0:19 So, we've been thinking about uh seeking the heavenly and seeking for life instead of knowledge. You know when God made Adam, 0:38 he's the only person of all of creation about whom it's written he made him in the image of God. That doesn't mean he was like Jesus Christ in character. No. What that means in Genesis 1 is 0:56 that he made Adam with the capacity to receive the life of God. which the angels did not have. The angels are also got they got a conscience. You know the devil was also an angel once the highest of the angels and he 1:14 had a conscience and he sinned and he became the devil. Gabriel, Michael are all angels with the they live holy lives but they cannot have the life of God in them. In all of creation, 1:33 it's only man, the human race, that God made with the capacity to receive the life of God. That's what it means when it says God made Adam in the image of God. So 1:51 in uh practical terms for example to use an illustration this table in front of me cannot does not have the capacity to receive electricity and give forth light. But the light above me that has got the 2:12 capacity to the bulb has got the capacity to give forth light. So in the same way the angels are say like this table no capacity to give forth light. Adam was made like the bulb with the capacity to give for if you 2:32 send electricity through the table doesn't produce light. You send electricity through that bulb, it lights up. So in the same way, that's a picture of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is allowed to have full control of me, the life of 2:48 God, the love of God will fill me. You'll find it easy to love those people who are difficult to love right now. You'll find it easy to overcome those sins that you're enslaved with 3:07 right now. It's a wonderful thing can only come if I open myself to let the Holy Spirit work in me. That's why the most important thing in the Christian life is to be genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit and not be deceived by all the 3:25 counterfeits going on around and not even to boast about anything. If you are really filled with the Holy Spirit, others will see it. And you see Jesus used two examples in the sermon on the mount. He said, "You are the light of the world and 3:44 you're the salt of the earth." Salt and light. What is the one thing common about salt and light? You know what it is? Doesn't make any sound. Light does not make any sound. 4:02 Salt does not make any sound. But as soon as you go into a room, you know whether there's light or not. As soon as you eat a food, you know whether there's salt in it or not. Nobody has to tell you, hey, there's salt in this food. Nobody has to say, 4:18 there's light in this room. And when you meet a genuine Christian, one who's filled with the Holy Spirit, and you spend a little time with him, you will see that he's different from other Christians. A godly man, a really godly man filled 4:36 with the Holy Spirit will be different from all the other pastors and preachers and all the other type of Christians you've met in your life. There'll be something about him which is fundamentally different in his attitude 4:48 to people, his attitude to money, his attitude to everything. Salt and light. He doesn't have to advertise, hey, I'm like this. Light and salt. Keep quiet. It's a something that shines forth. And that must be our longing to be like light and 5:05 salt in our It's not a knowledge as I said, it's a life. So when Adam failed completely, God sent another man that was G Jesus 5:23 the son of God came to earth in the form of a man and God says okay now I'll show you how I wanted man to live. So we don't look at Jesus as only having come to earth to die for the sins of the world. 5:41 Because if that were the case, God could have made Jesus just like he made Adam from the mud and the clay full grown. That means he come to earth as a 33 year old. In one day he goes and dies on the cross and goes back to heaven. Finished. He's 5:58 died for the sins of the world. If that was the only purpose, he could have come to earth as a full-g grown man from heaven to this earth, landed somewhere and gone to the cross and been crucified for the sins of the world. No problem. 6:15 Why did God allow his son to live that very difficult life for 30 years as God Jesus never submitted to anybody? He and the father were equal. But when he came to earth, he had to 6:33 submit to an imperfect Joseph and an imperfect Mary. Have you experienced working under an imperfect boss? Wasn't your boss in your office as a crook 6:52 and evil in many ways? You find it easy to work under him? No. If the boss is very good and kind and upright, it's easy. But what about a boss who's a crook, not upright, very difficult to work under him. Can you imagine how Jesus must have felt 7:11 to live in a home where both his earthly parents were imperfect and not only that they would fight with each other? Do you believe Joseph and Mary fought with each other? 7:30 Do you husbands and wives fight with each other? I'm talking about new covenant husband and wife. You don't have to pretend. They were under the old covenant. Even new covenant husband and wife find it so difficult to live in peace with 7:50 each other. Can you imagine how it was for Joseph and Mary without the Holy Spirit? And Jesus saw this. Joseph and Mary yelling at each other. Picture this in your mind. 8:07 And the father says, "Submit to him. Submit to imperfect authority." For how long? It's like being in a submitting to an imperfect boss for 30 years. 