0:00 Let's turn once again to book of Amos chapter 5 and read verse 14. 0:30 Seek good and not evil, that you may live. And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, just as you have said. 0:50 As we said the other day, right throughout the Bible, the Lord shows to us a way of life and a way of death. He said that before Adam, two ways. And Adam chose the way of death. 1:15 And Moses set before the Israelites the way of life and the way of death. And if you read in the book of Kings and Chronicles, you find most of the time the Israelites chose the way of death. And then Jesus came and set before the Jewish people the way of life and the way of death. 1:46 And again, most of the people in Israel chose the way of death. And they rejected Christ. 2:08 Can you see how foolish man is always choosing the way of death? Then the Lord raised up apostles like Paul, also who proclaimed the same thing, the way of life and the way of death. 2:30 And in the beginning, many chose the way of life. But as time went on, they did not continue on that way. They got tired of walking the way of life. 2:50 And they chose the way of death also. And that is why you see in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. That five out of the seven churches there are on the way of death. 3:12 And the elders in the five churches are also on the way of death. Now that is a big warning to us. That in the first century, when the apostle John was still alive. If the churches and elders can be in that condition, how easy it is for it to happen now. 3:47 There are, in the whole world, there are very few apostles to guide churches today. But there is hardly anybody preaching the whole counsel of God. 4:08 Everywhere you find people are interested in pleasure and money and not godliness. God is one day in seven. The other days they live for themselves. 4:33 But that is not the way Jesus taught his disciples to live. You know, the first words in the Bible are, in the beginning, God. That is the first words of the Bible. And that is to show us that in everything in our life, we must begin with God. 5:00 And Jesus said, if you seek the kingdom of God first. And everything you need on earth will be provided for you. 5:20 And like we read yesterday, David says, as an old man, if you are righteous, even your grandchildren will find jobs and be provided for. 5:42 That is the best life you can ever live. But the way of life is not something that is easy. But God is there to help us. It's not easy because our flesh is so corrupt. 6:02 We have got a nature from Adam that is always trying to oppose the way. But then, in the Old Testament, they didn't have any power. They just had to fight the flesh and most of the time they were defeated. 6:26 But now, God has given us the power of the Holy Spirit. And that is like electricity. See, in the olden days, when the kings wanted a fan. 6:46 To get some breeze in the hot climate. There was no electricity two, three hundred years ago in India. So, they would have something like a fan. Called a pankha. And one man behind this curtain will keep on pulling the wire and keep on turning that. 7:18 He'll get tired after half an hour. And then, another servant will take over. Can you imagine, if you had to run a fan with your ropes, how long, how tired you'll be. That is a picture of life under the law. 7:42 And today also, many Christians are trying like that, to live the Christian life. And they are so discouraged. But now, with electricity, you just put on a switch and it runs. That is a picture of the power of the Holy Spirit. 8:07 You know, even after I was born again, I did not know how to live a life filled with the Holy Spirit. So, my Christian life was like this, with ropes trying to turn a fan. Most of the time, I'd be discouraged and defeated. 8:32 Until I realized, that is not the way God wants me to live. And, I began to pray to God. I fasted and I prayed. And, day and night, I cried to God saying, Lord, please help me to come to the real Christian life. 8:58 Then, God led me to this life of being filled with the Holy Spirit. So, when I see so many Christians today, I say, your great need is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 9:25 Jesus described this life like this, in John chapter 7. Verse 37 and 38. John 7, verse 37 and 38. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 9:54 And, as the scripture has said, from his innermost being, rivers of living water will flow. My own life in the beginning was like, to get water, like pumping a hand pump. 10:22 Even my preaching, it was so difficult. With great difficulty, I could preach a sermon. And, with great difficulty, I could live the Christian life, even for one day. 10:44 You have seen in the villages, the hand pump. So, do you remember what I was just speaking about? What happens when you don't have power? 11:07 All the fans will stop. I have noticed sometimes, when I am speaking, God himself comes and gives you an illustration of what we are speaking. With a message saying, you need power in your life. 11:35 See how darkness comes, when there is no power. It's the same thing in our life. My life was like that, for so many years. Now, I have come to a life, where the electricity is never shut off. Now, the power of God can keep flowing through us like a river. 