0:05 What God has entrusted to us in the last 40 years, which we have tried to preserve in faithfulness till today without compromising the message, 0:25 without making the narrow gate it wider than Jesus made it. We now want to commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also to 0:43 a third generation. So that is why we want to encourage brothers who are elders of churches who are in their 30s and 40s, 50s who are 30 years younger than me or 40 years 1:02 younger than me. another generation to encourage them to come and minister the word and uh we can rejoice with them in what God is doing in different parts of the 1:17 world. When we started our work, we were in a small part of Bangalore, one little corner. D Costa Square is almost the northeastern corner of Bangalore within about a half a kilometer beyond that we were outside 1:35 the city limits in the old days and so when we met together we had a prayer and our prayer was Lord if there's anybody in this area and by area we didn't mean Bangalore far from it Bangalore is a huge city this little area this northeastern corner of 1:54 Bangalore if there's anyone here who's seeking to live a godly life, please bring him in touch with us or bring us in touch with him. That means he comes to us or we meet him somewhere and if you don't do both of 2:13 them, please tell us what is wrong with us. Why can't you make that man come and become a part of our fellowship? And we prayed that and little by little God began to add. Then you know like Jesus said Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, 2:32 uttermost parts of the earth. So we expanded our circle and looked for people in Bangalore and then in India where we never thought we would reach the uttermost parts of the earth. Where did we have the money? Where did 2:46 we have the opportunity? But God did an amazing thing by opening the doors through the internet that we have really reached the uttermost parts of the earth. And so we never thought that it would be any more than just spreading the message for 3:03 individuals to hear and live a godly life. But now God has also planted churches in many of these places. And uh we have few churches that have been planted in the United States. 3:21 So in this northern California in the in an area called Milpedas there's a church that meets there. Santos I mean Sep and Jeremy and Bobby McDonald are the 3:39 three elders there. All three are here. and they have been meeting together for two three years. We set apart the elders about a little over a couple of years ago. They've had conferences there and uh they've grown little by little 3:56 and it's a wonderful fellowship. So Bobby McDonald will come now and share God's word with us. Please come brother. Please give him a warm welcome. That's just so that he knows he's in the 4:24 midst of family. It's a joy for me to be here. I've um CFC 4:42 started before I was born. I've gotten the question a few times already, so I'll just let everybody know. I'm 32 years old, so I believe it started around 8 years before I was born. Um, but the truths of CFC have uh changed my 4:59 life. The ones that have come through CFC in many different ways, not just the sermons that I've heard online, but in many different ways. Um, I feel like God just kind of placed them on my lap for me to take freely. In America, I think 5:15 if you ask people what the gospel means, they the good news, they would say, "Jesus, forgive me for my sins and I can go to heaven." But uh the truths of the new covenant and many that I've been gripped by through the ministry of this 5:28 church and through the ministry of uh others who have come out from here have really been more good news to me. That the good news isn't just that I can go to heaven, but there's so much more that is good news. The gospel is so much more 5:44 than just Jesus forgave me for my sins. And uh it's for example, I can the the fact that I can be free is good news to me. I can be free from sin. I don't know if that's good news to everybody, but I hope so. I 6:00 um I think if I didn't love God, then it would be enough good news to me to to know that I can go to heaven. But since I love God and I want to please him, it's such great news to me that I can know that I can have victory over sin 6:14 because I don't want to hurt God. I just love him. so much and I uh so it's a joy to me to know that this good news this gospel is that I can live with God not just receiving from him but also giving him something back there's this verse in John 8:32 6:32 I'll just turn there Jesus Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth 6:50 will make you free." So these truths that I've received through this ministry have set me free in so many things. Not just freedom from sin. And I think God wants us free from a lot of other things like guilt, free from uh discouragement, free from um a 7:08 lack of joy in life, free from um all bitterness and lust, free from all sins. And uh I I just feel that God has through this ministry, God has just placed these truths on my lap at a young age that I've been so blessed to just 7:23 receive these freely from God, just like salvation. And I kind of picture it how Paul or Peter was in prison in Acts 12. And the angel came there and he he wasn't really looking for anything, but the angel came in and then his shackles 7:38 were broken. And then the angel said, "Just put on your cloak and your shoes and follow me out of here." And they passed the guards on the way out of the prison and he followed him through the gate. And it is just it's just a gift 7:50 that God gave him gave Peter. And I feel like that was what these truths were doing for me. It was it's like the angel right there that was just setting me these truths that are setting me free from so many things. Just leading me 8:01 out, walking past the guard of uh anger, walking past the guard of guilt, legalism, all these things and just freeing me and just as I as long as I follow um what I've been taught and I just praise God for that. Um I uh I 8:18 started out by listening to the CFC messages. um online. And so uh and by the way, I call them CFC messages. I don't call them Brother Zach messages because Brother Zach is a tongue, but there's a body connected to the tongue. 