0:16 So, we'll continue with some more questions. These are more related to local church. Many who 0:37 believe in the importance of living a holy life have not understood the importance of church fellowship and building a group of people as a local church. 0:57 The question is, is it important or not? See, nowadays there are so many evangelists who go around bringing people to Christ in public meetings in different nations. And they've been doing it many many 1:17 evangelists like that through the centuries. I mean, particularly in the last 100 years. But if you were to go and ask one of them, "Uh brother, I heard that you brought few thousands of people to Christ 1:34 in different countries. Where are they?" He'd say, "I don't know. I hope they are in some church." But if you were to go to the Apostle Paul and tell him, "Hey Paul, I heard that you brought some people to Christ in Philippi. Where are they?" Come. 1:54 He'd say, "I'll show you every one of them." And he'll bring you to the church in Philippi and say, "Here are the people whom I brought to the Lord." "And Paul, I heard that in Thessalonica you brought some people to Christ as 2:05 well. Where are they?" Come, I'll show you all of them. Here they are. "And I heard that you brought some people in the Galatian areas, in those that district." Yeah, I'll show you all those churches. And here they are, all the people I 2:20 brought to Christ. You never find the early apostles saying, "I don't know where they are. I hope they are somewhere." Never. That is all today's language. Many people say we want to go back to the Bible. Really? You want to do it the way the Bible 2:40 describes it? Then tell me one person who was converted and just left to loaf around on his own. They were all put into a local church by the apostles. The apostles planted churches. They didn't just bring people to Christ like 2:59 you do the the favorite expression today, bring people to Christ. What about after that? This is the new birth. Okay, what happens after the baby is born? Just throw him on the street? Hope somebody look after him. And if if 3:14 you ask go to a mother and say, "I heard you had five babies. Where are they?" "I don't know. I hope somebody looked after them." Isn't it pathetic? That means we talk about new birth like birth, but what about that baby growing up? 3:33 I want to show you a verse in Acts of the Apostles. Nobody had a greater passion to reach people for Christ than the Apostle Paul. He's always had this burning passion to reach those who haven't been yet heard the gospel. 3:49 And yet, see what he says um to Barnabas after having made one big trip and planted number of churches in the Mediterranean area. And he's come back now. It's after a couple of years. He's also appointed elders. We read in 4:09 Acts 14 23. He appointed elders in every church. That means the church is a sort of functioning okay now. They've got leaders. Then he says to Barnabas in Acts 15 and verse 36. It's a very interesting 4:28 verse. Paul says to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." But you say, "Hang on, Paul. 4:48 Haven't you heard the statement, 'Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?'" Sounds very spiritual, right? "Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?" I'll tell you why. 5:08 How many of you sitting here can honestly say that you were converted after one hearing of the gospel? Anybody? Not me. First time you heard the gospel, you got converted? You were born in a non-Christian First of all, you got to be born in a 5:24 non-Christian culture. And the very first time you heard about Jesus Christ, you accepted him. "Why should anyone hear the gospel twice?" It's a very common saying in missionary circles. You know, urging people to God. "Why 5:39 should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?" I'll tell you why. Because most people don't receive Christ the first time they hear it. Which is proved by all the Christians sitting in our churches. You go to any 5:51 church and ask them, "How many of you from a non-Christian background received Christ the first time you heard the gospel?" The answer will be pretty close to zero. And if you follow that rule, I'll tell you nobody would be converted in the 6:02 whole world. So, first of all, even to convert a person, very often they need to hear the gospel more than once. What about after they're converted? Why does Paul, who had the greatest passion to reach people for Christ, say, 6:18 "Barnabas, let's go back and see how these churches are." It's like saying, "Let's see how our children are. Are they growing up okay?" So, I see that the apostles had a burden. Or for that matter, why does Paul write all these letters? 6:35 To Corinthians, to Galatians, to Ephesians, to Philippians. Why don't he just ignore them? They're already converted. Forget about them. Let's go on to other places and reach other people for Christ. The New Testament pattern of evangelism 6:49 was bring them to Christ and make them grow and build them into local churches. If you were to give the Bible, the New Testament, to someone who had never read the Bible at all, never known anything about Christianity, say some strange country 7:06 where they never knew anything about Christianity, some completely barbarian um but say educated people who have not heard about Christianity. And they don't know anything about Christianity and you There are people like that. Even in 7:19 India there are people like that who don't know much about Christianity. And you give them the New Testament and ask them to write out after reading the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles, the pattern that the apostles followed under the 7:34 leading of the Holy Spirit to plant churches and to deal with new converts. This is what they'll say. These apostles went out. They didn't ask anybody for any money. They brought people to Christ and brought them together into a 7:50 a local fellowship. And then they go somewhere else and then come round again. And after a couple of years they appoint leaders there. And then they would go away and keep writing, keep writing all the letters to make sure they're growing and find out 8:06 how they're going and correcting errors. That is how and these elders were submitted to the apostles. The elders were like parents to the local church. And the apostle was like a father to the elders. The elders were like a father to the local church. 8:23 The apostle was like an elder to the That is how what you see in the Acts of the Apostles. Where do you see it today? There was no election of elders in the New Testament. Nothing was by election. The apostles appointed elders. 8:38 But today you go to the Roman Catholic Church, you have a pyramid with the Pope on top and Cardinals and all the way down to priests. It's a pyramid. You go to the Assemblies of God, which is a Pentecostal denomination, it's also a pyramid 8:56 with the world general superintendent somewhere in Missouri and all the continental superintendents and the district superintendents and the regional pastors. It's a pyramid again. Protestant Pentecostal, same as the Catholic, a pyramid. And how does the 9:09 Pope get elected? By voting. How does the general superintendent get elected in the Assemblies of God? Voting. So, where do we get all this from? Is the New Testament supposed to be followed in this matter or have we discovered some better way, the 9:25 corporate way? That's unfortunately what's happened. In the Old Testament, there is a story of Once the ark The ark was the big thing in the Old Testament and the tabernacle to supposed to be the mark of God's presence. If the ark was with you, God 9:45 was with you. And the Philistines, 1 Samuel you read in chapter 3 4 5, the Philistines captured the ark. And they took it away. And they kept it in front of their temple and that idol fell down in front of the ark and broke his head and all they discovered 10:01 this is dangerous having this here. So, they sent it back to Israel because a lot of plagues came there. And they put it on a bullock cart. And let the bullock or the cow take the ark back to Israel. Years later, 10:20 David wanted to move the ark from where it was to Jerusalem. So, the Old Testament law said only the sons of Aaron must carry the ark. One particular tribe. Nobody else. 10:39 But David heard the Philistines had a bright idea. Instead of putting it on the shoulder of these people who got to carry it so many miles, put it on a bullock cart. So, David got this bright idea from the Philistines. Put it on a bullock cart. 10:54 And you read about it in 2 Samuel in chapter 7. He put it on a bullock cart and you know, the oxen began to shake and there was a guy called Uzzah who was not one of the sons of Aaron who steadied the ark. He