12:03 This hand pump is so tiring. But, Jesus said, it's like a river, our life can be. See how this river, Godavari, flows. It's all flowing. 12:27 It never runs dry. And like that, our life can be. All the time, flowing. I want to encourage all of you. Seek God to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You don't have to go to a Pentecostal church, or any Pentecostal meeting. 12:56 You just got to go to your home. Kneel down alone before God. Ask God to show you if there's anything wrong in your life. Confess every known sin in your life. 13:17 And, forgive everybody you haven't forgiven. Ask forgiveness from anybody you have hurt. If you have cheated anybody, give back that money. Set things right. 13:39 And then, search your heart to see if there's any area in your life, which is not given to God. Throw away all those DVDs of dirty movies that you've got. 13:59 And say, Lord, I want to live a holy life. Jesus is coming soon. I want to be ready for your coming. And I want to give every bit of my whole life to you. And then say, Lord, now please fill me with the Holy Spirit. 14:25 Ask God to give you an assurance in your heart that He has heard your prayer. Have you got an assurance that your sins are forgiven? 14:46 How did you get that? You didn't get it by any shaking of the body. You got it from the word of God and the witness of the Holy Spirit. In the same way, ask God to give you a witness that He has filled you with His Holy Spirit. 15:09 By faith, you believe God is your father. And if you ask, He will give you. This is the way we are supposed to live every day. And your life will be completely changed, I tell you that. 15:30 And your family life will change. And God will use you as His witness to bring other people to Christ. And God will help you to overcome sin. And He will make you a blessing to many people. 15:51 You know, when God called Abraham from the Ur of the Chaldees. He gave him two promises. He gave him two promises. Genesis 12. He said, first of all, I will bless you. 16:12 Verse 2. And same verse 2. You shall be a blessing. He repeated it in verse 3. I will make you a blessing to all the families of the earth. 16:32 So, here is God's blessing to Abraham. Number one, I will bless you. And then, I will make you a blessing to all the families you meet. Now, in the New Testament. If you turn to Galatians chapter 3. 16:56 Galatians 3. And verse 14. In Galatians 3.14, it says, the blessing of Abraham can come to us Gentiles as we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 17:24 Through the Holy Spirit. What do we get? What does the Holy Spirit bring to us? The blessing of Abraham. What is that? That God will bless me. And make me a blessing. Isn't that the best way to live? 17:47 That every day, God will bless me. I want to live like that. I want to live that every single day, God's blessing is upon my life. And that every day, God's blessing will be on my family. And that every day, God will make me a blessing to everybody I meet. 18:14 This is not only for preachers. Brothers, sisters, young people, everybody. There is no distinction with God of age or sex or male or female. fullness of the fullness of the Holy Spirit is for everybody. 18:38 So that's what is written here. Through the Holy Spirit, which we receive by faith, the blessing of Abraham can come to us. God wants to bless you and your family. And make your blessing to others. 18:59 The greatest blessing God can give you is to help you to overcome your sinful nature. And to give you the nature of Jesus Christ. Even if he makes you a crore pati, that is not as good as this blessing. 19:24 Even if you're a millionaire, that is not a blessing compared to becoming like Jesus Christ. So remember that. So I want to lay some foundation for that. I told you yesterday that God is a loving father. 19:48 God is a good God. He is the only one who is good. Compared to him, everybody is evil. Even the best people on the earth are nothing compared to the goodness of God. So what does this good God do for us, 20:09 first of all? He takes care of our past life. And it's very important for us to know how God takes care of our past life. I told you yesterday we should not confess our sin 20:31 like Adam blaming other people. We must confess our sin like the thief on the cross confessed to Jesus. I want to show you an example from there. 20:54 Why is this a good example? Because as soon as he said something, Jesus said, you are ready to go to paradise. And there is nobody sitting here who is as wicked as that thief on the cross. Is anybody sitting here 21:19 who has murdered somebody? Even if there is, that man had murdered many people and he had stolen. He was a thief and a murderer. If he was just an ordinary criminal, the Romans would have just put him 21:40 in a jail. See, even in India, only the worst cases they hang, yes, they'll put in a jail. So the Romans put the worst criminals on the cross. 22:07 And this man who was hanging next to Jesus on both sides were the worst criminals at that time. And we read about them in Matthew 27, verse 44. 