0:01 [Music] We read about Satan only about three or four times. One is right at the beginning 0:22 in Genesis 3. Even though Satan is not mentioned, he came through a serpent and spoke to Eve, separated her from God, separated her from her husband, and 0:42 then through Eve tempted Adam. He tempted Eve through a serpent, but he tempted Adam through Eve and separated him from God and 1:01 separated him from his wife. So what we see in the beginning it's Satan is a great master at breaking relationships between God and man and between 1:19 man and man, man and woman in a marriage or in a church. So wherever you see the separation coming, you can be absolutely sure that's the devil. God is in the work of uniting. You know, for example, a human body, 1:41 the moment it dies, it starts separating. And after a number of months, it's just dust. It's all broken up. Wherever there is life, there will not be that type of breaking up. So whenever 2:00 a church is breaking up into pieces, you know the divine life was not there. I mean a few people leaving here and there is perfectly okay. But if a church itself breaks up, something is seriously wrong. And I don't mean just 2:17 people leaving a church, but when the life in a church is gone, you know, the Holy Spirit is left. Jesus said in Matthew 16 after Peter had answered the question 2:44 Jesus first asked the question who do people say that I am and they said well John 16 Matthew 16:14 some say John the Baptist then he asked this question who do you say that I am. We're trying to think here in these 3:02 sessions the importance of men being the leaders in God's work in building the church. As I said, he never chose a woman to be an apostle. And in the New Testament, there is no woman prophetus. 3:21 And uh in the Old Testament too, it's because men were failures that God used a woman. And that's true. Where men fail, God will use a woman because he has to fulfill his purposes. And if a man doesn't go out to reach some place for Christ, God will send a 3:41 woman there. Definitely. So this through the years he's used some amazing women as missionaries who've done a great work where men were too lazy to go or where men were afraid to go. So God has taken weak women and done an amazing work. I 3:58 mean if you read the story of how the Christian work is developed in different countries, it's amazing work God has done. But God's first choice is a man. And in Matthew 16, he asked them, "Who do you say that I am?" And Simon Peter 4:15 said, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." Now, Simon Peter didn't learn that in some Bible school. The people who went to a Bible school all believed this was Satan, Bilibul. The people who called Jesus bilible or 4:31 Satan were Bible scholar, Bible school graduates who had got their certificates. And it's even the same today. It's almost impossible to find a person who's gone through Bible school uh who's a humble godly man with the 4:47 anointing of the Holy Spirit. I don't say that lightly. There may be a few odd ones here and there, but I've not seen them. I will say the people who have blessed me the most in my own life as I've grown up were all people who never 5:00 went to a Bible school. So, I don't want to mention their names, but you know about them. Some of them they're well known. or some who if they in spite of going through Bible school they overcame that and got in touch with God 5:18 and Simon Peter whereas others were calling him Bible the Bible school scholars Simon Peter was just a fisherman he said you're the Christ the son of the living God where did he get that from and Jesus said you're blessed 5:34 why was he blessed because he said it's not flesh and blood. It's not some clever Bible scholar who explained to you that Jesus is the son of the living God. My father gave you revelation. This is a great New 5:52 Testament word. Revealed. My father revealed this to you. There's a lot of difference between understanding the truth by revelation and by study. The Bible schools emphasize study. 6:08 Jesus emphasized revelation from heaven. It's by revelation that we suddenly discover the truth of God. And it's not by a lot of study. We need to study the scriptures. But I remember for 6:27 many many years I studied the scriptures. But I remember once I got revelation on how the new covenant was superior to the old covenant. And I still remember that it was way back in some time about 6:46 18 years after I was converted where I still remember the chair I was sitting in in my house where from 2 Corinthians chapter 3 I suddenly understood hey this is what the new covenant is all about and that became the burden of my ministry and it was not 7:05 through a lot of academic study I had there was a background of a lot of study of the scriptures. But suddenly that revelation came from heaven. I want to say dear brother, sister, seek for revelation. My father has revealed this to you. 7:24 Flesh and blood. That means human beings cannot reveal this to you. They can give you a lot of arguments and explaining compare scripture with scripture and all this theological study and all that. But revelation comes only from heaven. 