years before the Gospel of Matthew was written. And he was the wealthiest man on the face of the earth. He said, "I'll never go after another woman. I'll be faithful to my wife." 33:33 So, you can be extremely wealthy and be a godly man. And you can be extremely poor and be a child of the devil. It's got nothing to do with money. It does have to do with your attitude to money. And that's what Job says in one of his 33:49 chapters. If I worship gold or if I made gold my god, then may the Lord smite me dead. So, it's a attitude to money. The thing is when some people become rich, they become proud of it. Their attitude changes. Their attitude to poor people 34:07 changes. And then then pride comes, not because of the money, it's because of their attitude to money. So, don't think wealth will make you proud. And yes, if you get taken up with, you know, they say you can become blind. You 34:20 can take a a coin a coin, you can put it close enough to your eyes, even the light you won't even be able to see the sun. Imagine a little coin, a quarter, you take a quarter dollar and put it close enough to your eye, you 34:34 won't even see the sun. It blocks out the sun even though the sun is so much bigger. Money has that power. The closer you bring it to you, it blinds everything in front of you. So, keep it in its proper place. Let me ask you a question, those of you 34:49 who know the Bible. Is there gold in heaven? Yes or no? Yes. Where is it? Under our feet. The streets are made of gold. So, if you have learned to put gold under your feet now, you qualify for heaven. Okay? Learn to put gold under your feet 35:08 because gold is under our feet in heaven. Okay. Now, another question. How can I make myself hate sin, especially gluttony, when I love junk food? Well, I'm glad to see you to see glad you realize that gluttony is a sin. A lot of people don't 35:24 realize that love for food is a sin. Because it makes me worship food instead of worshipping Christ. And it makes me worship my body. You know, it says in 1 Corinthians in chapter 6 and verse 35:41 1 Corinthians 6 Your body, verse 19 is a temple of the Holy Spirit. This building 35:59 is not the temple of the Holy Spirit. God doesn't dwell in this building. He dwells in this body. This is the temple of the Holy Spirit, this body. Your body is the church of the Holy Spirit. And if there's something broken down in 36:14 this building, I'm sure the windows are broken, they'll fix it. So, you take care of your body. But you're not taking care of your body if you stuff it with food. No. You're actually ruining your body by gluttony. Because God has designed that our body 36:30 can uh a certain type of food is good for our body and all the tasty food in the world is not necessarily the best for the body. That's why you're going to protect our children also from thinking all that tasty food. God has made it in such a 36:45 way that um he's created food on the earth, but don't um make food your god. Uh it says in Philippians, let me read this verse to you. Philippians chapter 3. I'm making I'm telling you who are the 37:06 enemies of the cross of Christ. Philippians 3 verse 18. There are some people I have often told you, he says, "Many many people who are I told you often of these people, I tell you weeping. I'm not judging them. I'm weeping and saying 37:26 these so-called Christians, they are enemies of the cross of Christ. And their end is destruction." Paul, who's writing this, Paul, tell me, who are these enemies? Those whose god is their stomach. Did you hear that? 37:47 Those whose god is their appetite. Or in the margin it says their stomach. Those whose god is their stomach, what are they? They are enemies of the cross of Christ and their end is destruction. You heard it from the Holy Spirit 38:04 himself. You make food your god, I want to tell you in Jesus' name, according to Philippians chapter 3 verse 18 and 19, your god is your belly and you're an enemy of the cross of Jesus Christ. If you never heard it before, you hear some strong things from 38:21 me, but they're all scriptural. You are an enemy of the cross of Jesus Christ. Don't ever say you're a friend of the cross of Jesus Christ. No, your God is your stomach, you're an enemy of Jesus Christ. And next time you stuff your stomach and 38:36 make food your God, say to yourself, "I am an enemy of Jesus Christ. I'm going to eat. I'm going to be more of an enemy of Jesus Christ." Please remember that next time you stuff yourself when God tells you to stop. I heard a 38:51 a humorous way people said, "Yeah, you want to keep fit, do push-ups." You know what push-ups are? You know, people get on the ground and push themselves. So, do push-ups from the dining table. Those are the That's the best way to 39:05 be fit. The push-ups from the dining table are the best exercise for keeping fit. Our citizenship is in heaven. People who are make their God their appetite, their mind is on earthly things. It's a serious thing which is not sufficiently 39:19 preached. But I believe that we That's why Jesus fasted for 40 days. He could enjoy a good meal, but he could also fast. I want to ask you whether you ever fast in your life. I was a young man when I felt the Lord may have called me for service. I was 39:34 still working in the Navy and I felt perhaps the Lord may call me for a service, but I read in the Bible things like um you know, in Matthew chapter 5 and Matthew chapter 6, the Sermon on the Mount, very important chapter. 39:49 Jesus spoke about three things. Verse 5, when you pray. Uh sorry, first verse 2, when you give to the poor. Number one. Verse 5, when you pray. 40:07 Verse 16, when you fast. Three things mentioned. When you give to the poor, not if you give to the poor. No, no, no. There's a difference between if you give to the poor and when you give to the poor. And verse five is not if you pray, but 40:23 when you pray. Verse 16 is not if you fast, when you fast. So, what I learned from that is these were not optional. If it is optional, yeah, if you feel like helping the poor and needy, help them. It's not optional. If you earn a lot of money, 40:40 help the poor. And if you don't have any poor around you, send it somewhere where you can help the poor, particularly believers. I would give to believers primarily. There are many poor believers before there are others in the world who are 40:53 also poor. And not if you pray, he said when you pray. Pray is assumed that you will pray. And he's telling you how to pray. He's assumed that you will help the poor. He's telling you how to do it. And it is assumed that you will fast, 41:07 verse 16. Not if you fast. Unfortunately, out of these three things, it's this fasting which is completely people say, "Yeah, we'll give to the poor." Some people won't even do that. When you pray, "Ah, I believe in prayer because I want to 41:19 get things from God." But when it comes to fasting, it's almost as if though Jesus said, "If you fast." He said, "When you fast, don't let the people know about it." And you know what I want to say at the end of it? If you don't do it, 41:35 you read it. Matthew 5:16 is in every one of your Bibles. Matthew 5:16 to 18, you've read it, I'm sure you've read it many times. Now, listen to this. Everyone who hears these words of mine, this is Matthew 7 and verse 26. 