0:18 Let's begin with a verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 13. The last part. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 0:35 and verse 13. The whole verse says, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." The 0:53 There is a need for us to act like men. There's a particular way God wants men to act. We've been thinking about the calling of a brother as first of all a husband and uh 1:12 also as a father. And we want to think about our responsibility as one who shares in God's kingdom, participates in building the church. So, in 1:33 1 Corinthians in chapter 6, it speaks about particular sin which many people don't think of as sin. It's in connection with what I said just 1:50 now, "Act like men." Verse 9. 1 Corinthians 6:9, don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived. Now, look at the list of people here. 2:09 Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers. It's quite a list of every one of them we can understand except one. Effeminate. 2:33 A man behaving like a woman. And that's categorized in the same category as idolaters, fornicators, adulterers, thieves, and drunkards, and revilers. Do you believe that? I don't think we think think of that 2:52 seriously. We we don't even think of that as a God's created us to be men. I've seen many husbands who are effeminate husbands. The wife is the boss in the house. Now, God did create Eve to be a helper 3:11 to Adam. But, Adam was the first effeminate man. Even you see Genesis chapter 3, and you see 3:31 Eve talking to the serpent, the devil. I used to always think perhaps Adam was wandering around somewhere else. Till I saw in Genesis 3, and verse 6, the last part. 3:50 She gave the fruit to her husband who was with her. He was standing there all all along. While this conversation was going on between the devil and his wife, he never said a word. He just allowed his wife to have a 4:07 conversation with the devil. And imagine if he had just intervened there and said, "Hey, Eve, forget it. Don't talk to that serpent. Let's go." Cuz after all, God had appointed him to be the head. And uh 4:29 there we see the first example of an effeminate man who brought such ruin into his family. And I believe it's because he was such an effeminate man that his uh his first son grew to grew up to be a 4:50 murderer. He probably was an effeminate father as well. And he never taught his son I mean, you don't get a son growing up to be a murderer to kill his younger brother unless the father is a pretty useless father. So, I see 5:08 right at the beginning of sin in the world, the entrance of sin in this human race, it begins not only with the unbelieving, disobedient wife, 5:26 but with an effeminate man who was an effeminate husband and a effeminate father who did not act like a man, like we read in the beginning. And that I think that's why if effeminate people are put in the same 5:43 category as murderers and adulterers. And uh know. I believe scripture. I believe there's a reason why God has put that being effeminate right in the middle of some of those worst criminals of all 5:59 that we saw in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. And I believe this is why many homes have suffered because the man is not the head of the house. Many children have suffered because 6:16 man is not a good father. And uh many churches have suffered because men don't don't take the lead to involve themselves in I don't mean everybody must be a 6:34 leader. Being being manly does not mean being a leader. It just means taking responsibility. Even if it's a responsibility to clean the restrooms. To take responsibility because if you don't have a gift of teaching, you can't teach. If you don't 6:52 have a gift of preaching the word, you can't do it. But you can still be a man. God gives very few people the gift of ministry of the word. So that's not the mark of a man. Because 7:09 I find 95% of men in the church when may have no gift of preaching at all. They still got to be men. So it's very important for us to understand on the place that God has appointed for men 7:27 in in his church especially. And though there is a place for women and even children to serve the Lord in the church. Yet when 7:45 Jesus prayed You know, let me just show you this verse. In Luke chapter 8. Who were the people going around with Jesus when he was preaching? Luke chapter 8. 8:02 As he went around from city to city village to village preaching. The 12 disciples were with him and it says, "Also some women." Verse two, Luke 8:2. Women who had been healed of evil spirits like Mary Magdalene from whom 8:21 seven demons had come out. Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward. Herod's steward means a palace manager. So, the palace manager, he must have been a very influential rich man. His wife is following Jesus. And Susanna 8:37 and many others. These women were contributing to the support of Jesus and the disciples. And yet we read in Luke chapter six and 8:59 verse 12 Jesus went into the mountain to pray. And he spent the whole night in prayer. And whenever he spent a whole night in prayer, it was a particular reason. You see the reason in the next verse. When the day came, he called his 9:18 disciples. So, I believe he prayed. He wasn't praying all night every night, definitely not. Most of the night he slept, even in a boat he slept. But when there was some very, very important decision which was going to affect the future of the church 9:37 for the next two millennium, 2,000 years. He prayed all night to be able to select the right people. And though there were men and women following with him, the Father gave him the names of only 12 9:56 men. That's why I showed you earlier that there were many women also in that group following Jesus, but the Lord Father never gave in the name of any woman who was to be an apostle or a leader. And that shows that 10:15 and these are the 12 who finally became the leaders in the early church. And so, leadership in the church, as we see consistently in the New Testament, was always with men. Now, in the Old Testament, it was not so 10:35 under the Old Covenant. We read of a time when Deborah was a prophetess. She would in the Book of Judges, uh Book of Judges in 11:00 chapter 4 and verse 4, Deborah, a prophetess. Now, it's interesting we read here in chapter 4 and verse 2, "The Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan." And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord because they were being oppressed, verse 11:21 3, "Oppressed severely for 20 years." Lord, give us deliverance from the strong king. And God gave them a woman. Deborah. That's That's the answer to the 11:40 Israelites praying for 20 years. It is not how God answered Jesus when he prayed all night. Deborah. She used to sit verse 5 under the She's the wife of Lapidoth. Verse 5, she sat under the palm tree. 11:59 And the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment, all the men and women. And she was the one who called Barak and said the Lord has called you to fight against the enemy. Now, what do you think her husband was doing? Her husband was probably cooking 12:14 at home and looking after the children. But he was the Deborah was the judge. Why was that? Is it Is it because God changed his mind from the time of Adam? No, I don't think so. The bravest man in Israel at that time 12:35 was this man called Barak. He was a leader of the army. So, Rebekah Deborah tells Barak, the Lord has commanded, go and I will draw I look at the promise she 12:52 gave Barak. I will bring Sisera out. And I will verse 7 give him into your hand. What a promise. You can go out with great boldness. I have the victory is already assured. And he says, "Sister, if you don't go 13:10 with me, I won't go." That's the bravest man in Israel verse 8. "Sister, you got to come with me. I can't go alone." I mean, God's promise is not enough. So, this is how God is disappointed with 13:30 many men. They don't take the leadership in their home. They don't help with the leadership in the church. And they're not effective witnesses, bold witnesses for Christ. They're effeminate, 13:50 afraid, fearful. They're afraid to stand up for Christ in their place of work, to be known as a wholehearted disciple of Jesus Christ. Not that we have to preach in our place where 14:08 I worked in a ship and in the naval bases we're not allowed to preach. I couldn't go around converting the sailors. But I decided that, "Okay, I'm not going to do the things I'm not supposed to do in this place of work, but 14:25 nobody's going to stop me from putting a Bible on my table. And nobody's going to stop me from having a Bible calendar with a verse on it." So, that that's my own table or in India sometimes people hang a calendar on the 14:43 wall. I'd hang a calendar on my wall with a verse on it. A verse in the Bible. I couldn't preach, but there were ways of making known that I was a Christian. And I remember a Hindu man came up to me 15:01 and got converted. And I say, "If I just keep quiet, said I'm not allowed to preach here and not and avoided and always had an excuse I'm not allowed to preach this so I'm keeping quiet. 15:19 That guy would not have been sent. So, if I'm always finding an excuse why I cannot all the rules in this office are like this. Okay, follow the rules by all means. Don't go against the rules. But nobody can stop you from 15:38 making it known that you're a Christian. You don't laugh at the dirty jokes. You are considerate and helpful. Different from the others who are selfish. And you know, I often think of Joseph. 