0:00 [Music] Some years ago, I shared a message here about the type of faith that 0:18 helps us to be overcomers. I want to share a little bit along that line today. In Romans chapter 10 and verse 17, we read that faith comes by hearing 0:48 and hearing by the word of Christ. So if you're not, the word of Christ is the New Testament message, the new covenant message. So if you're not familiar with the new covenant message, you can't 1:05 have faith. So the word of God referred the word of Christ is the new covenant message. And hearing refers to hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to our hearts. 1:23 You can hear a message and you may not hear the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart because you're not sensitive. Or if you got a grudge against somebody and there's a blockage or there's some worry that you're worried about in your mind, you can't 1:41 hear what the Holy Spirit's saying. So there are things that can block the Holy Spirit speaking to you. So you got to make sure that your heart is clear, your conscience is clear. Then we can hear what the Holy Spirit is 1:54 saying. Otherwise, we can miss something that the spirit of God is trying to tell us. So faith comes by hearing the Holy Spirit and hearing particularly the new covenant message. Then the other thing you notice here in Romans 10 is 2:13 that there's a connection between our heart and our mouth and what we believe in our heart and we confess with our mouth. See Romans 10 verse 9. Well let's begin a little earlier in verse 8. What is the verse verse 6? The 2:32 righteousness based on faith speaks as follows. There are a number of things and one of the things it says in verse 8 is the word is near you the word of God in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are 2:49 preaching. So mouth and heart are both involved. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. Now apply this to everything that we believe. 3:09 With the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. This is why we stress in the church that it is very important to 3:27 confess what we believe. That's why we encourage everyone to testify about their faith. That's why we encourage even little children to come up here and repeat a memory verse so that as they grow up, they will 3:46 gradually get used to confessing the word of God. Not just believing it in their heart, but confessing with their mouth. And that is why I say your faith will become stronger if you speak with your mouth to people in your office or place of 4:03 work or wherever, friends, relatives, everything, everyone about your faith. And many people their faith stagnates or disappears because what they believe in their heart, they never talk about it to anybody in their whole life. 4:22 I mean you you can ask yourself there are many things you believe in your heart we sing in the songs singing is a form of confession which is good but singing is a form of confession if we are really singing from our heart 4:40 unto the Lord very often I found in my own life I don't condemn anybody else because I've done it so many times myself where I'm so taken up with the song that I'm not particularly thinking that I'm speaking to the lord or 4:53 speaking to my heavenly father or some songs are just speaking to one another but it doesn't sort of come forth as a confession so that's something I would encourage all of you to develop and it'll come with practice you know everything comes 5:08 with practice if you don't practice it it won't work if you want to ride a bicycle you need to practice if you want to drive a car properly you need to practice and So even this matter of faith if we want to this confession of our mouth when we 5:27 sing or when we even when we join in prayer and say amen there's a confession that I agree with what that brother prayed. So Romans 10 and verse 9 speaks about confessing with our mouth what we believe in our heart. And then 5:47 it goes on to say in verse 10 because with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness. There's an inward righteousness that comes in our heart as soon as we believe. But it it doesn't become manifest in our life 6:00 until we confess with our mouth that results in salvation. I don't understand that verse fully all that it means righteousness and salvation. But I've come to see through the years there's a tremendous difference when we confess with our 6:14 mouth what we believe in our heart. And see, because there's a there's a shame involved in it. In many places where the Christianity is unpopular and Jesus Christ is unpopular, it's it's shameful to confess. People keep quiet because 6:29 they don't want to be embarrassed to be known as an outand-out Christian. I found that as I was a very young man in the Navy, people just don't want to. They'll make fun of you if you speak about Christ. That's the thing that 6:45 strengthened me. I believe I wouldn't have been I wouldn't be here if I was always timid and quiet in those years when I was in the armed forces and I don't think the Lord would have ever called me to serve him. And I want to 6:58 say to all of you, it's good to start when you're young. I started witnessing for Christ when I was young. So even if you're not actively going out and witnessing, when you get an opportunity, be bold to confess with your mouth what 7:12 you believe in your heart. It's a principle that I find that I'm not asking you to go in the streets and preach or to witness to everybody in your office, but don't be ashamed to be known as a Christian wherever you are. 7:26 Don't be ashamed to be known as your to your unconverted relatives that you're a born-again Christian. Don't be ashamed to be known in your office as an upright Christian. You don't have to go and witness to everybody or give out tracks or anything 7:40 but don't be ashamed to admit so that when an opportunity arises we should be bold to say yeah I'm a Christian and I became a Christian through receiving Christ as my savior. So the with the heart we believe resulting in righteousness 7:58 Romans 10:10 and with the mouth we confess which results in salvation. So there are a few things that I listed here which we should confess and that's what I want to speak about and I also want to say that we have to confess not only to 8:17 human beings but to Satan. I don't know how many of you have given your testimony to Satan. Please turn to Revelation chapter 12. You'll never be afraid of Satan if you give your testimony to him. particularly the testimony of what the 8:35 blood of Christ has done for you. Many Christians don't grow in the Christian life. They stagnate. They're almost like children who are perpetually in the kindergarten. You see them 10 years later, they are in the kindergarten. 