0:00 answers in the verses or become disciples. That's our choice. Scribes get more honor before people. Disciples get more honor before Jesus. So, it depends what you're seeking for. So, 0:19 our knowledge of the word must not stop with that. And so, questions that relate to knowledge are not important as important as questions related to life. There are some questions we can't easily 0:39 answer, but we believe by faith. So, these things must be borne in mind when we So, we tried to you know, split up these questions into different categories. Now, I'll try and answer them. Uh what are all the things that God did 0:59 for Jesus that he'll do for us? Well, I would say everything which is in God's will. The primary thing, first of all, let's see what God Jesus did. What Jesus did is described in one sentence in John 6 1:18 and verse 38. In this one sentence, you have in one sentence the entire life of Jesus. A one-sentence autobiography of Jesus' life. "I have come from heaven." John 6:38. 1:36 "Not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." Everything Jesus did is in that one sentence. When he died on the cross, he primarily died on the cross to obey his father, not doing his own will, but the will of 1:55 his father. And as a byproduct, our sins were forgiven. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. The father sent the son. The son obeyed. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he was obeying the father. 2:13 There were a thousand other people who died in in Israel during Jesus' lifetime. He never raised any of them from the dead cuz it was not the father's will. He went to the pool of Bethesda and healed one person, and all the other 2:26 multitude left unhealed. It was not the father's will. A lot of people teach that Jesus healed everybody he saw. It's not true. So, we must see what What did Jesus do in his life? He didn't travel to India, America, China cuz it is not in the 2:41 father's will. So, the father's will doesn't mean reaching here, reaching there, going here, going there. Activity is a characteristic of man even in Christian work. But, he sought to know his father's will in every area, 2:56 and he could do it perfectly. And what you and I need to know is that God has got a perfect plan for your life and mine. And every detail of that can be fulfilled exactly if you'd say one thing, "Lord, I never want to do my own will." Like I've often 3:13 said, you can ask God in prayer for anything you like if you conclude the prayer with one sentence, "but not as I will, but as thou wilt." Okay. Uh when seeking to overcome sin in our lives, how does growing our discipline and 3:31 dependence on the Holy Spirit work? Uh I know it's not discipline alone. See, there's a combination between the work of the Holy Spirit and our cooperation. Read Romans 8 and verse 13, and you see that balance. If you want to live spiritually, Romans 3:53 8:13 says, "By the Holy Spirit, you put to death the desires of the body or the deeds of the body. That's discipline. You will live." Like in 1 Corinthians 9, the last verse, the Living Bible paraphrase, Paul says, "I train my body to do what it should 4:13 do, not what it wants to do. My body wants to do a lot of things. My eyes want to look at a lot of things, but I say, 'No, you're not supposed to look at.' My tongue wants to say a lot of things, and I say, 'No, I discipline my body to 4:26 do what it should be doing, not what it wants to eat, what it should be eating, not what it wants to eat.' This is discipline. The Holy Spirit helps me, but he will not force me. If you want to be a undisciplined Christian, that's up 4:39 to you. Paul said, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable." There are many lawful things we can do in our life, many, many things. But a disciplined person, out of the 100 lawful things, he'll select 10 4:52 profitable things because that's all he's got time for. And he does that. And another Christian who spends his life saying, "I never do anything unlawful. I only do what's lawful." You see, 10 years later, there's a tremendous difference between these two, 5:05 even though both of them avoided unlawful things, yet this one person selected the 10 lawful things out of the 100 No, the 10 profitable things out of the 100 lawful things he could do. That's discipline. That means he spent 5:18 his time during the day not just doing lawful things, but selecting, giving priority to the things which are spiritually profitable. That doesn't mean you can't go on a vacation or you can't have some entertainment. I think entertainment, 5:31 relax- relaxation of the mind and the emotions, and a break from work is actually a profitable thing. So, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. Okay, another question is, if you're trying to overcome a sin, do you avoid the environment or do you 5:46 try to overcome the sin in the environment? If the sin is no longer in your life, might sin when you go back to the environment. Have you overcome it? There's no virtue in facing temptation. Jesus taught us to pray, "Lead us not 6:00 into temptation." He He didn't teach us to pray, "Lord, lead me into temptation and show me how I can overcome it." No, "Lead us not into temptation." Don't walk into a adult sex store with pornographic books and say, "I'm going to overcome." 6:19 You're You're foolish if you do that. It's like saying, "How close can I stand to the edge of a cliff without falling down?" Only little children try such things. Adults will stay at some distance away. And also, what should you do 6:35 when you're tempted with immorality? There's one verse, 1 Corinthians 6 verse 18. It doesn't say, "Confront immorality and overcome it." No. What does it say in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 18? "Flee from immorality." And I'll tell you something. 6:55 If you flee from immorality, the devil will flee from you. Which would you like? The devil fleeing from you or the devil getting at you because you didn't flee from immorality? So, it's all a question of what you consider to be serious. The Lord never 7:14 said this is a New Testament. This is under the new covenant. It says, "Flee from immorality." That is my the proof that I'm choosing God. When I flee from immorality, I'm saying, "Lord, I don't want that. I want you." So, that's a a testimony 7:30 before God. Okay. How to pray in the spirit? Is it praying in tongues? If yes, how to pray in tongues? Is by repeating a few syllables I got when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit? See, there's a difference between praying in the spirit 7:47 and praying with the spirit. They're two different things. A lot of people don't confuse these uh statements. Ephesians chapter 6, all of you must put on the whole armor of God, verse 11, which lists a number of things 8:05 down there. And finally, it says, "With all prayer." Verse 18. "Pray at all times in the spirit." The opposite of praying in the spirit is in the flesh. In the flesh means