0:01 [Music] Okay, the first question is RLCF is gaining visibility online and in conferences. 0:19 How can we be sure to avoid hypocrisy and be ourselves at our level of maturity with those who visit while also being diligent to be a good representation of RLCF and the ministry of CFC? Some visitors now see RLCF members as 0:38 superstars. [Music] >> Well, I hope you don't think you're a superstar. that would be enough. Uh in general I would say 0:56 we have to fight with the battle of trying to impress other people with our spirituality. If you have already overcome that, praise the Lord. But if you haven't, don't give up that battle that 1:15 you have to come to a zero point that I have zero desire to impress anybody in RLCF or the elders or anybody else that I'm a wholehearted spiritual Christian. 1:35 And it's not as easy as you think because it's the flesh is always seeking prominence and acceptance. And the only way to be free from it is 1:53 to come to a tremendous security in the fact that God has accepted us just as we are. And uh he knows our true condition and he knows we are not perfect and he knows 2:11 and I hope you all know too that we're a long way from becoming like Christ. Even if you have grown a lot since the day we were converted, if you really see the more I see I mean in my own case the more I see the 2:31 inner life of Christ, it's really I really realize it's a long way I have to go. The less I realized that in past years, I thought I was pretty close to becoming like Christ, but not today. 2:49 And I I'm thankful for every fresh revelation of how of the depth of the love of Christ of the life of Christ. I mean that I even got today that just humbles me and say Lord I'm a long way to go. 3:08 So much of our conformity to your life is external whereas it's the inner life that matters and that's a long way from where you are. So if I dwell if I'm aware of that all 3:24 the time and I it'll keep me at the feet of the Lord in brokenness all the time and seeking only his approval and then we'll be free from being disturbed by what people think about us 3:42 good or bad and good is more dangerous. If they thought think bad of us, it's not so dangerous. But if they think good of us and we are aware of it. So we have to be very careful. Uh and if we live in a the Bible says if 3:59 we judge ourselves we will not be judged to that is one of my favorite verses has been for a long time. 1 Corinthians 11:31. One of the things I have thought of many 4:15 times in the my 66 years as a believer is the final judgment seat of Christ. I want to be approved in that day. I mean that's sort of has been my inner motivation almost from the time I was converted that when I stand before the 4:34 Lord in the final day he must approve of me and this verse helped me tremendously. I imagine that people go up to him one by one and their entire life would be reviewed on a video screen and then the Lord would judge them and 4:48 tell them what what he thought of their lives. And this verse helped me that in that day I will not be judged at all. Judge my the Lord will look through the whole thing and say there's zero for your judgment. Zero judgment everything is 5:04 okay. If I judge myself, the important word there is rightly. If I judge myself rightly now, I will not be judged. 1 Corinthians 11:31. It's a great verse is help me greatly. Help me to judge myself and to have a goal. And the goal is of 5:23 course total likeness to Christ. So if we are occupied with that, we will not be much disturbed with other people, what they think of us, what they think well of us, or we're actually safer when they think less of us. And 5:42 we should never definitely never give anybody the impression that RLCF is sort of a perfect church or that we are at a higher level than anybody else. because that is not true. What should we encourage our sons to 6:00 look for in a career and education to maximize their usefulness to the Lord as future husbands, fathers, brothers in the church and would we guide our daughters differently? I think from the beginning of time 6:22 I think it has been God's will that fathers and mothers should train their children to find some way of supporting themselves. And of course for thousands of years it was just farming and taking care of the house the lands 6:39 around the house. That's how they earned their living until the industrial revolution brought about many other jobs available. But it continues that parents must look for uh must seek to encourage their children 6:57 to support themselves. And that is why in a society which has gone beyond farming and odd jobs uh around the house that we have come to more technical education and things like that. 7:15 that we should encourage us. We must be my parents must be alert to see what would be an appropriate job that my son and daughter could have have to support themselves 7:32 in the present situation. I remember 35 years ago in India uh when I was considering the same for my four sons, computer science seemed to be the field that they would get a job in easily 7:50 and not you know as a teacher of history or something in a school or college would there wouldn't be much many openings for that whereas there'd be wide open fields for computer science but as I see it today with the arrival 8:05 of AI and all computer science is not the great field unless you concentrate in some specialized specialist aspect of it and there are I think jobs which many people have today may disappear in a few years whereas there are some jobs that 8:22 will remain forever for example medical jobs like nursing and physiootherapy people will always get sick and need such things or uh you know people who work with their hands 8:40 uh carpenters and plumbers and electricians and all would find jobs. But it also depends on the ability that our children have in terms of intellect and whether they are more practically minded, good with their hands or not 8:58 good with their hands but very intelligent in their mind. We need to be wise and if you're not sure, it's good to consult with others who are employed, mature brothers who are employed and ask them what are the prospects of a career 9:14 for my son for example who's going to look for a job maybe seven or 10 years from now. What should I train him for? We should think about it 7 10 years earlier. And I personally feel that the daughters should also have an education 9:32 because uh one it if a husband is not earning enough but secondly if the husband is incapacitated maybe by injury or if the husband dies and she's a widow. So it's good for 9:50 the daughters also to be to be educated and also with the moral corruption there is in a lot of schools the mothers may have to teach their children at home and so they will need to be educated. So I would encourage them also to be educated in 10:09 our time and of course um encourage all all our children to study God's word to read the Bible. I remember I was very eager to get all my children to know the Bible very well before they left home. They all left home at around 17 18 years 10:26 old when they went to college. And uh I wanted them to know the word, be born again and baptized before they left home. So I got them all. I mean we got one copy for the home of a picture of story Bible 10:44 because that's was the thing children would easily read and they loved it. And then as they read it to stimulate conversation around it, I would ask questions around at the dining table cuz that was the one time 11:02 when we were all together and we'd have a brief time of prayer and reading scripture and I would ask them, you know, simple questions, not theological questions, but questions like who was Moses' father or simple questions and 11:20 as he grow along a little more tougher ones. That gave them an incentive. I said, "The answer is in that picture story Bible." And once they began to answer it, they they wanted to trap me as well. So, they would ask me some questions. And I tell 11:39 you honestly, I learned something from the questions they asked me. I'll give you one example. I don't know which of my sons it was. Asked me, "Dad, what is the name of David's sister?" Okay, how many of you know it here? 11:57 You know, I I didn't even know David had a sister for uh what's the name of David's sister? I knew he had those brothers. I think seven brothers or something who came up when Samuel called them. And then I saw that I mean they pointed 12:14 out to me that uh his captain's name was Joab. No. >> And he was his sister's son. Zero. Zeroha was the name of you know when I see Joab the son of Zeriah. I don't know whether Zera is a man or a woman. So I 12:32 say probably he he's some zeriah somewhere but somewhere in chronicles or somewhere it says Zeriah was one of the sisters of David. So anyway I so it'll benefit you also if you stimulate your children to study the scriptures. 