15:57 You know how Joseph got to meet Pharaoh? Very clear. Of course, it was God's plan. But there's something that triggered it. Something on Joseph's character. Though he was in prison, he didn't sit there moping and feeling sorry for 16:14 himself. That he's so far away and these his God has almost forsaken him. His parents are so far away. This evil woman has accused me and I'm lying here in this prison. He was not. He He was a man. And he saw this Pharaoh's cupbearer 16:38 and baker discouraged and he went up to them. He said, "Hey, why are you looking discouraged?" I've often thought about that. Lord, make me like that. Like somebody in church is looking like that or somebody in my office is looking like 16:58 that. What's the harm in going up to him and say, "Hey, can I help you in some way?" And maybe after a he has a problem, can I say, "Can I pray for you?" 17:14 I believe in Jesus Christ is my Lord. Well, that's what Joseph did. And because of that because he could explain that dream to them. That opened the way for him to meet with Pharaoh. So 17:37 to act like a man and be strong without any fear it's basically, you know, fear is I mean men are afraid too, but fear is basically associated with women or timid. And that must not be there in us. 17:56 I shouldn't be afraid that if I stand up for the truth and I'm righteous in my office I may lose my job. Well, if I lose my job because I'm standing up for the truth and righteousness, I'm ready to lose it. And God will give me something something 18:15 better. Definitely, he'll never let me suffer for honoring him. I've always lived by that verse in 1 Samuel 2:30. Those who honor me, I will honor. So wonderful promise. And I can assure you I've never yet met a person who wholeheartedly honored God 18:35 whom God did not honor. And if you honor God and God does not honor you, you'll be the first person in the history of the human race whom God did not honor. He always honors those who honor him. I've never been afraid to do that 18:51 myself. And I've never been afraid to teach that to others. Because we have a whole lot of men in many churches so timid and fearful and afraid to Think of all these even if you read of some of the 19:10 uh martyrs in the first three centuries of Christianity there were women who were bold. There's a story of this young mother Perpetua 19:27 in the second century or something who became a Christian and her father and she had a baby and because the Roman soldiers came to take her away and her father pleaded with her to give up the faith. She said, "No." She Finally was thrown to the lions. 19:44 Stood true to them. There were bold women like that. And there were men who were like sissies and afraid to proclaim that they belonged to Christ. So it's good for us to read all this to be 20:03 challenged by it. There's a a book called Foxe's Book of Martyrs. A very good book. We had a copy of it in our home. I read through it. Now read very thick book the original one. Now there's a smaller version of it. 20:22 But then there are some stories in that that we could tell our children which enable us to be bold and so that we can act like men in different situations and not be fearful and afraid. And yet it is not the arrogant type of 20:42 man. That's not the type of man who God leads, you know. Sometimes we think firmness means arrogance. No. The one who really lived like a man on this earth was Jesus Christ. He could confront the Pharisees, could 21:06 take a whip and chase whole lot of people were making money in the name of Christ and fearlessly. I mean, I find today some preachers even afraid to preach against these preachers who are making money. Leave alone use a whip on them. 21:24 They're afraid to preach against them. I say, "Oh, we must be nice and gracious." Well, Jesus wasn't gracious to those guys making money in the name of God in the temple. These are examples of what I'm saying, timidity and fear. 21:42 But yet he was the humblest man that walked on the earth. And he told us to learn two things from him. In Matthew 11 verse 29. The one who was a man's man 22:04 most manly man that ever walked on the earth says in Matthew 11:29 "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble." So, manliness is gentleness and humility. It's not timidity. 22:28 But it is gentleness and humility. Gentleness is not a female characteristic. It's It's a characteristic of the most manly man that walked on the earth. So, to couple gentleness with 22:46 firmness when it came to the truth with the rebuking people who needed to be rebuked. He never rebuked a humble person. Never. Humble, broken, adulteresses, or despised Samaritan women. The only people Jesus rebuked were those 23:09 who tried to make money in the name of religion or those who were proud Pharisees who tried to exalt themselves in the midst of God's people. There he didn't spare words. He used some of the strongest words possible. How will you escape the damnation of 23:27 hell? You want to see how Jesus, the real man walked on this earth preached, you only got to turn to Matthew 23. And look at the language he uses. Remember, 23:46 he's the gentlest and the humblest man that walked on the earth. Matthew 23. Woe unto you. That means almost like saying a curse upon you people. And what does he call them in verse 17? 24:03 You verse 16, you blind guides. Verse 14, 15, hypocrites, hypocrites. Verse 13, verse 14, verse 15. Hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites. Verse 16, you blind guides. Verse 17, you fools. 24:23 You blind men. Verse 19, you blind men. Verse 23, you hypocrites. Verse 25, you hypocrites. Verse 27, you hypocrites. Verse 29, you hypocrites. You people 24:40 who look Verse 27, like whitewashed tombs. Beautiful on the outside, but full of dead men's bones inside. How will you you brood of vipers, serpents? Verse 33. How will you escape the sentence of 24:57 hell? Remember, this is the humblest man that walked on the earth. But he was a man. He was not afraid. He wasn't seeking popularity and honor. That's effeminate. It's to act like a woman when you're seeking and you're afraid to stand up 25:16 for what God wants you to stand up for. And uh you're afraid timid at the wrong time. So, if you want to know what it is to be a man in God's church, just meditate on the life of Jesus and 25:33 see the perfect balance of He knew whom to rebuke. And he knew whom to comfort. I think of another example where you 25:53 read in Luke chapter 10. When he was in the house of Mary and Martha. And Martha was doing a good job cooking a meal for Jesus and for all the 12 26:13 others. You know, cooking a meal for 13 people is not easy. Anybody who's tried to cook a meal for 13 people will know that's not easy. It's a lot of hard work. And Mary was not helping her. And she comes to Jesus complaining. 26:30 Lord, Matthew 10 Luke 10:40. Don't you care? She's even rebuking the Lord. Lord, aren't you bothered with my my my sister's not helping me? She You're allowing her to sit there alone. And Jesus answers gently but firmly, 26:48 "Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things. If I were to paraphrase that, you know, in the Gospels, every word is not written of what Jesus said. That means always a gist of what he said. I think he may have said, "Listen, 27:04 Martha, I'm not interested. I didn't come here to eat food, first of all. That's not why I come here for. After we finish the Bible study, then we can cook something light and eat it. I'll come and help you in the kitchen." 27:17 I can imagine he said something like that. "When you're worried about cooking food now, when you should be listening to God's word? What is more important? Don't you remember what Moses taught his people? Man shall not live by bread 27:29 alone, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. And here I'm preaching God's word, and you don't have time to listen to it. You're busy cooking meal. You're worried about so many things. And Mary has chosen the good part." 27:42 Yeah, where a person needed a rebuke, he would rebuke. And where people need comfort, he would comfort. "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." How he would pick up children 28:01 and very tenderly. And I believe he would pray for them and bless them. It's beautiful to see the life of Jesus and his ministry to see the type of man every one of us should become like. That perfect balance. 28:24 If you carelessly read the Gospels like story books, you won't be gripped by it. But if you look at the Gospels, this is what I've sought to do for 60 years, to look at the Gospels to see how Jesus was my example. 28:43 He said to me, all these places which I read, he tells me to follow him. I want to look at him and follow him. And yet at the same time, he was the type of man who we read in in John chapter 6. After he had fed the 29:09 5,000 and the people were amazed and they said in verse 14 of John 6, "This is truly the prophet who has come to the world." He never He never got puffed up. He never got puffed up when he did a miracle or did a preach a fantastic 29:25 message. Then he realized verse 15, they were going to make him a king. And here is the man Jesus. He withdrew into the mountains. He ran away from there. He refused 29:44 to allow them to make him a king. He said, "I'm called here to be a servant." He's so different from 30:00 the average preacher we come across nowadays. It's a rare to find a preacher who's like Jesus who never interested in money, 30:19 never interested in letting people know his needs, and never wanting to be a leader, even though he was a leader, never wanting honor from anyone. And such dignity 30:39 when they we read in Matthew 12 when he had cast out a demon who was blind and dumb. It's a rare case, Matthew 12:22. 30:59 Somebody was both blind and dumb possessed by a demon. And when the demon was cast out by Jesus, he both spoke and saw. A double miracle. The crowds are amazing. This must be the son of David. This must be the Messiah. 31:18 And the Pharisees said, "No, he's rule casting out demons by He's the ruler of demons, so he tells the demon to go, they obey him. Cuz he's the ruler." And Jesus says, "Satan can't cast out Satan." And immediately he says, 31:35 it's the only time he said this, verse 32, "If you speak a word against the son of man, it's forgiven." That's the dignity of a man. They call him the devil. And he smiles and says, "You're forgiven." And it's not only their 31:56 sin that is forgiven. I I I find it I call this future forgiveness. Have you heard of future forgiveness for sins not yet committed? I see Jesus' example here, and I have to follow him. Whoever verse 32 speaks 32:14 not you who spoke in the next 2,000 years, whoever speaks a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven. It's the future. So, what I learned from that is I say, "Lord, I have to follow this type of forgiveness also." 32:34 Where? From now till the end of my life, and if anybody does or says something against me, he's already forgiven right now. It's be forgiven. So, if you hear sometime that somebody said something against you, you must immediately say, "Oh, that's forgiven." 