41:53 Everyone who hears these words of mine, when you fast, and you don't bother about it, and he does not do it, he's like a foolish man. What are you? You never fasted? You are a foolish man or woman. You know where you're building your 42:09 house, your spiritual house, on sand. Spiritually, the rain will fall, the floods will blow, and your house will fall, and it'll be a great fall. And you can keep saying I believe in Jesus, and I go to the church, and all 42:22 that. Your house is falling. Don't wake up in eternity and experience that. I'm not saying it's by fasting you go to heaven. But Jesus said in verse 24, Matthew 7:24, if you hear my words and do them, you'll build on a rock. 42:41 That's why in our church, when we started out to CFC 48 years ago, I took about 6 months studying the Sermon on the Mount. There's a series in our CFC website, cfcindia.com, a series called All That Jesus Taught. That includes a thorough 42:59 study of the Sermon on the Mount. All that Jesus taught that I took half an hour Each message is less than half an hour. 80 messages. Total 40 hours. Half an hour each message. There are many churches that take it as a Bible study. 43:14 Go through it. Because why do I call it All That Jesus Taught? Because at the end of Matthew, he said, "Go into all the world, make them disciples, and teach them everything I taught you." So, I teach people how to give, how to 43:28 pray, how to fast. And I can't do that if I haven't done it myself. So, I was telling you when I was a young Christian in the in a ship, we had a very tough routine in the ship, but I knew I had to learn to fast. So, some days, 43:43 I would tell the people who were in charge of my officers' dining, I said, "I'm not eating today. I'll just have a glass of milk or something." And I would go whole day and do my work. But I wouldn't eat anything that day. I 43:57 would just drink a cup of milk maybe in the morning and maybe one in the evening. And no solid food. And I believe fasting is In fasting, you're permitted to drink something, water and things like that. That's why when Jesus fasted 40 days, he was not 44:13 thirsty. He says he was hungry. Thirst is a greater problem for us than hunger. Jesus drank water during those 40 days, but he didn't eat. So, I believe it's right when we fast to drink water or some liquid. But, it's as a good habit, even if you don't 44:32 accomplish anything, just the discipline of your body. That's where I learned to discipline my body. There are two things I did in the Navy to discipline my body. Even though I had a good bed with a mattress, I slept on the floor. 44:45 Uh on the hard floor just to discipline myself. I don't want to be a uh comfort lover. Cuz I say, "Lord, I'm going to serve you. And there's some place I may not get a bed." So, little disciplines like this help me tremendously 45:01 to occasionally fast, maybe once a week, and occasionally, not I wouldn't always sleep on the floor, but I say, "I want to be able to sleep on the floor and not complain about it." And so that comfort the comfort of a bed 45:14 didn't doesn't attract me even today. I'm ready to sleep on the floor even today if some situation arises. I can skip a meal easily and fast. Dear brothers and sisters, it has helped me tremendously. Giving, praying, fasting. 45:30 When you give, when you pray, when you fast. So, please develop that habit and don't build your house on sand. Those are not the only things, but that's the way we can overcome gluttony. Okay. Uh Uh can you speak about the purpose of 45:49 fasting? I already spoke on that. Next is on family life. If the husband is not Oh, by the way, one thing about fasting. You remember once when the disciples could not cast out a demon. They said, "Why couldn't we cast out a 46:06 demon?" In Matthew 17, Jesus said, "Uh because you need to pray and fast." Matthew 17:21. The not you can't pray and fast when you confront the demon. You should have prayed and fasted before so that when you confront the demon, the demon 46:22 listens to you. You got the spiritual authority there. And one part of it, Matthew 17:21, comes by prayer and fasting, which means it helps you to have authority over the devil. Okay, family life. If the husband is not playing his role in encouraging and 46:36 disciplining the children, what must the wife do? Well, simple. The wife must encourage and discipline the children. Supposing your husband died and she he was providing all the income in the house. Now he's dead. What does the wife do? 46:52 She goes to work. And she earns. She doesn't want her children to starve. If a husband failed to do something because he's dead now, the hus- wife takes up that task. So if your husband is living in your house but he's like a dead man, he doesn't take 47:07 the responsibility of encouraging and I'm sorry to say there are many husbands. They are the fathers who are total failures as fathers. The Bible says, "Fathers, bring up your children in the discipline of the Lord." That's 47:18 not the job of the mother. That's the job of the father. And all of you are fathers here, if you have not taken time to teach your children, you've just fed them, clothed them, educated them, provided money for them, but never taught them the word of God, I 47:35 want to say to you in Jesus' name, you're an absolute failure as a father. No wonder your children are going astray. No Some of your children could have been serving the Lord today, but you never taught them when they were small. 47:49 Teach them as soon as they begin to understand. And you don't have to take time. I'll tell you how we did it in our home. Um I have four sons and I was very keen that they should know the scriptures from an early age. I didn't trust the 48:04 Sunday school in We had a Sunday school in our church and they used to go to the Sunday school. I said, "That is secondary. Teaching is to be at home." So, I would get them when they began to read. I got them these picture Bibles. 