1:49 I will ever give to thee. What can I bring to you? I offer my [Music] heart. Wonderful, 2:07 magnificent God. How humble by the life you give. Beautiful redeemer you [Music] 2:24 are. You're worthy of my highest praise. What can we give to you God? What can we give to you, oh God, for everything you have given to us? What can we give? 2:42 What can we give to you, oh God, for everything you have given to us? We offer our lives. We offer our lives to you, oh God, for everything you have given to us. And one more time, we offer our 3:00 lives We offer our lives to you, oh God, for everything you have given to us. In the company of the upright and in the assembly, great are the works of the 3:18 Lord. Yeah, we praise the Lord during the week individually, but now we have come together as the body of Christ, as his church to praise the Lord together. And I believe the Lord is very much 3:35 interested in our praises. And so, brothers and sisters, let's unite our hearts this morning unto the King, the immortal, the invisible, the only true God and our shepherd and a leader and example and a forerunner. And oh, let's 3:54 just lift up our hearts and voices and magnify the Lord this morning and give him all the glory that he deserves. Yes, Lord, we praise you this morning and we worship you, Lord. We honor you. We bow before you Lord. Thank you Lord Jesus. You are in 4:12 our midst this morning Lord to listen to our praises Lord. Oh we bless your name this morning Lord. Yes Lord. We honor you. We rejoice in you Lord. We give you all the glory and praise and 4:30 worship that you deserve. Lord, as you speak to us this morning, we pray. Amen. Please take your seats. Here we want to look at the 4:50 memory verse for last week. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 35. And uh maybe it's good for us if you can stand up and repeat that verse as a 5:06 church all together in one voice. Okay. Okay. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. Hebrews 10:35. Once again, maybe 5:25 without looking at the verse. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. Hebrews 10:35. Okay, we look at it's from John 3:17. Let's see 5:44 together. I'm sure we can do better. For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world. John 3 17 once again. For God did not send the son into 6:02 the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through him. John 3:17. Please take your seats. Now I request brother Zach to minister 6:18 God's word to us or to brother Zank. In our church, 6:49 we believe in the baptism and the Holy Spirit. And therefore, some people think we are Pentecostal. And there's a group of believers 7:07 in Christendom called the brethren who do not believe in these supernatural gifts of the spirit and uh don't use the expression the baptism of the holy spirit too 7:24 much. So it's very interesting that uh the brethren think we are Pentecostals and the Pentecostals think we are brethren. It's a very good place to be in to be rejected by both. And the reason 7:42 is we skip stick to the scriptures. Exactly. We don't go by experience. We go by the word of God. And when the word of God says, for example, in 1 Corinthians 7:59 12, do all speak in tongues? No. We say the same thing. And when the word of God says in one Corinthians 14 at the end, don't forbid anyone from speaking in tongues, we agree with that as well. But that is the main difference just in case you didn't 8:17 know. 99% of Pentecostals believe that the only proof of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is that a person speaks in tongues. I don't believe that because I don't see that anywhere in scripture. At the same time, the brethrens teach 8:35 that tongues has seized. But the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13 that tongues will seize only when the perfect has come. Then it says even knowledge will cease. But we have plenty of knowledge in the world. So we must be careful that we don't make 8:54 the mistake that a lot of Christians make of having a preconceived idea and then going to scripture and making the scripture fit our idea. If any of you are like that, I 9:13 guarantee you'll be deceived. I had a lot of ideas when I was first converted. Most of them from different churches I grew up in. But when I came to Christ, I decided that I would allow 9:29 my mind to be governed only by the word of God. I believed that the Bible was God's word. And as I accepted the Bible as God's word, I grew up in a brethren assembly. I found that I disagreed with some of the things 9:48 the brethren assembly taught. I loved them. There were some very fine believers among them. And even today there are, but I found there were some areas they didn't go by scripture. I visited the Pentecostal assembly and I found that some things 10:03 they didn't go by scripture. For example, you never read in the Bible of a church having a pastor. Never. Nowhere. So these are little things. We may say they are little things, but we believe that Jesus said, "Even the 10:17 smallest thing, if you teach, you'll be great in God's kingdom." I found in many churches, women don't wail their heads. Okay, that's up to them. But we found in scripture, the Bible teaches that. So, it's just a simple advice I give to you. 10:33 If you really want to stay on the track, it's like a railway train. Um, it needs two things to keep it moving. One is a railway track and the other is steam or power, diesel power or something. So, it's the two 10:52 things that we need also to reach our destination. One is the power of the Holy Spirit and the other is a track of God's word. If you don't have a railway track, you get stuck. you don't have steam, you're stuck. So that's the 11:05 balance that we've always sought to have to stick to. That's why we spend so much time studying the scriptures. There's a tremendous ignorance of scripture in the world today. You know, in most churches, particularly in the west, most people 11:21 don't even bring a Bible to their to their meetings. Whereas we emphasize bringing a Bible. We had a once a suggestion that we put all the verses up on the screen. That's a very good idea, but it 11:40 would make people lazy. They wouldn't bring their Bibles. So I prefer that people bring their own Bibles and get familiar with the Bible because that's what will help them. If you just see it on a screen, a little while you forget it. But if you see it 11:56 in your Bible, you know that there's a verse out there which you can look at later on and particularly if something's impressed you, you can underline it. Very, very important, brothers and sisters. So, I like to be in an in a church where when 12:14 I quote a verse, everybody's looking down at their Bibles. In western countries, they're always looking out. And that's the reason for their tremendous ignorance of scripture. And I want to say to all of you, if you don't bring a Bible to the 12:32 meeting, you need to be ashamed of yourself. Which child goes to school without their school books? Never heard of that. And you will not be familiar with the scriptures. And you'll be a target 12:48 for Satan's deception. So be very careful. One of the problems that people have is in this matter of the what is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I told you that story of a 13:06 man who came to our church and said we didn't have enough