0:00 [Music] We must believe with all our hearts that God wants to give 0:17 us everything he has to make our life Christlike. Jesus once told his disciples, "It is your father's good pleasure to give you his kingdom." And when you look at some of the prayers, by the way, that verse is 0:36 in Luke 12:32, it's a good verse to remember. Some of these verses, you know, if you memorize them, even if you don't know the reference, you know that that is in God's word. But you must memorize exactly otherwise you'll be claiming 0:55 something which is not written there. Luke 12:32 do not be afraid. How often Jesus said don't be afraid. There were two things that he kept on saying to his people to his disciples. Peace be unto you. Don't be 1:14 afraid. Peace and fearlessness. So I believe these two should characterize our lives always. You know we live in a world where there's so many things that can disturb our peace and so many things that can bring 1:32 fear. And those are the two things that Jesus constantly assured his disciples about. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. We need to hear that word from the Lord frequently in the world in which we live. We need to teach our 1:50 families to fear not. It's a very simple thing. But Jesus was frequently saying that was written in mostly two languages, Hebrew and Greek. The Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. There was a very good reason why God chose those 2:06 languages. He does everything perfectly. I think there's a wealth of meaning in the words in these languages. That's why he chose Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament. And the Greek was the most widely spread 2:19 language in the first century. So the Lord used it. Keep that in mind as you read it because sometimes the English does not bring exact meaning of the original Hebrew or Greek word. That's why I use many translations when I read 2:35 the Bible. I read particularly amplified Bible. I find it very useful and the living Bible. Those are two very good one translation, one paraphrase that I recommend. So here it says in Isaiah 53 verse4, surely our griefs he himself 2:57 bore. And if you look at the margin of your Bible, if you have a margin, it says sickness, our sicknesses. Isaiah 53, for he bore, he bore our sicknesses. It says in Isaiah 53, just like verse 5, he was pierced for our sins, our 3:16 transgressions, and our iniquities. So our transgressions, our sins and iniquities are mentioned in verse 5. And our sicknesses are mentioned in verse four. And he did take our sicknesses on the cross just like he took our sins, 3:34 the punishment of our sin. But the full redemption of freedom from sickness only will come only when Christ comes again. Everything that Christ purchased for us on the cross is not available immediately but it will be available one 3:49 day. Forgiveness of sins is available immediately. Becoming like Christ is available only when he comes back. Freedom from sickness is available only when he comes back. But that was already purchased on the cross. He carried our sicknesses. And keep a 4:07 finger there and turn to Matthew chapter 8. This verse is quoted in Matthew chapter 8. What we read here is surely our griefs he bore. I don't know why the translators put griefs in the margin. They put the real word is sickness. But 4:23 when you turn over to Matthew chapter 8, you find this verse is quoted there and there it's reads like this. Matthew 8:17. You know, after he healed the sick in verse 16, he cast out the spirits. The last part of verse 16, 4:42 and healed all who were ill to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet. He took away took our infirmities and carried away our diseases. That is quoting Isaiah 53:4. He carried our sicknesses. Finally, on the cross, he paid the price for it. So 5:00 here it's not called griefs, it's called disease or sickness. Okay, now that you've seen that that the word griefs means sickness, turn back to Isaiah 53. And it says here in Isaiah 53, we saw verse 4, surely our sickness he 5:20 bore. Now Isaiah 53:3, he was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with sickness. You see the margin, sickness. Jesus was acquainted with sickness. I know how bad any of us feel 5:43 when we are sick. There are temptations that come to us when we are sick that don't come to us when we are healthy. And if Jesus had to be tempted like us in every point, he'd have missed out a major part of it by never being 6:02 sick. He had to be sick also in order to experience what we go through when we are sick. So sickness is not because of sin. It's like saying, "Did Jesus persspire when he worked on the in his carpentry shop?" Do you think he 6:21 perspired? I'm sure he did. I'm sure he had to many times wipe the sweat off his brow. Perspiration. But perspiration is a result of sin. Adam did not persspire before he sinned. The Lord told Adam, "By the sweat of your brow, you will 6:38 earn your bread." It came after sin. And Jesus persspired. If Jesus stumbled on a stone, he could have hurt himself. Did he hurt himself on his feet? Yes. He experienced these have got nothing to do with sin. These are the results of sin 6:52 and sickness is one of the result of sin. He experienced it so that he can identify with us completely. Now that encouraged me tremendously because you know we've all face sometimes sicknesses and to know that Lord you also faced it 7:09 and the special temptations that come to us when we are sick or somebody in our family is sick. It's a great thing to know Jesus was tempted exactly like us. To me, the greatest one of the greatest truths that I discovered after I was 7:23 baptized in the Holy Spirit was that Christ was tempted exactly like me in every point. And that took some years for it to sink in and become a reality because I had been taught in the traditional evangelical way where Jesus 7:41 was not tempted like us. He was in a way that you know like water water off a duck's back. The water never sticks to a duck. it just flows off. But Jesus had to fight to overcome