0:00 Субтитры создавал DimaTorzok 0:30 So, our subject, as we can see here on the screen, is the missing messages in today's Christianity. We don't say that no Christians preach some of these things we're going to talk about. 0:55 But we would say the vast majority, in many cases over 90% of Christianity today, has left out certain vital truths in the New Testament. Many Christians are going back to the Old Testament, which shows the shallow state of their own Christian life. 1:18 Because the Old Testament was the old covenant that God made with man. In the realm of science, it's like going back to the Stone Age. You know, there's an expression in English of going back to the Stone Age. In the Stone Age, people didn't have electronic gadgets. 1:38 They didn't have electricity. Man was very primitive. He didn't have proper houses. He lived. Oh, yeah. He lived. He had children. They ate food. So many things. But not the way we live today. Is there anybody here who wants to go back to the Stone Age? 1:59 In practical terms. But a lot of Christians are living in the Old Covenant. Because there are certain wonderful truths in the New Covenant that are never proclaimed. Jesus said, you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 2:18 There's a lot of emphasis on the Holy Spirit today. But unfortunately, a lot of deception. Jesus said, the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. And he said, when he comes, he will lead you into all the truth. Turn to that verse in John's Gospel, in chapter 16. 2:43 And you will see that the Holy Spirit has come to help you to see the things that you do not know as yet. Verse 13. When he, the spirit of truth, comes. There are many titles given to the Holy Spirit. 3:04 One of the titles is the spirit of truth. Truth means reality. It also means the truth of God. How do you know that the spirit of God has come into your life? He will lead you into all the truth. Apply. Now, he was here reading, speaking about the day of Pentecost. 3:23 The Holy Spirit did not come in the way he came on the day of Pentecost. Just like, you know, Jesus did not come to earth till he was born of the Virgin Mary, the second person of the Trinity. 33 years later, the third person of the Trinity came to earth after the second person of the Trinity went to heaven. 3:41 So, it was a particular time when the Holy Spirit came permanently to dwell on the earth and permanently to fill the inner hearts of God's children. And you can apply that verse to yourself. When the spirit of truth has come to you and filled your heart, what will happen? 4:00 One of the many wonderful things that will happen is, he will lead you and guide you into all the truth. Not part of the truth. You must not be satisfied with part of the truth. How many of you will be satisfied with partial health? 4:19 That 50% of your body is okay. Nobody, no sensible person will ever be happy that 50% of his body is okay when 100% of his body can be okay. All of us strive for 100% health. The world is full of people striving to be 100% healthy. 4:38 That's how doctors and hospitals make a lot of money. Why is it Christians are not seeking to know 100% of the truth? If we don't know 100% of the truth, we will not be free. Most Christians are in bondage. 5:02 Many a time when I speak to a congregation of people like this in many parts of the world, the word the Lord speaks to me is this. These are slaves sitting in front of you. They don't know they are slaves. They are slaves to lust. 5:17 They are slaves to anger. They are slaves to bitterness. They are slaves to the love of money. They are slaves to the spirit of competition. They are slaves to numerous things. But they don't even realize it. And some who realize it are content to be slaves all their life. 5:35 And what the Lord says to me is, I have not put you up there to preach to them. I send you up to that pulpit to set them free. That's a difficult job. I mean, if God only told me to preach, that's relatively easy. But if my task is to set people free, boy, I really have to depend on the Holy Spirit. 6:01 It's the Holy Spirit who can show you the truth. I want to tell you this. There are many people here in our Bangalore Church who have heard these things for many, many, many years. And they still haven't seen it. Because they understand in their head what I speak with my mouth. 6:18 They haven't opened their beings to the spirit of truth. So I want to say to you, if you want to know the messages that are missing in Christianity, and are probably been missing in your life because you have not heard these things yourself, 6:33 it's because you have not opened your being to the spirit of truth sufficiently. Maybe you did a little bit. You did a little bit. That's how you knew that Jesus died for your sins. A lot of people haven't opened their heart even to that. 6:47 Thank God you got that. But there's more. There's lots more. I mean, when I was, for 16 years of my Christian life, I never understood anything about the new covenant, except that Jesus died for my sins and my sins could be forgiven. 7:00 So I know from my own experience, and God took me through that route for many years to teach me one thing, that you can be a Christian for a long, long time, and you can even serve me and not know all of my truth, and then you'll be in bondage. 7:13 And I was in bondage. I was in bondage for 16 years after being born again. How many of you will be honest today to say, I've been born again, but I'm in bondage. That's the first step. I said, Lord, I'm sick and tired of my bondage. 7:30 I don't want to be a slave. Are you sick and tired? Then you need to know the truth. You need to know those messages that are missing in today's Christianity, which you have not heard, or you have not allowed the Holy Spirit of truth to lead you 7:43 into all the truth, and because of that you're not free. This law depends on your knowing the truth. And the God of the world, the Bible says, blinds the eyes of people. He has blinded the eyes of multitudes of people to know that forgiveness of sins is free. 8:01 Christ died for their sins. He did not succeed in blinding your eyes to that truth. But He has blinded many of your eyes to feel, listen, particularly young people, that if you give everything to God, your life will be miserable. 