8:31 So um I uh I've been blessed. It's it's many of you pouring out to give the gospel freely. Um and it's changing lives around the world. I know it's not just me. And so um I just uh um appreciate so much the lives even CFC 8:47 people that have come out. Um the closest one I'm to is Sendep and that uh we met a few years ago and uh just seeing the treasure that you've poured into the people that have been in your midst and then have gone around the 8:59 world. This treasure is spreading and it's um I just praise God for the work of this ministry and uh just wanted to testify of how it's changed my life. Um uh one of those things that it's uh I just want to share touch on speak about one 9:15 of those truths and that's changed my life and that is that I can have an intimate relationship with Christ and to know him deeply not just waiting around for heaven. I I believe um it's a very common thing I don't know about in 9:29 Christians for India but in America it's like what is there really to the Christian life? I just I try to follow Jesus as best as I can. Basically, I'm just waiting for heaven. I'm waiting for heaven to come around. I I don't really 9:41 know what I can do here. I'm going to sin until the rest of my life. So, I guess I'll just kind of let God drag me along through life. Um but the truths of the new covenant have gripped me in such a way that there's um we can live heaven 9:53 on earth here. There's so much more to the Christian life than just waiting for God to take us to heaven. And um one of those things is that I can know Christ intimately. I can relationship with him. I don't have to wait till 10:08 heaven to walk with him, to hear from him. Um I used to as I would go through different verses or something or quotes or listen to different sermons, I would write down in a notebook something that I thought would change my life. and I 10:23 put a bunch of stars next to it, um, asterxes, hoping that I could go back to it every day and live by it. Um, and then two or three days later or two or 3 weeks later, uh, it wouldn't have the same effect that it did before. And I 10:37 saw that there's this um, there's a lack of intimacy with Christ in that uh, this this knowledge of God. It's not just taking something from him, but it's hearing from him every day. As we heard uh earlier, it's that uh verse in 10:52 Matthew 4:4. I'll just turn there. I'll start uh Matthew 4:4. He answered and said, "It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but every word that 11:10 proceeds out of the mouth of God." And for me, proceeds is a key word there is that God is speaking all the time. And um I used to want a key to the Christian life that I could kind of copy and paste and apply to every situation and that 11:24 would be the answer. For example, the Bible says pray always. Okay, so maybe a answer is just talking to God all the time. Just uh never stop talking to him. No matter what I'm doing, that's the answer. And then few days later later 11:36 when I forget that that's the answer, I would go back into old ways and um there's no life in that. there's not really uh there's it talking to God all the time isn't the answer, but it's um also hearing from him and listening to 11:51 him. And it's it's whole different than the old covenant. For example, Moses, he the Bible says, I think we um were in that chapter earlier. Uh I think it's in Numbers 12, Moses, it says that Moses spoke with God mouthto mouth and he was 12:07 the humblest man on earth. that says in that chapter, but in the new covenant, we're speaking with God even more intimateely with that. That's why Jesus said that it's better if he goes, it's better for his disciple if he goes and 12:22 the Holy Spirit comes cuz now he can speak to our hearts and that's where the real transformation comes. And I believe that's what much of what it means to know God intimately. I don't know if I could put a a strict definition on it. I 12:34 don't think I'm there uh to know Christ intimately. What does it mean to know God? That's such a I tried to think about how I I would answer that and I don't really know. But I think um as far as my understanding is right now, a big 12:46 part of it is um having this commun intimate communication with him where um I share intimate things with him. And not only that, but he shares intimate things with me. I used to think that being close to God meant I just pour out my burdens and 13:03 my problems to him and then I felt close to him. But I learned that God wants to speak his burdens to me, too. He wants to speak directly to my heart. And this intimate communication, that's what knowing somebody intimately means. And 13:16 um I I think that as I do that, he'll show me over time more and more of his heart, what he finds beautiful, what he loves, what he hates, and um what his burdens are. And as I see what his burdens are, it makes me want to be like that. What I as I see 13:36 what he sees as beautiful, it makes me see that as beautiful. And what I see is when when I see his heart, when he says that's despicable, whether it's something inside myself, something that he showed me about myself, it makes me 13:49 want to hate it more. And um this is to me, this has just been a such a blessing to know that this new covenant is an inner life. It's not waiting for God to speak to us through some um verse that we read necessarily. He can, but uh this 14:05 intimate communication to our spirits that he's showing me he's speaking heartto-heart more than anybody in the old covenant. Um, Abraham was a friend of God. But we are we can we are the bride of Christ. That our the old 14:18 covenant is is so much greater in intimacy than the or the new covenant is so much greater in intimacy than the old covenant as a bride is intimate with a husband rather than a friend to a friend. I I'll share one one example of um what 14:34 God's been showing me lately that is show that he's speaking to me is very beautiful and that's in 2 Corinthians 12 just to show an example of how God is speaking to me what is beautiful to his heart and it's making me want it's it's 14:51 pushing me on to want to be like that. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. This is where Paul's um he's talking to the Corinthians and uh he's he's saying that um basically in verse 15:15 15 he says 2 Corinthians 12:15 he says I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? That verse uh showed me, it's like God spoke to me, this is such a beautiful man right here. This is a beautiful 15:32 heart that um I want you to have. And uh the fact that Paul could be loved less and less by a group of people, but he's just loving them more and more. And um he's pouring himself out for people that didn't really appreciate him. and to to 15:50 see that God's heart is Jesus was a master of that of pouring himself out for people that didn't appreciate him. And I saw that that's beautiful in God's eyes. And in that way, he spoke to me. And I feel like I got to know him better 16:05 through that. And that and it drove me on to want to be like that more. to not regard myself, to not regard what people are thinking of me, but to love them and love them whether they're my enemies, whether they appreciate me, whether they 16:19 don't appreciate, just pour out myself for them. And um and I believe that this this is the type of voice, this is the type of process that God uses to get me to know him better, to show me his heart. person can work for 30 years for uh a 16:38 company and never know the owner of the company. Kind of like how um a big company person can work and then he can never know the the owner. He'll never know what his heart is like. But in a sense, he's working for the same goal 16:54 