7:39 How do we know the difference between revelation and academic understanding of a truth? Academic understanding of a truth will not change your life, will not change your family life. Revelation will change everything. If there's no change by a truth that has 7:56 come into your life, it's just that you got one more truth up in your head which you can preach now in somewhere. That's not revelation. Revelation humbles you. We read in the book of revelation that when Jesus spoke to John the Baptist, he 8:13 was flat on the ground. And that's what happens to us spiritually. When we get revelation, we feel like we are nobody. We're nothing. We can't lift up our head. Revelation will make you aware that you're a nobody. If you think you're a somebody, you 8:30 haven't got revelation. That's pretty clear. And Simon uh was revealed, came from heaven. And then listen to this. Here's where the Roman Catholics get it wrong. Paul, Jesus said to Paul uh to Simon, 8:49 "You are Peter, and upon this rock uh I will build my church. The gates of hell will not overpower it." The question is, what is this rock? The Roman Catholics say Peter was the 9:09 rock, but he was a pretty unstable rock because five verses later, God calls him Satan. Was he a rock and Satan at the same time? This verse 23. Get behind me, Satan. No, the rock was not Peter. 9:27 And in the original Greek in which the New Testament is written uh it's written in the margin of my NASB. You are Petros a small stone 9:46 but on this Petra a large rock I will build my church. In fact, he was contrasting the word Petros means a small stone and he was contrasting there between I mean in the Greek contrast is clear. On 10:04 this rock Petra I will build my church and that rock is revelation from heaven. That's the thing I want you to see. Simon Peter, you got a revelation from heaven. On that rock I will build my church. So it's by only by revelation from 10:23 heaven only on that's the rock on which you can build the church. A revelation from heaven concerning Jesus Christ who he is. A revelation from heaven concerning the church. What is the churches? Most people in the in the world don't 10:38 understand what the church is. It's the body of Christ and how it is to function. It has to come by revelation from heaven. And I know in my life any amount of study on what is the church and explanation, you won't get it, 10:51 brother. If you want to build it, it has to be built on the rock of revelation. On this rock, I will build my church. The second thing I want you to notice is you cannot build it. Only Christ can build the church. He 11:07 may use you like a hand or a tongue, but you cannot build a church. Any of you who think that, wow, I've got some theories here. I heard heard some wonderful truths at this men's conference. I'm going to go back and build a church. Well, I hope you'll 11:20 fail. I hope you'll fail miserably till you come to the place where you say, "Lord, I can't do it." That's when you'll begin to uh seek God for revelation. The true church will be built. Because a lot of people, I've seen people who come for conferences 11:36 like this. I say, "Ah, I got some truth here." And they go home and try to preach their truth and nothing happens. There's more conflict. There's more strife. The other thing I want you to notice is that Jesus said, "I will build my 11:52 church." That's what I've discovered. I, Zach Punin, can never build a church. Neither can you. And the day you realize that, it'll be your salvation. Because I've seen, as I said, people come to conferences like this is a now I know 12:09 what I'm going to do when I go back. I hope you will make a mess. Then you will learn a lesson to see. God is built by revelation and it is only built by Jesus Christ. And Jesus uses those who have come to an end of themselves. 12:27 Men who have come to an end of themselves. He uses such people to build a church. And Peter had a long way to go to that place to reach that place where he came to an end of himself. He wasn't at the end of himself here. He 12:44 felt he was pretty strong. And then the Lord said, "The church that I build," here's another proof of the church that Jesus builds. All the powers of darkness, the gates of hell means all the powers of spiritual darkness will 12:58 not be able to overpower that church. If you have built any type of church which the gates of hell have overcome, brother, you can be pretty sure that that's not the church of Jesus Christ. I don't mean whether your church has 13:11 crumbled or not. That's not the point. The Roman Catholic Church is the biggest Christian institution in the world. The gates of hell overpart that ages ago. Most people don't see it with all the wrong teachings. And Martin Luther saw 13:29 that 500 years ago and got away from it. The devil overpowers not by destroying something. There's so many structures have come up, you know, which we think it is of God. There's a 13:46 uh statement of in Acts of the Apostles. Let me just turn to it briefly for a moment. In Acts of the