8:53 And that's because they're not bold to confess Christ. Romans, sorry, Revelation 12, it says here in verse 10, I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Salvation, the kingdom, power, and kingdom of Christ and our God has come." The accuser of 9:11 our brethren, that is Satan, has been cast down who accuse them before God day and night. Do you know that Satan accuses us before God day and night? He's just waiting for opportunity to accuse us. things like God see that 9:26 person there he's sing so loudly in the church but he's ashamed to confess that he's a Christian in his place of work a Christian is he accusation and it says here they overcame Satan the accusations of Satan by the blood of 9:44 the lamb they say the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all sin so the devil cannot touch me but also the word of their testimony not their testimony in the church. It's talking about their testimony to Satan. They overcame Satan by the word of their 10:01 testimony. So, there's a power in speaking the word of our testimony to Satan. I'm not talking about giving him a 10-minute lecture of how you were saved, but testifying to certain facts that you believe. It makes a lot of 10:16 difference when you speak the word of faith. So I want to tell you certain things that we should confess. Uh I've shared this once before some time ago but good to be reminded of it. So the first thing is the first thing 10:33 that we need to confess which we need to which we believe in is from John chapter 17 and verse 23 which I've often said is to me the most important verse in the Bible. Now John 17:23 10:51 the last part that the world may know father that you love them exactly as you love me. Now we've spoken about this many times but it's important for us not just to believe it to confess with your mouth especially to 11:11 Satan and when you get opportunity in a meeting what do you confess God the father loves me as much as he loved Jesus and so I will always rejoice. That's the number one confession we have to make. 11:30 God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus. So I will always rejoice. You know when you believe the when you think of the care that the father in heaven was always watching, how do you think the father was watching 11:50 Jesus on earth all the time? The angels were there around him and the father was watching him all the time. And it's wonderful to know that. I mean, for me anyway, it brought tremendous security in my own life when I discovered that 12:07 I'm loved just as much as he loved Jesus. So if Jesus was walking around in Nazareth, the father was watching him, the angels around him. And if he sent the angels to watch around Jesus, and he loves me as he loved Jesus, and the 12:20 angels are around me as well. Even if I don't see them, they're there. And I believe one day when we get to heaven, we will discover when we see the full video of our whole life, the many times that angels protected us from serious 12:35 accidents where we could have even died and and you thought it was just a coincidence. It wasn't. There were angels around that protected you. So, and that is because God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus. 12:54 And so is it good to ask ourselves, do you really believe that you are as precious in God's eyes as Jesus himself? Think of how precious Jesus is in God the father's eyes. I mean the father and son were together for all eternity. We can't even 13:13 comprehend what that means. God, father, son, and holy spirit together in all eternity. And the father loves Jesus. And to believe that he loves us exactly as much as he loved Jesus. I mean, if Jesus hadn't said it, I wouldn't believe it. But he says in 13:32 John 17:23 that the world must know, the world must know that God in heaven loves me as much as he loved Jesus. So if people look at your life and observe the way you conduct yourself 13:50 and the things that that you're concerned about and worried about, would they get the idea that this man is one who is tremendously loved by God? Let's confess it. God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus. So I'll always 14:10 rejoice. Here's a verse in the Old Testament. Zephaniah 3:17, which has been a precious verse for me in relation to God's love for me. Zephaniah 3 and verse 17. The Lord your God is in your midst. 14:29 He's a victorious warrior over Satan. All the battles that all the fights that Satan comes to attack us with, the Lord is on our side. is a warrior against him and this Lord will exalt over you with joy. It's a tremendous word. 14:48 It's almost unbelievable that a heavenly father is just excited over me. I mean just like a father who's never had a baby for a long time. Imagine if a married couple never had a baby for a long time and if they have a baby after 15:01 10 years and imagine how the father and the mother exalt over that child. That is how it says his he will exalt over you with joy. He will be silent in his love and he'll rejoice over you with shouts of joy. There are times when he's silent in his 15:18 love and there are times when he's shouts over you with joy. You must believe it, brothers. Believe God's word. It make a tremendous difference in your life. all the panic and anxiety and tension and wondering whether God will 15:32 solve that problem and whether he'll see me through that difficulty and I don't know what awaits me and especially what awaits my children in the future. All these fears will disappear if I know that God loves me as he loved Jesus and 15:44 you bring your children to faith in Christ and teach them that God loves them as he loves Jesus. What a wonderful thing it is to be a Christian. So that's number one, confession. We confess with our mouth that God the father loves me as he loved Jesus. So I 16:00 will always rejoice. Okay. The second thing that we need to confess is that God has forgiven me all my sins so I will never live with guilt anymore. God has forgiven me all my sins so I'll 16:19 never live with guilt anymore. I found in the early part of my Christian life, I was always wondering has God really forgiven me and it's I I remember so clearly some years after I was converted, I was standing on the deck of my ship where I 16:39 was working and it hit me the word of God in Hebrews 8:12 and I never forgotten after that. Your sins and iniquities I will not remember 16:57 anymore. I remember still the day I was standing on that deck of the ship and it came home to my heart so powerfully God speaking to my heart saying I will not remember your because I was feeling so guilty about all the wrong things I did 17:12 in my 19 20 years of my life and the Lord says I will not remember them anymore God doesn't remember I don't have to remember it either the devil will seek to plague us with torment us with memories of the stupid, 17:29 foolish things we did, the evil things we did, and the evil things we did to others. But the Bible says that if we confess our sins, 1 John 1 n is faithful and righteous to forgive us 17:47 all our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And the only condition is the condition mentioned in 1 John 1:7 which is we must walk in the light. And walk in the light in simple terms means 18:06 be 100% honest. Take the blame. Very often I believe in many families husbands and wives their sins are not forgiven. 18:24 because they will not take the blame for what they did or said. A husband or a wife may justify himself or herself saying, "Yeah, you needed to hear that." Okay. Well, you can live with that trying to prove that you're right, but your sin won't be forgiven. 