temptation. It's a very important truth that helped me 7:57 tremendously in my life. It's very important to understand this and that's part of the reality that came to me after I realized the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I told you that the Lord told me that if you go out of this way, you will 8:16 lose my anointing. So, I've been very very careful the way that Jesus went into the baptism. Allow other people to push you down. Allow temptation to attack you. And the Lord, the father will always raise you up. Never will he allow you to stay down 8:35 there. Nobody baptizes someone and leaves them in the water. Always pulled up and never kept too long. And the Lord will not allow me to go through any trial too long. that baptism has been a tremendous revelation to me what it 8:51 symbolizes for many people it's a ritual but there's a tremendous symbolism in me in it for me from the time I realized the connection between that and the anointing of Jesus and it came to me as I said when I was seeking for how to be 9:06 baptized in the Holy Spirit there's a close connection between that and the way of the cross and that's why in all our CFC churches these are the two main truths we've emphasized the baptism in the Holy Spirit of the immersion and 9:20 constant fullness of the Holy Spirit and the way of the cross of death to self every day taking up the cross and following in Jesus' footsteps think of this verse for example in Luke 9 and verse 9:38 23 it's it's like a foundational verse for my Luke 9:23. I believe that many who preach the baptism of the Holy Spirit in many denominations have missed out on the 9:57 full experience of it because they have not linked it with the way of the cross. That is Jesus is immersed allowed that means tempted or in all points and afflicted by others accepted it joyfully that is connected with the anointing of 10:16 the Holy Spirit. So many people only preach be anointed of the Holy Spirit. I preach it too. I don't believe tongues is the main sign of it. I speak in tonesues and I but it's only in private. I say with Paul in in the church, I'd 10:30 rather speak five words with a in English than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. Speaking in tongues for me is entirely between me and my heavenly father. Even my wife does not hear me. And when she speaks in tongues, I never 10:43 hear her. It's very private between each of us and the father. But the way of the cross is here in Luke 9 and verse 23. Jesus said to them, "If anyone, anyone means you or me or anybody wants to come after me, don't we all want to come 11:01 after him? Don't we all want to follow him? Here is the condition. There is no way you can bypass this." And I want to stress this because I would say 99% of Christendom has bypassed this 11:18 verse. They don't follow it. They may do it in a scripture memory, Bible memory verse, but they don't actually follow it. Is something that is said to be done daily. Notice the word daily there. He must deny himself daily. Take up his 11:34 cross daily and follow me. So there's no way of following Christ. If you don't deny yourself and take up your cross daily, many of us are imagining that we are following Christ. We believe in Christ. My life has been wonderful since 11:54 I've understood how to follow Christ. When I believed in Christ, I knew that my sins are forgiven. That I'd become a child of God. I praise God for that as many as believed in him. To them, he gave the authority to be children of 12:07 God. John 1:12. But I took a long time to discover Luke 9:23. I wish somebody had taught me this as soon as I was born again. said if somebody had told me brother you have to from today onwards take up the cross every day and deny yourself every 12:22 day I could have come into this life much sooner but let me tell you the truth it took me 16 years after I was born again to understand this and I told the young people in our church back home I see you guys are so fortunate you you hear it from the day 12:42 you're born again I never had any teacher in all those 16 years preach from the pullpit from the day you're born again, you must take up the cross every day and die to yourself. Imagine the very thing that Jesus said you got to do daily. I've hardly ever 13:01 heard a preacher preach it in all those years and even now I hardly hear anybody preaching it. You go to the internet and uh go to YouTube and see how many messages there are on denying yourself and taking up the cross every day. 13:13 pretty close to zero. He must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. If a doctor told you the cure for your uh sickness, take this tablet at least once every day, you would never forget 13:33 it. No, especially if you're an educated person. If you're an uneducated, illiterate person like in the villages, they they may forget about it. They don't take seriously what a doctor says. But you're an educated person. And the 13:48 doctor says, "If you take this tablet every day, you'll be cured of this disease. You will never forget it. You will buy an ample supply of those tablets and to have it handy every day." And here he says, "You want to follow me?" Isn't following him a far 14:06 far greater thing than having physical health? Definitely. If I were to give you a questionnaire, isn't following Jesus more important than physical health? All of you will say yes. But let me ask you, do you actually seek to follow him? 14:23 When he says that, it's like take this tablet every day. Jesus says do this every day. Deny yourself and take up the cross. Many people say, "I don't know what it means." Amazing. The thing you're supposed to do from the day you're born 14:42 again. Every day of your life, you don't know what it means. And the worst part of it is you haven't bothered to find out what it means. Let me tell you an incident in Bangalore in our hometown. There was once a gathering of religious 14:58 leaders just sort of a mini conference just a I don't know I remember 20 30 leaders from churches came together and we had a little conversation somebody