that the the owner is working for. and he's um in a sense his family is fed by the owner, but he it doesn't necessarily me mean that he knows the owner. And I've seen that my life can be like that that I can kind of live the Christian 17:09 life without really having an intimacy with Christ. And um and that's a pointless life. I it's better to um better be paralyzed sitting in a bed doing nothing for God than um and but knowing him than doing everything changing the world for God 17:28 and not having any intimacy with him. And uh it's kind of like Mary and Martha or Martha Mary wasn't really doing much just sitting at Jesus' feet but she was hearing she was getting to know him by listening to his heart. She was 17:42 listening to him and Martha was doing so much good things and people probably looked down on Mary I guess. But um Jesus said that she just chose the one thing that was necessary. And um one thing I learned is uh people might have 17:59 been looking down on Mary and um but God wasn't looking down on her. And uh so it makes me want to be like a Mary to focus on the main thing first and let everything else spring out of that because I know that the the more 18:13 intimate I am with Christ, the more I'll have a burden to for what his burdens are. Another thing I learned is that um when I find myself drifted or kind of distant from Christ, I can't blame anybody else. I found myself falling into this sin of 18:27 blaming. My job's too busy right now. My kids are just keeping me occupied. Um this type of thing. This person's backbiting against me. There's excuses. But um I've seen that there's no The reason why I drift from him is because I 18:43 value something over him. That's the reason why I drift from Christ. And so if I treasure Christ all the time, then no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what people are doing, anything, no matter how busy I am, I can stay 18:56 close to him. If I really want to be close to Christ, then I'll have him. Kind of like how Zakius, he was a short man and he couldn't see Jesus, but he wanted to get a glimpse of him over all the taller people. So, he went out of the way to 19:13 climb a tree and um Jesus saw his diligence. He went out of his way to know Christ. And that's a that's a wonderful thing to me that God sees if we go out of our way that we want to be close to Christ. He'll call us down. 19:29 He'll go through the whole crowd and call us down from the tree and say, "I'll come eat dinner with you." And uh such a beautiful into this story where he said, "Salvation has come uh to this house this day. Not everybody's as close to Christ as um 19:45 everybody else. I don't think I believe that there are different levels of maturity. And it's kind of like how Jesus called himself the a shepherd, the good shepherd. And there are many sheep in a in a pen. But some of them are kind 19:57 of on the outskirts and other ones are kind of in the middle. But there are a few sheep that are right next to the shepherd all the time. And I I seen I want to be a sheep that's close to the shepherd all the time. The ones on the 20:11 outskirts, they're kind of wandering around. They maybe they'll get picked off by wolves easier. Maybe they see some attractive thing in the mountains and they um want to go chasing after it and the shepherd has to go running over 20:22 there and grab the sheep. Um but the sheep that are closest to Christ all the time that just refuse to leave his side can be kind of annoying because they're just right next to his um legs. And Jesus doesn't find us annoying. the 20:34 people who want to be closest to him. Those sheep are the ones that get fed the most. They're always around at feeding time and they can sleep with the most rest. They're uh they're the most peaceful sheep around. And um so I've 20:48 kind of seen that picture that uh Jesus is a shepherd and I want to be a sheep that's just right next to him all the time. Um comforted by him and uh and I I I believe Paul was the perfect example of this. Um, Philippians 3. I'll turn 21:05 just turn there. This is uh Philippians chapter 3. This is a chapter that our church is trying to memorize right now. We've been in it for a while. Um, Philippians 3, you can see Paul's heart of this type of sheep that wanted to be 21:23 know Christ and be close to him all the time. Um, Philippians chapter 3 [Music] in verse 8, he says, "More than that, I count all things to be lost in view away drifting away 27:50 and the need to be intimate with Jesus Christ. We read about the parable Jesus told about the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. So we find 28:18 this younger son going far away from his father's house and he spent all the wealth ended up with the pigs and he couldn't even get the pig's food. 28:36 Then he came to his senses and he took a decision they can I can go back to my father's house probably some of us would have got messed up our lives and 28:56 this youngest son prodical son had a little faith that he can go back to his father's house though if he is not accepted as and he said to him my child you have 29:14 always been with me and all that is mine is yours I would like to read it in a different way if you are always with me all of mine is yours but you are not with me that's why you feel those things which 29:33 belong to me doesn't belong to you you are demanding You feel I have to take something and give it to you because he was not with the father. Sometimes we might be taken up with all as the brother from he was telling we can be 29:52 taken up with the ministry with so many other things. We may miss God. Working in a factory we may not know the real owner of the factory. We may not know his heart. This elder brother was not knowing the heart of the father. He could not 30:11 rejoice when his younger brother came. And when he knew that younger brother has come back, he had to ask the servants what is all noise and celebration this and that. Though he was there with the father, 30:30 there was no intimate fellowship. fellowship. Sometimes some brothers or sisters in the church may have a complaint. Why you didn't tell me about this prayer meeting? Why you didn't tell me that? That shows that you are in the wrong 30:44 direction. Nothing wrong in asking but in what spirit we are asking? I'm somebody important and why you have not informed me? The same attitude elder brother was having and he wanted to find the servants. probably he wanted to have 31:01 some the support of the servants but do you know how what the servants said he was telling probably your master's son he didn't tell him my brother one of the signs that I'm going away from the father's house or father or I 31:19 am the wrong direction is that we disown our brothers no concern so long his younger brother was away what joy he should have had to know that he has come back. Probably within his heart he never wanted him to come back. 31:34 He wanted his younger son to perish so that he can get at least rest of the