0:00 [Music] We all know that one day our entire life on earth is going to be tested when Christ comes 0:18 again. That's taught in many parts of scripture. Just like children study in a school and at the end of the year there's a examination to see how much they understood of all that was taught. 0:36 And one of the things we see in scriptures right from the beginning when God created man. The very first thing that we read is that God tested him and so much depended on how man reacted to that test and that 0:54 would a very simple test among the thousands of trees in the garden of Eden. Just don't eat one. One would have think thought that was very easy. And yet that is what the one man went for because it was a tree of 1:11 knowledge of good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil is essentially only with God [Music] himself. And but man wanted it for himself. That's what the devil told him. You will be like God knowing good and 1:29 evil. And if you listen to that voice of Satan there in Genesis 3, turn for a moment there if you're not familiar with it. What exactly did the devil tempt? There are two things there. You see in what the devil told Eve the Lord woman told the devil saying 2:01 that God has told us that uh you will die if you eat it. And right there in the reply of Satan itself, you can see adding and subtracting to God's word. Christian history has been filled 2:19 with people who add and subtract to the word of God. The Bible, you know where it began with Eve. Read this. Read carefully. The woman said to the serpent in verse two, "God has said we can eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, but 2:36 the fruit in the middle, you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die." Now, God never said anything about touching it. That was added by Eve. Very small addition. It's not a serious thing. If 2:56 you don't eat it, don't touch it also. Sounds great. But there you see the beginning of adding to what God had said. God had only said you shall not eat of it lest you die. And she modified that. And then once the 3:15 devil gets a foothold into a discussion with a man, this the second thing we learned there is never discuss things with Satan. For example, when he flashes a dirty thought into your mind or makes you look at a pretty girl, he can give you many 3:34 reasons for for that. You just admiring God's beauty or creation or something like that, some rubbish like that. And Satan is much cleverer than all of us. Please remember this. He was the wisest of all created beings. And even today, 3:49 he's the wisest of all created beings. So we can't [Music] um you know argue with him and win. But the thing I want you to notice here is two things. First of all, the first sin 4:09 that Eve committed was not eating from the tree. Has anybody told you that? It's my conviction. The first sin was that when Eve when the devil spoke 4:28 to Eve, she should have told her him. God has given me a head. He's standing next to me. You read that in verse six, the last part. Her husband was with her. Her husband was not in some other 4:46 part of the garden. right next to her. That was her first sin that she did not submit to her husband. So what was the first sin that man committed? Not submitting to 5:03 authority that God had placed over her. What is the thing that made Lucifer into Satan? Not submitting to authority. He didn't want to submit to God's authority and he became the devil. What is the number one sin found 5:22 in Christian churches? Not submitting to authority. Who are these elders to tell me what to do? I know very well what to do. It didn't start with you, brother. It started with the devil and continued with Eve. When you read 5:41 scripture, don't blindly believe what you have been taught from childhood. Ask God to open your eyes to see things there that others may not have seen. The scripture is such a 5:57 wealth of revelation I call it not information revelation that if you hunger and thirst to know God he will show you things that nobody else can see it in scripture. 6:16 So this is what we must remember and we know that finally we will be judged as I said and we need to understand what exactly are we going to be judged for. When children go for an examination they know what subject is there. Is it 6:33 science or is it geography or is it math? the the examination today. We must know what are we going to be tested for when Christ comes back. The Bible says that all will stand before him and be judged by him. There's 6:51 no doubt about that. And I've often pictured in my mind the judgment seat of Christ. You know, God has given us an imagination. We all have an imagination. And all of us men have used it for a lot of filthy 7:07 things in past years to some extent or some to a greater extent. The sad thing is when they become Christians, they don't use that imagination for something good. If I've used used it all for filth, why can't I use it for something 7:24 [Music] good? So I imagine sometimes Christ has come and I'm standing before him. And how is it going to be? I need to know in scripture how it's going to be. Let me tell you one of the things I 7:42 learned. Uh 1 Corinthians and chapter 11. 1 Corinthians 11. It's talking about examining oneself at 8:03 the Lord's table, but the principle applies at all times. And the verse 31 is what I'm thinking of. The context is the Lord's supper. If we judge ourselves rightly, we will not be judged. I like that. It's a promise. The 8:25 Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write it. So in the final day there is a possibility that I will have zero judgment according to this verse. Isn't that exciting that while everybody else is being judged one by one by one and my 8:44 turn comes and the Lord says nothing for you Zach. Wow. Wouldn't you like that? How can we get there? If we judge ourselves 9:01 constantly, we will not be judged. I've taken it seriously. But we are tempted so much and to judge other [Music] people. Jesus said in Matthew 7:1, "Judge 9:18 not." And you know when he said it, he said it towards the end of the sermon on the mount. The sermon on the mount is such a high standard. Matthew 5 and Matthew 6, you read it. And the temptation 9:36 is I'll turn back there in a moment. Matthew chapter 5 and chapter 6. Matthew 5 6 and 7 are the sermon on the mount. And see where this word judge not comes. That's comes in Matthew 7:1. Do not judge lest you be judged yourself 9:54 because you'll be judged by the same standard with which you judge other people. So in the final day there are two possibilities. is either I judge myself and I will not be judged or I've spent my life passing my opinion about that brother and that 10:11 sister and that family and that person's child how they behave and the other person's children how they behave and how good my children are and how what a wonderful person I am and you think about all that and you judge other 10:21 people then you will be judged so there are two verses one you will be judged and the other you will not be judged which one do you want I read the first verse you will not be judged 1 Corinthians And here's a verse which says you will 10:35 be judged. Who's the one who's going to be judged? The one who judge other people. Who goes around passing his opinion about every Tom, Dick, and Harry and about