noise here in the worship time and so we couldn't possibly be having the Holy Spirit. If you remember what I told him that his trinity was father, son and noisy spirit 13:21 whereas my trinity is father, son and holy spirit. And I said that not to make fun of him but to emphasize that a spirit that only makes noise may not be the holy spirit. I believe that we should praise 13:41 the Lord with all of our heart. In heaven, the praise is like thunder. Wow. We can never equal that. But we can try. But there's something more. That thunder in heaven. Not just hear the sermon on the mount that he preached. Would you do that? He can be 13:59 here and you may not meet him. I'm sure there were numerous people in Israel who never met Jesus. Do you know that Paul was alive when Jesus was preaching in Israel? But he never met him in his whole life. He never met 14:16 him. He was sat in Jerusalem listening to Galile, the Bible pro college professor, but he never met Jesus. Amazing. It was in the same country. Paul was not in India. He studied in Israel when Jesus was that many of you 14:36 sitting here come taken up with the messages we hear and the doctrines exciting and also that's produced some change in our lives. It's not just doctrine and messages we have to say our lives are changed our home life has 14:53 changed and we praise the Lord for that and we've come into a fellowship where we love one another and care for one another. It's wonderful. But have you missed meeting the Holy Spirit? Have you missed the spirit of God speaking to you in times 15:10 of pressure and trouble and encouraging you? He's called the spirit of comfort and encouragement. I thank God for that. And I never want to I don't care if I forget verses in the Bible. I don't want to because I need to be a teacher. But even 15:29 if I do, it's not so serious to me. Uh if if I know there's such a verse, that's enough. It's not necessary to be able to quote it exactly to know the Holy Spirit. That's more important. Most, let me tell you something. Most of the early 15:49 apostles did not know where certain verses were because the Bible was not divided into chapters and verses like it is today. It's very difficult for them to locate a verse. That's why even in Hebrews it's an amazing verse. It says 16:05 inspired by the Holy Spirit. The apostle says someone somewhere has said that what is man that you're mindful of him. Today we know it is Psalm 8. But the man who inspired by the Holy Spirit wrote Hebrews did not know it. Did the Holy 16:20 Spirit not know it? Of course he knew it. But the Holy Spirit was using human vessels who did not know where that verse is. But the man who wrote it was filled with the Holy Spirit. What do we have today? We know where the verse 16:35 is. We memorize verses. Very good. We know the reference. But you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. All your memorized verses won't help you. It's the Holy Spirit that you need. The Holy Spirit is the one who will bring back to your mind the verses you 16:53 memorize. I believe Jesus memorized verses. That's why in the time of temptation, the Holy Spirit said, "For this temptation, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth." Next temptation the Holy Spirit told him for 17:07 this temptation you shall not tempt the Lord your God like that every time or when somebody came to question him on something some Pharisee the Holy Spirit tell him this verse this thing in scripture it's a wonderful way to 17:24 live the Bible is a wonderful book and it's very good to have it very good to study it but I fear sometimes that the Bible can become become a substitute for the Holy Spirit. Not saying we should neglect the Bibles. I I don't I read it even now. I 17:43 study it even now even though I've studied it for 57 years. But I will never make the Bible a substitute for the Holy Spirit. I hope you don't do that because the most important thing, my brothers and sisters, is not the knowledge of the 18:01 new covenant. is not even the experience of the new covenant. It is being filled with the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus real to us. That Jesus becomes real. Not just a 18:20 figure in history, not just someone whom we read about, but real. I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 2 and see how Jesus lived on earth. You know Jesus is our 18:36 example. And when the Apostle Peter is preaching the gospel on the day of Pentecost, he speaks about Jesus having died. And it says in Acts 2:24, God verse 23, you people killed 18:54 him, but God raised him up again. Acts 2:24. And then he tells us how Jesus lived. You know, this is one thing about Peter. I don't know whether you notice he was so taken up with not just the death of Jesus Christ and his 19:11 resurrection, but the way he lived. You see that in Peter's sermons. You see that in his letters. Peter is the one who writes in 1 Peter 2, follow in his steps who did no sin. He doesn't say don't do any sin. No, no, no. He 19:31 doesn't say sin shall not have dominion over you. Like Paul says, that's good. The way Peter puts it in 1 Peter 2:21 onwards is follow in Jesus steps who did no sin. a little difference in saying having victory over sin and follow Jesus who 19:48 did no sin. Peter's taken up with that. So he says here he's preaching the gospel but he says David says of Jesus Christ in verse 25 I was always beholding the Lord in my presence. That was the secret of Jesus 20:07 life. Always in front of him was the father all the time and at his right hand was the father so that he would not be shaken. He was in front of him. The 20:24 right hand is the place of power in the old in the bible. He he's it was that it was not a verse. It wasn't that in the moment of temptation. Okay, I'll remember this verse. God gives grace to the humble. Okay, Lord, I'm going to humble 20:42 myself. I'll tell you the way to be humble. Look at Jesus. You all know the well-known verse in Hebrews 12 verse 1 and 2. Let us run the race not looking at the Bible, not remembering verses. Let us run the race looking at 21:00 Jesus who for the joy set before him endured the cross. It's talking about his earthly life and is now set down at the right hand of the father looking at Jesus who the way he lived on earth and where he is now. That is the only way to run the 21:20 race. And the only way you can do that is by being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's not shutting our eyes and imagining Jesus is here. You know, you can shut your imag eyes and imagine you're in Delhi or New York or Tokyo or something if you've 21:35 seen pictures of those places. That's imagination. And imagination is a very powerful weapon. But there's a lot of difference between just shutting your eyes and imagining Jesus is here. It will not help you in the moment 21:49 of temptation. It will not. You try it for some time after you hear this message. You'll do it. But in a few days, in a time of trial, you'll completely forget that Jesus is in front of you. It is the fullness of the Holy 22:07 Spirit and not just a once-for-all experience. That's again where we differ with the Pentecostals. I believe in speaking in tongues. I believe in healing the sick. I believe in casting out demons. And we've experienced all of those things. 