Apostles, they were discussing some of the the leaders were discussing what to do with this new Christian movement uh that 14:05 has come up and u there was a man u who gave some good advice. He said, "If this is of God, you won't be able to destroy it." 14:23 That's in Acts chapter 5. Man called Galiel, who was actually the professor of Saul, Saul's professor in Bible college. uh he said listen be careful what you do with these men because he said verse 39 14:41 if it is of God you won't be able to overthrow him but you'll be found fighting against God so he said some of these other cases like the verse 36 and verse 37 and they tried to start something and it did not flourish so his understanding was wrong that's 14:59 what I'm trying to say so he was saying if it of God it'll flourish. Roman Catholicism has flourished. Islam has flourished tremendously. Hinduism has flourished in India for 3,000 years. 15:19 Galiel was wrong. When Jesus speaks about the gates of hell will not prevail, will not be able to destroy the church. He's talking about a spiritual destruction. There are many earthly kingdoms. Coca-Cola has flourished like anything 15:35 and many many other kingdoms on the earth. You you don't need God's power for all that just good organization a lot of money. But spiritually for something to survive with live and powerful 15:54 it has to come by revelation with the power of the Holy Spirit and God himself. Jesus has to build it and all the powers of darkness will not be able to destroy it. The powers of darkness are not trying to destroy Hinduism or Islam. No, 16:09 I don't believe they're trying to destroy Roman Catholicism either. And I don't think they're trying to destroy a lot of Protestant or Pentecostal Christianity. But wherever he sees a fellowship, however small it may be, 16:24 that's seeking to exalt Christ and deliver people from the love of money and deliver people from demonic deception and trying to unite husband and wife together, build families, and where people are learning to love one another 16:43 and forgive one another and lay down their life for one another. Maybe a small fellowship The gates of hell have not succeeded there. That's the only type of church that I want to build. I don't want to waste my time building anything else. 17:00 How do I know whether when I come to the end of my life and I stand before the Lord whether I have fulfilled God's will or not? How how do you know? There must be a longing in your life. I've had this longing tremendously. 17:15 I said, "Father, you said about Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." At his baptism, I say, "Father, can you say that about me? 17:35 This is my beloved son. I'm also a son of God in whom I am well pleased." We must have a passion for that. that every day of my life, the way I live at home as a husband, the way I have brought up my children as a father, 17:53 the way I have served the church, as a leader, as a servant leader, the father in heaven must be able to say, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." That should be what you 18:10 long to hear when Christ comes back. And you should ask the Lord whether he's able to say that about you now every day of your life. Then you're going the right way. The gates of hell will not be able to over power it because you will have 18:28 authority over them to bind and loose them. We see here that there is a church that Jesus wants to build which stands against the gates of hell. I want to see see the example of the apostle Paul who built a wonderful 18:47 church in Ephesus. Please turn to Acts of the Apostles. Ephesus was the place where Paul stayed for the longest time. Acts of the Apostles is not a book of doctrine. It's a book of history. 19:06 And as a Bible teacher, I will tell you a simple principle of Bible study. Please listen carefully. Never get a doctrine from a historical event described in the Bible. Get a doctrine from the teaching 19:25 sections of the Bible. Acts of the apostles is history. A lot of false doctrines have come by getting doctrine out of a historical event. There are sections of the gospels which are history and there are sections 19:44 of the gospel which are teaching. Get your doctrine from the teaching sections of Jesus, not from the historical. I'll give you an example. Many times it says Jesus healed everybody. 100% were healed of sickness. 