everything that happens and sits in a church and all he can find is 10:45 fault with this and that and the other. This was not done right and that was not done right. Brother, I would not like to be anywhere near you when Christ judges you. You know, I'd like to be miles away because it'll be scary to see what God's 10:58 going to do to you. I don't want to be in that number. I'm warning you, judge not and you will not be judged. So what is Matthew 5 and 6 all about? You mustn't get angry. You 11:18 mustn't love money. You mustn't uh take revenge. And when you pray, don't seek let other people know about it. When you fast, don't let other people know about it. All that. And now it says at the end of that in Matthew 11:31 7:1 don't judge other people with that they are following Matthew 5 and 6 forget it judge yourself whether you are here's an option we can either build on this foundation the foundation is only Christ that is clear there's no other 11:47 foundation that anyone can lay other than Christ verse 11 is very clear that we've got nothing to do with the foundation we have all I believe all of us here have built our life on Christ. Wonderful. Now, it's a question of how 12:01 you build on that your daily life. You can build with gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay, and straw. Now, if you had $1,000 given to you to 12:19 build, not to build, to buy something, and you go to the store and you buy wood, here, and straw, you need a truck to bring $1,000 worth of wood, here, and straw. But if you go to the store and try to buy gold, silver, and precious 12:35 stones with $1,000, you can put it in your pocket, very little. So the one thing we learned there is that God is not going to assess our work by quantity. Truckloads of wood, hay, and straw can impress people. Even if you 12:53 make it color them up to look like gold, God's not fooled. It's not quantity of work. It's not how much you do. It's the quality that's going to be judged in the final day. Please remember this dear brothers and sisters because 13:08 so many people evaluate themselves. I've done this for the Lord. I've witnessed here. I've given out tracks. I've spoken to this person. I've spoken. It's all quantity. It could be wood, hay, and straw. What is the quality? How much of 13:21 gold, silver, and precious stones? How much have you got of the really valuable stuff for eternity? and every man's work. It'll become evident in the final day because God's verse 13, God's going to test everything by fire. To test not, 13:38 let me read the last part of verse 13. To test in the final day, what'll be tested is not the quantity of your work, but the quality. Not how many meetings you went to, not how many places you traveled, not how many conferences you went to, not how 13:56 much you did for the Lord, not how much money you gave for the Lord, but the quality. As I said, it could be a truckload of wood, hay, and straw burnt up in a moment. Gold, silver, and precious stones will pass through the 14:12 fire and come out. So, the testing in the final day is going to be a testing by fire. So it's very important for us to understand what is gold, silver and precious stones. I you read that passage many many times and I want to ask you have 14:29 you ever thought about it. See if you what will you think of a a student who's in a class and who knows the final examination is going to determine his promotion and he doesn't bother about that. I said that's a careless student. A good student who 14:44 wants a promotion will say, "Well, the final exam is going to be a tough one and I want to prepare for it right through the year." And we believe the final examination is going to mean a lot to us in eternity and I don't want to waste 14:57 my life. Now, if your attitude is, well, I've accepted Christ and I'm going to be in heaven. That's the main thing. I'll tell you it's not the main thing. Going to heaven is not the main thing for me. You got to be a downright 15:11 selfish, I would say, a good for nothing Christian. If you your only aim in life is to go to heaven. You got to be thoroughly ungrateful to God after all that Jesus did for you to say, "All I want to do is get to heaven. He died for 15:24 me and I want to go to heaven." That's like a selfish child who has no care for his parents, but just wants to enjoy everything the parents have provided for him. We're not to be like that. We're to be responsible men. And uh we had to express show our 15:42 gratitude to the Lord for what he's done for us by say Lord I don't want to just go to heaven. I want to please you on the earth. Jesus lived on earth to please the father. And if I'm to follow Jesus I must seek to please him. Not just oh I 15:56 got my passport to heaven. I got it now. Now now I can relax. Anyone who feels like that, I say I wonder whether you really got a real passport or a fake one because if it's a real passport to heaven, you'll have a tremendous 16:10 gratitude to the Lord for all that he did for you. I remember when I really got converted to I mean I went through a phase of many many years of asking Christ into my heart because I grew up in a god-fearing home where I was taken 16:24 to good evangelical churches all through my life from childhood. So I don't know how many times I must have hundred times I must have asked Christ to come into my life. One of those times was real but I got the assurance when I was 16:36 19. But um one of the things that happened when I got converted and especially after my baptism when I was 21, I really began to take the Christian life seriously and I'm very thankful for that. That's 64 years ago. 16:54 And I said, Lord, I I want to I want to live my life as an expression of gratitude to you for all that you've done for me. That's how we have to live our life. Going to heaven was absolutely secondary and unimportant for me. I even told the 17:13 Lord, Lord, if you're in hell, I'll go come and be with you in hell for all eternity. The fire of hell won't disturb me. Jesus is my heaven. Not. I'm not interested in golden streets and 14-bedroom mansions. You can have them. 17:28 I want to be with Jesus all the time. That's my heaven for me wherever he is. It's not the physical location and beauties of heaven that attract me. The person, for example, if you really have a a loving, happy marriage, what's the 17:46 thing that attracts you about your home? the sofas and the decor of the house or your wife. That's a happy marriage where you're interested more than more in your wife than in what type of house you live in. I'm very happy with my I'd be happy 18:00 to live in with a hut with her any day. The type of house I live in makes absolutely no difference. And those who love the Lord is like that. The beauties of heaven won't attract me at all. I can honestly say that. Not one bit. I don't even want 18:17 to find out what it's like. People ask, "What's heaven like?" I said, "I'm not interested. I know I'll be with Jesus." I hope that's your desire. So, but I don't want to go there and just be with Jesus. I want to have have 18:30 lived a life that pleased him where I expressed my gratitude. My entire life must be uh a thank you note to him. I remember way back I think it was in 1993 or something uh I was riding my two wheel moped which 18:49 is my usual vehicle in Bangalore and uh I hit against