selfish, self-centered prayers. Flesh and self are basically the same. Self-will, 8:23 self-will, and flesh. Praying self-centered prayers is praying in the flesh. Praying God-centered prayers, "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That is praying in the spirit, where God is the 8:39 center of our life, and our needs get taken care of. We seek in God's kingdom first. His righteousness, the other things will be added to us. Whereas, praying with the spirit is different. It says in 1 Corinthians 14, the opposite 8:52 of praying with the spirit is praying with the mind. And it's got nothing to do with the flesh now. Paul says, "I will pray with the spirit." Verse 1 Corinthians 14:15. "I will pray with the spirit, and I'll pray with the mind." Ephesians 6, 9:09 it's referring to the Holy Spirit. Praying in the Holy Spirit, opposite of which is praying in the flesh. Here, it is praying with my spirit and praying with my mind. Praying in tongues is praying from my spirit when my mind is either too tired to pray 9:27 or I don't know what to pray for, then God gives us the ability to pray in tongues, but the Bible teaches that everybody does not have this gift. That's very clear in um 1 Corinthians 12 verse 29. "Are all apostles?" Definitely, being an 9:45 apostle is a greater blessing to the body of Christ than speaking in tongues, but God doesn't make all apostles. Why? Why doesn't he produce thousands of Are all No. "Are all prophets?" Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had thousands of 9:59 prophets? Yes, but God doesn't make all prophets. Are all teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles? No. Do all have the gift of healing? No. Do all speak with tongues? No. How much clearer can it be? Do all interpret? It's so clear that if someone 10:18 says that everybody must speak in tongues, it's like saying everybody must be an apostle or everybody must be prophet. There's no other interpretation for that. And praying in tongues is not just a question of repeating. If God has given 10:31 you the gift of tongues, you can exercise it as God gives it to you. And usually I never exercise it in public because Paul said in public I'll speak five words in a known tongue than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue, which 10:47 means that five words in English is better than 10,000 words in tongues. So, English is 2,000 times better than tongues according to that. So, please remember if you pray in English, that's 2,000 times better than praying in tongues. So, don't be so 11:01 crazy after praying in tongues. But in private, Paul says I pray in tongues more than all of you. So, that is the right balance. Praying in public in tongues can be just a exhibitionism. And exhibitionism is common for kindergarten children. I hope you're not 11:18 kindergarten children forever. Some people remain at that level forever. Okay. Uh yeah. Is tithing still required? Tithing is a old covenant commandment, which is 11:37 not required now because you never read about any command to tithe in the new covenant. There's no rule of 10%. The new covenant law is 2 Corinthians 9:7. God loves a cheerful giver. So, when you 11:56 give, don't give grudgingly or under compulsion. So, the important thing in the old covenant was how much? 10%. In the new covenant, it is how, not how much, but how. Is it cheerfully? And it is not of compulsion. The reason 12:14 is the old covenant, God was not a father. Jesus was not a husband. The old covenant, God was a master. And tithe was something like paying income tax. Compare tithing with income tax. Does your husband require income tax 12:32 from you, wives? No. Well, then God doesn't require it from you, either. Does your father require you to pay income tax as a son? It's a master. Why do Why does the government of any country collect income tax? If it's honestly collected, 12:50 honestly used, it is to pay the government workers who need to be paid. Israel was a government under God. And God said, you got to pay your income tax, which is It was not money. If it was a farmer, he brought 10% of his grain. If it was a shepherd, he 13:08 brought 10% of his flock, and it was given to the government workers, which is the Levites. Cuz they didn't get any other salary. They were not allowed to have known land or be shepherds or grain. How would they live? These people were giving the money 13:22 as told by their master God. It was a government to pay the government workers. Now, today that whole relationship is gone. God has become our father. We're not in a government. The church is not a government. It's a family where God is 13:37 our father, Jesus Christ is our divine husband, and the relationship is different. There is no income tax in a family relationship. That's why tithing has been abolished. But that doesn't mean we don't give anything. I mean, if if you're living in 13:52 a home with your parents and your parents are not working, and you boys and girls are working, would you support your home or not? I hope you do. I mean, if your father's earning so, I'd say when you come to a church, a lot of people think, well, 14:07 that is means I that means I've got to give nothing. Well, tell you, a conference like this costs a lot of money. Running a church, you got to pay rent for a building, you got to pay electricity, you got to pay so many things. Where's it going to come from? 14:20 From those who cheerfully recognize their responsibility. I mean, you wouldn't think of going and renting a house and not paying for the electricity bill or the water bill or the rent. I look at it exactly the same way. It's 14:33 not income tax. There's no law. And if there's one child in the family who's not working, he doesn't have to give anything. But here's another child in the family who's earning a fantastic amount. He gives more for the support of the home. 14:47 It's like that. So, it's a family relationship. If you don't think of it as calculating how much do I give? I say, are you part of a family or not? If there's a need in the family, you meet it. There's no pressure giving it all. And if you have a need, 15:01 go and meet that need. And if you have a debt, go and clear that debt. And that's why in the New Testament church, we in our churches, we have practiced this for 40 years in about 100 churches. No offering bags passed around anywhere in 15:17 all these years. And we have proved it in the poorest communities and the richest communities in India. It works everywhere. If you seek God's kingdom first, put God's principles right. We have never till today had to pay a mortgage on a single 15:31 building. Every building we planted and built a number of church buildings, always paid for fully, no zero debt in any of our churches. And never had to borrow money from anywhere. There's always enough in the offering box. I remember in the early days when 15:47 we were meeting in my house when the expenses were zero. And we'd open the offering offering box, there'd be two rupees in it, which is