18:42 And the devil will have an advantage over you. It's far better to be honest and acknowledge, Lord, I sinned. I should not have spoken like that to my to the one you've given me as my marriage partner for life. I should not 18:58 have spoken like that. And I know numerous husbands and wives who justify themselves say no no no he needed to hear that or she needed to hear that. Okay. You you keep on saying like that and see how miserable your own Christian 19:13 life will be. You'll be a depressed gloomy Christian all your life. You want that? Why not walk in the light and acknowledge, Lord, I'm sorry that's not the way Jesus would behave. Anything which is not the way Jesus would behave is a sin. 19:30 And if you have behaved in a way Jesus would not behave, just admit it. That's a sin. It's amazing how foolish believers can be when the Lord says, "I'll forgive you if you confess it and repent of it." And yet we hang on to try and prove that we 19:45 were right and she was wrong or he was wrong and all that stupidity. The devil really makes fool fools of many believers making them say and do stupid things that take stupid attitudes. Be honest. The Bible says if we walk in 20:03 the light as God is in the light, that in ordinary terms that means if you're absolutely 100% honest, walk in the light means let the light shine clearly into your heart. Don't hide any part of your heart. Don't try to cover up some part of the let the 20:21 light shine brightly into every area of your mind and your heart. And what the Lord shows you, admit it. Confess it. It'll be forgiven. Not only forgiven, the Lord says, "I will not remember it anymore." Isn't that wonderful? It's 20:35 like having been so filthy and full of dirt and muck and going and having a good shower. How fresh you feel when you come out of it. Yet sometimes we like children who have played in the mud and the dirt for so long and we don't want to take a shower 20:52 for some stupid reason. Yeah, we blame children. Why? Why don't you go and have a shower? I tell the parents, why don't you have a shower? Why don't you walk in the light in absolute honesty and get everything, confess everything, get rid of all that 21:05 muck and dirt of sin and have the blood of Jesus cleanse you completely? That's how we are to live every single moment of every single day. That's the only way you can obey the command which says, "Rejoice always because I have no guilt." 21:23 Even if you did something wrong this morning or said something rudely to someone, confess it immediately. Take the blame and say, "Lord, I'm sorry I slipped up." If you're honest like that, I tell you, a time will come when you 21:36 will not be speaking such rude and uh rude things to hurt others. But if you don't confess it, I guarantee you'll say it again. And as long as you keep on justifying yourself and not confessing it, you'll keep on failing. Year after 21:51 year, you'll be failing. And you will imagine that you're a wonderful Christian when you're not. There are a lot of Christians who keep on like that, imagining they're wonderful Christians and one day they end up in hell. Yeah. People who sit in 22:04 churches because of one reason they keep on justifying themselves. That's what the the Lord told the Pharisees, you are those who justify yourselves. Don't ever let that rebuke which the Lord gave the Pharisees, my dear 22:23 brother, sister, may it never be that the Lord has to say that to you. You are those who justify yourselves. Acknowledge your sin. Rejoice and confess. God has forgiven me all my sins, so I will never live with guilt anymore. 22:42 Okay. Number three, God will give me his Holy Spirit's power so I'll be strong enough for every task. You believe that God will help you with his Holy Spirit's power for everything that he wants you to do. He'll give you 23:01 He wants you to live a holy life. He'll give you the Holy Spirit's power. He wants you to serve him effectively. He'll give you the Holy Spirit's power. I'm very conscious of that. I've been preaching for 60 years and I'm very 23:14 conscious of the need for the Holy Spirit's part. I'll tell you whenever I've sought him with a clear conscience, he's always given me the Holy Spirit's power. Right from the time I was 23 years old, make sure your sins are you confess, you 23:32 slip up, you fall, confess it and long, long, long for the power of the Holy Spirit. Lord, I can't do it without you. I mean, I say this even after being a Christian for 66 years. I say, Lord, I I can't live this life without you. It's 23:48 like if a branch has been in a tree for 66 years bearing fruit. What will that branch say? I can't bear one fruit without the depending on the tree even though I've been bearing fruit for 66 years. That is the Christian life. We 24:02 are called to be perpetually dependent on the Lord. And some if someone else is a happier Christian than you, I'll tell you why. It's not because he's he's better than you. It's because he just depends on the Lord more. The fruit of 24:17 happiness comes in his life because he says, "I'm a helpless branch. I just lean on Jesus all the time. I I say, Lord, I can't live without you. I want to depend on you. Depend on you all the time. I want the power of your Holy 24:28 Spirit." So God will give me his spirit's power. And so I will be strong enough for every task. See, God made a plan for your life before you were born from all eternity. It says he chose you and he's made a plan for your life and 24:44 worked out everything that you're supposed to do in your one earthly life. You're not an accident. If you're a child of God, you're certainly not an accident. God chose you before the foundation of the world. He knew that sometime in your 24:57 life, you would accept Christ. And God knew that way back then and he planned a life for you to fulfill. And every detail is taken care of. Even in situations like today where so many people are uncertain, will I be fired 25:13 from my job? Will I lose my job? Where will I get another one? And so many people nowadays great uncertainty in the job market nowadays. Isn't it tremendous security to know that my life was planned before the world was created? 25:30 And while I was in my mother's womb, a teeny weeny speck, God planned my life, every detail of it. And he reveals it to me one by one by one. And there's nothing he cannot control. He taught us to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven, 25:46 thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." In heaven, God's will is done perfectly. Do you think there's any hindrance to do God's will in heaven? You think the devil can stop God's will from being done in heaven? Impossible. 26:05 And Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in my life exactly like it is being done in heaven." And nothing can hinder God's will from being done in heaven. I'm praying that 26:20 that will be like true in my life. And I can certainly say that I've been a Christian for 66 years and I've found in my life that what God wants to do in my life, Satan and men, so many people have opposed me. They have not succeeded in 26:36 preventing me from doing the will of God. No one can. The devil has not succeeded. Ill health will not prevent you. God will heal you. There's nothing that can prevent God's will from being fulfilled in your life if you believe. I'll tell you what 26:53 will prevent it. Your unbelief. You say, "Ah, but I'm not sure." Yeah, then maybe it won't be fulfilled. You keep saying, "I'm not sure whether God will God's will be fulfilled in my life." That is almost like glorifying the devil. It's 27:05 almost saying the devil is so powerful and I don't know whether God can overcome all that he tries to do against me. So, I don't know whether who will win, whether it's God or the devil who's going to win. That's essentially what 27:15 you're saying when you think that something may not work out as God has planned in your life. In other words, God's made a plan for your life, but somehow it may not succeed because the devil is so powerful. Well, if you have 27:26 that type of faith, I assure you, God's will will not be fulfilled in your life. But make the confession that God's he I'm strong enough for every task God's given me. And even the commands that he's given me. For example, think of the tough 27:44 commands in scripture like never lust with your eyes, never get angry with your tongue, love your enemies, always speak the truth, whatever the cost, those are some tough commands in different situations. But if you can say, Lord, with your 28:04 power, it is possible. this what you believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, God will give me his Holy Spirit's power so I'll be strong enough for every task that he has commanded. Let's learn to believe that. 28:24 See this verse in Acts of the Apostles in chapter 10. Acts 10 and verse 38 it says about Jesus. Remember now think of this verse when you when you when you read this verse 28:43 remember the first verse he thought of God loves you as he loved Jesus. Keep that in mind as a foundation. Now read this verse. You know how Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. and apply to 28:59 yourself. And he went about doing good, delivering those who were oppressed by the devil because God was with him. And if God wants you to deliver people who are oppressed by the devil because he loves you as he loved Jesus, 29:17 he'd do the same through you. It's it's a wonderful truth. The Bible says God writes his laws in our mind and in our heart. I want you to turn to that verse in Hebrews. This is part of the new covenant. In Hebrews chapter 8, 29:38 Hebrews in chapter 8, it says verse 10, last part. This is the covenant I make. I will, last part of verse 10, I will put my law into their mind and I'll write them in their heart. 