30 years. And not only an imperfect father and 8:27 mother. It says he had Mark chapter 6 tells us he had four younger brothers and two younger sisters. Their names are also given there. The brothers names six siblings younger than him. And I don't know whether you'll notice 8:43 this verse in John chapter 7. It says in John chapter 7, when you look at the Bible, as I said, you see the glory of Jesus in these little things. I read the gospels now to see the glory of Jesus everywhere. I say, Lord, I want 9:01 to see your glory in the gospels. And that's really challenged me. The Holy Spirit can make me like that. John chapter 7, it says here verse 5, Jesus brothers did not believe in him. Can you think of that? 9:20 Jesus brothers did not believe in him. Don't you think Mary would have told his her other sons and daughters, "Your elder brother is not an ordinary boy. He's the son of God. 9:38 He's not Joseph's son. By the way, Joseph is not his dad. He was born of the Holy Spirit coming upon me. I'm sure they respected their mother enough to know that she's not a liar and that she spoke the truth. But in spite of that, they didn't 9:58 believe in it. They say, "Yeah, it's all nonsense." Can you think of that? growing up with a father and mother imperfect and four brothers and sisters who are probably make fun of you and irritate 10:16 you day and night and never sinning. If you ask me what is the greatest miracle that Jesus did, it is not raising Lazarus from the dead. Not at all. It is the fact that he lived 33 and a half years on earth with our body and 10:33 never sinned even once. in thought or word or action or attitude towards anybody or motive in what he did. No sin. Now you and I know how difficult 10:51 it is to live free from sin in these five areas. Thought, word, deed, attitude, motive, even for one day. It's an absolute miracle if you can live one day without ab without the slightest 11:09 defilement in any of these areas. And Jesus lived like that for 33 and a half years. That is the greatest miracle of his life. Other people are taken up with walking on the water and healing the sick and raising the dead. That's why they try to 11:29 do all those things and fool people. the number of fake stories I've heard about raising the dead and healing the sick and all that. I don't swallow all these things. I remember years ago 1970 I heard of a 11:46 revival in Indonesia and I read a book about it and they said there were people raised from the dead in Indonesia. I went there to Indonesia three years later, 1973, and I discovered that there was a similar word for death, being dead and 12:04 being in a coma. So when the Indonesian word was sort of similar, somebody says he's in a coma and somebody would like to interpret it as he was dead because you'd like to say he raised the dead rather than say that the 12:19 guy recovered from the coma after one hour or something. This is the type of deception that goes on all over the world in Christendom. And the sad thing is not that these deceivers are there. The sad thing is there are thousands of believers who 12:32 swallow all this nonsense. They don't realize that the greatest miracle that Jesus did was not raising the dead or walking on the water. I'll tell you honestly, I have zero desire to raise the dead or to walk on water. I want to do the greatest miracle that 12:52 Jesus did. I want to experience that to live without sin one day at a time in my thoughts, in my words, in my deeds, in my attitudes towards people and in 13:11 the motives with which I do everything or say anything. I said, "Lord Jesus, that's what I want. You grant me this miracle and I'll never ask for another cuz that's the greatest thing. I don't know whether you guys are gripped by it. 13:27 God sent his son to show us how man should live because Adam failed him in that area. And so today Adam is not my example. When I'm the choice before me and I read the Bible is knowledge or life. I don't make the choice that Adam made. I say 13:46 life God man should live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth and it says proceeds means present continuous tense not proceeded 2,000 years ago and written in the Bible no from the Bible proceeds Matthew 4:4 14:04 proceeds to me today as I read it that is how I live so it's not just reading and memorizing and I read the scripture God's word has to proceed from there and come to my heart now and tell me what I should do then I live otherwise Bible knowledge 14:23 will not make anybody live. When I see that that is what God sent Jesus on earth for, turn to John chapter 1. It says about Jesus coming to earth like this. John 1:14, 14:39 "The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth." 14:59 The glory of God is full of grace and truth. Not just grace, not just truth. Grace and truth. There's a balance like the left side and the right side of the body. Our body is perfectly balanced. 15:16 So keep that in mind. What? Think of it again. Jesus came to earth and manifested the glory of his father full of grace and truth. Now go to John chapter 20 and combine that verse with what he said in John 20. 15:36 Please keep that John 1:14 in mind. In John 20, Jesus said in verse 21, John 20:1, as the father sent me, 15:53 I also sent you. So I have to manifest the glory of Jesus just like Jesus manifest the glory of the father. He came to earth and 16:11 manifest the glory of the father and now he tells me as the father sent me I sent you. I have to manifest the glory of Jesus and so have you. That's what it means to be a Christian. 