a railway crossing you know they don't do it automatically in India people raise it up I crossed one and before I reached the other the fellow lowered it I hit it hit me straight on my chest and knocked 19:04 me on the railway line and hit my head and I was unconscious I don't know how long but before the train came along somebody picked me up but you know that because otherwise I wouldn't be here today and uh and you know I came home I had a 19:23 crack in my skull and a big scar across my chest and God saved my life but the first thing I said to the Lord when I got home was I said Lord Jesus I have not finished saying thank you to you for dying for I by that time I was born again in 59 19:42 and this is 93 what's that about 34 years I said I'm writing right thank you Lord Jesus t h a n k and I haven't yet finished lord I'm only halfway through that sentence you can't take away my life now I have to finish that sentence thank you Lord 19:57 Jesus for dying for me I said that's what I'm doing with my life service I still haven't finished that sentence by the way I don't know when I'll finish it. But I want to finish that before I leave the circle. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for 20:12 dying for me. Everything. That's why it's never a burden for me to serve him. Never. I've been traveling to 50 years nearly all the poorest villages in India. Extremely poor people. Most of my ministry was there because I read two 20:29 verses in scripture that taught me where I should serve. Maybe I should show you that. That's the first was uh in Luke chapter 4 when the Lord called me to serve him that is in 20:48 1964 I was in the Navy and the Lord called me very specifically I remember the day 6th of May 1964 the Lord spoke to me clearly from scripture and called me to you're my servant I made your mouth like a sharp sword and you are serve 21:05 me. And I saw that in Luke chapter 4 when Jesus came and preached for the first time in his hometown of Nazareth when he was 30 years old. He said in verse 18, it says Jesus came to Nazareth, verse 16, and 21:24 took the he took the prophet Isaiah's book and turned to Isaiah 61 and he read in verse 18, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach the gospel to whom? Not to the whole world. To the 21:43 poor. I said, Lord, really? You mean your primary aim is to preach the gospel to the poor? Yeah. Because others don't care for them. to the captives, to the blind, to the oppressed, to the lowest dregs of 22:00 society, to the poor especially. That's one place. And there I saw God had called me to preach to the poor in India, not to the rich. And then another passage was I saw in Matthew chapter 22:18 11, there's a time when John the Baptist was in prison and he was wondering whether Jesus is the Messiah. If he's the Messiah, why isn't why hasn't he released me from prison? So he sent some disciples of his to Jesus and 22:33 said, "Uh, are you the really the Messiah?" You know how doubt can come. Even John the Baptist, he had seen the heaven open and the voice from heaven and all that. He still doubted. And Jesus said, "How did Jesus prove that he was a 22:49 Messiah?" Go and tell John Matthew 11:3, "What you hear and see? The blind receive sight. The lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. And who are the ones hearing the gospel? The poor." Again, repeated. 23:06 That convinced me. God has called me to preach to the poor in India. And I saw all the great evangelists from America who came to India always preached in the big cities where there were all the rich people. All the rich people in India are in the 23:25 cities. That's where all the facilities are and all that. So nobody I've never heard a single evangelist who went to the from the rich evangelist who went into the villages and had a campaign there. So I saw I knew where my calling 23:43 was. And as I look back over 50 years of my ministry in India, he took me to the poor to the poorest villages in India to villages where there was no doctor, no pharmacy, nothing. And because my wife was a doctor, we could 23:58 serve them for many years freely. And I learned so much by fellowship with them. They don't have any heirs about themselves, the poor people. I believe Jesus preached to the poor and this fellowship was mostly with them. Anyway, 24:16 coming back to 1 Corinthians 3, I saw here the thing that's going to what is the gold, silver, and precious stones that will go through the fire when I stand before the Lord on the final day. I found the answer after much 24:31 searching. It was many years before I discovered it. And the answer for me was in Romans 11. Romans 11. I was seeking the Lord specifically. What is it that'll go 24:49 through the fire, Lord? Because that's how I want to serve. I don't want to get one bit of wood, hay, or straw. I want it to be all gold, silver, precious stones. In Romans 11, I read this one sentence, verse 36, the last verse. For 25:08 from him and through him and to him are all things we can say all things of eternal value. All things that go through the fire. All things that will last forever are from 25:24 him, through him to him. Gold, silver, precious stones. So I began to meditate on that because it says finally to verse 36 that will bring glory to him forever. That's what I want. I want to bring glory to him forever. Then I must see if everything 25:43 in my life is gold, silver and precious stones that it must be from him, through him and to him. And that's how uh you know the first house of God mentioned in the Bible. You know the Bible says that we are a tabernacle of 26:02 God. Have you read that in John chapter [Music] 1 in uh John 1:14? If you have a margin in your Bible, it says there the word became flesh and tabernacled among us. That's what it 26:22 says in the margin. The original says he was a tabernacle. So you remember the Old Testament tabernacle which Moses built. It was a picture of Jesus coming in the flesh. The word became flesh and the tabernacle was there in our midst. That's what it says 26:39 here. So in the Old Testament tabernacle, you know how it was built? From God through God to God. I'll show you that in 26:56 Exodus, you read that when the Lord gave Moses the instructions of the tabernacle right from chapter 25 to 40. I'm not going to go through that. But uh when the Lord said to Moses in chapter 25, you got to build a tabernacle for me is 27:15 Exodus 25:9, I'm going to show you the pattern of the tabernacle, pattern of his furniture and how you construct it. It was from God. He gave Moses exact directions, the length of the curtains, what was to be stitched into 27:34 the curtains, what material the curtains were to be made of, what material the uh the supports for the pillars was to be of and everything, every little detail. If you read through Exodus 25 to 40, it's amazing the little little details 27:50 that the whole thing A to Z was from God. And the second thing I saw was that the Lord equipped the people. There's a verse here in 28:07 Exodus 31 where the Lord says, "See, I've called Bezel," verse two, son of Judah, and I think it's the first person about about whom is written in the Bible. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. I have filled him with the spirit of God 28:25 in wisdom understanding to make all these designs for the to cut stones and all types of things. So it was not only from God. God gave the instruction to Moses. It was done through God filled with the spirit through God's 28:40 power. That means the instruction came from God. That's the meaning of from God. Through God means through the Holy Spirit's power and not through Bezale's own cleverness. I have filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, 28:52 understanding, knowledge, all kinds of craftsmanship and artistic designs and all that. And he I have also given an assistance and they will build it exactly like. So it is not just that he gave them instructions. I've given you 29:06 the supernatural ability to do it exactly like that. So from God and through God. And then you find in Exodus chapter 40 when the tabernacle was complete and we read in Exodus 29:27 40 verse 33 Moses erected the tabernacle and hung up the veil. Thus Moses finished the work and the cloud covered the tent. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle to 29:45 God. There was no glory of man there. It's the glory of the Lord. And it's a very interesting phrase that comes throughout Exodus 40, you know, which comes again and again and again where it says again, Moses did exactly as the Lord commanded him. See, 30:05 I'll just tell you a few examples. Verse 19 of Exodus 40, as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 21, as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 23, as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 25, as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 27, as the Lord commanded 30:17 Moses. Verse 29, as the Lord commanded Moses. And verse 32, as the Lord commanded Moses. And verse 33, in the end, thus Moses finished the work. That is the first tabern dwelling place of God. And we read in John 14, 30:36 Jesus came as a tabernacle. And we are to be tabernacles of God. And our life must be from God like this. God instructing exactly how we are to live through God. I have filled him with the Holy Spirit. We read that and ultimately 30:52 to God. The glory goes to God, not to ourselves. So brother, sister, I'm sorry, brothers rather, if you want to get an approval from God in the final day, at least from today, seek with all of your 31:11 heart to follow this principle that everything in my life must be from him according to his will as I've read the scriptures and as he gu guides me in my life. And to young people, I say, don't ever get married without God's guidance. 31:26 I'll tell you from my life, I sought God so much for God's guidance for months and months and months and months. And God specifically told me almost supernaturally that I was to marry Annie. And after 57 years of marriage, I 31:39 tell you, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that God gave me the right person. It makes a world of difference in your ministry if you have the right person. So be very careful that you do everything as from him and 31:57 then and if God calls you to serve him in any way even in a small way in your church make sure you seek for the power of the Holy Spirit and everything. I've been preaching now for I started preaching when I was 23 62 years now. But even today I'll 32:14 tell you honestly it's the honest truth. I'm not trying to be humble. I feel I need to constantly seek God. Say, "Lord, please help me. I don't know what to say." Well, I mean, if you ask me to uh why don't you take a Bible study in 32:28 Ephesians, I can do that anytime. Wake me up in the middle of the night and take a Bible study in Ephesians. I've done it so many times that I can go and take a Bible study in Ephesians in any any part of the world. But if the Lord says, I want you to 32:43 speak prophetically to this group of people, 90% of whom you don't know, according to their need, boy, that's not so easy. See, prophetic preaching is that which goes exactly according to the need of these people sitting in front of 33:00 you. And 90% of them you don't know. And even if you know all of them, you don't know their need. Even if it's your home church where you know everybody in in that church, a church of 25 people and you know everybody there but you don't 33:11 know what their need is. How can you preach according to their need? That's prophetic preaching. And all preaching in the church must be prophetic preaching or teaching of the word. There is a place for having a Bible study in Ephesians or Philippians. 33:25 And I we do that also. But prophecy must also be there and teaching. The church is built with apostles who plant churches, prophets who preach prophetically according to the need of people and teachers. You read in 1 Corinthians 12, 33:43 the first three people in the church are apostles, prophets and teachers. Those who plant churches, oversee them, correct them, send letters to them like Paul did. and who prophets who speak not like not predicting the future but prophetic in the sense 34:02 that speak to people's need you know like it says in one Corinthians and chapter 14 a person comes into the meeting and the secrets of his heart are made manifest and he says wow God is here and I believe that's what prophetic 34:18 preaching is that people say wow how did he know what my need was and I go away from the meeting having say I met with the lord not I heard a good message but I met with Jesus. That's prophetic preaching. I'm teaching explaining God's 34:31 word simply not with human intellect but with the revelation of the Holy Spirit. So that's how our life must be. You may not be called to be an apostle or a prophet or a teacher. But even a member of the body of Christ has got something 34:43 to something to contribute. But the Bible says everybody can share something. Even a sister can share something. But we have to wait on the Lord to hear what he has to say if it is to be from God. So now what is the opposite of the 35:01 tabernacle? I mean you and I see that are we to follow Jesus and he was the tabernacle of as we read in John 14 the word became flesh and tabernacled in our midst. It's a great expression. The original language it says it tabernacled 35:14 in our midst. And I see myself as a child of God who was tabernacled in the midst of this world. I'm a tabernacle and just like the Old Testament tabernacle was detailed according to God's will in everything you filled with the spirit to build it 35:31 and the glory of God at the end from God through God and to God my life must be like that and so must be yours. See then in the final day when it goes through the fire gold silver and precious stones but if all that I've done is what came 35:46 from my mind this is what I think I should do. this is what I think I should live and this is the job I think I should take by all means use your mind but allow God to overrule it while you're searching for a job for example Lord please take me to the right 36:05 one God allowed I believe God supernaturally allowed your parents to give you the type of education you got to qualify you for the type of work you can do in your life you have to do some type of work to earn your I mean I did not my I was 14 years old 36:21 when my dad suggested that I join the Indian military cuz that was a big thing in those days and India had just become independent from Britain and the military was a great service to be in and India never got into wars you know 36:38 in the 