else organized it many many years ago and then uh while they said okay now 15:13 we're going to break up into groups and we're all going to discuss one subject what does it mean to take up the cross we grow up we broke up into groups of five or six each and uh all the other people are also So there along with the 15:26 20 leaders and at the end of half an hour or so we came back and this person who was coordinating the whole thing read all these I don't know how many groups there were maybe 10 or so and he read all of them and he said the conclusion of all 15:40 these 10 groups is we do not know what it means to take up the cross these are the leaders of the churches in Bangalore and I'm sure that's true of many parts of the world someone to ask you my brother you've been a Christian for many 15:55 is you are supposed to have taken up the cross every day of your life from the day you were born again till today. And suppose someone asks you, can you tell me what it means in your life to deny yourself every day and take up your 16:06 cross every day? Would you be able to give an answer? And yet that's the one thing that Jesus said you have to do daily. You have a cup of tea daily or a cup of coffee daily. You never forget that. 16:26 You have a shower. If you go to work and you persspire, you take a shower daily. So many things we do daily. Brush our teeth. Children forget to brush their teeth. Well, do you forget to brush your teeth every day? You never go 16:40 to work and say, "Oh, I forgot to brush my teeth." Never. How is it that you never forget to brush your teeth? No matter how busy you are, but you forget to deny yourself and take up the cross. I'll tell you why. Do you want the real reason? Face 16:58 up to it. I love my physical health much more than my spiritual life. That is the only reason you face up to it and you can be saved. 17:15 Lord, help me to value from today my spiritual health more than my physical health. When I get up in the morning to brush my teeth, let me ask myself, do I want to take off the cross also today? Do I want to deny myself 17:34 today? Let me never forget it. See, such a simple thing that Jesus said we must do every day. And most Christians don't even know what it means. Amazing. So anyway, I had to struggle my way through. I'll tell you honestly, 17:54 nobody ever taught me this. I struggled my way. Finally, I found uh some books on it. After having been a Christian for some years, I was passionate for this and wanted to find out and find out and find out. Finally, I came across some 18:09 books that spoke about the way of the cross particularly and even that didn't explain various aspects of it that I still that I discovered as more and more as time went on. To deny myself means to say no to myself in situations where I 18:28 say Jesus wants me to say no to myself so that I can say yes to him. It can mean many situations where say when somebody insults me or speaks some strong angry word to me. My natural 18:45 reaction being a child of Adam inwardly is to say something back or to teach him that I can also teach him a lesson. Jesus said say no. Say no to yourself. Any provocation particularly husband wife sometimes tensions can 19:02 arise because of problems in the home even though you love each other very much and in a moment of pressure your wife may say something what should you do then that's the time to deny yourself say Lord I'm going to say no to 19:21 myself and after a while it'll be very easy in the beginning it may be a bit of a struggle but it'll be very very easy. You will enjoy it. It'll be like having ice cream to deny yourself. Believe me, because you see the result 19:37 of it. Say no to yourself and take up your cross. That's another thing as I said many people don't know. To take up the cross means to do what Jesus did with the cross. What what happened with Jesus on the cross? He died on it. 19:55 See how the devil has turned the attention of people away from that by have people having crosses hanging on their necks and crosses put on buildings and all. It's taken away from the meaning of the cross. It's become an 20:08 object of adoration. Cross made of gold and all types of expensive stones and wooden crosses and stone crosses. The real cross has been completely misunderstood. To take up the cross is 20:26 to die to everything that Jesus died to. Let me show you a word in [Music] Galatians [Music] and chapter 2 verse 20. 20:46 This is what the cross meant for the Apostle Paul. Galatians 2:20, he says, "I," I means the self, I have been crucified with Christ. This is a great truth that I 21:06 never understood for a long time. If I use my reason, I say, "How in the world could I be crucified with Christ when I live 2,000 years after him?" Then I need to understand that God chose me in Christ 21:24 before the foundation of the world. So I'll come back to this. Turn first Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 21:41 1. I sometimes say this is a verse that comes before Genesis 1 verse one. You know what Genesis 1 verse one is? In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And what happened before Genesis 1 verse one? There's one 21:58 verse in the Bible that tells me God chose me in Christ. Here it is. Ephesians [Music] 1:4. He chose us in Christ before Genesis 1 verse one. This is actually the first verse. 