20:02 People have got a doctrine out of that. Jesus heals everybody even today. It's not true. And they have deceived people into not taking medicines who have died not taking medicines trusting Jesus to heal them and they never got healed. They got 20:21 a doctrine from a historical section. It's not meant for it's a history. Jesus did heal everybody. It says that many times. But that's a history not a doctrine. When it comes to the teaching sections in the epistles, you find Paul was not 20:37 healed. He prayed three times and God said, "No, I'm not going to heal you." Timothy, 1 Timothy 5:20, he had stomach problems. I cannot imagine how many times Paul would have laid hands on Timothy to pray for him. He was not 20:52 healed. And Paul tells him to take some type of medicine, some type of wine that would take care of his stomach infirmities. And I don't know whether he still got healed. he would had to probably keep on taking that medicine to 21:03 relieve himself. Why God allows that? One reason I know that he wanted Paul to be humble. He told him that you're you're getting you're not you're getting you're in danger of getting proud Paul because I've used you to do so many 21:18 miracles and you've been taken up to the third heaven. So to protect you from pride I've allowed you to have a physical ailment. I believe it was a some problem with his eyes because he mentions that in Galatians 4 that I was sick in your 21:34 midst and you would have given your eyes to replace mine. It must have been a very something that was troubling him some type of pus or infection that he never seemed to get healed from. Lord heal me, heal my eyes. It looks so 21:47 pathetic when people see me preaching and they see I have to wipe my eyes all the time. And he says to the Galatians, you did not despise me. You know, it's very difficult to see a person whose eyes are overflowing with pus and he's 21:59 always wiping it and you keep listening to him and Paul realized that and it was very humbling. God said you need it. So that's the danger of getting a doctrine from a historical section. They all 22:17 spoke in tongues. That's history. It's not a doctrine. And you know the number of people who gone astray by taking that doctrine. The men in the church, you must know these truths to be able to correct wrong teachings which is never 22:34 get a doctrine from a historical section. So whenever you find a support for some teaching in the scripture or somebody's using it, ask yourself is that history or is it teaching? Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount. 22:46 You can take every sentence in that. But other things what Jesus did maybe that was only for him. So distinguish between these when you go to the epistles it's all teaching you can take all of it. So that's a simple principle in Bible study that we must 23:05 not forget otherwise we'll go astray because for example many people who uh I remember once I was in the midst of a group of a group of Christians a particular what I call a cult here in the United States 23:24 a particular group that believed in living with a common purse that means they all work together and uh they're not allowed to keep their own bank account or keep their own money. Everything that's earned would go to the head of the head of the group. 23:43 The Hutterites are a group like that and and they have the meals are all taken together in one place, but they all live in separate homes and they have their families. But the purse is common because it says in acts that they had everything 24:00 in common. You know that there's a verse which says in acts 2 uh verse 44 all those who believed were together and had all things in common. That's the verse that many hutterite 24:17 groups take and it is scripture. The mistake they made was this is not doctrine. This is history. And they took a teaching in history and made it a doctrine. So I was once speaking in the midst of these people some years ago. 24:34 And one of their leaders, you know, tried to question me, but there was a lot of people sitting there listening. So brother Zach, why don't you preach Acts 2:44 that those who believe must have all things in common? 24:52 I said, "Okay." I say, "Why don't you preach Acts 2:4 that they all speak in tones?" Because utter don't believe in speaking in tonesues. End of discussion. Nothing further. 25:11 What could he say to that? And then I continued saying, "I'm not trying to humble you, brothers. I don't believe that everybody should speak in tonesues. I speak in tonesues myself, but I don't believe everybody should. I don't 25:24 believe that we should have all things in common. I believe these are teaching sections of scripture. But when I go to the uh these are historical sections of scripture. When I go to the teaching section of scripture 25:39 in 1 Corinthians 12, it says here in verse 12:30, "All do not speak with tongues." Do they? That's teaching. Corinthians, all do not speak with tongues. So I go to the teaching sections of scripture to get doctrine. Historical 25:58 sections, I'm just reading what they did. Paul shaved his head. You know where that is? It's not in the Ephesians or Colossians. It's an Acts of the Apostles. He went to a temple and shaved his head. What doctrine do you 26:15 get from there? I could show you some ridiculous things like that that if you're be consistent. If you're going to take something from the acts of apostle, take everything. Not pick and choose what you like. That is hypocrisy. That is deception. 