had a good 11:08 intention. But God's law was you must not touch the ark if you're not a son of Aaron. And he dropped dead right there. And David made that fellow's family fatherless. A widow and fatherless children were created that day 11:28 because David decided to follow the pattern set by the Philistines. I find the same thing today. Christians have there was a pattern laid down in scripture, but Christians have watched the corporate world how the CEO is 11:44 chosen by a board and appointed and how they promote their work and all that, and they followed that. It's the bullock cart principle again. And that's why there's so much of spiritual death. It's not physical death like in Uzzah's 11:57 time, but that's why we want to go back to the scriptures. Like I read that verse, this teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. It's from the book. Don't say the Bible is the word of God if you don't follow it. Don't say the Bible is the only word of 12:17 God if you don't read it. And don't say you respect this as God's word if you're not going to obey what's written in it. That's what I tell people. So, the great need in Christendom today, if you want God to work in the way 12:34 he wants to do his work today, we have to follow the scriptures. So, how did the church What does the Bible speak about the church? First of all, Jesus said I just want to give you some foundational principles. First of all, 12:49 Jesus said in Matthew 16 and verse 18, "I will build my church. And the powers of spiritual darkness, the gates of hell, will not be able to overthrow it or overpower it." So, there's only one person who can 13:07 build a church. And that's Jesus Christ. You can You and I can be co-workers, you know, carrying the bricks and the cement and things like that. But he's the architect. And he's the one who supervises the whole thing and tells us 13:21 what to do, where to do. We can't build the church. The laborers who carry the bricks and cement and mortar, they're not building the house. They're only obeying orders from the architect or the contractor. So, Jesus says, "I will build my 13:36 church." And when he builds a church, all the powers of darkness cannot prevail against it. It's impossible. But where a man goes and tries to build a church according to his human ideas, very soon the powers of darkness have prevailed. 13:55 There's divorce there and all types of confusion and unscriptural practices and fights and quarrels among the elders and everything else. Uh unscriptural practices in relation to money, etc. Because man is trying to build the 14:12 church and the powers of hell are overpowering it in no time at all. So, it's very important when he said, "Jesus, you're going to build the church." means he'll do it according to the way he did it in the first century. 14:24 He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He hasn't changed. None of his laws have changed in all these years. Even though today so many Christians say, "Yeah, we can modify this here and modify it there. And things were different in the first 14:39 century and that's why Things may have been different in the first century, but Jesus was the same. The laws are given by the Lord. They have not changed. His laws concerning marriage, his law concerning male-female marriage, his law concerning everything, 14:53 the way we are to bring up our children, the way we are to build the church. Jesus has not changed. What outward circumstances may have changed. We may have cars and computers and electricity today. Those things change, 15:03 but the principles of building church remain the same. And if you want to know it, you better go to the Bible. That's the only book there is. Is there any other book which you yourself claim to be the word of God? You see, what surprises me is that so 15:17 many people who say this is the word of God don't treat it like the word of God. If you really I mean, when I see lawyers studying a law so thoroughly because they have to plead a case in the court or they have to fight for that 15:33 law. I see these people really believe that those laws are important. But I find Christians who don't study the Bible like that. That means they don't really believe this is the word of God. They feel, "Yeah, we can read it 15:48 generally and sort of do as we like according to our common sense." So many things I find they say, "That was only for that time." Well, the moment you say something was only for that time, somebody else will say that is also only for that time. 16:03 So, we don't believe that. In our churches, we believe that God's word is Heaven and earth will pass away, but God Jesus' word will not pass away. We believe he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. We believe that God looked into the 16:18 future and knew everything all the way up to the 21st century and all the way till Christ comes back. And every law he laid down was applicable to every century because he could see the future. When we lay down certain rules and 16:32 principles, it's we can see only so much and we may have to modify it when circumstances change. But God doesn't have to modify because he saw the whole future when he planted the first church. So, therefore, when we look at the way the first church 16:47 was founded, let's start with Ephesians in chapter 5. Here it says How did Jesus build the church? You know, this is actually the first question you have when looking for a church, what are the most important things to look for 17:07 in the leaders in the body. They must have the same vision as Jesus Christ and the apostles. It says in Ephesians 5, the verse 25, the last part. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. This is how he built the church. 17:26 He loved the church and gave himself completely even to his life in order to build it. That is the type of person who will build the church today. One who loves the church 17:43 and is willing to give his life for it. That means his reputation and his and everything, he's willing to give everything like Christ gave everything. If a person doesn't have that attitude and just says, "Yeah, I'd be like to 17:57 have I'd be like to have a little new covenant church in our locality, provided it's not too inconvenient for me." Forget it. Go and do something else. Go and join some existing dead denomination. Don't try and build the church of Jesus 18:12 Christ. You will not be able to do it. The only person who can do it is God. It's the one who's got the spirit of Christ. He loved the church and gave himself for it. And I believe God has such people even today. And that's how the church is going to be 18:25 built. And Jesus also said something else at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which also I I believe is a picture of the church. In Matthew chapter 7, after preaching so many wonderful things in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, which is the 18:42 Sermon on the Mount with some amazing standards. This is where he speaks about never lusting after a woman and uh overcoming anger, setting things right with somebody who you have hurt, and being free from the love of money, 18:56 fasting, praying, giving secretly, not judging others, and so many things. And saying that this way which I've described is so narrow and very few people will find it. And then he says at the end of Matthew 7, "If you hear my words 19:14 and do them, you can be like a house built on a rock." This is the church built on a rock. And that rock is obedience to what Jesus preached in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:24. 19:33 But if you hear these words, which is the Sermon on the Mount, and you don't do them, that means you hear them, which means you're not a non-Christian. Who is the one who hears the Sermon on the Mount? A Christian. Who goes to church or who reads the 19:46 Bible. But he doesn't do them. He ignores it. He doesn't bother about overcoming anger. He doesn't bother about overcoming lusting with his eyes. He doesn't bother about loving his enemies. He doesn't bother about doing everything, making sacrifices in 20:04 secret. He doesn't bother about fasting or prayer or any such thing, but he wants to build a church. No. He'll be like a foolish man who tried to build a house, but it'll collapse. He said that very clearly in verse 26 and 27. 