0:00 Everyone in the Old Testament community was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And those are the Israelites. And those are the only people of God. But something happened after the day of Pentecost. The word of God went out to every part 0:17 of the world. Jesus said in every part of the world, we had to preach this good news of salvation and bringing people into fellowship with God from every nation. So it was a new day for everyone and there were new gifts that the Lord 0:37 gave in order to establish this work and the primary gift was the gift of the Holy Spirit which in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was only upon people anointed people for service some mighty works. Elijah. Elisha could raise the 0:56 dead with the power of the Holy Spirit. And David could kill Goliath. And many of those people could I'm amazed how they could kill hundreds of people single-handedly. It was the Holy Spirit's power externally. All of the power of the Holy Spirit was 1:14 external in the old covenant until you know John the Baptist came and said in Matthew 3:11 if you know that verse Matthew 3:11 I baptize you with water. Baptize means 1:31 immerse. It's a Greek word baptizo meaning immerse. I immerse you in water. But Jesus is coming. He's mightier than I. He will immerse you in the Holy Spirit. In other words, you will not just receive the Holy Spirit, but you'll 1:47 be filled with the Holy Spirit. Your whole inner being will be filled with the Holy Spirit. This was the distinctive feature of the new covenant age because the standard expected in the new covenant was higher. 2:07 As I said some Sundays ago that what was murder in the Old Testament in the ten commandments Jesus said is equal to anger in the new covenant. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not get angry. What was adultery in the old covenant is 2:27 now lusting with the eyes. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not lust with the eyes. So the standard has gone up so much higher. Murder we can keep ourselves from even without the help of the Holy Spirit. But anger to keep oneself from it 2:45 constantly is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit. Adultery you can keep yourself from. Many people have kept themselves from but lusting with the eyes impossible to keep yourself from it without the power of the Holy 2:58 Spirit. That's the one of the main things you need to understand that the standard is so much higher. It's like going to some third rate school where everybody will pass. Even the people who don't know the alphabet and don't know what 2 plus 2 is, they'll 3:15 pass. That was old covenant life. But in the new covenant, it's like at some post-graduate level at the highest university where you're not going to pass without tremendous help. And you know, we say, well, I'm not intelligent 3:30 to study in that type of university. But the wonderful thing in the new covenant is it's like when you're given an examination paper, the teacher comes and sits next to you and helps you to answer each question. Then you get that's how 3:45 you get 100% in the new covenant. So picture this in the new old covenant you sat in the examination hall and even those simple questions you could not answer. You couldn't get past first grade. But in the new covenant you can 3:58 go to a postgraduate study in the highest university and you're going to get 100%. Why? Because the teacher is sitting next to you helping you answer every question. This is the way you need to understand the baptism in the Holy 4:11 Spirit. And if you don't have it or you neglect it, you say, "No, I don't want the teacher. I'll try and answer these questions myself." That's how Christians fail and fail and fail and fail. When the teacher says, "I'm willing to come 4:24 and sit next to you to answer every question so that you get 100%." Which student will say, "No, I'm going to do it on my own." That is the stupidity and foolishness of multitudes of Christians. That's how I was in my life. I was 4:39 defeated too. That is the baptism in the Holy Spirit. that is being immersed in the Holy Spirit. There is not a single command that Jesus gave which he will not help us to fulfill with the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the purpose of 4:54 the baptism in the Holy Spirit. So I want you to turn with me. You know first of all we read of the foundation that God has laid in 1 Corinthians and chapter 3. There's a verse which says in 1 Corinthians 3:11. You know that very 5:08 well. There's no foundation other than Jesus Christ. And on this foundation we build our life in the church. Yes, that is correct. But we must compare scripture with scripture. The balance of scripture, you know, like two legs we stand on. Don't try and 5:27 stand on only one leg. That's why we need to know the scripture thoroughly. That's why you cannot have a good church if you do not have good teaching. So if you don't have a good teacher like many of our churches we have about 100 church 5:42 CFC churches now around the world and we do not have good teachers in all those churches but you know what they do they listen to audio to video sermons where there is teaching and that's what you also have done where you understand from a teacher what 5:59 it is to build a church. So is it when you think of foundation if you ask most Christians what is the foundation even the children sing build your house on the rock and not on the sand build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ that's 6:16 the children's chorus correct but there is another place in the new testament which speaks about foundation which Jesus said one Corinthians 3:11 says other foundation can no man lay except Jesus Christ that is the foundation of 6:30 our personal life our family life and the The church life, like I've often said, the church is a three-story building. Personal life, good conscience, family life, living in love with wife and children, and church on top. All built on the foundation of 6:45 Jesus Christ. But to compare scripture with scripture, I want you to turn with me to a passage of scripture which is not so well known even though it's in the first book of the New Testament. Please turn with me to Matthew and 6:58 chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7 is the last chapter of the sermon on the mount. The sermon on the mount is three chapters. Matthew 5, Matthew 6, and Matthew 7. And at the end of the sermon on, you know, the sermon on the mount is the 7:16 highest standard of life you can find described in anywhere in the New Testament, anywhere in the Bible. And Jesus proclaimed that to his disciples. It's a very high standard. Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. 7:32 Don't lust in your minds. Don't get angry. And never pray to impress people. When I when you give anything, don't let anybody know what you've given. And don't judge people. Don't condemn people. Very high, very high standard. 7:49 And at the end of that three chapters of a very high standard Matthew 5:7 he says in Matthew 7 and verse 24 here's he talks about the foundation everyone this is Matthew 7:24 everyone who hears these words of mine and does 8:07 them not just hears all of us here but in every church in when a sermon is preached there are two categories of people even right level. There are those who hear, which I suppose includes all of you, unless you're not paying 8:23 attention. But there's another category here who not only hear but think about it and determine to do what they've heard. That's a very small number. Very often in a church, 100% may hear. Maybe 10% will do. But here it is not 8:42 talking about hearing only. Okay, let me first talk about those who only hear verse 26. Everyone who hears these words of mine, remember there are two categories of people. One is described in verse 26. Those who hear these words but don't do 8:59 them. They don't take it seriously. They are like a foolish man who built his house on sand. No foundation. And one day the day of judgment, the rains fell, the floods came and the winds blew and the house fell and great 9:16 was its fault. That's thinking about the time when God examines our life and the lives of many Christians will fall and collapse. The house which looked so beautiful on the outside they built such a huge impressive building but the 9:29 foundation was sand that what is sand? You hear but you don't obey. Every one of you who hears the word of God, it's proclaimed in authority and power and does not do what you hear. That verse is for you. Verse 25 and 26 and 27, those 9:47 verses. Now listen to the man who had a good foundation. Yes, the foundation is Christ. But compare scripture with scripture. Everyone who hears the verse 24, Matthew 7:24, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, 10:04 the is the wise man who built on the rock. So what is the rock? Obedience to God's word. So you say which is the rock? Christ or obedience to God? Both are correct. The one who's really founded on Christ will obey his word. 10:22 The one who does not obey his word, it's a false Christ. He's uh founded on the real Christ is one who told us to obey him. Follow me. Not one who just says believe in me. Do you understand? In the New Testament when Jesus speak about believing, he's 10:41 talking about a commitment. Like a wife believes and commits herself to her husband in the day of marriage. A girl commits herself to the man in the day of marriage. It's a total commitment. That is true Christianity. When a girl gets married, many of you 10:59 are married and you know when a wife gets married, she leaves her earthly parents and comes and lives with her husband for the rest of her life. She doesn't ask, "Can I go and live with somebody else for one day in a year?" 11:13 No. 365 days of a year, 366 days of a leap year. She is with her husband. This is true Christianity. This is what it means to be married to Christ. And that's not a burden because if you had the most loving, considerate, 11:31 providing husband in the world, why would you ever want to leave him? And I want to tell you after 66 years of experience that Christ is the most wonderful, compassionate, loving, providing, spiritual husband anybody can 11:43 ever have. Why would anybody want to leave? So, it's a total commitment. I will do what my husband says. That's Matthew 7:24. And so, my life is founded on a rock. I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, many of 12:01 you have trusted in Christ, probably most of you. But I want to ask you, have you got this foundation of hearing verse 24 and obeying? Otherwise you are on sand even if you say you have received Christ. So this is a very important thing. This is what the 12:21 solid rock of the Christian life. Now I want to cover a number of areas. So I want to show you another verse. If you turn with me to one Corinthians sorry yeah one Corinthians I. So there's a verse which I have hanging up in front 12:40 of me in my table is let all that you do be done in love. I don't know whether you know that verse. It's a lovely verse and it's a great verse to have hanging up in front of your table like I have in front of mine. 1 Corinthians 16 verse14. 12:58 Very lovely words. Just nine words. Nine words. 1 Corinthians 16:14, "Let all that is everything that you do be done in love." You live by that, 13:17 you'll have a true Christian life in love for Christ and love for other people. Love for Christ first. If I try to love people and help them without loving Christ, then there is no cross in our life. See, 13:36 the cross has got two arms. And if I don't love for Christ and I say I'm going to love one another, there are people in the world who love one another. And you do a lot of foolish things. You'll do 101 foolish things when you try to do things out of love 13:50 for others if you don't have love for Christ first. remember this that that is God's will. Let's turn now to one Timothy. Please turn with me to one Timothy and chapter 1 because here it talks about the goal of our instruction. 