8:18 Who told you that? The devil. How do I know that? Because I know that a lot of you haven't given everything to God. Why haven't you given everything to God? Because you feel that your life will be miserable. All of us love happiness and fun. 8:35 And you feel that if you give everything to God, you'll miss happiness and fun. Well, I'll tell you this. I'm a lot happier than all of you, and a lot happier, and have a lot more fun, because I give everything to God. Anyone sitting here who's given everything to God 8:48 will have the same testimony. God is not a spoilsport. That's a lie of the devil, and I have decided to demonstrate by my life that the devil's a liar. That God is a good God. He's not a spoilsport. He wants us to enjoy life, 9:05 but not enjoy it in the cheap, dirty way. I mean, the man who commits adultery thinks that's enjoyment. It's not enjoyment. Look at the remorse of conscience that he has after that. Look at the fact that his life can be hindered 9:19 so much spiritually after that. That's not fun. That's the devil's type of fun. God offers a clean type of fun, which doesn't hurt us. There's fun that can hurt you, and there's fun that doesn't hurt you. God gives us fun and enjoyment that doesn't hurt us. 9:40 So, don't think that more knowledge of the truth will hinder us. No, your life will be supremely happy. Do you know that the happiest person who walked on this earth was Jesus Christ? I'm convinced of that one truth, and if I could convince you about one truth, 9:57 that the happiest person who walked on this earth was the Lord Jesus Christ. How many of you here don't want to be happy? You've got to be mad, not if you say you don't want to be happy. I want to be happy all the time. 10:11 And I know the happiest people in the world are not the film stars, not the fellows who live in adultery, not the fellows who make the most money, not even the people who have wealth and cars, and these are not the things that make a person happy. 10:24 No, it's Jesus Christ, who never spoke in tongues and never had a car and lived in very simple circumstances and was a carpenter. He wasn't a college graduate. He was the happiest person that walked on this earth. And I decided that's what I want to be. 10:41 I'm going to pattern my life after His. And none of these other people attract me. No, I'm not tempted by these other things anymore because I've discovered who was the happiest person in the world. And if you discover that Jesus Christ 10:54 was the happiest person in the world, you will long to be like Him because your life will be supremely happy. Your home life will be supremely happy. Every aspect of your life will be transformed. But you've got to be convinced 11:07 that Jesus Christ's life was the best life anybody lived on this earth. You've got to begin there. That's where you've got to begin. That Jesus Christ's life was the best life that anybody lived on this earth. And so, the Spirit of Truth 11:23 will lead you into all the truth. And that truth does not mean just the truth of the Bible. It also means truth about ourselves. A lot of us want to know the truth of the Bible. In fact, many of us come for conferences, meetings, 11:38 to hear, I want to know something more. I want to know something more. And the thirst for knowledge is good if you apply the knowledge to yourself. Listen to this. If you eat food, good food, the best food in the world, 11:53 and it doesn't get digested in your stomach, you have problems. But you eat simple food, and it gets digested. You get health. All food that we eat must be digested. And not digested six weeks later. Within 24 hours, that food must be digested. 12:12 Otherwise, you have a stomachache. You have problems. You vomit. That's how the body is made. And now if you keep on filling your stomach with food, and none of it is getting digested, you will be a sick person. And that's why we have so many sick Christians. 12:32 And I tell you this. We have more sick Christians in our churches than in many other churches because we are getting more food than the other churches. And so we are stuffing ourselves with knowledge, and you don't apply it in your daily life. 12:48 You are going to be a sick Christian. And you will be sicker than the people in all the other churches because they don't eat so much good food. So don't think that just because we get a lot of good food, you are going to be very spiritual. 13:02 And I've looked around our churches for 30 years to know that that is not true. And I used to wonder why. I say, here are people hearing the most wonderful truths that are preached in the land of India, and they are not becoming spiritual. 13:14 And I discovered they are not digesting their food. They are just eating and eating and eating and eating and eating and the stomachs are bloated up and they are becoming fat, not strong. And they are sick. They are having stomach aches. 13:26 They are not spiritual. So I want to urge you, every truth that you hear, apply it. And ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into all the truth concerning yourself. Lord, show me where I am proud. Show me where I am selfish. 13:45 That's what the Holy Spirit has come to show us. All the truth. Notice this. It says here, He will guide you into all the truth because, because, verse 13 of John 16, He will not speak on His own initiative. But what He hears, 14:04 He will speak and He will disclose to you what is to come and He will glorify me for He will take of my life and will show it to you. You know what the Holy Spirit has come to show? He's going to take from the life of Jesus 14:20 when He lived on earth and show it to you and say, that's how Jesus lived. And you see the truth about yourself. And some other situation, He'll say, this is how Jesus used to speak and you'll see the truth about yourself. 