20:19 And great will be the fall of it. Matthew 7:27. That reminds me of Revelation 18 where it says Babylon the Great is fallen and great is the fall of Babylon. And Babylon is the false church. So, what I see here in Matthew 7:24-27 20:37 is Jerusalem, the true church, and Babylon, the harlot church. Jerusalem, the bride of Jesus Christ, and Babylon, the harlot, is described at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. So, if you want to build a church like 20:54 it's described which is solid on a rock, unshakable, this is what we did when we started work in Bangalore, India 42 years ago. For weeks on end, we taught on the Sermon on the Mount. Slowly, we didn't rush through it. 21:17 We could take a whole week on we could take a whole session on Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Are we poor in spirit? That's where we begin. It's almost the 21:32 first door by which we enter the Sermon on the Mount. And like that, go verse by verse by verse by verse. And at the end of it, said, "You want to obey this? Then we will build on the rock." And we want in our church only those who 21:48 are serious about obeying this. If you're not serious about obeying this, I say, "Thank God there are 500 other churches in Bangalore. Please go and join one of them. Don't waste time sitting here. We're trying to build on the rock." 22:04 So, any man who's interested in numbers and increasing numbers, he can never build the true church of Christ. Impossible. Because his eye will always be on, "Did more people come this Sunday than last Sunday?" 22:24 Or any person who's eyes on the offering, "How much was this Sunday's offering compared to last Sunday's offering?" He will never build the true church of Jesus Christ because Jesus was never counting the offering to find out 22:38 whether he could build the church on it. It had nothing to do with the offering. It had got to do with people like Christ who loved the church and gave themselves for it. I said, "That's the only type of people we want to build, you know? 22:51 So, we constantly tell people, 'Listen, if you come to our church and you're not serious about obeying what we teach here, you're in grave danger. I tell you you're in grave danger because to whom more is given, more will 23:06 be required.' Don't you know that the standard of the examination question paper in the 10th grade is higher than in the third grade? Sure. Because you've been taught more. You're not going to get a third grade question paper in the final examination 23:23 if you're studying in the 10th grade. So, you come to a church where they're preaching the whole counsel of God, you're going to have an answer a question paper finally in the day of judgment for the whole counsel of God, 23:34 whether you obeyed all of that. But if you went to some third rate church which was like kindergarten stuff, well, that's all God's going to ask you, "Did you do that or not?" So, to whom more is given, more is required. So, 23:45 just like I said that I've told in our church that if you come here regularly and listen and obey everything we hear, you will have a clear conscience in the day of judgment and you will have no fear to stand before the Lord. 23:58 You'll have full marks. But if you come here and you're not serious about obeying everything, the judgment will be very severe. Then it is better, I've actually said this many times in our church, it is better 24:15 you stop coming to this church. Please, in your own interest, go somewhere else. I remember in one question answer session, uh one brother in one of our churches at the end of a conference, somebody asked me this. He said, "Brother Zac, in every 24:33 church they tell people come, come, come to our church. Only in our church we tell people to go away. What's the reason?" I said, "I don't tell people to go away. I said, 'If you're not serious about obeying God's word, then it's dangerous 24:47 for you to sit here. Then go and find some other place where your accountability to God will be less.' That's all I say. But don't think we can accumulate a lot of information about God's commands and ignore all of them and think it'll be 25:03 okay. No. So, when I look for a church, I must look for leaders who are humble, godly men. People have asked me this question. Uh Brother Zac, whom will you invite to speak in your church? 25:22 I say, "I don't go by people whether they are famous in Christendom or well-known or they have written many books or they are pastor of mega church. These things don't impress me one bit. Some of them come to Bangalore, I will not invite 25:36 them to speak in our church. I'll tell you what I look for. I said, 'First of all, I want to see whether this man is a humble man.' Because Jesus was humble. And anyone who fellowships with Jesus must be an extremely humble man. You 25:53 cannot fellowship with Jesus and be proud. That is completely out of the question. If you're proud, you're not walking with Jesus, I can tell you straight to your face. Because Jesus was the humblest man that walked on this earth. Imagine 26:05 fellowshipping with him. Imagine fellowshipping with the man you see washing the feet of the disciples. What will you be like? You'll be ashamed to be wanting anything other than that. So, I said, "That's number one. Is he a person who is easy to 26:20 talk to, easy to get along with? Because he's basically a humble person. He's got no airs about himself. He doesn't think that he's somebody special. He considers you as more important than himself." That's how Jesus was. Not more 26:34 spiritual. No. Jesus never considered others more spiritual than himself. But he did, Philippians 2 says, verse 4, "Consider others as more important than yourself." And Jesus considered even Judas Iscariot as more important than himself by 26:50 washing his feet. You know that he washed Judas' feet? Not because he was more spiritual, because he was more important. "I am a servant," he said. "I'm your slave." And that was his last day of life on earth. You know, when I look at Christendom, so 27:07 many Christian workers, their last day they are chairman or director or some big shot somewhere in some church. I've seen that so much and they pursued it, pursued it, pursued it and become uh you know, overseeing so many buildings and 27:22 property. I said, "Lord, I never want to go that way. Please help me that the last day of my life on earth I'll be at the feet of the disciples washing their feet in some lowly position. And I've In India, I've just refused to be on the 27:36 board of any property or anything. I say, 'Here is your money, build your church. I will not be on the board of all that. My calling is to give the prophetic word of God. You people take care of that. If somebody steals it, let 27:48 them steal it. I'm not interested. Money and property is the last thing in the world I'm interested in as far as Christian work is concerned.' That's all for Babylon. We're building Jerusalem and that's people, not buildings. 28:01 So, that's the first thing. Is the man a humble man? Secondly, I want to see what is his attitude to money. Is he one who is eager to get your money? Is he eager to take a collection in every meeting so that he can get money? 28:16 Well, everybody needs money to survive. How did Jesus survive? When he was a carpenter, he earned his own living working hard. But then three and a half years he was in full-time work. And we read in Luke chapter 8, verse 2 and 3, 28:33 there were certain sisters who supported him. There was the chief business manager of Herod's palace. Can you imagine what his salary was? Who supported Jesus through his wife. You read that in Luke chapter 8, verse 3. And Jesus accepted it. 28:53 He didn't ask anybody. But he needed them. He had 12 disciples and people like Peter were married. A lot of them had quit their jobs. They needed to be supported. Where's the money going to come from? It doesn't wasn't going to drop from heaven. At the 29:06 same time, he would not send out prayer letters or ask people for money. He trusted his heavenly Father to provide his need and his money did not drop from heaven. It came through people who were blessed through his ministry. 29:20 But he never asked them for it. And God prompted Herod's business manager to give money to His wife said, "Hey, I'm following Jesus. Can you give me some money to give him?" He said, "Sure, give it." God prompted that. That's how they took 29:37 care of their needs. So, I say, "What is this man's attitude to money? Can he trust God to take care of his financial needs? Or does he have to squeeze money out of people who are much poorer than him to feed his fat pastor's salary like it 29:51 is happening today. You know, if many people sitting in churches today and listening to these TV evangelists, if they knew the salary of their pastor, they would stop giving. That's why the pastors never reveal their salary to anybody. 30:06 Cuz people stop giving. Hey, this guy is getting 10 times what I'm earning. Am I supposed to support him? Don't you see something inconsistent there? Do you think Jesus would ever take money from people to deliver a high lifestyle? 