22:18 This should be the first verse in the Bible. He chose me in Christ and then later on he created the heaven and the earth. Have you understood that? I hope you have. He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world with a 22:35 purpose that I should be holy and blameless before him. Not before men. No, no, no, no. Holy before him, blameless before him. In love, he predestined. Predestined means what? Same thing. Before the foundation of the world, he chose me to be a 22:54 son through Jesus Christ according to the kind intention of his will. If that is his will, nothing can stop me from coming into that life. My dear brothers, I wish we would be gripped by this. It changed my life completely to know that 23:10 I'm not an afterthought in God's mind. I was born in 1939. That's it's not in 1939 that God thought about me. No, millions of years before I was in God's mind from the 23:29 beginning. It's almost unbelievable to know that. I don't know much about the origin of God. God existed from eternity. But at some time I was in his mind millions and millions of years ago. Zach Punin by name was in God's mind. 23:46 It'll bring a tremendous security in your life when you know that you will not fight for so many earthly things and say I got to get that get it from that person this person. All the fighting goes on in the world and even in the church it will not disturb 24:01 you if you realize that you were in God's mind from all eternity. Let me show you another verse in Psalm 139. I'll come to Galatians in a moment. Psalm 139. Verse 13. Psalm 24:26 139:13. You formed my inward parts. You wo me in my mother's womb. Okay. This is when I came into existence. This person whom God had in mind before the foundation of the world. You put your name there. Zach 24:45 Punin. One day I was a little embryo one day in my mother's womb so small that you cannot even see it without a microscope. That's what I was my body. I mean in that body which is so 25:04 small it was even you can't even see it in a microscope. You need some powerful microscope to see this speck which is the body of Zakunan. Inside that body was a soul. That was me. And God knew about that before 25:23 Genesis 1 verse one. And you wo me in my mother's womb. And when you were 16, you saw my unformed substance and the earliest stage of an embryo just impregnated, just 25:42 become a human being at that point. At that time, in your book, that means in God's book is his mind. Read it like that. in his mind all the days that were ordained for me were already written down when there was not even one of 26:02 them. I'm 85 and a half years now and every single day of my life from the day I was born was in God's mind when I hadn't even been born in my mother's womb. And it says God had already planned it 26:21 all for me. They were all planned. How precious are your thoughts to me oh God. How vast is the sum of them. So when I realize that I say Lord my whole life has been planned by you and 26:39 my greatest desire in life is to fulfill that plan. That should be your desire. I don't know how I'm going to how long I'm going to live and I'm not really interested. I lived one day at a time. The Bible says don't even say tomorrow. 26:55 Say if God wills I'll live tomorrow. Even if you're 10 years old, I say say if you if I live if I if God wills I'll live tomorrow. But it's all planned by God. It makes a tremendous difference when you realize that. And that is why now we come to 27:14 Galatians 2. When Christ died on the cross, all the people who were in God's mind, who are his children, not every human being, all those who he knew at some time in life would choose 27:33 him, he chose them, that included me. I was put in Christ when he died on the cross. It's not only Christ who died there on Calvary. I died with him. In God's mind, I died with him because I was in God's 27:52 mind from before Genesis 1 vers1. And Paul says he discovered it. And the purpose with which God crucified me in Christ was so that this I capital 28:08 I Galatians 2:20 should not live anymore that is crucified there. But now Christ who lives in me, his life should be manifested. The live in which the life 28:27 in the which I the life I now live in the flesh by faith in the son of God means by dependence upon I think of faith as dependence upon the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me. This is how I'm supposed to live every day because the I 28:46 Zak Punin has died. Okay. Galatians 6. Since this has happened that I was crucified there, he 29:03 says in Galatians 6:14 mean 14 6:14. May it never be that I boast in anything. You know, so many people boast about what they've accomplished, what their abilities are, what their skills they have. and what all they have 29:19 studied and or how well they can even preach or serve God or may it never be that I will boast in anything except the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ where I was crucified and in that 29:39 crucifixion the world was crucified to me and I been crucified to the world. So this is a wonderful way to live in this world knowing that as far as I'm concerned I'm a dead person to this 29:56 world. The world doesn't attract me anymore. Have you come there brother to the place where the world can pull you but it doesn't have any ability to draw you to itself? Once the world was like a magnet that pulled me. That force is no 30:13 longer upon me because I've died with Christ in the world. It's a wonderful truth. When you realize it, it'll deliver you from the love of money and the love of sinful pleasure and seeking the honor of men. All these things 30:28 you'll be delivered from. The things that make Christians slaves to be crucified with Christ. That is a symbol in baptism. Baptism is such an important thing because it symbolizes the most important thing in our life to be crucified with 30:45 Christ and that I'm crucified to the world and the world is crucified to me. This is the only way by which we will be able to fulfill God's purpose for our life. God has a specific plan for our life for every one of our lives. I I 31:02 told you that from Psalm 139. All that God had planned for me, he has in his mind. And it was determined even before I was born. And from the day I was born, God had a plan for my life. And he knew I'd wander around in disobedience. And 31:20 as an unconverted person, think of a person like Paul who for 30 years he wandered in disobedience. That was no God, not God's will. But he disobeyed God, allowed for accounted for that, and fulfilled God's plan in Paul's life. 31:34 But ultimately this is God's will for all of us. Let me share this with you. When we come to the end of our life, we should be able to say like Jesus said in John 17 and verse 31:53 4, I have finished the work you gave me to