14:32 And then He'll tell you how Jesus spent His money and you'll see the truth about yourself. And He'll show you how Jesus spent His spare time and you'll see the truth about yourself. If you allow the Holy Spirit to show you 14:43 the life of Jesus constantly, you will discover plenty about yourself that needs to be cleansed. And one of the blessed advantages of that is you will not judge other people so much as you do. You won't criticize your wife 15:01 or your husband so much because you're so busy cleansing yourself. You're so busy discovering all types of truth about yourself. Can you imagine a man lying in a hospital who's got 25 sicknesses trying to get out of all those sicknesses 15:14 going around finding fault with all the other patients in the hospital? I've never seen that in any hospital. But I've seen a lot of it among Christians. They've got 25 sicknesses themselves and they open their mouth and criticize this person 15:27 and that person and the other person. I say, brother, sister, what about your 25 sicknesses? Get rid of that first before you think of all the other patients in the hospital. I tell you, you'd be healed a lot quicker if you stop worrying 15:43 about the sicknesses in your wife or your husband or in the other brothers or sisters in the church. Leave that to God and to the elders in the church. They can handle that. You don't have to worry about that. You worry about the things in yourself. 15:56 Let the Holy Spirit lead you into all the truth in these days and show you the missing messages that would have revealed truth to you which you have not heard. Okay. Let me turn you now to Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20. 16:15 When the Apostle Paul spent three years in Ephesus, I want to show you a few things here. The Apostle Paul is a wonderful example of a man of God because in the Bible, in the New Testament, there are only two people who said, 16:33 follow me. You know that? Only two people who said, follow me. One was Jesus himself. The other was the Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 11.1, he says, follow me. In Philippians 3.17, he says, follow me and follow other people 16:50 who are following me. My example. And today, I'll tell you this, we need many people who will be able to say, follow me as I follow Christ. You should make that your goal that you should be able 17:10 to turn around to others and say, follow me as I follow Christ. That doesn't mean you've reached the top. For example, we decided to climb Mount Everest, let's say. And Mount Everest is more than 29,000 feet high. You know, 17:26 even if I've climbed 100 feet, 29,000 feet is a long way. Even if I've climbed 100 feet, I can say to you, follow me. I'm climbing Mount Everest. I haven't reached the top. But you are at zero. I can't tell the fellow who's reached 500 feet, 17:45 follow me because he's ahead of me. He has to tell me, follow me. But I can tell the people who are behind me who haven't even climbed up to 100 feet, follow me. And if you have followed Jesus even a little bit, you should be able 17:58 to say to people younger than you, follow me as I follow Christ. Every one of us should be, if you're a Christian, you should be able to say that. Don't you think you parents should be able to say to your children, follow me, 18:14 my son, my daughter. Follow me as I follow Christ. Talk to one another like daddy and I talk to each other or mommy and I talk to each other. Do you want your children to talk the way you and your husband and wife talk to each other? 18:28 Or you don't want them to talk like that? What do you say to your children? Please don't ever talk to each other like dad and I talk to each other. That's not for you. That's just for us. No wonder our children go astray. 18:43 We take them to church, we send them to Sunday school, we feed them with knowledge, but we have no example at home. These are the missing messages in Christendom. We are told that if you say follow me, you're proud. Once the devil 18:57 has convinced you about that, you'll never say follow me. But the devil couldn't fall fool Paul. Paul said follow me as I follow Christ. And he's not been able to fool me. It's not pride. You cover up your sin by saying no, no, no, no, 19:15 we can't say follow me. We are humble. We say don't look at me, look at Jesus. That's the way to cover up your sinful life. That's the way to make sure you never progress and you keep on saying don't look at me, look at Christ. 19:26 It's not humility. It's arrogant pride. And if the devil can succeed in making you think that your pride is humility, boy, what a success that is for the devil. Paul was a man who was bold enough to say follow me as I follow Christ. 19:45 He told the Thessalonians, we made ourselves an example for you in 2 Thessalonians 3 and that's what he says to the elders in Ephesus in Acts chapter 20. In Acts chapter 20, we read that Paul went to a place called Miletus 19:59 in verse 17. He had already spent 3 years, he never spent so much time in any place as he spent in Ephesus. And that's why the church in Ephesus was perhaps the most spiritual church among all the churches that Paul planted 20:17 because when you read Paul writing to the Ephesians, there's almost nothing he has to correct. When he writes to the Galatians, he has many things to correct. When he writes to the Philippians, there are 2 sisters there who can't 20:27 get along with each other. And when he writes to the Corinthians, there are 101 things to correct. When he writes to the Thessalonians, there are things to correct. But when he writes to the Ephesians, there's almost nothing 20:43 that he says there to correct anybody because it was a wonderful church. He's trying to lead them on higher because he spent 3 years there. It's a wonderful thing to have a man of God like Paul preaching God's word to us who lives 20:59 the life. The sad thing in Christendom today is it's very rare to find. There are a few here and there but they are very rare to find. But Paul was one of those and he called the elders and he told them what does he say? 21:18 I'll show you later on how he's preached about 2,000 sermons there. Can you imagine what your life would be if you listened to 2,000 sermons of the Apostle Paul? If you had 2,000 CDs of the Apostle Paul's messages, you'd say, 21:35 boy, you'd be the most spiritual person in the world. No, not necessarily. That's what I want to show you. You can have 2,000 CDs preached by the most powerful preacher in the world and you may still be carnal if you are not careful. 