0:01 So, when we think of our lives as young people, the first thing, just like building a house, is checking the foundation. If you 0:21 don't have a good foundation, you're going to have problems later on in your life. It's like if there's a crack on the 10th floor or something, um 0:42 problem is with the foundation. You can go along for a number of years, then have problems. This because right at the beginning, you didn't make sure whether 0:58 the your foundation was right. So, Jesus spoke a parable in relation to this in Mark chapter 4 about this parable of the sower 1:16 and the seed. And you know the four types of ground. Perhaps we should look at it in Luke chapter 8, the same parable. Sometimes you find a little extra in some other 1:35 place. Okay, Luke chapter 8. It was the story of the sower and the seed in verse 5 onwards. There was seed that fell on rocky soil. Uh sorry, first of all, the seed fell on 1:53 the road and the birds of the air ate it up, verse five. There, that's the case of a person who listens to God's word and doesn't take it seriously. They completely forget about it. We can say it's a picture of those who 2:09 read the Bible and don't meditate on it. That's category number one. If you read the Bible and you don't meditate on what you have read, you're like the seed came into your heart and before the day is over, it's all gone. The 2:26 birds have eaten it away. And that is the condition of lots and lots of young people. They may go through the ritual of reading and satisfy their conscience that they read the word, but it accomplishes nothing because it's only on the surface and 2:44 it's lying there. The birds come and take it away. If you meditate, it goes in. So, it's better to read one verse and meditate on it for 15 minutes than to read a whole chapter in 15 3:01 minutes and not meditate on it. That's a simple principle. You'll never you know, you can have seed sown every day on your heart and it's all gone. And that's how it is with many, many people. And the second 3:17 uh ground is where it fell on rocky soil. In verse 13, that's described as they hear the word, receive it with joy, and they have no firm root. That means immediately they are excited about what they hear, 3:37 but they don't allow it to sink down. And that means they don't dig up, make sure it's gone inside to get rid of things in their life which the word of God shows is wrong. They don't repent. Um it's repentance that digs up 3:55 the ground and gets rid of things that um we need to remove from our lives. So, rocky soil is no depth not much depth of earth, superficial. And I feel a lot of young people are like that. Their conversion is very 4:15 superficial. Particularly, you know, you come to CFC and uh some people come to CFC because their parents are in CFC. Superficial could be very superficial. I mean, their parents believe something, so they believe it. They're not personally convicted about 4:34 it. It's not gone deep. Uh some people come to CFC because they want to marry some girl here. You think they'll be converted? They are the number one candidates for hell. So, there are a lot of people like that who come I mean, I'm not fooled by such 4:53 people. I can see through them straight away. But, there are various reasons why young people come to the church. And um they they can appear to be very interested. But, there's no seriousness in their life in their daily life and walk. 5:09 They're not seeking God. They're seeking something else. So, there's no depth there. And then, other seed is uh other seed fell and grew, but the thorns came and choked it out, it says in verse seven. 5:28 And the thorns are, you know, the the worries and verse 14, riches and pleasures, which choke the fruit. Worries, riches, pleasures. Verse 14. There are many worries and riches and 5:50 pleasures in the world and they can you you can can be quite sincere, but it can choke out these things. But then the good seed, it says in verse 15, uh that which heard the word and in an honest and good heart 6:09 held it fast and bear fruit with perseverance. So, let me say a few things about that verse, Luke 8:15. The first thing is honesty. God loves honest people. Those who 6:27 are totally 100% honest. And if there's one quality I would encourage all of you young people to develop, it's honesty. Don't ever pretend. 6:43 That's the easiest way to go to hell or to backslide and destroy your life. To be dishonest. Be honest with God. And when we're honest with God, we are we don't pretend before people. 7:02 The more you pretend before people, the more you're destroying yourself. And there are people like that in our church and CFC. 99% of people can't see that. I can look at a person's eyes 7:26 and tell you whether a guy is a crook or whether he's straightforward. You can't hide it. There's a lot of things in your eyes. Adultery is in your eyes. If you've watched enough pornography in your life, it's in your eyes or it's 7:44 there. You may say what you like, but adultery is in your eyes and God-fearing person can see it. If you're basically a proud person, that pride is in your eyes. And a God-fearing person who walks with God can see it. He may not embarrass you 8:01 by telling you, but he can see it. And um if you're a hypocrite, pretending, that's also in your eyes. So, I want to encourage you. Be honest with God. Don't pretend. Hate it. 8:19 Must hate pretense. The only way to get rid of pretense is by hating it. You know, like children play with snakes because they think snakes are not dangerous. Cuz snakes are very attractive. They and they can sting the child and kill it. 8:35 Hypocrisy is one of the worst snakes that can destroy you and kill you. It's better to be known. I appreciate people who are straightforward and honest. It doesn't matter what they say. If somebody says, "Brother Zach, I don't 8:51 believe in God at all." I love such a child, to tell you honestly, because he's not trying to impress me. How can he impress me by saying I don't believe in God? But I tell you, I have more hope for that person. Cuz he's not pretending. 9:07 He says, "I don't believe in God." Or somebody who comes and says, "You know, I don't know whether the Bible is God's word." I have tremendous respect for such a person. He's not pretending. He's honest. And there's great hope that such a 9:22 person can develop to a wonderful life. And you ask yourself, number one, that's the first thing he said about the good seed. The good seed, verse 15. As the hear the word in an honest and good heart. Honest heart is a good 9:40 heart. It may have many shortcomings, but it's honesty is the number one thing. Maybe you will lose some of the reputation you have built up so far as a very spiritual person. When you become honest, that'll be good 9:59 for you. I'll tell you something when people think less of you, that's better for you. Then when people think more of you. When people think more of you, you're in great danger. Cuz it's not true. You're giving people the impression that 10:17 you're someone that you got so much spiritual wealth when you don't have it. That is hypocrisy. It's better they think you got less rather than think that you have more. I mean in worldly things uh 10:35 we're all like that. If you got a million rupees in your bank account, you don't want anybody to know that, right? You you want people to think you only have 500,000 rupees in my bank account. Because