12:48 They'll challenge you and you'll get an education too. Very important to get them to know the scriptures. And uh I encourage them to read the New Testament through at least the whole New Testament before they leave home and as 13:05 much of the Old Testament as possible. Okay? And that's the way they can maximize their usefulness of the Lord in the future. The next question is what does having assurance of salvation actually look and feel like? 13:24 This is a very individualistic thing. That means it's different for different people and there are different ways in which God gives that assurance. I mean there are some who have had spectacular encounters with Christ in 13:41 some way or the other. I don't believe everything I read on the internet of people who have met with the Lord and gone to heaven. Most I'd say 95% of it it's hoax and and a lie. But u 13:57 I think most people most believers know it the assurance of salvation by an inner witness without any external evidence. That's how I got assurance of that I was accepted by the Lord and born again when 14:15 I was 19 and a half just by reading in my daily Bible reading. I had the habit of just reading the Bible. And in that day in July 1959, I happened to be my daily reading was John chapter 6. And somehow verse 37 stood out to me. Maybe 14:33 the Holy Spirit impressed it on my heart. John 6:37. Him that cometh to me I'll no wise cast out. And it just I thought about that and I said, "Lord, I've come to you a 100 times from the time I was 13 years old." And I felt the 14:52 Lord say to me from that verse, I never cast you out. Say, "Okay, I'm going to believe it." It was just a simple act of faith with no external evidence. I've never seen Jesus in my life physically. I've never seen a light. I've never seen 15:08 an angel. I've never seen a demon. I have never seen anything spectacular like that. I've never had any electric shock down my spine or anything that like people talk about. Uh my life has been saved one entirely of faith without 15:23 any external evidence except I say when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, the Lord gave me the gift of tongues all of a sudden I did not want to speak in that language but suddenly I spoke. That's about the only thing I can say. I 15:39 experienced supernaturally and of course a few dreams in my life that God has given me perhaps one or two visions and dreams which were supernatural apart from that that also related to the ministry more than anything else. 15:55 So it's more by the inner witness. So 99.9% of everything I believe is by an inner witness in my spirit. And I was greatly comforted by this verse in I think it'll help you too. Turn with me 16:12 to John's Gospel chapter 20. John's Gospel chapter 20 where you know Thomas I always used to think would it be great if I could see Jesus 16:30 personally and Thomas was like that Thomas said I won't believe unless I see the risen Lord and the Lord appeared to him and then Thomas said yes John 20:28 My Lord and my God. And listen to this. This is the verse that blessed me. Jesus 16:48 said to Thomas verse 29, 2029, because you have seen me, have you believed? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. That really blessed my heart all these years since it first hit me that I am more blessed 17:05 by not having seen Jesus physically. Now my human mind doesn't uh think like that. My human mind thinks what a fantastic blessing it'll be to see Jesus physically in a vision. And the Lord says no. And I know his word is truth. 17:23 My opinion is wrong. My intelligence I mean my mind is not superior to God's mind. And God says you will not be more blessed by seeing me in a vision. You'll be more blessed by never seeing me at all. Wow. I say okay Lord then the question is do 17:41 you want the greater blessing or the lesser blessing I want the greater blessing then I don't see it all so that's how assurance is an inner thing and I it's very difficult to explain it but the holy spirit gives a deep 17:54 assurance and I want to tell you every one of you if you are sincere that means you really mean business with the lord and you really want to turn from known sin sin. There may be a thousand unknown sins in your life, but you want to turn from 18:11 known sin and you believe with all your heart that Christ died for every one of your sins and rose from the dead and has ascended to heaven and is living today. You ask him to come into your life, he has come in and he can give you an inner assurance. 18:29 It's the same for being filled with the Holy Spirit. You ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Ask him to give you an assurance. I mean, don't just believe it because I said it and you can read John 6:37 and get nothing out of 18:40 it. It may be some other verse the Lord gives you. But the Lord wants to give every one of us an assurance. He doesn't want us to remain always uncertain. Am I a child of God or not? Am I part of the bride of Christ? Am I engaged to him? 18:55 Has he accepted me? Are my sins forgiven? He does not want us to live in perpetual, you know, uncertainty of it. He wants you to be sure. Ask him for it. Okay. The next question is, I pray every day for the filling of the Holy Spirit, 19:11 but I'm not sure that I'm filled. How should I go about my everyday struggles against sin during the time of not knowing when the Lord will fill me? And what evidence must be present in my life to confirm that we've been truly 19:27 baptized in the Holy Spirit and that our assurance is real, continuous victory over conscious sin, anointing and spiritual gifting, boldness to be a witness for Christ, etc. Now, a lot of those things toward mentioned towards 19:39 the end, those don't all come with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Because it depends on the gift God has given you. I mean, if you think that by baptizing the Holy Spirit, you'll suddenly start preaching like some preacher you admire, 19:55 it won't work like that because that may not be your gift. In the body of Christ, somebody's like a tongue. He speaks. Somebody's like a hand or a leg or something. We are different parts of the body. So, you will be equipped when the 20:10 Holy Spirit comes to be strengthened to be your part of the body. I think a a man who is born again cleansed in the blood of Christ but not filled with the Holy Spirit is like a paralyzed let's take an example like a paralyzed hand 20:28 is that hand a part of the body yes does the blood flow into it yes the blood of Christ cleanses him u is he going everywhere the body goes yes he of any use to the body no in fact he's a drag on the body but he's part of 20:45 the body. There are many people sitting like that in our churches. They are really born again. But they're like paralyzed members. And if only two or three of your members are paralyzed something. But imagine if even 50% of 21:01 your body is paralyzed, what will you be able to do? And this is the condition of many many CFC churches. You've got all the right doctrine, but if there is no hunger to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit, you're not 21:21 going to have it because the Lord is a rewarder. Hebrews 11:6 of those who diligently seek him. And Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." 21:39 And uh he said if any man thirst let him come to me and rivers of living water will flow out of him. So it's not going to come to someone who casually says yeah Lord that's a good thing. I think it'll be good if you fill me with the 21:51 Holy Spirit. I guarantee you'll never be filled with the Holy Spirit in a 100 years. But if you're passionate and say Lord I'm not going to let you go. You know the best prayer I like is David, not David, sorry, Jacob at pineal 22:07 laying hold of God and God says, "Okay, let me go." He says, "I won't let you go until you bless me." What a fantastic prayer. It's like grabbing hold of a man who's going away. He He wants to run away from he's struggling to go away 22:21 from you and you're holding on. Say, "I'm not going to let you go. What do you want? I want something from you. Give me that and that. I'll let you go. and he lays hold of God and says, "I won't let you go unless you bless me." I 22:33 prayed that prayer many times >> and see what happened to him. He says, "You will not be called a deceiver anymore." They he asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Deceiver." That's what Jacob means. He spoke the truth. Unlike when his 22:52 father Isaac asked him, do you remember what's your name? He said, my name is Esau. But when God asked him, he was honest. I'm a deceiver, Lord. Okay? You won't be called a deceiver anymore. You'll be called a prince of God, Israel, just 23:06 because he said, "I won't let you go unless you bless me." And God was testing him there because in that struggle they had, I don't know, it was a spiritual struggle. And God somehow impressed and I'm going. And if God if 23:19 the Jacob had said, "Okay, Lord, see you later." He'd never have been in Israel. is at that moment the Lord is testing him and the Lord tests us like that sometimes you can have this attitude Lord I'll never let you go unless you bless me 23:36 here I want this at any cost and the Lord can give you that assurance and victory over sin comes gradually the apostles didn't suddenly get victory over sin from the day of Pentecost onwards it's not like a 23:54 electric power suddenly coming in and all the lights are on. No, I think uh it's like the electric connection has come to the house, but you got to turn on the light in every room. If you want the L room to be lit up, you're going to use that power. But 24:11 the baptism of the Holy Spirit is like, okay, you got the electric connection from the electricity board. So, and the evidence must be present. What present evidence must be present in my life to be sure. I personally believe 24:26 the assurance inside that the Holy Spirit is there. And the way to uh um to be sure whether I'm full of the Holy Spirit is to examine yourself. I think of that verse, behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I'll come in. 24:44 That's Jesus speaking through the Holy Spirit. So I think of the our heart as a our inner life is containing many rooms and you can ask the holy Jesus to come in when we are born again the holy spirit 25:00 comes in Romans 8 is very clear in verse 9 or 11 I think if you don't have the spirit of Christ you're not really his so as soon as you're born again when you ask Christ to come into your heart Jesus Christ is in heaven he comes through