21:48 You can be spiritual as long as you are under the influence of that man who's challenging you and rebuking you and correcting you but once that influence goes away, you become a carnal person again. Which means that you did 21:59 not allow those messages to sink in and become a part of you. You received those messages like food and then you vomited it out. You didn't let it sink in and make you spiritual. So he says, you know, and you know, when he leaves 22:13 them after 3 years, he doesn't tell them, you remember that sermon I preached on humility and you remember that other sermon I preached on love and the other sermon I preached on holiness, not one word. He says, you know, 22:25 from the first day, verse 18, that I set foot in Asia, how I lived with you. You know what he points out to them? Not my sermon, and you remember that sermon I preached in that particular September 45 or something like that? 22:42 No, no, no. He says, you know how I lived here. You watched my life. I was with you all the time. For 3 years, you saw me morning, noon and night. You saw me in all types of circumstances. You saw how I lived. That was his example, 22:58 how I served the Lord with humility, with tears, with trials that came on me through many people who tried to attack me. And in the midst of it all, I did not hesitate to declare to you anything that was good for you. If you 23:17 needed encouragement, I gave you encouragement. If you needed a strong word of rebuke and correction, I gave that to you. If you needed discipline, I disciplined you, because that was profitable for you. You know how I did not 23:32 hesitate to tell you what was good for you. I did not care for my popularity with you. He was trying to say a lot of other preachers only interested in their popularity, only want to be popular with you. They are not your 23:46 real friends. Paul says, I was your real friend because I told you what was good for you. Whether it was encouragement or discipline or rebuke or correction, whoever it was, and I had and I had and I had no favorites, he 24:00 is not talking to the young people in Ephesus, he is talking to the elders. He is telling the elders how I rebuked you, how I corrected you, how I encouraged you. He says, because none of you are my favorites. I was interested 24:13 in what was good for you. I never wanted to be popular with you. And I taught you publicly in the meetings. I shared with you when I visited your homes. Privately, publicly, I told you the same thing, seriously testifying 24:34 to everybody, irrespective of what their culture was, which language, community there was, it made no difference. What did I preach to them? Repentance. You know what Paul preached? Repentance. This is the number one message 24:51 that's missing in Christianity today. How many messages have you heard on repentance in the last one year from anyone outside of our own churches? It's absolutely unheard of. People may say repentance in a general way and 25:09 not specifically tell you what you have to turn from. That's like if you know your little three-year-old son has got all types of bad habits and you tell him repent. He's okay. He's still going to do the same thing tomorrow 25:25 because he doesn't know what you're talking about. You tell him the next day I told you yesterday to repent. I repented dad. He still does the same thing. You got to be specific. You can't talk rudely to mummy like that. 25:40 You got to listen when you're told to do something. When I tell you not to go and put your finger into those plug points you're not supposed to do it. Be specific. It's for their good. So it's no use just preaching repent 25:53 unless you specify what they're supposed to turn from because the church they'll grow up to be vagabonds and scoundrels disobedient 26:13 rebellious because you don't explain what repentance means. So just because some preacher uses the word repentance don't think that he preached repentance. Did he tell you what sin there was in your life that you need to 26:24 give up? Then he didn't preach repentance. But Paul was not like that. He said I preached repentance toward God and I explained to Jesus was. It's not enough to say faith. You tell your little two year old faith. You must 26:40 have faith in the Lord Jesus. You got to explain to them what it means. It's when a child understands and it's exactly like that in a church. You got to explain so they can understand what repentance is faith. And I believe 26:55 that's another message which is completely you'd say it's not missing. We hear about faith all the time. Exactly. Counterfeit faith. Faith for the wrong things. Not the faith that the New Testament speaks about. That's a 27:07 complete New Testament faith is a missing message in Christendom today. And to fool people a wrong type of faith is being proclaimed. Another faith just like another grace another Jesus another gospel. But Paul he preached 27:23 this and he says now you know a person who preaches wholeheartedly like this suffers a lot. It says I'm going to be going to Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit tells me that wherever I go people will harass me trouble me. You 27:41 know that's why people don't want to preach the whole truth. They'll be called heretics they'll be called false teachers false prophets they'll be harassed hounded criticized people will write all types of things against 27:52 them on the internet and websites and everywhere else and they don't want all that they want to be popular and that's why Christendom does not preach some of the strong things that are written in the New Testament Paul was 28:03 not bothered he says the Holy Spirit already told me that wherever I go it's going to be affliction and bonds and maybe jail etc that's fine but he says it doesn't bother me isn't it great to be like that I'm not bothered 28:17 what people say about me or what people do to me I don't even count my life as valuable to myself that's the