30:19 It's so completely foreign. So, that's the second thing I look for. Is this man got a right attitude to money? Otherwise, I will never let him speak in my pulpit. And third, I want to see how he's brought up his children. 30:32 You can fool everybody in the world, but you can't fool your children. They saw how you lived at home. I want to see whether his children are following the Lord. Because that is an indication to me as to what they saw of their parents at 30:46 home, not in the pulpit. If a man does not know how to bring up his own family, it says in 1 Timothy 3, how can he take care of the church? So, that's a very important consideration for me. I look at so many Christian workers today as children are 31:01 not following the Lord, divorced, and all types of rubbish. I say, where can I ask such a man to come in? What will he come and teach in my pulpit? He can come and teach how to bring up your children in a wayward way. That's what he'll teach. And I don't 31:14 want that. So, that's the third thing I look for. And then the fourth thing I look for is let me see what his closest co-workers are like. If I live with Timothy for a little while, I can find out what Paul was like. Cuz Timothy was his closest co-worker. 31:33 And so, I get a little bit of the spirit of Paul from Timothy. So, if I meet one of these guys' closest co-workers, I should get an idea what he's like. And then fifthly, I say, has he built the local church somewhere? I want to see what type of church he's 31:49 built. Is it a church that's seeking to glorify God? Not perfect. There's no perfect church in the world. I say, when I see these five things in somebody, I will gladly invite him to our pulpit. And there are very few like that. 32:06 That's, you know, the question what what do we look for in leaders. Okay, another question is what type of burden should we have for outreach and evangelism, and how do we do it practically? Yeah, Jesus said we must start in 32:20 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. But, he did not say you got to read scripture carefully. So often, scripture is misquoted. Now, here is one misquotation of scripture. 32:39 You must be my witnesses. You must be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. What was wrong in that? Did you get it? You didn't get it. He never said you must be my witnesses. 33:03 He said you shall be my witnesses. There's a lot of difference between saying you shall be when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be witnesses. It's like Let me use an example. You must MAKE THOSE LIGHTS BURN. 33:21 RATHER THAN SAYING, WHEN YOU PUT on the switch, the lights will burn. You see the difference? When you let the electricity go through, the lights will burn. There's a difference between that and saying, come on, make those lights burn. 33:37 There's no electricity, but make those lights burn. And people are struggling to be witnesses. That's not the way to be a witness for Christ. Jesus never said that, and yet that is how we uh urge people to do evangelism. 33:51 What about missionary work? Very often, missionary work is like this. Look at all those heathen there dying, going to hell without Christ. What are you doing sitting there making money for yourself over here? Look at all those people struggling 34:05 there without much money. You know what at what poverty they don't have they don't have drinking water over there, and you're sitting here enjoying all this. Go and do something. And this guy gets all uh guilty and quits his job without any 34:16 calling from God, and goes out and as a missionary to India and makes a mess of God's work over there. I've seen it. I live in India, and I've seen it. And I tell you, I have hardly any respect for most of the missionaries who have come 34:29 to India after the Second World War. Something happened during the Second World War and subsequently, Christianity began to degenerate like anything. There were missionaries who came before that, before 1950. I have the highest respect for them. 34:49 People like William Carey, Amy Carmichael, godly I know some godly men and women of that generation. They they were in another category altogether. They came with the call of God. Not these evangelical tourists who come 35:07 nowadays for so-called short-term missionary work and stay in five-star hotels to go and help build a few houses and go back saying we did something for the Lord. It's all garbage. So, in what basis he said, when the Holy Spirit has come 35:24 upon you, something from within will propel you. And you'll have a burden. Nobody has to tell you, do this, do this. You must, you must, you must. No, you shall. It'll be automatic. When the Holy Spirit really fills you 35:40 and gives you the love of Christ for people who are lost without him. So, that's how we must begin. I'm not saying that we must not urge people. Paul wrote to Timothy saying, do the work of an evangelist. But he also told him, 35:55 stir up the fire that is within you in the same letter, 2 Timothy. So, it's all a question of where we start. I believe that we are called to make disciples, not just converts. 36:14 There are two commandments which are two sides of the Great Commission. One is Mark 16 and verse 15. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Having said that, he 36:33 told them a few days later, but wait till the Holy Spirit has come upon you. He didn't stop with going to all the world. He said, no, no, don't go yet. Wait till the Holy Spirit has filled you, then you will be my witnesses. So, that was the 36:48 command given, but then they were told to wait till the Holy Spirit filled them, then only they'd be fit to go. But here they were told just to go and preach the gospel. Those who believe, verse 16, and are baptized will be 37:02 saved. That's one side of the Great Commission, but the other side of the coin is in Matthew 28, where Jesus said, go into all nations and make disciples of all the nations. So, our burden is the question is what should be our burden for outreach? Is 37:22 not only to make them believe in Jesus, but make them a disciple. Matthew 28:19 is, go, make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and don't stop there. Teach them to do 37:40 everything that I commanded you. Then I'm with you till the end of the age. So, what is the Great Commission? One side, go into all the world, preach the gospel to all creation. If you believe and they're baptized, you're 37:54 they won't be condemned, they'll be saved. Then what what about after that? What's the other side of the coin? Now, make them disciples and teach them to do everything I commanded you. That means those fellows are now converted, 38:07 teach them to overcome anger. Teach them to stop lusting after women. Teach them to stop loving money. Teach them to be anxious for nothing. Teach them to give thanks for everything. Teach them to love their wives as Christ 38:24 loved the church. Teach them all the um the wives to submit to their husbands as churches to Christ. Teach them to stop gossiping. Teach them to stop slandering. Teach them to overcome sin. Teach them to love their enemies. Teach them to always speak the 38:41 truth. Teach them to fast and pray and give secretly. How long is that going to take? It's going to take quite a quite a long time. It's not just, okay, we convert them and go on. Unfortunately, that's what's happening today. 38:59 A lot of people are just Okay, we brought these people to Christ. Now, we got to move on to the next person. What about all this making them disciples and teaching them to do all that God has commanded? Jesus said, I will be with you till the end of the 39:10 age. I've seen that verse in many homes. Lo, I am with you always till the end of the age. I said, hang on. Do you know who Jesus said that to? When you get a check, make sure it's in your name. Uh don't go and try to cash it if it's 39:25 not in your name. Lo, I am with you till the end of the age. Whom is it for? I'll tell you. Go, make disciples, teach them to do everything I taught you, and then I will be with you till the end of the age. So, I see there are a few conditions for 39:41 that promise. If I seek to go and make disciples and not just convert them and teach them to do everything that Jesus commanded, I have the absolute assurance that wherever I go, Jesus will be with me till the end of the age 39:57 because it's a promise. He'll never break his promise. But you don't fulfill that condition and you say, "Lord, I'm with you till the end of the age." You're fooling yourself. And I don't want to fool myself. So, what I see today is a whole lot of 40:10 people doing evangelism. They're not making them disciples. It has to follow on from that. They're not teaching them to do everything that Jesus commanded. Did Jesus say that or not? Why are we taken up only with Mark 16 but ignoring Matthew 28? That's 