22:22 But more important than all those things, the presence of Jesus Christ. That the Holy Spirit brings me into this place. Like it says in verse 25, I'm in the presence of the Lord. That's why it says the kingdom of God is righteousness with joy in the 22:39 Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17. And how does that joy come here in this same verse that is quoted here? If you go back to the this with verse which Peter quoted from in verse 25 which is a quotation way back from Psalm 16 and 22:58 verses 8 to 11. If you go there you'll find that it says in his presence there is fullness of joy. So fullness of joy is not by you know there are different ways we can get our joy. I I get into a problem and I say okay. I shut my eyes 23:13 and say all things work together for good to those who love God. It's like therefore I I shall rejoice. It's like a proving a geometry problem. You say this is equal to this and this is equal therefore this is the conclusion. That's 23:31 mathematics. It's true. All things work together for good to those who love God. But there's a different way to have joy in his presence. There is fullness of joy. There's a difference between that type of joy and saying all things work 23:46 together for good. I will not be tested beyond my ability. So I love joy. It's mathematical. It's it's correct. But it won't last. It's a psychological way of saying to yourself, you know, comforting yourself. Like in psychology they say 24:04 when you're in some problem repeat these things to yourself. Do we repeat just verses to oursel? What about the early Christians who never had a Bible? 1400 years there was no printed Bible. How did God expect Christians to 24:21 live? We must have a balance. We're not you know we have emphasized the Bible study and memorizing verses so much in this in this church. So our danger is not that we neglect the Bible. Our danger is we neglect the Holy 24:36 Spirit. And that could be the reason why some of you who study the Bible and memorize verses are still finding in a difficult situation. You don't know what to do. Seek with all your heart to be filled with the Holy 24:52 Spirit. Have make that a passion in your life. Seek God in prayer. Say Lord I want to be in private. You don't have to come to a meeting for that. I always encourage people to pray in private because in a meeting sometimes it can be 25:08 so emotional that you don't know whether it's genuine or not. There are some people who receive part of the Holy Spirit in such meetings but I prefer to be when it's by yourself when you're alone. So here it says you know because I'm in 25:28 the presence of the lord therefore verse 26 my heart was glad and my tongue exalted etc. There's a lot of difference between praising God because Jesus is there. What does he say? Therefore, my heart was glad because the presence of the Lord is in 25:46 front of me. Therefore, my heart was glad. And therefore, my tongue exalted. It's very different when we are praising the Lord because we sense Jesus there and praising the Lord because hey, this is a 26:04 nice song. It's got nice words. It's got a nice meaning and it's got a nice tune on top of that and it excites us and I can also sing well. Great. It's just a temporary emotion. It won't help you 26:22 tomorrow for a period. Now be honest for a little period of time Sunday morning you really feel nice and feel that's great but if you haven't sense the presence of Jesus if that's not the reason why you are praising the 26:40 Lord you'll be shaken here he says I won't be shaken verse 25 I will not be shaken it's a wonderful way to live the Holy Spirit has come to make us solid so that we Don't shake our heart and our tongue will be 26:58 glad because we are in the presence of the Lord. This is very very important. So take another place you know I just wanted to show you where Peter when he spoke about the preach the gospel. He's preaching the gospel here. You see in 27:12 Acts chapter 10 again he's in Cornelius's house and he's preaching the gospel. And when you talk to a person about how would you preach the gospel to a non-Christian? Cornelius was a complete non-Christian. Never read the Bible. He 27:31 doesn't know anything about God or Satan or sin or Calvary or Pentecost or anything. He knows nothing. He doesn't know the doctrine of justification or anything. How would you preach the gospel to a non-Christian? And we can follow a certain 27:50 formula. But Peter says first of all, he's surprised that a non-Christian like Cornelius, God would ever meet with him. You know, we think that God doesn't listen to the prayers of non-Christians. really you know what the angel came and 28:08 told Cornelius a man who was completely non-Christian uh he saw this angel it says in verse three in the ninth hour of the day it's that is in the afternoon at 3:00 he was 28:26 praying and he saw an angel he said Cornelius And verse four, the last part. Your prayers and the money you have given to poor people. God has watched it. It has come up before God as a memorial. A 28:45 non-Christian praying not in the name of Jesus. Giving money to the poor out of a good heart. God sees it. He's not saved. God says, "That's the type of guy I want to save. And that's how he gets saved. When Peter 29:07 comes, Peter doesn't believe that, you know, this is the first time the gospel is going to non-Jewish people. And Peter says in verse 34, "Now I know certainly that God does not show partiality to anybody in every 29:28 nation in India. The man who fears God and does what is right is welcome to him. He's not saved. But the Lord opens a way for such people. That's how people like 29:47 Sadhu Sundar Singh and Bak Singh and all who tore the Bible and hated Christians. But God saw in their heart a longing for him and they found Christ. That's how Cornelius found Christ. And through the years there are many people who hated 30:02 Christ and Christians. But God saw in their heart a longing, a much greater longing than he has seen in many so-called Christians. And they meet with God. And that's why you find some of these people converted from non-Christian backgrounds turn out to be 30:18 some of the finest Christians more than people who are born in brought up in Christian families who've inherited a certain faith from their parents and for whom Jesus is just very familiar like an old buddy or something whereas the non-Christians 30:34 have such a reverence for Jesus Christ which I find many Christians don't have. And then Peter talks about Jesus and he says, "You know Jesus of Nazareth, verse 38." What does he tell him? He says he was anointed with the Holy 30:54 Spirit. Imagine telling that to a non-Christian. Would you go and tell a Hindu about Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit? Is that the first part of the gospel you tell him? and how he went about doing good in his life and 31:09 delivering people who are oppressed by the devil. Peter was so taken up with the life of Jesus that he was so filled with the spirit. He went about doing good and delivering people oppressed by the devil. That's the mark of anyone who's 31:23 filled with the Holy Spirit. They just go about doing good. They'll do good in their home. They'll do good to their neighbors. They'll do good to their fellow believers. It's a wonderful manifestation of being filled with the Holy Spirit and 31:36 delivering people who are oppressed by the devil. I mean we are