type of man God needs and woman who can say Lord I don't care for my life I don't care for my name I don't care 28:31 for my reputation I don't care for any of these things I want to finish the ministry the course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus and I want to say to every single person here who is born again if you 28:48 didn't know it you can know it today that God has a particular ministry for you a particular plan for your life he planned that before you were born before your father was born before your grandfather born before Adam was 29:06 created he knew you by name he knew that in the 21st century you would be there you would be born sometime in the 20th century and there you are in the 21st century and God knew that you would give your life to Christ and 29:23 he made a plan for your life and the most important thing you must do it's not getting married it's not building a house it's not getting your children married it's fulfilling the course and the ministry that Jesus had for 29:40 you but you will never do it unless that's your number one passion if your number one passion is to get on in the world and earn more money well you make that but you may not finish the course in the ministry the Lord has 29:53 for you and when I see a course in the ministry you know that I'm not talking about being full-time Christian workers earn your own living like I do support yourself like I do and serve the Lord but seek to fulfill the ministry 30:09 and the course that Jesus has for you you must believe that first of all don't say I am such insignificant well you may not be called to preach in the pulpit but God has got a plan for you is the tongue the only part of 30:22 the human body which has got a function is the eyes the only part of the human body which have got a function what about all those small small little joints and little nerves and all types of things inside your body which 30:34 you don't even see they have got a very important function and I want to say if you are a member of the body of Jesus Christ if you have given your life to Christ and you have a very important function the sad thing is that 30:46 many many Christians are like that man who got one talent and buried it under the ground he people who had one talent got together they have more than 31:06 the one man who has one talent is that a bit complicated that mathematics 11 people with one talent have more than one person with ten talents it's true there are a lot of one talent people in the church if they all really 31:21 fulfill their part there will be a tremendous lot accomplished for God than if we leave all the jobs to the few ten talent people there are God has put very few people with ten talents very very few a little more with five 31:34 talents but hundreds and thousands with one talent and the sad thing is in Christendom and I hope it won't continue in our churches these one talent people have buried their talent do nothing with it except come to conferences 31:47 and meetings now you must determine that from now on you are not going to be like that you are really going to use your one talent along with others with one talent you are going to do something for God in your church in 31:58 your home in your locality for Christ in this country God needs you and so he says there there is a course and a ministry that I have which I received from the Lord Jesus and 32:20 I know God has commissioned me to proclaim the gospel of the new covenant not the gospel of the law which a lot of Christians are proclaiming which makes people grumpy long faced Pharisees self righteous judgmental of others 32:35 it's all the result of the gospel of the law which is not good news at all preaching of the law which has got people there I preached it myself in ignorance like Paul says in ignorance I preached a lot of things but I got 32:50 light I hope you got light I fear that in some of our churches probably many of our churches it's a gospel of law that is still being proclaimed and it can produce an outward appearance of a holy people it doesn't really 33:07 change people inwardly it's only the gospel of the grace of God the gospel of new covenant the grace that was not known on earth till Christ came that is the gospel which we have to proclaim and he says now I know that I 33:25 won't be able to see your face much longer and it's good for us to remember that some of the men of God who are preaching God's word to you they are not going to be around forever please remember that we need another generation 33:40 coming up to proclaim the same message to have the same devotion and we are also committed to fulfill that ministry the sad thing is in Ephesus such a second generation never arose when Paul died that was the end of the 33:58 church in Ephesus that's been the sad history of a lot of Christian churches when John Wesley died and the people who were his closest co-workers died that was virtually the end of the Methodist church and William Booth 34:17 died and his closest co-workers died that was spiritually the end of the Salvation Army that's been true of many many many groups but it need not be like that God can raise up a second generation if I believe that God wants 34:33 to lay hold of many of you sitting here with the same passion the same willingness to seek nothing for yourself you want to be part of that second generation decide Lord I want nothing for myself when I was converted and 34:50 I bought my first Bible it's still there with me I wrote on that page in the inner page Lord I want nothing for myself it's easy to write it but I tried to live up to that Lord I want nothing for myself I want everything 35:06 for your glory in my life if you can do something with my life do it I said that to God when I was 20 21 you can say that to God and you will qualify Lord I want nothing for myself I don't want a name and that day I even 35:22 said Lord I don't want a wife I don't want a house I don't want anything just take my life and fulfill the ministry which you have planned to accomplish through me wherever it is I thought it would be but God has a plan 35:42 for you please my dear brothers and sisters I plead