29:57 The mind is where he informs us what his will is and the heart is where he gives us the strength to do his will. Grace comes in the heart. For example, it says in Hebrews 13 and verse 9, it is good for the heart to be strengthened by 30:16 grace. So God strengthens the heart by grace to do his will. And he tells us in his mind in our mind what his will is. He instructs us and strengthens us. You see the same thing is mentioned in Philippians in chapter 2. 30:34 See the reason I'm showing you all these scriptures is so that your faith will be founded on God's word, God's unchangeable word. See what it says in Philippians 2. Philippians 2:13. 30:52 God is at work in you to make you will his good pleasure that is in your mind and to work his good pleasure that he strengthens in your heart to do it. That means he gives you a desire to do it and the ability to do it. We need desire and 31:10 ability. So he gives us in our he instructs us in our mind what his will is and gives us the desire to do. I believe I believe that almost all of you I want to believe that all of you have the desire to do God's will because you know God's will 31:24 is the best for your life. I'm sure all of you you wouldn't be sitting here if you don't have a desire to do God's will. You have a sincere desire to do God's will. I believe that. But you you have a question whether do I have the 31:37 ability to do it. Here it says he will write his law in your mind and in your heart. one that means he make you will to choose his will and then he'll help you to do his will that's the meaning of he works in you to Philippians 2:13 to will and work for 31:55 his good pleasure means he first of all he'll give you the desire to do his will in your mind and then he'll give you the ability to do his will in your in your heart so you can confess it God will give me his spirit's power so I'll be strong 32:09 enough for every task that he has appointed okay number four God has determined my boundaries so I will always be content. God has determined my boundaries 32:26 so I will always be content. See very often you look at what somebody else has better house or a better car or a better job or more pleasant circumstances. And you say, "Boy, I wish I could be like that. 32:45 But God has drawn a boundary around you. It's a different boundary around him. Please turn to Acts of the Apostles and chapter 33:02 17. Acts 17. It says in Acts 17:26, God has made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth. And he has determined their 33:21 appointed times and the boundaries of their habitations so that they would seek if perhaps they might grope for him and find him though he's not far from each one of us. So what I learned from that is not only the boundary of which country you used 33:36 to be born in but the circumstances of our life. God has drawn a certain boundary and has determined my boundaries. So don't be jealous of somebody else whom God has drawn a bigger boundary around. Oh, he can do so many things. Well, 33:54 God's drawn a smaller boundary around you. He's satisfied there. You're very safe there. If you envy that person, see, I wish what he had have what he had, you're going to get into a lot of trouble because God hasn't allowed, God 34:08 hasn't drawn such a big boundary for you. So often envy comes because I want to have what he had. But God has drawn a certain boundary around him and he's got to work within that and God has drawn a certain boundary around you. You got to 34:20 work within this. For example, just take man and woman. God's drawn a limited boundary around women. what they can do. They've got to bear children and be very often tied to the home. And God's drawn a bigger boundary around your husband where he 34:33 can move around more and go to office and work and so many things. There are different boundaries that God has drawn for each of us. And exactly like there are different boundaries for a husband and wife, there are different boundaries 34:45 for one brother and another. And I must be satisfied with the boundary. If you can say it is God who has determined my boundaries and so I will always be content. Please remember that all your life 35:05 and then you'll have no complaints. Very often complaints come because I think I need to go out there and God has not allowed you to go there. This boundary limits you. So if you believe this, it says in Hebrews in chapter 13 35:25 and verses 5, the middle of verse 5, God himself has said, "I will never desert you. I will never forsake you." Imagine that. Imagine if you can really 35:43 hear God saying that to you personally today. I will never desert you. I will never forsake you. Then we can boldly say the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid what any man can do to me. 36:03 What a wonderful conf confession that is. And that also applies to different spiritual gifts. You know in 1 Corinthians 12 it says God has given different gifts to different people. If he is, it is he who determines that 36:18 somebody's got a gift, for example, the gift of preaching. Many people would like to have a gift of preaching, but if God doesn't give it to you, you can't do it. You may not believe it, but I was the shiest and most withdrawn person in my 36:34 school as a young boy. But when God gives you a gift and fills you with the Holy Spirit, you begin to become bold and be able to do things that you could never think of doing otherwise. Nobody would have ever said when I was 36:47 in in school that I'd ever turn out to be a preacher because I was so reserved and withdrawn. I say I want to say this to you also. I'm not saying God will make you a preacher. But if he's got a gift or a function for you in the body of Christ, 37:02 nobody can stop you from fulfilling that. You must believe he'll equip you for that. So always be content and never be jealous. And I'll tell you I'm not jealous of any preacher in the world. You will not be jealous of anybody because you see God 37:20 has given me this gift and God's not given another person another gift. Think for example the right hand with which we do many things is not the left hand is not jealous that my right hand signs all the checks and does all the important 37:32 writing. No, it's not jealous. It's cooperative. Cooperating. If the right hand is injured, the left hand immediately comes to help. There's zero jealousy. wants to help the right hand quickly to come back to do the work. 37:44 Imagine if you find a church like this where there's zero jealousy because you're so happy that somebody can fulfill a certain function which you cannot and that