0:17 Praise the Lord. It's always good to have a spirit of Thanksgiving at all times. Not just when we come on Sundays, but every day. I'd like to share something that God has 0:35 spoken to my own heart. As some of you know, I completed 72 years a few days ago. I was seeking the Lord for a word. And the word that came to my heart was 0:52 authority. Authority is a word that a lot of people in the world like. They don't like to be under authority, but they like to have authority. 1:10 Whether it's mothers and fathers or elders in a church or dictators or policemen everybody. Even older brothers like to have authority over their younger ones. But when you you know, the world's 1:30 values are very often very different from the values God's kingdom. In fact, they're exactly the opposite. And that's signified by the fact that the devil became the devil because he wanted to go up and go higher and higher 1:47 and higher. Be equal with God. And salvation came by Jesus, who is equal with God, going lower and lower and lower to the lowest depth a man could go. To the horrible death of a cross. So, 2:05 if you really want to understand spiritual authority, you need to keep these two pictures in your mind always. Every spirit that seeks to lift you up and makes you want to go above others is 2:24 of the devil. And every spirit that seeks to make you go down, not in self-abasement and low self-esteem, that is the devil's counterfeit of humility, but going down to serve others, 2:42 to get underneath others so that you can lift them up. That is the spirit of Christ. You need to distinguish between false humility, which is self-abasement, being a doormat for everybody to rub their feet on, low self-esteem, that's a counterfeit. 2:59 Sometimes people understand humility like that because they don't look at Jesus. They look for humility according to their own definition of it or in a dictionary. Jesus was not a doormat. Nobody could rub their feet on him. 3:17 Jesus didn't have a low self-esteem. He knew he was the son of God. But he was a servant of others. He never felt it was beneath his dignity to wash people's feet and I think if he was here, he'd be the first one to volunteer to clean 3:33 the toilets and most probably would do it without anybody knowing it because he knew what he was before the Father. It's when we don't know who we are before God uh that we think all these lowly jobs are not good for us. That's the mark of 3:47 a man who's very insecure and who has a low self-esteem. That's the person who's not willing to clean the toilets or sweep the floor or do lowly jobs. He's very, very insecure. He doesn't know God. He's got low self-esteem. 4:02 But a person who knows who he is as son of God, he has no problem doing anything. So, when you think of authority, I thought of it in uh three areas. First of all, God's authority over us. And then 4:21 in our authority over people and our authority over Satan. So, let's look at these three. Um 5 years ago, when I was seeking God again at the time of my birthday, the word the Lord spoke to my heart was from Luke chapter 10 4:40 and verse 19. There again, it was about authority. Uh Luke 10:19, "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy 4:59 and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." And um 5:18 it was specially through the message translation of that that God spoke to my heart. Now, I want to say a word about translations and paraphrases. New The New American Standard Bible is the one I use and I've used for more 5:34 than 35 years for the study of God's word because it's the most accurate translation I have ever come across in the language of today. And it's a word-for-word translation, so we can take its authority. But when you come to a paraphrase like 5:54 Living Bible or Message Bible, you can't use that to get a doctrine because it's not word-for-word translation and sometimes it's the translator's understanding of a verse that he's giving and it could be more like a commentary 6:14 rather than a translation. But the advantage is it's much easier to read and very often it throws light on a verse that you hadn't thought of earlier. That's happened to me many times when I read Living Bible especially, which is even 6:33 better than Message translation. But both of them I use it often, not to get a doctrine, remember, but to throw light and then I go on a verse and I then I go back to the verse in the translation and I see, "Hey, that was 6:47 there and I didn't notice it." Okay, now listen to this in the Message Bible, Luke 10:19 and 20. And see how it speaks to your heart. And you know, this is for you as well, if you take it. If you fulfill the conditions, it's for 7:05 you. No one can put a hand on you. That itself excites us. All the same, the great triumph or victory is not 7:22 in your authority over evil or over Satan, but in God's authority over you. I you know the difference between your authority over evil and God's authority over you? And his presence with you. 7:40 That is the great victory. The great victory is not that you command a demon to go and it goes, but that God commands you to go and you jump and go. If you don't do that, to rejoice that I commanded a demon to go and it went immediately is 7:58 crazy. And God tells you to go and you go. That's the point. That's the great victory. And again, the next verse, "Not what you do for God, but what God does for you. That's what you should rejoice in. 8:17 Think of that. Do you rejoice in what you have done for God? How often we are guilty of that. The Lord says, "Rejoice in what God has done for you." Not that you serve God by casting out 8:35 demons, but that God has recorded your names in heaven. You know, there's a lot in those two verses if you can think about it. And I've thought about it many times since that first time God spoke to my heart. I don't want to rejoice 8:55 in my authority over demons. I have always seen in casting out demons, I never have to yell. I never have to keep on saying it. One word and the demons go. Do you know what Lord speaks to me from that? 9:14 Do you go when I speak one word to you? Or do I have to hear it twice and thrice before I move? And I say, "Lord, I'm ashamed. I want to rejoice in your authority over me, 9:33 not in my authority over sin or evil or Satan, that I'm tempted and I don't yield to it, not even once. That's great. That's my authority over evil. We can rejoice in that. I got victory. I was not like the defeated Christians and 9:52 I'm not like I was in olden days defeated, but that's not what I have to rejoice in. I have to rejoice in God's authority over me. And that's so important, dear brothers and sisters. This is what how Jesus lived. His whole life 10:11 he I mean, 30 years for example, he never cast out demons or preached, but he lived under God's authority. Totally. Whatever the Father told him to do, he Listen to this description which he gives of his own life. 10:30 John chapter 5 and verse 30. I can do nothing on my own initiative. Initiative means I decide myself. 