with you like Paul says I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God present your bodies time is short Jesus is coming soon there is not enough time to live for the world 35:59 like you have been doing in the past present your bodies to God as a living sacrifice every day and allow God to renew less and less the thinking of the world you get the thinking of the world from newspapers television 36:15 I'm not saying you can't read them but don't let that what's written there affect you say Lord I want the word of God to change my way of thinking make me like Christ I know that you will no longer see my face he says in 36:30 verse 26 therefore I want to give oh that's a verse that's come to my heart many times you know as an elder brother initially in Bangalore for many years I had a responsibility for all 36:50 the brothers and sisters here along with the other elders and then as I pulled out of that responsibility I had a responsibility for many other people mostly the elders and other churches that God has raised up in this land 37:02 and other lands and I have always sought to go by this verse I want to be innocent of the blood of all men when I was in this church I wanted to be innocent of the blood of all people here what does that mean that means 37:17 nobody should say to me at the judgment seat of Christ brother Zach you knew that I was not right with God and you never told me nobody will be able to say that there are people in this church who sat here for many years 37:35 whom I went up to in the past and recently and said you're not born again I don't think you are I don't know whether they listen to me I know one person to whom I said that many years ago he just got offended and left the 37:48 church I know another person who came up to me I didn't even ask him he came up to me and said brother Zach I want you to give me a spiritual checkup boy that sounds very humble so I gave him the spiritual checkup and he 38:03 got offended and left the church don't come to me with that request unless you're serious about it I am innocent of the blood of all men nobody's blood is who thought 38:24 I was very hard I said dear brother I don't care what you think about me I don't care whether you think I'm hard at the judgment seat of Christ you will turn around and thank me for what I told you that's enough I'm willing 38:39 to wait for that I don't want to be popular with you before that but you know that brother realized that I was saying it for his good long long ago and he's a very good brother in our church today he didn't have to wait 38:58 till the judgment seat of Christ to discover it Paul was like that in Ephesus he was a very strict man you couldn't play the fool with the apostle Paul maybe you could play the fool with the other elders in Ephesus but not 39:10 with apostle Paul because he cared too much for your soul he cared so much for your soul that you couldn't play the fool with him he saw eternity the reality of eternity and he saw the direction people were going and he 39:26 told them you are going in the wrong direction he said I am innocent of the blood of all men because here is the reason because this is the only person who can be innocent of the blood of all men because I declared to you 39:41 the whole purpose of God verse 27 I did not hold back some of the truth which I felt about you just to become popular with you like some of the other elders in Ephesus I because I knew it was good for you 40:01 I did not hold back anything of the entire purpose of God it's like a good doctor who is more interested in your health than your money oh you won't find many doctors like that you probably find my wife one of the few I 40:16 found in the world more interested in your health than your money but most doctors only interested in your money Paul was more interested in their health than their money he never wanted their money but he wanted their spiritual 40:29 health and you know you go to a doctor with a problem and he says you know there's something lacking in your diet you are not eating enough vegetables or you need more calcium you need to take some calcium tablets or he 40:45 may say you need more of this vitamin vitamin is missing and say this is what I sense you are missing you got all the other vitamins this particular vitamin is missing that's how the missing messages in Christendom make 41:00 us sick if certain vitamins are missing in your diet if you for example eating chocolates all the time you are going to be sick you got to eat vegetables you got to eat some wheat or rice you need certain other things it 41:16 can't be all chocolates and ice cream and nice tasting food you know a lot of messages that a lot of preachers are preaching today are like chocolates and ice cream and the little babies sitting there who don't know what's 41:26 good for their health keep on eating the chocolate and ice cream and keep on paying for it to the preacher you got to pay for it I tell you not free and they don't tell you what's good for you and the end result is you're 41:44 sick and some of you spiritually die because certain vitamins are lacking certain messages are lacking and the doctor is not telling you the truth about what you need because he's more interested in being popular with you 41:55 he's more interested in increasing the number of his patients in his church number of people who come to him for consultation aren't doctors interested in that well preachers are interested in the same they won't tell you 42:08 the truth that's a sad thing and I don't mean these you know some people who hear me speaking decide to be like me and then they preach in such a hard way without any compassion they're just trying to get a reputation oh 42:24 I there's a lot of difference between a person who preaches the same message out of love another person who just preaches in order to show that he's some type of prophet yeah we've had that those types also in our midst 42:41 who imagine self appointed prophets who imagine that they're going to preach the hard message and become a prophet like that no you can't you gotta start with compassion you start with concern Paul was like that that's