about three cents. And that's all we needed then cuz there was no expense. And when the needs became hundreds of 16:01 thousands of millions of rupees, God provided that, too. So, the principle works if you honor God. That's true. Okay, another question. Uh can you Can you speak on your understanding of the abomination of desolation in the 16:16 Bible? That is referring to something that is going to happen in the days of the Antichrist. We don't know exactly what it'll be like. It says in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that he will sit displaying himself as God. There are 16:33 certain things concerning the future which we will know only fully when when the future actually happens. So, when it happens, we will know, but as I see it, it does not uh help me in any way to know how I to live a godly life today. I want to give 16:50 you one verse which you can keep in mind always when you come across such questions. And that is 2 Peter chapter 1 where it says, God has given us 2 Peter 1:3. God's power has given us everything pertaining to 17:09 life and godliness. So, anything that relates to my living and overcoming life and living a godly life, I want to know the answer to now, not in the future. So many other things I can afford to uh understand later on. Is masturbation a 17:28 sin, which when should Well, to me, there are a number of definitions of sin, and I want to tell you some of them. 1 John 3, sin is verse 4, transgression of the law. A commandment God has given, you go outside it, a boundary God has 17:47 drawn, you go outside it, that's sin. Another definition of sin, James 4, is 17, to know the right thing to do and not do it. The first is a sin of commission. This is a sin of omission. For example, I don't give thanks. 18:06 You know that's a sin? 10 lepers were healed. One came back and gave thanks, and Jesus said, "Where are the nine?" Not to give thanks to God. Many people don't even recognize that as a sin, but it is a sin. You know the right thing to 18:18 do, and you don't do it. So, you take the example of a circle. If you color outside the circle, that's sin. If you don't color the full circle, that's also a sin. So, it's commission sins of commission, sins of omission. 18:29 And then, to me, the highest definition of sin is Romans 3:23. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So, the glory of God is our standard. And anything that's come short of when the glory of God was seen in Jesus 18:47 Christ, John 1:14, full of grace and truth. So, I paraphrase combining the two verses, I read it like this. Whenever we come short of the life that Jesus lived, it's sin. Combining John 1:14 with Romans 3:23. So, anything un-Christ-like is sin. So, 19:02 is masturbation a sin? All you got to do ask yourself is, did Jesus do it? He was a man, tempted in all points like us. You know the answer, and I don't have to give it. There are many things like that which, you know, people who don't see the life 19:18 of Jesus can give you all types of excuses and reasons. Now, if we if you ask me, is it better than adultery? Definitely. But there are lesser sins and greater sins. So, why should I do the lesser one? Why not come to the level of Jesus where 19:33 I overcome it completely? Is the old covenant abolished? Matthew 5:17, Christ said I've come to fulfill the law and not abolish it. Can you clarify what is fulfilled and what is abolished? How did Jesus fulfill the law? He fulfilled it by 19:51 uh word Matthew 5:17 by obeying all of it not just in the external, but inwardly. Not just not murdering, but not getting angry. Not just not committing adultery, but not lusting after women. 20:10 He fulfilled it at its deepest depth, not just superficially like the 10 Commandments said. And in that So, what is when we say the law is abolished? abolished, it means a law as a way of life and as a way of becoming righteous and as a way of 20:27 overcoming sin. Nobody could become righteous by the law. That way was abolished. Nobody can overcome sin by the law. That was abolished and replaced by the spirit. And now when the Holy Spirit has come like I said earlier 20:42 in this morning the right Romans 8:4, the requirement of the law is fulfilled in us through the as we walk in the Holy Spirit. So, in that sense the law is fulfilled at a deeper level. In but the law as a way of life and 21:00 as a means of righteousness has been abolished. Okay, a lot of Old Testament Israel's disobedience had to do with disobedience of the Sabbath. In what context of the whole should we still observe Sabbath? The Sabbath was very clearly 21:17 something that was given specifically out of the 10 Commandments, the Lord said this. Exodus 31 verse 16, "The sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath throughout their generations because it is a sign." 21:36 He never said any of the other nine Commandments are a sign. Out of all the 10 Commandments Jesus the Lord took one commandment and said, "That commandment is a sign and it's a sign between me and Israelites only forever." 21:53 So, therefore we don't have to keep it, but the deeper level of it like adultery, we obey in the sense that we don't lust in the heart. Murder, we obey don't murder is obeyed in the sense of don't get angry. Don't commit adultery, we don't 22:08 lust in the heart. Don't murder, we don't get angry. Keep the Sabbath, Hebrews 4 says there remains a inner rest for the people of God. Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you a Sabbath rest. That inner 22:22 rest in Christ where we are free from anxiety, fear, condemnation, guilt. That is the fulfillment of the Sabbath in our life. How to get rid of self-condemnation and lack of self-worth? How do I understand if I really married 22:36 to God? I asked this because I didn't have a loving father growing up. It's hard for me to understand receive love. This is unfortunately true of many many people who when you talk to them about a father, they've not they don't know what 22:47 a father is because they never understood a father's love in their in their family. So, we have to explain how God is a very loving father. Now, there's no room for self-condemnation because I'll tell you how I uh see I grew up like this very insecure 23:04 and easily condemning condemning myself in the early years of my Christian life and I think God led me through that so that I could understand what other people go through and so that I can tell you how I got over it myself. 