10:53 What does he mean? I can do nothing. You say, "Lord, you can do nothing on your own? I can do a lot of things on my own. Are you weaker than me?" Why is it we can do so many things on our own without seeking God? The reason is in the next part of that 11:12 verse, because the Lord says, "I don't seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. That's why I can do nothing on my own initiative. Because I've decided in my life as a fundamental principle 11:29 that I will never seek my own will or my own pleasure or what satisfies me or what pleases me or what gives me pleasure or what I enjoy doing, etc. etc. etc. But I will only do what pleases my Father, what he wants me 11:48 to do, what excites him, not what excites me. And because of that, because of that restraint that I have imposed upon myself, I can do nothing on my own initiative. Dear brothers and sisters, all our knowledge of scripture 12:07 and all our imagined spirituality is just a lot of rubbish if we have not come to this type of life, or at least if we are not coming towards this type of life, where I look up to God and say, "My Father, I never want to do my own 12:26 will. I only want to do yours." It's not something forced. He never forces us. He never puts a restraint upon us. Uh till the end of our life, you can be filled with the Spirit and the mightiest servant of God on Earth, he will not 12:42 take away your free will till the last day of your life on Earth, if you want, you can go to hell. In Pilgrim's Progress, if you read, uh right almost as the just before he reaches heaven, there's a bypass to hell from there. That man had light. 13:00 You can get that close after coming to the cross and walk all that way, and then there's a bypass to hell from there. So, it's like that. The Why? Because he never takes away our free will. People who say that once you've accepted 13:13 Jesus, you'll never be lost, you have to say that God takes away your free will then. It doesn't happen. He doesn't take away your free will. It's people who don't have an understanding of how much God respects a man's free will who think that once 13:25 you're saved, you're always saved. That's up to you. You can be. I don't believe I'll be lost. I'll tell you why. Cuz I don't plan to divorce Jesus Christ. And he doesn't plan to divorce me. I mean, I can even say that about about 13:41 my earthly marriage. I don't plan to divorce my wife. I can say that with absolute certainty. I can um you know, bet a million dollars. I don't bet, but if I do, I'd bet any amount, I'd never divorce my wife. She'll never 13:53 divorce me. How much more I can say, "I'll never divorce Jesus Christ. He'll never divorce me." But that's my personal choice. Uh but someone who plays the fool with Christ and things of God, plays the fool with sin, he's already divorcing 14:08 Christ. And if he imagines that he's once saved, he's always saved, he's just fooling himself. He'll wake up when he stands before the Lord and gets such a terri- terrible shock. God never takes away our free will, but we voluntarily can choose like Jesus 14:25 to say, "I have decided never to seek my own will." As I understand it, I may not know the fullness of God's will, but in the area where I understand it, that's all God expects. You know, in third standard, you're expected to know 14:39 only third standard stuff, not even fourth standard stuff. Somebody else who's more mature is in the 10th standard, he knows a lot more. So, God's will, there are increasing circles of understanding God's will as we grow. 14:52 And God doesn't expect you to live according to the light I have. If my light is more than yours, he expects more from me than from you. But in the circle in which you know what is God's will, if you say, "I always want to do your 15:07 will." I'll tell you, when I started taking the Christian life seriously many years after I was born again, one of the areas where I really sought to do God's will, I did not know God's will in many areas as a young Christian cuz I didn't know 15:23 how to find God's will in certain areas. But there was one area where I knew God's will crystal clear. And I'll tell you why. That was And if I submitted to that, that was a proof that I accepted God's authority over my life. 15:41 And that's because that was written very clearly in scripture. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18, it says, "In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ 16:00 Jesus." Oh. I said, "Lord, that's wonderful. At least one area I know for certain what your will is. There may be a thousand areas where I don't know your will, but this one area, it's clear. I have to give thanks in every 16:15 situation, whatever happens, however people treat me, whether they insult me or praise me, uh it's important that we give thanks to God even when people praise us, otherwise we will take accept that praise to ourselves. 16:30 It's important that we give thanks to people when people criticize us, because that is God's way of humbling us. It's good for us. We have a tremendous tendency to uh go up, you know. God has to push us down. Otherwise, he won't be able to give us 16:45 grace, because he gives grace only to the humble. And one way he humbles us is by allowing people to criticize you, speak evil of you, backbite against you, and get upset with you, and get angry with you, and yell at you publicly, and 16:59 humiliate you, and all those things. Do you accept that joyfully? Give thanks? Because you say, "Lord, thank you. You saw a tendency in me to be puffed up, and so you allowed people to insult me, and hurt me, and injure me, so that 17:13 I could go down, so you could give me grace. I rejoice in it. I give thanks." How much you have missed, my brothers and sisters. How much you have missed in your life so far of the treasures of God by not giving thanks in everything. 