32:49 Or somebody did something against you, you heard about it, forgiven, forgiven. This is a true man. A perfect balance of truth, uncompromising truth, coupled with infinite grace, a balance. Uh that's what 33:12 that's what we need to You know, the grace and truth is something like the bones in our body represent truth, and the flesh is like grace. It's like when If you If If our hands were just bones and somebody you shake somebody's hand, 33:30 he doesn't want to hold your hand if you're totally bones. The thing that makes it soft, a strong bones in the hand, but the thing that makes it soft is the flesh on it. It doesn't reduce any of the bones in the hand. But it's the gentle 33:46 hold that we have on a man's hand. Yet it's firm. It wouldn't be firm if there were no bones there. I see that's the balance that should be in our life, grace and truth. But when we are helping someone 34:03 or lifting someone up, we have to be firm. There must be bones there, otherwise you won't be able to lift them up. Bones all the way in the hand, but flesh that holds them tenderly. And it's that balance that only the Holy 34:21 Spirit can produce in us. You You can hear a message like this and say, "Okay, I'm going to now become this or that." No. It must drive us to our knees and say, "Lord, I can't make myself like Jesus." You know that there's a little book 34:41 written by Roman Catholic. It had to be written by Roman Catholic. The Imitation of Christ. Thomas à Kempis. I read it. There's a many, many good things in it. But, that's not what we are called to do. Imitating Christ, the Mahatma Gandhi, 34:57 who was a Hindu man, who was a great leader in India, he believed in imitating Christ. He would go and bind up the in wounded legs of lep- feet of lepers, and he would wear simple clothes and live very simply and fast often and and 35:13 read the Sermon on the Mount umpteen times. And he said, "Jesus is my guide. Jesus is the one I follow." But, he never became a Christian. When he died, when somebody shot him, his last words were, "Hey Ram, hey Ram." He called out to his Hindu God when he 35:31 was dying. But, yet, it was the Imitation of Christ. He was a very humble man, externally as a human being, greatly respected. No interest in money. No interest in honor or any such thing, 35:49 but it was an imitation. So, that's not It's not the Imitation of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit making us like Christ inwardly. Cuz imitation or the thing is imitation is on the outside. 36:07 I do things all on the outside, and what about my heart and the in- inner man? Whereas, the Holy Spirit wants to change us in the inner man. See, 2 Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter 3 36:37 How do we become like Jesus? It's not by imitation. If you're under the old covenant, you know, living by rules, the law means to live under the law means basically 36:54 to live by a bunch of rules. Maybe you can read the New Testament and follow a bunch of rules and it is old covenant spirit again. I hear many things we hear in the church rules. Get up in the morning and pray to the Father or rule number one. 37:13 Or uh don't get into debt, another rule number two. Read the Bible every day, a rule number three. And you can make lots of commandments. Never get angry with your wife, rule number four. Yeah. Many, many good things. 37:32 It It's like the 10 Commandments. And that is what many people in the church are doing. Making another list of commandments from the New Testament and sincerely trying to follow it. You'll be like Mahatma Gandhi. But it doesn't True Christianity doesn't 37:55 come from that. It's from an inner devotion to Christ. Jesus didn't have a bunch of rules saying I must get up in the morning and pray to the Father or I must do this or I must do that. I must witness to people. When lot of Christians are propelled by 38:15 rules, you know, missionaries for example, in some church the preacher gets up and says, "So many are dying in Africa, in India. What are you guys doing sitting here making money? Come on. Come volunteers to come to go and preach 38:30 the gospel." And a few people are all stirred by that message and come forward and become missionaries. And some mission board will support them. They go around raising money for their support. And they come to India. And I have spent 60 years in India 38:48 meeting umpteen missionaries from every English-speaking country. And 90% of them I had zero respect for. I wish they had never crossed the ocean and come to India. 39:06 They caused more harm than good. There are some people who have done tremendous good. There is a 10% like Amy Carmichael and William Carey and a few people like that. But many others I met they were not godly. They lived at a much higher level than 39:24 all the other poor people and they produced what people call rice Christians. People who became Christians because rice is the staple food in South India. They would they would give them rice. Okay, I'll be a Christian. 39:40 And that's done more damage to Christian work in India. And they would constantly send letters abroad saying this is what I'm doing and this is what I'm doing now and and they have to get money. You won't get money if you don't send the letters. 39:56 And all the Indian people who looked at that said, "Oh, that's how we are going to do serve the Lord. Send letters and to foreign countries and get money." So, it's all you know, you can be an old covenant obeying some things you hear in 40:14 the New Testament. But here it says as long as you read Moses, verse 15, 2 Corinthians 3:15, there'll be a veil over your heart. You won't be able to see Jesus. But if a person turns to the Lord, and 40:33 this is the only place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit is called the Lord. Everywhere the Lord is Jesus or the Father, Jehovah. But here one place it says in verse 17, the Lord is the Spirit. So when you turn to the Holy Spirit, 40:49 that veil is taken away. Then I'm not following rules. The Holy Spirit's inside me. There's no veil now. And there's a freedom. There's a liberty, it says. And now the veil is gone, and what do I see? Not commandments. The Holy Spirit shows me 41:09 verse 18, the glory of Jesus as a man. How a man should live and serve. And then he shows me that glory. And if you have a longing to be like that, he transforms you inwardly 41:28 into that likeness. It's not a rule you're following now, something you heard in the church that you must do. No. Inwardly you're changed into that likeness from glory to glory. This is true Christianity. Where it's not an external imitation of 41:48 Christ. But so when it says in 1 John 2:6, he who says he abides in him must walk as he walked. I see that challenge. I must walk as he walked, and I can take up that challenge in two ways. One is by reading and seeing all that Jesus 42:06 did, and I say, "Okay, I'll also try and do that." That is the imitation of Christ. Or to see all that Jesus did and say, "Lord, it's impossible for me to do this." I can never find this true balances. Where do I use a whip on somebody and 42:20 where do I comfort someone? When I I mean when I speak. When should my words be like a whip and when should my words be gentle and comforting? I don't know. Only the Holy Spirit can prompt us. 42:39 And so the whole secret of the Christian life, if you want to walk as Jesus walked, is to what I call a spirit-controlled life. This is spirit-filled life means where the Holy Spirit has control over my inner life. And I can hear him prompting me in 42:58 different situations. That's how I can be a man and fulfill my responsibility in God's kingdom. So, especially in the church, you know, in 43:17 it Let me just turn to 1 Corinthians 14. In terms of the ministry in the church, it says in word 14, verse 1, "Pursue love 43:36 when you think of serving in the church and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy." It's for everybody. It's for men and women, by the way. Women also can prophesy. That's 43:54 uh Many people ask that question, "Can we allow a sister to share something in the church?" Well, it says in 1 Corinthians 11, "When a woman prophesies, verse 5, This is a woman prophesying verse five. 44:12 She must have her head covered. That's all it says. It doesn't say she can't prophesy. A woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered is disgracing head. No, let her cover her head and then prophesy. So, men and women can both prophesy. 44:29 Pretty clear. That cannot So, what's written later on in 1 Corinthians 14:34 the women are to keep silent in the churches does not cancel what he said one page earlier. Many people just look at that. 44:49 I say Paul doesn't contradict himself. He says in one person one place women can prophesy another place he says women should be silent. We must compare scripture with scripture and say where should they be silent? That is what it says in 45:07 uh you know, one you know that verse 1 Timothy 2 that a woman is not allowed to teach or to have authority. That's why they should be silent. It is a position of authority or a position of teaching she must be silent. But prophesying with her head covered 45:23 she can do it. But so we can't prophesy properly. Uh first of all, let me define prophecy. Prophecy in the New Testament is not foretelling the future like it was in the old covenant. In the old covenant prophecy meant only one thing. 45:41 Basically foretelling the future or speaking on behalf of God even if he didn't foretell the future. John the Baptist was the greatest prophet. He hardly ever foretold anything about the future. But he was the greatest prophet. He was 46:00 anointed to proclaim exactly what God wanted the people at that time to hear, the message of repentance. But in the new covenant prophecy is described very clearly in verse three here, 1 Corinthians 14 verse 3. And this is where men when men must take 46:19 the lead in this. Prophesying is speaking to people to edification, exhortation, consolation. Edification means to build them up. So, all of my sharing 46:38 must be directed to build people up. It's not to show how much of the Bible I know or what I say, will this build people up? Second, it must be something that challenges, 46:58 exhorts, challenges. Not condemn. Exhortation is not condemnation. But we see elsewhere, the spirit of condemnation is not from God. Challenge, and the third is consolation, which is comfort. 