23:16 First of all, it is by knowing God as a loving father. That is the secret of it all. And you have to look in scripture how much Jesus emphasized that God will only give you good things. He's a loving father. Even if you've not had a loving 23:27 father on earth think of the stories that Jesus said of a son who went and messed up his life wasted half his father's property. The father was a billionaire because he had many servants it says in the house. How many people have many servants in 23:43 their house? I mean even to keep one maid or one servant is so expensive. Think of a man who has many servants in his house in the story of the prodigal son. He must have been a billionaire and think of when when a man takes half that 23:55 property half his wealth and goes away. How long do you think that son took to waste all that? Must have been many many years. Imagine a person taking half the wealth of his billionaire father's money going and wasting it 24:11 ruining himself coming back skin and bones and the father runs to welcome him and never says a word about why did you waste my money or why did you do this? At least there you can see a father's love. That's the one of the clearest 24:24 pictures of God as a loving father running. It's the only place in the Bible where you see God running. Not running to judge people, running to welcome home a person who's messed up his life. And that should encourage anyone here 24:38 who's messed up your life that you take one step towards God, God will come running towards you. And after that if you backslide, when you come back God still comes running towards you because remember this is not a stranger becoming an 24:51 adopted son. No. This is the story of a son who backslid and went away from the father and he's coming back. So, never get discouraged. And I found my security in this in Ephesians 1:4 it says God has chosen me and that applies to 25:10 you as well in Christ before the foundation of the world. You know where the foundation of the world was? Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Before Genesis 1:1 make it personal. He chose me. I make it 25:23 personal. You can make it personal, too. He chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world that I should be holy before him in love. And we are told in 1 Peter in chapter 1 that I was elected according 1 Peter 1 verse 1 and 2 25:41 according to the foreknowledge of God. God could look into the future millions of years and see that in the 20th century I would be born and I would accept Christ as my savior in 1959. God saw that before Genesis 1:1. Now, 25:58 I'm making it personal, you can apply it to yourself. And so, before the foundation of the world Ephesians 1 says I was there chosen in him. So, before the angels were created, before there was any devil, way back in eternity past 26:11 who was there? God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit and Zac Poonen in God's mind. I have faith for it. You don't have faith for it? Well, you will live insecure. Why do I have faith for it? Because the word of God says so. 26:28 You can accept the word of God or not accept it. Your security can only come if you accept God's word. When I Today I know it's real in my life. When I was a young Christian, people asked me, "How did you know the Bible was God's word when you started 26:42 your Christian life?" Because in the early years of my Christian life there were a very few really godly men I met. Not many. There are not many truly godly men who live close to God even on the earth today. But fortunately, I met 26:55 a few. And those few people I would meet once in a blue moon almost. I would meet I found two things that were true of all these godly men I met. One, they all believed the Bible was words God word of God and they all believed in being filled with the Holy 27:12 Spirit. So, I would say these are the two important things. I I go by what I see in the result in these lives. So, that's how I believed the Bible was God's word and the importance of being filled with the spirit then. Now, of course I know it from personal 27:27 experience. Okay. Uh is there a a purpose that God has called us for? If so, how do we find out what that purpose is? As we walk step by step like the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire led Israelites day by day by day to the promised land 27:46 it's day by day. I never knew what God's plan for my life was. But when I was baptized at the age of 21, which is 54 years ago somehow I was gripped by the fact that God has a plan for me. And it was from this verse Ephesians 28:03 chapter 2 and this is applies to you as well. Remember these verses I quote in scripture are in your Bible also. I make it personal. I make it personal so it it works for me. But if you believe in it it works for you. You know, if you don't 28:19 believe in it, it won't work for you. According to your faith be it unto you. Ephesians chapter 2 we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God planned beforehand that I should walk in them. That means 28:35 beforehand God planned that there are certain particular things I should do in my life. And I said, "Lord, I want to do that. I believe your plan is better than anything I can make for myself." And so, if you submit to God, God will 28:49 show you what is his plan for your life. Uh Yeah. Okay. Should we ask God to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day? I do. I mean sometimes verbally 29:08 but sometimes with the desire in the heart. There's a beautiful poem which says, "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire uttered or unexpressed." Prayer is the soul's sincere desire spoken or not expressed. 29:26 So, don't think only what you speak is prayer. Sometimes what we speak is not what we want in our heart and God listens to the heart. So, if there's a desire in your heart, that is a prayer. And I have that every day to be filled 29:40 with the Holy Spirit because I know being filled with the spirit is not a once for all experience. I need to be constantly filled with the spirit because I read in the Acts of the Apostles of certain people who were full 29:52 of the spirit. That means they were constantly filled with the spirit, which was not like other believers who may have had one experience, but are not constantly full of the spirit. I see exactly the same today. Out of 10 people who are filled with the 30:05 Holy Spirit and experience maybe one of them is constantly full of the spirit because he takes it as a daily necessity. Ephesians 5:18 says, "Be being filled with the spirit." So, that's something we need every day. Okay. 30:21 Uh why is it when I come for a conference I feel more on fire for God, but as time goes out that fire dies down? Only one person experience this? What could be the cause? Is it normal for believers to feel this way? So, 30:36 there's always to seek fellowship with other brothers and sisters. I think there are a number of reasons, but that is a very common experience in the early part of our Christian life. But if you say, "Lord, I don't want it 30:47 to be like this. I want it to be something where, you know, it's like this in the beginning we need fellowship with other uh wholehearted Christians. That's why I say we must seek to be in a church where others are on fire for God. Think of a 31:03 fireplace where in the olden days they used to have coal coal fires. So, you put a number of coals in a fireplace and they're all burning. You take out the brightest coal from there and put it outside. You know, it dies out. 31:19 But that same coal, you know, a weak one, you put it in there it's burning. So, there's a lesson there that when we are with others we're constantly encouraged. And um so, fellowship with people who are serious is one way by which our Christian life 31:36 is strengthened. That's why we must belong to a church of serious Christians. And not such a huge number that we can't have fellowship with them. A church where we can meet and mingle together with Christians who are serious where 31:50 the preaching of God's word is putting us on fire. And then over a period of time we can come to the place where we can live without them. I believe I can live without any fellowship today, but I couldn't some years ago. I mean, if if I'm locked up 32:05 in a prison for preaching the gospel in India for 20 years, I don't believe I'd lose anything because I've come to that place of fellowship with Jesus Christ. And you can come there. But it'll take time. Don't get discouraged. 