26:31 I'll tell you what I do. I say I take everything from the teachings of sections of scripture as doctrine and I take nothing from the historical sections as doctrine. I read it. I'm edified by it and I praise God that it 26:44 is like that and that may happen like that today but it may not happen also. Some people are healed. Some people are not healed. But when it comes to the teaching sections every verse will be exactly as it is taught. There is no 26:58 error in scripture. You say is there any error in Acts of the Apostles? No, it's an accurate record of what happened, but it's not teaching for us to follow. Did Jesus heal everybody? Absolutely true, but it's not teaching for us to follow. 27:12 It's very simple principle that we need to follow. So, Satan prevails against the church when people are careless with scripture or the men in the church don't study scripture carefully in order to correct wrong doctrines. And we must be 27:28 bold. It's very very important to be bold to correct. You know how bold Paul was. Let me give you one example. We know that Paul is a great example in building the church. In one Corinthians chapter 5, 27:45 we read of a immorality in the church. In the church in Corenth where Paul had been for one and a half years, there were two churches where Paul lived a long time. One was Ephesus. I'll come to that in a moment. The other 28:01 was Corinth. In Ephesus, he spent three years. In Corinth, one and a half years. We read that in Acts of the Apostles. And here in after Paul left 1 Corinthians 5, he says, I it's reported there is immorality among you such as a 28:18 kind that even the unbelievers don't have something happening in the church which is worse than what the heathen do. And a man slept with his father's obviously second wife. His mother had died. The father had married again. And he goes and sleeps 28:36 with her, has sexual relations with her. And he says, "Okay, that can happen. Gross sins can happen in any church. But what does the church do about it? You have become proud. You have not mourned. Instead of mourning, you're proud. And 28:54 you have not put that man out of the church. Paul was strict. Such people must be put out of the church. The purity of the church is very very important. And we discipline those who live in sin. And not only that, he says, "I was absent, 29:13 but I was present in my spirit with you, and I have already judged." He was an apostle. He had the authority for that. And then in the name of Jesus, verse four, when you're all assembled, and I am with you in spirit. I'm not there 29:29 physically, but I'm with you in spirit, Paul says. And I am going to with the power of the Lord Jesus to hand over that person to Satan. Amazing power God gives an apostle to hand over that person to Satan. Not 29:49 to send him to hell. No, no, no, no, no. So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. I want him to go to heaven, but he can't go to heaven in his present condition. He has to be broken so thoroughly that he repents. So 30:04 Paul loved him and out of great love for him to save his soul eternally, he says, I'm going to hand him over Satan in Jesus name, I'm handing over this backsliden believer to you. Do what you like with him. He won't kill him. Just 30:20 like in God did not allow Satan to kill Job. So that the destruction of his flesh means so that he suffers in some way in his body. Satan like you made Job suffer in his body. Make this guy suffer in his body so that he repents and so that his 30:36 spirit can be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Boy, it's wonderful to have an apostle around who can correct the church sternly, who doesn't have any false love or superficial kind words, but who cares for the purity of the 30:54 church so that the gates of hell can never prevail against it. Now, in Acts chapter 20, you read about the church in Ephesus where Paul had been for 3 years. Now I'm saying all this because I told you how God wants men to be the leaders in the church. 31:14 He's not called women to leadership. He never gave apostilhip to any woman. There's no prophetess even in the new covenant. Men are to be the leaders and you are the men. That's why we have men's meetings. Acts chapter 20, 31:30 Paul had finished his three years in Ephesus and he calls the elders today because he's not going to see them again. This is the last time he was going to see them. So he called the elders. Acts 20:17. He was in some other place and he sent 31:45 to Ephesus, called all the elders and say, "I want to speak to you." I don't know how many there were. There's probably a big church, maybe five or six elders. And he called all of them together. And he says, "Listen, do you know how many sermons he preached 31:59 there? 2,000. How do I get that? Verse 31. Be on the alert. Remember that night and day he had morning meetings, evening 32:17 meetings. John Wesley used to have that early morning 6:00 meetings before people go to work. They'd come to his meeting and then go to work. Late in the evening after they came back from work. Paul had that too. early morning 32:32 meetings, late in the evening meetings every day for a period of three years. Three years is over 1,000 days. 1,000 into morning and evening is 2,000 sermons. I did not cease to admonish you with tears. Paul sometimes preached with 32:50 tears. It wasn't always pumping the table and shouting. He had compassion. I want these people to be built in holiness. And he says, I never desired, verse 33, anyone's money or clothes or I didn't want you to come and give me gifts of 33:08 clothes. I didn't want anybody's silver or gold or anything. I worked with my own hands. Verse 34, I earned my own living and I showed you by hard work how I could fulfill what Jesus taught. It is more blessed to give than to receive. 