otherwise the thieves will come 10:51 after you. So you prefer that people think you have less and the world is full of rich people who always pretend to be poor. I wish we were like that spiritually. Where we have tremendous wealth inside, but don't try to 11:09 show off any of that. You know, don't you think it's uh is repulsive when you meet a rich man who's always trying to show off how rich he is? It's exactly equally repulsive when people try to 11:28 pretend to be spiritual when you can see that they're not. When they try to use spiritual language. And They destroy themselves. It's true. So If there's one thing I would encourage 11:45 all of you to pursue, it's honesty. It is so important that I don't mind emphasizing it in every area because that is the meaning of walking in the light. To have fellowship with God, 12:03 the first requirement is to know God is light. There is no darkness in him. And if you start your life with pretense You're going to go in the wrong direction. And every year will see you further and further away from God. And maybe that's 12:22 the reason why you've drifted away from God. Some of you, if you're honest, who've been in CFC some years, you may admit that you were closer to the Lord some years ago. How is it you're so far away today? Because you were dishonest. That's all. 12:41 It's not because you were battling some particular sin. All of us are battling sins. But you're not honest. You wanted to pretend and put up a front. And that made you drift further away and away because God hates that. 12:58 The one thing that Jesus condemned more than anything else is hypocrisy. And the reason why we pretend is because from childhood we want to be accepted. And when we want to be accepted, you 13:19 know, like a little child goes to school 5 years old He's going from the protective atmosphere of his home to a school. Everybody is against him unless you do certain things that'll make you popular. He begins to do those things 13:35 to be accepted. That is how they grow up and develop bad habits. You know, other children in school or something, come on, do this. What's what's wrong with this? And that's how a lot of young girls start dressing like all those worldly people in their school 13:54 or college because they want acceptance. It's a tremendous desire in young people to be accepted. And in order to be accepted, we put on a front. Pretend. And that destroys us spiritually. 14:13 You may be accepted by your friends, but you won't be accepted by God cuz God there's no darkness in God. He says, "I'll take you as a prostitute, as a murderer, as a drunkard, if you're honest about it. But if you pretend, 14:29 he'll have nothing to do with you. Jesus, you know, Jesus rejected on earth everyone who pretended. The main reason why he rejected the Pharisees, when he called them hypocrites, every time you wrote read the word hypocrite in the gospels, read 14:43 pretender. One who's pretending. The Lord just rejected them. And he rejects them today. But there was a murderer on the cross, he accepted him. There was an adulterous woman who he forgave. 15:02 Woman caught in adultery. There was a Samaritan woman who had been divorced five times. God forgave her. What was the unifying thing about all these people? They were honest. 15:20 They did not pretend. And that's why Jesus said these amazing words to some of the most religious people in his time. See, all of you sitting here, you're quite religious. You look quite religious, all of you. 15:39 I want to give you a word with Jesus spoke to religious people. In Matthew 21, it's a very interesting parable. We It's one of those parables we don't read much or hear about much. It's a parable of two sons. And it's not the story of the prodigal 15:56 son. This is another parable of two sons. A man had two sons, Matthew 21:28. Jesus told two stories of a man who had two sons. One is the story of the prodigal son. This is the other story. And the first one said, he came to the 16:13 first and said said, "Son, go and work today in my vineyard." And he said, "Sure." He said, "I will not go." Now, in this story, is the older son who's the good one. In the other story, it's the younger son who came back. 16:28 Here's the older son says, "I won't go. I'm not going to do it." You know, he's honest. I don't feel like doing it. Sorry. I got other things to do. I'm more interested in the movies than in your Bible and all that. Right? 16:48 But afterwards, he regretted and he went. So, I think it's better to do what God says. The second one, and I think we are in danger of this. He told the second son the same thing, "Go and work in my vineyard." Oh, yes. Praise the 17:07 Lord. I'll do it. You know, like we sing in the songs and raise our hands and clap and all that. That is the second son saying, "I'll do it. I'll do it." But he didn't do it in his daily life. What he said on Sunday, he never did the 17:19 rest of the week. Which of these two did the will of his father? They said the first. Look at the moral of the story. Jesus said, let me paraphrase it. The crooks and the prostitutes 17:37 will get into God's kingdom before you. Anyone who's a pretender, God says to him, the crooks and the thieves and the prostitutes will get into God's kingdom before you bunch of you religious people. It's quite a strong statement to tell 17:55 religious people who go regularly to a meeting that prostitutes and thieves will get into God's kingdom before you. What do prostitutes and thieves have or murderers? Honesty. The prostitutes who are in the red-light district of a city, they don't pretend 18:15 that they're holy. They say, "We are prostitutes." What are you? Prostitute. What's your job? Prostitute. There's hope for you. You come to the church and the Lord says, "What are you?" I'm a holy believer. Really? Those are the ones in danger. 18:37 So, dear brothers and sisters, I'm telling you something very elementary because I find that with a lot of young people, their fundamental problem is they haven't got their foundation right. The seed which is sown is not going into good soil. It's not an 18:54 honest heart. If it's not an honest heart, it's not a good heart. And all the messages you hear can be like seed that is sown and just disappears. Some are excited for a while and then some difficulty crops up because you're a Christian and they fall 19:13 away. So, that is the first thing. And the other thing is in verse 15, Luke 8:15, an honest and a good heart and they hold it fast. How shall I hold the word of God fast? One is by reading God's word often, 19:33 thinking about it often. I hold it fast. How is it the devil can take away our Christianity from us very easily? You know, if I hold something like this very tight, all five fingers, it's a difficult for people to take it out from 19:49 my hand. But I hold it like this with two fingers, and you know, people can snatch it out very easily. So, many of us are holding the Christian life like this. It's a very loose type of holding. You say, "Why how does the 19:59 devil snatch it out of my hand?" You're not holding it fast. What you hear, you're not listening to it and again and meditating on what you hear. And so, you fall away. So, hold it fast, whatever you hear. 20:18 And then the third thing mentioned here is Remember these things, an honest good heart, hold it fast. And they bear fruit with perseverance. That means with patience. They wait and wait and