48:16 You know, we have now like the picture story Bible where the entire Bible is in comic form from Genesis to Revelation. Because that's easy for children to read. Children like to read comics. So, here's a comic Bible, the whole Bible in 48:30 picture form. They would read it and I would ask them questions around the dining table. This is how we Our Bible study was not early morning when they had to get ready to go to school. No, that's not the time. They are sleepy and they're 48:43 getting ready when they're rushed. That's not the time. They come back home, they finish their homework, and they're sitting around leisurely at the dining table. And then we can talk about the Bible. That's what we used to talk about. 48:57 And I would ask them a question. What did you read in the picture story Bible today? Ask them simple questions. Do you know who the mother of Jesus was? Do you know what her husband's name was? Joseph. Then I gradually move on to tougher 49:12 questions. Um Where was Moses found when he was a baby? Yeah, in a basket. And so And you know what happened to my children? Sometimes I'd just check them. If they didn't know the answer, I'd say, "Go and find out." 49:30 And gradually they got so interested that they said, "We got to catch Dad in something he doesn't know." And so they'd ask me some rare question like um Joab the general of David, was he related to David? I said, "Well, I don't know." 49:48 They said, "He was David's sister's son." Really? Thank you for telling me that. Something I learned from my Bible. From my children. One day they asked me a question. This is true. Dad, do you know the time when the Korah and his family rebelled against 50:03 Moses? And it says the earth opened up and swallowed them up. You read in Numbers chapter 16. I said, "Yeah, I know that." But Dad, you know that his children did not die? Really? Dad, turn to Numbers chapter 21 or 26 and you'll see that the children did not 50:20 die. I learned a few things from my children and that stirred up. When they found they could catch Dad in a few things, it stirred their interest in studying more and more. Whatever way it is, I was delighted they went to the scriptures. 50:35 So there are ways in which we can stimulate their understanding. Don't ask them some complicated what is the theory of sanctification or something like that. They'll never Ask them something at their level. They will come to the theory of 50:48 sanctification some years later. Start them in something simple. Get them interested in the stories in the Bible. Very important. And if the father doesn't do it, the mother must do it. We must teach our children and discipline. Discipline again, the 51:06 father must discipline the children. But if the father fails, the mother has to do it. Father and mother are together trying to bring up their children. You have to do it. And pray that your husband will become more responsible. 51:19 But it's not by yelling and screaming at him. Pray that God will help him to see his responsibility. Okay. If my spouse, husband or wife, does not have light on something important, should I help him or her to get that light? 51:34 It's a question of how you do it. You know, you can speak to somebody gently or you can say, "You stupid person, you don't know even that." That's not the way. They won't get any light that way. You know, there's wisdom required in 51:48 helping a person to get light on something. And sometimes they may take a little time. Just like if a child does not understand multiplication. Studying in this school and they're struggling with multiplication. Don't say you stupid child, you don't know 52:04 multiplication. It doesn't know, but you got to help it to learn slowly. Maybe your husband and wife there's something they don't know. Be patient with your partner. And uh Whatever you teach it you want to share with your partner, if you do it in a 52:19 gentle way and not a direct way where you make them feel small. Oh, you don't know this. What type of person you are? You speak like that, they'll never listen to you. The question I always ask people whenever they correct somebody is this. 52:36 Do you ever encourage them? And I use this illustration. See, we have a board on which we use chalk and in a in in in India, it is always a blackboard. Here there are white boards with colored uh pens which you can write, but 52:53 whichever board it is, you need a board on which you write. And if you don't have a board and you take a chalk or a pen or anything, you're scribbling in the air. They can't read what you're writing. What you're writing may be absolutely 53:07 accurate, but you're writing into thin air. You need a board first, brother. What is the meaning of that? You first need to encourage a person. That's the board. When you have encouraged a person sufficiently, you have built a board. 53:21 Then write. Small correction, number one. Small correction, then they can read it. Why they Why they can't read what you're saying? Because you're writing in thin air. What I mean is you have never encouraged them. Let me ask you, dear 53:34 wives, when was the last time you spoke a word of encouragement to your husband? A real word of encouragement or thankfulness. I'm so happy that you work so hard in the office and come back with the money that we can take care of a 53:45 family. When was the last time you encouraged or thanked your wife for something? I mean, you may have criticized her when the meal was bad, but how many times have we appreciated when the meal was good? Have you ever woke up woken up in the 54:00 middle of the night? I I do this. Have you ever woke up woken up in the middle of the night and your wife is sleeping next to you and you look at her and say, "Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me this wonderful woman as my wife. 54:14 I'm so thankful to you." That's not saying it to her to praise her. You're saying it to the Lord. When you say to the Lord, it is in sincerity. I want to ask you husbands and wives, whenever when have you ever thanked the 54:26 Lord for each other? Not in their hearing. In their hearing, it may be just to become friendly with them, but when they're not hearing and you're saying it sincerely to the Lord, "Lord, I thank you for my wife. I thank you for my husband." 54:41 Learn to do it at least from now. We come to the church to learn things, so you're learning something today. And then build that board of encouragement. If they if she did something well or he did something well, appreciate it. 54:55 It's not easy to cook a meal. I'll tell you that. I tried and I know how difficult it is. I gave up, but my wife does it regularly. I I have to appreciate a good meal when it's provided. That is really excellent. We We don't thank our loved ones 55:10 sufficiently. When your little do something well, appreciate it. Appreciate it. You'll build a fellowship with your children. That is the board, the word of encouragement, and it is so little used in by even Christian husbands and wives. 