3,000 years of India's history India has never fought with any country in the world it's a unique India has defended itself from other countries but never fought to conquer a single nation in the world. So it was a sort of a safe 36:51 military to be in where we defending the country and never attacking others. So I said okay I can join that and but I was only 14. How much did I know about life in the world? But I had my dad to guide me. God is sovereign. And I joined the military 37:08 academy and and I became an officer. And then I got converted. I got converted the very same month that I got my stripe on my shoulder as an officer and [Music] u I decided now I must take baptism. I'm going to live for God. My whole ambition 37:26 changed immediately and but I see that God in his sovereignty trained present me to the navy to learn things which would be useful for my service of the Lord to be disciplined in everything to be on time for 37:45 everything to be the the main thing they teach you in the military is discipline was get up at a particular time you can't afford to be late. You can't be late for a parade, for example. If you 1 minute late for a parade, they'll teach you such a lesson 38:00 you'll never forget in your whole life. 1 minute or even half a minute. It was 6:30 was the time the parade has to start. You got to be there before 6:25. I'll tell you how they did it if you want to know. If you're half a minute late, you 38:18 take your rifle, hold it over your head, and run around that one mile parade ground for the next half an hour. You'll never be late again for the rest of your life. They really taught you to obey orders. I was very happy that I got that 38:36 discipline from the age of 15 to the age of 26. Everything had to be on time, disciplined. You had to eat your meals quickly because you we were being trained for anytime the enemy may come even in peace 38:52 time we prepare for war. Now God so I see that in the sovereignty of God he allows us to get into some type of prof profession which prepares us for the future. So in your life also God prepared you in a particular way for a 39:07 particular calling he had for you. It's not the same as mine. But you must believe in the sovereignty of God. That choices that I did not make, my dad made for me, and choices your dad made for you. But you must believe in the 39:19 sovereignty of God. He allowed it. The type of family he allowed you to bring into. Don't complain. God allowed you to be born in a particular family. And be thankful for it. Even if your parents didn't know the Lord, it doesn't make a 39:31 difference. God allowed you to be born there because he you were it to be a child of God. And so he planned your life. You must have faith in that. And his ultimate purpose was that you'll be a tabernacle. Every part of you will be 39:46 from him, through him, and to him. Now the opposite of that is from myself, through myself, to myself. And you know what that is in the Old Testament? I'll show you. Turn to Genesis chapter 11. That's the opposite of the 40:05 tabernacle. is the tower of babel. You read about it. The tower of babel is a stark contrast to the tabernacle which comes in Exodus. And the tower of babel come first in Genesis 11. How was the tower of babel 40:23 built? It was man's idea from man. It was from man through man to man. That's what I want to show you. Verse three. 11 Genesis 11:3 They said to one another, "Here's we got some bright ideas. Come, let us make bricks and burn 40:43 them." And and verse four, let us build a tower for what? For ourselves to man, from man to man. And uh we will use brick and mortar and the whole thing. And what is the whole purpose? Last part of verse four, 41:02 we will make for ourselves a name aha from man through man to man to man's glory. That is Babel which is later on called Babylon. This is the beginning of 41:20 Babylon. And when you come into the New Testament and go to Revelation chapter 17 and 18 and Babylon, Babylon is a picture of the false church. And there's plenty of it today. Somebody some people say it's only Catholic. No, 41:36 there plenty of Protestant Pentecostal denominations which are Babylon. What is the mark of Babylon? A Babylonian church. From man through man to man. In other words, the whole idea originated from man to start this 41:54 church, this particular church, let's say. And it was done through human cleverness. through raising funds for money, appealing, give us money, give us money, give us money, give us money 100% through man, let us collect, there it 42:09 was bricks, here it is money, let us collect and we will build a tower that will glorify ourselves up to heaven. And a lot of churches are built for the glory of some pastor, some leader. It's not for the glory of God. The pastor 42:23 doesn't seek to hide himself. Let God be glorified. It's this great man of God who's exalted there and people come to listen to a man and not just to glorify God there. God has gifted people. I know if the Apostle Paul were preaching somewhere, I'd 42:37 certainly go and listen to him. Sure, more than some third rate person who doesn't know God. I'm not saying we shouldn't listen to godly men. If Peter was preaching somewhere, I'd go anywhere to listen to him. I'd travel across the 42:46 country to listen Paul or Peter preaching somewhere. That's that's a different thing. But my point is, what type of church is being built in many of these places? built according to man's wisdom. I'll tell you why I say that. Because there 43:00 are a lot of things in that which are contrary to God's word. Even small things. Do you know in the tabernacle even the small stitches in the curtain had to be exactly according to God's word. That's why it says as we saw in 43:13 Exodus 40, as the Lord commanded Moses, as the Lord commanded Moses, every little thing as the Lord commanded Moses. He was very strict in the tabernacle. And the church must be like that too. And that's the question we 43:26 need to ask ourselves. Is the church being built exactly as God wants it or is it according some bright ideas that man has? That's a nature of Babylon is man has some bright idea as to how to do God's work. Let me give you one example. 43:45 Jesus said in Matthew's gospel in chapter 23, I'm talking about direct disobedience to the commands of Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 23 about the scribes and the Pharisees don't he said 44:11 in verse 9 Matthew 239 he's telling his disciples remember he's talking to his disciples you read that very clearly Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples verse one what did he tell them don't be called rabbi verse 44:30 8 for one is your teacher you are all brothers there's one title he has given to us brothers in those days the great title of the religious leader was rabbi today it is reverend right reverend wrong reverend all types of 44:49 reverence there are u the titles that man takes is the equivalent of rabbi. And Jesus said, "Don't be called rabbi." If he were here today, he say, "Don't be called reverend. You are all brothers. Don't be 45:06 called pastor." That's another title. You are all brothers. And don't be called father. Verse 9. How much that is disobed. Father so and so, father so and 45:25 so. Garbage. be called brothers. And if you want another title, if you're very eager