wait. They stick it out until 20:35 the harvest comes. A lot of young people expect overnight results. I accepted the Lord. Why I'm not spiritual? I'll tell you, stick it in for 25 years, you'll be a spiritual person. But you want something happen overnight, 20:50 like press a button and I become spiritual. It doesn't work like that. Even if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, you will not become spiritual overnight. It takes years and years. And if you're not willing to stick it out, 21:04 you're not going to become a spiritual person. So, be honest always. If you fall, say I fell. At least to God. I'm not saying you should publicly confess your sin to anybody. I don't believe that there's any value in that. 21:24 If you hurt somebody by what you did or said, then honesty means going to that person and saying, "I'm sorry for hurting you." That's honesty. Walking in the light. But if your sin was only against God, then you go only to God and say, "God, 21:41 that was a bad thought or a bad attitude I had. Please forgive me. I don't want to go that way again." And if you slip up again, be honest again. Say, "Lord, I'm sorry. I seem to be slipping up in this area again and again. 21:57 Something is wrong. Please help me." Always be honest. Never try to cover up your sin with spiritual language. Because when God sees you're trying to use religious language to do what you want to do, 22:15 he'll allow you to be deceived. So, don't try to use Bible verses and things like that to justify what you want to do. It's very, very dangerous. Be honest and say, "Lord, that was wrong what I did." When you 22:35 when you disobey the word of God, which says, "Honor your father and mother." You can say, "Well, they're wrong. They they don't know the Lord." That may be true. They don't know the Lord. But I say even if your father's a 22:48 drunkard and an atheist, you still have to honor him. You don't have to obey him if he tells you to worship idols or do something against scripture because there's somebody above your father and mother. That's Christ. So, if they tell you to do something 23:04 that Christ has told you not to do, then you obey Christ who's above them. But other than that, I've told even people from non-Christian homes. I say, "When you speak to your parents, never speak rudely. Honor them. They've done a lot for you from 23:22 childhood. And say, 'Dad, I love you and I respect you, Mom, for all the trouble you've taken to bring me up, to educate me, etc. But please don't ask me to do something against my conscience. Please don't ask me to do something which 23:37 will disturb my conscience. I'll ruin myself if I do that. So, please excuse me. Don't ask me to do that again.' Whether it's tell a lie or worship an idol or marry an unbeliever or anything which is against God's word. 23:52 But other than that, we must And our respect for our parents is not shown by obeying them where they tell you to disobey God's word. It's by being respectful in the way we speak to them. Always be respectful in the way. It'll 24:06 go well with you. I'm telling you that. I As far as I remember, I always spoke respectfully to my earthly parents. And I disagreed with them in some things, and I did what the Lord told me to do. But I never I can't remember once speaking to my 24:23 parents rudely. I want to say it's absolutely true what scripture says, "Honor your father and mother, and it'll go well with you." And I have to testify it has gone well with me. And I Let me repeat that. It does not 24:42 mean you obey them. May I You may do something different in a hundred areas, but always speak respectfully to them. Walk in the light, and where where you did something wrong, ask forgiveness from your parents or anybody 25:00 else. And where you sinned against God, ask God to forgive you. And be patient. Think of a child who's joining who's got an ambition to be a PhD and he's just joined kindergarten. He has to wait 20 years 25:20 to get a PhD. And he's patient. Think of all these people who get their master's degrees and PhDs like some of you. How many years it took? You didn't expect to get it in 2 years or 5 years. You worked at it and worked at it and worked at it and worked at it. 25:38 God never encourages or blesses lazy people. Let me tell you that. If you're basically lazy, you will suffer in earthly things and you will suffer in spiritual things. 25:58 Because let me show you a few verses. First of all, in 2 Timothy chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2, we thought about the sower, the farmer sowing the seed. But he didn't just sow the seed and 26:16 forget it. First of all, before he sowed the seed, he dug up his ground, plowed it, then sowed the seed and watered it, took care of it, drove away the birds, etc. All the protected it by fertilizer and 26:34 sprayed it from insects coming and eating it up. 2 Timothy 2, it says here in verse 6, the hard working farmer is the first one to get the share of the crops. 26:52 Think about what I'm saying. God will make it clear to you. Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 6 and 7. He says, "Think about this. The hard-working farmer 27:08 gets a harvest and you don't get it." Cuz you're not working hard. That applies in worldly things and in spiritual things. 27:25 Here's another verse, Jeremiah 29 and verse 13. "You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." That's hard work. Lord, with all my 27:43 heart, I want to seek you and I'll find you. Why is it some people find the Lord and you don't? They are seeking him with all their hearts. Why is it some people know the Bible and you don't? It's just like 28:04 asking in school, "How did that person get 95% in history and you got 25%?" Did he have a different teacher? No. You were playing the fool before the 28:22 examinations. He was working hard. That was the difference. God never blesses those who play the fool. I know a lot of people who have come to me with their exams saying, "Brother Zac, pray for my pray for my exams." First question I 28:39 ask, "Have you studied for it?" You haven't studied for it? 10,000 prayers of mine will not help you. It's like a farmer who never sows a seed or who sleeps during sowing time. He says, "Brother Zac, please pray I'll get a good harvest." I say, "You won't 28:57 get a harvest. You get nothing." For such people I can only say I'll pray that you will fail so that you'll wake up and at least pass next year and learn a lesson for life that God doesn't bless lazy people. He doesn't. 29:13 You seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. God told Adam, "By the sweat of your brow you will earn your bread." That's true in the world. I mean, that's not for Christians. It's for all human beings. 29:30 Adam is not the head of Christians. He's the head of human beings. And it's a law God put for human beings. You want to get some results? You got to perspire, work hard. And that's why you find worldly people work hard and they get some results. 