the 25:15 holy spirit And it says in Romans 8, if you don't have the spirit of Christ, you don't belong to him. That means he hasn't come into your life at all. When you ask Jesus to come into your heart, the Holy Spirit comes in. But the best picture 25:27 I've used in my teaching is think of a house with say seven or eight rooms and you put light in switch on the light in one room Christ has come in. But it's not the room house is not filled with light. But there is light there. Christ has 25:46 come in. The spirit has come but the spirit is not filled. And the reason is because you don't open the door to some of those rooms. He'll come into every room that you open the door. He'll come to every room where you pull 26:01 the curtain aside and let the sun shine in. In other words, um he he now can say, "Can I take look into your finance room to check everything in your finances? Are you upright? Are you righteous? Are you paying your taxes? Have you returned 26:15 everything that you borrowed? And I want complete straightforward honesty in everything in your finances. And you say, Lord, just hang on and I don't want you to come into that room. That room will be dark. You can pray for 26:27 50 years to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Nothing will happen. I'm not saying you have to set it all right. If you really mean it, he accepts you immediately. Zakius said, "I will repay four times and I'll give half my money 26:42 to the poor." And the Lord accept today salvation has come. He said so the Lord takes you at your word if he sees you're sincere. Even if it takes you 10 years to settle all those things you have to settle. But the Lord accepts you right 26:53 now. You can be filled with the spirit. Now before you've settled all those things because he sees you mean it. You have you have opened that door. Another room the Lord says let me read look at what all you're reading. Or another room 27:04 let me see what all you're looking at on your phone or your laptop. Can you give me complete permission to control you in all those areas? And if you have a little hesitation and there are certain things I'd like to see, I'm not talking 27:17 about evil things. I think we hopefully we don't see any evil things on the laptop or computer. What could be a tremendous waste of time seeing a lot of things. I'm not saying you shouldn't see the news. I believe it's good to be updated the 27:31 news. Not all the little detailed news, but just generally the main things. I I mean have you read that place in I think it's Luke 13 where and Jesus said the tower in Sylum fell Jesus was saying that and certain number of people died I 27:48 don't remember how many there were you remember >> 18 people died how did he know that I mean somehow there were no newspapers there somehow he knew that there was a tower in Salem if the twin towers fell and Jesus will lie he'd know about it he 28:04 know the exact number of people who died as well. So there was a that shows me that he was up to date with the not all the little little unimportant news but the main news. And so there's nothing wrong in knowing about the main news 28:18 different things but you can be so taken up with that that you waste so much time with little nitty-gritty things which are unimportant. So the L there areas like that you say the Holy Spirit says can I come in there come in can I come 28:31 in here? Can I come in here? Your relationship with your wife are you quick to apologize? Are you quick to say things right? And if every area you open up, it'll be impossible for you not to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That is 28:43 thirst. Thirst means a desperate longing to be filled with the Holy Spirit that I throw open every room. And you say, Lord, earnestly say, Lord, show me which room is still locked up. I'm willing to open it up right now. And then little by 28:56 little, you'll get victory over conscious sin. And uh gift spiritual gifts depends on your calling what the Lord has called you for and if you're earnest you the Lord will show you. I I'll tell you honestly when I came out of the Navy my 29:15 main desire was to be an evangelist to preach the gospel in some part of India where the gospel had not gone. It was exciting. I was young. I was unmarried and I thought it's great to go and preach the gospel in some there were I 29:29 knew there were villages and towns in some states of India where the gospel had never gone and I volunteered. I said Lord I'm ready to go there. I don't want any anything from you. I took ent all my life savings in the Navy and gave it 29:43 away for the Lord's work and I started with zero in my bank account and I said Lord I'm willing to trust you. Send me to the remotest part in India. I'll go and preach the gospel. But he never sent me. He did not give me the gift of 29:58 evangelism of being an evangelist. He gave me the gift of teaching. But I looking back now I see that the great need in India anyway was not for evangelists because so many people had gone out to different parts of India, 30:14 the remote areas and preach the gospel. But there was a need for teaching the full gospel and uh everything that the apostles taught without compromising on any area. Hardly anybody was doing that. So I saw that the Lord was calling me 30:30 for that. So I see that it may not be exactly what you want. It may be something else. You must be open. The next question is can you explain Romans chapter 7 verse4-2 specifically 30:50 where Paul says generally Romans 7:14-2 I'll tell you something about this passage I have almost never seen in any any place on the internet 31:09 any Bible study teaching that has explained this passage to my satisfaction and the way I have understood it which I believe is right. I mean that sounds like arrogance but I believe if you take every verse in that and that must fit in 31:26 every one of these other explanations sort of avoid something because it's a little inconvenient doesn't fit in with their theology. So I see uh Romans 7:14-25. You must see uh you know things like I practice the very evil that I do want. I'm no longer 31:43 the one doing it. Is this a normal life of a Christian after one is born again? I'll tell you there are many Bible teachers who say that Romans 7 is the experience of Paul as an unconverted man. I say that is absolute nonsense 31:59 or rubbish because Paul is a brilliant man and he wrote Romans in a very systematic way. It begins uh let me give you a quick review of Romans. I don't have time to go chapter by chapter but I don't I turn 32:17 to it. Romans 1 deals with the tremendous number of sins that man has fallen into. Three times in Romans 1, it says, "God gave them up. God gave them up. God gave them up." Check that out well later on. And then you go to Romans chapter 2, 32:32 which is religious people are also sinners. And Romans chapter 3, therefore, all have sinned, but you can be justified. Justified means declared righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. And then he explains what it means to be 32:46 declared righteous or justified in Romans 4 and Romans 5. Okay, it's systematic going step by step. And then it comes to Romans 6. Where is what is the next step? Overcoming sin. Romans 6:14, sin will not have dominion over you. That's the 33:02 next step. And then, okay, let me skip Romans 7 for the time being. I'll come back to it. Romans 8, life in the Holy Spirit. And it ends with a fantastic saying, who shall separate us from the love of God? And Romans 10 speaks about 33:16 the Romans 9 speaks of the sovereignty of God in relation to Israel and all of us. And Romans 10 speaks about the righteousness of God. And Romans 11 speaks about the faithfulness of God. And then the next step is Romans 12. How 33:30 we present our bodies a living sacrifice and our minds and thus come into spiritual worship and begins to build the body. That is the next step. Building the body. Romans 12. And then you go to Romans 13 of how we must deal in society with the government. And 33:48 then Romans 14. In the body of Christ there can be differences. So how we can deal with differences and then in Romans 15 it says how God encourages us um reaching reaching the end you know and then in Romans 16 the conclusion 34:04 Romans 16:20 the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. It's a systematic development. So you can't say in Romans 7 all of a sudden he goes back to Romans 1 or Romans 2. He doesn't. is systematically going one step. So Romans 34:20 6 is overcoming sin and Romans 8 is life in the spirit. And in between in Romans 7, if Paul is so honest, he says in Romans 7 that in Romans 7, he particularly refers to one commandment in the law which is the most difficult 34:36 to keep, the 10th commandment. The law say, he doesn't talk about any of the other nine commandments. He says the law says in Romans 7:7, you shall not coveret. But the law said so many other things. you shall have no other gods but 34:49 me and you shall keep the seventh day holy etc etc but he leaves out all the nine commandments because it is possible to keep the nine commandments without the power of the holy spirit and I think a lot of non-Christians can 35:05 keep it but when it comes to the tenth commandment nobody can keep it and god put that tenth commandment there deliberately to see how many people will be honest to say, "Lord, I can't keep it." And the 35:21 10th commandment is, "You shall not lust or you shall not covet." It's the same thing, covet or lust. It could be lusting after money. It could be lusting after a woman's body. It could be any type of lust. And the Lord put it there 35:38 to see how many people will be honest to say, "I can't keep it." Do you remember when a rich young ruler once came to Jesus and said, "I've kept all the commandments." And Jesus listed the commandments, but he left out the 10th one. I don't know 35:56 whether you've noticed it. If you read the Bible carefully, he didn't mention the 10th. No use mentioning the 10th one because Jesus knew nobody keeps it. He came up to nine. That's all. And he Yeah. He said, "I've kept it all." 36:10 And then Jesus said okay one aspect of the 10th give up all your money and he failed. That was in the 10th. He failed in the 10th. His lust was for money could be for other things. So here he says the commandment came alive and 36:28 the law and I sorry the Romans 7:8 the commandment came alive verse 9 and I died. That means that commandment, the ten commandment became living to me. I really begin to understand what it means. And I realized I'm spiritually 36:45 dead. And then he goes on to say verse 16, if I do the very thing I don't want to do, I agree with the law that is good. So then it is, this is the important verse, verse 17, no longer am I the one that doing it, but sin that 37:02 dwells in me. So here from then onwards till the end of the chapter you're dealing with the unconscious sin and conscious sin. If you don't understand that difference you won't be able to understand this part of Romans 7. 