to have one more title, he gives you an option. Verse 11, you can be called a servant. Call yourself servant so and so. Great. So, you have an option, 45:41 brother. You can call yourself brother so and so or servant so and so. It's up to you. Now, you say, "Oh, that's a small thing." I I'll tell you, in the tabernacle, there were some things which are very, very insignificant. You read 45:53 that in Exodus 25:40. Why in the world God is so exact about these small things? And he says, "It must be exactly as I have commanded, as the Lord commanded Moses." Then the glory came. Now you know the reason why the glory 46:04 doesn't come in some churches. You say that's a very small thing. What does it matter if a man's called father or reverend? You think God is so particular about it. It's like somebody in the the tabernacle build building and bezale and a holy and 46:18 somebody advis him, hey listen, don't worry about don't be so exact about these things. God won't be bothered if there's a slight difference in the way this is stitched. I'll tell you what would have happened. The glory of God 46:27 would not have come on that tabernacle and it would not have been written exactly as the Lord commanded Moses. This these are the lessons we must learn from scripture. It must be from God. Otherwise, it's not gold, silver, 46:40 and precious stones. Who believes it? I'll tell you. We you'll discover what the truth of what I'm saying in the day when Christ comes. Believe me, you will see it then. It's better to see it now and we have enough examples. The 46:54 alternative is Babylon. How did Babel begin? Let us build something we can do. We plan this this thing which will reach up to the sky. It will be a great impressive structure from man through man to man. Dear brothers and see this 47:07 very clearly that in a lot of Christian today most of Christendom's work is from man through man's ideas and for the glory of some man. And the man takes that glory. For example, the amount of money 47:27 that's involved in Christian work. If we are to do Christian work the way Jesus did it and he's given us one more example. Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." In the matter of money, how did they do the God's work? 47:46 Did Jesus get a salary? Did Peter get a salary? Did Paul get a salary? Was there any Christian worker? Yes. I'll tell you who got salaries. The Levites. They were com they had to give 10% in the temple for the support of the 48:03 Levites. That was there. Sure. But then in the Old Testament, you got to they sacrificed bulls and goats. So if you start paying salaries to the pastor, you better bring bulls and goats to sacrifice for your sin as well. 48:16 because that is also there in the Old Testament. Why do we pick and choose certain things from the Old Testament which are convenient for us? That's what pastors are doing. Why not chuck the Old Testament finished? Jesus Jesus finished 48:29 with the old covenant. It was only a picture. Now we are in the new covenant. In the new covenant, I don't see a single servant of God getting a salary. Why is it so many Christians tolerate all these preachers and pastors who 48:44 receive regular salaries which corrupt them? I'm not saying everybody who gets a salary is corrupt. I'm just saying he's disobeying scripture and in that one area he's disobeying scripture. That's all I'm saying. He may be a very godly man and I 49:00 say probably he doesn't have light on this area. There are some godly people who have baptized as children who have never taken adult baptism. I hope all of you have taken baptism after being born again. Because when you take baptism, 49:17 you are testifying, I died with Christ and I've risen again. And you can't do that as a baby. What can you do as a baby? Some your father takes you there and somebody sprinkles some water on your head. That's not baptism. Baptism 49:28 means immersion and people have changed it. Now I'm not saying that sprinkled believers will go to hell. No, I'm not teaching that. But I believe they'll miss something in the day in the day of judgment. That's all I'm saying. As I told you, I'm not 49:44 interested in going to heaven. I want to please Jesus. I want to say thank you Lord for dying for me. I want to complete that sentence that my life my entire life must be thank you Lord Jesus for dying for me. live for that. My brother, sister, my 49:57 brother, please remember that ultimately when we stand before God, I must have no regret at least from the time I got light as to how I lived. Maybe all these years you didn't have light. At least you get light today on this matter that 50:13 your life must be from God and then it must be through God. In other words, now that I've understood how I have to do it, okay, I call myself brother. I called myself I remember once I got a invitation from a big college in the 50:30 United States saying brother Zack the Christian they were it was not a Christian college it a secular college but had a Christian department and said we have tremendously appreciated your books and we'd like to give you an 50:43 honorary doctorate so that you can be called Dr. Dr. Zak Punin from now on I said no thank you I am I want to be a brother all my life I don't want anyone to call me a doctor I refused it and said I don't know how many Indian people 50:59 would do that there's a great lust in India for being a doctor for being called a doctor so and so I have heard of one very well-known preacher here who is dead now who called himself Dr. so and so till it was discovered he 51:15 never in his life got earned a doctorate but he called him it was honorary an honorary doctorate is not supposed to call himself Dr. so and so but people didn't he didn't follow it got exposed after his death so a lot of 51:29 things that and he was a well-known Christian leader it's amazing how people got crazy after these titles why can't you stick to what Jesus said if you don't want to be called brother call yourself servant so and so that's the 51:41 other option I prefer brother so I say call me brother don't call me any other name I don't want to be known as Dr. So little things like this, you know, to get honor from people, it's the glory must go to God. I must not touch 52:00 it. Have you read that verse in Isaiah 42? God will give us his nature. He will give us his power. He'll give us his love. He'll give us his gifts. He'll 52:19 give us everything. Food, clothing, shelter, he'll give us everything. There's one thing God will never give you. Isaiah 42:8. I am the Lord. I will never give my glory to somebody 52:37 else. He will never allow you to take the glory that belongs to him. You serve him and somebody glorifies you and you accept it. You're a thief. You are a thief. You have taken what belongs to 52:56 God. I will not give my glory to another. There's no difference between that and going and opening somebody's wallet and taking out the money and walking off with it. Please remember this my dear brothers. God has said I will not give 53:12 my glory to another. You can ask him for his love. You can ask him for your financial provision. You can ask him for 101 things. But one thing he'll never give you. The glory must be given to him. And that is not because he desires 53:23 to all the glory from it's to save you from destroying yourself. God wants to save us from destroying ourselves. We should not take glory to ourselves. We he we is to we are to live in dependence on him. You know the tree 53:41 of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life in the garden of Eden. What is the essential difference between these two trees? I'll tell you. I'll explain it to you. The tree of life is a tree of constant dependence on God. He's the 53:56 source of life. It's like Jesus said, "I am the vine and you're the branches." That branch can be in the vine or let's say mango tree, same thing. or an apple tree for 50 years producing the best apples. 