surrounded by people oppressed by the devil. But to begin what is the mark fullness of the Holy Spirit? Jesus said you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon 31:53 you. And what does that power produce? Turn with me to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 says when the Holy Spirit is poured out into our heart, it's an expression. The Holy Spirit is a person. You can't pour out a person, but 32:13 it's an expression used in scripture to where the Holy Spirit is pictured like a river poured out from heaven. And it's all picture language, but it's a person, a person coming and flooding our 32:30 heart. And it says here in Romans 5 and verse 5, the middle, the love of God is po poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. After many years of Bible study, I've 32:49 come to see that that is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. That is the power the Holy Spirit gives. That's the thing that frees me from sin. That's the thing that gives me a burden to preach the gospel to others. That's 33:04 the thing that gives me a burden to sacrifice everything for the sake of Jesus Christ. What is it? The love of God is poured out in our heart by the Holy Spirit. What that means is the spirit of God will so fill me that my 33:21 heart will be filled with love for God. If you got that, you're filled with the Holy Spirit and it'll be filled with a love for people. The love of God is poured out. 33:40 Now I cannot love God with all my heart without the Holy Spirit. It is impossible. I can have a superficial love. Many people who talk about loving God and all is holy on the outside. You cannot nobody can love God with all their heart if they're not 33:56 filled with the Holy Spirit. Nobody can love others with an unselfish love uh unless you're filled with the Holy Spirit. The love that many people have for poor people is the love of a benefactor. You know Jesus said in Luke 22, don't become 34:16 benefactors. That sounds like a Why did Jesus say don't be a benefactor? Benefactor is a good thing. Benefactor is a rich man who gives money to poor people. Like there are a lot of rich people who go around giving money to the poor. 34:33 They're benefactors. But that they don't they don't have this love that the Bible speaks of because they're doing it either for some honor or if they're not doing it for some honor, it's for some personal satisfaction that I helped a poor 34:48 person. Now I'll tell you many Christians give like that exactly the same way. That's why we have taught in this church never never give money personally to a poor person to a poor 35:04 believer. You're a benefactor. You're this rich brother who's coming to helping this poor brother with some money and he will forever be grateful to you and he'll wait next month for another envelope and he'll be bound to 35:20 you not with the bonds of Jesus Christ but with the bonds of money and you probably like it. You'll be popular. You won't draw that person to Christ. You'll draw them to yourself. That's why we always say if you want to 35:39 give money to the poor, do what the apostles did. Do what the early church did. It says in Acts chapter 4, they came and put it at the feet of the apostles and the apostles distributed it because we've seen in the past even in this church 35:52 where people have given to individuals like they say the baby that cries the most gets the milk. So the person who advertises his need the most gets the money and foolish people go and give it and that guy gets a lot and 36:06 really needy people get nothing. But when you give it to the elders, they know who's in need and they give it wisely. So that's why we always say when we give money to the poor, mark it for the poor and put in the offering box. 36:20 The elders will distribute it wisely to those who are in need and then the one who cries the most will not get the money. according to need it'll be given because we've seen some very sad examples in the past of people who and 36:33 some of those people I'll tell you who got a lot of money are not in the church today and some of those people who did get a lot of money who later on prospered never thought of returning all that they got to the 36:51 church to other poor people. This is how it is. Whereas when when the Holy Spirit fills us with love for other people is it doesn't draw people to ourselves. It draws people to Christ. So when you serve others, if you draw people to 37:10 yourself, you're not serving in the power of the Holy Spirit, people may appreciate you, but if you allow people to be attached to yourself, you're not really filled with the Holy Spirit. You're filled with a love for yourself. In all our service to others, 37:27 whether it's me preaching up here or people singing, they shouldn't be attracted to the person. You can't help it. Man is human. They are carnal. They will be drawn to someone who's preaching or singing. But we must not take that to ourselves. We 37:46 must never allow anyone to be attached to ourselves. There are many times in the past where I have pushed people away and say I don't want to see you because I found a guy who's getting too attached to me. I said go and meet some of the 37:59 other brothers. We are a body. Sometimes people have written emails to me. I remember one guy wrote an email to me and uh you know we have a number of elders who replied to these emails and he said whenever people went to 38:17 Jesus he always had time for them why don't you have time for me I said nobody wrote an email to Jesus show me one example where somebody wrote an email to Jesus and Jesus replied immediately I said people went to Jesus 38:30 personally you come to me personally I'll talk to But today the physical body of Jesus Christ is replaced by the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. And that day when people went to the physical body of Jesus Christ, he answered them. Today 38:48 when people come to the spiritual body of Christ, this body of Christ answers them. It doesn't have to be me. That's what I tell them. Today people haven't seen the body of Christ. They think it's all got to be one person. No, it's the body of Christ. 39:03 We push people away from being attached to one person. That's why the emails that come to me about 10 other brothers answer them. Yeah, we're we refuse to get people attached to a person. We are to love God with all our 39:19 hearts. And if we love others and the way God wants us to love them, we'll draw them to Christ. So it says the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. And I want to ask you to keep that in mind always. Romans 5:5 just like the Pentecostals 39:34 quote Acts 2:4. They all spoke in tongues. I quote Acts 2:3. Before they spoke in tones, they had a tongue of fire on their heads. And I say that's the tongue of fire which I sought for when I was seeking the fullness of the 39:51 Holy Spirit. I said, "Lord, I want to control my bad language, anger, words that hurt others. I want to control that. I want the tongue of fire before speaking in tongues." And that comes with a heart of love. So, seek to 40:07 be filled with the love of God in your heart and you won't go wrong. And this agrees with Romans chapter 8 as well. You know, Romans chapter 8 is the great chapter on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Romans is progressive steps starting 