property. That's why the news that his son has younger brother has come back. It didn't gladden his heart. He was his existence was threatened because so far he measured his closeness 31:51 with his father with reference to his younger brother. Oh my younger brother is far away. Oh then I I am close with my father. He did not actually see where he is with reference to the father. He always measured his closeness with his 32:07 father with reference to his younger brother. That's why when the younger brother came very close to the father his life is threatened and he became upset. Now I thought I am close to my father but he has come back. Now where 32:23 is my reference point? Same thing happens. We read in the Luke chapter 18 the prayer I think the 10th vers of prayer by the Pharisee and the tax collector. Luke 32:40 18:E 10 Jesus was telling how he prayed. He had to have four or five groups of people for his prayer. Lord, I'm not like this unrighteous people. I'm not like this thief. I'm not like that. I'm not like that. So he needed some people as a reference 32:59 to prove his righteousness. How is our righteousness or how is our holiness or how is our fellowship the father? Do we need brothers to compare? How do we feel when a brother who has left the church has is coming back to 33:15 the church really is a heart glad or we feel that he has come back as my competitor and when somebody else is recognized more when somebody else is given more importance how is the heart is there a trouble the trouble is there 33:32 because so far we were measuring our closeness to the father we were measuring our spiritual life with reference to that particular brother that's why and when he comes back we get shattered. Where is our security Lord? Let my security and be in you 33:47 Lord. Let me be secure in you. If I am secure in God's love, if my intimacy and intimate fellowship is with the heavenly father, nothing will disturb me whether I'm asked to speak or not speak or whether I ask I'm asked 34:02 first. Yesterday a brother was telling in our church there's a competition to be in the last. That's a real spirit because they have known the Lord. If I know the Lord, I will seek approval only from him. I will not seek the approval from others. 34:19 So when the elder brother was speaking he says your son but servants how they were speaking they said it is your brother it is your father don't call our master he's your father and your brother but he disowned 34:38 Adam. How do we know that he has come out of God's presence? When God asked him about his about the sin he has committed, he didn't tell it's my wife. Earlier he was telling my flesh and my bone. But now it is a woman whom you 34:54 gave. I don't want to own my brother or my brother, my my sister whom you gave. Same case with Cain. Yesterday we heard about Abel and Cain. Am I my brother's keeper? Absolutely no concern for the brother 35:12 who is lost, brother who is defeated or a brother or sister who is struggling. I don't have real concern and a burden to help them to care for them. I am in the wrong direction. I say I'm close to the father but I am looking towards in the 35:27 wrong direction. It's only a matter of time that I go away. In Acts 1 6 and 7 the disciples were asking Jesus Jesus was resurrected and probably the last minutes he's spending 35:46 with the disciples and disciples were asking a question Lord is it this time you are going to give back the kingdom to Israel. Jesus has already told them in Matthew chapter 21 we read that 36:03 he has taken the kingdom from them and he's giving to another nation which is going to give fruit. God is not going to give a kingdom who have rejected the king. Israel has rejected the king. They have rejected Jesus Christ but they want the 36:19 kingdom. Today we are living in a Christianity which wants the kingdom but they don't want the king. They want the blessings. They want the wealth. They want the healing. Everything his kingdom offers. But they don't want the kingdom. So 36:33 already Jesus has told them. But then when the disciples asked him, Jesus said, "It is not in my hands. It is the times and decisions are in the hands of the in the minds of the father. But what you need is the power of the holy 36:47 spirit. What unity is? You need the king with you as the power of the holy spirit. Presence of the holy spirit. Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord, I want to seek the king, not the kingdom. Lord, let people around 37:01 me seek whatever they want. But Lord, I want the king. I want your presence. Like Moses who said, Lord, we will not move an inch without your you to come. How many of us want the father? When we have the father, he says, all 37:17 that belongs to my me belongs to you. We read the last verses of Matthew chapter 3 and Genesis chapter 3. The last verses both are 37:34 telling about one thing. Genesis uh Matthew 3 when Jesus took the baptism and when was coming up the heavens were opened the Holy Spirit came on Jesus and he 37:51 heard a voice I am well pleased. Jesus says in John 1 and verse 51 that to Nathan says you shall see the heavens open and angels coming down and going 38:08 up. When was the heaven closed? Genesis 3 last verses we find that when Adam sinned when he tested God when he thought food is more important than God's word he failed God's purposes 38:29 out of Eden and God closed the way to the tree of life he put the cherubim there to protect heaven was closed God was looking for a who will obey, who 38:47 will keep his word as the important thing than food or anything else, who will not test God. But then Jesus said, "Lord, I'll go as a man. I will go like my brothers 39:05 and I will obey to your word." And he came, he was born and he grew up in all temptations. He was faithful. He was tempted in all points as we are. Every temptation he submitted to the will of the father. He submitted submitted. We heard that through 39:23 submission we open our homes for Christ to come in. for heavens to come in like that through every submission God has seen him the 30 years of his life and then said heaven is open and the glory came down power of the 39:42 holy spirit comes down and for us the heaven is open when we follow the footsteps of the Jesus Christ we can take part of that life when we submit through rebellion no devil started having influence and through our submission 40:00 we can experience heaven. Jesus humbled himself until death, death of the cross. Obedience, obedience, obedience. That's why in the church we emphasize much on submission, obedience to God's word. Many times I also thought I understood 40:19 the word but when really it comes to the understanding the word Lord, I have I have not understood your word Lord. Recently brother spoke how we have understood the word. Have we understood God? Lord I really want to take part in 40:35 your nature the divine nature. Lord help us Lord. I want to submit so that every day the heaven will be open. The Pharisees