do. Are you serious about being a Christian? Make this your goal my dear brother. Lord when I come to the end of my life I should be able to look back over my life and 32:12 say I have finished the work you gave me to do. There is a work God has given each one of you to do for him. It's a specific plan different from mine, different from yours. He equipped me with the gifts necessary for my 32:30 calling. He has equipped you with the gifts necessary for your calling. But you must fulfill that plan. God's not going to catch you by the neck and make you fulfill it. First of all, you have to be gripped by one thing. God has got a plan for my 32:49 life. And many things in my life that looked accidental were not accidental. They were planned specifically by God so that his plan gets fulfilled. For example, where I was born and where my parents took me after 33:07 that. I think of many events in my life which looked accidental and not accidental specifically planned because God wanted me to fulfill his plan for my life. So Jesus said in John 17:4, I have finished the last part of 33:30 it. I have finished the work you gave me to do. Even Jesus was sent to earth with a specific work. He would have disobeyed God if he had lived up to the age of 40. You know 33:48 that he was supposed to die at 33 and a half because he'd finished the work God gave him to do. And I have never had a desire to live a long life or anything. I say, "Lord, I want to live as long as you have planned in your plan which is 34:06 written long ago and I want to live up to the not just live up to that last day. A lot of people want to live long on the earth. I have no such interest. My interest is to finish the plan God had for me. I hope you'll be gripped by 34:19 that before you leave this conference. That God has got a plan for your life that was written down in his mind before the foundation of the world. Be when you were in your mother's womb, it was already planned. And every 34:33 day of your life has been [Music] planned. And he wants you and me to say at the end of our life, Lord, I made many mistakes, but I finished the work you gave me to do. Is it possible? Yes, it is possible. Provided you do what Jesus told you to 34:50 do daily. It's like the doctor says, take this tablet one every day. Every day. Deny yourself. Die with Jesus in every situation. You will definitely fulfill the plan God has for you. I'm thankful that I got gripped by it. Changed my 35:10 life. Now let me look at the Apostle Paul. 1 Timothy, second Timothy. You know that the Apostle Paul messed up first the first 30 of years of our life of your life. This is where we have an example. No, before I go to one second 35:27 Timothy, let me turn you to one Corinthians 11. See to follow Christ, you say what an example. He lived a perfect life. How can I follow him? From the day he was born, he lived a perfect life. But I have not been like that. You say, I know 35:46 I also say about myself. Many years of my life, I messed up because I never knew these truths. Well, Paul says in 1 Corinthians and [Music] u chapter 11, 1 Corinthians chapter [Music] 36:04 11 verse one. Be followers of me or imitators of me as I follow also am of Christ. Follow me as I follow Christ. So I have two examples in the Bible. In the entire Bible there are 36:23 only two people who said follow me. Jesus Christ and Paul. Only two people. Paul says follow me as I follow Christ. But I say Paul, Christ was perfect from day one. You messed up your life for 30 36:41 years. So how did you follow him? Okay. So I get an example in Paul which I don't have in Christ because Christ never messed up his life. And unfortunately I messed up my life for so many years just like all of you. So I 36:56 God's given me another example and that's Paul. Thank God I didn't mess up my life for as long a period as Paul did. He messed up his life for 30 years and he died at 67. So almost half his life he messed 37:14 up. See this is this is a word of encouragement for all of you who feel oh I messed up so much in my life. What should I do now? Paul is your example. Oh now we turn to second Timothy chapter 4. What does Paul say when he comes to the age of 67 and 37:33 he's ending his life? Second Timothy 4 and verse 7. He's talking about his life. It was not the first 30 years. I fought a good fight. He did not fight a good fight the first 30 years. 37:52 The next 37 years he fought a good fight. And probably not even all of that 37 years, but quite a bit of that. And here is the thing that challenges us. I have finished my course. Say, Paul, really? You're saying the same thing as 38:11 Jesus? It says, I finished the work God gave me to do. And my question comes up in my mind. How in the world can that be when you messed up 30 years of your life, Paul? 30 years you did not do God's will. Not only you did not do, you 38:28 fought against God's people. You did everything against God's will. How in the world can you say that just with 37 years which is only probably 60% of your life you gave to the Lord, I finished my course. When you come to verses like 38:43 this, you must meditate. So I meditate on that. And then I realized that God who knows the end from the beginning knew that this guy Paul is going to mess up the first 30 years of his life. So he made allowance for that in his plan for 39:02 Paul. So when God made a plan for Paul from all eternity, Apostle Paul way back in God's mind in eternity before the foundation of the world, he knows this guy's going to I'm not going to force him to follow me from day one. No, he never forces 39:17 anybody. He's going to mess up his life for 30 years. Okay? I will start his life from the time he's born again. And even after that, he won't be wholehearted for some time. Never mind. I will still accomplish my will through 39:31 him because there's a time going to come in his life when he's going to be gripped by the truth and he's going to become wholehearted and from that time onwards I lead him in such a way that he'll make up for all that lost 39:43 time and he'll finish his course. So I