why 42:53 he said I spoke to you with tears he says in verse 19 we saw that there were tears when he proclaimed the whole counsel of God because he saw these people were not listening to him think of a father who think of the doctor 43:09 was your father and he was telling you what is good for you and he grieved I mean the average doctor is not grieved if you don't take the tablets he told you to take but a father would be terribly sad he says my son he doesn't 43:24 seem to realize what I'm saying is good for him and he weep that's what we need in our churches fathers and mothers who speak out of compassion but speak the truth and he says I realized and I have to declare the whole 43:45 purpose of God you see there in that picture a torn Bible parts of it removed because they are inconvenient for people it's a picture of the missing messages in Christianity now you would never dream of doing that physically 44:00 to your Bible how many of you would cut out certain verses or passages from your Bible none of us would do that this is God's word I better not do that but shall I tell you something if you don't obey some of those things 44:14 in scripture it is like cutting it out you may not physically take scissors and cut out that verse but you don't take it seriously it's exactly like cutting it out of your life in fact you're a hypocrite you got it in your 44:26 Bible but you don't apply it in your life and that Bible is a vitamins missing in the diet or like the lower picture of a keyboard with a lot of keys missing some 44:47 churches have got just a few keys missing some churches have got many keys missing now which good pianist would be willing to play on that keyboard with a lot of keys missing he'll get a bad reputation he's making so many 45:04 mistakes he's not making mistakes the keyboard so many things you wouldn't buy a piano like that would you well our keys are missing you wouldn't buy a harmonium or a keyboard with a lot of keys missing you wouldn't try 45:18 to play on that supposing somebody says this is cheap this Yamaha is going for half price it just got about five or six keys missing half price half price 25% please take it you wouldn't even pay 25% for the most expensive 45:36 model in the world if some keys are missing why do you accept a christianity like that with some keys missing if you won't accept a keyboard with one key missing why do you accept a christianity with so many keys missing 45:49 that's really sad but that's the tragedy in christendom today and the melody that's going on this is not reaching heaven because heaven says brothers and sisters we are living in times when god's people are being deceived 46:10 by the keyboard players we're selling them keyboards which are a lot of keys missing and that's the reason why you're not able to get a melody in your life you try people have said I tried brother so hard you know one of 46:28 the easiest tunes to learn is sweet hour of prayer it's a very simple easy tune sweet hour of prayer it's very easy to tune but you won't even be able to play that if some of the keys are missing in your keyboard and there 46:40 are people who say brother I've been trying so hard to get this to get this I'll tell you some messages are missing in your life you haven't taken them seriously you got a Bible that's cut out you got a keyboard with some 46:51 keys missing and that's what we're trying to set right here I declare to you the entire purpose of God I gave you a keyboard with every single key there and now he tells these elders be on God for yourselves first of all 47:07 be on God for yourselves it's a great word to elder brothers you know who you need to take care of yourself only then can you take care of the flock I've taken it very seriously for more than 30 years I take care of my own 47:22 heart first otherwise I will not be able to take care of the flock I need to repent before God first before I can lead other people there because the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers I would say that to fathers 47:38 and mothers also do you know that the Holy Spirit appointed you as an overseer over your children take heed to yourself you are taking so much care for your children the Holy Spirit says take heed to yourself you father 47:54 take heed to the way you speak to your wife you mother take heed to the way you are speaking to your husband forget about your children take heed to yourself first take heed to yourself and one of those few verses where 48:12 it makes it very clear that Jesus Christ is God have you heard that expression God purchased with his own blood does God have blood says there God purchased this with his own blood one of the clear verses in scripture that 48:28 Jesus Christ is God because he says the other reason is that I know that after I go I'm going to go away I've been here three years but I'm going away there are wolves waiting outside the door who are just going to come 48:44 and tear you to pieces not one of those wolves dared to come in Paul said when I was here they were scared they were scared of Jesus they were scared of Paul like that demon said in Acts 19 Jesus I know and Paul 49:04 I know but he told the sons of and that's what the devil said to the elders in Ephesus Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you I know you fellas you're just interested in your popularity you just want to be known as 49:17 a mild gentle good brother you're a person who's partial towards your friends and hard on people who are not your friends I know all about you you you're not going to keep me out of your church dear brothers elder brothers 49:34 get rid of partiality totally from your life don't be partial to your children don't be partial to your friends don't be partial to anybody if you want to be a servant of God I'm telling you that after 40 years of being 49:50 in the ministry one of the biggest sins I have found in the ministry is partiality among many wonderful servants of God who are so good in other areas partial if you want to be a true servant of God eliminate it completely 50:07 ask God ask the spirit of truth to show you light on that you parents see if you are partial towards