37:18 I'm not I I'm not the one doing it. That means I'm unconsciously doing something but consciously I agree verse 16 that the law is good. I agree with everything God has commanded. But in my flesh and verse 18, in my flesh there's nothing good that is in 37:37 this uh unconscious part of me which has been which is corrupted because I was born in sin. There's nothing good. It's corrupt totally. The will is present. That means in my mind I'm sure I want to serve the Lord. I want to live for the god. But ability 37:55 to do it in those in that unconscious part is not there. Consciously I can do it. That means I'm not going to kill anybody. I'm not going to steal a bank. I'm not going to tell lies. I'm not going to cheat. But in that unconscious 38:07 area, I'm not able to do it. The good that I want in I want to be perfect in my let me read verse 19 like this. I want to be perfect in my innermost being, but I find all of a sudden I've done something unconsciously that I 38:20 detest it. So I want to do it verse 19, but I don't do it. So I'm practicing the very evil that I don't want to do. Now if listen to this verse 20, if I'm doing the very thing I don't want to do, then it is no longer me. That is no 38:35 longer the conscious part of me. Is that unconscious part of me which is doing it called sin dwelling in me. Verse 20. I find then a principle in evil is present in me. Keep in mind unconscious and conscious. The one who wants to do good that's in 38:49 my conscious mind. I'm born again. I'm filled with the spirit. I want to love God in a conscious area. I'm overcoming sin. Romans 6:14. I've come past Romans 6. Now I'm in Romans 7 and I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner 39:03 man. Verse 22. This is not the testimony of a unconverted person. So all those who people who say that Romans 7 deals with unconverted life is absolutely wrong. Unconverted person doesn't say like verse 22. I joyfully concur with 39:16 the law of God in my man. This is a converted person whose conscious life he's saying I agree 100% with the law of God is it's right but I see a different law in the members of my body and every believer who's honest will admit this 39:33 waging war against the law of my my mind is set in one direction but these this other part of me unconscious part of me is making me prisoner to the law of sin that something comes up a little wrong attitude towards somebody. I didn't want to have it, but 39:51 it came up. A judgment of someone. A wretched man. A person who's serious about sin will only say these words in 24. Oh, wretched man that I am. How many unbelievers say, "Oh, wretched man that I am." Hardly anybody. Even many 40:07 believers never say verse 24. Honestly, who is the person who spontaneously cries out from within? I have cried out that word numerous times in my life. Oh Lord, how wretched that I could do such a thing and I realized it's not conscious sin but there 40:25 something came out for me. wretched man that I am, who will set me free? I believe a real disciple feels like this, Lord, when am I going to be free from this wretched body that makes me do things that I don't want to do? 40:40 And he says, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, it'll happen. But until that happens fully, that is until I become completely like Christ, I will keep on with my mind, with my conscious mind, serve the law of God 40:57 100%. But with this unconscious part of me, the flesh, there will be the law of sin doing things which sometimes I discover it only as I grow in spiritually, I say, "Oh, that was wrong." For example, I discovered 41:14 that expecting people to say thank you when I do something for them is wrong. I don't think many believers see that. Most believers will be a bit disappointed that I did something for that person and the guy was not grateful. 41:29 I I was like that for many years. But that unconscious part of me became conscious on one day and I realized that was wrong because I'll tell you how the Lord showed it to me. I remember once I had helped a brother very much and then 41:43 when he transferred to another town he never wrote back and expressed his gratitude in any way and I thought in my mind this is many years ago when I was in Bangalore I said what how ungrateful he is and the Lord spoke to me 41:57 did you do all your service as unto him or as unto me in as much as you did it to the least of these my brothers you did it to me and then Lord said whom should you who should be thanking you me or me then I said Lord I'm sorry the Lord 42:14 didn't thank me is that my complaint oh boy I am so thankful that Lord opened my eyes that day from that day I have never expected a thank you from anybody in the world no matter what I do for them it is a tremendous liberation 42:31 I hope you will all be liberated at least today that's what I mean by suddenly discovering it is not an evil I You go to the average Christian and say, "Is it wrong to expect somebody to thank you?" You say, "Not at all." What's wrong with 42:43 that? It's right for somebody to thank you. So, it was only a person who's seeking the highest. I don't think Jesus went around expecting people to thank him. That is a standard we live by. So, if a person who's seeking the highest, 42:57 I'm giving you one example. I mean, the Lord shown me other things, but um you'll discover many things if you're passionate about overcoming all sin in your flesh. That's Romans 7. But till then, till I become like Christ, my flesh will keep 43:14 on I'll keep on discovering these unconscious areas little by little by little, but I don't live under condemnation. No, that's why in the next verse it says uh Romans 7:25 last part, I serve the law of God with my conscious 43:29 mind, but unconsciously I'm still serving the law of sin. But in spite of that, Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation. I don't live under condemnation even though I have in me an unconscious part of it called the flesh which is probably doing a lot of wrong 43:43 things right now which I'm not aware of. I don't feel condemned at all. I rejoice because the law of the spirit Romans 8:2 has set me free from the law of sin and death. I hope that'll help you to understand it if you meditate on it 43:58 more. >> Can I ask one on that? We think that also includes sin that we know is sin. sin that we know is sin but you're maybe still defeated by like spontaneously you slip up. So that is sin but >> if something you know is sin and you 44:17 fall into it that I would say is because you're not wholehearted enough you have to say Lord I don't want to excuse that as saying well that's I did it unconsciously let me take for example Uh most of us are married. 44:36 You you want something very say you forgot your wife told forgot to tell you something very important which is necessary for your job or something like that and you you're a little irritated with her. I believe it's wrong to be irritated 44:51 with your wife anytime even if I lose my job because of it because it's a sin. I don't think Jesus ever got irritated with anybody because of some failure on their part to tell him something or do something. I'm just taking one example. 45:07 But you don't come there overnight. You have to battle and battle and battle and say determine I'm going to live by the law of love with my wife. Never never to get irritated with what she does or what she does not do. Always be thankful, thankful, thankful. 45:25 that will help you to stop getting irritated. And so I believe that the it's it's there. It's a question of growth. I can't call that unconscious sin because I know getting upset is wrong. So I can't say it's unconscious. 45:38 I slipped up. If I call it unconscious, I'll keep on falling into it. But if I say no, that's conscious and I slipped up there. I want to come to victory in that area. Otherwise, you'll never come to victory. 