32:20 But if you work at it and work at it and work at it, you can come to the place where but in the beginning you need a lot of fellowship. And then you come to the place where you're encouraging others because you've become so strong yourself. So, it's a 32:31 matter of spiritual growth. Okay. Uh when I pray in my mother tongue I suddenly start speaking a strange language. We can I How do I know whether it's a genuine tongue or not? It's very difficult sometimes to know whether a genuine tongue or not, but 32:47 there's one verse which tells us 1 Corinthians 14 says, "He who speaks in a tongue it builds himself up." And if he finds that if you find that exercising it encourages you, like in my case I used to be a frequently discouraged 33:06 even as a born-again Christian. But once I began to exercise this gift in private I found it helped me tremendously that I could it helped me greatly in being free from discouragement. Not the only thing, there are many things that help us free 33:19 from discouragement, faith in God, reading God's word, taking up the cross, fellowship with other believers, plus speaking in tongues as well. So, the test is you exercise it in private. I would advise you not to use it in 33:31 public. Exercise it private and if you see it builds you up fine. If it doesn't build you up, then uh just forget it. Okay. What does worshipping in the spirit and truth mean? Um there is a message of mine on the internet 33:50 called Are You Soulish or Spiritual? on YouTube. You can just put on Are You Soulish or Spiritual Zach Poonen, you'll go straight to it. Where I've explained the difference between body, soul, and spirit and how in the Old Testament they 34:04 couldn't go into life in the spirit because of the veil separating those two symbolic places which symbolize soul and spirit and how when Jesus rent the veil, the way into the spirit was open. And so, in the Old Testament they could 34:16 only worship in body and soul, which means hands, shouting, this is all body and emotions. That's part of our soul. But in the New Testament the Lord said the time has now come, John 4:24 20 23 24 where he says the true worshipers 34:32 will worship in spirit which is a far deeper thing and it is not only in words. When you worship in spirit, it can be in speech, it can be in song, it can be in silence. It is an inner life of devotion to Christ where you say to Jesus 34:46 uh an attitude to Jesus where you say to him in the words of Psalm 73:25 "Whom have I in heaven but thee? There's nothing on earth I desire beside thee." If you live in this attitude where you can honestly say to Jesus, "I desire 35:03 nothing, absolutely nothing on earth but you. I don't desire wealth, I don't desire I don't desire health, I don't desire a car or a house or anything. You are enough on this earth." And when I get to heaven 35:21 I don't want anyone but you. But you and those who are with you, that is. But I don't want the I'm not worried about mansions and pearly gates and golden streets and all. I want you. I'm not looking for a life where I know more 35:34 sorrow, no more trials. No, I'm looking for Jesus. A lot of people are looking for a heaven they'll be free from problems and worries and all that. They haven't come to the place of worship. Worship is where you're taken up with 35:44 Jesus himself where he is everything to you for you to you on this earth and he's going to be everything to you in heaven. When you get there, you're a worshiper. And the Father seeks Jesus said in John 4:24 for such worshipers. That is worshipping in 35:59 spirit and in truth means truth in The opposite of truth is lying. And lying means where you're unreal. Where you say something which is not really true. It it is coming out of your life. That is in truth in the You know, David 36:16 said in Psalm 51 "Thou desirest truth in the inward parts." But he couldn't have it because he was under the old covenant. One who's living the truth is one whose inner life is the same as his outer life. The one who's living a lie is a 36:30 hypocrite where his inner life is different from his outer life. God desires worship and a life which is in truth. Such truth came only through Jesus Christ. And not before. Grace and truth came through Christ. Much of Christendom speaks on keeping 36:45 the essentials and not non-essentials. Uh whereas Matthew 5:19 speaks of even the smallest commands uh can you speak on some of the smallest commands uh some Christians 37:02 consider non-essentials. There are commands which are necessary for fellowship. For example, we must walk in the light. If we want to have fellowship with God, that means we must be honest with God about our inner life. 37:21 And uh we must be transparent. We don't have to be honest about our failures before other people. But um when it comes to the essentials, primarily it is the person and the work of Christ. If a person believes that Jesus Christ 37:39 is the Son of God and died for our sins, rose again, and is coming again, is the only way of salvation and he's made Jesus Lord of his life, he's my brother or she's my sister in Christ even if they belong to another denomination. 