55:24 So, that's important. Okay, is affection and romance in marriage necessary or is it a distraction? Ha. Absolutely necessary, I would say. How can it be a distraction? It will build your relationship. Romance. 55:43 Tell her many number of times I love you with all my heart. You're the You're the darling of my heart. You're the best woman in the world for me. You may not be the best woman in the most attractive and he's such and don't 55:55 tell her lies, but say to me you are the most attractive woman in the world. You No one else will ever be more attractive. I'm not telling you what I've not done myself. I believe we must appreciate our wives for what they are, for the 56:10 sacrifices they make, and appreciate your husband as well. There must be romance in the marriage, definitely. Kiss your wife in the morning before you begin the day. Good habits. And let her know that you love her. And love You see, love is a very 56:28 Why did God put a book like Song of Solomon in the Bible? Right in the middle of the Bible. You open a Bible like this, opens in the middle, it's Song of Solomon. Wow. And you read some of those things. I'll tell you something. 56:40 Try and read the Song of Solomon in the Living Bible or the Message Bible. Really exciting. The words they use. Amazing. The word the way the uh wife praises the husband. If you want to uh that there's the book at the back 56:57 written by me called uh A Heavenly Home. I've quoted in one of the chapters there how a husband and wife praise each other. From Song of Solomon. Romance, very important. That's why God's put that book right in the middle 57:10 of the Bible. I believe it's absolutely right to have that and it's not a waste of time. If you don't do it, something's missing. Something which is written in the Bible is missing in your life. It must be there in your marriage. It's 57:24 not a distraction. It'll be a help to build the kingdom in your home. And when your children see that dad and mom love each other so much, they they'll grow to have a proper idea of marriage themselves. And if you've never done it 57:37 so far or you're sort of shy and awkward, break out of it and say, "Lord, I want to do it in obedience to your word." Husbands, love your wives. That's That's one part of it, okay. And how to understand sex in marriage is 57:52 good as newlyweds, we resisted it for a long time. Now, how do we flip the switch? Well, I believe that should I tell you why I believe sex is absolutely evil, demonic, hellish outside of marriage. Absolutely. Even if you lust after a woman other 58:10 than your wife, you look at her and you lust after her or you commit some sin in your mind, you are it's something demonic about it, absolutely evil. And the exact opposite to have a sexual relation with a wife is heavenly. 58:27 And I'll tell you why. Please listen to Zac Poonen's paraphrase of Genesis chapter 1. You don't get shocked. I want to prepare you for that. Genesis chapter 1. 58:45 God, I'm reading it I'm reading the Bible in my paraphrase, okay. Verse 27. God created man verse 20 Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. Remember, this is the first man and woman he's created. God created man in his own image, in the 59:04 image of God he created them. And he blessed them and the first words he said to them was, "Have sex." You forgot get it? You see there or not? How did he expect them to be fruitful? 59:22 By shaking hands? When it says be fruitful, tell me how did he expect them to be fruitful? I'm paraphrasing those words, have sex with each other, enjoy it, have children. You're shocked that such things are spoken in a church? I'm not ashamed to 59:38 speak about it because sex in marriage is a holy biblical thing. Outside of marriage it's demonic and hellish. Even thinking about a woman other than your wife is demonic and hellish. Divorcing your wife is evil. That's what we teach in the church. 59:58 But the opposite is not behaving, you know, in a keeping the distance. That's not Christianity. So, there is a very important place for sex in marriage and we God created it and that's why he's given a strong desire in the man for this 1:00:17 and a woman must be willing to recognize that. A woman's desire is weak in this area because otherwise she'll be a prostitute. That's why the woman's desire is weak. But a wise wife is one who recognizes that God has created a man with a strong 1:00:33 desire for this and you must be willing to accept it. 1 Corinthians chapter 7 is very clear. If you don't know that verse, 1 Corinthians in chapter 7 says this, verse three, the husband must fulfill his duty to his 1:00:52 wife. Sex is a duty. Sexual relationship. Likewise, the wife is to fulfill the sexual function is a duty. It's just like the man goes to work and fulfills his duty. The wife has a duty, the husband has a duty to satisfy each 1:01:07 other's sexual desire and the wife does not have authority over her own body. She can't say, "Hey, I've got authority over my body. You can't touch me." Then you should have remained single. I say to all women, you don't have authority over your body 1:01:23 once you get married. But the husband has it, it says here. Do you Do you believe in the Bible? And now listen to this. Your husbands are very happy at what I'm saying, right? Okay, I've got a word for you as well. The husband does not have authority over 1:01:37 his body, but the wife does. You say, "Oh yeah, I'm glad to give my wife to the body." Hang on, hang on, let me explain that. When you're in office and that pretty girl is sitting there in the office and comes to talk to you 1:01:49 in that very cute type of way, like some pretty girls do, to tempt women men. Remember at that time your wife has authority over your eyes. That's the meaning of that verse. It's not when you have sex with your wife. Your wife has authority over your 1:02:06 eyes when you're sitting there looking at that pretty girl in your office. Remember that. My wife has got authority over my eyes when I'm sitting and looking at this girl. I must not lust after her. That's the time to remember that your wife has 1:02:18 authority over your body. We'll have pure pure married relationships if we recognize that verse. And that the wife has must also recognize that my husband has authority over my body when we go to bed. So, it says in verse five, "Stop 1:02:34 depriving one another." Except when you fast. There's a place for fasting from sex even in marriage when you can