17:32 You can start today. I mean, you can't do anything about the past. If you've lived 50 years not doing this, 50 years have been lost. Don't ask God to give it back to you. You can't get it. You can't get back the year 2010. You 17:46 can't even get back most of the year 2011. That's one thing even Almighty God cannot do. Don't foolishly claim that promise in Joel 2 which says, "I will restore to you the years that are eaten away." We can live in imaginary claiming verses 18:03 that don't even mean that. It's impossible. Time moves on. God can't give it back to you. He can give you the future, but not the past. It's gone. If you've wasted your life, you've wasted your life. 18:22 What could God give back to the thief on the cross when he got converted just a few moments before he died? He He has to go to heaven and say, "Thank you, Lord, for saving me. I did nothing for you." I'll tell you honestly, I wouldn't like 18:40 to go to heaven like that. I would not like to go to heaven saved on my deathbed and standing before Jesus, discovering what a lot he did for me, and discovering I did nothing in return for him. I tell you honestly, I thank God 19:00 that he's given me a long life after I was converted. And I thank God that he gave me the sense when I was a young man to choose his plan for my life and not my own. I wish you young people will have that sense to believe that God's plan for your life 19:19 is better than yours. And I say to you from my own experience of 52 years as a believer, choose God's way when you're young, and say, "Lord, I make a principle in my life to choose your will and not mine, to 19:39 choose your plan and not mine, and to see that every single thing that can happen in my life is ordained by you if I choose your plan and not mine. That's why I can give thanks. And the thing that the Lord showed me at that time was that if I don't give 19:59 thanks in some situation, I'm at that moment confessing Oh, in this area the devil somehow got control. God Almighty lost control here of the universe, but this for a few seconds the devil got control. No, he never gets control. 20:16 It's impossible. My prayer is our father who is in heaven. Who rules in heaven. There may be a lot of things the devil does, but God makes it all work for good. What's the worst thing the devil ever did on this earth? Killed Jesus Christ. 20:35 Wasn't that the best thing that ever happened? See how God made the worst thing the devil did to become the best thing for the human race. That is an eternal message on the cross. Not just that Christ died for our sins, 20:49 which is one thing true. But that Satan was defeated on the cross. How? The worst thing the devil could do, God turned into the best thing for the human race, teaching me a lesson for my whole life. That anything the devil does to you can 21:03 never be as bad as that. Uh anything the devil does to you, God can turn it to for your good. I have believed that and experienced it for years. That's why I give thanks. I can't give thanks if the devil's messing up my 21:17 life. But I can give thanks that whatever the devil does, God turns for good. That's why I give thanks. Advancement on earth is not the best thing. I remember once when I was in the navy, I got transferred to a small little ship 21:35 which I didn't like to go to. Twice it happened. And both times it turned out to be the very best thing for me. I just did not want to go to that ship. First time when I was just taking my baptism and I wanted to go to an exciting warship and they put 21:54 me on a survey ship which goes to all these uninhabited shores to survey the oceans. Boring. It's the most boring ship you can ever go to and nobody in the navy ever wanted to go there. And I went there. I was sitting alone most of the time. I 22:09 was the only believer on the ship because I was an officer. I had a cabin. And that's where I studied the Bible for 1 year. Oh boy, am I thankful for that today? It was the best thing that happened to me. I got to know the scriptures. 22:24 There's nothing entertaining outside. It was all desert and village. So, I had to sit in my cabin almost for a year. I got to know the word. Another time I went to one of these small ships. It's not exciting to go to a small ship. First of all, you get so 22:40 seasick because the ship tosses about so much. And you know, it's exciting to be on a warship and this was a little minesweeper. And I was tossed about, tossed about and and there I was able to bring somebody to Christ, 22:57 a non-Christian to Christ. Boy, I'm going to see that guy in heaven. I would never have met him if I hadn't gone to that ship. I said, "Lord, your ways are perfect." I remember once I was waiting Um I could tell you numerous stories 23:13 like that. I was waiting for a boat to get to a ship and I missed it. Uh I said, "Lord, what shall I do now?" So, I had to wait for quite some time to get another boat. And while I was standing there, there was another man 23:27 who came along also to take that boat and I led him to the Lord. I said, "Boy, what all things God does." Learn to give thanks in everything. Of course, if your aim in life is to make money and to become famous, then you can't give thanks in everything 23:43 because God's not interested in that. If your interest is to become like Jesus and to lead others to become like Jesus, I can tell you in Jesus' name, you can give thanks for everything without a doubt. Accept God's authority over you. 24:03 That you do what he says and say, "Lord, I want to live prompted by you to move forward." You know, the Roman Centurion discovered that when he spoke to Jesus in Matthew chapter 8. 