40:25 exactly what the devil wants because these people who get converted like this, if you don't make them disciples, they're going to fall away, lose out, and most of them will go back to hell. You put your net and catch the fish but 40:39 there's so many holes in the net, but those fish all go away. What are you saying? I I caught 500 fish. There's so many holes in the net. Those are the areas where they disobey God's word. They all fall away and the next evangelist comes and picks them up 40:53 again. And he's got holes in his net, too. Where do we go from here? This is not the way I catch fish. No, we have to build them up. It's not the way we give birth to children. When we give birth to children, it takes years. All of you who are parents know, 41:07 it takes years to make that child an adult. And this is how This is why Paul told Barnabas, "Let's go back and see how these churches are getting on." This is why he wrote letters to them. So, I picture in my mind I like to think 41:23 in pictures because it helps me to understand better. Think of Jesus as a carpenter. And he gets an order from some industry there in Nazareth. We want 100 tables. Jesus, can you supply 100 tables? Okay. So, Jesus has to employ a number of 41:42 other carpenters to build 100 tables. It's part of his business. And um I'm one of those whom he's also employed to help make. And I go I'm one of the last ones to come along. And I see 41:58 about 15 people or let's say 10 or nine others. I'm the 10th one who's been asked to come and work. And all the nine in the previous three four weeks before I came, they've been only making the legs of the tables. Now, do tables need 42:18 legs? Of course. And they're all making legs and I see hundreds of these legs piled around and not one table. I say, "Hey, what's wrong with you, fellows? We need tables." So, I start making the table top. 42:37 And that takes quite a while. And I take some of the legs which they've already made and put them on this table and I finally make one table. At last, one table is ready. So, those guys turn around and say, "What's this? You You're making the 42:50 table top. Aren't you against Are you against making legs?" Oh, I say, "No, no, no. I'm not against making legs. You already made it. Why should I make another set of legs when there are already hundreds of them lying here? The 42:59 order is for tables. So, if you guys don't want to do it, I'll keep making the table tops. It'll take much longer. If some of you guys help me with making this, we'll finish some tables quicker." When Jesus comes in that to the 43:11 carpenter shop, what do you think he's going to say? Is he going to tell me, "Hey, Zac, why are you just making table tops? Go and make some more legs." He won't say that. He'll tell some of those others, "Here's one sensible man who's completing a 43:24 table." This is the difference in evangelism and discipleship, making disciples. So, I'm not against evangelism, but when people are already making so many people converted and they're not becoming disciples, I should just move on from 43:38 there. I'm making use of their work to complete the job with Jesus. We're not working for different masters. If they say, "What are you taking our work, taking credit for?" I say, "I don't want any credit. You take the credit. 43:51 I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for Jesus. I hope you're doing it for Jesus, too. What's the question of my work and your work? It's not my work or your work. It's Jesus' work. Have you brought somebody to Christ? 44:02 Sure, I want to make him a disciple." Oh, you're grabbing people from our church to your church. I say, "No. There's no such thing as your church and my church. There's only one flock and only one shepherd. You're not completing the job. 44:17 And that's why And I say, "Now, tell me, in such a situation, if I am the only one who's making the table tops, in the next six months, how many legs will I make? Zero." So, people ask me, "Don't you have any burden for evangelism?" 44:36 I hope you're following the illustration. Yes or no? That is why we concentrate on making disciples. It's not because we're against evangelism. There are so many people who have come to Christ who have not become disciples. I say, "The job is 44:53 not complete." So, that is why we concentrate on completing the work which Jesus wants us to do, which he commissioned us to do, and we believe the Lord will be with us always. It doesn't mean we don't do any evangelism 45:05 when we get the opportunity. Sitting in a bus or in a train somewhere, we get the opportunity to share the gospel with somebody. Of course, we'll give it. We'll give the gospel to anyone or somewhere else in a hospital or a bank or somewhere we meet 45:20 someone, we get the opportunity to give the gospel or give out a tract, then by all means, we we we give the gospel. Like when some people come to our house, salesmen selling something. I usually don't have much patience with 45:41 them, but my wife will sit and listen to them. And after he's she's finished, now she says, "Can I tell you something, also?" Now, they have to listen because she's already listened to them for 5 minutes. And she gives them the gospel. 45:57 Are we doing evangelism or not? We want to evangelize those who have not heard the gospel. Wonderful. I remember one brother who picked up the phone once. I said, "Is this so-and-so?" No. "Oh, sorry, wrong number." Again, it rang. 46:16 Same person, wrong number. Uh excuse me, you got me a second time. There must be a reason why you got me a second time. I must tell you something." And he gave her the gospel. So, take those opportunities. This is evangelism. 46:31 It is not It's publicly proclaimed, "We are going on an evangelistic crusade, our church." No, no, no. It's all quietly done here and there without much pomp and show. And ultimately, the result will be not babies, but mature people. Very often, you know, 46:47 when I've gone to so many churches, I've seen them like 300 babies with their milk bottles in their mouth and the pastor in front like a mother teaching them. I say, "Is this how it's supposed to be? After so many years, 47:03 you've got 300 babies with um um bottles in their mouth? Some of them should be grown up. Some of them are 20 years old and 18 years old and 15 years old with bottles in their mouth." This is the picture I get in many, many 47:13 churches. They should be mature people, not drinking milk. They should be eating solid meat. They should be helping the younger ones. This is the result of evangelism without making them disciples. And I finished I did it for some time. 47:30 I remember once one place where I preached for 21 days, meetings. So many people came forward and said they accepted the Lord and all this. It's like a revival. I went there one year later and there were court cases and all types of things going on there. 47:48 I saw this for a number of years and I said, "Lord, I finished I did that for 16 years." And I said, "Lord, I've finished with this. I don't want this anymore in my life." And that's why the last 40 years, we started making disciples. And there's so 48:05 much more satisfaction. I know this house will stand when the flood comes and the storm comes. I know that. So, if you want to build a work that stands, make disciples. In church activities, if my conscience 48:21 this differs from that of my spouse, uh what should I do? Should I insist on my way or die to myself? Well, as I said, if it's a matter of God's command, then we have to obey it. 48:41 But if it's not clearly commanded, I've already answered that question. You don't have to if your husband says, "Don't go to that meeting." That often happens with many of our non-Christian husbands and converted wives. I say, "Listen to him. 48:56 Let them see." 1 Corinthians Sorry, 1 Peter chapter 3 says, "If you've got a husband who doesn't obey God's word, you wife, let him win him without a word." That's a great thing in 1 Peter chapter 3. Win him without speaking a word. How 49:12 do you do that? When they see your conduct and your behavior, you draw them. And as I said, we've already seen examples like that in our church. So, dying to myself is in terms of what I want to do, not what God wants me to do. 49:27 If God wants me to speak the truth, I must speak the truth. There's no question of dying to myself there. But I want to go to a church meeting because all my friends are there. And my husband says, "Don't go. I died to myself. 