29:45 It's a law which God put into uh into the world from the time of Adam. The same principle applies to us. Now, Christians sometimes think that because I'm a Christian, God will bypass all those laws and even if I don't work hard, he's going to reward 30:01 me. That is a deception. You know, who think that God will help me uh help me to pass even though I didn't study. It's like these people who go for the 30:20 some athletic race and say, "Lord, help me to beat that chap." I tell you, if God helps me even at my age, I'll break the 100 m world record without any problem. But that'll be very unfair of God if he helps me and doesn't help that other guy. 30:39 You think God will do something unfair? You believe that if God helps me, I can do the 100 m in less than 9 seconds? Believe it or not, I can. God who makes the cheetah run so fast can make me run as fast. But he doesn't help like that. Because 30:58 that'll be unfair. It'll be cheating. It'll be like helping somebody, the teacher helping somebody in the examination and not helping the other student. Do you think that's right for a teacher to help one student and not help the 31:12 other one? So, I want to tell you that it's like somebody going these boxers who box with each other, world heavyweight championship and one fellow prays, "God, help me to knock that other fellow out." Imagine if God helps one man to knock 31:26 the fellow in the first few seconds. The fellow will be knocked out, he'll never get up. It doesn't work like that, despite all the stories you hear. I mean, people don't understand that if almighty God helps a person, where what 31:40 hope has anybody else got? So, don't think that you can live as you like and pray, "Oh God." Prayer is a sort of an answer that takes care of all my He'll forgive your sins, that's for sure. But you reap what you sow. That's also God cannot be fooled, it 31:57 says. So, don't fool yourself that prayer will take care of all the things you you're lazy and God will make up for it with prayer. He won't. If you don't work hard, you don't get it. So, uh forgiveness of sins is free. 32:13 But if you want a lot of results in your life, you got to work hard. The same thing applies in the Christian life. You got to work at it and work at it and work at it. You got to spend time meditating on God's word, spend time talking to the 32:24 Lord. That's how you become strong. You look at that uh you know, these pictures outside these gymnasiums, this muscular fellow with muscles bulging all over. You say, "Boy, I wish I had a body like that. You can keep wishing, 32:40 but that guy paid a price to get a body like that. He went regularly, he was disciplined about his eating, and disciplined himself every day to do all those exercises and run. That's how he got that body. It's a law that God put into 32:55 the earth in the time of Adam. By the sweat of your brow, you get your bread. If you want bread from the Bible, it's exactly the same way. By the sweat of your brow, you got to work hard. You got to See those these guys who want win the 33:10 marathon in the Olympics and all. Do you know how 4 years they practice running a marathon every single day? Imagine running 40 km every day. I'm not surprised the guy wins the gold medal in the Olympics. The other lazy guy who eats all the fast 33:25 food and prays that God will help him to win the marathon, he's not going to win. No. It's like if you eat junk food and get sick, or get all types of other problems in your body, don't ask God to heal you. Don't waste your time. 33:43 It's like eating poison and saying God heal me. It's like jumping off the roof of the temple and saying, "Oh Lord, protect me. I claim your promise." He'll forgive you, but I'll tell you this, you'll still reap what you sow. 33:56 I know people who got AIDS through sexually through fooling around sexually. And then they get converted. And they say, "Lord, please heal me of the AIDS." And they don't get healed, I'll tell you that. They get converted, 34:14 they go to heaven. But do you know how they go to heaven? They die of AIDS and go. Because you reap what you sow. If God removed that law of reaping what you sow, it would encourage people to do all types of wrong things. I come to Christ 34:33 God removes all the effects. It doesn't work like that. That's why I want to say what Jesus said about perseverance. See, that word perseverance comes here in Romans chapter 2. I want to encourage you if honesty is 34:52 the first thing you should pursue. Perseverance. Very important. Romans chapter 2. And verse 7. And verse 6. God will render to every person according to his deeds. That's a law. 35:11 You can't change that law. Romans 2 verse 7. To those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality he will give eternal life. Now when somebody 35:32 seeks for eternal life how many Christians will point them to this verse? Brother, you want eternal life? You know which verse everybody points them to? Romans 6:23. The gift of God is eternal life. Just ask brother and you get it. 35:48 It's true. I believe that. Eternal life is a gift of God because I can never deserve it. I can never earn it. I can never say I deserve this. Or I worked and earned it like a salary. It's a gift. But to whom does God give 36:04 it to you? This is also Romans. And so don't jump to chapter 6 before you read chapter 2. You don't read page 6 of a letter before you read page 2. Page 6 amplifies what is written in page 2. It doesn't contradict it. So if it says in Romans 6:23 the gift of 36:21 God is eternal life, it also says in Romans 2 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. Eternal life is the very life of God. I'm not talking about forgiveness of 36:35 sins. You don't have to persevere in doing good for 25 years to get forgiveness of sins. No. You come to Jesus and say, "Lord, I'm a rotten sinner. I take the blame for all my sin." That's important. Don't blame somebody else. I take the 36:50 blame for my sins. Forgive me. Cleanse me. You're forgiven. But that doesn't mean you get the life of God straight away. For that, you have to persevere. To grow in grace. You know, a child can be born and can be 37:10 sick. You know, these teeny weeny children that are born premature, weigh half a kilo. It's you got to put it in the incubator. Is the child dead or alive? It's alive. But it's struggling to live. 37:29 So, the question is I'm not talking about just being born again. I'm talking about healthy children who are growing properly. Just like in physical birth, there are children who are born sickly and small and weak. I want you to be born healthy 37:46 and to grow healthy. And that's why a mother takes and ensures that that child gets good food and milk and allows it to exercise, etc. Running around, etc. It grows healthy. So, 38:03 perseverance, I would urge you, honesty, perseverance, two things that Jesus said in relation to good soil. Make sure that these two things are in your life and don't try to cover up by prayer your lack of persistence. 38:22 I'll show you one more uh word which says in Hebrews in chapters 11, he's a rewarder of those who in the King James version it's a little clearer. Hebrews 11:6. He who comes means he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. 38:41 Who seek him with all their heart. Okay, I want to turn back to Luke chapter 8. I spoke a little bit about this good heart. Let's revise. Luke chapter 8 verse 15. The good soil is first honesty, 39:01 holding it fast, and perseverance. That means you stick at it, stick at it, stick at it like the marathon runner practicing every day. Why does he do it? He does it for an earthly crown. We do it because the results are going 39:19 to be much better. Now, we do it in other areas in our life. For example, if you want a job in a particular field, how hard you work in school and college to acquire abilities in that field so that you get a job. So, we do it in worldly areas. 