24:21 Now, this is quite amazing because first of all, this guy is unconverted. I think the Romans worshipped all types of gods, not Jehovah. And this guy had never read the Bible. And here he was 24:39 with this knowledge of the Bible at zero, actual zero. That is the Old Testament those days the Bible. But he was a God-fearing man. Can a man who's never read the Bible be a God-fearing man? Sure. This man was. Another Roman Centurion in Acts 10 was. 24:58 And an angel appeared to him. You think angels appear only to Christians? Cornelius was not a Christian. God has no respect of persons. I'll tell you that. Absolutely no respect of persons. A man can belong to any religion. If he 25:13 seeks God, God will reveal Jesus Christ to him. Sadhu Sundar Singh is one of the classic examples of that. Man who tore the Bible, sought God and found Christ. So, here's one of those people like that. The Bible is such, you know, we 25:27 think that because we are Christians, God has got a special uh we are special favorites of God. Well, not if you do your own will. Not if you're living for money and yourself. You you're certainly not God's favorite. There are a lot of other people who are 25:40 God-fearing and who are seeking God more than a lot of people who call themselves believers sitting in CFC. Sure. And God has got absolutely zero respect for persons or which church you go to or what doctrines you believe. He looks 25:55 at the heart, not at the head. So, this man and uh you see, can you believe that a military man could be a God-fearing person? Here's one in in Acts 10, Cornelius, another military man. First non-Jew to hear the gospel and be 26:10 converted was a military man. See how God chooses the most unlikely people. The first person to see the risen Jesus Christ was a woman. Sorry, brothers. It was a woman. And it was a woman who was a prostitute. Sorry, you holy sisters. God chose a 26:28 converted prostitute to be the first one to see him. Mary Magdalene, a demon-possessed one who had seven demons cast out of her. I tell you God sees into people's hearts and he has a lot of respect for people whom we may not have 26:43 much respect for because they don't have the knowledge of doctrine like we have. And God sees the heart, their humility, their brokenness. Those are the things that God values and he'll value us, too, if we have those same values, not 26:57 because we know the Bible. So, this Roman Centurion, you see his tremendous light which so many Christians don't have. When he comes to Jesus and he asks Jesus to please come and heal my servant lying paralyzed at home. 27:12 There are two areas where I see his tremendous humility and that's the reason why he got this revelation from God. God gives his revelation to the humble. His humility is seen in one this. It's very rare for a Roman military 27:27 captain to care for a Jewish slave who's paralyzed. He I mean, most people say, "Well, get rid of this fellow. He's not even from our race and uh find some other servant who can work. We don't want a paralyzed servant at home. What 27:44 can he do? Just lying in bed the whole day?" This man was not like that. How do you treat your servants? That's a pretty good indication of whether you fear God. When you read something like this, does God speak to you and ask you, "How do you treat your 27:58 servant if she's paralyzed? Get rid of her?" You see why God can choose idol-worshipping Roman military men over sometimes CFC believers who don't treat their servants right. Learn something from these examples. I 28:17 do. Whenever I read the Bible, I put myself in the place of that person and say, "Would I do that? If I had a paralyzed servant woman at home, what would I do? Walk many, many miles, long distance to go to Jesus or get some 28:35 treatment?" I tell you God cares for those who care for those who are lower down than you in society. That's one hum- one part of his humility. The second part of his humility is when Jesus said, "I'll come to your house and 28:53 heal him." And he said, "Oh, no, Lord, I'm not worthy." Verse uh Matthew 8. This is Matthew 8, verse 8. Uh to come into your I'm not worthy for you to come in under my roof. You see his humility? If you met Jesus and Jesus said, 29:10 "I want to come to your home." Would you ever say, "Oh, Lord, uh I'm not worthy that you should come to my house." You always say, "Sure, come. Of course, I'm worthy to have you in my house." That's the difference. God has no respect because you got a 29:26 Christian name. Once you said, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart." He sees whether you live in perpetual humility. Perpetual humility. It's very diff- It's very easy to be humble the first day you come to Christ. Look back to the day the first day you 29:44 came to this church. You were a nobody. Wasn't it easy to be humble those days? Today you're a senior brother, senior sister. And you may not be humble, and that's why you don't get grace to move on. That's why you don't get revelation when 30:01 you read scripture. I never want to be in that place. I say, "Lord, I always want to keep my face in the dust because I want to see you. I want to get grace from you every day. I want revelation, increasing revelation 30:19 as I grow older year by year. Doesn't matter if the physical body becomes weaker. It does become weaker. But the inner man must be getting revelation more and more. Must be like that with you, dear brothers and sisters. 30:35 He says, "I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof, but just say the word from here, from 10 km away, say the word. My servant 10 km away, they will be healed." Can a man have such authority? Can Jesus have such authority that he speaks a 30:51 word here and 10 km away, a sickness goes away? He says the reason, "I'll tell you why I believe this, Lord Jesus. Matthew 8:9, I also am a man under authority. You know, I have noticed through the years that it's pretty easy for a 31:10 military man to recognize another military man. There's something about the bearing of a military man that another military man recognizes. Particularly his respect for authority. If he's a real military man, 31:28 um their respect for authority. I have met air commodores and admirals who um meet me and say, "Call me sir." Because in the military academy and in the navy, I was see I happened to be senior to 31:46 them even though I left it 45 years ago. That's something I said, "Why in the world do you have to call me sir? I was only a lieutenant when I left the navy." It's just their respect for authority. Here's a man, I remember when I went to 31:59 the National Defense Academy to see the academy I grew up in, and the man who was the commandant of the academy, general, I just went to visit my old academy, and he called me sir, and I said, "Watch this." That's