49:39 There's no command of God saying you must go to that meeting this morning. So we need to distinguish between where I'm choosing something religious. See there's a lot of religious wives who want to do what they want to say this is 49:52 a Christian activity so I don't care what my husband says. No, hang on. You're not going to win your husband like that. I met some sisters like that who came to our church and their husbands were not converted and when I 50:02 saw the stubborn hard ways they behaved I said your husband will never get converted. I look at the way you are. You you can't convert your husband by preaching to him but try life. Try living and being submissive and you 50:18 and your husband will both enter God's kingdom. So we mustn't use scripture to do what we want to do. What's the best way to encourage others in one-on-one interaction? Using prophecy in personal interactions. 50:38 See, encouragement doesn't have to be a long message. Most people in the world are facing some type of discouragement or the other, believe it or not. The chances are that 75% of the people you meet 50:57 are facing some type of discouragement or problem in their life. And if you are living that life where you're rejoicing always, anxious for nothing even though there are so many problems that there may be in your life, you're not anxious, you've learned to 51:13 give thanks, you've learned to trust the Lord, you've learned to give thanks for everything and learn to be considerate and die to yourself and think of others more than yourself, God will give you a word even without your knowing it 51:30 that will bless that person and encourage him. So we must be always ready to you know, it could be at the end of a phone call on your smartphone. Leave that person with a word of encouragement at the end after you've discussed whatever you want to discuss 51:46 or when you're sending an email. What does it cost to add one more sentence of encouragement? Encouragement is so needed for so many people and you never know what will be the result of it. So in one-on-one interaction, 52:00 encouragement is the greatest need. I remember when I was a 30-year-old young man, very confused in my own life at that time as to what exactly God wanted me to do. This is long before we started CFC churches. I remember one much older man who 52:16 much he was double my age. He put his hand on my shoulder at a conference and said, "God's got a plan for your life. Don't forget that." That was 45 years ago. I haven't forgotten it till today. I forgot all the messages that was 52:34 preaching that sermon in that conference, but I didn't forget what this one man said. Isn't that amazing? I don't even know remember what the theme of the conference was. I don't even remember who the others who spoke. I remember this one man. 52:48 And he was not one of the main speakers. I've never forgotten that. What did he do? On one-on-one, he encouraged me. Not with a powerful message. He just gave me hope. He didn't know what I was going through, but it was such an 53:04 encouragement to know that you know, you can go that go and say that to almost anybody in the world. God's got a plan for your life. It's absolutely right. There's not a human being born onto this earth whom God doesn't have a plan. You 53:16 know that? And he's got a wonderful plan. And if you say that to any Tom, Dick or Harry in the world, you'll be right. So don't hesitate to say that even if you're not a prophet or a prophetess, just say a the word of encouragement does wonders 53:31 even for our children. Do you know that you can do more for your children by encouraging them than by just correcting them? We must correct them, sure. But if you always correct, correct, don't do this, don't do this, don't do 53:44 this, don't do this, it's like that uh boy in kindergarten. Uh teacher asked him, "What's your name, son?" "My name is Johnny Don't." Cuz he always heard Johnny Don't. Johnny Don't. He thought his name was 54:02 Johnny Don't. That's all he heard. Exhortation, exhortation. Don't do this and don't do that. Don't go there. Don't No, a word of encouragement can make so much of a difference. Those of you who have children, learn that from a very early age. They need 54:19 encouragement. And there are you know, children with no gift or ability who have flowered just by that parents encouraging them. Oh, you you can make it. We have faith for you. I don't care what all the others in your school think about you or your even your 54:37 teacher thinks about you. You're going to make it. You're going to be a great person in God's eyes. You may not be the president of the United States, but you'll be a great person in God's eyes. That's important thing. It's wonderful. So that's what we should 54:50 do in one-on-one interaction even with our children and with our wives and husbands. Husbands and wives, encourage one another. There's nobody so strong and so great that he doesn't need encouragement. All of us need it. 55:07 All of us need encouragement. I mean I sometimes get emails that encourage me tremendously. You think, "Oh, brother Zac, he doesn't need any encouragement at all." But some of these unknown people write to me and the strange way in which they 55:26 hit across my message and their lives were changed. I I I remember one email that I got from someone. He said, "Uh brother Zac, I don't know you. Never met you, but your sermons have blessed me. I saw you on Sermon Index." 55:41 I said, "Sermon Index has got 1,000 preachers. How did you choose me?" He said, "I STARTED WITH Z." AND GOT YOU FIRST. I SAID, "MY PARENTS MUST HAVE BEEN inspired by giving me that name." So I was so encouraged. I said, "Wow, 56:02 what God can use. God can use even the fact that my name begins with Z to get some fellow to be gripped by the gospel." Praise the Lord. So don't ever uh you know, ignore that one word of encouragement you can give to one of 56:20 your children or to somebody else. We are placed in this world. If we can't do anything else, at least encourage someone. That's the easiest thing to do. How can we practically seek to build fellowship with others and when we have 56:34 small kids at home? Well, it's not easy. Um but if you're a mother, you you can encourage other mothers once in a while. I mean you don't have to have plenty of me meetings. Fellowship 56:51 doesn't mean always having meetings. You can build fellowship with your children. If you've got many children and they are occupy all your time, don't you think your children are people with whom you have to build fellowship? Okay, 57:02 you can't build fellowship with somebody else, but you can build fellowship with your children. And then when you meet some other mothers, you can have a word of encouragement for them from your experience. And that will bless them more than some 57:14 sermon they heard from some pastor who was preaching theories. So fellowship is not something we have to spend a lot of time together to build. It's you know, in my own experience I found I sometimes meet a brother at a 57:30 conference whom I haven't met for maybe 1 year. And as soon as we meet, we immediately get into wonderful fellowship because he's been walking with the Lord for 1 year and I've been walking with the Lord for 1 year. And the Bible says if we walk in the 57:47 light, we have fellowship with one another even if we didn't meet so often. And the illustration that comes to me is my two hands. How is it they can do so many things together? Whether it's operating a computer or those who are piano skills playing 58:04 the music. How do these fingers all work together? It's not because they're always hanging around with each other. How often do your two hands hang around with each other? Very rarely. It's because they're connected to the 58:20 head. They spend very little time hanging around with each other, but because they're individually connected to that, they work together perfectly. And that's what I've discovered. Fellowship is when I'm connected to the 58:34 head and that guy is connected to the head, whenever we meet, it's as if we've been together all the time. Just like these two hands. So that is the secret of fellowship. Why are there so many branches of Christianity? Okay, there's a verse for 58:48 it in the Bible. Answer for that in 1 Co- because it happened in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians in chapter 11, I don't know whether you've noticed it. And here it tells us why there are so many denominations in Christianity. 58:59 You probably never knew there was an answer to that. 1 Corinthians 11, it says, verse 19, "There must be, let's say denominations or groups among you so that 59:19 those who are really approved by God will become evident." You see the reason? Here there are 20 groups. Why so many groups? They're all taking the same Bible and saying this is the truth, this is the truth. And somebody 59:36 visits all the 20 groups and he says, "Ah, I found God in one of them." It's not because that group was bigger in size or more powerful preachers. It's there was a sense of the presence of Jesus. 