50 years of experience in producing apples. You cut 54:14 it off today, it produces zero apples. All its 50 years of experience cannot produce another apple today. From the day you're born again till the end of your life, you have to be in the in the 54:31 tree and everything. Even today if I want to preach I must be as dependent on God for his word as I was when I started preaching 60 years ago it's I this is the picture God has given me years ago he gave me this picture what is faith faith is the 54:49 branch helplessly dependent on the tree you ask that branch how in the world do you produce such good apples I don't know I I don't produce anything is the sap comes in the sap is a picture of the holy spirit by the way that comes in 55:02 from the tree into the branch and produces these apples and the branch doesn't have a clue how it happens. Brother, that is how God wants you to serve him. Somebody says he was blessed through your life of ministry and say, "I wonder how how in the world 55:18 did that happen." Well, you you depended on the Lord. That is faith. You you were helplessly dependent on the branch and like the branch in the tree. That is how God wants us to serve him and that's for our own protection. 55:33 But if we take glory for ourselves, it'll destroy us. That's why God says, "I won't give you my glory to protect you and save you from becoming proud. I don't give my glory to another." God is the most unselfish person in the whole 55:48 universe. Everything he did for others, in fact, in giving his own son to die for others. How many of us would give our son to die for somebody else and to die for your enemy? That's how unselfish god is. And we are miles away from that 56:02 type of unselfishness in our life. Our life is so self-centered. Think of this. To give your only son, you got only one sin in your home and you give him to die for the sake of your enemy. Who would do that? Holy God. Have you looked at 56:19 Calvary like that? That's why we need to bow down and be so grateful. Say, Lord, I'm so thankful that you've brought me into this life. I'm so far from having your spirit. Some of us who think we are pretty spiritual now. We're not. We're 56:33 way miles away from being spiritual. The closer you get to God, the more you realize how holy, how pure, how utterly unselfish he is and how utterly selfish we are. See, for ourselves. So, let's learn more and more to make our life be 56:50 from him, through him means through him means to be constantly dependent on the Holy Spirit. I'm amazed how people don't seek for the power of the Holy Spirit in their service. I I've been greatly challenged by the testimonies of people like 57:06 Charles Finny, DL Moody, and AB Simpson. Men who were men who sought for the power of the Holy Spirit that transformed their ministry and that's why I sought for the power of the Holy Spirit too. I remember reading about DL 57:21 Moody. He was a preacher for a long time preaching preaching preaching till one day he saw two old ladies sitting in the front row of one of his meetings and uh praying and he went up to them and he said thank you for praying for all the 57:36 people in this meeting and he said she they said we're not praying for them Mr. Moody, we are praying for you. We are praying that you will be filled with the Holy Spirit. They had discernment to see this wonderful preacher Moody was not filled 57:50 with the Holy Spirit yet. And that convicted him and he began to see God and he didn't know what to do. He prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and then nothing happened and he knew there's something in it because the apostles 58:04 were changed when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And he says, "One day, this is D Moody's testimony. I was walking down the street of a city and suddenly the spirit of God fell upon me. It's absolutely unexpected. He'd be what 58:16 he had been praying for a long time. And he didn't know what to do. He rushed into the house of a friend of his nearby and he said, "Please give me a room to myself." And he locked himself in that room and the spirit of God came upon 58:28 him and his life and his ministry was completely different from that day. I remember hearing the testimony of Charles Finny. Charles Finny was a lawyer up to the age of 30. He had no interest in God, but he heard the witness for 58:45 Christ. And one day he decided to settle matters. So he decided he didn't want to do it. He's a dignified lawyer. So he didn't want to do it in the office where everybody respected. He wanted to go into the forest. And he says in the 59:00 forest he knelt down before God and he he suddenly heard some rustling in the forest and he thought somebody had come. So he got up quickly and he felt so convicted. I'm ashamed to be seen by a 59:18 human being kneeling before God. Forgive me Lord. Forgive me. There was no human being there. It was just a wrestling. But he saw how he was so ashamed to be seen kneeling. the great lawyer that he was and he humbled himself to say Lord I 59:31 don't want anything for myself I only want to live for you surrendered everything in that forest went back to his room and as he sat down in the chair suddenly the spirit of God fell upon him he knew nothing about baptism 59:45 of the Holy Spirit the spirit of God fell upon him in waves and waves and waves and changed him and equipped him to be the mightiest evangelist in the 19th century in America. That's the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I remember reading about these 1:00:02 people as a young man and I said, "Lord, I can't imagine serving you without the power of the Holy Spirit." I grew up in a brethren assembly where they didn't believe in that. They said, "You got everything when you're converted." But I knew I hadn't. Why 1:00:16 should I pretend that I have? That's what made me seek God through God. I urge you my dear brother, sister, my dear brother, seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you God is my witness. Every day as I wake up in the morning, I seek to be filled 1:00:34 with the Holy Spirit. It's not a once-for-all event. It began once, but I want to be filled with the spirit every single day. The word in Ephesians 5:18, you know, that's the only verse in the Bible which says, "Be filled with 1:00:46 the spirit." The actual literal translation would be is be being filled with the spirit which means it's present continuous tense. That means I will constantly be filled with the spirit not a once-forall experience. So even though there can be initial 1:01:04 experience that and subsequent experiences like that but it must be continuous be uh being keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit and that's been a tremendous encouragement for me through God and then finally to God from 1:01:21 God seek God's will in everything that's why we must read the Bible you know what is God's mind about this in everything Lord what is God's mind about this how shall I do When we started planting a church, how should we plant a church? 