20 years from now, you'll see the same 45:52 thing. But if you work on it now I'm not saying I came there overnight but it's I worked on in many many areas and particularly in relation to our home life because see the the one we are always living with is our wife and the 46:07 one is the one there we can maximum possibility of taking advantage knowing that she will never let me down she's not going to sneak on me that I'm a defeated sinner and uh she'll bear with me and Most of us have got good wives who bear with us 46:24 and so we can take advantage of it but we should not and we must Lord I want to strive for perfection even if my wife is a ungodly sinner I have to show Christ to her and there must be nothing of uncristlike in my words actions thoughts 46:44 attitudes anything it's a lifetime job so don't get discouraged if you have been married just a few years. It'll take a long, long time to get there. All I'm saying is make that your goal. You want, if you aim to climb Mount 46:59 Everest, don't settle for 20,000 ft. Get to that 29,000, whatever it is, and say, "Lord, I want to get there." And uh if I slip on the snow and come down a little, okay, I'm going to get back in 47:14 that and keep climbing. And I don't I believe that every conscious sin we should make progress and progress and progress where new areas we are finding where we were once defeated we are overcoming. But you must live in Romans 8:1. There is no 47:33 condemnation. If what I'm saying leads you to condemnation, brother, you got it wrong. then you got it definitely wrong because there should be no condemnation in your pursuit of a life of victory even if you slip up in areas where you 47:49 know okay I'm going it's like a child gets into grade four and he's doing something in math which uh it's not like addition and subtraction which you finish much earlier he'll never make a mistake in that but now he's a new area where he's 48:06 struggling and for a whole year he's making mistakes making mistakes But by the time give him two or three years and get to grade seven. Oh that'll be so easy for him. What was what wasn't grade four but it was in grade four he was 48:17 finding it tough. So it's something like that our spiritual education at each stage we are struggling with something. Every student in school is each grade they're struggling with something. They're not struggling with the same old 48:29 CAT is CAT and 2 plus 2 is four. They finished it that long ago but there's some new area they're struggling with and it's exactly same in our Christian life. And every year if you're making progress you will be getting some light 48:41 on some completely new area. And just like we want to see that our children have been promoted to the next class we should be seeing Lord give me light on something new. So I can tell you a number of things God began to show 48:57 me like that from scripture. If you consistently read scripture and meditate on it particularly the New Testament. I now have the habit. In the beginning, I read the whole Bible many times. But now I have the habit of if you know the 49:10 Bible very well, then you can develop what I'm doing. I don't want you to do otherwise. You should know the whole Bible. Read the whole Bible. But once you've gone through and you're really thorough with the Old Testament, I read 49:22 now a few verses or a chapter, never more than a chapter, sometimes just four or five verses in the New Testament only going all the way from particularly uh from Matthew to Jude anyway. and uh 49:40 meditate and say Lord. And then during the day if I I read three or four chapters of the Old Testament at length, usually with the audio of the Bible, I'm listening to it while I'm going for a walk or something like that. So 49:58 um get familiar with the New Testament. As you and you read the New Testament, meditate on it. God gives us more and more light on new areas of our where we are not like Christ. Okay. I can I feel I can more closely feel the presence of 50:15 God after I repented of a fallen to sin compared to before I fell into sin. How can I always feel the nearness of God without having to fall and repent? Well, I mean we we're so thankful that God forgives us when we have repented and 50:30 come back to him. And that brings a sense of God's nearness. That's very good. But make your goal the life of Jesus. He never felt close to the father by falling and getting up and falling and getting up. So always the Bible says 50:45 let us run the race looking unto Jesus who went through the whale and came into the presence of God. You know if you combine Hebrews 10:20 with Hebrews 12 1 and2 that's what you get. 51:03 that Jesus who for the joy set before him of going into the presence of God through the veil endured the cross. Endured the cross means he rent the veil. He died to himself. This is Romans 12:2. Uh sorry, Hebrews 12:2, not 51:19 Romans. Hebrews 12:2 so that I could live in the presence of God because God dwelt on the other side of the veil in the most holy place and the veil is the flesh. the self-will which must be crucified crucified crucified rent then 51:34 I can dwell in God's presence that symbolism is very beautiful so let us look unto Jesus who for the joy let me paraphrase that Hebrews 12:2 who for the joy set before him which joy was greatest joy in I in thy presence is 51:49 fullness of joy Psalm 19 so that is the father's presence Psalm 19:11 so that was the joy set before him which is mentioned in Hebrews 12:2 do it's wonderful to compare scripture with scripture uh Hebrews 12 let us look running the race looking 52:07 unto Jesus the author and perfect who for the joy set before him and that is the perfect joy psalm 19:11 of in the father's presence is fullness of joy that is only inside the veil through the flesh in the most holy place and to get 52:23 there he endured the cross which means he rent the veil you can't get into the most holy place without renting the veil. So he endured the cross because he knew if I get through this veil, I'm coming into the father's presence where there's 52:36 fullness of joy. And that's the only place, brothers, where you can obey the command which says, "Rejoice in the Lord 24/7." Philippians 4:4. It is impossible to obey Philippians 4:4. Rejoice in the Lord always if you don't go through the 52:53 veil consistently because there's only one place where there's fullness of joy. In thy presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 16:11. And Jesus wanted that. He wanted that. And he didn't care for the death of the c. I mean, I'm talking 53:09 about the inward death or the shame or anything. Despite the shame, endured the cross. I want to get to the presence of the father. And anyone who has that passionate desire to live in the father's presence, to live in the 53:24 presence of God all the time, see there's no other way. Every time I get an opportunity to die, I must die. And I tell you, there are many opportunities to die that come to every one of us. Take it. Take it. Little by little, we'll find ourselves 53:43 increasingly in the father's presence till the time will come and we'll be there all the time. But the rending of the veil is a continuous process every single day, many times a day. And it just brings us more and more into the father's 53:56 presence. Then we get more and more light on ourselves. And that then we become a little more like Christ. Okay. Um but we and then gradually we will experience the presence of God more and more throughout the day. What is the 54:12 difference between self-control, the fruit of the spirit and that which comes from my own effort? I don't think we should try and analyze too much is this by my effort or by the power of the Holy Spirit. You cannot perfectly deny 54:26 yourself without the power of the Holy Spirit. That's for sure. But you know there's Hinduism teaches a type of yoga and self-control and all that. But think of I'll give you an example. U I've heard of people who control their 54:42 anger by yoga self-control. But I say that's not the Christian way because it says in Ecclesiastes 7:9, the anger dwells in the heart of a fool. Anger was inside the heart. All you've done is control it from coming out of 55:01 your tongue. That you can do with any type of self-control of human self-control. But you can't get rid of anger in the heart without the power of the Holy Spirit. So I'm not interested in self-control where I get a reputation 55:14 before people. Oh, brother Zach never gets angry. I'm not interested in that. I'm interested that there's no anger in my heart against anybody. Otherwise, I'm just a like a good non-Christian. But if I'm dealing with if I'm repenting 55:29 because Lord, even though I controlled my anger outside, it's still there in my heart. Lord, I'm sorry. In other words, some provocative situation somehow I controlled my temper and didn't get angry. I should go back to my room and 55:40 say, "Lord, have I dealt with it inside? Am I free from it inside?" Many Christians don't do that. They pat themselves on the back. Say, "Ha, I didn't get angry there." Well, you'll never grow spiritually if you do that. 55:51 You got to say at that time, anger dwells in the heart. Let me get rid of it in my heart. See if there's anything. It could be even against your wife. You got to see there's nothing in your heart but love there for your wife. 56:03 If I judge myself like that, then I believe it'll I it'll be without self-control be the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay. Another question. My wife is sometimes insecure about my love and care for her and needs a lot of reassurance about it daily, sometimes 56:19 even hourly basis. How can I understand her helping her grow in security in our father? Well, first of all, recognize that the Bible says in uh 1 Peter 5, no, the woman is a weaker vessel. So, every husband must recognize the 56:38 woman is a weaker vessel. And u which says that 1 Peter 3:7 she's a weaker vessel. So the fact that you can control yourself and you don't want that type of constant assurance that your wife loves you. 56:58 Your wife is a weaker vessel she needs. She women are made that way. It's just like sexual desire. Why is this sexual desire so strong? 