16:28 The light must shine without being dim. And the first step to that is to keep my conscience always clear by immediate confession of sin. 16:44 Immediate asking for apology and progressively hating that sin and overcoming it. And gradually little by little the glory of Jesus Christ becomes manifest in my life as the glory of the father was manifest 17:03 in Jesus life that Jesus would forgive people freely. They killed him on the cross and immediately he said father forgive them. I see the glory of Jesus there and I need to be like that to people who hurt me. 17:22 I remember once a brother came to me and said was telling me about all the ways in which people are troubling him and hurting him and accusing him and I asked him one question brother have they crucified you as yet he said no not yet 17:34 I said then you got a long way to go don't complain about these little silly little things these are all ant bites bites you're complaining about ant bites Jesus was crucified man and he forgave them forgive whatever I don't know what 17:51 he did to you but forgive him otherwise say I don't want to follow Jesus. So it's very important that we see just like the father sent Jesus so Jesus sends you and me into the world 18:09 to show his glory. Now turn back to John 1 again. There's another verse I want to show you link up with this John 20:21 verse and that is John 18. John 1:18 it says 18:28 no one has seen God at any time but the only begotten son of God who was with the father he has come to earth and explained him. So what did Jesus do? He came to earth 18:45 and explained or manifested to the world what the father was like. He told the world by the way this is what the father is like. You remember one example of that in John 19:03 chapter 13. John chapter 13 is the place where he washed the disciples feet. Even Judas's scariot's feet, he washed. Don't forget that. He washed the feet of everyone including Judas's scariot. 19:22 And then in John 14, uh, Philillip said to him in John 14:8, "Show us the father and that's enough for us." John 14:8. And he says, "Phillip, have I been so long time with you and you still don't 19:42 know? He who has seen me." The last part of verse 9, "He who has seen me has seen the father." So how can you say, "Show us the father." See the context. Have you seen me washing people's feet, 20:00 Philip? That's what God the Father is like. You know, God the Father wants to wash our feet. If only all the proud Christians in the world who think so much about themselves 20:18 would understand that what God is like, it would change their lives completely. I have seen arrogant Christians in CFC churches. They haven't seen Jesus. They haven't seen God. 20:35 Jesus says, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." And I'm sorry to say, many Christians have not seen Jesus or the Father. That's how pride comes in them. They preach a little sermon, somebody is blessed, and it goes to their head as if 20:51 they are somebody big. It's so difficult for most Christians to do any little work for God without getting buffed up. And what they do is 1 millionth of what Jesus did. That is a problem. You compete with 21:13 other believers to show that you're superior to them. In what way? It's like I think of it like this. You know the ants, the small brown ants that crawl on our ground in India. And one ant is saying I'm 1 billionth of 21:28 a centimeter longer than the other ant. Not 1 millionth, 1 billionth of a centimeter longer than the other ant. This is the this is what I'm reminded of when I think of one believer trying to be proud that I've done something for 21:45 the Lord. Uh-huh. God have mercy on you, brother sister. If you think like that or you're superior to some other person sitting here, you haven't seen Jesus. You haven't seen the father. He came to wash people's feet. You know, in the Jewish 22:08 homes, the rich people's homes, there was always a bucket of water near the door. And all the rich Jewish people had slaves. And you know, they were wearing the sandals in those days. And the roads were dusty. Everybody came to the house 22:22 with the feet would be full of dust. And the slave had to wash these people's feet when they sat for dinner. So here because Jesus wanted it to be private, he told the rule owner of that house, don't keep any slave there 22:35 because I want to private dinner with my disciples. So there was no slave there. But the bucket of water was there and the towel. And the disciples knew somebody to wash the feet. And Matthew is the charted accountant. He says, "I don't wash 22:49 people's feet. I'm a senior person here." Peter says, "I'm the leader of the disciples. I don't wash people's feet." And Judas is carried as the postgraduate. He doesn't wash anybody's feet. Who is left? Jesus. John. John and James says, "We 23:06 are related to the high priest. We don't wash people's feet." So Jesus says, "I suppose I'm the only one here who is a slave." Okay? And he picks up the bucket. My brother, sister, have you seen that? Has that gripped you? 23:23 You just listen to that as a message or does it grip you? This is my savior. This is my Lord. Lord, this is how I want to be all the days of my life. Not just once after listening to a message like this. every single day of 23:41 my life. I have a picture