33:27 And he says when he go gathers them together, listen to this, he does not say uh from the f verse 15, see what he reminds them of. He doesn't say, "Do you remember that sermon I preached the other day on humility?" No. Or remember the other sermon I 33:46 preached one day on holiness? No. Or I told you remember that sermon I preached on how you must love one another? No mention of that. You saw how I lived among you. That's what he says. That is the 34:03 strength of his message. Three years from the day I set foot in Asia, you saw how I lived among you with all humility. Where are the apostles and preachers today who can say to people not this 34:22 wonderful sermons I preached but did you see the humble way I the apostle of Jesus Christ lived among you as an ordinary brother just like one among you not seeking my position I didn't have any title called reverend or right 34:40 reverend or wrong reverend or any such I was just an ordinary brother serving the Lord with all humility, with tears. Imagine Paul, I'm really humbled. He wept sometimes when he preached. 35:00 People are ashamed to be seen weeping. Paul was not he had such love for people that sometimes he wept when he thought of some way to convey something to people who were a bit stubborn. And I did not shrink from declaring to 35:19 you anything that was profitable for you. Even if it hurt you, I would tell you the truth. Dear brothers, if God gives you the grace to preach anywhere, and I hope he'll give that grace to many of you. You may not be an apostle or a teacher or an 35:36 evangelist or any of those outstanding positions in the church, but one who briefly shares the word. I hope you'll be able to preach with compassion and purity like Paul from your heart and seeking to proclaim the full purpose 35:52 of God. And mainly verse 21, proclaiming repentance and faith. Paul never separated these two. And I want to say to all of you dear brothers who preach God's word anywhere, this is a man's job. 36:08 Don't preach faith without repentance. And don't preach repentance without faith. What does the Bible say? What God has joined together? Let no man put us under. God has joined repentance and faith together. 36:27 When people asked Peter on the day of Pentecost, "What shall I do? Repent and believe." That's what every apostle taught. And if a person's already repented, like the Philippian jailer when he saw the earthquake, he realized his sins. He 36:44 said, "Oh, I'm a sinner. What shall I do?" Okay, you've repented. Believe. Repentance and faith must never be separated. And I want to tell you what I have seen in most of Christian preaching in my lifetime. It is only faith that is 37:00 preached. Believe, brother. Believe. Believe. Believe. Believe. You're not getting anything from God because you don't believe. Uh you know that song that wildst offender the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon 37:17 receives. It's a very famous song. The vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. It's not true. So when we sing it in our church we've changed it. the vilest offender who 37:37 repents and believes that moment from Jesus apart and receives. But most of the public great so-called public meetings, evangelistic meetings, it's believe, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe, believe, believe, believe in 37:52 the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. spoken to a a repentant jailer who had just seen free in an earthquake in a prison and saw the power of God when they had imprisoned Saul and Tilus. But you can't say that to a bunch of 38:07 comfortly loving people sitting in a church believe. I say you guys got to repent. I believe repentance is the missing message in today's Christianity. Faith is preached everywhere. The Pentecostal preached, "Believe, believe, 38:21 brother. That's why you're not healed. That's why you're not I'll tell you why many things are not done. Because they haven't repented. You remember what Jesus said to a man who he healed in John. Have you noticed this? John chapter 5. 