1:01:33 How should we be? What even little things like what should we call people? Pastors, no such um there are apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, but titles are they don't have titles. They are that there's function function is 1:01:46 that but they are brothers. They fulfill a function but they are known as brothers. So that's how we saw it in the New Testament. That's how we do it. And the leaders of churches were not called pastors or reverend. They were called 1:02:00 elders. You read that in the New Testament. So we decided in our churches we'll have elders. We won't have any pastor. And Jesus and Paul never took a salary. So no, we have 300 elders by the way. We have more than 100 churches now 1:02:13 in 17 countries and 300 elders. Not one of them receives a salary. They lead the churches. They work and like Paul earn their living and serve the Lord. That's the New Testament pattern. And God blesses them. None of 1:02:32 them have gone to a Bible school. Neither have I. Because the apostles never went to a Bible school. Oh yeah, the one of them did. That was Paul. He went to Bible school before he got converted for three years in the best 1:02:45 Bible school in Jerusalem was done run by a man called Galiel. He was a bit of a god-fearing man. And Paul studied under him and became a scholar. You know what God had to do to him? You read in Galatians 1, God took him to the wilderness of Arabia 1:03:00 for three years, why did he have to go to the wilderness of Arabia for three years? Peter didn't have to go there because God had to take out all the chaff which is in Paul's head which he learned in Bible school. He got rid of 1:03:13 it in three years and then God said, "Okay, now you can go and preach for me." So if you go to Bible school, you need three years in the wilderness before you get out out all of your system out of your system before you can 1:03:24 serve him. But the best thing is don't go there at all. Seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. No, I'm not telling you stories. You read Galatians 1. Paul went to Arabia. He didn't go there to preach. Arabia is a desert. What did God do there? He was 1:03:38 getting all the chaff out of his head. Anyway, everything in we serve must be through the power of the Holy Spirit, not through human cleverness. So, we say, "How shall I know the Bible?" I remember when I came out to serve him, I said, "Lord, how 1:03:54 will I know the Bible? I don't haven't gone to Bible school. And you know what the Lord pointed out to me? I'll show you. Turn with me to Luke 24. In Luke 24, we read Jesus after his resurrection was walking to Emmas. He 1:04:13 saw two people walking to Emmas. I believe they were a husband and wife. It says they were disciples. Why can't a woman be a disciple? I'll tell you why I say they're they're husband and wife because at the end of the journey they 1:04:25 went into a house and it's not I don't think two men were living there husband and wife living together and they invited Jesus to come and have a meal with them. So that's I believe they were a young couple going to Emmas to 1:04:37 disciples and um while they were going Jesus came with them and it says this wonderful word in verse 27 Luke 24:27 then beginning with Moses that is Genesis through all the prophets all the way to Malachi Genesis to Malachi Jesus explained to them 1:04:56 everything in the scriptures concerning himself Christ in all the scriptures Christ in Genesis, Christ in Exodus, Christ in Leviticus, all the symbols there of Christ right 1:05:14 through till the end till Malachi is called the son of righteousness and he explained it all and they said when after Jesus they discovered it was Jesus they went away see what they said that journey by the way you know I read scripture carefully 1:05:31 it says here in verse 13, the journey from Emus was to Jerusalem was 7 miles and they were not sprinting they were walking in a relaxed way. How long do you take to cover 7 miles in a relaxed way? I'd say even if you go at 2 miles 1:05:47 an hour, which is pretty fast. Uh I'd say probably four or five hours they took to reach in a relaxed walking Jerusalem to Emmas. This is what I get from meditating scripture. I take a verse like seven miles and say how long 1:06:03 did it take to go there and then that means they had a 5hour Bible study and I said Lord that's wonderful you if you taught the Bible to them like that why can't you teach me I I'm ready to walk with you teach me little by 1:06:20 little from Genesis to not Genesis to Malachi now Genesis to Revelation and then it says here in verse 32 did not our hearts burn within us when he was speaking I learned something there. The Lord said to you, the Lord 1:06:36 said to me, if you allow me to speak through you, people's hearts will burn even today because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So that became my passion. I said, Lord, I don't want to be a dry, 1:06:55 boring, dead Bible teacher. There are lots of them I've heard in my life. I want to be one like this like you were when you open the scriptures and see you go to the Old Testament scriptures you think they are boring. Jesus opened them 1:07:10 up in such a way that their hearts burned within them. Can you imagine reading Leviticus and your heart burning within you if Jesus opens it up to you it will and it has. I'll tell you that's why I wrote that book called 1:07:23 Through the Bible to show that there's Christ in every book. Everything there's something you can learn and you can find that yourself as well. And I said, "Lord, this you can teach me the Bible like this just like so my Bible study was with Jesus walking 1:07:40 with me like that MAMS road studying studying studying studying." And it can be like that for you, brother. He's the best Bible teacher of all. Ask the Lord to teach you. Take it seriously to study God's word so that everything in your 1:07:56 life will be originate from him. You got to know the scriptures for that through the power of the Holy Spirit that you seek for the power of the Holy Spirit every day. And most important of all, when God's accomplished a work through you, 1:08:10 give the glory to him. Don't touch it. Don't ever touch it. And if somebody praises you, don't try to get honor there and say, "No, no, no. I give it to God." Don't leave that alone. That's to get honor from him again to show how a 1:08:26 humble person you are. Forget it. After you go home, there you give the glory to God. Lord, this chap was thankful, but I don't want to touch that. It's yours. It's so subtle this business of trying to get honor for ourselves. 1:08:40 So God will help us with the Holy Spirit so that in the day of judgment we will go through the fire and gold, silver and precious stones will be the result of our labor. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that the 1:08:59 truths that we hear in your word will change our lives. Not just instruct us, but change our lives. Everyone here we pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