39:36 I'm I'm just asking you, why can't we follow the same principle in spiritual areas as well? That's all I'm saying. Okay. Now, we want to go to Luke chapter 8 and verse 14. It speaks about the thorns. Now, here are people who are good Christians. 39:54 They receive the word, but as the seed grew up, verse 7, the thorns grew up and choked it. Uh these are people who had a good start in their Christian life. And what are the thorns? 40:12 Verse 14. Worries, riches, pleasures. The cares of this world, it says. That's number one. It can be your job that brings so many cares. Or you get 40:33 married and there's so many earthly cares. Because you want to do well and you want to get a promotion and you want to earn more money. And the anxieties of those things 40:49 can crush out crowd out the word of God. So, be careful that your work or your family never takes the place of God in your life. Those of you who are married and the rest of you who work. 41:07 If your work ever becomes your God, then you got to look to that God for your salvation. And when you have a problem, you got to go to that God, which is your work, to find a solution. Always put What does it mean to seek 41:24 God's kingdom first? It means to put God first in everything. Many people misunderstand that. What does it mean to seek God's kingdom first? Does it mean if I spend 8 hours at work, I have to spend more than 8 hours in prayer and the Bible study? No. 41:42 It means that in every area of my life, God controls my life. That is God's kingdom first, morning till night. My life is governed by See, the word kingdom, this is where the mistake I mean, our misunderstanding comes because 42:01 we misunderstand kingdom. We don't have kingdoms nowadays. We have the rule government of God. So, let me paraphrase it and then you'll understand. Matthew 6:33, seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness. Seek 42:17 the rule of God in your life. That means God should rule you. And be always righteous. Let me paraphrase that Matthew 6:33. Seek for God to rule you 24 hours a day. It's not a question of how much time you 42:35 read the Bible or pray. Seek for God to rule you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That is seeking the kingdom of God or the rule of God first and his righteousness means make sure 24 hours a day everything you do is righteous. 42:53 There's nothing crooked or shady in what you do. Then you understand. A lot of people think seeking the kingdom of God first means I must do full-time work or missionary work or give money for God's work. It's a lot of nonsense. 43:06 The rule of God, that's what it means. So if you're at work for 8 hours or nowadays sometimes 10 hours or 12 hours, make sure that God's ruling. That means you'd never do anything that would be unrighteous in your place of 43:21 work. You'd never do anything to harm another person. You do what is upright. And if you're told to do something unrighteous, say, "I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that." It's troubles my conscience. Two benefits can come from it. 43:44 I know many, many times when I was in the Navy and the senior officers would ask me to do something which violated my conscience, I would stand at attention and say, "Sir, uh my conscience this troubles me. I can't do that. Excuse me, sir." 44:02 And that was a serious thing to say that. But that's what gave me a spiritual backbone and made me strong. So I hope you'll have him I had many experiences like that when I was 23 years old. 22 years old and I hope you will have 44:18 experiences like that when you're 22 23 years old where I was not only willing to lose my job. I was you know in the navy if you disobey you get jailed. It's called a court martial and you get locked up for disobeying senior 44:31 officer's orders. But God protected me from that. You know little things like supposing somebody asked you to drink a little wine. Whiskey. Alcoholic drink. And you don't feel that that's right. Why don't you 44:50 stand up and say no? Why don't you girls decide that you're not going to dress the way other girls dress or all the film stars dress? You're going to be different. I remember once somebody came to me here in CFC and said brother Zac, what shall I tell 45:10 my little girl who tells me daddy look at those young sisters, see how they are dressing. I want to dress like that. What shall I tell them? See how they adorn themselves. I want to be like that. I said tell your daughter 45:30 there are two types of young sisters in CFC. Not only one type. One is the fashionable Bollywood type and the other is more simple and God fearing. So your little girl has a choice which of the two to follow. There were two trees in the garden of 45:49 Eden and God told Adam choose which one you want. In paradise there were two trees to choose from. So what's wrong in CFC having two types of ways of life to choose from. God allows it. He allowed it in 46:07 paradise. He'll allow it in CFC. It doesn't disturb me one bit that some people are worldly and some people are godly. I see there's a choice. Even you young brothers, you you mix up with certain type of young brothers. They're always talking 46:21 worldly stuff. Fine. But there's another type of young brother also in CFC. They won't be talking all that rubbish. But you make a choice like Adam made a choice. Shall I go to the tree of life or the tree of knowledge of good and 46:33 evil? Shall I go to what God wants me to go for or what God has forbidden? And Adam made the wrong choice. If you make the wrong choice, there's no use saying, "Well, some people are in CFC like that." In paradise, there was that 46:44 tree. So, it's perfectly okay. God has put certain people in CFC like that to test you to see which direction you go. If everybody in CFC were godly, there wouldn't be any choice for you. I said, "Thank God that some sisters are 46:59 worldly and some brothers are worldly who watch worldly dirty movies." It's a choice for you. But when you make a choice, don't say somebody in CFC is like that. You made that choice. It's no use Adam saying, "But this was in paradise this tree." So 47:16 what? It was in paradise, but he was not supposed to take part in it. So that doesn't disturb me. I I I I see that God allows He tests people. "What do these people want? I'll put a choice before them. Here are some sisters like this and some sisters like 47:33 this." And he sees which you choose. Here are some brothers like this, some brothers like He sees whom you choose as your company. So, thorns, you can allow thorns to come and choke you. Your work can become your god. 47:52 God must rule you in the principles of your work. And the other thing is uh pleasures. The ple- says in verse 14, pleasures of this life. There are good pleasures and bad pleasures. Just like in paradise, there was a good tree and a bad one. 48:11 Because if they were not, there wouldn't be any choice. Is there pleasure in sin? Does the Bible say, "No, there's no pleasure in sin. You should not go for sin because there's no pleasure in sin." That would be a lie. And you know from your experience, 48:30 there's a lot of pleasure in sin. And do you know the Bible speaks about the pleasures of sin? Let me show you that scripture. Hebrews 11:25. Enjoying the pleasures of sin. Do you know the Bible says you can enjoy the pleasures of sin? 48:49 The Bible is realistic. It doesn't say that there is no pleasure in sin. There is pleasure in sin, but it says the passing pleasure of sin. That's the point. It's passing. 