100 times more in a man, perhaps a thousand times more in a man than a woman. So if a 57:13 woman goes, "Hey, I don't have sexual temptation to sexual sin." If a wife tells her husband, "I've never tempted to watch pornography." Never in my life. It's not because she's spiritual. Unconverted women don't have that. Only perverted women have desire 57:30 for watching pornography. But >> men, every single man will be tempted by by sexual desire. But that's because of a different personality. So one of the things because of that weakness in her, she's want constantly want assurance of 57:46 being loved and cared. A man couldn't care less. He just accepts it. Oh yeah, my wife loves me. Whether she expresses it or not, I'm okay. But the wife wants expressions of love. And that's just the way she is. She's the weaker vessel. the 58:01 Bible says and we have to bear that in mind. Okay. What are some practical ways that a husband and wife can spend quality time together in the midst of a busy busy family lives? Well, it's very difficult when children are small 58:18 and I suppose it's after the children have gone to bed. I remember my wife Annie could read the Bible only late at night after all the children had gone to bed. She had no time at all in the morning which is a habit that she had from 58:33 very young age to read the Bible everything in the morning every first thing in the morning but when the babies came she babies will be crying something will be needed breakfast has to be cooked children going to school it's not always possible 58:48 for a wife to read in the morning then she would wait till everybody's gone to bed and read it at night but she was determined to read it sometime during the day So um we have to recognize that women are different from us in many ways and 59:08 give her deep assurance. They need a lot more assurance that they are loved than a man needs. And just like you have a man has a tremendous desire for sexual union with his wife, the woman has a think of it like that. The woman has a tremendous desire to 59:24 know that she's loved. And just like you want your wife to satisfy that desire, she wants you to satisfy this desire to assure her of your love for her. So it's like if a man has had sex with a newly married wife one day and the next 59:43 day he says, "I want to have sex with you again." And she says, "Hey, what do you mean? Yesterday we had." So if you say, "Well, I told you yesterday I loved you." That's because you don't understand. It's because he doesn't understand that 59:55 the man's desire for sex is exactly the same perhaps even more after he gets married. So there there needs to be an understanding of the different ways God has made man and woman. So whenever you think of why does my wife want to be 1:00:12 assured every day of your love for her? Why do you want to be desire sex with her every day? It's the same thing. So she's made different from you. And he the woman must recognize that the man's different from me. It's wonderful if a 1:00:27 man, woman, husband I can recognize that difference. Uh when seeking marriage counsel, oh how can I spend quality time together? Yeah, there may be a lot of things that we have to cut down to spend quality time together husband and wife and you got to 1:00:44 see what you can eliminate. There are certain things when you have small babies, you cannot cut down time with the babies. But cut down unnecessary things. You don't you see if you you shouldn't be very particular that the wife must 1:01:00 always cook high quality dinner or lunch or anything. be satisfied with whatever there is and uh be willing to adjust in other areas and help one another in areas where you can help each other in different parts in the house in the job 1:01:14 in the house and um with the children and that's the only way we can find and I think very often you may find quality time for a newly married wife with children husband and wife may only probably at night when they go to bed to 1:01:28 have a quality time together but we must take some time together and if it doesn't work every day it doesn't matter Don't get discouraged if 3 4 days you were so busy you didn't get quality time together. It doesn't matter you your 1:01:39 marriage not going to go to the dogs just because you didn't spend time together for 3 4 days. You're busy serving the home and serving the church and serving your family. The only thing is we should not let service for the 1:01:51 church take over our time together as family. Because as I've always said the second floor is the family, the third floor is the church. You'll get a great reputation in the church. We are always there to serve. But if that is at the 1:02:04 cost of your family life, it's not worth it. It's better to say, well, I can't can't really uh have time to do all that with you like all the others because I've got a responsibility at home. Uh ask God to show you how you can get 1:02:23 that time together. But it is good to have that time. Okay. Okay. The next question is, when seeking marriage counsel from an elder, are there some aspects of my marriage that should be considered sacred and not discussed at all to preserve my wife's 1:02:39 honor, even if I know we need help in that area? Yes, definitely. I don't believe it's right for any of us to degrade our wife in the eyes of others. Uh you may think that other wives are 1:02:57 better than yours. You may be mistaken thoroughly. It's only because you know your wife in close quarters 24 hours a day. And those other ones you see once on a Sunday, you think they're also very spiritual. No. Every wife has 1:03:12 got their weaknesses, her weaknesses. And uh the thing is may not be in the same area. So don't ever compare your wife with anybody else's. And I don't believe we should reveal or expose any weakness in our wife to anybody. 1:03:31 Uh if you're desperately seeking counsel, advice in some area then you can share it with the elder in whom you have maximum confidence that he will keep it totally confidential and that he will not look down upon your wife from 1:03:47 that day onwards. If you find an elder like that, go to that person and if not in your town, find someone somewhere else. But don't reveal the weaknesses of your wife. You must preserve her honor. That's an important responsibility. 1:04:03 That's part of you know the who was that one who I think who told Abraham you're a wife's covering. We have to we covering to cover her weaknesses. Is it okay for a believer to use medical professional health therapy counseling 1:04:22 as recommended for others or mental is health issues like depression, anxiety disorder, ADHD, OCD, post-traumatic stress disorder? Yeah, it's perfectly all right to use medical professional help. Of course, 1:04:40 man is spirit, soul, which is mind and body. So in the spirit is the heart and uh walk with God there we can only get counsel from a godly man but our spirit can be affect heart can be affected by things in our body and 1:04:59 mind that that depression can come into the heart and we can behave in an uncristlike way. So if there's a physical weakness, even if you have an injury in the body or a hurt, you can go to a doctor and get that treated. In the 1:05:14 same way uh with mental ailments like this to tell you honestly, I don't know much about how mental ailments are treated. I recognize that there are people who have emotional issues and sometimes which makes them mentally weak or 1:05:33 emotionally weak. or in that temperament. Some are more self-conscious about different things and they have anxiety disorders. I don't know anything about that. But I would not let any such person feel condemned 1:05:51 and to just say you shouldn't be anxious. The Bible says you shouldn't be anxious is not the way to help anybody's healing. We have to be sympathetic with someone who's struggling because even a person who's defeated by sin and 1:06:05 we have to be sympathetic and say well God will help you let's overcome it and we shouldn't just find a verse to quote for someone who's having problems in mental or with anxiety or depression or to say no the Bible says rejoice in 1:06:22 the Lord always the person may have be having a problem there which we cannot fully understand. So if they are not strong enough to get their answer from the Lord directly particularly in these inner matters then I suppose it's right to go to a some 1:06:41 doctor who can help them with their mental situation just like we'd go to a doctor with their their physical situation. >> There's nothing wrong in that. As a church and especially as a father, I struggle with knowing how to protect 1:06:58 my family from worldliness concerning how my children dress, what to do for entertainment without becoming legalistic. Can you provide some practical guidance in this? Yeah, I personally believe that we should teach our daughters to be 1:07:16 modestly dressed. It's a very important testimony for a Christian family and particularly in this country you see the amount of exposure of female bodies. It's pathetic. 