0:01 [Music] Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are your servants. 0:17 We want to follow in Jesus' footsteps and we want to do your work to which you have called us the way you want us to do it and we don't want to deviate from that path. So we have come together to be able to 0:37 serve you better. Please give us wisdom, humility, fear of God that our time together will be really eternally profitable for us. And above all, Lord Jesus, help us to 0:56 see you as the head of the church right in our midst right now, leading this whole day, every session. and that we shall see you and hear you 1:14 throughout the day. Build our fellowship together with each other as well and give us guidance for the future. Father in heaven, help us to know you better as our father. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. 1:33 I want to share something with you which I've done before sometimes to tell you why God why I believe God started the first CFC church in Bangalore in exactly 50 years 1:51 ago this month August. It was on the 17th of August 1975 that two of us families, brother Yan Robson and I, our families met together. We were rejected by other churches which 2:07 is a good thing to for us and we decided we'll just we had no intention of starting a church. We didn't know what else to do. We were just two of us and we said we'll pray together and see. And little by little, people came and 2:23 left and went and came and left and came and left. And one thing we decided was that we'd never lower God's standards. Whether people got offended and left or nobody joined us, it was fine. If you're just two of us till till the Lord 2:39 returns, we'll remain like that. But we will not lower God's standards because we saw around us. I mean, I'd seen that in Christendom for the previous many years that I'd been a believer, 16 years, how everywhere there was compromise. And when I read the 2:56 history of some of these movements, they started off so well. I mean, Martin Luther, everybody respects him so much, but where's the Lutheran church today? And John Wesley was such a mighty man of God, but I don't have much respect for 3:09 much of the Methodist church. and the brethren there were some godly men in the early days of the brethren assembly like George Müller and others like that and but I don't have I don't see that quality of men today in the 3:23 brethren assembly and even the Pentecostals in the early days there were some very fine godly men who had a genuine baptism of the Holy Spirit but much of today's Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit is absolute counterfeit 3:35 and so when I saw all this around I said Lord We want to try and go strictly according to scripture and we want to have the spirit of Christ in everything that we do. 3:53 And since you said this was the verse we had in mind, Matthew 16. See when Peter said when Jesus said, "Who do you say that I am?" That that is the first step. Then 4:12 the Lord answers, "Who do you say that I am?" And Jesus, he answered, "You're the Christ, the son of the living God." Now, you can know Jesus as the son of the living God by academic knowledge, which is you read the Bible from 4:30 childhood and you know Jesus is the son of God. But it's quite a different thing here. He says, "Simon, you got revelation from my father in heaven." That word revelation is very very important. 4:49 It's not an Old Testament word. There was no revelation in the Old Testament. Old Testament was study and understanding. The great people in the Old Testament in the Jewish community were the scribes who knew the scriptures. 5:03 And it's very easy for us to become scribes. Then you'll build an old testament church when you get revelation is very different. So this is the first thing that I saw. We need to see Christ by revelation. 5:23 I mean I was taught about Jesus from childhood because my parents were believers and so I I knew all the stories and everything else but to see Christ by revelation the first thing that came to me was when I saw when I was 19 and a half years old 5:41 that him that cometh to me I will not cast out. I probably read that many times before but one day it came to me as a revelation. That was in July 1959 and I was in the Navy then and I dropped an anchor there. It has not my ship has 5:59 not drifted on that single verse. Now I've quoted that verse to many others. It doesn't seem to have the same effect on them. They get rocked about and tossed about and wonder whether it's true. But I have never been doubted my 6:13 salvation from that day. That's what I mean by revelation. We have to get some verses in scripture like that. It comes as such a revelation that it's from the Holy Spirit. It's not just through study or understanding. We 6:28 need to study. I've spent years studying the scriptures. But there are moments of revelation which alter the direction of our lives. So that's the first thing I would say to all of you dear brothers. Seek for revelation. 6:44 It's a new covenant word. And if you want a new covenant church, it must start with revelation. Revelation concerning who Jesus is. We all say, "Yeah, we know he's the son of God." Let me tell you two things. 7:03 Matthew 28. you know the basis on which we have been asked to go and plant local churches in our localities it's not because there's a need there see today there's a lot of missionary activity 7:22 I'm talking about Matthew 28 verse 18 to20 a lot of missionary activity that I've heard of is there's a need out there there's a need in China there's a need in North India there's a need in some countries in Africa who will volunteer 7:36 to go at the end of a very emotional meeting some people come forward and volunteer and I don't want to criticize missionary work. There are some gems of missionaries through the years who've done a fantastic work. I think of people like Henry Martin who 7:51 came to India and Amy Carmichael and William Kerry and all these people who sacrificed a lot to serve the Lord and many many others. I I've read lots of missionary biographies. But if you go on the basis of need, your work will be limited. You will bring 8:09 people to Christ. But Jesus did not say, I never see that there's a great need. Go out