if he is hindered in some way you're eager to pray that he'll 37:56 be restored quickly to come back to that function just like the left hand will be do everything to the right hand is injured oh we must put a bandage around it put medicine on it heal so that it quickly can come back to do the work 38:08 which the left hand can never do. If you're a brother or sister like that in the church, can you imagine what this church will be like? You say, "I don't have that gift which that brother has. So, I want to do everything to support 38:18 him to fulfill that gift or I don't have that gift that sister has. I want to do everything to support that." Imagine if every one of us were like this in the church, completely content with the gift God has given us and the limitations, 38:31 the circle God has drawn around us and eager to help somebody else who's got a much better ministry and much more important ministry perhaps in this body. It'll make a world of difference. This thing is in I find in so many churches 38:45 there's jealousy and competition because they don't realize boundaries. They don't realize it is almighty God who has drawn a boundary and they live their whole life in unhappiness and dissatisfaction. So please keep that in mind dear 39:01 brother. There'll be no competition with anybody. There'll be no jealousy of anyone when you recognize what your gift is. Okay. Number five. God's commands are all for my good. So I want to obey all of God's commands 39:20 always. Do you believe that God's commands are all for my good? That every command he has given? Do you know that anger destroys you? Do you know that sexual lust in your mind destroys you? It's wearing it's 39:40 it's like a form of poison. You wouldn't think of drinking poison if you knew some some food was poisonous. or full of a lot of germs, you'd be so careful not to touch it. People are so careful to make sure that there are no 39:56 germs in their food. Boy, if we were as just as careful with our thought life like that, imagine what holy people we we'd be by now. But there are germs. I mean, spiritually things that destroy our thought life. We don't see them as 40:11 germs. Why do we we go and eat that? Eat those germs. People who watch pornography or see things on the internet, it's like pouring germs into your food. I'm going to eat germs in my food. Can you imagine anybody so crazy? 40:25 There not enough germs in my food. Let's add some more. That'll destroy my body a little more. This is the stupidity of people who go to the internet and watch all types of rubbish. It's exactly like pouring poison into your food. 40:39 Please remember that next time. Every command of God is for my good. When God says to keep my eyes pure and my thoughts pure, it is for my good to prevent me from ruining myself. It's poison. And because God's commands are all for 40:55 my good, I want to obey all of them. For example, take the command that God gives us to forgive others. If you believe that to forgive others is very good for your health, for your physical health, I mean, not only spiritual health, 41:13 you sleep peacefully at night. Haven't many of you had the experience of tossing around at night thinking about somebody who troubled you or how you're going to reply someone and what you going to thinking somebody who's 41:28 made life a little miserable for your family or all those things and you got all those bad thoughts against somebody and you who who's the one who's losing that guy is sleeping peacefully but you can't sleep it's absolute stupidity 41:43 when God says forgive everyone exactly as I forgive you. That command is for your good and my good. I learned that some years ago, many years ago, I decided I will never go to bed with any slightest wee bit of bitterness against 42:02 any human being in the whole world. And I'll tell you something, as a servant of the Lord, I faced more opposition than any of you have faced because the devil hates me. But that and provokes a lot of people to irritate me 42:17 and trouble me and harass me in any ways. But I've forgiven every one of them. Many people have harmed me and tried to do harm to me. I've forgiven every one of them. I can stand before God and say that. And therefore I'm a 42:29 very happy man. And that's just one of the commands. And I'll tell you this, if you're interested in physical health, forgiveness is a very, very good thing for physical health. Freedom from anxiety is another very good thing for your 42:47 physical health. And when the Bible says be anxious for nothing, you know where that verse is in Philippians 4:6. Do you believe that God will 43:06 give you a command that is impossible for you to fulfill? Would you ask your little boy to lift a weight of one ton? Come on, lift up that and rebuke him because he can't lift that one ton weight. Even an evil father won't do 43:22 that. And sometimes unconsciously we accuse God of being an evil father that he has given commands in the scripture which are almost impossible to obey. Really be anxious for nothing. Philippians 4:6. Are you accusing God that that is 43:41 impossible to obey that Lord? You don't know the world in which we live. There's so many things that cause anxiety. Yeah. I love that verse in Psalm 16. Psalm 16 is one of the wonderful Psalms in the Old Testament. The many wonderful 43:59 verses there. And one of the things it says in Psalm 16 is 44:15 Psalm 16 verse 8. I have set the Lord continually before me and because he's at my right hand, I will never be shaken by anxiety or by fear. 44:34 What are the things that shake us? Anxiety and fear. But I've set Jesus in front of me all the time. And he's also at my right hand. Right hand means to strengthen me. So I will never be shaken. I will never be anxious. My heart will always be 44:51 glad. Verse n. And my I will dwell in security in perfect security. And verse 11, in your presence is fullness of joy. It's a tremendous sound. 45:10 And so he says in verse 7, I will bless the Lord. Even sickness and trials are permitted by the Lord in our life to develop our character to make us sympathize with other people who go through trials. God allows us to 45:29 be sick. He allows trials to come into our life but he will never allow any trial to come that's too much for us. See that's a promise we must believe. See one one Corinthians in chapter 10. Remember these scriptures 45:48 and if you haven't written them all down, you can listen to this tape later on and write it down. But these verses that I'm quoting are very good verses that you must remember by heart and keep them in memory because they you can use them in times 46:02 when the devil tempts you to unbelief. 1 Corinthians 10:13 in the middle of that verse, God is faithful who will never allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. And the example I always use in this 46:21 connection is if you're studying in the fourth grade in the final examination, you will get a fourth grade question paper. You will not get a seventh grade or an eighth grade question paper. You will not even get a fifth grade question paper. You 46:36 will get a fourth grade question paper in your examination because you're in the fourth grade. When you go to the fifth grade next year, you'll get a fifth grade question paper. It's it's as simple as that. God will not allow you 46:49 to be get a test which is above what you have studied, how much you're capable of handling. So look at all the trials that have come into your life. I mean, I'm talking about if you're a committed Christian, if your aim in life is to make money, if 47:03 that's your main goal in life, oh, you may have 101 trials that you can't handle or if you got some other goal and ambition in life which is outside of God's will for your life. You may have many, many problems, many, many trials. 