47:16 So, everything I share, if it's prophecy, will always be comforting, not all all of them, but at least one of them. Comforting, challenging, building up. And that need not be in a message, it could be when I'm speaking on a phone. 47:35 Could be when I'm writing an email. So, it's not just in this church on Sunday morning I'm prophesying. You can speak to your wife and prophesy to her. Encourage, comfort, build her up. Uh greatly needed. That's when a husband acts like a man. 47:54 And it It a result of verse one, pursuing after love. Lord, let me love people. Let me love people. Then I'll be challenged to encourage them and build them up and comfort them. Then I'll be challenged to encourage my wife and build her up and 48:12 comfort her. That's what a man is supposed to be because a man is supposed to be the leader in this ministry of prophecy. Otherwise, you'll have Deborah's taking over the job. So, pursue after love. Love for Christ and love for people. 48:30 So, I don't believe according to verse one here that I can effectively prophesy in even on a phone or in an email or in a church if I don't love the person or the people I'm talking to. In other words, I start with prophecy 48:51 and I ignore the first two words that are in verse one, pursue after love. And desire earnestly to prophesy. I ignore the first thing. And I say, this is what happened to so many people. So many people want to preach in the 49:03 church. I've seen that in so many places, even in India. They're eager to preach. Eager to share something. They waste people's time and bore people to death. Because it doesn't come out of love. Or they want to get a reputation for 49:21 themselves and want to present in a way that everybody admires them. The test is not how big how clever you are because there are many you know, scholars who can teach so well and so simply. There are 49:40 some great teachers of in colleges and universities who exemplary in the way they make science or something so simple. I once heard of a I think it was a physics professor here in Stanford University in California. It was 50:00 so effective in making true the truth of science and physics so simple that everybody wanted to go to his class. He was not a Christian. He was an excellent physics professor. He could make the great truths of physics so simple 50:14 and clear. Yeah, but that was a profession. We're not to do it like that. We we should make things simple and clear, but it's because we pursue love. We love these people who we are sharing talking to. So, brothers, to be a man 50:34 to be like Jesus, he he everything he said came out of love for people. And so, that's the thing that we need to ask ourselves. Is it love that prompts me to share this? Or I'm thinking of you know, sharing in the meetings, and I believe that all of you 50:52 should seek to share something in the meetings. But ask yourself, first you have to love. Don't first say, "Now, what can I share in the meeting?" That's not number one. Lord, let me love all these people here. And give me a love in my heart for all 51:08 of them, and give me something then that I can share out of love for them. It's like just like a father would do to the children. I mean, you don't function as a father towards your children providing clothing and shelter and all 51:24 without you love them. That's why you want to do the best for them. It's like that. Pursue love, then seek for prophecy. And I say this because many people have not done it. They pursued prophecy. And love here they try to do, but it's 51:41 not primary. It says, "Pursue after love." It says, "Pursue" means the picture that's always come to my mind is you know, in India the buses don't have doors. And uh so even after a bus has left the bus 51:59 stand, you can still run and catch it. It's one of the good things of you you know, you you won't miss it. Otherwise, you know, here the buses have doors, if you run after it, you can't. The door's shut. I've done that many times, you know, 52:11 when I was trying to catch a bus and as I run to the bus stand, the bus has just left. I run after it and catch it. And uh and sometimes the people inside will help you. They'll tell the driver, "Slow down, slow down. There's somebody 52:28 coming." So I think of this pursue after love like that. I'll miss it if I don't I've got to pursue after love. I want it. I want to love everyone. And from a heart of love, God will Your 52:46 heart that's really loves God's people. I tell you God will give you words for them. May not be in the pulpit. Don't have a love for the pulpit. That is a lust. Have a desire to bless people. 53:07 Even if it's in personal conversation. Even if it's by a phone call. Or an email. Why does it only have to be in the pulpit? God gives some people a gift to preach from the pulpit. It's not given to everyone. 53:24 But every one of us can prophesy. It's written to everybody. Earnestly desire to prophesy. You know, uh in one of these places he says, "Yeah, I wish you would all speak in tongues, 53:42 even more that you would prophesy. That's what he says. It's not tongues that's primary. I wish you would all prophesy. Uh somewhere in this chapter. I can't find where it is in this Bible. Verse five? Yeah. I wish you would all speak in tongues, 54:00 but even more that you would prophesy. Think of the tremendous desire probably some of you and many others have to speak in tongues. And the Holy Spirit says you should desire more to prophesy. To speak to people to encourage them and 54:18 build them up. So, that's another mark of being a man. That's what a father does to his children. Provide for them, care for them, so. The men must take the leadership in the church, and I believe there's a great responsibility for that 54:36 in every church and certainly here. And in your home, men must be the leaders in the home. Not just earning the income, but leading and guiding wife and children. That's why it says, you know, when Let's see. We looked at that already, but I'll 54:56 repeat it here. Ephesians chapter five and six it speaks about home relationships. And when it speaks about wives, then it speaks about husbands. It speaks about servants, it speaks about masters. But when it says children, Ephesians 55:12 6:1, obey your parents. The corresponding command is not to the parents. Have you noticed that? Uh Ephesians 5:22, wives, 25, husbands. That's both to each other. 55:29 And Ephesians 6:9, masters, and verse five, slaves. But when it comes to children and parents, it says in verse chapter 6 verse 1, "Children, obey your parents." But, it doesn't say, "Parents, bring up your children in the 55:47 instruction of the Lord." Verse 4, it says, "Fathers." Not parents. And that's not a mistake because in uh you you find the same thing in Colossians chapter 56:07 3. "Children, be obedient to your parents." Colossians 3:20. And again, fathers, 21. Notice that. He's not telling parents. It's not the job of the mother to teach children the Bible. 56:25 No, she They can do it by all means. Every mother will want to share God's word with the children, but the father's responsibility primarily to make sure the children are instructed in the Lord, and the father's responsibility to discipline them. 56:46 And that's where I've seen many husbands who are not men in their homes in this area. They don't take the lead in instructing their children in God's word. They leave it to the mothers. They don't take the lead in disciplining 57:04 their children. That's what I mean by being effeminate. It's like Timothy's father because he was not even a Christian. That's why the mother had to do the job. See, these are the many areas where I believe what it means to be a man in 57:23 God's kingdom, and there's a great need for that in the church. Questions. How can I find out what gifts God wants to give me to build the church. I believe by trial and error. If I try to do something and it doesn't 57:44 work, you know, you're not gifted for that. I mean, if you think you've got the gift of healing, just go pray for a few sick people and you'll find out you're gifted. You'll find out very quickly whether you have the gift or not. 57:58 So, I'll tell you in my own case, when I was first converted, I didn't I couldn't teach. I didn't know. I could give the gospel. So, that's all I could do. Christ died for our sins, brothers, friends, accept Christ. Wherever I got a chance, I would stand 58:18 on the streets and preach the gospel to people and give out tracts on the buses and trains I traveled in. That's all I knew, and I wanted to be an evangelist. Even when I left the Navy, I was I said, "Lord, if you want me to be a 58:34 missionary in some part of North India where the gospel is not preached, I'll go." But, I hardly found anyone I mean, there were a few who came to Christ through my ministry, but an evangelist should be able should be one who brings a number 58:49 of people to Christ. You know, a doctor treats 100 people and one person gets healed, that's not exactly a can't say he's successful. So, an evangelist will be one who number of people would come to Christ. Now, I found that I didn't have that, so then 59:09 but when I found but even in those young days when I started sharing things the word and teaching, I found tremendous freedom and response. That's how I discovered what my gift was. So, trial and error. What are the effective ways of reaching 59:26 those outside the church to make disciples of them. Well, all of us working in different places. We have a I remember one young brother who was a young elder in our church in CFC churches in India. When he was testifying at the end of a 59:44 conference he said from John 3:16, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." And he said, "My I've got a little world around me." He said, "The people I know, 1:00:00 my relatives, the people I work with, and the people I know very intimately. That's my little world. And God so loved this little world that he sent me, his beloved son, into this little world that I might show them the truth and 1:00:23 lead them to everlasting life." It's amazing. So, God has given us all of us a little world. And God loves that little world. We're not to thrust ourselves on them. See, I've come across evangelists who 1:00:41 who go around put their tracks on on garages, on people's windshield wipers, and those drivers when they see they hate Christianity. And the the people who clear that place would have a lot of work to do with all the tracks thrown on the floor. 