49:06 Think of all the pleasures of sin that you have enjoyed in the past and maybe all of you have enjoyed something or the other. A little pleasure you got out of something you knew Christ would not do. Something you knew that 49:26 you would not even do in the presence of another believer. Yes, you got some pleasure out of it. The Bible says that. But let me ask you, for how many minutes did you get that pleasure or perhaps seconds? For how many seconds did you get that 49:44 pleasure? Maximum? Not more than three or four minutes. Every pleasure of sin is like that. And that's where the devil fools you. Take four minutes of pleasure and spend 50:04 eternity with me, Satan says. He says, "Sure." Take four minutes of pleasure and spend eternity with me. And Jesus says, "Deny yourself. Spend eternity with me." The passing pleasures of sin. The Bible 50:23 doesn't say there are no pleasures. The Bible doesn't say you can't enjoy it. The expression here is enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Moses refused it. He had a choice. God put Moses in Pharaoh's palace where there was a choice. The passing 50:41 pleasures of sin or I choose to follow the Lord. Yeah, I choose to follow the Lord. Then I want to say to you young people, it'll always be a choice for you. But and sex is the strongest desire. The area where you will have to make a 50:59 choice more than in any other area of pleasure in your life. There's tremendous pleasure in sex. And God It's God who created it. And the devil knows there's great pleasure in it. And he knows that 51:18 there's only one right way to enjoy it, and that's in marriage. And it's right in marriage. It's always wrong outside of marriage. And I want to encourage you to be very careful in this area. I know it's a battle cuz I was young like you. 51:36 I was not different from you. It's a battle. It's a battle. It's a battle. You decide I'm going to fight that battle. I'm never going to give up. If the giant doesn't fall like David threw one stone. Well, I've got 25,000 stones ready to 51:52 make sure that that giant is going to fall. I'm going to fight him and fight him and fight him till he has fallen and I've cut off his head. You see there's a natural attraction between boys and girls in this area. It's natural. It sort of arises when 52:12 you're 13, 14 years old. And if you don't control it, you're going to destroy yourself. I might as well tell you, I can't stop you from destroying yourself. I can only warn you. I've used this example how I remember in the days when I was a student in physics 52:28 laboratory, I would try and keep a north-south magnet. Try and see how close can I hold it without it touching. And if it's a powerful magnet, you try. Now all of a sudden, I don't want it to touch, but it touched. I'm trying to keep this north-south 52:46 magnet very close. No, no, no, I'm strong enough. I'm strong enough. No, no, no, no. Then then suddenly it touched and I pulled it apart. Let me see if I can bring it How close can I bring it without touching? That's the type of foolishness 53:01 that a lot of young people try and try to get close to the opposite sex. I know, I won't touch. And it not only goes to touching, it goes to something much worse than that. Who are you destroying? Yourself. 53:19 You're destroying a happy marriage. You're going to have to live with the regret all your life for the sake of 5 minutes or 2 minutes of pleasure. Forget eternity. What about this earth? And the girl has got a lot more to lose 53:40 than a boy. That's why I'm I want to warn you girls, be careful of boys who try to attract you. "We are not ignorant of Satan's schemes." Paul said. 53:57 I want you girls to be not ignorant of boys' schemes. You know how a boy will try to attract you? I'll reveal the secrets. First of all, 54:15 by praising you. "Oh, sister, you're so pretty. You're so pretty. God gave you such beautiful features. There's something divine about you." You're already ready to be knocked out 54:34 now. Praise you and "Ah, really? You did that? That's fantastic. How did you do that? You sing so well." What are the other words? Words like that, anyway. That's tactic number one. 54:54 And then, to complete the job, is tactic number two. "You know, my parents don't understand me. They trouble me so much at home. My boss harasses me day and night. 55:11 I have this sickness I'm stuck with. I have this problem, this problem. I'm persecuted, misunderstood at home." And this girl says, "Poor thing." And a little more of this sob story, I call it sob stories. All lies, by the 55:29 way. And finally, she's fallen. And discovers later on he's exploited her, probably robbed her of her virginity, and says, "Goodbye." And goes and finds some other 55:47 virgin to marry because he doesn't want you anymore. How stupid are you going to be? How stupid are you going to be? Boys are like that. And to boys I say, "Beware of those girls who 56:07 have flirtatious eyes, toss their hair in a certain way, and you get all taken up, and you know, walk like fairies, and with their eyes, they speak so nicely, 56:24 and joke, and and you're at work, and you think you're the most handsome guy in town who she is falling for. She's just a flirtatious devil. She may even be married. Be careful. 56:43 God didn't create you to ruin your life like that. There are numerous cases. Do you know how many emails I get from young girls and young men who have messed up their life in just a few minutes, 57:02 and they live with lifetime of regret. The passing pleasures of sin. If you keep polluting your mind with pornography, pornography, pornography, pornography, I'll tell you one thing. You won't have a very happy sexual life 57:17 in marriage whenever you do get married. You'll be an addict. You think a drug addict can get rid of his addiction when he gets married? No. You think a person who's out drinking alcohol, alcohol, alcohol as young person will get rid of that when he gets 57:32 married? No. And you think you can get rid of your pornography addiction when you get married? The answer is no. You ask any married person who was a pornography addict when he was young. He's a pornography addict even after 57:48 marriage. And many of those marriages end in divorce. And they have children who see their father watching all this. You get children who produce you produce children who who are pornography addicts. I can only warn you. Even almighty God 58:06 can only warn you. God will not stop you from watching pornography and the proof of that is he does not even stop people from going to hell. Do you know how many thousands of people died yesterday in the world who went to hell? 58:21 God did not stop any of them. He said, "Go. I did everything I can to stop you, but I sent my son to die for your sins. You don't want it. Go." And these dirty movies with 58:41 3-second sex scene or these seductive provocative dresses and dances that there are in all these movies. You think they have no effect on your mind? They have tremendous effect on your mind. 58:59 Because 20 years later you will not remember the story in that movie. You'll remember that 5-second sex scene. Believe it or not. That shows what a like a magnet, what latches onto your mind. 59:16 The pleasures of sin. What are you supposed to do? Fight it. Fight it. You'll There's no way to overcome it. Don't think just because you're filled with the Holy Spirit you're going to have you have the power. Now, use that power. 