40:23 with sin. In Romans 1, God ungodly, ungodly sinners. Romans 2, religious sinners. Romans 3, all are guilty. Romans 4 and 5, we are justified by faith. Romans 6, we are freed from the power of sin. Romans 7, we are freed 40:39 from legalism and the law. And Romans 8, we come to life in the Holy Spirit. It's full of the Holy Spirit in Romans 8. And Romans 8 begins with this. First of all, there's no condemnation. It's very 40:56 important to begin there. Condemnation means you haven't understood Romans 1:7 clearly. If you feel condemned, then brothers, sisters, you need to go back to Romans 5 6 and 7. That's where you need to begin. You come to the place where there 41:13 is no condemnation. We must live all our life with zero condemnation. And I'll tell you this, I live without any condemnation. Now in the early part days of my being born again, I had so much condemnation in my life because nobody 41:26 taught me properly. But once I understood that God does not remember my past sins anymore, he has clothed me with Christ. I have no condemnation. It's not that I'm perfect. I'm far from perfect. I'm pressing on. Like Paul says, I have a long way to go 41:42 still to become like Jesus Christ. And I tell you one thing, the closer I get to God, the more I discover what a long way I have to go to become like Christ. In the early days, we think we got it. It's like the little child thinking it's understood 41:59 everything in mathematics because it can now know 3 + 3 is six. God, I understood mathematics. Whereas the PhD in mathematics says, I know so little of mathematics. It's like that when we get closer to God, we feel we are so unlike 42:17 Christ. So if you think you're pretty much like Christ, you must be in the kindergarten. We don't discourage people in the kindergarten. I don't say I don't despise you. I mean, if a little child came to me and said, "Do you know, Uncle 42:29 2+ 2 is four?" I say, "Really? That's great. 2 plus 2 is four. I'm so glad you found that out." I don't say, "Oh, I knew that long ago." Don't turn away a child like that. get excited. So, a new believer comes and says, "Hey, I know, you know, but my 42:45 God doesn't remember my sins anymore." I said, "Wow, that's fantastic that you discovered that." But that's not the end of the story. It's the beginning. We are to be free from condemnation. But then we come to what is called in Romans 8:2, the law of the 43:02 Holy Spirit. That's where the Holy Spirit when he fills us gives us a law and that law is uh it says in Romans 8:2 the law of the spirit which is the life of Jesus 43:22 Christ life in Christ Jesus. The law of Moses was a big list of things. ten commandments most people know but actually there were 613 commandments bing list and that's why you had to have Bible scholars in those days called 43:39 scribes who studied all these things so that if some guy came and said uh what shall I do this is the problem here say let me look up okay this is what you got to do they they had to know it but today I find myself in a problem where 43:55 do I look the life of Jesus That's where I look and that comes through being filled with the Holy Spirit. The life of Jesus will tell me whether to do that or not. You know that that's the way God 44:11 wanted man to live right from the beginning. And God taught Adam that. Adam didn't learn it but God tried to teach Adam that by the two trees the tree of knowledge of good and evil which is one way to 44:29 live that means when I want to do something should I is it right or wrong I go to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and say hey is this right or is it wrong that's a law big list this is good this is evil this is good this is 44:43 evil I search search it's like doing a Google search through good and evil uh is good or it's evil. But there was another tree called the tree of life which is quite another way to find out whether it's good or 45:02 evil and and that is by a life within. See, I've used this example sometimes of people who have leprosy and their skin, one mark of leprosy is that you don't have any sensation in your skin anymore. The 45:21 sensation is gone. I mean, I don't understand the anatomy of it, but you don't something's dead. You don't feel see we have sensation. Even a pin prick or anything, we feel immediately. So, uh, people with leprosy have to be 45:40 warned. Don't touch a hot plate or a hot stove. Why don't you need that warning? Cuz if you touch a hot stove, as soon as you touch it, there'll be a reaction. Your hand will immediately feel it and you pull your hand back because you sense, hey, that's 45:59 hot. But a person with leprosy doesn't feel it. So what do you tell him? You got to what is that? Put a thermometer or something and find out the temperature and then touch it or not. Something like that. Some way you must find out if it's hot 46:14 or not. So that's a law. People with leprosy need a law. I heard of a person with leprosy whose toes were bitten off by a rat at night. He didn't feel it. He woke up in the morning and he found a few toes 46:33 missing. Why is it you don't find that? Because as soon as anyone touches you, you wake up. Life, that's the difference between life and law. That's why people with leprosy are taught before you go to bed, look at the soles of your feet and 46:47 see if there's any thorn there. It's one of the laws for people with leprosy law. Look, see if there are any thorns in your feet. You don't need that law because you got life. If there's a thorn, you'll feel it. And I'll tell you 47:00 this, this is an example of living by the law and living by life. It's much better to live by the life because you need 10,000 laws otherwise to live the way God wants you to live. And that God didn't want man to live like that. And 47:14 sometimes, you know, we can hear so much in the church here in CFC that it can be just a bunch of rules. Uh what should I do with television? What should I do with pornography? What should I do with this type of book or love stories? and love 47:29 songs and whole lot of laws and then you always want to know whether you're keeping those laws or not and well it's the second best way to live. I always say there are you know the Bible speaks about Jews, Gentiles and the 47:49 church. Three groups of people it says in 1 Corinthians 10. The world is full of three groups of people in 1 Corinthians and chapter 10 and verse 32. Jews, non-Jews and the church. So even today it's like that. And so I define that as those who are 48:09 under old covenant, those who are under no covenant and those who are under new covenant. Everybody in the world can be classified into one of these three. They're under the old covenant that is the law, the principle of the law or no 48:21 covenant. They just do what they feel like. Or new covenant that is the life of Jesus. So it's better to be under old covenant than no covenant. Definitely. So that's why I say that's second best to live by some type of 48:38 rules. Don't watch pornography. Don't watch dirty movies. You can make a lot of laws like that. Don't smoke cigarettes. Don't get drunk. So many laws. But the best is by the life of Jesus where the spirit of 48:57 God will prompt you like you know you touch that hot plate immediately there's a reaction I mean something comes on the television screen and immediately there's a reaction you want to