1:01:00 I've seen that happen with people who give out tracks even on the streets. I never did that. You see, you stand on a street and give out tracks to everybody who comes by. You go 100 yards down the road you'll see all those little tracks on the 1:01:12 ground there. Creating a problem for somebody to clean up. So, we have to be wise. I've given out had of tracks in my life, but you have to be wise in giving it out. See, you give prayer to it. See, Jesus didn't go around giving tracts. He showed his 1:01:30 love, remember? He showed himself as the friend of sinners first, and then as the savior of sinners. So, it's by our life. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. 1:01:50 So, that's how I felt that I felt that my when I was on a ship or on a naval base or anywhere or among my relatives, that that that they see a life in me that will make them feel there's something about this 1:02:08 Christianity, something about this man. I've heard of many people who felt like that about me who were in the Navy years later when they I could see the effect of them. Some of them didn't come to Christ, but at least they knew I was a witness to them. 1:02:23 I'm not I'm called to be a witness. I'm not guaranteed that everyone I witness to will be converted. But I must be a light. They may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven, and you must be a light to our relatives. We all have 1:02:36 unconverted relatives. I've got a bunch of unconverted nominal Christian relatives. But every one of them knows where I stand. What are some of the practical What are some practical gifts for introverts? I'm an introvert. Basically, I'm an 1:02:58 introvert. You won't believe it, but I am. But I believe, you know, if you think of There are basically about four personalities. I won't go into that discussion. But think of the two, extroverts and introverts. Those four are divided into two groups. 1:03:13 Extroverts Extroverts are those very outgoing people, you know, people who want to slap a fellow on the back say, "Hi, great day to see you." And they're called the life and soul of every party. They'll And introverts are those who will wait 1:03:26 for other people to come and talk to them. They're quiet. I'm basically like that. But I believe both of us what I I read a book once which helped me greatly. Uh spirit control temperament 1:03:44 by Tim LaHaye. And I read there something that helped me in my years ago when I was a young Christian that the Holy Spirit comes to make up the lack in our temperament to make us like Christ. The introvert by himself will not be 1:04:03 like Christ, but the Holy Spirit comes to make up that. The extrovert also is not like Christ, but the Holy Spirit comes to make up for that. So, introvert is a person who who'd do a job very faithfully. But he will not reach out to others. And an 1:04:17 extrovert is the other way. You'll give a job to an extrovert, he'll do a shoddy job of it. He won't do it properly. So, each has got advantages and disadvantages. And the Holy Spirit comes to make the extrovert careful in the work he does and make the 1:04:34 introvert outgoing and meet with people and talk to them. So, I must not remain like I am. The Holy Spirit will come to change you. He's come to change us, make us more Christ-like. Okay, another question. When we have an 1:04:47 opportunity to share God's word during or after the meeting, how can we be a blessing to the body? Well, first of all I would say number one with humility. If you're not humble, you'll never be a blessing to anybody because it's only 1:05:02 God who can bless people and God gives us grace to the humble. So, what must come out of your life is not just words. Love of words but grace. And God gives his grace to the humble. If grace does not come forth from you, 1:05:19 you're not going to bless people. Then you just hear something and probably get people to think highly of you because you shared something very clever. It's a great temptation to share something clever to impress people. 1:05:34 Or, you know, many preachers have three points. It's interesting, Jesus never spoke with three points. Any of any of his sermons. And Paul never wrote any of his letters with three points. I'm not against it. I've used it myself sometimes. 1:05:48 But to make people think particularly. So, I'm not saying against it, but don't become a slave to that. How should you share? Share with humility. And then you'll always be a blessing to the body, even if you speak 2 minutes. 1:06:05 How can we test ourselves to see whether we are really often to teach? It'll be very easy. You know, the spirit in which you're speaking will indicate to you whether you're a teacher now. No. Some people are teachers among the 1:06:22 others perhaps. So, then you must teach. I mean, God's gifted me to a teacher, and so I I teach. I don't hesitate. But you know what James 3 says? My brethren, don't be many teachers. 1:06:40 You heard that? Brethren, don't many of you become teachers. James 3:1. Now, James is a teacher. That's why he's writing this episode. He couldn't have written this if he's not a teacher. But he's telling other people, don't 1:06:55 many of you become teachers because your judgment will be very strict. So, we cannot assume. Even when you share, whether you share from the pulpit or from your seat. If you're a teacher, teach. You're not a teacher, 1:07:15 God hasn't given you that gift. You can't teach. You can share something from your heart. Definitely, which can be a great blessing. Maybe you're an encourager. You know there's uh You know that brother Joseph was 1:07:34 encourager. Have you heard of him? Who who remembers? Barnabas Huh? Barnabas Barnabas, right. That was not his name. You know that his name was Joseph. Where was he from? Wasn't he from Cyprus? 1:07:55 Where they first went on their missionary journey. Acts of the Apostles chapter 4. Yeah, he was from Cyprus, a Levite. Acts 4:36. Joseph 1:08:11 a Levite of Cyprian birth. That's where Paul and this guy went on their first trip to Cyprus. He was called Barnabas. The apostles gave him that name called son of encouragement. He was not a teacher, he was an encourager. 1:08:30 But he was such a tremendous encourager that they say, "Hey, you got to change your name, man." You got to Even today people don't know him as Joseph. I don't know how many of you knew that that was his name, Joseph. So, some people have that gift of 1:08:43 encouraging. Take something to encourage you. And you don't need a long time. I'll tell you, you know, I believe you can speak a very powerful message in 5 minutes from the pulpit. You really think about it and don't waste people's time and be glad if you 1:09:03 prepare for it. There are tremendous things that you can do in in this life right so judgement one of the best things to do is to judge yourself 1:09:21 after you share when you go home. You know, what did I say? Ask your wife. Tell her to tell you the truth about yourself. You have a She's supposed to be a helper. You know, Eva was supposed to be the helper. So, helper means they help you to 1:09:38 they correct me. I often ask my wife. And not only that, I sometimes many times I listen to myself from the YouTube video. Listen to the whole message. Just to I say, "Lord, I want to improve my preaching. 1:09:57 I don't believe I do it perfectly. I've done it for years. Listening to myself, listening to myself, listening to myself. I want to do it better. I want to do it better. And I would encourage you to do it even if you don't listen to your whole message. 1:10:13 Okay. How can we be sure we are accomplishing the work God has given us and not any work? John 17:4 John 17:4 is that Jesus said, "Our Father, I have glorified you by finishing the work you gave me to do." So, we glorify God by finishing the work 1:10:29 God gave us to do. God has got a specific task. You know that verse I've often quoted from Psalm 139:16 that before we were born, God made a plan for our life. It was all written down. God's book means in God's mind. Before there was a 1:10:44 single day of mine, single day of mine on earth, it was all written down all the way to my last day on earth. What I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to live, what I was supposed to do. And again, if I seek God Romans 12:1-2, that's the way to know 1:11:01 it. First of all, present every part of your body to God. If you want to know God's will, Romans 12:1-2 is the way to know God's will. Uh present every part of your body to God. Say, "Lord, take my hands, my eyes, my tongue. 1:11:17 Never let me offer it up to you completely." That's verse one. And verse two is, "Lord, change my mind by um through the scriptures to make it more like the mind of Christ, to think like Jesus." Then it says in Romans 12:2, "You will 1:11:33 know the perfect will of God." Not know it, but you'll prove it. Prove it means not by some word from heaven like "Abraham, Abraham, do this." Or "Samuel, Samuel, do this." No, but prove it in real life. That is how we know God's will. And he 1:11:49 doesn't show us the whole future day by day by day. If you're obedient, he'll show you the next You know, like I said the other day, if you have a torchlight, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. As you obey, you'll see more. You keep 1:12:02 walking forward with the torchlight. Okay, when you read the New Testament, the apostles seem to be convinced of their calling, ministry, and gifts. How can we be convinced of the same? Well, as I that I've already answered by 1:12:14 you exercise yourself in a area and you discover whether you have it or not. How can we keep from getting discouraged or feeling down in the work we do in the church that it is not good enough? I believe we should overcome 1:12:27 discouragement completely. We We get discouraged because we have high thoughts about ourselves. You think I think I'm in the 10th grade and I'm actually in the second grade. And then I say, "Just recognize you're in the 1:12:42 second grade, brother. You're not in the 10th grade." So, you have to have a lowly estimate of yourself. You know, if you get up and preach like some using the way you heard somebody else preach, But you're not you're not 1:12:54 supposed to be that person. You're supposed to be yourself. Be humble yourself and speak at your level. Otherwise, it looks so odd, you know, like a child trying to imitate a grown-up man and talking and be as awkward