37:54 If they really know the Lord and I can fellowship with them, but I may not be able to work with them. Because for working with someone I need a few more areas of agreement. For example he may baptize children. There are 38:11 born-again people in the Methodist church in the Presbyterian church who who baptize children. Okay. Fine, I can't work with you. I've often thought of godly man like John Wesley who baptized children. If he were living in Bangalore, I'm 38:28 sorry, I'd tell John, "You better start another church. I can't work with you. But I But you're such a godly man, far more godly than me. I would like to come and fellowship with you as often as possible to learn more about the Lord. 38:39 But when it comes to a church, you got to run your Methodist church, baptize children, and I won't baptize children. Otherwise, we'll have clashes, you know. Or if we are preaching on certain things, one person says there's no such 38:49 thing as speaking in tongues, it's of the devil. And say, "No, I don't believe it's of the devil, but I believe it's from God." Then we can't preach the same thing from a pulpit. Or another person who says, "Everybody must speak in tongues." And I 39:00 say, "Sorry, I don't agree with that either." So, we've got three different churches just on this one issue. So, what what do you mean by non-essentials? You see, the question is Fellowshipping, I can fellowship with people on the 39:11 basis of you believe in the person and work of Christ. But when it comes to working together, we need a few more essentials that we agree on. Okay. Are there any specific sins that are necessary to confess in front of the 39:26 church or elders? Personal sins? No. The only sin you must confess to another is what you committed against him or her. If it's only between me All sins are before God, so we must confess everything to God. But if I've hurt you in some way, 39:44 then I must confess it to you. Then only I can receive forgiveness. Jesus said, "When you come and bring your offering before God, and you know that you have hurt somebody." You see the context of that verse in Matthew 5 39:55 is so you got angry with someone. And uh you said something to him which hurt him. You haven't settled it. Don't pray. Go and settle that matter first. So, I don't have to confess it to the elders. No sin do I have to confess to 40:07 the elders. The only place where it says about confessing to the elders 5 in relation to healing. Where it says that if someone is sick, let him call for the elders of the church James 5 and verse 15 and 16. And let confess your sins to one another in that 40:24 context. And then you pray and you'll be healed because the context is a a sickness which has come because of sin. Very often when I'm called to pray for people and sick exactly fulfilling that, I ask them a question. I said, "Do you have you forgiven 40:42 everybody?" That's usually the one sin that a lot of people don't confess which brings a lot of sickness. I'll tell you that. I've experienced it myself my younger days. When I was sick because I didn't forgive someone. As soon as I forgave, I was 40:53 healed. So, uh I ask people this question, "Have you forgiven everybody?" Why do you want to keep a sickness unnecessarily just because you don't forgive someone? The guy you he already hurt you and you're upset with him. And 41:05 now he's hurting you more by you're not forgiving him. Aren't you stupid? I mean, he's hurt you once is enough. Why make him hurt you again by you're not forgiving him? You're sick because of that. Forgive him. Release him and 41:17 you'll be healed. But believers continue to be foolish. Is it possible to grow in a spiritual relationship with your partner uh if you and your partner are engaging in lustful behavior? By partner, I presume you mean wife or 41:36 husband. A married couple. What is lustful? I think there are practices that husbands and wives sometimes do in their physical relationship which are demeaning. You understand what demeaning is? Which is undignified, which is 41:54 uh Some people say, "In marriage everything is okay." Well, if it's not if it's taking away the dignity of the other person and making that person do something demeaning, that's not proper. So, there must be a respect for one 42:13 another even in the sexual relationship is supposed to be a beautiful physical expression of love for one another. And it must not be ever lowered to the level of lust. Okay. Come to this. How do you take courage and confidence 42:30 in our faith when we see persecution of Christians in the Middle East, innocent people being denied quality uh How do we respond to it in preaching in our church? Please remember that you can't solve all the problems in the world in your church 42:42 or by yourself. It's all a question of burden. I've seen numerous missionaries come to India. I live in a third world country. And uh I've seen missionaries come to India whom I have to confess I have no respect for because 43:00 the way they lived and what they preached and their whole way of life was a disgrace to the name of Christ. That I honestly say I wish these folks had never crossed the oceans and come to this country and presented a wrong 43:12 picture of Christ. At the same time, I've seen such godly missionaries in India who have been a challenge to my life till today. There are these different types. And it's a question of whe- whether they felt called or not. 43:27 That's the question. There's a need somewhere doesn't mean There's a saying the need is not the call. That's true. If there's a need somewhere, it doesn't mean I have to go and meet it. God wants to meet that need, but it may 43:38 not be through you. How do you know that you're the one? Can I preach to a whole congregation to meet a particular need? If I have a burden, we can inform people. Information is one thing. But the need is based on the will of 43:51 God. And you see the balance. Everything is in scripture. And here's the balance in scripture that you see in the life of Jesus. John chapter 4, you see him expressing the need and the call. The need is not the call. John chapter 4, 44:04 here is the need. Verse 35. You say there are 4 months to the harvest. No, lift up your eyes and look at the fields. They are white unto harvest. That is the need. Lift up your eyes and look. There is a fields white unto harvest. 44:19 What is the call? The call is in verse 34. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Out of all the need, I have to find out which is my work and do that. So, it's a matter of individual calling when it comes to fulfilling a 44:35 particular need. So, we need to see Does God want to Even prayer. A lot of people just mechanically repeat, "Lord, I pray for this. I pray for that." It means absolutely nothing. You're wasting your time. Prayer must come out of a burden. 