59:55 It's like you go into 20 rooms and one of them has got light. You know, hey, there's light here. It's not because of light doesn't make a lot of noise. But there's something that makes you aware that Jesus is here. I remember as a young preacher, 1:00:14 I read a verse I'll never forget. And it became the passion of my life. There are certain things I read in the Bible sometimes that have gripped me. One of them was this. I read in Luke chapter 24 that when Jesus was walking 1:00:31 to Emmaus after his resurrection. Do you know how long that walk was, by the way? How long did he walk with those disciples? You got to know a little mathematics to get the answer. The distance, Luke 24:13, was 7 miles. 1:00:58 They were not running. They were walking, not fast. I'm sure it was a leisurely walk. They probably took about 3 hours, my guess. Probably not a very smooth road rough road. 3 hours. Do you get such things when you 1:01:18 read that verse? I'm curious. I look for such things. 7 miles, how long did it take for them to walk? You know, this is what meditation does. And then I begin to think, that means Jesus preached to them for 3 hours. Wow. 1:01:35 And the 3 hours were so powerful that they said in verse 32, "Our hearts were burning within us when he spoke." They didn't say we sort of got bored after 1 hour. No. I read that and I said, "Lord, 1:01:55 you said the same Holy Spirit that's upon you can be in me, right?" The same Holy Spirit that anointed you can anoint me. That's what you say in your word. I want to preach like that. I may not get there overnight, 1:02:15 but I offer myself completely. I'll do whatever you say. I'll study the Bible as much as you like. I won't have television in my home. I'll just spend my time studying the Bible, studying the Bible, studying the Bible. And be anointed and prayed and cry out 1:02:28 to God morning, noon, and night to be filled with the Holy Spirit, but I want to preach like that. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. We have a lot of Christians today who are not diligent in seeking God. 1:02:48 And that's why we don't have the type of churches that we should have. There are many churches so that those who are approved by God can become manifest. Ah, there's light there. 1:03:08 You know the two examples Jesus used, word pictures of what we were supposed to be. He said we were that we like light and like salt. What is the common thing about light and salt? They don't make any noise. But you get into a room, you know 1:03:26 immediately whether there's light or not. You take some food and you immediately know whether there's salt in it or not. It doesn't announce, "Hey, there's salt here." "God is here." No, no, no, we don't need to say God is here. 1:03:39 You don't have to make any announcement. Light does not make an announce, "Hey, did you fellows light is here?" No. They know it. They know it. What is the mark of a new covenant church? I'll tell you. A lot of people say you must sing so 1:03:59 much, you must pray so much, you must give people time to share and this, that, and the other. So many pattern. I'll tell you what is the mark of a new covenant church. Here it is. 1 Corinthians 14, this is scripture. Here is a whole church that has come 1:04:14 together. 1 Corinthians 14:23. And I want to leave out all the thing that happens. I want to see the end result. An ungifted man enters the middle of verse 24. A man who doesn't believe much in you, 1:04:33 probably doesn't believe much in Christ. Ungifted, one who doesn't believe in Christ comes in there, probably skeptic. But he's convicted by what he hears. Like those disciples in Emmaus, they said, "Boy, my heart was burning." 1:04:50 And the secrets of his heart are made manifest and he falls on his face and he says, "God is here." That is the mark of a new covenant church. That's what I believed. Otherwise, you can follow any pattern. Do it like this, do it like that. So 1:05:09 many minutes this, so many minutes that. So much singing, so much this. At the end of it, if people don't go away saying I met with Jesus, that's not a new covenant church. That's been my prayer. I say, "Lord, I'm not interested what people think 1:05:25 about me. I don't want their honor. I don't want their money. But when they go away from the meeting, they must feel I met with the Lord. He spoke to my heart. Maybe it was the same message I heard 10 times before, but it spoke to my heart. 1:05:42 It's like the manna. The manna was the same manna for 40 years, but it still refreshed them. It wasn't stale. That's the point. I'm sure Jesus preached the same message many times. You read that in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 1:05:58 But it was fresh. The manna was from heaven every time. Even though it looked the same and tasted the same, it was fresh. That's how it can be. That's how it must be in our in our churches. Um, can you please give us some 1:06:17 practical, effective ways to live out discipleship on a weekly basis within the context of the local body of Christ? Well, I believe it is primarily in our home that we seek to live as disciples and die to ourselves. There are two places where Jesus spent 1:06:37 most of his life. Out of 33 and 1/2 years, he spent 30 years, 90% at home and in his workplace, the carpenter shop. 10% 1:06:55 3 and 1/2 years preaching. Why was it like that? Why not 50/50? Because God knows that 90% of our time we spend at home and in our place of work. 10% of our time 1:07:13 we spend in Christian activity with Christian churches and people. So Jesus wanted to be an example. 90% of the time it was in his home and his place of work. And that's where we must be disciples. So Jesus was a disciple at home as a 1:07:31 little child obeying his Mary and Joseph. His brothers did not believe in him and he reacted in a Christian way to them. That's where it begins, with unconverted relatives in the home. The Bible says in John 7 verse 5 verses 1:07:47 that his brothers did not believe in him. Imagine growing up to the age of 30, Mary telling Jesus' four brothers and two sisters, "Do you know this elder brother of yours was born by a miracle, is the son of God, is not just one of 1:08:02 someone like you." They hear all that and says, "Mom, don't tell us all that rubbish. We don't believe it." They treated him, they didn't even believe in him. It says that in John 7. Can you imagine how they nagged him and 1:08:15 irritated him and troubled him all those 30 years at home? And if he had got irritated with them once, he would have sinned. Never once did he get irritated with them or bitter. This is where discipleship began. And in the carpenter shop in the midst 1:08:32 of I'm sure there were crooked carpenters in Nazareth just like today. But here was an upright carpenter. He's always honest with his work, even if he didn't make as much money as the others because his aim was not to become 1:08:44 the richest carpenter in Nazareth. His aim was to be a witness for Christ in his work. The carpentry was only a means of earning a living. That's all. And there he was a disciple. And then he went out preaching. So, on a weekly basis, 1:09:02 it's how we live. I've often said in our church, I said, "We try our best to sing well on Sunday morning. We have about 1/2 an hour of singing in the morning on Sundays, but we're probably not the greatest singers in Bangalore or 1:09:16 anywhere else. But I tell I've told people this. How well we sing on Sunday morning is not what impresses God. How did you live Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday? And that 1:09:35 is what God sees when you open your mouth and you are not even singing in tune. Doesn't matter. He's delighted with that. But if you have lived in a selfish way without taking up the cross throughout the week and you come here 1:09:49 and sing like an angel, God's not even listening. So when some people ask me, "Brother Zac, what is the difference between your church and other churches?" And I say, "We don't claim to be better than others. We're not bigger than others. We 1:10:01 don't say we have no hypocrites. Every church has got hypocrites. Even Jesus' church had one hypocrite. But we also have hypocrites like every other church, but in other churches the important day is Sunday. For us the important day is Monday, 1:10:17 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening after you go home. I said, "That is what is important for us. And how you live there in your home and your place of work 1:10:35 is what we emphasize. Even if you don't sing well on Sunday, it doesn't matter. And even the preaching is not so powerful and you know, explaining so many things. We don't have great intellectuals. It doesn't matter. It's life. 1:10:51 Because we live the life throughout the