14:08 You know, in a in a football game or a soccer game, they're always seeking to reach for the goal. In a soccer game, they're trying to hit the ball into the goal or the goal can also be think we can think of as the aim of our life. 14:23 So Paul is writing to Timothy who is his closest coworker and it is written towards the end of his life. And he's telling Timothy, Timothy, you're going to take over the work from me. Please see what your goal is in teaching 14:36 people. The goal of all our teaching is that people have love from a pure heart. Not just love. The love is just the horizontal part. When it's vertical love for Christ, then it comes love out of a pure heart. Otherwise, it's a foolish love. A love 14:55 that does not come from a pure heart is a foolish love. It will lead you to commit sin. And that's what happened. Love from a pure heart and a good conscience. That means when I seek to 15:14 love other people, I must keep my conscience clear. You say, "Well, how can my conscience be bad when I love other people?" Yes, you can do some foolish things to other people and then your conscience convicts you. But you 15:25 tell your conscience to keep quiet and you keep on showing what you think is love. That's not love. the goal, the goal that I'm seeking to kick the football into the goal of my life, the aim of my life. In other words, what I'm running for 15:41 like a marathon runner or a 100 meters runner, they got a goal, the finishing line. What is my goal? My goal is not just love, but love from a pure heart and a good conscience, which teaches me that you can love without a pure heart and you can love 15:58 without a good conscience. That is human love. And among a lot of Christians I've seen around the world, even in CFC churches, it is love not from a pure heart and not keeping a good conscience and not with a sincere faith in God. So 16:16 please remember this verse all your life. The ultimate goal of the Christian life is to love Christ with all our heart. to love others as Christ loved us, which means from a pure heart and a good conscience and a some sincere 16:32 faith. Now Paul is telling Timothy, see the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in scripture, some men, straying from these things. It's possible to stray from these things. These are people who listen. He's not talking about the unbelievers. 16:49 The unbelievers are not listening to Timothy preaching. He says there are some men who listen to all this but they stray from these things and they have turned aside to all types of discussion and they want to be teachers of the law 17:04 without understanding. If you despise the primary way in which we can live this Christian life which is to be filled with the Holy Spirit continuously Ephesians 5:18 be being filled with the spirit you'll have lots of problems. 17:18 And I want to remove that wrong conception that you have been taught for many years that once you receive the Holy Spirit, that's it. I already dealt with that before how the apostles were filled with the spirit more than once. You take a concordance, 17:33 look up filled with the spirit in the acts of the apostles and you'll see that is more than once there. So it's not that you're once filled with the Holy Spirit and that's it. The Holy Spirit's power in us is like breathing. 17:46 We are to be filled with the spirit continuously. And the only thing we do continuously in our life is breathing. All the time we breathing. Even when you're asleep, we are breathing. And that is the type of love we have to live. And we can live 17:59 that life if we just keep a good conscience. A pure heart and a good conscience. If you keep a good conscience, you can be filled with the spirit continuously. That means the smallest little prick in your conscience, you immediately said it 18:16 right. I want to encourage you, my dear brothers. I'm not trying to make anybody feel condemned. We've all made blunders in the mistakes in the past. But God's word is given to us to correct us so that we don't stray. Like it says in 1 18:30 Timothy 1:6, we stray from these things. It's not just that we deliberately run in some other path. I believe what happens with many Christians is you know what straying is? Straying means you're you're seeking to go along the path but 18:44 you don't pay attention and gradually you're drifting 5° to the right and then you're not going to reach your goal. You're not deliberately turning to the right away from God's way. No. I don't believe any of you want to turn away 18:56 from God's will. Think of your life in the past whenever you have slipped up and fallen. Is it because you deliberately planned to sin? No. This word is correct. You were going in the right direction but you didn't pay attention. You were not serious enough 19:09 and you strayed from the path and you ended up in the wrong place. It says some people have strayed from these things from which from love from a pure heart and a good conscience. So this is very very important as we think about it 19:24 and especially among your leaders. Especially among leaders, we have to be very careful about that because Paul goes on to tell Timothy, if you turn to 1 Timothy in chapter 5, please turn with me to 1 Timothy chapter 5 and we come to verse 19. 19:44 In 1 Timothy chapter 5, if you have your Bible, please turn there. do not receive an accusation against an elder unless there are two or three witnesses. It's sometimes it's 20:03 one of the responsibilities I have is not something I cherish or relish but which I have to do and Paul had to do it too at times is to discipline an elder sometimes remove an elder I've had to do that number of times in different CFC 20:20 churches and always I'll tell you because they did not pursue love out of a clear conscience and a pure heart. If those elders had followed 1 Timothy 1:5, pursued love for God and for human 20:37 beings from a pure heart and a good conscience, I would never have had to discipline any of those elders. But God's given me a responsibility for every church that has had some connection with me and which where I had some part in what the Lord did in 20:55 planting that church. I have to look at it look like like a spiritual father. Paul once told the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 he told them he says you can have 10,000 preachers but you have only one father. He told them I was the one 21:13 he says who initiated the work in Corinth and so because I'm a father I'm going to treat you like my children love you care for you provide for you at the same time discipline you and that's what he said did to the Corinthians he spoke 21:29 such strong words to them he even disciplined one man in that church by handing him over to the devil and not because he hated him so that the person would be disciplined in his body because he committed a sin serious sexual sin. 21:43 You read that in one Corinthians and chapter 5 and you know that Paul's compassion for him because a few years later in 2 Corinthians Paul says bring him bring that man back. He has repented. Paul handed him over to the devil to be uh 22:02 punished by to allow the devil to harass him so that he would repent and come back. Paul didn't want him to go to hell and that's why he did that. See, that's strong discipline. The Bible says God is a father who disciplines his children. 