as a child 1:13:09 wearing his father's trousers and walking along in that. I've seen sometimes people try to talk to way above their own spiritual level. I really admire those who recognize their limitation and say, "This is the level I'm in." 1:13:25 So, um don't seek to impress. Then you won't get discouraged. And say, "Lord, this is all I can do." And when you're not when you don't have anything to say, don't say anything. Simple. And 1:13:48 um when you miss speaking, don't try to drag on. I I had to I had to tell some people even in CFC church. I said, "Brother, for the first so many minutes even those who were sharing in the main meeting, um 1:14:06 gifted brothers, I said for the first 15 minutes, there was a real anointing on you. And then it was over. And you should have sat down. But you didn't. I said, "Oh, it's so bad if it sounds speak only 15 minutes. I must 1:14:22 doesn't sound nice if I don't speak at least 25 minutes." They go on and on and the next 10 minutes you spoil the whole thing. And I said the the example I use is think of Jesus as a car carpenter and you're a carpenter. Jesus hires you to 1:14:34 be the carpenter. And you have to work from 9:00 to 5:00. And you finish the table perfectly. But it's only 4:30. Oh, I've got another half an hour. So, you take take the plane again and start planing the table and mess up the whole 1:14:50 thing. It was perfect at 4:30. And you should have finished. That's what I the example I use. That when you have finished, don't try to drag on. Okay, another last question is, how do you maintain a balance of a healthy home 1:15:05 life while not neglecting usefulness in the church? I've often said the first floor is or the ground floor is the first story is your personal walk with God. The next the second floor on top of that second story is your family life. Only 1:15:24 on top of that you can build a third story the church. Your ministry in the church is is got must have the foundation which is God's perfect love for me. I know him as my father. Walking with a clear conscience every day. 1:15:37 That's the first floor, first story. And walking in humility in my home and love in my home with my wife, bearing with her, recognizing that she's a weaker vessel, and considering her a joint heir of the grace of life, and at the same time being the head in 1:15:57 the home, not letting her take over the headship. Some people when they hear that we must love our wife, they allow the wife to take over the headship. Take major decisions in their home concerning the home or children or especially in 1:16:12 spending of money. Many I believe one of the areas where you really need to be a man at home is the way you spend money at home. You must be the head to decide how you're the one who's earning the money. You must decide how the money is spent. 1:16:30 And if you're faithful in all those things, then you can build on top of that. I don't believe a woman must be allowed to handle the finances. I must not be the authority. I you can do your money to use, but you must be the one who decides and 1:16:46 controls it. It's not not lavish and beyond your means and that you have asked you have enough to save for the future. Many of you got small children, you got to educate them. You must college ex- expenses are very high. 1:17:03 Only that you as a man must take the lead in that. Those are things that if you are there, then uh you'll be useful in the church as well. So, I don't think we should neglect our home in these areas by thinking church is more important. 1:17:23 And we must offer ourselves also in the church to do any type of job the elders give us. A lowliness of mind. If we are in a location without a church that preaches the new covenant, okay. How can we know whether to submit to a 1:17:37 local church eldership that is acceptable versus attempting me to other light? Yeah, that is the purely a inner witness of the Holy Spirit. We can know the will of God. You read me if you read my book finding God's will. 1:17:56 I've given these two passages, Romans 12:1 and 2 and Proverbs 3:5 and 6. Trust in the Lord with all my heart. And in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your These are two verses on which I based that book. Proverbs 3:5 and 6 and Romans 12:1 and 1:18:10 2. And then I said, "The ultimate test is the inner witness of the Holy Spirit." So, that is how we know what to do in a particular situation. So, there's no way I can give a standard answer to this. If you see God, God will give you an 1:18:27 inner witness whether you should continue in that church or meet with other like-minded believers and start another fellowship. And the next question is apart from prophesying and speaking in tongues, what are the practical ways that the 1:18:43 church built up? Do ordinary things like picnics, games, etc. Definitely. We found tremendous blessing in picnics and games, especially children. The children feel they're involved in a church when in a picnic where we get them to play and they 1:18:58 realize that and if the adults also join with them. They games that the children and adults can play together. There we used to have something like that sometimes an indoor uh indoor games and also 1:19:15 those who are not capable in other areas you'll have I feel you know in such picnics sometimes we have long time out in the park or something and then we can sit and talk to people at length. And it's a great opportunity to talk 1:19:29 one-on-one and to play games with them. And and we used to have games, soccer games in the our picnics where you'd have two teams and we'd have enough men on both sides to play that game. 1:19:49 And there were some very good players. And to ensure that no at the end of it one team did not feel we won. We'd have a break, you know, there's a half time break. And after half time I would say half of you join this team now and half of you 1:20:03 go to the other team. So we mix up the teams up at half time so that at the end of the game nobody could say we won. Nobody won. Because the aim of the picnic was to get everybody to have a good time playing and not to see who won. 1:20:19 So we found it it built a lot of fellowship. And I'll tell you it exposed a lot of people's anger. If they want to judge themselves, you try playing soccer and you'll be able to find a lot of areas to judge yourself. Uh 1:20:37 and become more like Christ. That's also building the church. So, I believe in that also. Okay, the question is what is the inner witness of the Holy Spirit? In the Old Testament, God spoke from outside. Abraham, Abraham, Samuel, Samuel. 1:20:57 But, that's because the Holy Spirit was outside. He upon people, upon, upon, upon, upon. But, in John chapter 7, he speaks about the rivers of living water flowing from inside. That is only possible after the day of Pentecost. 1:21:14 Now, we would wish that today also God will speak to us from the outside calling us from outside. That is not the best way and I'll prove it to you. Jesus was with the disciples all the time. Those 3 and 1/2 years. And they were never scared of anything. 1:21:34 If the Lord was there, not enough food, the Lord will take care of it. Storm in the lake, the Lord will take care of it. He was always there. Always there to guide them. What shall I do next, Lord? He'd tell him. Where shall I go now? All 1:21:46 everything. When I go, what should I do? When he sent out the disciples two by two to witness. Clear directions. But, he said to them, "It is good for you that I go away." They couldn't understand that. How could it be good? 1:22:03 The the physical presence of Jesus speaking, speaking, speaking. In spite of all, here's the proof of it. In despite of all that Jesus taught them for 3 and 1/2 years, on the last night when they knew Jesus is going going to die and go away 1:22:21 to heaven, what are they discussing? What? Who's going to be the next leader? What they learned with the three and a half years of Jesus? Nothing. They learned about humility. They all wanted to know who's going to be the 1:22:38 leader. They're not worried about Jesus going away. They're who's going to be the leader? Who's going to take over now? That teaches us that even if you have Jesus with you on the outside, you will not change. That's why he said it's good for you 1:22:51 that I go away. And they were scared like anything. The doors locked up even though they saw Jesus physically after the resurrection. They were still locked up. But the day the Holy Spirit came in inside, then they threw open the doors and they 1:23:07 began they were fearless. So, the Holy Spirit coming inside is what we need. That's why we always need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the spirit will witness to our spirit what we should do. Particularly in matters of conscience or 1:23:26 guidance in important things, uh what we have to do. I mean, not uh you can become ridiculous now. Which shirt should I wear today or there's a ridiculous things like that, you know. I'm talking about prompting to not only in matters of 1:23:44 conscience, but also particularly should I marry this person? Should I take this job? Should I go here? The more you hear God, the more you'll be able to understand that witness of the spirit within. If you don't develop the habit of 1:24:02 listening to God, you cannot have that inner sense you have the Holy Spirit telling you what to do. In other words, first of all, begin with the written word of God. Whatever you have read in God's word, obey it. Is there anything that you know in 1:24:20 scripture that you've not obeyed? Don't seek for the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit says, obey the outer witness first. What Are you aware of anything that you've read in scripture which you're not even 1:24:34 trying to obey? I'm not saying that you're perfect. At least are you trying to obey? Lord, I want to obey it at any cost. I want to get I want to get my life straight in that area where you've spoken. And if the Lord sees that you're really 1:24:47 serious, for example, lusting with the eyes, you may it may take you many years to overcome it. Anger may take you some long time to conquer. But the Lord sees you're really at it. And you're on the right track, that's okay. 1:24:59 You don't have to have achieved it in perfection. Be anxious for nothing. Rejoice always. Are you seeking to obey it? You seek commands that you may not have reached there, but you're climbing that mountain. All these are mountains. Don't 1:25:12 lust after a woman. Don't get angry. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Be anxious for nothing. Love your enemies. It's all mountains to climb. And you see, the Lord sees you are climbing, not sitting back and saying, "Well, not possible." 1:25:29 But then you will never have the inner witness of the Spirit. But if you see that you're climbing in all these areas, let us press on to perfection. Then the Lord will give you that inner witness of the Spirit when it comes to 1:25:41 whom to marry, where to go. I've had such clear direction in my life in so many, many important things. So much time I've been wasting in my life. Even concerning where to go. That's how all these different churches got 1:25:56 planted. I The Lord led me, that's all I can say. I didn't plant them, the Lord planted them. But the Lord led me where to go. So, but it'll come if you're obeying the other things that you know in scripture, or at least seeking to obey them. 1:26:10 Don't condemn yourself if you haven't attained. Paul said, "I've not yet reached. I'm pressing on to perfection." And many, many commands in scripture are like mountains we are attempting to reach, but you must take it seriously. 1:26:23 For example, I decided to take seriously rejoice always. I must always have a spirit of joy in my life. Never be gloomy and depressed and in bad mood. Now, it may take you some years to get there. But my question is, are you climbing the 1:26:39 mountain? It took me many, many years to get there, but I decided to get there. Or let your speech always be with grace. Colossians 4:6. It's a mountain. Are you trying to get there? And uh 1:26:59 in everything give thanks. Pray without ceasing. There are many, many commands like this. They're not suggestions. There are no suggestions in the New Testament. Commands, commands. Love your enemies and 1:27:18 forgive everyone. Everyone. Completely. If you're struggling, say, "Lord, help me. I want to forgive everyone." Don't get offended if with correction or anything. Lord, I want to get there. And if God sees you doing that, I 1:27:41 guarantee you will know inwardly the witness of the Holy Spirit telling you what to do in many, many situations. It's not something that can be defined or explained. If you follow these things, I tell you you will hear the witness of the Spirit 1:27:56 clearly. You will hear You know that verse in Isaiah 30:18, "Your ears will hear a word behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it.'" And your eyes will see your teacher. It's a new covenant prophecy, Isaiah 30 verse 15 onwards. 1:28:11 Your eyes will see teacher, as Jesus and your ears will hear in the inner ear when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. What would you say to younger believers who are still training their spiritual ear to know the voice of God 1:28:27 and still be protected from going astray or making a wrong decision? Yeah. See, we all begin as babies. And I can't say I've not made mistakes. I've made numerous mistakes in my life as a young Christian. Uh but I've learned from those mistakes. 1:28:49 By mistakes, I don't mean gross sins. You see, the commandments given in the first nine commandments, the 10th commandment is very difficult to keep. Paul also said that. That's a new covenant only we can obey it. But the first nine 1:29:02 commandments, we can keep. Unbelievers keep it. There are so many unbelievers who can testify I never killed anybody and I never bear false witness in the court, etc. So, but still as Christians when we are new Christians, there are many areas where 1:29:20 we are careless in our speech. We frequently discouraged and gloomy and bad moods and so many things is not supposed to be in a spirit-filled Christian. But it is there, but we battle it and say, "Lord, I don't want to remain like 1:29:34 that." You're constantly pressing on to perfection. We had that verse in our pulpit in Bangalore. Let us press on to perfection. Challenging everybody who came there. Are you pressing on to perfection? Are you seeking to be filled with the Holy 1:29:49 Spirit? Ephesians 5:18 is be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. So, we must seek for that. And don't get discouraged. In the beginning, we are learning. Haven't you seen our children write the ABC? They they're not able to write it 1:30:05 properly. Now, how carefully you can write it today. But you took years to be able to write it carefully even or our children learn to add in their mind, takes time. But you can add so many things in your mind today. So, everything comes with 1:30:21 growth. Spiritual life also there's a growth. And so, we shouldn't be discouraged. I'm sure all of us when we did math problems in our younger days, we made mistakes. We didn't get every math problem correct from day one. It's the same way we grow 1:30:36 spiritually. Don't be afraid if you've made a mistake. Only thing, be honest about it. I'll tell you the person who does not grow. The person who's not honest about some mistake he made, tries to cover it up or find some excuse for it. It was because 1:30:50 of this or because of that. You keep saying that, 25 years later you'll still be in the kindergarten. I guarantee it. I've met people who make mistake who make mistakes and find some excuse for it. They will be in the kindergarten 1:31:03 forever. But a person who's honest and say, "Yeah, that was wrong." Honest, humble himself. He'll go to the next grade and learn little by little. Always be honest. In the day I defined walking in the light. Walking in the light is in simple 1:31:20 words, be honest. If you walk in the light, we have fellowship with God. If you're honest, you can have fellowship with God. If you're not honest and you try to cover it up and use some other excuse, you cannot have fellowship with God. 1:31:32 So, that's so we even a young Christian need not be discouraged if they make mistakes. Just be honest. God doesn't ask us to be perfect. He says, "Press on to perfection." But he wants you to be honest, absolutely honest. And I decided long 1:31:46 ago that if I made a mistake, I would say, "I'm sorry. I made a mistake. That was my mistake." Even today I'd say it. Sorry, that was my mistake. It was not I shouldn't have done it like that. I believe God loves honest people. 1:31:59 It's the one thing he asks us to be honest, which is the Even a prostitute can be honest. A murderer can be honest. That's all the thief on the cross went to paradise because he was honest. That's all. And there are people who've been 1:32:14 Christians for years who haven't learned what the thief on the cross learned in the very first moment of his conversion. It's pride that prevents us from being honest. Remember that. Humility and honesty are like twins. 1:32:31 They always go together. The humble person will always be honest. And the proud person will never be honest. So, that's it. So, honesty and humility go together. Remember this. If you're dishonest somewhere, it is one of the clearest proofs that 1:32:49 you're not humble. If you try to cover up something when you know what you did was wrong, you are a proud person and you'll never get grace until you learn to be honest, until you go and set right what you did wrong, where you gave 1:33:03 people a wrong impression. Go to them and say, "I'm sorry for deceiving you." It requires humility to do that. If you make a mistake, go to anybody, even if it's someone much younger than you. You spoke rudely to somebody. 1:33:19 Go and apologize. I decided to do that. I don't care who it is. I say unbeliever, I'm ready to apologize to them. Young person, I'm ready to apologize to a child. Or someone much younger than me, because I know I'll miss such a lot 1:33:34 if I'm not honest. I mean, God shows me something that was wrong. Be honest. Be honest with your wife and say it was wrong what I said. I'll tell you, if you just follow this one simple advice I give you today, to always be ruthlessly honest. That's 1:33:52 the word I use. Ruthlessly honest. You'll be amazed to see what progress comes in your life in the next 1 year. What an anointing can come upon you because if we are honest, we are fellowship with God. If you love money, 1:34:12 be honest about it. God will deliver you from it. Be honest what where you slipped up and lusted with your eyes. Be honest and say, "Lord, that was lust. It was dirty. The sexual lust." You will get deliverance very quickly 1:34:28 rather than the other person who covers it up in some other excuse or or doesn't admit it to God. So, I believe that many, many, many Christians have not learned the simple truth of honesty. I would encourage all of you to learn it 1:34:47 however late in life. Learn it as soon as possible so that you don't waste any more years of your life. A close relationship with your loved ones, unconverted relatives. Well, first of all, I'd say don't be a preacher to 1:35:01 them. They'll get fed up. They won't want to listen to you anymore. Jesus was a friend of sinners. Then he died for sinners. So, I think we have Jesus is called He was called the people called him the friend of sinners. 1:35:16 So, how is that? How did very simple people came to could come to Jesus because he was not all going there to correct them straight away. They saw in him a love and an affection, a helpfulness, and uh I mean, he had the power to heal the 1:35:34 sick. We don't have that power, but there are other things we can do to help them in practical ways and uh not just preach to them. See, if we do something good and speak encouraging words, 1:35:51 we are building a foundation on which we can preach the gospel. So, that is the best thing we can do to our unconverted relatives. You know, if any of my unconverted relatives would ask me for anything, I'd do it straight away. 1:36:06 I say, as far as possible, I do it because I want to win that guy to Christ. So, if there's any way I can do it, I would do it for him. So, I'm not saying if he asks you for a big loan, give it to him because we we have people who are the principle 1:36:21 in Bangalore in this matter of loan because the Bible says uh people should not owe anybody anything. And I've had people complain to me, "Brother so-and-so borrowed money from me and didn't return it." I said, "That was your mistake lending 1:36:35 him that much money." So, we made a rule in the church in Bangalore. How much should you lend a person? As much as you can give him as a gift. Because one day he doesn't return it, you say, "Well, that's a gift for you." 1:36:52 Now, there are situations if somebody very close to you, you may even be willing to sign as a someone who can guarantee that payment for his for a house, anything. That's different. But I'm talking about people who are not 1:37:07 that close to you, whom you would not be like to commit yourself financially and so unconverted relatives, if there's any practical way we can do good to them, bless them, encourage them. And if they are close to you, invite 1:37:25 them over home and be friendly to them. But don't just preach to them always. We We pray that God will give you an opening sometime. And in small give the gospel in small doses, not altogether. 