1:07:36 It's satanic. Just provoking going around provoking men to sin. Tempted tempted everywhere they go. They don't those women don't realize it. Many of many of them do. Maybe they want to tempt people to be 1:07:54 attracted by their body. So in such a world we should not allow our children to follow those examples. We have to tell our daughters that's not the way a Christian dresses. I used to tell in Bangalore I say you young girls 1:08:09 even young wives sometimes young wives are also careless in the way they dress and expose parts of their body with low cut blouses and things like that. I would say I this is what I used to say. Imagine Jesus was living in our hometown 1:08:26 and sent you a message. Can you come home at 10:00? I want to go to the marketplace with you. I want to walk with you in the marketplace. How would you dress? Dress like that every day. Not only when you go to church, especially when you go 1:08:42 to work. Don't you want Jesus to go with you to your place of work? >> You need him more there than in church. Then think of that that you're going to walk with Jesus today into town and he should not be embarrassed that you're walking with him the way 1:08:59 you're dressed. So I say, I'm not going to come with a measuring tape to check whether your dress is good enough. No, I'm not a tailor. I'm a servant of God. And uh but you ask yourself this question. And I'm not going to tell you to say you 1:09:18 yourself know. And and then if you don't, you're not sure. I say don't ask your mother. Ask your father because he's a man. He knows what men are tempted by. Your mother may not know what a man is tempted by. So I would ask a girl, ask your dad, "Dad, 1:09:36 did this will this type of dress of mine tempt men?" Dad should tell them. Yeah, I think it's too tight. It's showing your body too much or exposed too much when you go out. That's okay. Those type of shorts are okay if 1:09:54 you're playing soccer or something, but not when you go to church or go for a walk or something like that. Be more modestly dressed. So, we have to be firm in telling them and that's how we can protect them from and entertainment. We 1:10:09 have to be very careful if you I'm not against movies. I think I'm against almost all Hollywood movies. But there are some good Christian movies. But I would say don't show anything to the family. 1:10:27 If you haven't watched it yourself or if at least you're not 100% sure, there will not be anything in this uh it's produced by some good Christian organization. And so that's uh I can show it even if I'm not seen through it. 1:10:44 But if it is by another some other organization and there somebody tells you there's a very beautiful Christian story there, better check it out yourself. That's the safest thing before you let children see it. Because you don't want to suddenly have 1:10:58 a scene which say oh boy I wish they didn't see that and then fast forward they've already seen it. So to avoid that embarrassment it's better to check through it or ask somebody else who has seen it. Is there anything that you saw there which is not 1:11:14 good? Yeah. We live in a world where we need that type of care. Can you provide some practical guidance on how to lead our families in modesty? For example, I grew up in I already spoken on that um in a legalistic culture where we were taught 1:11:31 that women should not wear pants based on Deuteronomy 22:5. I don't go to Deuteronomy 22 for anything. But >> I go to one Peter chapter 3. But as I've been around CFC circles, 1:11:52 I've seen spiritually minded women dressed modestly in pants. Well, there are pants and there are pants as they said, as they say. You know what I mean? There are pants that are modest and there are pants that 1:12:11 are really modest. You know in north India everybody every woman wears a pant from childhood. Uh it's called a pajama you know it's the same as like what you wear in the night but that's what they dress. It's a 1:12:30 thin it's not thick material. It's a thin material but it's exactly like a pajama pant but it's not tight. It's loose. And in Malaysia, the Chinese women, they wear something like that. That's a normal dress. So that's why the Bible doesn't specify 1:12:49 any particular type of dress. It must be modest. That's the main thing it says. So I don't know. But anything that's tight and body fitting I say is risky for a woman. Anything that exposes 1:13:08 from provocative part of the body is and yet I I think you know I've seen a lot of Indians who come here and say boy look at the way these women dress with these type of dresses. 1:13:28 A lot of if you come to India almost every woman they wear a blouse and a sari you know they all have their midrifts exposed about 3 in of their midriff is exposed every single woman in India I mean my wife is very careful about that she she 1:13:46 couldn't get any tailor in India to make blouses of that length so she added on those pieces herself in order to be modest so that her midriff is not exposed but Almost every woman in India does it and I've had westerners who come 1:14:01 here and say we're not tempted by tight pants but we are tempted by these exposed midrifts. So as an Indian coming here says we're not bothered about midrifts we exposed tempted by these tight pants. It's a question of what one is used to. 1:14:19 So I would not I've decided I'm not going to judge anyone but be careful. just make sure that you don't create you know if people's eyes are continually used to something then they're not tempted by it anymore so in each country it's a little 1:14:36 different than other countries so I would not make a for example sleeveless in India if a person wears a sleeveless blouse they really think it is worldly but perhaps not here I don't know it depends uh so I would not make judgment 1:14:51 just make sure that inquire around but better to be on the safer If you're in doubt, choose a safer path rather than, you know, say, "Okay, that's permitted." Not like that. And if you're in doubt, discuss it with your elders. Some doctrines are becoming 1:15:10 popular today on teachings on deliverance, like casting out a spirit of anger or lust, tearing down spiritual strongholds. This is not casting out demons, which is in the Bible. This is casting out a spirit of anger in a 1:15:20 person, a spirit of lust. That is absolute nonsense. Anger and lust are sins. They have to be crucified. You cannot cast it out. I wish it were so easy to I've cast out numerous demons in my life, but never a demon of anger or lust. There's no such 1:15:39 thing. It's an actual devil living inside that person. And you tell that devil in the name of Jesus, get out, and it goes. But anger doesn't go like that. Anger is in the flesh. >> It's not in the spirit. It's not a It's 1:15:52 not a demon. And so there's a lot of that teaching is completely wrong. You'll never find it in the Bible. That's why you need to know the scriptures and then you won't be deceived. So uh well can you show biblical evidence 1:16:07 that that is wrong? The clearest proof is that you never see Jesus casting out such a spirit of anger or lust from anybody. He said you must put it to death. If you through the spirit put to death Romans 8:13 the deeds of the body you will 1:16:21 live. It's very clear those deeds of the body are anger, lust, everything you got through the Holy Spirit put it to death. It's not it's not it's not a spirit of anger that is to be cast out. Okay? If I have forgiven a person, but I still have 1:16:35 resentment when I think about that person, does that mean I'm not forgiven? No. You have no control over your memory. You will remember if you got a good memory, you may even remember what you did as as a 5-year-old or you had a scrap or a fight with your 1:16:50 brother or somebody when you were seven or eight years old. You remember it, but it doesn't mean you got something against him. We have got we have no control over our me me the what we retain in our memory. The sins we have 1:17:01 committed which you have repented of probably a hundred times and asked God to forgiven you and he's forgiven you. He's blotted it out. You've cleansed in the blood of Christ but in your memory it is there. You probably even remember 1:17:13 where you committed that sin and with whom you committed that person. It's all there. You can't avoid it because God has made it such that our memory is not wiped out. Memory of past failure is not wiped out. It's there. And sometimes 1:17:29 it's good to say, Lord, I'm thankful that you delivered such a wretch like me from uh such sins. In fact, there's a verse in second Peter chapter 1 which says, Uh second Peter chapter 1 1:17:53 verse 9 it says if you lack these qualities you're blind or shortsighted. Second Peter 1:9 having forgotten his purification from his former sins. So it says there we should not forget our purification from our former sins 1:18:12 even though the Lord says I don't remember it. Hebrews 8:12 is one of the parts of the new covenant. Their sins and iniquities I'll remember no more. Does it mean God has forgotten it? No. He says I choose not to remember it. 1:18:26 That's the right way to understand it. But God hasn't forgotten. You think God has forgotten the sins you and I committed in our younger days? Not at all. And the proof of it is in that story of the man who was forgiven a 1:18:40 million dollars and when caught another fellow by the throat who owed him $10 and the king said come back. And even though he was forgiven that million dollars, he said, "No, you got to pay it up now." Which means God remembers this 1:18:57 guy owes me a million dollars. So it's not that God forgot it. He chose not to remember it. But if you go and don't forgive somebody else, God will bring it all back into your account. But it's there in our memory and we must not 1:19:11 forget what we have been uh forgiven. It's very good. I I I many times I think of what all God's forgiven me. It's increased my tremendous gratitude to God when I remember. So I'm thankful that I've not forgotten all the wretched 1:19:24 things God has forgiven me for. But I'm not condemned by any one of them because I know the blood of Christ has blotted it out completely. So you should never be condemned by your past but it's good to remember to be grateful to God 1:19:38 for what he's done. So if you remember something that uh somebody did to you even though you've forgiven it doesn't mean that you have not forgiven him. Okay. The last question. How do how did the Lord help you to be bold enough to stand up for 1:19:53 him when you were young in the Navy when your friends and your bosses didn't like it? I don't know. I used to meditate a lot on the cross. And I did ask the Lord to fill me with the Holy Spirit. When I was in 1963, about two years after my baptism, I was 1:20:11 in a brethren assembly where they never talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit. They just said, "You receive the spirit when you're born again. That's it." But I realized there was something missing. So I went to the Pentecostal 1:20:21 and there I found a lot of yelling and screaming and I said, "This is not it." So I began to see God on my own. And that's the time the Lord showed me the close connection. When I was 23 years old, God opened my eyes to see the 1:20:33 connection between the way of the cross and being filled with the spirit. And the way the Lord showed it to me was when did Jesus get anointed with the Holy Spirit? He had the spirit from baby as a baby, but he was anointed to the spirit when 1:20:46 he chose to submit himself symbolically baptism to be put down to death by other people and raised up by the father. That willingness to submit. He did not raise himself up. That is somebody else's business. I don't raise myself. 