22:17 Hebrews chapter 12, he says, "If you're not disciplined by God, you're not a child of God." The Bible teaches fathers to discipline their children. The Bible teaches elders to discipline people in the church. And a father who does not discipline his 22:31 children does not love his children. I can say that clearly. The book of Proverbs teaches that. And Hebrews chapter 12 says God who is the greatest lover in the universe disciplines his children. This is New Testament. Hebrews 22:44 chapter 12. God disciplines his children. The mark of love is not providing everything that our children need. Not taking care of them, educating them, feeding them, clothing them, taking care of them, but also disciplining them. And a father who does 22:59 not discipline his children does not fully love his children. And an elder who does not have strict standards in a church is not really a good spiritual father. So it says here about elders. One Timothy 5:1 19. Please listen. Don't 23:17 receive an accusation against an elder unless there are at least two or three witnesses. And those who continue in sin, rebuke. Not privately. Not privately. No. No. No. No. No. No. The elder is always one standing up in the front in 23:32 the pullpit. If it is some person who just sitting in the congregation for 10 years, nobody knows who he is, you can rebuke him privately. No need to do it publicly. But one who's always standing up in front year after year after year in the 23:45 pulpit, if he does something wrong, his rebuke must be in the presence of everybody. 1 Timothy 5:20, an elder who, it's talking about elders in verse 19, an elder who continues in sin, rebuke in the presence of everybody, so that all 24:02 the rest will be afraid. Hey, if that's how they treat an elder, where am I? If that's how God deals with an elder and then sometimes, you know, Timothy, the elder may be a good personal friend of Timothy. And then Paul says, "I solemnly charge 24:19 you, Timothy." And I'm not just saying it myself. I'm saying it in the presence of God. Verse 21, 1 Timothy 5:21. I'm saying it in the presence of Christ Jesus. And I'm saying it in the presence of the chosen angels. Maintain these principles without 24:34 showing any bias or partiality towards anybody. Just because that guy is a good friend of yours, you keep quiet about it, then you're not fit to be a servant of God. That's the word that has come to me. Many elders I have disciplined have 24:47 been very very close friends of mine but I've had to discipline them whether it's my own son or my own brother or anybody do nothing verse 21 in a spirit of partiality and let me tell you something one of the greatest 25:06 sins I have seen among elders and in our churches is not adultery we have hardly had cases of adultery theft or murder never never but partiality many times I've seen it people who think they're very spiritual 25:25 towards somebody they are partial they their opinion is biased and they favor somebody that is ungodly I have sought for the last 50 years that CFC's churches have been planted and running in different places I said Lord I will 25:44 not be partial I will not be partial to my own children who are elders in some churches. I will not be partial to anybody. By God's grace, I've tried to maintain it to the best of my knowledge. I'm not perfect, but to the best of my 25:57 conscience and my knowledge, I have tried to show no partiality to anybody, even to my best friends, to my own son. And you told me to show no partiality. I will not show partiality at all. And if you do show partiality, you know 26:12 what happens? 1 Timothy 5:22 says you will last part you will share responsibility for that fellow's sin that means somebody sins and you don't discipline him for it you are sharing your responsibility for his sin 1 Timothy 5:22 that means it's as if you 26:32 also did it oh I don't want to be accused of that if I see some elder doing some some sin and he needs to be disciplined and I don't do it the Lord says then you are also responsible for that sin Lord I will not show partiality 26:46 and then Paul tells Timothy and remember Timothy was Paul's best and closest coworker and he needed an exhortation like this I don't know how many times Paul would have told Timothy in all those 20 years they worked together 26:58 don't be partial don't be partial yet in his last letter to him he says don't show partiality otherwise you will be responsible 1 Timothy 5:22 for that fellow sin also so you keep yourself from sharing that responsibility for his sin. 1 Timothy 27:14 5:22. Boy, these are serious. So, you know, when the Lord deals with elders, we have an example in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. We'll just have a quick look at that. We don't have time too much to look into it, but if you turn 27:31 with me to Revelation and chapter 2 and chapter 3, you read there about the Lord's message to the churches. Revelation and chapter 2 and uh first of all to the church in Ephesus 27:49 when it says to the angel of the church in Ephesus Revelation 2:1 the word angel is a Greek word which can also mean messenger to the messenger of the church in Ephesus that means to the senior elder usually among the three or four elders 28:05 one would be the senior elder and to the senior elder of the church in Ephesus is right many good things. Verse two, I know your deeds, your toil, your perseverance. You