they were locking closing the kingdom of God without allowing other people also 40:54 to enter. Lord, am I opening the doors of heaven in the fellowship where I am so that heaven can come down where people can have your life. He came to give life and a more abundant way he wanted to give life because now 41:13 heaven is open and only through repentance and humility without telling Lord I am worthy now. Yesterday when I was entering to the campus I was praying Lord am I having the same attitude as I had some time back when I first came to 41:27 this church or am I considering myself as worthy or somebody no lord help me Lord to remain in humility Lord help me Lord that I'm not worthy when we remain in humility is easy for us to repent whatever God 41:45 shows through repentance and humility Our needle mag magnet needle can show the right direction. We can be far away but are we turning and going towards a right direction towards the father. Lord I want the 42:05 king. I want the fellowship. I want the intimacy with the lord. I don't want to measure my intimacy with reference to other brothers. Lord I don't want to compare others. Lord elder brother always wanted a prodigal son to have a 42:16 comfort that he is all right instead of having a real burden and concern for his youngest son. Lord I want to have a real burden and a concern for the brothers and sisters whom you have given me. Lord I don't want to compare them and have a 42:31 comfort lord. I always want to compare with you. I al want to always come to you Lord and hope God will lead us in this way. Thank you. To experience 42:55 a full salvation, it is very important to know the root of sin. Very often what people call sin is the fruit. We talk about 43:14 you know at the lowest level things like smoking, drinking, gambling and then we think we go deeper and say okay we talk about jealousy and pride and bad thoughts and anger. We think we have gone deeper. Yes we have gone deeper 43:30 than these other people who only think of fighting and quarreling as sin. But John the Baptist who was the forerunner of Jesus said that Jesus has come to lay the axe to the root of the tree. That's what he said in 43:49 Matthew chapter 3. So it's very important for us to understand where the root is in our life because if we don't hit at the root the fruit will keep on coming and we'll have to keep on cutting it off cutting 44:08 it off cutting it off. It's like in disease you know in the olden days they could only treat a disease when it came out came out get fever or a sore then they put some ointment and deal with it when it comes out 44:27 but then when uh say people discovered antibiotics so you have a sore in your hand and the doctor says how they get rid of it is you take a tablet into your stomach And an illiterate person can't understand that. An illiterate person 44:44 says how can this thing go by my eating something in the stomach because a doctor says the root of this is down there and if you deal with it there in your blood this will stop. But an illiterate person can't understand that. He thinks 44:59 no no you got to put the ointment here. When you get rid of it here it'll come here. So this is how it has been with many believers. Even when they seek victory over sin, they think I have got rid of it. But there's something else comes up. 45:15 We have to allow Jesus to lay the axe to the root. And the root of sin is self centeredness. In one word, it is when self is the center of our life. 45:34 And the root of holiness is not reading the Bible and doing good things. It is when Christ becomes the center of our life. So if we can understand this simple truth, the root of sin is when self is the center of my life is the center of my life. In other 45:52 words, you know, either everything revolves around me or everything in my life revolves around Christ. One of these two. And I often use the example of uh you know in astronomy for so many years. Do you know that for 46:12 thousands of years man believed that the earth is the center not only of the solar system but of the whole universe because they went by what they saw and they could see the sun going round and 46:31 coming back up again. So the earth is the center. They saw the moon going round and coming back. They saw even the stars going round and coming back and it it looked exactly as if the earth is the center of the universe. You can't blame people. 46:50 Even clever people Peter, Paul, they all believed that the earth was a center. But there was a man who decided to question that about 7 800 years ago and he said let me check up whether what 47:09 my parents and grandparents and all believed is true and he discovered they were wrong and discovered that the earth is not even the center of the solar system. And that is how so many truths in science became discovered and we got all our you 47:28 know equations and answers right when we found the right center. As long as man had not discovered the right center. Something was wrong in their calculations and in their understanding of physics particularly something was wrong because the center 47:46 was not right. And in our pursuit of holiness always there will be a problem. If we think of this as sin and that as sin and we try to get rid of this and try to judge ourselves get rid of this habit and that habit until you hit the 48:02 root and discover what the right center should be there'll always be a problem. You won't get the right answer. But when we see that Jesus came to hit the root that means repentance means then what repentance means to turn 48:20 around from a life centered in myself. Repentance is not just giving up some bad habits. It is turning from a life centered in myself to a life centered in Jesus Christ. When you understand that, you can never be 48:38 deceived by a health wealth gospel. When somebody tells you you're going to get money, is that centered around Christ or yourself? I say immediately I can make out that can't be the true gospel cuz that's centered around me. 48:55 That's not the real gospel or something more spiritual. You can go to heaven. Who is that centered around? Is that centered around Christ or me? We say that's more spiritual than believing that Jesus will make me rich or that 49:12 Jesus will give me healing. Isn't it more spiritual? I'm not like those people who just talk about healing and wealth. I believe Jesus can take me to heaven or forgive my sin. Who's that centered around? You are Christ. It's 49:26 you. Only thing that fellow is looking for money and you're looking for heaven. But it's still you in the center. Man was created for the glory of God. You know what they sing in heaven? 