in front of my dining room at home of Jesus washing Peter's feet with the words by love serve one another. And I it reminds me I say Lord that's 24:01 how I want to be all the days of my life. I don't want to be known as a preacher or pastor. Never, never, never. I want to serve others. Like my master washed people's feet. I've told all the elders, we work with about more than 100 24:17 elders in different churches. And I tell all of them, remember my brothers that we are only washers of feet. That's all. When you preach a sermon, you have to wash people's feet. Yeah, that's what I do. 24:36 And you say, "Brother Zack, but sometimes your sermons are so hard." Yeah, because sometimes there's so much dirt on your feet. I got to use a hard brush to scrape off all that dirt. That's why. But I'm still washing the feet, getting 24:49 rid of the dirt. That's what Jesus did. So I see the glory of Jesus in all these things. He didn't come to earth as a full-blown man. He came as a small child 25:07 had to learn obedience. There are only two things that we know about Jesus earthly life before he was baptized in the river Jordan. What did he do those first 30 years? Let me show you the two verses. 25:27 People call it the hidden years in Nazareth. Yeah, they're hidden years. But I'll tell you what he did. First of all, Luke's Gospel chapter 2. When he was a little boy, 12 years old, came back from the temple. Luke's Gospel 25:46 chapter 2 verse 51. He went down with Joseph and Mary. Luke 2:51. came to Nazareth and he continued in subjection to them for how long? For the next 18 years. 26:05 So that's one thing we know that he did in those hidden years in Nazareth. He continued in obedience to Joseph and Mary all those 30 years teaching me not just to be subject to my parents. The principle is not subject to parents. 26:24 That's one aspect of it. Be subject to whatever authority God places over you. Even if they are imperfect. In their case, in Jesus case, it was Joseph and Mary. If you believe that God is placed your 26:46 husband as an authority over you, the Bible says you got to be subjective. If you believe that the boss, you're working in the place where God wants you to work, then you got to be subject to the boss, even if he's imperfect. 26:57 If not, then you should find another job. But you can't stay in an office and keep on rebelling against, keep on speaking evil like all the others do. What do I learn from this? The glory of Jesus, he was subject to imperfect authority. 27:14 That's the first thing I learned. Subject to imperfect authority. In any church that I go to in India, our CFC churches, even the churches that came through my ministry, but where I've appointed elders now, 27:33 initially we just appoint some facilitators or leaders to lead the meeting. After some years, we make elders. Once they become elders, they are in charge of that church. So when I go there, I subject myself to them. I remember when I used to go to 27:48 the church in Tutarin which started through my ministry in ' 83. I would go there for a conference and those brothers would lead the meeting. I would sit on the floor just with all the other brothers and sisters in their church. every every conference, 28:08 every session, I'd sit on the floor with the others and they would ask when they asked me to come and speak, I would get up, speak and come back and sit on the floor with the others. I was subject to their authority. They were elders 28:22 appointed by me, but at that time they are the elders in that church. And I've learned from Jesus, I'm a subject to authority. If they say a meeting starts at this time, finishes this time, I accept it. They are the authority. 28:37 anything. Okay, brother Zach, we're going to do this now. Okay, this is your church, your conference. Do what you like. I have learned and that has been such a blessing in my life because it was at the end of that that the father said 28:51 about Jesus. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And I'll tell you why it is so important. Because many millions of years ago, there was an angel in heaven called Lucifer who refused to submit to authority. There was only one authority 29:07 above him. That was God. And he didn't even want to submit to God. He rebelled in his authority. And God cast him out. And he became the devil. And then God sent his son Jesus to overcome that evil that Satan has done. And how does 29:22 he overcome it? By doing the opposite of what the devil did. What is that? be subject to imperfect authority. The devil could not be subject to perfect authority. Remember, Jesus came and submitted to imperfect authority to show I can overcome that. 29:39 And he's my example. I don't know if all of you have seen it. It's changed my life, I tell you. Because when God sees it, year after year after year, he will say about you, this is my beloved child, you know, my well pleased. and he pour out upon you 29:55 the Holy Spirit like he poured it out on Jesus. He's poured it out on me has changed my life and my ministry. I could never do what what God has accomplished without the power of the Holy Spirit completely out of the question. The 30:10 second thing that Jesus did in the hidden years in Nazareth, let me show you in Hebrews in chapter 4. Hebrews 4. What did he do in all those 30 years in Nazareth? He was subject to imperfect authority. Number one. 30:30 And Hebrews 4:15. We don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. But one who has tempted in all things as 30:45 we are, yet without sin. You know a little three-year-old is not tempted with sexual temptation. 