22:28 See, all the people were saying in verse 42, he saved others, he cannot save himself. If he is the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross now and we will believe in him. Verse 43, he trusts in God. 22:49 Let's see if God will deliver him. Now, read verse 44. Both the robbers were saying the same thing. 23:11 It says here they were insulting him. This thief, this thief, both the murderers were insulting Jesus. from more than one or two hours. 23:34 Jesus was crucified, they were all crucified at nine o'clock in the morning. So I can imagine from nine o'clock to eleven o'clock the thieves were just cursing Jesus. but Jesus was not saying anything. 23:55 He was only saying Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing. And hanging on the cross he cared for his poor mother to provide a house for her. And hearing all this, this one side robber 24:15 got convicted. He said, this is not a criminal who is hanging on the cross he felt. He said, criminals don't talk like this. Criminals will be shouting back 24:36 at those who shouted back. and suddenly God opened his eyes that this is the son of God. So he had a change of heart. Now turn to Luke 23. 24:56 This one man changed. The other man did not change. That other man he kept on saying verse 39 if you are the Christ save yourself and us. Why is he saying 25:19 save me from the cross? He is saying I am not such a bad criminal. Maybe I deserve two, three years in jail but not to be killed like this. I don't deserve 25:39 to be crucified. Bring me down from the cross. But the other man last two hours that man was also insulting Christ. now he has repented and he talks 26:00 to the other murderer. Don't you fear God because we are all getting the same condemnation. Now listen to this. We are righteously receiving what we deserve for what 26:20 we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. See there are two things he said there. One I don't deserve jail. I deserve to be killed. 26:43 I am a very bad criminal. That is what he said. The other man said I am not so bad. So I don't deserve to be killed. Pull me down from the cross. But this man said I am very bad. I deserve to be killed. This punishment 27:03 the Romans have given me is a righteous punishment. I deserve it. I am not blaming my parents for bringing me up badly. I am not blaming my friends for leading me astray. 27:23 I blame only myself. I am not blaming the police who caught me. I am not blaming the judge who punished me. I am blaming only myself. You see he was different from Adam. 27:44 What did Adam say? Not me Lord. This wife. She only gave me and you only gave me this wife. We heard that yesterday. Blaming other people blaming God why you brought me to this circumstance. 28:04 Why you brought me to this difficult situation. That is why I did something wrong. Blame God. Blame other people. God said get out of paradise. Now here is another man. He is saying the opposite. I don't blame my parents. 28:25 I don't blame anybody. I blame only myself. I deserve this punishment. But Lord. Please remember me when you come to your kingdom. That's all he said. Just remember me. 28:48 And he thought maybe after many years one day Jesus will come into his kingdom. So that means he believed that this is not the end of Jesus. Jesus will rise up from the dead. How can you tell a man hanging on the cross when you 29:08 come into your kingdom remember me. I think God opened his eyes. This person hanging on the cross will one day be king. He didn't expect a place in that kingdom or anything. He just said please remember me this poor man 29:28 like me. Jesus immediately said I truly say to you you will be in paradise not 2000 years later when I come in my kingdom but today. he 30:02 he went into paradise and Adam went out of paradise why only one reason Adam blamed other people if you want to be thrown out of paradise keep on blaming other people 30:23 if you if you want to enter paradise then do what the thief did I deserve this punishment I don't blame anybody else that 30:44 is the secret of entering paradise that is how we must confess our sin whenever you confess your sin don't say Lord because of this because of that because of the other thing that is why did 31:04 you get angry because I had a very tiring day in the office I was exhausted so I got angry you will be thrown out of paradise if you want to enter paradise say Lord I am a bad man that's why I got angry please 31:28 forgive me and remember me like that you will be forgiven we must all sit at the feet of this thief on the cross and learn from him there are many people who say I must sit at the foot of the cross and look at Jesus 31:48 I say before you do that you sit at the foot of the thief's cross and learn something from him did you know that you can learn something from that thief on the cross how 32:10 to confess your sin I learned from the thief on the cross how to confess my sin never blame parents relatives friends nobody just myself and say 32:31 Lord please remember me I am a sinner I have experienced paradise like that in my heart and I want to live in paradise in my heart every day so I made a 32:51 decision in my life many years ago