change the channel or you want to get up and go 49:10 away from there do you sense that if you don't sense that you are living under law you know a thought comes into your mind and immediately you want to say no that's life but a thought comes into 49:30 your mind and you suddenly remember oh I heard something in the church this type of thought is not good so let me get rid of it that's second best living under law because the leprosy person says oh I'm supposed to check whether this hot 49:43 plate is hot or not I was told that is one of the things you don't need that when you got life I'm just trying to lead you out of law into life into the law of spirit which is life in Christ Jesus. Seek for it. The law of the 50:00 spirit has set me free from the law of sin and death. There's a law of sin and death which is like the law of gravity pulling us down everywhere we go. And there's only one way to overcome it. It's not the old covenant. It's not by 50:17 rules. rules will give you a good testimony before men. You know, Jesus told the Pharisees, "Your outside of your cup is clean." And most of you sitting here, the outside of your cup is really clean. And you have a good testimony in CFC. I want to tell 50:37 you, it means nothing. It means nothing as far as God is concerned. Seek for life. And you really have to seek for the approval of God more than the approval of men to accept this 50:56 message. If you only want the approval of men, you will not bother about this message. You'll see, I've got a good testimony already. People think I'm a pretty good Christian. They see how kind I am, how patient I am, and how I hardly lose my 51:12 temper and all those things. But it is not because of the presence of Jesus in front of you. It's because you want to maintain a good testimony before others which as I said is the second best and second best is better than 51:28 nothing. You know they say something is better than nothing. Sure but it's not the way God wants us to live. That's going back to BC before Christ. And I think a lot of Christians are living in BC conditions before Christ. The only 51:45 thing they know is oh let's say they have come up to Calvary. That's all. They've up to the cross. They haven't gone beyond the cross to resurrection and the day of Pentecost. They haven't come as far. They've come up to Calvary, stopped 52:03 there. It's the like in pilgrims progress. the burden is rolled off their back and they're there forever at the foot of the cross and anytime a burden comes up they again look up and get the burden rolled away but they never 52:16 progress into life in the Holy Spirit. So here it speaks about the law of the spirit that sets us free which we struggle and struggle to be free. You know it's we can't do it. It's like trying to fly flapping our hands and 52:33 jumping up and you try to pull your shoelaces up and try to jump. You can't do it. But when you get in an airplane you see how that airplane lifts you up and you go so high. Something like that. the life in the spirit which you cannot 52:48 do yourself. You can't lift yourself even one foot from the ground. And here's this airplane that takes you up 30,000 ft up from the ground. It's a picture of the Holy Spirit. It's and you're not doing anything. You're just sitting 53:00 there. But you got to choose to get inside the plane. Of course, otherwise you don't go up. You got to choose to submit to the Holy Spirit and not jump off halfway through and it'll keep lifting you up. It's a wonderful picture 53:13 of life in the spirit. And one result of it is you know how it is when you uh get into a plane. You'll know whether whether you're 30,000 ft up or 1 foot up by just looking down. If that car looks pretty big to you and very important, 53:27 you're at one foot. When you get up to 30,000, those cars are like toy cars and those houses that you value so much are little like toy houses. The things of earth grow strangely dim like we sing in that song. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 53:43 look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. To me that is a very important test. I use the picture of the airplane how everything becomes so small and 54:01 after a while they even disappear. You hardly see anything. And that's how a man who's in the life in the spirit gradually the things of earth become less and less important. It's not that they're not there. He's living on earth. The Bible says we are 54:16 seated with Christ in the heavenly places which is much more than 30,000 ft. And imagine how small the things of earth are really when you look at it from there. It's one test of whether I've really experienced the fullness of 54:29 the Holy Spirit. Whether things which are so important to human beings don't bother me so much. For example, the opinions of people. Why have you heard me say so often? The opinions of people are fit for the trash can because they're worth nothing when 54:45 you sit up in heaven. Do you think anybody in heaven right now is worried about what somebody on earth is thinking about them? Not at all. Not at all. All those saints who have gone up to heaven, you think they're worried now 55:00 about what people think about them? Not at all. That's what happens when we get up to heavenly places. the things of earth become very very small and that's the law of the spirit has lifted me up set me free from the law of gravity the 55:14 law of sin and death it's not a doctrine it's not verses is being filled with the Holy Spirit God has to do it you can't fill yourself Bible doesn't say fill yourself with the Holy Spirit it's not like I go to a petrol station and say fill up my 55:31 tank with petrol has to fill me. It's not that God is reluctant to fill me. Jesus once said in Luke 11:13, "If you being evil," meaning the best father on earth 55:50 is evil. Many of you are fathers. Why are you working so hard? Why are you saving up money? You're not laying up treasure for yourself. There are people who lay up treasure for themselves, but Jesus said, 56:09 "Don't do that." You're laying it up for your children. Like the Bible says, fathers ought to lay up for their children. Why are you working so hard? Why are you sacrificing so much for your children? You being evil. 56:29 Know how to do such things for your children. How much more your heavenly father Luke 11:13 will give the Holy Spirit not to everybody but to those who ask him. There's only one difference between you 56:48 as a father and God the father. You give your children without their asking. God does not give without asking. And the reason is God wants to see if you value it. Just like you don't give your children something until they learn to value 57:08 it. Will you give a,000 rupee note into the hand of your 2-year-old child? No. He's much more happy with a five rupee toy that can make a lot of noise. God also does not give to those who don't value 57:25 something. That's why he says ask. And in every story where Jesus spoke about asking, he always mentioned somebody keeping on asking. A man went to his neighbor's house at 57:43 midnight, it's really desperate. I mean, daytime going, we can understand. But going at midnight, how many of you have ever in your life gone to a neighbor's house at midnight and asked for food? Not for yourself, but for a visitor, not 58:00 somebody who's dying. We'd go to a neighbor's house if somebody is sick and dying. But if somebody wants food, we wouldn't go to a neighbor's house at midnight and ask for food. No. And if that man says, "Don't disturb me. I'm in 58:19 bed." We wouldn't keep on knocking. No, I'm going to disturb you. Have you ever thought of that type of asking? Just turn with me there. It's very very important passage. You know when we talk about the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The reason I say it is 58:35 because there are so many believers who think God is so reluctant to give us the Holy Spirit. Really? Who said that? Luke 11. Supposing verse 5, one of you has a friend and you go to him at midnight. 