59:34 God's not going to help you to fight it. He rather he's not going to fight it for you. He'll help you to fight it. When the Bible says resist the devil, how can you say, "Oh Lord, please resist the devil for me?" The Lord says in James 4:7, "You resist 59:50 the devil." Or it says God will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you can oh endure it and overcome it. If the way of escape is there and you don't take 1:00:04 it, what can he do? So, I can only warn you, be careful because these are days of like the days of Noah, tremendous amount of sexual evil. I said you young girls, don't let any boy come in with his nice words seduce you and cheat 1:00:23 you and fool you. And you boys be careful about the girls at your place of work. They're waiting to latch on to somebody for to get married to, find security. 1:00:43 Always make sure that you know what the other person is like, the person's really got an interest in godliness. Don't discover that after getting married that this person really doesn't have an interest in godliness, just fooled me. 1:01:00 It's very, very important if you want to be make you know, I was a pretty wholehearted Christian even before I when I was in the Navy, but I was so scared when it came to the matter of marriage that I said, "Lord, 1:01:19 I don't know. I'm 26, 27 years old. I'm weak. Recognize your weakness. I said to that little Lord, I said, "Lord, I'm weak. I don't know I'm not married. I'm single. I don't know whether people have got their eyes on me and then in a moment of weakness, 1:01:34 Lord, I may say yes to some pretty girl and that ruin my whole life. I don't want to do that. I said, "Lord, I'm weak. I don't know how many times I prayed." I said, "Lord, I'm weak. 1:01:52 I don't believe I'm strong. I'm weak. And in a moment of weakness, I may say yes to the wrong girl and end up with a lifetime of suffering and regret and sorrow and a mess 1:02:11 and hell on earth. I don't want that. So, I said, "Lord, please, if you see me taking such a stupid decision, and if you never if I've said yes, even on the wedding day, I actually prayed like this, send an earthquake into the middle of my wedding 1:02:31 so that the wedding is broken up because I'm so scared." And I was a wholehearted Christian and I was scared. I'm surprised at so many young boys and girls who are not half as wholehearted who 1:02:50 seem to be so careless. Walk into the lion's den and get eaten up by the lions. I'm surprised. It's because you don't see your weakness. You don't realize how weak you are. And be careful also, I want to say, when 1:03:10 you're when you very eagerly wanted to marry somebody. This is the other problem I've seen. I've seen it happen again and again and again in my life. Some boy or girl, usually a girl, they were eagerly wanting to marry someone. 1:03:29 And maybe that person even gave you ideas that he'll marry you. And he went and married somebody else. And you get so disappointed and frustrated, inwardly angry with that person, that the next guy who comes to you, he may be a stupid idiot, but he comes to 1:03:49 you and says, "Oh, you're so sweet. You're so divine. And I've also suffered like you." You marry him and spend your lifetime in regret. That's what I call marrying on the rebound. On the rebound because you threw the ball at the wall, it 1:04:03 didn't work, it came back. And then I marry the first person who comes your comes your way. I've seen that happen again and again and again. That's I tell people, "Listen, if you had a disappointment with someone you longed to get married 1:04:17 to, and the person married somebody else, you should not even think about marriage for a few months. Because you're in danger of latching onto the very next person who comes. And that person may be a hundred times worse than every other 1:04:32 person you considered. Completely unsuitable for you. See, it's not enough that you marry a believer. You marry someone who is at your level. Doesn't have to be highly spiritual, but at your level who's got the same goals 1:04:47 and desires and and there's nothing wrong in considering, you know, it says, "Don't be unequally yoked." That means first of all, we don't make sure that the yoke is equal spiritually. Um is the person born again, got the same 1:05:05 desires, want to live for the Lord like me? And not only spiritual, man is spirit, soul, and body. So, see if there's some equality in intellectually, emotionally, you know, economically, socially, is there equality? 1:05:24 Just like we look for age equality. You don't marry somebody 25 years older than you or 25 years younger than you. We look for equality in many areas. So, equality uh spiritually first of all, and then socially, educationally, economically, 1:05:40 and physically. I tell I ask a boy when he's considering a girl, "Are you attracted to her?" You may think that's a worldly question. It's not. By By attracted, I don't mean just 1:05:58 physically. Are you attracted physically also, but not only physically. Something like I would use percentage, 50 30 20. 50% spiritual, 30% mind, economic, social, cultural similarity, and 20% physical. 1:06:18 That's also important. So, I You put all the The thing is the worldly people only go for money and looks. But we say 50% is this person spiritually minded. But not only that, there's another 50% we have to consider socially, economically, 1:06:35 culturally, 30%, and then 20% physical. Are you attracted? You're going to see that girl's face every day for the rest of your life. And you You got to be attracted. And to girls I say this, "Can you look up to this man 1:06:55 to be your leader for the rest of your life?" He doesn't have to be a mighty spiritual man of God or anything, but can you look up to him as someone who can be your leader? Not, "Well, the Bible says I've got to submit to my husband, so I 1:07:14 submit. It's It's like the man who was asked by a marriage counselor who are having difficulty in their marriage, "Do you love your wife?" He says, "Yes, the Bible says love your enemies. I love my wife with all my heart." 1:07:30 What type of love is that? You know, I don't respect this man at all, but the Bible says submit to your husband. Okay, I submit. It's not a very happy marriage. You can't do it if you're already married, but you can think about it before you get married. 1:07:44 Can I look up to this man? Think about that. As I said, he doesn't have to be a mighty man of God, but someone you can say, "Hey, I like to go along with this person walking with Jesus." And you must trust that God will lead 1:08:00 you to the right person. He can bring somebody from the other end of the world to marry you despite all the You may think I've got a lot of handicaps. It doesn't matter. God can bring the right person to you. And if it is the right person, all your 1:08:14 life you anybody else you meet, never wish that you married anybody else. You know, God can lead you like that, and I wish that for all of you. I'll tell you honestly before God, I've been married 44 years. I can stand before God and say, "I've seen thousands 1:08:33 of women. I never wanted to marry anybody other than the one I married. I never found anyone more suited for me than Annie. Uh who chose her? God chose her for me. And God 1:08:50 will choose the right person for you. Maybe if you love him, if you have the rule of God upon your life, you're desperate that you don't want to make a mistake, God will lead you and guide you at the right time. It's very important. 