don't know whether Paul was radical and wholehearted from the day he was converted. I'm sure all of us were not radical and wholehearted from the day we are converted but at some time I 39:58 hope we are if not begin now here is the encouragement that God who knows the future you will en can still enable you to fulfill the plan he has for your life personally the blueprint he's got for your 40:16 life I hope you have a passion to fulfill it even if you messed up many years of your life. I know very clearly that God had a plan for my life. I was born in a Christian family. My father was born again. Mother 40:36 was born again. They never took me to a dead church. Always to a church that preached the gospel from childhood. I probably asked Christ to come into my life. Numerous. There were evangelists who came and stayed in my house. I had 40:48 to go to meetings from the age of 13 onwards. I started saying Lord Jesus come into my heart probably a hundred times I would have asked Christ to come into my heart which was the real time I don't know but I do know one thing I was 41:02 wondering all the years I was without certainty of my salvation I was backsliding going forward backsliding till once I remember I was till the day I still remember I was sitting in my cabin in the naval base in Kochin in India I used I had the 41:21 habit of reading some chapter of the Bible every day and that day I happened to be in John chapter 6 just that was my normal reading and I came to John 6 and verse 37 it changed my 41:38 [Music] life I read in John 6:37 the last part the one who comes to me I will definitely not cast out. And somehow it hit me. You know how sometimes some word of scripture just 41:58 hits you? It hit me that day. And I said, Lord Jesus, I have come to you at least 100 times. He said, I never cast you out. It was not an audible voice, just scripture. 42:17 I said, "Lord, today I believe." And in naval language, I dropped an anchor. And for 65 years, my ship has not drifted. I've not been perfect. I made many mistakes, slipped up many times, sinned many times, had to repent and 42:35 come back to the Lord. But he never cast me out because I was always there. I come back to him, come back to him, come back to him. He did not cast me out. You must have that assurance. And gradually I began to realize that God had a plan for my 42:53 life. My original plan when I joined the Navy was to go and become the admiral one day. But then I got converted and I said, "Lord, you got a plan for my life. I want to fulfill that." And God saw it was sincere. He gave me a gift to speak when I was 23 43:12 years old. And when I was 24 years old, one day he very clearly called me through scripture to come out and be his servant. And I went back to the naval base and put in my resignation. And they released me two years 43:30 later. And I was 26 years old. I was out of my career with now my goal was to fulfill God's plan for my life. For was it God's plan for my life to be in the Navy? Without a doubt, I know it was because he trained me there for so 43:47 many things that have equipped me for my Christian life, for my particular calling as a Bible teacher, as one who travels. He taught me discipline in the Navy. He taught me so many things. God took me there. The Navy was my Bible 44:03 school as it were. I never went to any other Bible school. I'm saying this for your benefit that there may be things in your life you I I joined the Navy at my own choice. I wanted to be the admiral of the Indian Navy. That's why I joined. 44:16 I had no desire to glorify God. And you have also made many decisions in your life just because that's what you wanted. You chose something. Some of you from other countries came to America. What for? You didn't come here to glorify God. Far 44:31 from it. Be honest. You came here to make money or you came here to get an education. But God was behind it all. I didn't join the Navy to glorify God. I wanted to get somewhere. God had a plan in that. Even though you had you came with different 44:47 desires, God had a plan. He brought you to the place where he wanted you to be. And from that point, he wants you to fulfill his plan for your life. I hope you'll be gripped by that before you go away from this conference that forget all the mistakes 45:03 you made in your life. Think of the Apostle Paul who says, "Imitate me. Follow me." Shall I follow you, Paul? You made a mess of your life for 30 years. Yes, never mind. God worked it all out and at the end I can say, "I 45:15 finished my course." That's a tremendous thing. If you can say at the end of your life before you leave this earth and you meet the Lord in eternity, "Father, Lord Jesus, I thank you that I could finish the plan you made for my life even 45:29 though I messed up half my life." That's what Paul said. at least 45% of his life he messed up but he still finished the plan. That encouraged me tremendously. I said I haven't messed up 45% of my life. I was converted when I was 19 and a half 45:49 and even after that took 16 years for me to understand what means to overcome sin because I was sinning and asking forgiveness and repenting and sinning and sinning thought life anger all types of things and finally God brought me to understand 46:04 how we can overcome sin but I can still fulfill God's plan for my life and now when I look back over the ministry that God's given us in CFC for the last 50 years and all the many churches that he's planted. That was God's plan. It had nothing to do 46:21 with me. I just had to like in the military. He taught me in the military when the military says left, right, forward, march, you just march forward, halt. You halt about turn about turn. Instant obedience. That's all God 46:41 expects of you. When he tells you to do something, do it. Don't ask questions. I remember hearing a story of the Royal the British Navy. How they recruited people for the most difficult job. They were called the commandos, the people 46:55 who had to go in to do the most difficult jobs in a war. Go into the enemy territory and fight a battle. One