something about authority, 32:15 military. Respect for authority. I tell you, Christians have got a lot to learn from military people. Respect for authority, respect for someone older than you, senior to you, one who's walked with the Lord more than 32:35 you. I always have done that. I have tremendous respect for godly men who have walked with God for many years because I know it's not been easy. And this man recognized that that Jesus was a military person, another type of 32:50 military. He didn't know what it was. But there was something he sensed in Jesus. This man's not like other men. He seems to be a man under authority. I don't know what that authority is. But he seems to be there's something 33:03 about his bearing and the way he lives that he doesn't seem to be a man just doing what he likes. He seems to be a man under authority. Can people recognize that in us? He doesn't speak whatever he likes. He thinks before he speaks 33:19 because he's listening to authority. That's what it means to be under God's authority. I also am a man under authority, and and I also have soldiers under me. So when I say to the soldier, "Go," he goes. To another, "Come," he comes 33:32 because when my general tells me, "Go," I go. When he tells me, "Come," I come. And on the parade ground, when I'm told to right turn, I turn right without even waiting 5 seconds. When I say they say, "Turn about," I turn about without 33:45 waiting 1 second. That's authority. Do you know why they do so much of parades in the military? Right from the day you join, you do parades, parades, parades, parades. It's to teach you one thing. When you are told to turn right, you don't ask 34:00 why. If you ever do that, they'll teach you such a lesson that for the next 50 years, you'll never ask why. Sure. I know, I've seen that. I never tried it, but I I saw that with some other people who were a bit slow in turning around. They learned a lesson 34:18 that day they'd never again in their life would they ever do that. Subject to authority, and I tell you, Christians need to learn that. I sometimes wish Christians, all Christians were sent into the military for a few years. 34:30 Cuz they'd learn what it is to be under authority. Immediate obedience. God says, "Go." Go. God says, "Go and ask that person's forgiveness." And you dream and think about it. You can't You're not a man under authority. 34:47 You hurt your wife. Go and ask her forgiveness. Yeah, we'll pray about it. You can't pray about it on the military parade ground. Do you see examples of how we think we are spiritual. Go and return that money that doesn't belong to you. 35:05 Yeah, we want to pray about it. This pray about it is one of the most deceptive religious phrases I've used I've seen people use to basically say, "I don't want to do it." When they say, "I don't want to do it," that sounds unspiritual, so they say, 35:20 "I'll pray about it." And of course, the answer will be no, don't do it. Deception. Don't fool yourself. Be a man under authority, and then you'll have authority. He says, "The reason why this Roman captain had authority was because he 35:34 listened to the general. Then he had such authority. And I tell you, we don't have such authority over evil and sin and the devil because we're not under authority like that. I know how this verse challenged me. We are to walk as Jesus walked, the 35:52 Bible says. That means we are to have authority over evil. We have to authority over Satan. And if I tell Satan, "Go," he goes. He doesn't think about it. You know why when you tell Satan to get out of your house, he says, "I'll think 36:06 about it"? It's because when God tells you to do something, you say, "I'll think about it." God tells you to do something, "I'll pray about it." You tell Satan, "Get out of my house," he says, "I'll pray about it." And he stays there. 36:21 If you're under authority, you'll have authority. If you're not under authority, you won't have authority. And face up to the fact, the reason why evil has such power over many of us is because we refuse to be under authority. 36:37 You want to have authority. This Roman military man who knew less than 1% of what we know of scripture, we talk about new covenant and all this high-sounding stuff, but this guy knew what new covenant was. That is immediate 36:51 obedience. That is new covenant. And so he said, "You just speak the word, and I know it'll go." What What he meant was there's such authority when a man of God speaks a word. You know, even when 37:11 when we share God's word, I don't mean just in a pulpit, but even in ordinary conversation, when we're sharing God's word with others, you know, sitting around or speaking on a telephone or writing an email, 37:26 if you want God to speak to you, God to give authority to your words, be under authority. When I was a very young Christian and I started preaching God's word, this when I was 23 years old or so, this is a word that spoke to my heart in 37:44 1 Samuel chapter 3, verse 19. 1 Samuel 3:19, "Thus Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him. And he did not allow any of his words, the literal word there, if you have a 38:01 margin in your Bible, says fall to the ground. He did not allow any word of his to fall to the ground. And uh God was with him, and he did not allow any word he spoke to fall to the ground. When I read that, 38:21 when I was 23 years old, I said, "Lord, this is what I want. That when I speak, I want you to be with me that my word doesn't fall to the ground. It goes straight like an arrow to the person's heart and convicts him or challenges him or encourages him, 38:39 whatever it is. But it must not fall to the ground. You know, a lot of lot of messages I hear, 80% of it is just falling to the ground. It's boring, waste of time listening. It shouldn't be like that. And the only reason is 38:56 we're not under authority. This Roman centurion recognized it. Lord, you're under authority. So if you speak a word, it won't just fall to the ground. It'll go 10 km and hit somebody and accomplish a result. This is the way you and I are supposed 39:14 to live, my brothers and sisters. This is the way you and I are supposed to live. That our words have authority. And I believe even our children will learn to respect that word when we ourselves live under God's authority. We want our children so