47:15 People do face many problems and trials because they go into areas where God has never wants them to go into. But if you're content with what God says, I want your will for my life to be fulfilled. I can assure you this verse 47:28 will be true that never in your life will you face a trial which is too much for you to bear. You will all all of God's commands are for your good. He'll never give us anything that's not good for us. 47:45 Okay, let me go to number six. It leads on from this. God controls all people and events that affect me. God controls all people and events that affect me. So I will always give thanks. 48:05 You know the Bible cannot tell me to give thanks always if I think this thing is going to harm me. How can I give thanks for something that can harm me? No. But I will always give thanks because every event and the people who come 48:24 across my life, everything that affects me is something that will work for my good. Now if I believe that every single thing, the smallest little thing, the biggest little thing that happens to me in one day is for my good, I'll be just 48:39 giving thanks the whole day. Lord, this is for my good. Now you may not appreciate that. You may not understand sometimes like I use the example of the mother taking the child to school for the first day of his life in in India 48:53 sometimes they take the child to school when they are 3 years old to the lowest lower kindergarten class and that child doesn't know he's going to be left in that maybe it's only a two-hour school or something but it's going to be left 49:09 there and that child's never been away from his mom and dad and so mama takes takes the child to the school and leaves the child at the door and and the child thinks he's going to go back home with mommy and he's left there and mama says 49:22 goodbye and starts crying. You want to leave me alone here? 20 years later the child will thank his mother that he didn't she didn't take her take him home. He would never got an education. So it looks as if sometimes God has forsaken me. He hasn't. He's 49:41 giving you an education. Just like that mother leaves that child in the kindergarten to learn something. Years later, we understand he will never allow something to happen to us that's going to harm us in any way. It's always for my good. And that is why I 50:00 will always give thanks for everything. You know the command in Ephesians in chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18, be filled with the spirit. 50:21 And then verse 20, always give thanks for all things. I mean this is absolute 24 hours a day I can give thanks for everything that comes into my life because there's no problem he cannot solve and the Bible says if we seek his 50:37 kingdom first all the other things will be added to us see that's the other thing we can be afraid of that we can we may not have any enough resources for our life on this earth but the promise in Matthew 6:33 is seek the kingdom of God first and his 50:56 righteousness and everything you need on earth will be added to you. He may not make you a millionaire. Well, thank God if he doesn't, but he'll provide everything that you need. It's a promise. It's pro. It's mean thousands and millions of 51:12 believers have proved it in these 20 centuries since Jesus spoke those words. Seek the kingdom of God first. And now let me explain to you what the kingdom of God is. The kingdom of God seek, you know, when I was young and I heard seek 51:28 the kingdom of God first and people didn't explain it to me. I thought it meant I must go out and preach the gospel. That's not it. Some of them may not be called to preach the gospel. The kingdom of God is described in Romans 14 and 51:42 verse 17. You've heard me say this many times. I'll repeat it again for those who haven't seen it before. Seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness. What is that? It does not mean go and preach the gospel because 51:58 some people have that ability, some people don't. The kingdom of God, Romans 14:17 says, is is defined here as righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So what does it mean when it says seek the kingdom of God first? Not telling you to 52:16 go and become a missionary. He's not even telling you to witness in your office. He's just telling you to seek for righteousness. Be upright. Don't do anything wrong. Seek for the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit. Seek that the Holy Spirit will 52:30 fill your heart with peace and joy. Seek that. If you don't have it, seek for it. In our normal state, we don't have peace and we don't have joy and we don't have righteousness. Righteousness and peace and joy are not characteristic of the 52:42 race of Adam. So we have to seek for it. Lord, I want this. I want to be 100% righteous in my life. Don't that's not a scary thing. If I were to ask you, would you like 100% health? Oh, are you scared? 100% health. I'd like to have a little sickness. No. 53:01 Just like righteousness is spiritual health. And just like you want 100% physical health in your body, I believe we should desire 100% righteousness in our life too. Lord, I never want to do anything wrong. I never want to speak 53:18 something which hurts you. I never want to have thoughts which are bad. I want to be because it's for my good. To have thought bad thoughts is like eating poison to any type of unrighteousness is poison. And it's only a foolish person 53:35 who will eat poison and drink poison. Why so many world keep so many people keep bad thoughts in their mind? I don't know why people keep bitter thoughts against other people. I don't know. They would never drink poison like that for 53:48 their body. That's exactly what they doing to their mind. And no wonder they have so many other problems in their life. And they wonder why this is why God doesn't do this, why God doesn't do that. I'll tell you, he'll do everything 54:02 for you if you seek for righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. I'm testifying to that after 60 years of full-time Christian work where I never received a salary from anybody and I trusted God for everything. He will 54:15 never never let you down. I assure you. You seek for righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and you you will have a testimony in the days to come. You will have a testimony that you can tell your children that they can trust 54:30 God in their generation. So seek God is able to control all people events that affect me. So I will always give thanks. As you honor God, he will honor you. Problems that you come that come your way, he's able to solve every one of 54:47 them. I tell you, the Christian life is a wonderful life. Okay. Number seven. Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power so I'll never be afraid. There are two things that happened on the cross. Well, we can say more than 55:07 two things. Uh first of all, our sins were forgiven on the cross. The blood of Jesus was shed for the forgiveness, removal of guilt of all my sin. And then our old man, the man that's the inner man that wants 55:26 to sin, it's called the old man in scripture, was crucified on the cross. It says there in Romans 6. Our old man was crucified with him. Romans 6:6. So if you allow that, if you allow the Holy 55:45 Spirit in practical life to work that out in your life, you'll find that you overcome sin. God passed a judgment on your old man. The old man is the man that wants to sin, that was eager to sin and that is always looking for 56:03 opportunities to that old man, that old nature God took and crucified on with Christ on the cross. And I tried to reason that out. How can that be? I mean, Jesus died 2,000 years ago and I'm I'm born in the 20th century. How could 56:18 he take me on the cross? I'll tell you why. Because, listen carefully. It says in Ephesians chapter 1 verse4 that God knew me before he created the heaven and earth. In God's mind, 56:38 Zach Punan existed before Genesis 1 verse one. How do I know? I believe the Bible. I believe Romans Ephesians 1:4. Ephesians 1:4 comes before Genesis 1:1. He knew us before the foundation of the 56:56 world. I'll tell you, if you don't believe it, you don't get the rest that comes as a result of it. I believe it. I believe God's word. I've seen through all these years of my life that God's word is absolutely reliable. It's more reliable 57:13 than any bank or anything anything else. So many of you put so much money in a bank because you trust it. You can bank 100% on God's word. Every word there is trustworthy and true. And I proved it. Therefore, I believe that before the 57:30 worlds were created, he knew that someday in my life, some a person like me would be born. And he had chosen me then that I would be his child. And so, he took me. I'm in God's mind. Remember that when Jesus died on the cross, he 57:46 took me and put me in Christ so that I was also crucified with him, including you. If you're a child of God, it's not easy for us to grasp with our mind, but I believe it. The law of faith is superior to our mind. Our mind cannot 58:01 understand all of God's mysteries. So therefore, that's the other second thing that happened on the cross. And the third thing that happened on the cross was Satan was defeated. Says in Hebrews, let's turn to Hebrews and see, my sins are forgiven. My old 58:20 man was crucified. And then it says in Hebrews in chapter 2 verse 14. Since the children share in flesh and blood, Jesus himself took part of the 58:39 same. One reason why he took part of the same flesh and blood came like like us was so that through death he might make powerless the devil who had the power of death. He didn't destroy the devil. No, he made him powerless. 58:59 So if the devil is a snake is he's a paralyzed snake as far as a Christian is concerned. He's a very powerful snake as far as unbelievers are concerned. But as far as a Christian is concerned he's alive but he's paralyzed. 59:14 He cannot touch a Christian who lives in the will of God. If you go outside the boundary of God's will, then the devil can do many things to you. But inside God's will is a safe boundary. If you go to God and say, "Lord Jesus, I don't 59:27 want to do anything outside your will in my whole life." Okay, supposing you determine that from today. Is that dangerous to say that? Lord, I don't want anything outside of your will for my life. From today onwards, I want 59:44 to stay within the boundaries of your will for my life always for me and my family and my children. You put a wall of protection around you that the devil will never be able to penetrate. He penetrates into the lives of those 1:00:02 who want something outside of God's will. They think there something outside of God's will is for your good. It can never be for your good. Can your heavenly father withhold from you something which is for your good? Impossible. 1:00:14 I cannot believe by any stretch of my imagination that something outside of God's will is for my good. I have to grab it. No, I believe everything outside of God's will for my life is going to harm me. So, I don't want it. 1:00:28 And if God's will is tough, it doesn't matter. I'll take it. You know, even in the world, they say if you do tough physical exercise, you become strong and fit. And people do it. So, there may be some things in the Christian life also are tough and we 1:00:43 have to fight for it, but it's good for us and we'll do it. If those people can go to a gym and work out day and night and morning and evening every day for year after year just to build a good body, I'm willing to obey God's laws in 1:00:57 order to be a have a strong spirit and soul to live for God. So Satan was defeated on the cross. So I need never be afraid of him. I will never be afraid of him. You know fear and faith are opposites. If there's fear in my heart, faith 1:01:13 cannot be there. When faith comes in, fear has to go. If you got fear in your heart, that is the clearest indication in some area of your life, you don't have faith. Fear and faith cannot dwell in the heart at the same time. 1:01:26 Please remember that if you believe that Jesus defeated Satan, you'll never be afraid of him at all. You can uh see a demon-possessed person coming at you. He will not be afraid of Satan be afraid of you. You believe that Jesus defeated that? 1:01:44 Supposing you see a demonp possessed person. You don't have to be scared. Just ask yourself, do you believe that s this demon that's inside who's under Satan was defeated by Satan by Jesus on the cross? Yes. Defeated. Like I said the other 1:02:03 day, this lady I was counseling said when I said tell tell the devil you were defeated on the cross. The lady spoke back to me and said I was not defeated on the cross. It was a demon inside her saying I was not defeated on the cross. 1:02:18 I said you're a liar Satan. You were defeated on the cross. Now I told them get out of her right now in Jesus name. Then I told the lady tell the devil now that you were defeated on the cross. And she could say it just in a moment. The 1:02:29 devil had gone. the demon had gone and she could say it. Now what I want to tell you is you could have done that too. The only difference between you and me is I believe that the Satan was defeated on the cross and I told her 1:02:40 that you said no no I can't cast out demons. Who who are you are you is the devil stronger than Jesus Christ? I'm not going in my name. I'm saying in Jesus name. That's what the devil's scared of. And you use that name. Take the name of 1:02:57 Jesus with you wherever you go. There's mighty power in that name. Nothing can stand against it. And I don't care if you're born again this morning. You can use that name. God gives you the authority to use that name. But keep 1:03:10 your life clean. Be free from sin. That's how the devil makes you weak. Stop fighting at home. Humble yourself and ask forgiveness. Don't let the devil have any foothold in your life. I tell you, the devil will be scared of you if you live a clean life 1:03:27 spiritually. quickly confessing sin, quickly acknowledging your failure, not blaming other people. Jesus defeated Satan. I believe that God wants an army of believers who are going to stand against Satan in the days to come. Even 1:03:45 in this church or wherever you are from, God wants you to be in that army of those who stand against Satan's power. Not to fight against Satan. He's already been defeated. but to exercise that authority and assert that authority 1:04:01 in the territory of the devil. To assert the victory of Christ in the territory of the devil. The world is the territory of the devil. And God places you and me there to assert the victory of Christ in the sphere in which you move. 1:04:16 I want to tell every one of you if your life is clean, you can if a demon-possessed person comes to you and you can rebuke that demon in Jesus name and cast it out, that demon will obey you. Take my word. Every single person here who's living a 1:04:34 clean life with your every sin confessed to Jesus Christ. You have authority. You have power. You don't have to be some great saint. authorities in the name of Jesus. Okay. And lastly, God wants to make me a blessing 1:04:53 so I will always be a blessing to others. Do you know that Jesus not only shed