of the things they had to be taught was instant obedience. We want young people who will accept instant obedience in the 47:09 military. So one of the tests was they were told when you're given an order to quick march you you keep marching until you're told to halt. So they were asked to march on uh a a jetty a pier pier means something that is 47:27 stretches out into the sea and this thing this pier or p i e r or jetty that stitches out into the sea. they would have told to quick march on it. And we came to the end of that jetty, there was no halt. All sensible people halted. Three 47:46 or four people marched right in. Those three four were selected. The people who did not question orders, they said they are the ones who will be the commandos who don't question orders, who don't use their own intelligence and say we the guy has 48:00 forgotten to tell us to halt. No, you know, in the military it's like that. You don't question in the battlefield, should I fire or not? When they tell you to fire, you fire. When they tell you to retreat, you retreat. God wants people like that who 48:13 don't question. Lord, is that right? You won't qualify. God wants commandos in the church. Instant obedience. You remember the time when there was a great revival in one place that 48:30 Jesus preached in Luke chapter 4. It says here Luke in chapter 4 verse 48:48 40 every word is important. While the sun was setting, it was late in the day. They the people who were sick with various diseases brought them to him. So imagine 49:06 sunset when is it 6:30 7:00 p.m. that time all the sick people come and it says here he laid hands on each one of them and 1,000 people there. That's a good time to pray a general 49:25 prayer of sickness. All of you please lay your hands and uh I can Isn't it the most foolish thing to say I'll pray for each of you individually? The Holy Spirit told Jesus pray for them individually. There are many things the 49:43 Holy Spirit tells us to do which are contrary to human reason. He laid hands on each one of them and healed them. And after that, demons came out. And then I don't know what time he went to bed. Maybe 2:00 or 3:00 in the 50:02 morning. Day came. He had already gone. He went to sleep at 3:00, got up at 4:30 and went to a secluded place to pray. Why do you need to pray? Revival has just started here. You should be definitely use your common sense, man. 50:18 You should be here for the next one week at least because a great revival has started here. Look at the number of people were healed yesterday. No, I don't go by common sense. I go by what is the Lord's will. He goes in 50:30 prays and it says they tried to keep him from going away from them. They also went they went by common sense and Lord there's a revival here. This is the time to capitalize on it and bring a lot of people into the kingdom. He said, "No, 50:46 my father has told me to go somewhere else. I have to preach the kingdom of God in other cities and I've been sent for that purpose." I was challenged by that. Sometimes what appeals to my common sense is not God's will. Even if I think this is for the 51:02 sake of his kingdom, one says, "My dear son, I know what is better for my kingdom than you do. Just humble yourself and listen to me. I learned that from here. That's how Jesus lived. That's how he fulfilled God's plan for his 51:19 life. But not listening. Sometimes we need to listen to common sense. Sure. I I'll show you examples where he listen to his common sense also. See John chapter 7. These are the little things which we must learn when we meditate on 51:37 scripture. John chapter 7. After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee. John 7:1. He was not willing to walk in Judea. Why? Because the Jews were trying to 51:54 kill him there. Say, "Lord Jesus, don't you know that you're immortal until your life's work is done. Nobody can kill you till your time is up." Why you scared of going to Judah? You walk there. Walk boldly. Nobody will be able to touch you 52:09 because God has got a plan for your life. It'll be fulfilled automatically. Jesus said, "I'm not that stupid. I use my common sense. If people are trying to kill me, I won't go there." You see using his common sense. This is a balance we 52:25 need. Then you say, "When shall I use my common sense and when shall I seek the leading of the Lord?" Ah, that's why you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will tell you when to use your common sense and when to be led by him contrary 52:42 to common sense. I've had experiences like that. Led by common sense most of the time sometimes contrary to common sense and then I see some wonderful reason why it is. So but if we seek to listen to the spirit when you come to the end of your 52:59 life you'll have such tremendous joy. Like Paul could say I've finished my course. I've kept the faith. It won't be. No, you cannot get that joy by saying I made a lot of money. I accomplished something on this earth. I don't get any joy out of 53:17 saying, "Oh, I did God's work and there's some churches planted here and there." That's not the thing. I say I still have a passion today as if I've never done anything for the Lord till today. I want to live each day like 53:31 that. This is I tell you honestly, this is how I seek to live. I say Lord I want to live today and look back over my life as if I have done nothing for you till today tell me what I should do now if you think you have accomplished 53:47 something and then you try to find out God's will you'll miss it I'll show you that also from scripture turn to how did Paul finish the course God appointed for him Philippians chapter I'm telling you practical rules for your 54:05 daily life. What does it mean to take up the cross every day? Here's one one part of taking up the cross. Philippians chapter 3, he says here verse 12, I've not yet obtained I've not yet 54:25 had become perfect. That means I'm not perfect my character and I've not even completed. Perfect means complete. I have not yet completed the job God has given me to do on earth. But I press on for that I may lay hold of that for 54:39 which I was laid hold of. Which means I was laid hold of by Christ for a particular plan for my life to become like him and to accomplish something in my service. I want to lay hold of that. And in order to lay hold of that, first 54:53 of all, I don't believe I've accomplished it yet. Verse 13. I've still got a long way to go. But I have to do one thing. What is the one thing I have to do? I hope all of you remember this. Forget what lies behind and reach 55:11 forward to what lies ahead. I picture it like this. Behind me, right behind my back is a curtain that falls down. I look back and say, "What have I accomplished in my life so far? I can't see a thing. 