49:43 Thou art worthy, oh Lord. Revelation 4, for thou has created all things, and they exist to do your will. For your pleasure they were created. Thy will be done on earth as it is in 50:05 heaven. That's what Jesus taught us to pray. So we were created to be centered in God. And once you understand this, my dear brother, sister, many things will fall into place. Just like when man discovered 50:23 that the sun is the center of the solar system and everything goes around it, all their calculations became right. So what does this mean in practical terms? I need to when I say judge myself, it's not judge judging jealousy and pride and 50:39 few little things but going to the root of it. Is this a self-centered life that I'm living? I get hurt because somebody spoke rudely to me. Who's in the center of your life? You. That's why you get hurt. If you're not in the center of your 50:58 life, but Christ, you're thinking of Christ being in the center. What does it matter if somebody said something to you about you or to you or yelled at you, it's it's a question of where the center is. And that's what we see in the story 51:11 of the prodigal son that we were just listening to. You know, in Luke 15, I want you to see Jesus was talking about two backsliders here. First backslider was the younger son and the second backslider is the older son. But he doesn't look like a backslider. 51:30 And the one who does not look like a backslider is a more dangerous backslider than the other one. Because this is a story Luke 15 where in the beginning of the story the younger son is outside the house far away and the elder son is 51:47 inside the house and at the end of the story son is inside the house and the elder son is outside the house. That's how the story ends in a nutshell. That is the story. So you got to find out how this younger son who was outside came 52:03 inside and why the older son who was inside ended up outside because we are all inside. You just got to make sure you don't end up on the outside. There's one thing both of them said. I want you to listen. 52:20 The younger son Luke 15:12 came to the father and said, "Father, give me, give me," is the language of the self-centered man. 52:37 Give me money. Give me healing. Give me forgiveness. Give me heaven. Give me a ministry. Whatever it is, it can be some spiritual things. Give me, give me, give me 52:56 even give me holiness so that I will have a church. And we think that the elder son is better. He never said give me. He kept it all 53:13 inside all those years. And sometimes God allows a situation that brings out the corruption inside. It's a wonderful thing when God does that. When somebody who had done harm to me, I 53:30 forgave him completely. I really did. To the best of my knowledge, I said, "Lord, I've forgiven him. I've got nothing against him for whatever he did against me." But when I heard that something bad happened, I was happy. 53:47 And the Lord said, "You have not forgiven him." That's how I discovered I discovered the corruption of my heart when something good happened to somebody else. Exactly like the older son. Have you seen that? Have you ever seen 54:05 it in your life when somebody you don't like, somebody you hate, maybe some relative or your boss or something, something good happens to them and you feel bad? That shows that your attitude is wrong. That's the time for you to 54:17 judge yourself. But the elder son, he could have judged himself. Why am I feeling bad? That my somebody something good has happened to my younger brother. As long as something bad was happening to me, he was far away. He was quite 54:30 happy. But something good happened to him. He suddenly felt bad. Do you find that in yourself or am I only talking about myself? Judge yourself. I have judged myself. That's why I can 54:48 speak about it because I have cleansed myself. And what did what did came out of? What did they The younger son came and said, "Give me." And what does the older son say? Listen to this. 55:05 Uh Luke 15, last part of verse 29. You never gave me. He's also saying the same thing. All these years I You never gave me. I wanted it. I kept it all inside. This desire to give me, give me, give me. I never said it. But I wanted it. I wanted 55:24 it. I wanted it. Who is worse? The one who openly said give me was inside longing. I hope I get it. I hope that's hypocrisy. The only difference between the younger son and the older son was one said it openly and the other kept it 55:37 inside. And I tell you a lot of people who preach holiness. The only difference between them and a sinner is that fellow does it openly. This fellow has got all those desires inside and he thinks he's holier. the one who does watches internet 55:56 pornography secretly, he's worse than the other fellow who openly says, "Hey, I I watch internet pornography. I enjoy it." We think he's the sinner. Actually, there's more hope for him. So, be careful of this 56:14 hidden give me attitude and we can sit in the church and think we are new covenant. We're not new covenant if we haven't hit the root of sin which is self-centered. Give me. You never gave me. 56:33 I prayed for the healing of my child. You never gave me. Father a little complaint. Do I have such a right? Do I have a right to go to God and ask for anything? I've discovered that I don't have a 56:53 right for anything. Everything is mercy. I'm thankful for any little thing God gives me. But very often when a believer has a complaint about an unanswered prayer, why didn't you let me marry that person? Who do you think you are that God should 57:12 make you marry that person? What an important person you think you are. Your life is completely centered in yourself. You're not even old covenant. You're in no covenant. Sent just like Adam. Centered in 57:30 yourself. Me. Me. Me. That is the life that Jesus came to deliver us from. Because that's the life that ruins us. Whether you're like the younger son, openly sinful, or like the elder son, sitting in the 57:48 church, acting holy, maybe an elder brother with a secret desire for honor, position, respect. Give me, give me secretly desiring. Give me, give me some honor there. I'd like a little bit of honor. I'd like 58:08 to be an elder. I'd like to be invited to preach. Give me, give me, give me that. And feeling very happy when you get it. What's the difference between you and that fellow who crudely asks for it? He's actually more honest. 58:25 So what does it mean to judge ourselves? If we judge ourselves, we will not be judged. It's the man who takes his Christian life seriously and discovers, Lord, this wretched self-centerness is what you came to deliver me. The new 58:39 covenant is all about being delivered from being centered in myself. Repentance is to be free from center. Being centered in myself and discovering my true center like they discovered in the solar system, it's the sun to 58:52 discover that you created me to be centered in you. That's why you know in the Lord's prayer is very interesting to see it. I've written a full book on the Lord's Prayer. there in the bookstore called 59:09 God centered praying because every request in that is putting God first. Our father who art in heaven, forgive me my sin. No, that's not number one. We would think it 59:25 is number one because then it's me. No. Father, hallowed be thy name. Your name is not being hallowed because of my sinful life. That's what I want to think about first. If I begin with our 59:45 father who in heaven forgive me my sin, I'm still centered in myself. Our father, I realize that my way of life has dishonored you, not hallowed your name, and I'm concerned about that. I want to hallow your name. Let your 1:00:02 name be hallowed. and let your kingdom come. That's my secondary. Forgiveness of sins and all can wait. Your kingdom must come. Never mind what happens to me. Never mind if my cancer is not healed. Oh, forget that. Let your kingdom come. 1:00:23 And Lord, let your will be done on earth in my life first of all exactly like it is done in heaven where the angels quickly joyfully do God's will completely. 