cannot tolerate evil men. You put to test those who call themselves apostles 28:21 and they're not, and you found them to be false. And you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake. And you've not grown weary. What a lot of good things. But I have one thing against you. You do not love me as you loved me at 28:39 first and because of that you have fallen. You did not keep a good conscience. If you love me, you would have kept a good conscience and you have fallen and you've fallen and fallen and fallen and fallen again and repent. Otherwise, I'll 28:56 remove the lampstand. I'll remove the anointing from you. And that's how God removes people from eldership when they keep on in a area of sin again and again. If you see something wrong in an elder, you say, "Well, I'm not a judge." Don't 29:15 judge. I'm not asking you to judge. God is the only judge. I don't judge. I'm sorry. I don't judge. I correct people, warn people, but I don't judge people. Judge means, "Okay, you're condemned to hell or you're condemned for this. 29:27 That's not my business." But you know if you see somebody missing the path and going astray will you correct him or not? If you see you know somebody suppos supposeding you're all traveling in a certain direction towards a camp or 29:45 something and one of the one of the cars somebody's taken a wrong turning and you see that person has taken a wrong turning that's not the direction to the camp. Would you correct him or say oh let him go let him find out? That 29:57 is evil. that you see somebody going astray and you don't call him up and say, "Hey, listen." Oh, but he's an elder brother. His car is going astray. So what if it's an elder brother? If he's going astray, he's going astray. You turn. That's not 30:12 the direction, brother. The camp is in this direction. We had to turn turn left here. You turn right there. And that is our responsibility to every brother and sister in the church. And if you do not have the courage to go and speak to him 30:23 directly, I'll tell you what, you got other elders. You should go to one of the other elders and say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say say 30:30 say say say say say say say like this brother I'm not sure whether I'm right in this judgment but I feel that other elder that senior elders going astray maybe I'm wrong if I'm wrong please forgive me I don't want to think about 30:43 it in any way but you are an elder please think about it I worked with elders for 50 years in Bangalore and you know how we used to do it in the beginning we had three or four elders and we'd have elders meetings almost 30:57 every month and I would give them such freedom. They were all younger than me. Some of them 10, 15 years younger than me. And that if publicly in the elders meeting, four of us sitting together, this one brother, young brother, younger 31:14 elder would say, "Brother Zach, I I don't agree with you." I say, "Praise the Lord. Here is a brother who's faithful to speak the truth. He's not so afraid of me that he doesn't speak the truth." I say, "Brother, I'm so thankful 31:27 for that. I can be mistaken. I'm not perfect." So, since the brother publicly says to in the hearing of everybody, "I disagree with you, brother Zach." And he's bold enough to say that loudly. I want to thank you, brother. I'm not 31:40 offended. If I'm offended by that, I am unfit to be an elder. I'm not offended. People have told me that more than once and I said because I'm not perfect. I do make mistakes in a judgment. Shall we do this or shall we do that? We are discussing church 31:56 matters and I I have an opinion and my opinion may not be right. That's why we have three other elders to balance me out. So I appreciate such brother and till today I appreciate that brother. I was not offended because he corrected 32:10 me. I said thank God if I'm taking taking I'm going along a path and I'm took the wrong turning I'm thankful if somebody corrects me and said brother Zach don't take that turning turn go straight here. So this is how we have operated and this 32:24 is how we have protected one another. And so here we see the Lord tells this elder in Ephesus, I've got so many good things to say about you, but Revelation 2:4 but and there's always a but in the case of most elders. Now if you go 32:43 through the I don't have time to go to all the other u seven there are seven elders that Paul sorry the Lord told John to write to and I want you to see something. You know what John uh what the Lord told 33:01 John to do? So he said write these letters and send it to the seven churches. So it's not just to one church that he had to send this. 33:19 So what he was speaking about one elder had to be told to all the churches. That's very interesting. I I've been thinking about that. Please turn with me to Revelation chapter 33:38 2 and Revelation chapter 1 and verse 11. Write what I'm telling you in a book and send it to all the seven churches. Did you see that? Revelation 11:11. 33:55 So what the Lord is correcting the church the elder in Ephesus must not be sent that letter must not be sent only to Ephesus. All the seven churches must hear the fault of the elder in Ephesus. You say why is that necessary? I'll tell 34:13 you why. Because our way of thinking is not God's way of thinking. Let us humble ourselves. I I've decided to humble myself when I go to the Bible and say Lord my way of thinking is completely wrong. Your way of thinking is right. I 34:24 would have thought, oh, the problem with the elder in Ephesus, let me go and privately tell him. Let me not even tell the people in Ephesus. Let me just call him alone and say, brother, this is what's wrong with you. That's how I 34:37 would do it because I'm human. But God's way is different. And we have to humble ourselves and choose God's way. And God says, "Not only tell the whole church in Ephesus, but tell all the churches in that area about the fault of the elder 34:50 in Ephesus and about the fault of the elder in Pergamus, Pergamum, and the fault of the elder in Thatira, and the fault of the elder in Sardis, and the fault of the elder in Leadyan, and tell all the churches also about the 35:07 good things in the elder