devote to yourself to prayer. Otherwise, if you keep denying each other, you know what will happen? Some wife keeps on telling her husband to 1:02:50 control himself, does not understand a man's desire. It says here in verse five, "Satan will get a hold of him." Satan will get a hold of your husband. So, there is a place for sexual relationship in marriage. Now, I've 1:03:04 shown it to you all from scripture. Okay. We home school in fellowship at home with a few others, and I'm aware of the unspoken need of our children to have friends. Should I tell them Jesus is the the friend to have? Yeah, Jesus 1:03:16 is the best friend, but children also need to have friends of their own age. And so there is a place for We need to keep our children away from the bad influences in schools these days. But not We can't keep our children 1:03:29 forever away from At least they go to church, they mingle with other children, they need to learn to play with other children, and then we need to prepare them also to for the world. They have to face worldly children, and then we have to 1:03:42 warn them how to not to be careful not to mingle with people who are evil-minded and who circulate all types of bad literature. Be very careful. If your children are going to regular school, check their bags when they come 1:03:52 home. What have they brought home? They may Somebody may have given them some filthy book, and they're innocent. They don't even know what it is. You must check your children's bags when they come back from school. And if 1:04:02 you're homeschooling, then you're going to teach them the matters about sex purity and all that at home, but they need to have friends. And um it's not enough to say Jesus is your best friend. That's right. But they also need to have earthly friends at 1:04:16 that age. How should parents manage relationships between cousins? You know, because cousins mingle together so frequently, there's a great danger and there's many times there is sin, sexual sin between cousins. You got to 1:04:30 be very, very careful that you keep a little distance. Sexual sin between brother and sister is very, very rare. But between cousins, it's common in some situations. We have to be very careful, but because, you know, your 1:04:44 brother and your sister come along to the house and their children come along, they are cousins of your your children, and because you meet so often with your family members, they can mingle together and sometimes they're 1:04:55 alone. And when they're very small, that some of those nephews and nieces of yours may not be brought up in a pure way. You have to protect your children. You got to be very careful that you don't leave your young boy with a cousin girl alone in some place. 1:05:12 Maybe in the basement they're playing together. Be very careful cuz all types of wrong things have happened. And so we have to be very careful. When it comes to marriage, yeah, doctors will tell you that when close relationships in marriage can 1:05:29 produce problems with the children. It's a fact. Sometimes they escape it. There are instances of cousins that marry and then no problem arises, but there are dangers also, I must warn you. So, be it's better to be careful there 1:05:45 when it comes to marriage. Seek God's will in that. And um when you lose a beloved little nephew to a terminal disease despite treatment and fervent prayer, and that fear has taken root in my life, how can I be set free? You have to bow 1:06:03 when God takes away a life, I have prayed for people and they have died. I bow down and say, "Lord, maybe that person's time on earth is over. I'm not here to determine I'm not here to lengthen people's lives by prayer. 1:06:19 I say, "Lord, we want your will to be done." And there are children who die. There are people children who die with 10 12 years old who get cancer at a very young age and I don't know the answer to all that. All I know is that this is a rotten 1:06:32 world and sickness is prevalent everywhere and can affect God's children as much as anybody else's. So, I don't I imagine that my praying for a sick child will automatically bring healing. Sometimes I've seen healing. Other times I've not seen healing. 1:06:49 I say, "Lord, your will." And if Jesus were here, everyone he touched would be healed, but it's not Jesus. And also, that was a particular time. And I read in the scriptures as I already said, Paul was sick, Timothy was sick, 1:07:01 and they were the finest people in the New Testament. And they both had sickness. So, uh we have to just accept death as a fact. We do our best to prevent it by prayer, by medicine, treatment, everything. But when it happens, we accept it. How 1:07:18 important is it being transparent with each other in marriage? Is it unwise to share if you're struggling secretly with sin? Remember this. Your thoughts are between you and God. Your words other people will hear. 1:07:36 You don't have to confess sin in your thoughts to any human being. Not to your husband, not to your wife. Maybe it's a bad thought, maybe it's a rebellious thought, maybe it's an angry thought. Why should you tell your husband, "I got angry with you in my 1:07:51 thought." Forget it. Then why should you tell your wife or some dirty thought? Fight it and reject it. But see, I'll tell you this. The desire in a man is so strong in the sexual area that no woman can fully understand it. 1:08:05 No woman can understand it fully. It's in the man's desire is so strong and therefore that the temptation in the thoughts is a million times stronger in a man's thoughts than in a woman's mind. It's a very immoral woman who's always 1:08:19 having sexual thoughts. But it can be a very strong godly man who's tempted frequently with sexual thoughts. There's a lot of difference because the desire is so much stronger. It's a million times stronger in a man than in 1:08:30 a woman. So, woman can't understand it. That a man is being tempted constantly in this area. So, it's pointless telling her. Secretly fight it with with the Lord and if you have an understanding wife who realizes that a man can be tempted strongly, but it's 1:08:45 no use. What How does it help to confess your thoughts to your wife? Battle it alone before God. Woman is more tempted to not to sexual area. You got to be a perverted perverted woman who's tempted with sex. Your thoughts 1:08:58 are more towards bitterness and anger and all those things. Don't confess it. Confess it to the Lord. Don't say I had a bitter thought against you. Boy, that'll ruin your relationship. Confess it to the Lord, cleanse it, put it away. 1:09:11 So, any thoughts that come into your mind, there's no That is not transparency. If you're being tempted in you know uh with people, avoid those people. Even then, for example, if you are being tempted in the office with some pretty 1:09:29 woman, it's not wise to go and tell your wife that. The best thing is just steer clear of that woman. Even young people, I've heard this type of thing that some young brother in the church some young brother just a teenager. 