much 39:32 to live under our our authority. The Lord says, "Are you under my authority?" Your children must obey instantly, right? You You have to tell them twice. What about you listening to me? How many times do I have to tell you? 39:47 You see how we demand on others what we ourselves don't do. And we'll never have authority. So, to be under God's authority, then we have authority over people. See, John chapter 17. This is a word the Lord really spoke to me about having 40:04 authority over people. What type of authority are we supposed to have over people? John 17. Here's the authority that Jesus had over people. The Lord says in his prayer to the Father, 40:22 "Father, you gave me authority over all flesh to do what? Not to rule over them, but to give eternal life to those whom you have given to me." See, I don't have a responsibility 40:42 for all the believers in the world. I don't even imagine that. Even Jesus said, "Those whom you have given to me." And that was a very small number. You read further in John 17, you find he's talking about 11 people. You know, Jesus spoke to concentric 40:59 circles of different sizes. First, there was the outermost concentric circle of huge crowds of thousands of people. You know, once he fed 5,000 men men alone, maybe 10,000 altogether women and children. That was a huge circle of people he 41:17 spoke God's word to, and he spoke with great compassion and love and authority. And then there was a smaller circle of 70 disciples. Um that was a much smaller circle which obviously with whom he spent much more time. And then inside that was a still smaller 41:34 concentric circle of 11 people. Those are the ones he felt my father has given to me. And I'm going to spend most of my time with these folks. Yeah, he blessed the multitude, healed the sick, and delivered demons and all that. And 41:49 he used 70 disciples to go and preach. But when it came to the 11, it was not just blessing them, it was not just using them. It was leading them to eternal life. That's the greatest. And I see myself also. 42:07 I say God has given me also in the even when I You know, not all called to be preachers, but I'm called to preach in many many different places in many churches, and I always try to recognize my boundary. And um I see myself in three different 42:25 I have three different boundaries, as it were. In some churches and to some people, I would rather say to some people, let's put it like that. To some people, I'm I have the authority of a spiritual father, and I can deal with them just like I dealt with my 42:40 children at home. Love them, encourage them, give my life for them, spank them, correct them, whatever it is. Seeking their good. That's a father. And then in the outer circle I have, it's a circle of people who I have less authority over. There 42:57 I'm like an elder brother. Like my elder son, he couldn't spank and correct his younger brothers. And he didn't attempt it either. But that was But he had He was the older brother. You know, if ever Annie and I left home 43:12 to visit somewhere, even if he was 10 years old, I'd say, "Okay, now you're the head of the house for the next couple of hours till we come back." So, but it was not as a father, it was like an elder brother, limited. And so some places I go to and with some 43:24 people, I say, "I'm not a father to you folks, and I don't think you want me to be one. Um I'll be like an elder brother. Give you a little guidance once in a while. If you want me, if you ask me for advice, I'll give it to you." 43:37 And then there's a wider circle. Some churches I go to, I'm just a visiting speaker. You know, like a consultant pediatrician. You take your doctor You take your child to the doctor, he gives you some advice, and he doesn't keep watching over your child 43:52 to see whether you bring him up properly or not. And many churches I go to, it's like that. I remember once when I was in the United States, somebody asked me, he said, "Brother Zac, sometimes I When I hear you on YouTube, I don't know where you're 44:07 speaking. Um here there are different places, they all come together on YouTube, and um but I notice that some places you hit really hard, especially in the conferences in Bangalore, and you come here to these churches here, and 44:23 you speak so gently and softly. Why is it like that?" I said, "Those are my children. These people are not. And I just recognize my boundary." So, they said, "I was amazed to hear this. Brother Zac, we want to hear those 44:39 hard-hitting messages. So, how to detect that on YouTube? Please tell us the color of the curtain in CFC so that we can find out which are the messages you preach in CFC, cuz those are the ones we want to hear." I was amazed at the passion these some 44:56 of those folks have to hear a hard-hitting message. So, Jesus said, "You've given me certain people, and I want to give them eternal life." Do you know what Jesus called Judas Iscariot, who was not in the circle of 11? 45:16 When he came to betray him, do you know the word he used? In the Garden of Gethsemane? Friend. Friend. "Have you come to betray the Son of Man?" Do you know the word that Jesus used to for Peter, his leading disciple, when 45:32 Peter said, "Don't go to the cross"? Hm? Satan. How do you call the leader Satan? And the betrayer a friend. You know, in one of the Psalms, David says, 45:49 "Let the righteous smite me. It'll be like anointing oil upon my head." And Jesus asked the disciples, "Do you want to go away?" Simon Peter, who was called Satan, said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? These are the words of 46:08 eternal life. Lord, that rebuke you gave me, called me Satan, it saved my soul." Those are the words of eternal life. Jesus also knew his boundary. He called the Pharisees vipers. 46:28 Think that was bad? He called Peter Satan. He called Judas friend. He knew that some people couldn't stand it. Some people couldn't stand it. So, he wouldn't 46:46 He knew, "What shall I say? With Peter, I can I know I need to deal with him hard because he's got to be a leader. But Judas Iscariot, even at the last minute, I hope he will repent. That's why I called him friend. 