1:00:40 The angels obey God joyfully immediately and completely. And I say Lord I want to do it exactly like in heaven. everything you tell me joyfully, completely, immediately. And in order to do your will on earth 1:01:00 as it is being done in heaven, I need life. So please give me my daily bread so that I can do your will. You got to link the two. Thy will be done on earth in my life. For that, give me my daily bread. Give me enough for my needs. 1:01:19 It's right and that applies to food, clothing, shelter, educating our children, everything so that we can do your will. Then comes forgive me my sins so that I can do your will and I want to forgive everybody else like you forgiven 1:01:37 me. And I don't want to stop with forgiveness of sins. Lord, deliver me from all evil. Anything that's evil, anything that's uncristlike in my life, deliver me from it. And don't let me ever be tempted beyond my ability. 1:01:56 I know there is a promise. God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but he still wants us to pray for it. Just like Jesus said, your heavenly father knows what you need before you ask him, but he still wants 1:02:08 you to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Your heavenly father knows that you need forgiveness of sins, but he still asks you to pray for the forgiveness of sins. So your heavenly father has promised not to allow you to be tempted beyond your 1:02:22 ability, but he still says, "Pray, Lord, don't let me be tempted beyond my ability." So it's a prayer the Lord was teaching them in this new covenant. You're not to pray like the old covenant. In the old covenant, they were praying, 1:02:37 "Bless me, Lord," and trounce my enemies. It's very interesting to read in the Psalms where the psalmist says, "Lord, that enemy take his child and smash his head against the rocks." Boy, there are some churches 1:02:55 where they have the habit of reading a psalm every Sunday morning. They remain carnal because they read stuff like this. Dash my enemy's heads against the rocks. And I wish they had read one of the episodes every morning, 1:03:12 Ephesians chapter one, instead of these Psalms. It's amazing how many Christians live in the old covenant. So the Lord is saying there their occup preoccupation was with get rid of my enemies. They're troubling me in so many 1:03:32 ways and Lord there's no rain. Please give me rain on my crops and help me to prosper and etc. It was all centered around what are you going to do for me? And as long as a Christian is occupied with all that, he doesn't even realize 1:03:45 that he's in the old covenant. And one of the great works the devil has done in our day is to change the gospel which was preached by the apostles back to this old covenant of give me give me this and give me that and is being 1:03:58 taught under the guise of faith. Faith means claim it ask for it and get it. Give me give me give me give me. Go to God and ask him to give you. That's exactly what the prodigal son did and messed up his life. And that's what the 1:04:15 older son also wanted. You never gave me complaint against God. You never gave me this and you never gave me that and you gave it to this other person. It's all old covenant. The Lord wants us to free us from that and say, "Father, 1:04:32 I want your name to be hallowed." Why do you want to build the church? Because your name is not being hallowed in this town, in this village where I'm living. I want your name to be hallowed, Father. That's why I want the church to be built 1:04:47 not because I learned something in CFC of building local churches or the importance of local expression of the body of Christ and all these high sounding words begin with father let your name be hallowed in this little town or village 1:05:04 where I live. Let your kingdom let this little manifestation of your kingdom be seen in this village or town. Let there be a demonstration in this town of a few people who do your will. Maybe only four or five, maybe 10, whose passion is to 1:05:21 do your will exactly like it is done in heaven. Lord, give me 10 people like that. Not just a 100 people who come and sing songs and listen to a message and go home. No. Give us a God centered church. 1:05:40 And if there are only three people, so be it. We don't want a mixture of people who have a self-centered life and live in that self-centered life, but who want to get more and more light on their self-centeredness so that more and more 1:05:55 their life becomes centered in God, that Christ is honored, God's name is hallowed, and that's how it must be. A self-centered person like this elder son has got a complaint against God. Do you have a complaint against God today? I want to ask you, 1:06:15 so many years I have served you. Anybody saying that today? Verse 29. So many years I served you, yet you never gave me this, yet you never gave me that. 1:06:33 Who do you think you are? You think you did a great job by serving God for so many years. What conceit to think that God owes you a big salary now because you served him for so many years as if he needed you. There are millions 1:06:52 of angels who would serve him 100 times better than you for no salary at all. Do you know that to serve God is a privilege and an honor? It it's a tremendous privilege to be able to do something for God. But to have this complaint, I served 1:07:11 you, Lord. We cast out demons. We did miracles. It's all the same spirit. Now I deserve heaven. And the Lord says, I never knew you. Why does he say that to people who did so many things? Because he says this, in the center of 1:07:27 your life, there's still sin. You're centered in yourself. You're thinking of what you did for me. Many years ago on my birthday, I asked the Lord for a word. 1:07:45 And what I got was this in Luke chapter 10. Don't rejoice verse 20 that demons are subject to you but rejoice that your name is written in heaven. 