44:50 And if you have a burden for the Christians being persecuted somewhere, pray for that. But don't expect everybody in the world to have your burden. And don't try and force your burden on other people. I See the For example, some people have 45:03 a burden for evangelism. I say, "Fine. Go ahead and do it." I have a burden to make disciples out of these people who are converted. Don't force me into your ministry. I will not come there. I'm mature enough to know that I shouldn't be doing your job. 45:15 And you should be mature enough to know that you don't have to do my job. So, it's all a question of burden. What can I do to love God? Although I know I spend time with him, I don't have a desire to do so. This indicates to me that I don't love him. 45:28 Well, I think there are two ways in which our love for Christ can increase. One is when we know how much he loved us. 1 John chapter 4 verse 19. We love because he first loved us. The more I meditate on how much Jesus loved me in coming from heaven 45:46 to the sinful earth, going through all that he went through, his death on the cross, more than that, his being separated from the Father, experiencing hell for 3 hours on the cross when he said, "My God, my God, why have you 45:57 forsaken me?" That was actual hell. Hell is a to be forsaken by God. And Jesus experienced that for 3 hours for my sin. The more I meditate on that, I say, "Lord, how in the world shall I ever re- repay you that?" Not by putting a little 46:10 money in the offering box or going for some meetings. I want to devote my whole life to you because you saved me from an eternal damnation. So, the more I meditate on how he lived on this earth a simple self-denying life for my sake, 46:25 I'm challenged to love him. I'm challenged to love others the way he loved me. That's one thing. And the second uh the second way in which my love for Christ increases, I'm telling you from my own experience and also from scripture, is 46:39 from Luke chapter 7 where Jesus said about two people who were forgiven a debt. And the one who was forgiven a bigger debt would love the creditor more. And he said in Luke 7:47, "He who is forgiven much loves much." So, I need to meditate on how much I 46:55 have been forgiven. I've been born again for 55 years. But I meditate on I meditate means I remind myself of the pit from which the Lord saved me. Of the sins I committed before I was saved. 47:15 Of the sins I committed in the early days of my Christian life after I was saved. Where every sin is equal to 100 sins of 100 times the sin committed in unconverted days. And I see the seriousness of it. I say, "Lord, you forgave me." 47:30 And I as I think about it, I realize I've been forgiven a tremendous lot. And then I think of the sins of thought, attitudes which people don't even know. And I say, "Lord, I've been forgiven so much." And the more I realize how much I'm 47:45 forgiven, love spontaneously arises. I don't have to work it up. You work it up because these two lacks in your life. You've not meditated on how much Christ loved you. And you don't think of your failure in your past life. 48:01 What is real ministry? The one which God is really pleased with. How should we do it? That I've already explained that according to the way we understand God's will for us, the burden he puts on our heart, that is God's will for you. And that is 48:16 the ministry you should fulfill. Don't be pressurized by other people telling you you should do this or do that. You know, there are so many missionary meetings where they tell you show you pictures on the screen of poor children 48:30 in Africa with uh skinny children saying, "What are you doing for that skinny child over there?" Or some prostitute somewhere or um people worshipping idols and dipping themselves rivers. What are you doing for all these people? And you can watch 48:46 all that and this emotionally moving preacher can tell you all types of stories and say, "Okay, now how many of you are going to come and volunteer to go to this place?" And a few stupid people get up and come up to the front to become missionaries. 48:59 And um they sign cards and maybe they do even something even more foolish, give up their jobs and decide to be missionaries. And I hope they don't come to India. They can go somewhere else. Mess up God's work. Because they were not called. 49:16 They were moved emotionally. I'm saying this as one whom God called. 1964 on the 6th of May, God specifically told me to leave my job as a naval officer when my had my ambition to become the admiral of the Indian Navy. God said, 49:34 "Quit it." I resigned immediately. I know what it is to call be called by God and I know how much opposition I have faced from the devil and from men. The only thing that's held me true through all these 52 years is the fact that I 49:49 know right at the bottom God called me. In the early days my wife and I experienced tremendous poverty. And the devil would taunt me, "See what you've come to serving God." I said, "Lord, you called me, otherwise I wouldn't have come here." 50:01 So, I say never never go for a ministry without God calling you because um a lot of this emotional moving is not right. God has He speaks. You must believe that God speaks. Do you know what the first chapter in the Bible 50:15 tells tells us? The first day God said, the second day God said, the third day God said, the fourth day God said. Today maybe the 5 millionth day God is still speaking. Please believe that. If you don't hear it, it's because you're deaf. It's not 50:33 because God's not speaking. The first chapter is that God speaks every day of the week. And the seventh day He sits with you and says, "Let's have fellowship throughout the day." That is true Christianity. And we that's a place we must come to. 50:47 Jesus died to bring us back to that original relationship with God. Okay, what's wrong with going to an average church where the main doctrine is right, where you can shine the light of Jesus? See, we got to see a church is like a 51:00 hospital. We're all sick people to different degrees of sickness. And the purpose of going to a church is to be healed of our sickness. Or we can look at a church like a school where we're getting educated. Two pictures of a hospital and a school. 51:16 So, um maybe your great-grandmother went to some third-rate hospital in which is the best hospital at that time where she lived. Would you go to that same hospital today? No. There may be a hundred hospitals better than that today. 51:33 So, I don't believe that you should stick to a church because your parents or grandparents went to that church. You must see which is the place where I can grow spiritually the most. It's like you would choose a hospital. 51:46 Supposing the treatment in every hospital was free. You don't have to pay a cent. Wouldn't you choose the best one? Where you you which has got a reputation for good healing. Which says, "Bring the worst patients, we can heal them." 52:00 That's where I would want to go to. And which has got certain hygienic standards. Or would you go to say, "Well, that's not so bad." It's like I remember one person came to me and said, "Oh, brother Zach, your church in India, your 52:13 standards are too high. We can't be a part of your church." I said, "Okay, there are many other churches standards are not so high. You're welcome to go there." It's like choosing a going to hospital and saying, "It's too hygienic 52:22 over here. I don't I want to I want a hospital which is a little dirty." I say, "Yeah, there are many hospitals which are Please go there by all means. I'm not forcing you to be here. Our standards are total high perfect. 