58:54 Luke 11:5. And say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves." He's not asking him to give him a gift. He's asking him to lend it. Can I borrow? Crazy to ask for borrow three loaves of bread, but he says, "Can I borrow three loaves of bread? I'll 59:13 return it because a friend of mine has come and he's got nothing to eat and I don't have anything." And the man says, "Don't bother me." Verse seven, "My children are in bed and you're disturbing them." He says, "I'm not going. I'm 59:28 going to wake you up and all the children up till you give me those three loaves of bread." I tell you, even though he won't get up and give him anything because he's his friend. This is a friend, remember? Yet, he will give it to him 59:40 because of his persistence. The one thing that Jesus always taught about asking was persistence. Think of the type of persistence where you ask and the fellow says, "Get away." You still ask. He says, "No, I'm not going to give it. Get away." You still 59:57 ask. Persist, persist, persist till you get it. And then Jesus said, "I say to you, ask like this and it'll be given to you. Seek like this and you will find. Knock like 1:00:17 this and the door of heaven will be open to you. For everyone who asks like this receives. Who are the ones who don't receive? No, don't don't ask like this. They knock a few times and know God please we want this. We want this. We want this one. We 1:00:32 want want this. Okay, we didn't get it. Maybe God doesn't want to give it to us. Okay, we'll go somewhere else. I'll tell you, you won't get it. Everyone who seeks like this finds and everyone who knocks like this it'll be 1:00:46 opened. Then he says you fathers some of people are afraid if he pray for the Holy Spirit will he get an evil spirit? No no no no you if your son asks for a fish will you give him a snake? If you ask if he asks for an egg 1:01:00 will you give him a scorpion? If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him like this? You add that phrase like this. Wherever this ask comes, that's a 1:01:20 meaning. And I know how persistent I was when I was seeking for the Holy Spirit. I went here and I went there and I found all these counterfeit noise and all that. And I said, "Lord, I don't want that. I want the real thing. And if it 1:01:35 takes 10 years for me get it, I'll wait 10 years." I tell you, I knocked a long time because God was seeing whether I was persistent. Even after I began to have a ministry and travel here and there and so many people were inviting me and 1:01:53 accepting me, I said, "Lord, I'm not happy with that. I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in the ministry. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that was a test because a lot of people, preachers particularly, 1:02:06 once they begin to get a worldwide ministry, they're happy. Oh, I've got a gift and I can now preach here and there and I'm accepted. I'm invited to this conference, that conference. And that was happening to me. I was invited to 1:02:17 Australia and Europe and different countries. And I could have been satisfied with that. And I said, "No, I want the real thing. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to love Jesus with all my heart and love people as 1:02:32 myself. And when God saw I really was not going to stop knocking, he met with me. And boy am I thankful. It turned my life around 180 degrees. Believe it or not, wasn't a 1:02:50 doctrine. I feel that that is what many in CFC are missing. See in my case I had one big advantage that you don't have. I see it as an advantage 1:03:08 now. I didn't have a spiritual father to spoon food speed me all the time. I had to go and search for food myself. I had to search and search and search. It was an advantage. You guys have somebody to spoon feed you every Sunday and 1:03:27 Wednesday and you get all excited and you don't need God. You got wonderful brothers. You don't need God. I feel sorry for you. I didn't have wonderful brothers or a spiritual father. I needed 1:03:45 God. That is the lack. Those apostles, they didn't have anybody on the day of Pentecost. The one person they had disappeared, Jesus, and they were helpless. The others who came later, they had the 1:04:04 apostles and they never got to know God like those apostles did. That's why when you have good teachers and good elders and good spiritual fathers, you have to say, "Lord, let me get past them to 1:04:22 you. I want to know you." Turn with me again to Romans in chapter 8. It says there, "The law of the spirit set me free from the law of sin and death." And then look at this. 1:04:39 Verse three, what the law could not do. Romans 8:3. I want you to understand this verse. What the law could not do because of the weakness of the flesh. What was it the law could not do? The law could make a man like Moses 1:04:56 the humblest man on the face of the earth. The law could make many of those people like Elijah and Elijah and John the Baptist free from running after women. I can't imagine a man like Elijah watching pornography. Even if they had 1:05:13 pornography those days. Can you imagine John the Baptist sitting in front of a computer watching pornography? He'd be free from that. Pure of God was enough for them. But there was something the law could not do. Even in the greatest men 1:05:29 in the Old Testament, law could not make a man love God with all his heart and love his neighbor as himself all the time. It could not do that. That was the law, but it could not help anyone to get there. God did it. He sent his 1:05:47 son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Not in sinful flesh. No, he didn't have sinful flesh. He was holy. But in appearance like that, but as an offering for sin on the cross. And on the cross of Calvary, he condemned sin. The heart that does not 1:06:06 love. What is sin? I I'll tell you. A heart that cannot love God with completely. A heart that does not love his neighbor as his self. That's sin. God condemned it on the cross. So finish with this attitude that loves other things more than God. That 1:06:21 loves money more than God. God condemned it on the cross. That loves the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh more than God. God condemned it on the cross. Everything it's condemned on the cross when Jesus died so that now Romans 8:4 the 1:06:39 requirement of the law what is the requirement of the law can be fulfilled in us. This is wonderful news. The requirement of the law which is to love God with all my heart and to love my neighbor as myself can be fulfilled in us because we don't have to 1:06:57 walk according to the flesh anymore. But we walk in the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit all the time. You know, somebody when they asked Jesus in Matthew 22, what is the great commandment in the law? And they those 1:07:11 guys had a Sabbath, circumcision, you know, man always thinks of some little easy commandment as great commandment in the law. And even today there are Christians like that speaking in tongues or breaking bread or sisters veiling their 1:07:30 heads. All types of things people major on. We believe in all these things but that's not the requirement of the law. The requirement of the law is to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. So when they asked 1:07:42 him in Matthew 22:36, "What is the great commandment in the law?" He said, "The great commandment is love God." Verse 37, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and I can't leave it by itself. It also the other side of it, 1:07:56 verse 39, love your neighbor as yourself. Everything that God has spoken hangs on these two. And that was what the law required, but nobody could do it. But now it says in Romans 8, what the law could not do, the Holy Spirit did. And I want to ask 1:08:12 you, my brothers, has he done it in you? Has he made you love Jesus so supremely more than everything else? So, let me conclude with Psalm 73. I love this. It's been my favorite verse for 57 years. When I bought my first Bible, 1:08:31 when I got converted in 1959, I remember it. I was in the naval base in Cochin when I was born again. I got two things in July 1959. One was my commission as an naval officer and Christ came into my heart 1:08:49 same month. It's amazing. I got two commissions. All my colleagues got one. I got two. And I bought a Bible. And in the front inside blank page of the Bible, I drew a heart. And inside that heart, you know 1:09:09 how lovers write sometimes. I wrote Lord Jesus Christ and Zach Punin. And underneath I wrote Psalm 73:25. Whom have I in heaven but thee, there's nothing and no one I desire on earth beside 1:09:26 thee. That is how I began my Christian life. I said, Lord, I desire nothing for myself. I wrote that there and I would open my Bible and I would see that. Have you begun your Christian life like 1:09:45 that? Is it a personal love relationship between you and Jesus Christ? It's like that with me today. The Holy Spirit fills us with the love of God. And I I tasted a little bit of the Holy Spirit that time, but I did not know him in his fullness. The result 1:10:01 was it was in fits and starts. You know, if things go well with me for a long time, I relax then backslide. or if I slipped up, I'd get so discouraged and backslide. But all that God changes when he fills you with the Holy Spirit and you learn to live 1:10:21 continuously in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This is what I wish for every single one of you. And if you are in there, this will be your constant statement. Psalm 73:25, "There's nothing and no one I 1:10:39 desire on earth but you. You are there, Lord, always in front of me. And I am always aware of your presence." Is Isn't it a wonderful thing? I've seen this many times. When severely tempted or lightly 1:10:56 tempted, Jesus is there. When you're tempted on the internet, when you're tempted reading a newspaper or looking at a book or driving down the road or seeing something interesting which is sinful presence of Jesus 1:11:13 immediately it keeps you from sin not remembering a verse I have set the Lord always before me. You cannot do it unless you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "The Holy Spirit will take 1:11:30 of mine and show it to you." He will take up mine and show it to you. Maybe I should show you that verse also in John chapter, that's a wonderful verse. John's gospel and chapter 16 verse 14. The Holy Spirit will 1:11:53 glorify me. He will take of mine and show it to you. I like that in that moment of temptation when I need Jesus the most, the Holy Spirit will suddenly bring Jesus the awareness of Jesus being right there. Have you thought of that? 1:12:14 Supposing when you're tempted, Jesus physically came and stood there in front of you, every temptation would just disappear in a moment. Don't you think so? If Jesus physically appeared at that particular time when you attempted to do 1:12:30 something wrong or say something wrong or sign something false and Jesus appeared there you would never sin. That's what the Holy Spirit does. He will take of mine and disclose it to you. He's there. He says I am 1:12:46 everywhere. But he'll suddenly open your eyes and see oh Jesus is like the eyes of the disciples and emus is suddenly opened or like Elisha could see all the angels around him but his servant could 1:13:04 not. So the lord he told the lord please open his eyes so that he can see and he saw place full of angels. It's wonderful thing when God opens our eyes and they could only see angels. We see Jesus right there. There are angels taking 1:13:21 care of us. But I'd rather see Jesus any day. Any day. He will take up mine and show it unto you. So what is the conclusion of the whole matter? Brothers and sisters, seek with all your heart to live a spiritfilled life and say only 1:13:38 God can do it. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and keep you in that continuous fullness of the Holy Spirit every day. Let's pray. Let's bow our heads. Make a prayer in your heart which is 1:14:04 just a beginning to say Lord I'm going to seek you and not give up not for a once for all experience but for a continuous 1:14:23 experience of the baptism and fullness of the Holy Spirit. I want this Lord. I want the third person of the Trinity. I want to know the Holy Spirit making Jesus real to me. Real to me that is that I will 1:14:41 always be in the presence of the Lord. Help me Lord. Yes, Father. We want to commit this request to you. Those who are sincerely praying here, you know every heart. Pray in Jesus name. Amen. I wonder whether we know the song. 1:15:12 Are you looking for the fullness of the blessing? Surish, do you know the song? Okay. And shall we stand up and sing that song? And those who don't know that can learn it and sing it as a prayer from your heart. [Music] 1:16:17 Are you looking for the fullness of the blessing of the Lord in your heart and life today? The promise of your father come according to his word in the blessed old time 1:16:34 way. He will fill your heart today to overflow. As the Lord commanded you, bring your vessels out of you. He will fill your heart today to overflow with the Holy Spirit. 1:16:53 [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. 1:17:24 your heart today overflowing with the Holy Spirit like the cruing in his face forever more. [Music] 1:17:53 [Music] your heart. Bring your vessels out of you. [Music] 1:18:19 He will fill your heart today to overflowing as the Lord commanded you. Bring your vessels out of you. He will fill your heart today to overflowing with the Holy Spirit's power. [Music] 1:18:44 Please take your seats. The first church was a spiritfilled church. Oh, seek to be full of the spirit. Oh, may the Lord give us grace to be a spiritfilled church. Can I hear amen for 1:19:03 that? We want to welcome all those who are visiting us for the first time today. So we are always happy to have friends visiting us. And if you're visiting us for the first time, please stand where you are so that we can