1:09:04 Because you can live a very happy life. Maybe I have not watched all the movies you guys have watched and seen all those interesting stories and all those action things like Mission Impossible and all that type of stuff, but I've had a very 1:09:17 happy life. Even though I didn't see all that stuff. I'll tell you I've had a happy life. What did I lose by not seeing all those fantastic action movies? Thrill you for a while etc. etc. Think of it long term. Think of it long 1:09:35 term. Think of everything. Is this just a temporary pleasure? Am I losing something else? Am I saying to God, Lord, I have 3 hours to watch this useless movie, 1:09:55 but please forgive me if I spend only 2 minutes reading your word. I think I'd have been ashamed of myself in my younger days if I said to God, I have time. I have 3 hours to watch some useless movie, but I have only 5 minutes 1:10:09 to read your word. You think you're a Christian? It's like you're telling your wife, if you're married, "Listen, I want to spend 3 hours with this other woman, but I'll come and spend 5 minutes with you." What sort of marriage would that be? 1:10:27 The world and God are poles apart. Just make sure you make the best of your life. You have only one life. Christ is coming soon. Make sure you you live for God and be wise. Boys and girls, young men and women, be wise. Trust God to give you the right person 1:10:47 at the right time. Don't try and go and grab somebody. Say, "I better grab her or grab him before somebody else gets him or grabs him." I I tell people if you honor God, you can be sure of one thing. I believed this when I was young. I was 1:11:00 26 years old. I had many disqualifications. I had given up my job in the Navy. I was earning a huge salary in the Navy. And um I gave away all I gave up my job. And there were many proposals when I was in the Navy, but I rejected all of them 1:11:20 because I said I don't know whether they are marrying my job or me. So, I I don't want to I don't want somebody who's marrying my job. So, I I resigned. I gave away all my money. I had nothing. My biggest disqualification was I had no 1:11:33 income. I was working among villagers and students who have hardly any money. Even if they wanted to give me a gift, it'd be a small amount, 10 rupees. I said that was a big handicap. Second, I was bald. And you know how big 1:11:48 a handicap that can be for a young man? Uh If you don't believe me, shave your head sometime and see what you look like. No, don't do it, but I'm just saying. Put a cap on your head and see what you look like. It is a handicap. Uh you know, the 1:12:04 average girl is not attracted to a bald fellow. And I say, "Lord, that's fine." That's good. Somebody will be attracted to me only if I've got some spiritual values. I don't want somebody to be drawn to me by my face or my money. 1:12:23 What is there that God cannot do? God's given me such a happy marriage, such wonderful children. I'm so thankful. Honor God. He will honor you. Don't go for the temporary passing pleasures that the devil offers you, which will 1:12:42 just satisfy you for a short while. Think of when the devil told Eve, "Eat of this. It will give you pleasure. See, your mouth is watering. It's so tasty." I know God said no, but just just take a little taste of it. And supposing the devil also said, 1:12:57 I'll tell you what will happen from it. You'll be kicked out of the Garden of Eden. You and your wife, you and your husband will be fighting for the next 920 years. They lived that long those days. And your first son will be a murderer. 1:13:10 And all your descendants will be fighting, quarreling, there'll be wars and sicknesses and you'll get syphilis and AIDS and all your children and all types of things. Now eat it. You think she'd have eaten it? No. The devil hid the long-term results that 1:13:27 are going to come from that eating and fooled her. I want to tell all of you, when you're drawn to something which you feel in your conscience is wrong, God's not allowing you to get that friendly with that boy or that girl, and you're 1:13:41 not going to reply to those SMSs that that boy sends you, even though you'd like to keep in touch with that person who's shown some interest. You say no, the long-term result of this will be bad. That's a wise girl. That's 1:13:54 a wise boy. Because I could tell you numerous stories of people who messed up their life. So be very careful. And don't respond to things which can cause problems to you later on. 1:14:12 And very often, as I said, it's not just wanting acceptance, loneliness. Many young boys and girls are lonely. And they don't have enough fellowship with their own parents at home. They don't have enough fellowship with other 1:14:27 people of their own sex. They're lonely. And those are the ones whom the devil exploits by sending some boy or girl to you, and you're feeling all this lonely. I want to encourage you, even your parents are unconverted, be friends with 1:14:40 them. Be friends with them so that you're not you don't feel lonely, especially girls. Get close to your parents. If you can't get close to your parents, get close to some godly sister your age, or I mean older than you, who can help 1:14:55 you. It's very lonely people are targets for Satan. Don't let loneliness overwhelm you. Seek for some fellowship. You can find it even among godly sisters. You're lucky to be in CFC. So, these are just a few warnings that 1:15:12 can protect you in the days to come. May God protect you all. Let's pray. You know, some of you need to take a few decisions right now while our heads are bowed in prayer. 1:15:31 First of all, ask God to forgive you. The things that you heard today that you did wrong in the past. And say, "Lord, I'm I I made a lot of mistakes. I was foolish. But please forgive me. Thank God I've not made a serious blunder so far. 1:15:47 But Lord, thank you for the little warnings. And I want to ask you to forgive me. I want you to cleanse me from my sins. And not only forgive, I want to turn from my sins, Lord. I want you to give me the power of your Holy Spirit to find 1:16:05 my pleasure in Jesus. To find happiness in Jesus. I want to be honest with you, Lord, about my struggles and my failure. Please help me to be willing to say no to my friends, even to be unpopular with them, so that I can honor you. 1:16:23 Help me, Lord. I believe God will help you mightily. Lord, I thank you for these lovely young people. There's such tremendous potential in this room for God. And the devil knows that, too. And I know he's gunning for a lot of them 1:16:37 to make them hypocrites, pretenders, to be fooled by the passing pleasures of sin. I pray that you'll protect them, especially from cunning men. Protect these girls from cunning men. And protect these young brothers from 1:16:53 flirtatious girls. Lord, protect their minds from being polluted by the filth of movies and dirty TV programs. Lord, please give them wisdom that they don't destroy their whole future 1:17:13 for a few moments of pleasure. Help them to be wise and not like the animals. Thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen.