47:03 But the guy's heart was so hard, he wouldn't repent. Instead of confessing to Jesus, he went and confessed to the priests. Teaching us never confess your sin to a priest. Confess it to Jesus. Okay, Jesus was given authority to lead 47:23 people to eternal life. You know, that's the only authority God has given us. When we are under God's authority, God gives us authority over people. For what? Why has he given you authority as a father and mother over children? 47:36 Not to spank them and hit them and rebuke them and correct them 1,000 times and encourage them just once. That's not the way. To lead them to eternal life. And you have to ask yourself, everything that you do to your children, is the ultimate 47:52 goal to lead them to eternal life? Yes, we need to correct them, we need to discipline them, but we also need to instruct them in the way of the Lord. If you don't instruct them in the way of the Lord, all your correction and 48:01 discipline will not lead them to eternal life. You need to instruct them by your example and by your life and the values they see in your life. That's a million times more important than just spanking them and disciplining them. Any idiot 48:16 can spank his children. But only a godly man can be an example to his children and give them instruction by his life and by his words on the ways of God. The Bible says, "Fathers, bring up your children in the instruction and 48:29 discipline of the Lord." You know that verse? It says that in Ephesians in chapter 6. It's very important, and the responsibility is given primarily to fathers. Bring them up. Both discipline and instruction, both are necessary. 48:44 Discipline alone won't do the job. So, the purpose of all discipline and instruction is to lead them to eternal life. I see, why has God given me authority as an elder in a church or to work with many elders? It's nothing to boast about. 49:00 It's to lead them to eternal life. And if I'm not leading them to eternal life, I have failed. If I seek to say things just to please people, I have failed because my job is to lead them to eternal life. Eternal life is the life of God. 49:15 It's not as I as you've often heard me say, it's not living forever because those who go to hell also live forever. They don't have eternal life. Eternal life is not a life that has no ending, but a life that had no beginning and no 49:26 ending. Eternity means no beginning, no end. Only one person has eternal life, and that's God. But I can have that life. If I open myself I can to God, I can have that life. And my job is to lead other people to that life. And eternal life is something 49:45 I've got to lay hold of more and more and more and more. It says that in 1 Timothy in chapter 6. 1 Timothy 6, it says Paul tells Timothy, who has already been a believer 25 years and a wholehearted believer, he says to him in 1 Timothy in chapter 50:00 6, verse 12, take hold of eternal life. Fight the good fight of faith in order to take hold of eternal life. It's not easy to keep a hold of eternal life. You got to fight. Everything in the world and the flesh and the devil is trying to get you to 50:17 loosen your grip on eternal life. You got to fight in faith in order to take hold of eternal life. It's not enough to say, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart." 30 years ago. You got to fight the good fight of faith every day to take hold of 50:30 eternal life. And I need to lead people to take hold of eternal life. You've given me authority. What is the authority God has given us over others? Not to rule over them. Not to domineer over them. Not even over our children. Not definitely not over a 50:49 church. I feel sorry for elders. And I've seen some of them who think that because they are elders they can domineer over others. Thank God we don't have such people here. But there are churches where elders and pastors are 51:02 just domineer over others and the way they collect money from people to live in grand style themselves. That is a way of domineering. It's evil. Can you imagine Jesus collecting money from poor people to live in grand style 51:14 himself and to buy a grand chariot for him to go riding on horses when they themselves are walking? Can you believe that? Can you imagine preachers collecting money from others to build grand homes and um expensive cars and planes? That's not That's the 51:29 devil. That's not authority. God has given gave Jesus authority to give people eternal life, not to collect money from them. That's why I'm so angry like Jesus was in the temple against these people who make money in the name of religion. 51:48 Jesus was angry in the times we need to be angry, too. If you're not angry, you're not like Christ. When you When it comes to such matters. The place where we should not be angry is where people spit on you or insult you. There 52:00 you must love them. But when the name of the Lord is dishonored and you're not angry, you watch these television evangelists and you can sit coolly and watch them without getting angry, you're not like Christ. I'll tell you to your face, 52:09 you're not like Jesus. You're enjoying them? You're enjoying these fellows however clever they may speak? People go to listen to them, big platforms and stadiums, and you enjoy listening to them because you say the message is so good. What about their 52:22 spirit collecting money from poor people? You should be driving them out of the temple. But you're not angry because you're not like Jesus. You're angry when somebody spits on you. Dear brothers and sisters, we got it all 52:35 wrong. We haven't studied the life of Jesus sufficiently. He had authority over people only to lead them to eternal life. And he was angry If he was angry with people who were making money in the name of religion and chasing them out, 52:47 it was to lead them to eternal life. He said, "This is not the way. This is not what you should do in the house of God." We are also can have When you're under the authority of God, you will be given authority to lead other people to 53:02 eternal life. And then, everything we do, we speak and with every money one God's given us authority, our ultimate aim is must ask ourselves, "Am I doing this to lead them to eternal life? Am I correcting them, my children or 53:18 people who I have authority over to lead them to eternal life? If not, I need to work out my own salvation." Then thirdly, I have authority over Satan. Now, the reason why I spent most of the time on uh being under God's 53:32 authority