many years ago that I will never blame other people Lord it is me I am not perfect there are still areas in my life I have to set right you 33:13 know when you judge yourself like that every day you can live in paradise and what about all the past mistakes that we have made there are two wonderful verses I want to show you you 33:34 must remember these verses it should not be that next year if I come you won't even remember these verses so write it down underline it in your bible two important verses about our past 33:55 failures see all of us have got many past failures and gospel means good news what is the good news about our past failure some of you may have done some terrible sins that you are ashamed 34:15 to let anybody know what you did in your past life you are so ashamed you don't want anybody to know what you did there's good news for you the 34:35 first verse is acts 17 verse 30 please remember that acts of the apostle chapter 17 verse 30 the times of your ignorance 34:56 God overlooks is it 30 all your past years of ignorance God says I won't look at it what good 35:16 news that is Lord in my ignorance I did so many stupid things not that I was ignorant of sin but I was ignorant of how serious sin was I 35:37 didn't realize sin was so serious in that way I was ignorant when Jesus said about the people who are crucifying him father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing you 35:59 mean those people did not know that it is the wrong thing to kill a man crucify a man like this can you go and crucify a man and not know what you are doing what did Jesus mean saying they don't know what they are doing 36:18 that means they did not know how serious a thing it was which they were doing we have committed so many sins knowingly in the past but you were ignorant about 36:38 the seriousness of sin because even your preachers never preach strongly against sin in your church but now your eyes are being opened to see how serious sin is and 37:01 so God says all right all your past years of ignorance I will forget about it God God God God God God God God that is a wonderful promise and but now now that you got some understanding it says in verse 30 now you should 37:21 repent so so we have come to a point of time now now today right now all your past years God says okay I'll overlook because you did not know but 37:46 now you know now you know how serious sin is your sin put Jesus on the cross very serious so now God says now you can turn around and if you have really 38:06 confessed whatever you have done in the past we cannot confess every single sin we have committed that is impossible we have committed lacks and lacks of sins how can we confess all of that what 38:28 did the prodigal son say when he came back to the father in Luke chapter 15 he did not make a big list of dad here are the 10,000 sins I committed he only said father I 38:49 have sinned that's all three words I have sinned and the father forgave me so God is not expecting us to make a list of all the sins we have committed in our life nobody can 39:09 do it it is impossible but you come and say Lord I have sinned I don't blame anybody I take the blame I have sinned so many things but if you remember two or three very serious things then confess that among 39:33 all the hundred thousands of sins we committed there may be two or three that stand out as really serious say yes Lord 15 years ago I did this and this two 39:54 three things was really bad I'm sorry that I hurt other people please forgive me and wherever I can ask forgiveness I'll go and ask forgiveness from them some people I don't even know what their address is how can I go and ask 40:13 them but wherever I know I'll ask forgiveness and the Lord says I will immediately he will confess he will forgive our sins see 1 John 1 this is 40:33 another very important verse 1 John 1 9 very important verse if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 40:54 not only forgive us but cleanse us and see Hebrews 8 and verse 12 Hebrews Hebrews 8 verse 12 it says I will be merciful to their 41:14 iniquities and I will remember their sins no more I will not remember what you have confessed not only he will forgive you but when he looks at 41:34 you he will not remember what you did how good God is see if somebody has cheated you even if you forgive him if you see him you will remember this is the guy who cheated me isn't 41:57 that how you look at people God doesn't look at you like that he says when I forgive you I will not remember what you did maybe you have committed adultery but you have repented and you ask 42:17 God to forgive you you know the good news I will not remember he doesn't look at you and say this is the person who committed adultery ten years ago he is forgiven 42:37 we are so evil you know when husband and wife have a fight how do they fight you remember ten years ago you did this and seven years ago you did that and your 42:57 mother came and did this six years ago what all big list whenever we are angry all the things come out from our memory what the mother in-law did and what the brother in-law did and everything comes out but 43:18 does God say that to you you are the one who did this