38:40 There was a man sitting by the pool waiting for the stirring of the water. And uh he says, "I can't seem be able to jump in." And the first person who jumps in is heal and I always miss it. But Jesus came and healed him. And he 38:57 asked him in John 5 and verse 6 by the pool of Bethesda, do you want to get well? He said, sure, I don't have anybody to pick me up. Jesus said, verse 8, pick up your pallet and walk right now. And immediately this man who had 39:10 been sick for 38 years, verse 5, 38 years, he'd been living lying there. He got up and he walked. And this is the part I want to point out to you. Much later, verse 14, sometimes people miss that Jesus went to this man and saw him in 39:29 the temple and said, "You know why you sinned? Why you got this 38 years paralysis? Because some you sinned. It was a sickness that came to you because of sin. Now don't sin again otherwise something 39:46 worse will happen to you. Have you ever read that in connection with that story? That never gets preached. It's only that first part that gets mostly preached. Most people don't even know that Jesus said something like this to the man. Probably many of you 40:00 sitting here are seeing it for the first time. He was sick for 38 years because of sin. And Jesus healed him. He said, "Don't sin again otherwise something worse than your 38 years will happen to you." So obviously he was attending some 40:14 synagogue where repentance was not preached. That's exactly the condition in many churches today. And you brothers when you go back to your homes you know what you need to preach repentance. So Paul preached repentance and faith. 40:27 Acts 20:21. And he preached it so strongly and he lived the life and never never took any money from anybody. And I tell you the devil was scared of the apostle Paul. He really was. as he was scared of Jesus, he was scared of Paul. 40:44 And I believe the devil should be afraid of us. Many Christians are afraid of the devil. Oh, what will he do to me? I was for many years afraid of what the devil could do to me my younger days. Because I was not taught that on the cross of 40:59 Calvary, not only did my sins get taken away, the devil's power was taken away as well. You know Jesus said in John 3, "The Son of Man will be lifted up like a serpent was lifted up in the wilderness by Moses." Have you read that? John 3:14, I 41:19 think. You mean that serpent was a picture of Christ hanging on the cross? No. The serpent can never be a picture of Christ. Genesis chapter 3, the serpent is a devil. Revelation 11 and 12, the serpent is the devil. Throughout the Bible, the serpent is the 41:38 devil. What was that dead bronze serpent showing? The son of man lifted up on the cross. Satan would be powerless there on the cross. That's the message there. Those live serpents were biting the Israelites there, biting them here, biting them. 41:57 And that's what the devil is doing to so many people here and there, biting them here, biting them. Just like those serpents bit the Israelites in the wilderness. And Moses said, "Look at this. Look at this dead one hanging 42:09 here, this brown serpent. You'll be healed immediately." And they were. That's the message that's not being preached in Christendom today. That Satan's power is gone. He's a serpent, but he's a dead one. Or I would say a paralyzed one. He's not 42:27 being destroyed. Paralyzed. He's got no power over me. Do you know that that not only your sins were taken on the cross but all the devil's power was taken away from him over believers if your life is surrendered to Christ 42:42 the devil has got no power over you and yet I'll tell you honestly I was frightened that the devil would do this that and the other for me against me in different place times in my life till I remember very clearly the Lord spoke to 42:53 me from scripture as you were frightened of the devil for so many years from now will the devil will be frightened of you. I live today in the reality of that that Satan is afraid of me because 43:11 I'm a younger brother of Jesus Christ because I have been crucified with Christ and nevertheless I live but no longer I no longer Zach Punan Christ lives in me. There was a time in my life when I lived 43:30 for Zach Punan. I lived for his honor, his money, his fame, his will. It's gone. Now I live for Christ's honor, Christ's will, and for Christ to be glorified. My money is Christ's. My life is Christ. It's no longer I, but Christ. 43:48 And the devil's afraid of me. My dear brothers, pay any price to come there. Why? Because Jesus said, "I will build my church and the powers of hell will not prevail against it." But he will prevail against it if you 44:07 are afraid of the devil and you're sitting there trying to build Christ's church. So anyway, Paul said to these Ephesians, "Please be on God for yourselves." Verse 28, some of you are hoping to go back and build little fellowships. Take this 44:24 part seriously. And he says in verse 29, I know what's going to happen after I leave. Savage wolves will come in among you and not spare the flock. Three years, he said, I stayed here. Not one wolf could come through the 44:41 door. That's the mark of a spiritual leader. When he's leading a church, not one wolf can come through the door. But the moment that man leaves, why couldn't the wolves come in? When 44:58 Paul was there, they were scared of him. They were literally scared of the devil. You know, one demon once said to somebody uh who tried to cast him out. Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you? He recognized Jesus and Paul. You read 45:15 that in the Acts of the Apostles, but he says, "Who are you?" What is the devil? Does the devil recognize you along with Jesus like he recognized Paul? He should. Otherwise, brother, don't waste your time waste your time trying to build a fellowship 45:33 in your place. You can gather together for singong sessions. Sure, have a sing songong session and have a Bible study. Go through the Bible study. You won't build a church. The church that Jesus builds, the gates of hell 45:46 will never prevail against it. Satan is scared of it. And the wolves are waiting outside and they say, "We can't go in here. This guy Paul is here, but he's not going to be here forever. He'll have to leave. And the moment he leaves, we're going to get 46:01 in." And Paul says that he was not threatening them. He was warning them. I know after my departure, the wolves will come in. You say, "Paul, you're pretty arrogant to think that only you can keep the wolves outside." But it was true. As 46:21 soon as Paul left, the wolves came in. Not only the wolves came in and destroyed the flock, but he says from your own selves. Some of you will start fighting with each other and you'll start your group and he'll start his 46:34 group and the elders will split apart. And how many churches I've seen that people seeking their own. Anybody who's seeking his own should not defile the church of Christ by trying to be a leader there. Go and join some 46:47 private club or something. Please don't defile the church of Christ if you're seeking your own. If you got the slightest desire to seek your own honor or to seek your own financial gain or to seek anything for yourself, brother, the 47:01 church of Jesus Christ is not for you. Go and join politics, do business, seek your own as much as you like, but not the church of Jesus Christ because you'll be severely judged by God one day. Severely, I warn you. 47:20 And sure enough, when Paul left, you see the condition of the church a few years later. same church of Ephesus where there was such a mighty revival that they burnt up thousands of dollars worth of magic books you read in the 47:34 previous chapter. Now you see the condition of that church 30 years after Paul died, 30 years after Paul died. Revelation chapter 2, the same church in Ephesus, the Lord says to them 47:53 verse 5. To the church in Ephesus and its leader, chapter 2:1, Revelation 2:1, write this. Verse four, you have left your first love. Remember the days when my servant Paul was here? How you loved me and loved one 48:13 another and my servant Paul warned you. Remember from where you have fallen where you were when my servant Paul spoke straight to your face, not seeking to please anybody 48:31 but seeking to lead you to a godly life. and you thought lightly of him. You did not value him when he was there. Now you see the condition. You put all those third rate elders up there to lead your church who would tickle your ears 48:48 and say nice things to you and never spoke straight to you about your sin. What is the result? The wolves have come in. You've divided up against each other. You've lost your first you you didn't say you lost it. Verse four, you just left your first 49:04 love. There's a difference between leaving something and losing it. He left it all. He ignored it. That's not the main thing. The main thing, brother, is activity. We must we must study the Bible together. We must have Bible studies and 49:15 we must improve our singing. Let's get the choir spend many hours. Do you know that many churches they spend more hours training the choir than waiting on the Lord in prayer and seeking for his power? Well, then you have a good music 49:29 team but a useless church. remember from where you have fallen and repent. There's still hope for you if you repent and come back to the message that my servant Paul preached. But I don't think they came back. But 49:46 there are some among you who want that life. Those are called the overcomers. And to them, I will give the tree of life. So these are warnings from scripture. But we got to make sure that we don't go that way ourselves. 50:03 Dear brothers, I want to tell you in Jesus name, God wants you to build the church along with others in your locality. How do I know that? Because God wants a church in every place. 50:22 And if you're in some place and God's kept you there and you've understood some of the truths you're hearing in this church, God wants you. But you got to be faithful. You don't have to be a great scholar, but you have to be faithful to the Lord 50:35 and walk in humility. Ask God for revelation, and he will build the church even through you. Let's pray. Our father in heaven, what a tremendous honor it is to be able to do your work like these great apostles did. It's a tremendous 50:55 honor, Lord. We don't deserve it. We're not worthy of it. But you've called us. Please help every brother here. I mean every brother here to realize however weak they are, however much they may have failed in the past, 51:12 you have come today to call them to build the church of Jesus Christ in their locality to humble themselves and work with others to build that church not for their honor but for your glory. We pray many will be gripped by this. We 51:32 pray in Jesus name. Amen. [Music]