1:37:45 And one of the best ways is to give a little testimony about some events. Some situation where you just say this thing happened and God helped me and answered my prayer. You just say it in 5 minutes and leave it and change the subject and don't go 1:38:00 on preaching from there. And take wait for another opportunity to put some more in. Cuz if he sees that you're constantly preaching, they'll stop listening. I'm telling you from my experience. I did it the wrong way first. 1:38:14 And I I learned to change. But we must also pray. If you have a particular those who are very close to us, parents, I see the two directions, vertical, parents, children. That's our number one responsibility. Children, then parents. 1:38:32 Second responsibility is brothers and sisters, horizontal. And then go to cousins and all that. But we have an an immediate responsibility to pray for our children and our parents. And then our brothers and sisters that they be converted. And then 1:38:49 outside that circle to those relatives. And you must pray for them. Pray Lord not that you have to pray every day, but whenever you have a burden, mention them and pray, Lord, please give me an opportunity to be a witness 1:39:03 there. And you'll be amazed to see how sometimes God unexpectedly gives you an opportunity. And beyond that, if they see your life, the uprightness of your life, that'll convince them. But honesty with God, 1:39:21 we must not be honest with every human being. Let me tell you that. I'm glad you brought it up. I want to clarify that. I was only talking about honesty with God. That is all I was talking about when I spoke about honesty. 1:39:36 If you are honest, we have fellowship with him. And that is that if you had a dirty thought, don't say something else. If you are angry somewhere, tell God I was angry. I was wrong on my part. But if you are angry with a person, you 1:39:52 must confess to him also, I'm sorry I was angry with you. The way I spoke to you was rude. I'm sorry, please forgive me. But that type of honest confession of our sin to people if I've hurt them. But I must never confess a sin to that 1:40:07 person which I've not done against him. If I've done it against I confess only to God. You don't confess to a person what you did not sin against him. So, you confess to your wife sins you have committed against her. Not 1:40:26 what your thoughts you had which is before God. Those words that you spoke to her. So, honesty does not mean I have to reveal everything about my inner life to anyone. No. Remember your first relationship is to Christ and not to your wife. 1:40:45 I told my wife before I got married her, I said you'll always be second in my life. You'll never be first. And I want to be second in your life, too. Christ must always be between us. And I say that even today to her. You will always be second in my life. 1:41:01 Christ will be first. And I want to be second in your life. Our married life will be glorious if we place each other second and Christ is first. Christ is always between us. In other words, I'm not going to displease the Lord in order to please you. 1:41:13 Sorry. And I don't want you to go against your conscience in order to please me. We'll have a wonderful marriage. And your own relationship with Christ will develop and my relationship with Christ will develop. So, there are things which 1:41:31 it's not wise to tell your wife. Because she cannot bear it. And also there may be things that we have to keep confidential. I mean I remember when I was in the military there were things that in the intelligence department we're not supposed to tell 1:41:49 anybody. That's just an example of we're not supposed to tell our wives of things in confidential things in the office. Maybe you're not supposed to tell your wife. So honesty does not mean to walk in the light with your wife is 1:42:04 anything that concerns her and your relationship. There we must be honest. There are so many other things we deal with as men. It doesn't concern her. We must be honest in the areas that concerns me. It is like with children also. You know 1:42:21 that children can only bear so much information. So we have to be wise in what we tell our children. Like even sexual matters. You don't tell that to a three-year-old or a four-year-old. There's a certain age that you can 1:42:36 So we must be wise in those things. At what age can I introduce certain subjects to my children and be honest with them. So everywhere wisdom is I always use this illustration. You drive a car, let love be the gas in your tank. 1:42:54 But let wisdom steer the car. Must be in the driver's seat always. So our love must be guided by wisdom. Not Otherwise we can do a lot of foolish things in love. You love your wife, but let your love 1:43:11 for your wife be guided by wisdom. Wisdom determines what you say and what you don't say. So you can love your wife fervently. But wisdom must determine what you say and what you don't say and things like that. The same with our relationship with one 1:43:29 another. Wisdom must We may love our brothers and sisters but must be wise in what we say and what we don't say. The question is James 5:16 says confess your sins to one another. This is a good example. Every verse 1:43:51 must be read in its context. A text taken out of context will you will misunderstand it. So never take a verse by itself. What is the context? 1:44:11 Somebody is sick verse 15. And he is verse 14 and he has called you to come and pray. And why did he call you? Because he is so sick that he could not come to the church meeting. So he calls you to come to his home. 1:44:29 That's why he calls for the elders of the church to come to his home. This is not a man who came to the meeting. He's sick at home. He calls for the elders James 5:14 and they come and pray for him. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick. 1:44:47 And if he has committed sins verse 15 it will be forgiven but he must confess those sins. This is who? The sick person. Because sometimes sickness is due to sin. Jesus sometimes told a person 1:45:06 don't sin again lest some worse thing come upon you. You know the paralyzed man whom he healed the pool of Bethesda. He was paralyzed because of some sin. The Lord said don't sin again otherwise something worse will happen to you. 1:45:19 So it's in that context it says confess your sin. So the person who is sick prays and says, "Lord, I'm sorry. I want to acknowledge this sin." He said, "Only the elders are there." The guy, even his wife is not there. 1:45:37 It's just the elders praying for him. And he acknowledges the sin. And there's some situations where he may have to confess it in public. But only the elders, not in a church. It's in the context of healing where he feels, 1:45:52 "My sickness is not gone because there's some sin unsettled in my life." So, I never encourage people to confess their sins to other people because our sins are against God. If I've sinned against you, 1:46:10 I hurt you, then I must confess to you. But I will not confess to you a sin I committed against God alone. So, the rule is con- sin must be confessed in the circle in which it was committed. Most of our sins, only God is there. 1:46:25 Thought life, only God is in that circle. I only confess to him. But if in if another person was also involved in that sin, then he's in that circle. I must confess to him also. This is an example of how people take a verse without seeing the context, 1:46:43 and then they get a wrong understanding. The question is, what do we have to do to prevent bitterness coming up in our hearts against people? Our bitterness usually comes against people with whom we are closely connected. 1:46:57 An employer in our place of work, or a relative who took advantage of us. Uh it can even come against our husband or wife, bitterness. Now, bitterness means you have an unforgiving attitude towards that person. Now, the Bible says, 1:47:21 "Forgive us our sins, Lord, as we forgive others. And the Bible also says, "Imitate God in Ephesians 5:1, in the way we forgive others." So, I have to look at how Jesus has forgiven me. I mean, that is my example to forgive 1:47:41 other people. I've done so much wrong against the Lord, and he forgave me. Say, "Lord, help me to forgive others just as you have forgiven me." Forgive us our sins as we forgive others. And we forgive others in the way we God has forgiven us. 1:47:58 So, the the thing that can help you to overcome bitterness is think of how much you have sinned against God, and he forgave you freely. And the Lord says, "Now, treat others the way I've treated you." The it's one of the commandments. 1:48:15 Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. And also, I would say, "Do unto others as God has done unto you." But, that's the best way I find. When you think someone has done a terrible thing against me, meditate on how serious your sin was 1:48:33 against God, and God forgave you. So, then, it's a very dangerous thing to have bitterness, because bitterness will destroy you. It's like swallowing poison. You keep that poison in your mouth, chew it, and chew it, and chew it, it'll 1:48:48 kill you. Bitterness is exactly like I've seen people I believe finally they lose their salvation and go to hell. Born-again people who became bitter against somebody, and then kept it at that, and they lost their salvation. 1:49:05 So, always forgive others as soon as possible. In fact, I've been stressing it so much, especially in the last 1 year. Forgive others. Forgive others. Forgive others. And the way to remember is the way to do it is think of how much God forgave you.