ten years ago you are the one who did this five years ago no he's a good God he says I will not remind you of what you did in the past dear brothers 43:38 and sisters be like God to other people like he forgave you forgive others don't remind your wife and your husband of all the wrong things they did in the past will 44:04 you listen to me all your husbands from today you will never remind your wife about any of her past failures you will never remind your wife about what 44:24 your mother in law did sister in law did brother in law did yes or no brothers tell me about 15 people said yes all 44:45 of you yes okay now sisters from today you will never remind your husband about about all the failures he made in the past or what his mother did or father said or anything forgive 45:06 forgive forgive forgive as God forgive you yes or no oh what seven people said yes yes or no wonderful 45:26 wonderful from from today you're going to have a very happy married life your home will be like paradise God God wants your home to be like heaven and how 45:46 many times do you have to confess a sin to God two times two times three times ten times twenty-five times once because God has got a good memory if you tell him once you say okay that's done 46:06 but sometimes we think God is not a good father so we torture ourselves by keeping on confessing confessing again and again the same whole sin because the devil 46:26 is always there to remind you of all the evil things you did once you confess your sin to God God says I will not remember it anymore then who's remembering it Satan so he 46:47 will come to you not God Satan you remember what you did twenty-five years ago that is not so small sin then you remember even ten years ago what you did what ten years ago you remember what you did yesterday but you 47:08 see I've confessed it Satan says confession no no no you did a terrible thing and you keep on listening to the devil and you get discouraged that is not the voice of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit will convict you when you 47:27 have not confessed your sin but if you have confessed your sin once and really turned from it not just confessed but turned away and confessed Lord I want to give it out and I 47:47 confess it then you have to confess it only once that means see I'm not as good a father as God but supposing my ten year old son broke one plate one day and he says daddy I'm sorry I broke this plate and 48:10 I say it's alright son forget it I forgive you and next day he comes to me again daddy you remember yesterday I broke that plate please forgive me I told you yesterday I forgive you then 48:30 after one year he comes again daddy you remember one year ago I broke one plate I said how many times you are going to confess this thing to me and after ten years he comes 10 years ago I broke one plate then 48:53 I say you don't believe me I'm your father I'm telling you it's forgiven that is how we go to God Lord I did this something forgive me and after one year Lord you remember one year ago I did 49:13 that after ten years Lord you remember ten years ago I did that we think God is an evil father worse than me so today onwards you must believe God is a good father if 49:36 you have not confessed it then of course you must confess it God says I will not remember your past sin anymore the devil wants you to be unhappy God 49:56 wants you to be happy that that that is why my job is to expose all the lies of the devil he is called the accuser of the brethren he keeps on accusing day and night don't 50:18 listen to him say the blood of Jesus has cleansed me from all sin don't argue with the devil say the blood of Jesus has cleansed me from all sin okay one more verse Revelation 50:39 12 verse 10 and 11 it says here about Satan as the accuser of our brethren who accuses us day and night day and night he accuses us to God and accuses us to ourselves also how 51:04 to overcome him verse 11 by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony that means my testimony to Satan many of you have given testimony in the 51:24 open air or in the church have you given your testimony to Satan what testimony speak to Satan the blood of Jesus has cleansed me from all sins Satan you cannot accuse me 51:44 then he will stop accusing him they they they overcame him by the blood of the lamb but by the word of their testimony in the beginning I had to say 52:04 that to Satan many times you know just like we can speak to God we can speak to Satan or his demons are all there Satan you cannot accuse me because the blood of Jesus cleansed me from all sin again he would accuse me next 52:24 day I would say the same thing again he would accuse me I would say the same thing you know what happened after some time he realized he cannot trouble me anymore then he stops troubling me if you 52:44 keep confessing to the devil that the blood of Jesus cleansed you from all sin then he will not be able to trouble you you will overcome him let's pray heavenly father help us to live in the good of all these wonderful 53:05 promises of the gospel we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Maa pravai na Yesu kristu wa ar naam na praadis naam tundri.