1:09:47 He says, "Brother Zach, that girl is I can see that girl in the church is always trying to come near me." Both teenagers, you know, puppy love. And uh what should I do?" I'll tell you what you should do. When you're standing talking with a 1:10:03 group of people and that girl comes there, go away. Go somewhere else. You do that three, four times, she'll get the message. You don't have to open your mouth and tell her anything. She says, "This guy doesn't want to Not 1:10:14 because he hates me." He's a 18-year-old. That's not the time to think of marriage and girlfriends and boyfriends. Take your Christian life seriously and follow the Lord. And don't even think of marriage till you're about 25 at least. 1:10:28 So, till then, keep your devoted to the Lord. I'm so thankful. I was a young man. I was converted when I was 19. I had all the desires that any 19-year-old had, but I decided to devote my life to studying the Bible till the time came for marriage. 1:10:45 And I began to think of marriage when I was 26 or 27. 27 really. So, I had seven, eight years of complete freedom. Well, there were pretty girls around. I said, "Lord, want any of them." I I want to concentrate on your word. 1:11:02 And otherwise, if I had just been try to become friendly, boyfriend, girlfriend at the age of 19, I would not have a ministry I have today. I know that for certain. And I believe there are many people whom God then wants to use in his service who 1:11:15 have been uh who have failed in fulfilling God's plan for their life because they began to become friendly at a very young age with the opposite sex. Teenage is not the time to have boyfriend, girlfriend. And I tell you 1:11:25 that, keep your children away from that. Help them to concentrate on the word. Stud- Take their studies seriously. Do their school and college studies seriously. And then a time will come later on when they're ready for 1:11:37 marriage. Okay. Yeah. Uh another church life, how do I find a church that is close to what you people teach? Would you be willing to come to my city and start a church? I'll tell you I cannot start a church 1:11:56 anywhere. I oversee about 100 churches that the Lord is the Lord has planted in about 14 countries. I did not start one of them. The Lord gathered some people, usually two or three, with an interest. Maybe they got interest through hearing 1:12:14 my message on YouTube or somewhere. And they wrote to me, "Brother Zac, we're interested in meeting here." Who did that? The Holy Spirit. Started something there. Then I go there and I pour some water on a plant that the Lord planted. I did 1:12:32 not plant it. I did not go and find them. I did not go to some strange place and find them. I mean, Paul did things like that, I didn't. Uh I say, "Here, these people contacted me and they If I feel led of the Lord, I'd go there 1:12:45 and I pour some water. And the plant grows. That's all I do. That's how all these churches have come. But I will not go if the Lord doesn't lead me. So, I don't just go to some place, okay, you guys are interested in me, I'll come 1:12:56 to the church. There are people who write to me. I say, "Brother, I don't have any leading to come there." Because I cannot build a church. Only the Lord builds a church. If the Lord leads me, I can come. But meanwhile, you 1:13:07 can meet together. Meet together with two or three. And if you don't have anybody else, if I can't come there physically, listen to my message. Put on a YouTube message and listen to it. And over a period of time, maybe the Lord will plant a church. 1:13:21 Maybe I'll come then. Or maybe one of my co-workers will come there. That's how almost all our churches have started. But it has to start with two or three. And very often it starts with one person who does not just say, "Brother Zac, I 1:13:34 like to listen to your message." But who has a burden that I also want to start a local fellowship here where I can gather together other people. And there are very few people who have the boldness and the guts and the courage 1:13:50 to leave their church and start a fellowship which is based on the new covenant. Very, very few people. But those are the ones the Lord uses to build a church. The others will sit in a Babylonian church and talk about, "I 1:14:02 like to listen to Brother Zac's message." They'll never develop to the full extent that God wants them to. Maybe they are meant to live and die in a Babylonian church. I've got nothing I have to nothing to say about it. I personally 1:14:14 believe that's not the best. But God doesn't reject them. There is a second best. If you won't have the best, I will take say choose the second best. That's fine. There are many people who choose that. God hasn't rejected them. 1:14:26 But I believe that when they get into eternity, if they did not take a stand because they were interested in their reputation, what will people think, what will the pastor think about me, and all that, you answer to God about that, brother, 1:14:39 when you meet him face to face. But I personally believe it's my deep conviction that God local churches according to the pattern of the New Testament. And I'll tell you something. In the New Testament, there is no such thing as a 1:14:59 pastor of a church. Show it that to me. Nowhere. Everywhere Paul appointed elders, plural. Pastor is a word which means shepherd. It is one of the gifts like apostle, Ephesians 4:12. It's the only place where it comes. It's 1:15:17 a gift. It's like a shepherd. It's not a title of a position in the church. No. People have changed it. Reverend. You know where the word reverend is found in the Bible? In the Psalms, in the King James version. It's referring to God. 1:15:34 Holy and reverend is his name. And when a man takes that title, reverend so-and-so, he's trying to be like God. Who Who stands against it? There are very few Christians who have the guts and the courage to stand up and say, 1:15:46 "Brother, that is against scripture." They're always seeking that honor. Oh, what will they think about me? I want to be a known as a gentle person. Brother, forget about following the Lord if you want a reputation for yourself. 