1:21:03 God will do that. My duty is to submit when people put me to death. That's baptism. Yes, Lord. I accept it. And the Lord said to me that day, I never forgotten it till now. As long as you walk this way, you will have my 1:21:19 anointing upon you. The day you choose to go out of this way, my anointing will also depart from you. That is why I see in my life anyway a very close relationship between walking the way of the cross and the anointing of the Holy 1:21:34 Spirit. And I have never forgotten it. And in the days since that day, I've not walked perfectly since that time because of a lack of fellowship during a certain period in my Christian life when I was rejected by people who I respected a 1:21:50 lot. I went through a period of turmoil between the ages of 30 and 35. That was my wilderness period. uh is exactly like the wilderness period of the Israelites and the wilderness period of Moses in the wilderness and Jacob 20 years in Clay at that period 1:22:08 that and a period that a lot of people seem to go through until the Lord brought me through when I was 35 years old into a genuine fresh anointing and baptism in the Holy Spirit. And that's why I know the spirit filling is 1:22:22 something not once for all it's again and again and again. If you backslide a little, you got to come back and be filled with the spirit again. So I can only say that that gave me a little boldness and I saw the connection 1:22:35 between the way of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit and I wanted the power of the Holy Spirit. I said Lord and then I used to meditate a lot. This is what helped me meditate a lot on how Jesus hanging in an underwear. 1:22:48 I mean I'd be so ashamed to be seen walking in an underwear. And imagine displayed publicly before supposeding somebody who's filming me in an underwear and showing me in an underwear to I 1:23:06 wouldn't want anybody to see uh me in an underwear. I'm not talking of short shot shorts is much less than that an underwear. And Jesus hung there in an underwear and everybody gazed and mocked and 1:23:24 laughed at him. I used to meditate on it and I said, "Lord, that was for me. I will never be ashamed of you. You were not ashamed of me." That's the thing that helped me not to be ashamed. When I preached in the streets when I was 24 1:23:40 years old and when I was I had to say to my senior officer, "Sir, I'm a Christian. I can't sign that statement. It goes against my conscience. And I was willing to suffer it always. I think Jesus hung in an underwear there 1:23:57 for me. He was not ashamed. I will I said, "Lord, I will not be ashamed in any situation to stand up for you." So, it's the meditation on the cross which I've continued uh before the Lord. I can say I I've continued for all these 66 1:24:12 years. The main thing Jesus, the Lord, taught me to meditate on was the cross of Christ from the beginning till today. And I'm still I don't believe I have plumbed the depths of what it means to be crucified with Christ. I want to 1:24:26 discover more. But it changed my life completely. So I would urge you meditate on the cross and what Jesus suffered, the shame and all that. And then it'll be easy for you to stand up and say, "No, I mean I was willing to lose my 1:24:39 job." Sure. In the Navy, you don't just lose your job. You stand against your superior officer, you get imprisoned because that's a punishment in the Navy. You have court marshal first and then you go to prison next because of 1:24:51 disobedience. Disobedience is a very serious thing. So I said, Lord, that's fine. I'm ready to go to prison, but I will not go against my conscience. But it was always the meditation on the cross that helped me. So that's the last 1:25:04 question. If anybody else has anything to ask or anything clarify, please ask. I would say depending on their age in the early stages it is only two things I expected of my 1:25:22 children that is obedience to parents and speaking the truth. I didn't care if they broke things or even anger and all. I would overlook a lot take time to overcome it. I think of how long it took me to overcome it. So I 1:25:42 can be patient with them. But u honesty, absolute honesty. I would, you know, insist on that. And I would sometimes persist with a child. Tell me the truth. I'm not going to leave you till you tell me the truth. And uh the other is 1:25:58 obedience to parents. I mean, if one of my boys spoke rudely to mommy, they'd be afraid to speak rudely to me, usually to mama. And if they spoke rudely, I said, "Drop whatever you're doing. Go and apologize to mommy, then come back and 1:26:15 do your work. I don't care how important a work you're doing. You cannot speak rudely to your parents." I was very strict on that. And uh as I said being totally honest if you did something wrong just admit I'm not going to punish 1:26:29 you. If you're but if you're dishonest that's serious. Tell me the truth. So those are the two things I start with. And as they grow up we have to teach them more and more to be unselfish. You know when you have a number of 1:26:43 children the tendency is to think of myself first to grab the biggest piece of cake or do something where I want the best for myself. So we have to teach the older children now deny yourself and let your younger ones have an opportunity 1:27:01 and be unselfish and be an example to the others. And so the and as they grow up more and more you got to teach them importance of um not fighting when they go to school with others even if other people want to come to fight just avoid it and don't 1:27:17 get in an argument just avoid them and go somewhere else and yeah it won't be easy but gradually you can get used to that type of your children will get used to it and I believe they'll become better and better and very early in life, we must 1:27:36 ask them to ask Jesus to come into their heart to receive Christ even if they are three years old and uh and whenever they need help to ask Jesus to help them because Jesus is with them wherever they go. Those are just a few 1:27:50 guidelines. If you feel that at least they have the bare minimum in a church of preaching the new birth and being born again and you feel that even though they don't have all the light that at least they 1:28:09 are children of God and they you can call them your brother or sister in Christ I would say go to such a church just so that you don't become lonely but don't don't absorb everything they teach don't give your money in that church and 1:28:29 uh and pray that God will lead you to one family or one person. >> Yeah. >> Who could possibly uh be really serious and then you'll have an opportunity when God leads you to such a person. Yes, >> share with him the truths that have 1:28:49 blessed you and maybe invite him home and sit together and listen to a tape together and uh ask him what do you think of that and ask God to give you one person and then maybe after that two people >> and then if you have two or three you 1:29:05 have a church. >> Yes sir. And so that's what I would recommend. But uh to avoid loneliness, it's good to go to a church where at least they are preaching being born again if they are not don't have all the other things. But I would not advise you 1:29:22 to go to places where their emphasis is always on money. Give your money, give your money and and always on too much of this loud shouting and banging drums and all type of music. That's but if you find god-fearing born again people even 1:29:37 in a small group ask God to lead you to them. You don't have to agree with everything they say but at least they are born again children of God and ask God to lead you and guide you and then close to one of them invite him home and 1:29:54 try and get close and God can lead you. That is how many many churches have been built in in India in the villages of India. They start with one person and I this is the advice I've given them that they go to some church or another and 1:30:10 they get one person and then they start meeting with that person another person and gradually it becomes a local church. That's how many of the CFC churches have been formed starting with one and two and three many of the villages in India 1:30:26 and towns and for your other fellowship please continue to do what you're doing right now to join in on zoom >> to you're attending the church here with your zoom and YouTube. [Music]