his blood on the cross, he not only defeated Satan on the cross, our old man was crucified with him. All that is 1:05:11 true. Let me tell you something more which is very very it's awesome. I mean it's so painful to think about it that Jesus became a curse. Became a curse. Not 1:05:30 that he had he fought a curse. He became a curse. It's not that somebody cursed him. He became a curse. Galatians 3:13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the 1:05:49 law, having become a curse for us. I wouldn't have believed it if it was not written in scripture. It's the only place in scripture, the only verse in scripture where it is written that Jesus Christ became a curse for us. 1:06:04 Curse is a terrible word to be accursed by God. That's actually what happened on the cross. It makes me love him more. Lord, you not only died the physical death, 1:06:23 but you became a curse for me. Why? The rest of the verse tells us in that's the only way verse 14 that the blessing of the promise of the Holy Spirit could come to me. The blessing of Abraham or the blessing of God mentioned in verse 14 is also 1:06:43 mentioned in 14 as the promise of the Holy Spirit. Listen to this now. In order that I might have the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus said there's only one way to do it. I have to be a curse for Zach's sake 1:06:56 on the cross. So he'll become a curse so that Zach can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Don't you think I should give my life for such a wonderful savior and live totally for him? That's true, my brother. For you also, 1:07:13 he became a curse for you so that you might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of Abraham. Now the blessing of Abraham is a very wonderful thing. I want you to show you 1:07:28 what it is in Genesis and chapter 12. God wants to make you a blessing and you must say I will be a blessing to others. You see the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 12:E2 in two sentences in the middle of verse 1:07:48 two the Lord said to Abraham verse one verse two first sentence is the Lord says I will bless you and the second is in the latter part of verse two you will be a blessing to all the families of the earth verse three you'll be a blessing 1:08:06 and in our case to all the families you encounter it's a wonderful to look forward to being a blessing to every single family whom you get in touch with or who gets in touch with you. It's a wonderful thing. I I believe it. 1:08:24 I say Lord, I want to be a blessing to every family that I come in touch with. Some neighbor comes to live next door to me, I want to be a blessing to him as you get an opportunity to meet him. The world is full of people who are a 1:08:38 nuisance to their neighbors. I want to be a blessing to everybody who comes in touch with me anywhere everywhere in your place of work. I want to be a blessing. You will be a blessing. Now you can't do that yourself. You can help 1:08:53 people in practical ways. There are non-Christians also who help one another. That's not that I'm talking about being a a blessing in an amazing way, a spiritual blessing. That can only come with the Lord saying to you, I will bless you and I will make 1:09:09 you a blessing. That's why that what he says, I will bless you and I'll make you a blessing. Only God can make us a spiritual blessing to others. He will do that. So God says God wants to make me a blessing. Therefore, I will be a 1:09:23 blessing. And in order to make me a blessing, he became a curse. In order to forgive my sins, he shed shed his blood. In order to make me a blessing, he also became a curse on the cross. There are a number of things that 1:09:37 happened on the cross. My sins of he shed his blood to forgive my sins. My old man was crucified with him. The devil was destroyed on the cross and he became a curse for me so that I can be a blessing. The crucifixion of the Christ 1:09:49 Christ is the most wonderful thing that ever happened on the earth as far as I'm concerned. It opens up heaven for me. No more curse. You know there in the Old Testament it says the sons would suffer if the father 1:10:08 sinned. It's all gone. Now I can be a blessing and I receive Christ in my life. Not only I get blessed, my children get blessed. Do you know that your children will be blessed because you seek to follow the Lord? The blessing flows overflows to your 1:10:23 children and you wonder why people the whole world doesn't become Christians. Such a wonderful life. So let me repeat all eight of them once again. Number one, 1:10:40 God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus. So I will always rejoice. I believe it and therefore I confess it. I'm going to confess. God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus. And so I will always rejoice in him. 1:10:59 Second, God has forgiven me all my sins. So I'll be strong enough for every task. I will never live with guilt. Sorry, I'll never live with guilt anymore. I will never live with guilt anymore. I will not feel, oh, I'm guilty. No, it's 1:11:13 forgiven. Number three, God will give me his spirit's power so I'll be strong enough for every task. There's no job that God can ask me to do which he will not give me the power for. Number four, God has determined my boundaries so I 1:11:31 will always be content. And number five, God's commands are all for my good. And so I want to obey all of God's commands because they're all for my good. And then number six, God controls all 1:11:49 people and events that affect me. So I will always give thanks because God is controlling all of them. And number seven, God Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power. So I will never be afraid. 1:12:07 Number eight, God wants to make me a blessing. So I will be a blessing to others and all those verses are there. We can remember them and if you when this is put on the internet you can listen to this message again. But I want to tell 1:12:24 you this brothers and sisters that if you live by these eight confessions and you believe them in your heart, your life will be lifted up to an allgether different level compared to the average low level that many most Christians live and that 1:12:41 perhaps you have also lived up to this day. As I said, this is not the first time I've spoken this. And yet, for many of you, even if you heard it before, you may feel, "Boy, I heard that for the first time." That's how it is. The devil 1:12:58 just makes you forget it all in no time. He wants you to forget it. And if you don't confess it in your heart, believe me, in one month you'll all be forgotten. You'll be back in the same old rut you've been in. Don't let it 1:13:11 happen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit will take what they heard today and imprint it deeply on everyone's heart and mind. 1:13:30 And help every one of us Lord to walk in humility to stop judging others to stop criticizing others and criticizing situations which we know nothing about and not to be so foolish and idiotic to think that we have the answer to every 1:13:47 problem. We don't. But you do have it. And help us to be merciful to others. Help us to be serious and wholehearted in following after you. Lord, help everybody here not to be a drag on their families, but to be a blessing to lead 1:14:02 parents to lead their families in godly ways. We want godly fathers, godly husbands, godly wives, godly mothers, so that we can have families that are going in the right direction. We pray that you'll raise up such families in this church, Lord, and all 1:14:22 who come here in the days to come. Just make this church a blessing to many. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