one of your children one one is your special favorite you are not representing God to your children God is completely impartial 50:22 completely and if you are seeking a reputation for yourself instead of the good of the other you ask yourself are you seeking a reputation for yourself or are you seeking the good of the people whom God has put you over 50:39 that's what Paul was challenging he says I know I have sat here for three years he says and I have discerned all of you elders I don't know how many elders there were whom he called let's say there were five or six say there 50:54 were six elders and he tells them listen I have lived here for three years and I discerned all of you none of you are able to keep that wolf outside they will all come in they are only scared of me those wolves they are 51:09 not scared of you you guys are partial you guys are seeking your own and seeking your own reputation and honor I know you may not be seeking money because you earn enough all you elders but there are many other ways you 51:22 seek your own and God won't back you up I'm sorry imagine talking to elder brothers like that Paul wasn't bothered he was concerned about the good of the church and elder brother or younger brother made no difference to 51:35 him he was concerned about the church of Jesus Christ purchased by God with his own blood and he says not only that not only the wolves will come in something else is going to happen you fellas who are interested in your 51:50 own popularity from your midst from you six of you some of you will start drawing disciples after yourself you'll want to be popular with them it's popularity and this is going to destroy this church and 52:11 it happened they did not take Paul's warning seriously ah proud fellow thinking that he can teach us thinking that he only is spiritual as we are not okay see what happened a few years later you see the letter to the Ephesian 52:26 church the same church in Revelation chapter 2 the church is back slidden so badly that God says I will no longer call you a church I am going to take away the lampstand from your midst I will not consider you even a church 52:39 anymore if only they had listened I want to say to you if only you will be willing to listen to the word of correction to the word of rebuke instead of thinking that you are so senior 52:59 you can still be a blessing in your church you can be humble enough to say Lord that word applies to me if you as a parent can say Lord that word applies to me I want the spirit of truth to lead me into all the truth about 53:13 myself pray that prayer I have prayed that with tears to God Lord please please please don't give me any surprises at the judgment seat of Christ I God is my witness I wept and prayed to God Lord don't give me any surprises 53:31 at the judgment seat of Christ show me the truth about myself before I reach there I do that and God shows me all types of things about myself all the time I don't tell you all about it but it's between me and God I discover 53:47 so many things I mean if I go to the shower and scrub off some dirt from my body I don't have to tell you tomorrow morning there was some dirt on my hand I rubbed it off it's like that I want to keep my body clean and much 54:01 more I want to keep my soul clean and my spirit absolutely pure and I have said to God many times and I still say Lord if there's anything in my life which makes you sad not just which dishonors you but just makes you sad 54:16 please show it to me now as much as I can handle maybe something I can't handle yet it's too much for me show it to me next week or next year when I can handle it but what I can handle now please show me now I want to progress 54:32 in my Christian life I don't want to be like Paul said preaching to others and finally be disqualified myself do you know that there are many elders who are going to preach to others and 54:53 you can preach to others and God let you go oh brother the Bible says in James 3 1 my brethren don't be many teachers because we shall receive a stricter judgment God is going to judge us much more strictly if you preach 55:11 to others I know in all of us in this room God is going to judge me with probably ten or a hundred times higher standard than he judges I know that if God judges you at this standard my standard with which judges will be 55:29 a hundred times bigger I know that you read in the old testament how God sent the Israelites into the wilderness because they failed nine times but he sent Moses out in the to death didn't 55:49 allow him to enter Canaan because he failed once why was he partial that he gave the Israelites nine chances and he didn't give Moses even one chance no to whom more is given more will be required and I know very clearly 56:03 God has given me much more than he has given all of you and he will judge me by high standard the same applies to many of you sitting here some of you who have come here and been with the church for I 56:24 wish you could see it I wish the spirit of truth will show you all the truth Paul says be on the alert that's all I would say in closing be on the alert verse 31 remember that night and day for a period of three years in 56:38 my case I can say 31 years to some of you I did not cease to correct you with tears again he speaks about tears now I can only commend you to God to the word of his grace if you accept and it will give you an inheritance 56:59 among those who are sanctified and he says I am not a doctor who wanted any money from you I didn't want your silver or gold or clothes and I worked with my own hands and I showed you how a true servant of God should be 57:14 dear brothers and sisters if you have seen such examples value them follow their example listen to their word it will bless you let's pray let's bow our heads before God heavenly 57:38 father help us to apply the truths that we have heard to our own lives first of Lord be glorified in our midst in our homes in our churches we pray 57:58 the spirit of truth will lead us into all the truth in the word and in our lives and in these three and a half days make it to be so Lord in each of our lives we pray in Jesus name Аминь.