55:30 There's a curtain here. How much have you failed in your life, Zach? Can't see a thing. It's all forgiven. How much have you accomplished? Can't see a thing. That is the meaning of forgetting what lies behind. It's a very important principle. 55:49 If you want to fulfill God's plan for your life every day as you move forward, forget what you accomplished yesterday. Forget what you accomplished last year. Forget what you accomplished in the last 10 years, 20 years. In my case, 50 56:04 years. Forget it. We recently had a celebration in Bangalore for 50 years of CFC Bangalore. I said the curtain behind me, I forget it. It's there. I don't I can't pretend it did not exist. Paul knows that so many churches were planted here 56:21 and there. Philippi, Thessalonica, all over. Paul had planted churches. He doesn't pretend it is not there. But he says, "I forget it. I forgetting is an act of my will by I choose to forget those things because that's the only way he says I 56:36 can reach forward to what lies ahead otherwise I'll sit here congratulating myself on what I've done and never accomplish what else god wants me to do that happens to many people they sit back and congratulate I've done 56:49 so much I've done so much and they waste their life for the something for the future I'm giving you practical advice so verse 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. See, it's like these 57:06 uh runners in the Olympics. They don't keep looking back to see how much they how far they've run. They keep looking ahead how much more to go, how much more to go. Whether it's 100 meters race, a person who running a 100 meters race 57:17 will keep looking back to see how much he's already run. Do you think he'll ever win? Or even in a marathon race, you don't look back and see how much you've covered. to keep there's a where's my goal where's the finishing line I got to 57:29 keep going that way that's why the Bible says let us run the race looking unto Jesus only who's gone ahead as our forerunner I don't need to look back and congratulate myself or get depressed over my past failures I forget the things that are 57:46 behind I want to encourage all of you understand this fully every day you move forward forget your past failures forget your past victories is and say from today onwards I'm going to press on. That's the only way you will complete 58:01 God's plan for your life. I seek to live like that every day. That's part of taking up the cross to put to death the thoughts that come to me about my failures and my successes. It's more important to put the memory of your 58:15 successes to death than and also the memory of your failures because one can depress you than the other can make you proud. I don't want to be proud or depressed. So I forget my failures and my successes and I say I'm going to press 58:28 on. I hope you're getting some lessons for your daily life. The Bible is intensely practical. I press toward the goal. Because he lived like this, he could say at the end of his life, I have finished my course. I would wish that for everybody 58:47 sitting here. That one day when you come to the end of your life, you'll be able to say, I've finished my course. I've kept the faith. Now I'm waiting for meeting my Lord and see what he has for me because I shall serve him even 59:06 when I get to heaven. I don't believe you're going to sit on easy chairs in heaven and and just relax. If there's exciting work for the Lord to do here on earth, I'll tell you my conviction. I'm going to be serving the Lord for 59:23 eternity. I don't know what it'll be. I don't have a clue what it'll be in the new heavens and the new earth, but I'm sure it's going to be more exciting than what I have experienced. My life on earth has been exciting. I'll close with that verse. 59:41 Proverbs 14. Verse 14, the last part says, "A good man will be satisfied with his own ways." The 1:00:00 Living Bible says, "The godly man's life is exciting." I like that paraphrase. The godly man's life is exciting because he doesn't look back and congratulate himself or to get 1:00:17 depressed. He looks ahead. And I look forward even to in eternity in heaven to do some wonderful things. It'll be far more exciting than the exciting life I've had on earth. Dear brothers, let me tell you, it's going to be exciting. 1:00:34 Your relaxation in heaven will be not lying down on an easy chair, but busy serving the Lord, doing something for him in all the vast universe that he's created. I don't know exactly what it is, but I believe it'll be very 1:00:47 exciting. Make sure you'll be there. Make sure that you'll have complete completed your earthly course so that the Lord can give you something some responsibility there depending on how faithful you were here on earth. Not how successful you were. 1:01:06 No, no, no, no, no, no. How faithful you are. There's no word in the Bible which says well done, good and successful servant. What does it say? Well done, good and faithful servant. So don't look for success, look for faithfulness. Amen. Let's 1:01:28 pray. Pray that these truths will be impressed on every heart. Heavenly Father, that they won't easily forget. No one will easily forget what they've heard here. It'll change their lives. Thank you for today, for all that lies 1:01:42 ahead and for your word in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