because that's the secret of everything. The other things sort of come automatically. Authority over Satan. Like Jesus said, "I give you authority Luke 10:19 to tread on serpents and scorpions." Tread on them. 53:49 Do you have faith that the devil Do you have authority over Satan that if he if he tries to interfere in your life or your home or your church, you can speak the word and he will go? Jesus spoke the word and the devil never 54:02 thought twice. I've seen a lot of pastors yelling and screaming at demon-possessed people, praying for hours and hours and hours and pulling their hair and all types of stupid things. I remember one somebody invited me here 54:16 in Bangalore to pray for some woman who was demon-possessed. And when I went there, some other Pentecostal guy had got there ahead of me and pulling the woman's hair and yelling. So, I told this brother, I said, "I don't know who's got the demon 54:29 here. Is it this woman or is it this other guy? So, you better get rid of him first and that you can do physically and then we can cast out the demon." One word, the demon left the woman and she accepted Christ. Jesus 54:45 conducted himself with such dignity. And as a servant of God, there must be dignity. You don't have to yell at Satan. I remember hearing a Bible school here in Bangalore seminary years ago, about 35 years ago, I was asked to speak there 55:04 once. And at the end of my message, as I said, "Let's pray." Way at the back, one fellow got up and started dancing. I knew it was a demon. And I thought, "Now, if I say something aloud, all these fellows will get distracted in the message they just 55:22 heard." So, I turned away from the mic and I turned around and whispered, "Sit down in Jesus' name." He went and sat down. He couldn't hear me. The fellow People on the platform couldn't hear me. That's the day I learned one thing, that 55:39 the devil's got good hearing. You don't have to yell. You never have to yell. Children who don't drink eat their food, you sometimes have to yell at them sitting 2 ft away because even though they sit 2 ft away, their mind they're 55:54 miles away. But the devil's everywhere. He can hear you very well. Whisper. Authority. Very important to have authority over Satan. Because we are under the authority of God. I know that it was a demon because some 6 months later, I got this letter from 56:10 some other country saying, "Brother Zach, I'm the one who was in that Bible seminary that day you asked me to sit down." How in the world did he hear that word? That's what convinced me when I got that letter. He said, "You asked me to sit 56:25 down." He heard it. The demon heard it. Dear brothers and sisters, every one of us is supposed to live on earth without any fear of Satan. No witchcraft can touch a child of God who's under God's authority. Nobody can touch us. 56:41 This is how we are supposed to live at least from now. What shall I say? Live under the authority of God first. Forget all these other things. Seek with all of your heart. 90% That is the thing. That's why I spent 90% of this message speaking on that. 57:01 Live under the authority of God saying, "Lord, I never want to do my own will. I want to do your will in everything, big or small, the way I spend my time, the way I spend my money, the way I do everything. I want to do your will. 57:14 Help me. And then I know when I have to deal with people, help me to remember that as a man under authority, my only calling is to lead these people to eternal life. I have no other authority, even over my children. Those children are individuals whom God 57:33 created. I did not create them. No, you fathers and mothers and remember that God created them. They're a gift of God. So, the only authority God's given you over them is to lead them to eternal life with correction, discipline, 57:47 encouragement, uh in teaching, everything. Lead them to eternal life. And if we fail there, we have been total failures as parents. Any child of yours whom you have not even tried, sought, prayed to lead to eternal life, you have 58:02 failed as a parent. Repent now and seek God. And you got to keep on praying for them. I mean, I My wife and I pray for our children. We prayed for them this morning. We pray every day. We pray for our grandchildren now. We must 58:13 pray every day for our children. If you have I mean, this is because we can't do it. We say, "Lord, we're helpless. Lead them to eternal life. Lead them to godliness. Fill them with the Holy Spirit. Help them to live for you." 58:25 Do your children fail because you don't pray for them? God's given you eternal life in order that you might lead others to eternal life. And the people you contact in the church, lead them to eternal life. Get Help them to get rid of their gossiping 58:38 by not listening to their gossip. Sometimes people would come and tell me, "Uh in my house, Brother Zach, you know, this this this this is about this person." "Oh, really?" I said, "Let me just hang on. Let me just call him and 58:48 I'll tell him that you told me to." "No, no, no, no, don't tell him. Don't tell him." I said, "I always will tell." Definitely, you tell me something about somebody, I'll go and tell that person. No gossiper has come to my house after 58:58 that. You want to get rid of gossipers? Follow that technique. And authority over Satan. The world is ruled by the devil. But we are the ones who got authority. Other people may have money. They uh may have political position. They may be 59:14 rich people. They don't have authority over Satan. The only people on earth who have authority over Satan are those who live under the authority of God. And Satan's scared of them. And Satan must be scared of you and me. 59:30 Let's pray. Will you pray one prayer that what God has spoken to you today will not be forgotten? That it will sink deep and produce fruit 59:49 in your heart. Pray that prayer. Lord, don't let this word be taken away from me. I bow before you. Help us, Lord, to live as those who will go when you tell us to 1:00:08 go, come when you tell us to come, do this when you tell us to do this, and to concentrate more on that than on the authority we have over people or or over the devil. Lord, help us. We pray that we don't deceive ourselves in this one earthly 1:00:24 life. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