1:15:57 If you want to follow the number one thing if you want to follow the Lord and build the church, you got to forget about your reputation. They've called me every bad name under the sun. Heretic, devil. Then somebody else published a tract in Bangalore 1:16:09 saying, "The head of the serpent is" and they put my address there. "The head of the serpent is in that house" and they put my address in that tract. It was a tract, they distributed it. So, I say, "Okay, I'm all right. How did 1:16:21 it affect me?" We crushed the head of the serpent where we were living. So, you have to be bold and completely not bothered about the opinions of men if you want to build the church in your hometown. And if you're not like that, there'll be 1:16:38 no hope of starting a church. Why is it important to go to church can we instead watch it online? Sure you can watch a message online it's second best. The advantage of going to church is you can build fellowship with people where 1:16:50 two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst. How do I balance church life with other church activities like Bible study personal walk with Jesus and all? My personal walk with Jesus is fundamental. I must study the Bible for my own 1:17:05 spiritual growth. But then I must mingle with one other people person to be the body of Christ begins with two. Not necessarily in the Old Testament the Old Testament you could be alone Moses and be the humblest man on the earth. 1:17:17 You could be an Elijah and an Elisha John the Baptist but in the New Testament have you noticed as soon as Jesus opened his ministry he sent out his disciples two by two. That's how the Bible begins in the New Testament. 1:17:30 There was no two by two in the Old Testament. Why two by two? Because now Jesus is building a body. The body of Christ there's no body of Christ in the Old Testament. One of the most important things that we teach in CFC is building the body of Jesus Christ 1:17:44 not just living a holy life. Many people think we preach victory over sin. Yes. What does it lead on to? Two people who have victory over sin coming together to build the body of Christ or two people are pursuing victory over sin. They haven't got 1:17:57 victory yet. But they are gripped by the fact we must follow Jesus they come together to build the body. That is what we teach and that's what the New Testament teaches and that's how our church begins. So it's not just Bible study and 1:18:10 personal walk with the Lord it must lead to fellowship with others of like-minded. My home church fall short in many ways of the standards you have described. Well that's true of many churches. So as a single woman how can I help my church 1:18:24 leadership rise in holiness? I'd say begin with your husband. And if he doesn't get gripped you God does not call a woman to start a church. I'm sorry to say that. You can pray unless you're going out to some jungle, there's some like women missionaries who 1:18:40 went out to the jungle jungle to uh many jungles and where there were not a single Christian. Mary Slessor, who went out to the Calabar near Nigeria in the last century. Well, you go like that, someplace where nobody knows 1:18:55 anything about the Bible, heathen, then God will use even a woman to build a church. But otherwise, generally speaking, it's God uses a man. And in the towns where there are so many Christians already you pray. The best thing a woman can do 1:19:07 is pray. You can gather other sisters together and if some young people come, you can teach them, but a woman cannot lead a church. Okay, but you can pray and God can use you to encourage others. How important is it for our church 1:19:23 elders to be under the authority of an apostle? That would be ideal, but there are not many apostles around. So what to do? There's a lot of people who call themselves apostles going around calling themselves who are not apostles. 1:19:36 First of all, they must be very humble men who are not interested in money. Number one. Show me one of these people who call themselves apostles in America who don't don't take any money from people. You will not be able to show me even one 1:19:48 of them. There are people who call themselves apostles in America. If you don't believe it, go to Google and say, "Who are apostles?" And you get a list of them. Every one of them takes money from people. Paul was different. He did not. I 1:20:03 believe one of the primary marks of an apostle is he doesn't take money from people. Show me one of them. I really like to meet him. I've never heard of one like that in America. So, there are not many around. So, in the absence of such a person, be subject 1:20:16 to one another in the church. Encourage one another. Is the lack of growth in numbers in a local church a matter of concern? Well, maybe not initially. The lack of fellowship would be a concern. If there are two or three built fellowship built 1:20:30 fellowship over a period of time The numbers will increase if the fellowship is good enough. But if it doesn't grow too much, and make sure the fellowship is strong and leave it to the Lord to increase the numbers. But you must be praying, you know, the 1:20:43 Lord said you must be witnesses to me. So we began with fellowship and then gradually we grew in numbers because we prayed. Now if you you're not growing, it may be because you're not praying. We used to pray, "Lord, if there's 1:20:54 anybody in this area." This is how when we were just two or three meeting together, we said, "Lord, if there's anybody in the area who's interested in a godly life, please bring him in touch with us." And then somebody would meet somebody in 1:21:04 the bank. Maybe the cashier in the bank and say, "Hey, would you like to come to our meeting?" I remember uh two parents who used to meet in the school. One was a Catholic. And they used to meet in the school because they 1:21:15 went to pick up their children from school. The small children from school, the parents met and because their parent their children were friends. And one was not a believer. And the one child's father was a believer in our church. But then both 1:21:29 these parents would meet at the gate of the school when they'd gone to pick up their children. Gradually they become friends. And this brother from our church said, "Hey, why don't you come to our church one day?" And he came and he 1:21:38 became he was a believer. And he brought his brother along. He became a believer. So it's by witnessing that we bring others. How to differentiate between true fellowship and strong friendship? Which is there even in cultistic 1:21:51 churches. Yes, sometimes friendship can mistaken for cultistic for uh fellowship, but fellowship is always centered in the Lord. And it's not horizontal first. It's vertical. I'm connected to the Lord, you're connected to the Lord, that's 1:22:05 fellowship. But we are connected with each other, we love one another, help one another, that's a human club fellowship. There's a book out there at the back written by Santosh called Are you building a congregation or a 1:22:17 club or a church? Read it, you'll get a better understanding. How to recognize a Babylonian spirit in the local church? Primarily by its emphasis on money. Money is the number one mark of Babylon. You read Revelation chapter 18. 