in Smyrna, chapter 2:8, and the good things in the elder in Philadelphia chapter 3:7. So the Lord says, "I want you to inform all the churches of all the good things that are in these elders and all the bad 35:21 things that are in these elders." That is God's way. Why? Because that's the way they are all protected. And I'm thankful that 2,000 years later, we can read today of the falls of those elders in those churches so that we can protect 35:38 ourselves. For example, when I read that this church, this elder in Ephesus was so zealous protecting people, the church from wrong doctrine and zealous to persevere and proclaim the truth. But he had lost his fervent love for the Lord. 35:57 That warns me. I can be so fervent and active for the Lord here, there, and the other, but if I lose my fervent love for the Lord, it's gone. God says, "I'm removing the anointing from you." That's the meaning. I will remove the lampstand. Revelation 2:5. 36:13 I'll remove the lampstand means what? I'll remove the anointing from you. That's a serious, you know, thing for to lose the anointing of God, I feel, is the most serious thing that I can ever experience. Remember from where you have 36:28 fallen. Revelation 2:5. And repent. All the good things mentioned in verse 2 and 3 are canceled out by one thing. You have left your love for the Lord. And you left your love for the Lord is proven by the fact that you become 36:45 careless in your in your personal life. You're not keeping a good conscience. It's not love out of a pure heart and a good conscience. A love without a pure heart and without a good conscience is not love. We saw that in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5. 37:03 So the reason why God puts multiple elders is so that we can correct one another. And I tell you personally I'm so thankful that right from the beginning in Bangalore we had more than one elder. And I told the others you must correct 37:17 me because I'm not perfect. When I get to heaven I'll be perfect. I will need no more correction. For as long as we are not in heaven yet, we must be willing to be corrected. So it's not enough to just to why does God appoint multiple elders in the New 37:32 Testament to protect us? This is not the days of Moses, one man leader or Elijah, one man leader or Samuel, one prophet. No, those days are gone. When Jesus came the he never sent out a person single-handedly. 37:51 Right from day one in Jesus ministry he always sent them two by two. Have you read that in the gospels? Why two by two? Because now he is building a body old testament. It was individuals. Moses the great man of God. Abraham the great 38:06 father of faith. Noah the person who saves the world. All one man. Throughout the Old Testament it's one man. Noah. Abraham. Joseph who saved Egypt, Moses and Elijah and Elisha and Samuel and all those prophets, one man, Haggi, 38:24 Zachchariah, one prophet. But as you came towards the end, you find God is moving towards unity. That's why towards the end you find Hagi and Zachchariah, two prophets together. He was preparing the way for the new covenant where everything would be two 38:38 by two. So when Jesus came, he did everything two by two. And every church he said there must be elders. This one man pastor is a completely unscriptural teaching most dangerous. You may say I'm an elder not a pastor but you act like a 38:53 pastor. It's like that. So we have to be very careful that that type of thing doesn't happen again. And that's what leads to carelessness in relationships with the opposite sex which we have to be very very careful. I told you about is very very important 39:08 when an elder wants to counsel a woman that he never does it alone. I've been an elder for 50 years. There are sisters who come to me for counseling. I always call my wife to sit with me if he's in the house. If he's in 39:25 the church, I call another elder and say, "Brother, please sit with me. This sister wants to talk to me." I nobody will ever accuse me of ever having talked to an elder or talked to a sister alone in a church or in my house or in her 39:41 house. No sister. I would not go to someone who the only woman's house I would go not my own is my own sister's house. I would not even go to my sister-in-law's house if she's alone in the house. If she's alone in the house, I would when I discover that 39:58 at the door her husband is not there, but see I'll say I'll see you later. That's what I've done for 50 years. Why? Because I'm afraid of sinning because I want to be a good testimony. People are watching. Oh, brother Zach is 40:15 going to that house and that man's that woman's husband is not there. What sort of testimony is that? I don't want to ruin my testimony. It's so important for an elder to have a good testimony. I'm not in danger of committing sin with 40:30 that woman. But I say I have to keep my testimony before the world. And that's what I want to urge all of you elders also be very careful. My sister may be very needy, maybe alone, single sister, maybe a widow, whatever 40:43 it is. They come to you for counsel. Never talk to her alone. always with your wife or if she's not spiritual enough with another elder. Very, very important. Before you build a church, you must build your home. 1 41:01 Timothy very chapter three is very clear on that. Titus chapter 1 is very clear. An elder must build his home first. In other words, your relationship with your wife must be solid. Your attitude, let me put it like this. Your attitude towards your 41:19 wife must be truly Christlike before you can be a good elder. Now it's very easy for an elder to blame his wife and say all the fault is with her. That's very easy. I mean the world is full of people who blame others. But 41:33 what have you done to rectify it? You see I mean a elder husband is supposed to be the leader supposed to be the shepherd. And if a sheep is going astray, that means if the wife is going astray, means concentrate on bringing 41:47 the sheep back in line, not ignore the sheep and say, "Oh, I'm going to do my work in the church." You cannot do the work in the church if you cannot do your work in your home. The first person you are an elder to is your wife. 42:01 And if you don't make any effort to build your relationship with your wife and guide her in the right path, you're not fit to be an elder. But you may say what if my wife is a very evil person. But I'll tell you someone whose wife was an evil person. 