8 nyear-old is not tempted with money. As they grow up, they become 11, 12, 13, they get tempted sexually. Then they start earning 16, 17, 18, they are 31:05 tempted with money. Jesus was tempted in all those years. What was he tempted with? He was tempted sexually with girls. He was tempted with money. When he started earning as a carpenter, he was tempted in Think of all the 31:18 temptations you faced in your life. says here Jesus was faced all those temptations but he did not sin. That's what he did in those 30 years. One he was subject to authority that God placed him over him and second he was he 31:36 overcame every temptation that came to him. Now the Holy Spirit has come to show me this glory of Jesus which I just showed you and say he says I want to do the same thing in your life. He's not saying thou shalt do it. 31:56 Thou shalt, you shall you shall not is the language of the law, the ten commandments. That's not what he says in the new covenant. He says I will do it in you. Turn to Hebrews 8. Hebrews 8 32:16 and verse 8. The days are coming the Lord says I'll make a new covenant. Verse 9. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers. That covenant was you shall you shall not. You shall not worship idols. You shall keep the Sabbath. You shall honor 32:33 your father and mother. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not commulter. It's all you shall you shall not. This is not like that. The new covenant, the Holy Spirit comes in and says I, verse 10, middle, I will put my law 32:51 into their mind and I will write them on their heart. Who whose responsibility is that? Not mine. God's. To put God's law in my mind means to give me a desire to do the will of God. To put God's law in my heart means to 33:09 give me the ability to do that will. I need two things. The desire to do God's will and the ability to do God's will. Both of them I don't have initially. After some time, the desire to do God's will comes. But the ability may not be 33:23 there. But the Holy Spirit has come to do both. I will write put my law into their mind. I'll give them the desire to do my will. I'll write it on their hearts. I'll give them the ability to do my will. The heart is the place where God's grace 33:37 comes to strengthen us. See chapter 13, Hebrews 13 and verse 9. Everything is in scripture. If you study the scripture, you have the answer. Hebrews 13:9, middle of that verse, it's good for the heart to be strengthened 33:55 by grace. When the heart is strengthened by grace, it says in Romans 6:14, "Sin will not rule over you because you're under grace." But grace comes to the heart, gives me power to overcome sin. Comes to my mind to give me the desire 34:14 to do God's will. Comes into my heart, gives me the ability to do God's will. God does it. The same thing is written in Philippians 2. Philippians chapter 2 verse 13. Read Philippians 2:13. 34:31 What does God do for us? God is at work first of all outside in the world to make everything work together for my good. That is Romans 8:28. You all know that God works in the world. Romans 8:28 to work for my good. But what does God work inside me in my 34:49 mind and heart? That is in Philippians 2:13. God is at work inside you. And whenever he talks about inside you, he's talking about the Holy Spirit's work. First of all, to make you will his good pleasure and secondly to do his 35:06 good pleasure. That is to give you the desire to do his will and secondly the ability to do his will. Exactly the same as Hebrews 8. All scripture is the same in the New Testament. This was not possible in the Old Testament because 35:20 they didn't have the Holy Spirit. That's why the new covenant is so blessed. That's why to be filled with the Holy Spirit is the most important thing in the Christian life with genuine fullness. And that's why the devil has brought so 35:35 much counterfeit that people live in sin and do all types of things. They speak in tongues on Sunday morning in the in their so-called charismatic churches and the same afternoon they'll yell at their wives and their mother tongue. What what 35:49 sort of tongue is that? absolutely disgraceful. So there's a lot of confusion in this area. So go to the scriptures and say Lord I want to follow Jesus. 36:06 I want to be like him in my life and this is what the Holy Spirit will do. But what are we to do? If God is at work in me, in my mind and in my heart, what do I have to do? Sit back and do nothing? No. See the previous verse, 36:21 Philippians 2:12. You must now work out. You have to work out what God works in. You're not a robot. Robot has to do nothing. God works in and God works it out. But here God works in and you must work it out with fear 36:40 and trembling. Why with fear and trembling? Because this is we got a flesh which constantly leads us to disobey God. When God works in you to choose his will, the flesh will say no. And when God says, "Seek me for power," 36:57 the flesh will say no. Just take it easy. That's why we sin. So, brothers and sisters, let's take seriously what God's trying to tell us. We seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. We seek to understand his ways. 37:17 God has a wonderful plan for every single one of you. Pray that this weekend will bring a revolutionary change in your life, your personal walk with God, and your family life.