1:22:32 The description of Babylon is money, money, money, money all the way through that chapter. Okay, I have to finish quickly. Then another question. Uh how others the other than praying for them, how can I help a friend who left 1:22:46 the church and does not want to hear the truth? Pray for him and you get an opportunity befriend him. Have a meal with him. And pray for him especially and help him to be delivered from the grip of the devil. Last question, how do I know if I made 1:23:01 the right choice for large decisions like moving house or taking a job, going to college, etc. It depends on how well you know the Lord. The more you know the Lord, you will but if you make a mistake in moving a house and all is not as serious 1:23:16 as going to the wrong church. That's more serious. You move from this street to another street, whether it's God's will or not is not as important. You didn't go to this college, you went to the other college is not as important 1:23:28 but if God wanted to use you to build a fellowship and you are afraid that you'd lose your reputation, that will be a great tragedy when you face Jesus one day face to face. And you'll say you loved your reputation 1:23:47 so much I could not build a church through you. You're worried of offending the pastor. You're offending the worried of hurting your friends. But now in the clearer light of eternity, Christ has come. Now do you look at your life, do you see how what a 1:24:01 failure it was? And you say, "Oh Lord, what can I do?" Sorry, you can't live your life again. Brother, sister, think of that day when you will stand before the Lord and your whole life will be reviewed. And the choices you made. You can 1:24:18 justify yourself to Zac Poonen. It is because of this I had to do it like, "Yeah, yeah, I don't know your whole life." Will you be able to justify yourself before Jesus in that day? The Lord wanted to do something for you, 1:24:29 but you sought popularity, you sought some gain for yourself, and you did not do God's perfect will. You did God's second best. There are people who live on God's second best. You went to heaven, all right? But, tell me, 1:24:44 there's a song which we sing which says, "When I see him face to face, I'll wish I had given him more." Now is the time to think of it. Is there more that the Lord wants to do through you now? Which you won't have regret when Christ 1:25:01 comes again. Always, I ask myself this question. That's why I had a burden from the time I was 25 years old. Lord, I see in the New Testament only local churches built on a new covenant pattern. I prayed, I never saw it. I 1:25:16 tried, failed, tried, failed. 10 years later, it's like carrying a baby in your womb for 10 years. Then one day I saw it born. That's how the first CFC church was born. If you don't carry something in your heart and burden, 1:25:28 burden, burden, you'll not have a birth. How does a mother have a baby? Carries the womb for a long in a womb for a long time. And the only way a real church can be born is you have seen New Testament churches somewhere, and you have a 1:25:40 burden, you carry it and carry and say, "Lord, I don't care who rejects me. I'll start with two or three, but I want a New Covenant church." But, if you're satisfied with something substandard, you're not satisfied with substandard 1:25:52 things when you send your children to school and college. When you sent your children to school and college, did you look for the best ones? If you could afford it, sure. When you wanted your wife or somebody to be taken to a hospital, if you could 1:26:04 afford it, did you choose the best hospital? Yes. You choose the best hospital, the best school, but when it comes to church, you're willing to choose something second rate or third rate. Why? You seek your own honor. There's no other reason. There are 1:26:17 people who were in CFC once who gone out and settled with second grade churches. I don't judge them. I can tell you in Jesus name they will have a great regret when they stand before the Lord. The Lord said, "I showed you something which is according 1:26:30 to my word and you chose something second best." Dear brothers and sisters, I'm not threatening you. In love I'm telling you don't have any regret when you stand before Jesus Christ one day and your entire life is reviewed. 1:26:48 And the Lord says "At this point if you had taken a different decision and forgot about your own honor and stood for me and my purposes your life since then would have been very different. You could have accomplished something for me on earth. 1:27:03 And now you stand here before me empty-handed saying, 'I've come to heaven.'" Dear brother and sister, is that all you want to say? That you go to heaven finally? When Jesus gave his life for you, Jesus was called devil and all types of bad 1:27:16 names and you were afraid of getting a little bad name from somebody. I want to challenge you. Seek for God's best. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we pray that every one of us will respond to whatever challenge we got 1:27:34 today and help us during this conference whatever we got. We know that one day you'll have answer for every word that we heard. And I pray that they will respond to Lord to what they've heard. Many here their lives will be changed because of this 1:27:49 conference. And help them to believe that you will support them 100% to do the will of God. We pray for everyone here, especially the young people who got their whole life ahead of them. Many of people here are so old they wasted their life. We 1:28:03 can't do much about for them, but I think of the younger people here who got life in front of them. Help them to make the right choices and not to make the mistakes their fathers made and their older people made. Have them to make decisions as 1:28:15 young people to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, brothers, for bearing patiently with me. I'm not an easy person to listen to, I know that. But, I hope you'll be blessed by all that you've heard, that your lives will 1:28:32 be changed. That will be my great delight. Thank you for your patience and bearing and listening to me all these days. Thank you. God bless you.