42:17 There was a man, great man of God called John Wesley. He somehow made a mistake in marriage. He married a married a widow and she was really evil towards him. That's what the history books say. But John Wesley preached perfection in holiness and he 42:34 maintained a perfect Christian attitude towards that difficult wife till the end of his life. and he maintained a very good testimony and he was an outstanding leader with never a bad testimony even though he had such an evil wife who one 42:48 day left him and went away. So there have been outstanding examples of people who had very difficult wives and that's that's not the only one. I've heard of other uh godly men like that who have very difficult wives but they 43:04 behaved in a very godly way. They didn't just treat them like unimportant. See, if your wife loses your temper at you, you must control your temper. Otherwise, you're not a godly man. Maybe she's a the Bible says a woman is 43:23 a weaker vessel. Okay, she gets upset. I am the husband and if I'm an elder, I must definitely be an example that I just do not get upset ever at home. Never get angry. And why does an elder get angry? I'll tell you. When his wife gets angry, why 43:42 does an elder get angry? I'll tell you in one simple sentence. He's not baptized in the Holy Spirit. He's born again. The spirit has come in, but he not valued the fullness of the spirit. He has devalued the fullness of 43:55 the spirit. He baptism of the spirit is being immersed in the spirit, fullness of the spirit. A person devalues the baptism of the holy spirit. He will have problems controlling his temper at home. He'll control it in public so that he 44:08 doesn't lose his testimony, but he won't control it at home. And there'll be constant tension at home and the children can see it. And I don't know what the children do about it. I hope they prayed. But it's very very sad. This has been 44:24 part of the problem in you know like the Lord told the elders in Ephesus there are so many good things in you but then I also got to say these are the other problems there were and so the second floor of the family life is collapsing 44:39 you can't build the third floor of the church that's what happened so these are all serious warnings that we have to take heed to so that in the days to come we don't repeat we can't do anything about the past. 44:57 But let me conclude now by turning to 1 Timothy and chapter 5. 1 Timothy and chapter 5. Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Timothy and chapter 5. Sorry, 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy 45:21 and chapter 4. out five. And that's the last verse of 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy 4:16. Paul is telling Timothy, who is his closest, most wholehearted coworker. And 45:41 what is he telling him? Pay close attention to two things. Pay close, very close attention, Timothy. I know you're my wholehearted coworker. I know I have publicly boasted about you that you're a wonderful brother. Paul boasted about Timothy in 45:59 Philippians chapter. Paul boasted about Timothy saying, "I've got nobody like him who's such a wholehearted brother." But Paul told Timothy, "Pay close attention to your own life first of all and secondly to your teaching 46:13 and persevere in these things." 1 Timothy 5 4 4:16. Persevere in paying attention to your life. Keep your conscience clear. Be very careful in your relationship with women, with single women and widows. Be very careful and persevere in these 46:32 things. That means keep on battling. Keep on battling because the devil is out to trip you up. And if you are careful in this, what will happen? Two things. you will save yourself from calamity and you'll save all the people in your 46:50 church as well. What a wonderful verse 1 Timothy 4:16 is and that's what I would leave with all the elders in this church now pay close attention to your own life first of all especially in relation to money be 47:07 absolutely faithful don't get into debt be very careful in relation to the opposite sex women especially in counseling them be very careful if you go and go to help a go with another elder brother. Don't go alone. 47:25 And when you counsel a sister, always two brothers together, counsel them. Or if they come to your home, your wife, if she's spiritual enough, sit with you and counsel. Otherwise, say, tell that sister, "Sister, we can like to talk to 47:40 you later on. Let me get another elder and then I'll talk to you." That's what I've always done. That's what I've done for 50 years, and I would encourage you to do it. Persevere in these things. That means don't lower the standards. 47:51 Timothy don't lower these standards. Timothy was not married. He didn't have a wife. He had always be careful in these areas. And he says if you are persevere in these things, you will save yourself first of all. Have you ever heard of saving yourself? 48:09 People say that's an unscriptural teaching. It's Jesus who saves us. But look what the Holy Spirit says. You will save yourself and I say the same thing. You will save yourself and you will save all those people who hear you through the help of the Holy 48:29 Spirit. Of course, definitely because he talks about spiritual gift in verse 14 and the prophetic utterance gone through the laying on of hands. He refers to the Holy Spirit there in verse 14. So he's not neglecting the Holy Spirit. But with 48:43 the power of the Holy Spirit, pay close attention to yourself first of all. be very very careful. Now what shall we say? We can't do anything about the past. But I'll tell you this, learn lessons for the future. There are one way I can learn mistake. 