52:34 You want a higher standard of hygiene. If you don't like it, that's fine. It's like going to a school and saying, "I won't put my children in this school because it's education is too good here. Let's let's choose another one where the 52:44 education not so good." We never think like that when it comes to a hospital or a school. Why do we think like that when you think of a church? I'll tell you why. We value education. We value health, but we don't value our 52:58 spiritual life as much. That is the only reason. Okay. Um Can a person be baptized not baptized take part in the Lord's supper? Well, I believe a person can be born again, but I would I like to ask him why he is disobedient to God 53:17 in not being baptized. That's the question I want to ask. Uh if he's ignorant, I'd say, "Fine, you're born again, you can take part in the Lord's table." But I would ex- instruct him. Baptism is a step of obedience to God. 53:33 And um in our church in India we teach the whole counsel of God. We say, "You must be baptized." Cuz Jesus said, "Go and make disciples and baptize them." And I would explain to him and if he doesn't want to do it, I'd say he's 53:45 living in rebellion against the authorities in the church. I wouldn't say he's not born again. But I say, "If you submit in this church, you got to be baptized because we teach that in this church. But we'll accept you as a believer and there are 53:56 many believers who are not baptized. Fine." Okay, what do you think of online dating? Is it okay? Um See, in in our country we don't have much dating. It's slowly coming up now, but our marriages are conducted the way 54:14 Abraham conducted marriage for his son. The way he sent his servant and found a good wife and that was a happy marriage, Isaac and Rebecca's by the way. Better than a lot of dating marriages. You got to be very careful that um you know, all the things that 54:29 are written online. You know, you heard all these stories of old men who act like young girls on Facebook to become friendly with some girl and when they meet together, that girl discovers this is not a young girl, this is an old man 54:44 trying to come here to exploit me. So, you got to be careful about all You've heard so many stories like that. You got to be careful about what you read online. This um Nobody writes on online, "I'm an ugly girl, would you like to date me?" 54:58 No. Nobody writes such things, you know. It's all written in a way to attract people and so you got to be very very careful. That's all I would say in relation to that. Be extremely careful because it's easy to mess up your life with 55:15 5 minutes of foolishness. 5 minutes of foolishness is enough to mess up your whole life, especially for a girl. Can ladies work a job or not? Everything depends on the motive. The Bible says that a woman should primarily 55:34 If if she's married, of course if she's single, definitely it's good to work and earn your own living. But if she's married, the Bible says in Titus in chapter two that um the older women must encourage the younger women to be 55:50 to be workers at home. Titus 2:5. That doesn't mean they shouldn't work outside. I'm just reading scripture. Titus 2:5. That means they should look after their children. It says, "Love their husbands." Verse 4. Titus 2:4. "Love 56:03 their children and be pure workers at home." Which means that they should primarily care for their children and family and not make a job more important than their family. Now, I know cases even among some of poor Indian families where 56:21 the wife has to work for various reasons. Maybe the husband is an invalid or sick or paralyzed or she's a widow. Then the hus- she has to work to support her children. Or sometimes what the husband earns is not enough to support the family. Now, 56:38 it's a question of whether it's a necessity or luxury. If a person says, "Well, if my work works, we can live at a much higher standard." Fine. Provided you look after your children. But if it's necessity that we can't even 56:52 meet maybe the In some cases a husband's uh income is so little that most of it goes for rent and tax and then there's very little left. And then God sees whether the wife is going to work out of necessity or luxury. And 57:08 determined or dependent on that, you will see whether God gives you grace or not. My wife was a medical doctor trained in the best medical college in India. And um we got married and our first son was born. We were not very rich. We were 57:25 quite poor. But she decided to be a mother. And today after 47 years of marriage, we don't regret it. Of course, we didn't make the millions she could have made. She never earned one rupee as a doctor, but she's helped hundreds and hundreds of poor 57:43 women and children by conducting free clinics for them. Now, when she travels with me here and there. But we never regretted that she was a mother who raised our four children to fear God. I was traveling now and then and she was there every day they came 57:58 back from school to check what they learned in school, to encourage them. She would take them to church on Sundays, sit with them throughout the church service. We taught our children the Bible at school at home rather, not in Sunday 58:13 school. We didn't expect the Sunday school teachers to teach our children. We My wife and I brought up our children and my wife more than me. And for that she had to sacrifice her job. What was the result? We lived with 58:25 great struggle financially for the first three four years and even for many years when our children were growing up. We couldn't buy for them all the things that other rich people could buy for their children, but today 58:36 neither my wife nor I regret it when I see all four of our children following the Lord, having married God-fearing wives and seeking to bring up their children in God-fearing ways. What can millions of rupees be compared 58:50 to that or millions of dollars? So, I can only say be wise. Don't have any regrets 20 years from now that you went looking for a job for luxury. If it's necessity, understood. God will give you grace. 59:08 Um how to be an overcomer? The The Bible speaks about overcoming the world and I'll stop with this question and continue after the break. In 1 John it says verse 5, "Who is the one who overcomes the world?" See, the world is described earlier as 59:26 the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life in 1 John 2:16. So, my primary job is to overcome the lust of the flesh, which is all the passions within my body, the lust of the eyes. Do you know what that 59:38 is? I think it's the living Bible which says the desire to buy everything that you see. Do you find that? You see something in somebody's house and you want to buy that. That's actually the lust of the eyes. It's not lusting after women. That's 59:53 lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes, it's got to do with money. And buying unnecessary things and the pride of life. We have to overcome that. If we overcome the world, we are overcomers. Okay, let's stop for now and 1:00:09 let's pray. Father in heaven, please help us to be gripped by these truths so that they translate into life. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, guys, we'll be back in 10 minutes, if you don't mind. 3:15 so that we can get through the rest of