1:08:04 Think of those two things. Demons are subject to me in the name of Jesus. Zak Punan has done something. My name is written in heaven. I did nothing for that. 1:08:21 The Lord says, "Rejoice not in what you did for God, but in what God did for you." It was a great word to my heart. Don't rejoice in what you have done for God, but rejoice in what God has done for you 1:08:41 for which you never deserved anything. You never did anything. He did it for you. It's a self It's a god- centered life. What he did, if my mind is always on what I have done for God, it's self-centered. To be God- centered, I'm thinking more 1:09:00 in terms of what God did for me. See, that puts us all on the same level. If I rejoice in casting out demons, I'm better than all the other people who haven't cast out demons. And even if you have cast out demons, we count how many 1:09:13 did you cast out and how many did I cast out, I can be superior to you. How many sins have you overcome and how many sins have I overcome? And there's always competition even in these spiritual things. But when it comes 1:09:27 God's written my name in heaven, what did I do? And God's written your name in heaven. Oh brother, we are equal. How can we be equal? I am 55 years a believer and you were converted yesterday and we are equal. That's it. 1:09:42 That's the kingdom of heaven. You do you like to be there in this kingdom where you've been a believer for 50 years and God puts you on the same level as a guy who was converted yesterday. That is the kingdom of heaven both rejoicing not in what we did for 1:09:57 God but what God has done for us. And I'll tell you something. When we get to heaven, if you get there, we will you will get there. If you are centered in God, that is for sure. If you're 1:10:17 centered in yourself, I don't know. But when we get there, we will discover that everybody is praising Lord because of you, because you died. We are priests. 1:10:35 We're not counting how many demons Paul Peter cast out and how many demons Paul cast out. What did this guy do and what did that guy do? That's all I hear on this earth in all the reports people send and we've planted churches here and 1:10:47 we've done this that and the other. There it is. Jesus died for us. Puts me on the same level as a new convert. What about what we did for him? Well, we did it out of gratitude. We don't take any credit for it because 1:11:06 I was forgiven so much. I loved much. That person was forgiven little that he thinks he was forgiven little. So, he did little. It's a tremendous thing when our life is uh you know the struggle a lot of the struggle in our Christian 1:11:23 life is because we are trying to live this new covenant life centered in ourselves. It just doesn't work. All that effort is wasted. It's like a story I heard of a man who was crossing one state to another. There was a river between this 1:11:41 state and the other state. And in this state, they had prohibition. That means you couldn't drink any alcohol and wine and all that, but across the river on the other state, you could go and drink. So this guy got into his little rowing 1:11:54 boat and went across to the other side and tied his boat there and went and had a big drink and enjoyed himself thoroughly and came back to the boat drunk and started rowing back to his home. And he didn't seem to be moving. He rode and 1:12:11 rode and rode and rode. And when daylight came, he discovered his boat is still tied to the tree. A lot of Christian activity is just like that. I'm doing this for the Lord and that for the Lord and I'm doing this. I'm going 1:12:28 here. I'm giving money. I'm giving this. But my life is still centered around myself. Snap that. And a little bit of effort can take you great distance. This is the Christian life. 1:12:47 It all depends on whether I have cut that thing that ties me to a self-centered life. It's not a theory. My brothers and sisters, this is what the story of the elder son and the prodigal son is. two sinners 1:13:07 till a day came in one of them where he said I'm finished it's true I coming back still a bit centered in myself because I want food now give me bare necessity that's enough 1:13:26 but it's in a different spirit I don't deserve anything first they have a sense of I deserve Now there's no sense of deserving. I want to ask all of you brothers and sisters when you come to God do you have a sense I deserve this because I've 1:13:44 served you so many years or you say Lord I deserve nothing. If you give me what I deserve it is hell. Everything is God's mercy. Thank you. I'm a child of God but it's not because of anything in me. I don't have low self-esteem saying, 1:14:02 "Oh, I'm a worm." Or, "No, no, no. I'm a child of God." But I don't feel I I got it because I deserved it. It's free. That puts me on the same level as others. All of you who have a problem with pride, looking down on others, 1:14:18 feeling that you're superior, despising others because they're not so cultured or not so educated or not so gifted or a different language or culture or something like that. You need to get some light on this. You need to cut that tree, the cut the rope 1:14:33 that's tying your boat to the tree, the self-centered life. You learn to value all the brothers quite easily. It won't be a struggle anymore. Many problems in your life will be solved when you see the root of sin is self-centeredness. 1:14:51 Many problems between husband and wife. I'll tell you it's only because two self-centered people are trying to live together. There's bound to be problems. That's why Jesus said the only way is take up the cross. Take up the cross 1:15:06 means put that self to death. There's only one throne in our heart. Either self is there or Christ is there. And when Jesus said put take up the cross, he meant put that self to death and put me on the throne of your life. So that 1:15:23 your thought thinks about not about how did treat people treat me or did people respect me or he should be doing this or she should be doing this but Lord I want to glorify you in my life. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. All the 1:15:37 unrest in our life is only because self is in the center. In heaven there is no unrest because God is in the center. The world is full of unrest because in every heart self is in the center. Your home will be full of unrest. 1:15:57 As long as two selfcentered people live there, at least if one of them is willing to die, there will be peace. If both are willing to die, It'll be heaven. There'll be fellowship. The same thing in a church. We want to 1:16:15 gather together people who do not want to live a life centered in themselves, centered in God. Let's bow before God in prayer. Heavenly Father, 1:16:38 we don't want to just understand these things. Clever minds can understand these things very quickly and think they have got it. Lord, bring us into the reality of it in our daily life 1:16:55 where Christ is truly the center where the glory of Christ's name is the passion of our heart and doing your will to the best of our knowledge becomes our ambition. Lord, open our eyes to see this simple secret. 1:17:14 Show us the route to which you seek to lay an axe every day. and help us to take up the cross and die and follow you. We pray in Jesus name.