week and we seek to share from our life. So that's how we believe in discipleship and that's how we believe in doing all that Jesus commanded us to do. Um 1:11:09 If there are no churches in our locality for leading people to Christ-likeness, love of the body, what should we do? Well, I would say, go around different churches 1:11:29 and see which is the closest to the word of God. Don't become a member in any church. Don't take any responsibility. Attend and see where there's some closest to God's word. And then look around and 1:11:47 pray that God will bring you in touch with someone there who's seeking a godly life. And maybe pass on a a CD of a message that blessed you or a booklet. Or pray that God will lead you to someone who's looking for a godly life. 1:12:06 Suggest to them some YouTube sermon that blessed you. And like that, pray that God will lead you to one person, one family that's looking for a godly life. And you never know. And you invite that family home and say, "Can we 1:12:27 watch a video together perhaps, sing a song?" Don't do it on a Sunday. Don't clash with the local church service. Do it on one of the weekdays, Friday or Saturday or something. And say, "Lord, I want there to be a little witness for 1:12:40 you here. I'm not here to I'm not qualified to build a church. I just want to gather a few people." And you never know what God will do. If I can believe, there's one thing I believed, that God is much more interested 1:12:58 in building local churches than Zac Poonen is. I'm convinced of that. And that's what helped me. Lord, I'm not trying to get you involved in what I want to do. You're trying to get me involved in what you want to do. So you're more interested in this than I 1:13:15 am. And I just say I'm available. I'm here just to carry the bricks and the mortar. You're building the church. Tell me what to do. Tell me where to go. I'll I'll do it. So we just make ourselves available. You never know. Do you know that the 1:13:35 first churches in the history of Christianity were built by people who were 30 to 33 years old. All the apostles were younger than Jesus. They were apostles when they were 30 years old. They built churches when they were 30 1:13:50 years old. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. Genuine fullness of the Holy Spirit. And they loved Jesus fervently. They were willing to give up everything. They were willing to sacrifice. That's why God picked them up. And if 1:14:05 you're like that, I tell you God will pick you up. I remember when I was a young man, God gave me a verse. It was from 2 Samuel 24 and verse 24. Where you know, God told David to He was 1:14:24 the king and he asked him to offer a sacrifice in a particular place, in the threshing floor of a man called Araunah. And when David went to Araunah's field, he bowed down and said, "Oh king, why have you come to my place?" He said, 1:14:37 "God's told me to offer a sacrifice here." "Oh, take, sure. Take my bullocks free. Offer them a sacrifice and take their yoke and burn it for fire and here, use this place. It's yours." David said, "No. If I take all that free from you." You 1:14:52 know how human nature, we love to get anything free. Even though we don't need it, we'll pick it up. So but David said, "I won't take it free because if I take it free from you and give it to God, it will be a sacrifice which cost me 1:15:08 nothing. Zero." And he said, "I will not" 2 Samuel 24:24, "I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing." I heard that when I was 22 years old, 55 years ago. I read that. 1:15:27 And the Lord said to me from that, "You must never in your life offer to me that which costs you nothing." I said, "Yes, Lord, by your grace. I will never offer to you that which costs me nothing, whether it's money, time, energy, inconvenience, whatever it 1:15:47 is. If I have to lose my sleep, if I have to sit up late at night, if I do this, if I'm called here and called there and go here and there, I will not offer to you that which costs me nothing. Any amount of inconvenience, 1:15:59 sacrifice, money, time, energy, sure, I'll do it." I remember once I was standing at the railway station in Bangalore about to go for a weekend conference somewhere. 1:16:17 The children were all small. And one or two of them were sick and my wife has always been a very faithful wife who never stops me from going anywhere. No matter what she has to do at home. Uh I don't say that every wife should do 1:16:35 that. Some don't have that ability, but God gave her that ability. Uh and partly because she's a doctor, she knows also how to take care of medical problems. Anyway, children were sick and I was at the railway station and I was thinking, "Boy, what what if 1:16:53 it gets worse?" You know how children get sick and you never know whether it develops into something worse. And I was wondering, "Shall I call them up and say I can't come? And I'm sure they'll understand." And the Lord said something to me that 1:17:08 day which I'll never forget. He said, "It's all right to be afraid, fearful, but never take a decision on the basis of fear." That is a great help to me through the years that sometimes fear comes into the 1:17:27 heart and I say, "What can I do? I can't just throw it out. I wish I could throw it out like something in the house." There's a fear there. I learned that the important thing is I don't take a decision on the basis of that fear. 1:17:40 I take the decision on the basis of faith cuz faith is the opposite of fear. So the Lord said to me, "You can go home if you like, but don't take the decision on the basis of fear." So I thought about it and I said, "I won't go home. I'll go 1:17:58 for the conference." And children were okay. So sometimes we have to take some decisions which cause a little inconvenience. Of course, one thing husband and wife must be united in this. I mean, if I if I had a wife who was not 1:18:16 at all interested in building the church, I don't know. 90% of what I did, I couldn't have done. Cuz I'd have been a constant problem at home. That's why you young people, you must marry someone who's wholehearted. Don't just marry a pretty face. Marry 1:18:35 someone who's wholehearted for God. Because God wants you to build a church. There's a great need for that in every place. Many people have put other things as primary in their life and they live for that, live for that, 1:18:50 and then towards the end of their life when they are retired, they say, "Okay, Lord, I want to do something for you now. I want to build your church." Well, it's like inviting somebody to your house and drinking the whole cup of coffee and a 1:19:04 little bit left in it. I'd like to give you some coffee. Here's some. And give him the dregs. That's what most people give to God. And they don't feel they're insulting God with that. I drink drunk the whole cup for myself. 1:19:21 Lord, I'm 60 now. I've got a few more years. You can have it if you like. Are you surprised that God says, "No, thank you." What do you want? Do you want to go to heaven? Okay, I'll take you to heaven. You want to build a church? 1:19:40 You got to sacrifice. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Any one of you can build a church. Perhaps you say, "Lord, I didn't know these things for so many years." God says, "I understand. Are you willing to 1:19:54 decide now? Doesn't matter how old you are." Moses started his ministry at the age of 80. Abraham at 75. Most of you are younger than that. Say, "Lord, I'm available now. I didn't know these things for so many years. 1:20:14 I went to churches where they never challenged me in this way. But here I am, Lord. I'm from now on till the day you come back to this earth, I want to be totally available to you. I want to offer to you that which cost me everything. I want my the rest 1:20:27 of my life to count for you and for eternity. I promise you, God will take you at your word. And receive you, fill you with his spirit, and do something through you, but be wholehearted. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 1:20:49 we pray that you will help us to understand the things that seem to be so big and beyond us. Actually, they are not. Every one of them is within our grasp. He said, "If anyone wants to do his will, he will know the truth." 1:21:05 We want to do your will, Lord. I believe there are many people sitting here who want your best in their life. Some have wasted many years, but you can make something good out of the rest of their life. I believe that. For you will take even the smallest 1:21:21 offering, even if it's only two mites. It's all that's left of their life. You accepted it from the widow, and you'll accept it from them as well. Thank you. I pray that every one of us will be encouraged as we go in Jesus' name. Amen.