49:03 Learn is by judging myself my own mistakes. If you judge yourself for your own mistakes, that's a good way to learn. But an even better way is to learn from the mistakes other people make. So when you see somebody else make 49:19 a mistake which caused a lot of problems in his life, ask yourself why did that happen? Let me learn so that I don't make the same blunder myself because I'm also a fallen human being like him redeemed by the blood of the lord 49:33 but still in the flesh. So anything can happen to me. So don't think any don't any of you sit there thinking that you will not fall. I tell you in Jesus name, if you think like that, you'll be the first person to fall. Brother or sister, 49:47 every person is weak. As long as we are on this earth, the flesh is there, the devil is there, the world is there, the world, the flesh, and the devil always seeking to bring us down. Be on the alert. Pay close attention to yourself. 50:00 1 Timothy 4:16. Please memorize 1 Timothy 4:16. Pay close attention to yourself and to your doctrine. Don't think doctrine is unimportant. The baptism in the Holy Spirit being continuously filled with the Holy Spirit is very very important. But what do you 50:16 gain by that? To show that you are cleverer than brother Zag. I'm happy if everybody is cleverer than me. But it brings problems to other people especially in the matter of the Holy Spirit. Do you know there's a verse in 50:28 Matthew 12 verse 31-32 I think which says Jesus said I warn you don't speak against the Holy Spirit it's a very strong word don't speak against the Holy Spirit because 50:47 there is no forgiveness Matthew 12 verse 31 and 32 if you speak against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven He said in Matthew 12:32, you can speak against Jesus Christ, you'll be forgiven. He said that whoever speaks a 51:04 word against the son of man, Christ will be forgiven. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven either in this world or in the future world. What a word. When I read that, I tremble. Do you tremble at God's word or 51:18 do you read that and go on to the next verse? If you don't know something about the Holy Spirit, best is to keep quiet and say, "I don't know. Please go to a brother who is a teacher and he'll teach you. I don't know, brother. Please don't 51:32 let me say anything." But when you don't know, it's better to hand it the responsibility over to others. You see, if if you want heart surgery, you don't go to an engineer. You don't go to an electrical engineer for heart surgery. 51:47 The electrical engineer will say, "I don't know whether heart surgery." You go to a heart surgeon. That humility must be there. A person can be a very good evangelist. Like the electrical electrician will say, you want heart 52:00 surgery, don't come to me. Go to the heart surgeon. You want teaching, don't come to me. I'm an evangelist. Go to the teacher. If that humility was there, it's like saying the electrician is not a good heart surgeon. So what? He's very 52:13 good in his field. But he must humble himself and say this is another field that brother must be responsible there. Go back to the word of God and go back go to some teacher. Go to the numerous teaching videos we have in CFC and on 52:31 YouTube and you can be protected. Otherwise, you'll also go astray. Maybe some of you have already been influenced in the wrong direction by the teaching you have submitted to which is given to you by an electrician trying to do heart 52:42 surgery. Please take that seriously. Take heed to yourself and to your doctrine so that you'll save yourself and those you hear you. I believe there's no problem which God cannot solve. And I think of the days when we were 52:59 four elders in CFC Bangalore years ago and the tremendous unity there was among us with the devil could not come into CFC Bangalore in all these 50 years because we constantly taught unity among the elders and I pray that'll be true here also. 53:17 Whatever you have experienced in the past your best days are ahead of you. In the in the past you had wonderful games together and eating food together all all together on Sunday. Those are not the greatest things in the Christian 53:28 life. The greatest things in the Christian life is not eating good food and coming together and having a good time and fun and all that fun and games. No, the greatest thing in the Christian life is to become more godly to become 53:40 more Christlike. For the children to become humble and God-fearing even if they're not great musicians, but they are humble and God-fearing. That's what we want for our children. That's what we want another generation to grow 53:53 up like Paul had a burden for Timothy that he should grow in a godly way and I pray that for all of you dear brothers and sisters I thank God for you. I thank God. Thank you for listening to me. And I've struggled and sought the Lord much 54:07 in prayer, waking up at night sometimes praying, Lord, please guide me. I I'm a weak person. I'm like a branch in a tree. Even if I produced fruit for 50 years, if I'm not connected to the tree, there'll be zero fruit in Zakunin's 54:21 life. Because 50 years of experience producing fruit in a branch does not mean it can produce on its own. It still needs to be in the tree. I need to be in the tree as much as I was 50 years ago. I have to depend on Jesus Christ, my Lord, today 54:39 exactly as much as 50 years ago. Otherwise, I'll be a failure. And I hope all of you will realize that. And I pray that it'll go exceptionally well with all of you. Let's pray. Please bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, 54:59 thank you for your presence in our midst, for the warnings in your word, and for the power of the Holy Spirit that helps us to obey your word. Guide them in the future. Give tremendous wisdom to the elders and to 55:16 lead this church forward from step to step, from glory to glory. And we will be discouraged. Discouragement is from the devil. We pray that every young person and every older person you'll be encouraged and challenged to work 55:30 together as one body to see greater glory for Christ in the church in the days to come. Thank you heavenly father. We believe that you will do this. We believe heavenly father that you care for us from heaven and we believe that 55:47 your presence will be there. fill us with the Holy Spirit day by day and help us to walk in humility in your footsteps Lord Jesus. Thank you father for hearing us in Jesus name.