there. What he said was Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and earth is given to me in heaven and earth. Therefore, go." 8:29 Therefore means on the basis of what that not there's a need in Africa or a need in India or a need in loveland or need in some part of America that's got nothing to do with it all authority is given out to me in heaven and earth therefore go 8:44 if Jesus had come to earth from heaven seeing that there was a great need on earth he would have traveled to China and South America and Africa and he never went to any of those places he spent his entire life in the one of the 8:57 smallest nations on earth called Israel and he never went outside the borders of that except occasionally to a ty and sidon or somewhere but all his ministry was limited to one a small little area and he said at the end I finished my the 9:11 work father which you gave me to do so different from many Christians who think I have to do so much before I can finish what God has done for me asked me to do Jesus life was so much at rest his entire life he was at rest 9:29 and he was never in a panic and never sort of you know worked up I got to do this I got to do that tense and I I remember in the early days when I didn't understand these principles I also said we got to reach out to people 9:44 and get people and all that it's all good to have that burden but if it is not from the lord it's all frustration there's the naval base was around a city calledumam in kochin in south India And I he was in the naval base for about 10:00 two and a half years. And during those two and a half two and a half years, every Wednesday and Saturday, I would go out to the streets and preach the gospel with a brother translating for me into the local language. And in those two and 10:14 a half years, I covered every street in that city. In some part of the city, I stood some part of this in some of that every street I stood and preached the gospel. And I had a certain satisfaction. I never found a single 10:29 soul converted. But a lot of people heard the gospel. I was burdened by we got to reach the people. You got to reach people. Everybody must hear the gospel. I'm not saying nothing happened out of it. A lot of thing a lot of good 10:44 happened to me. I became bold and I learned I learned to preach on the streets because I was too young. They wouldn't allow me to preach in the church. So I see I learned to preach on the streets and the people in the church 10:56 would not come with me to preach on the streets. Anyway, something was accomplished but I never brought anybody to Christ. The people I brought to the Lord later on were not in those type of situations. Then I learned that I'm not to go out on 11:13 the basis of need because if you all go out on the basis of need, you shouldn't be living where you are because a lot there's a lot more need in a 100 other places. You must be in the place where you are because Jesus said, "All authority in 11:29 heaven and earth is given to me. You be under my authority and be go where I tell you to go and go when you tell when I tell you to go and finish with it and come back to me when you finished your mercy." That's how Jesus came. The 11:41 father told him to go. For example, I thought from the time of Adam for 4,000 years, it was not that there was no need on the earth. The need was desperate. Think of the times when Israel worshiped Baal and what a lot of idolatry there 11:55 was. Wasn't there a need there? Then look at the book of book of judges and all the book of kings. They were constantly backsliding Israel. There was a tremendous need. And the father, son, and holy spirit watch the whole thing from heaven. Do 12:11 nothing about it. They don't get all worked up. We got to do something. We ought to do something. And I've come to that place also now to be at rest. There is a place of quiet rest near the near to the heart of God. And that is where I always want to live 12:30 near to the heart of God where my heart is at rest. And then from that place of rest, God tells me to go or do something or say something. Even to preach a message, I can operate on the basis of there's a need. Lord, tell me the need. I want to 12:47 meet it. I have discovered that I cannot meet anybody's need. My job is to be like the branch in the vi in the tree and let the Lord send his sap through me and produce fruit in a relaxed way. When I if I could look the inside of a 13:04 branch, it's not tense and worked up. I got to produce fruit. I got to produce fruit. There's nothing like that. But I see a lot of that in among Christian workers and leaders. I had it myself. And I thought that was the burden of the 13:16 Lord. It wasn't. It was just human anxiety. And you know, someone has got a project to be completed and he's all worked up. And our Christian work can be like that. So I have come to see this is how I must go. All authority in heaven and earth is 13:35 given to the Lord. I must come under that authority first. Lord I want to be under your authority every day morning till night. That's why I say begin the begin your day with talking to God first thing in the morning before you get out of bed. Talk 13:53 to your dad in heaven and make sure your conscience is absolutely clear. When you go to bed, it should be clear. When you get up in the morning, it should be clear. And ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and to lead you that day, one day at a time. 14:08 And the Lord says, "Therefore, go." That word therefore means what? On this basis. Now, that's not usually the way missionary challenges are given. There's a need there. Therefore, go or even you can look at a church. There's a need 14:25 there. Go and preach. Yeah, God will give you discernment what to speak in each meeting. I seek to find that out whenever I want to speak in a meeting. But the basis on which I go is the authority of the Lord. 14:42 I must be a man under authority. Before I proceed further here, turn back with me to Matthew chapter 8. This is a very precious portion of scripture. It was not spoken by Jesus. It was spoken by a heathen 15:00 man. But I see a principle here. There was a centurion. We read in Matthew 8:5 who came to Jesus asking for healing for his servant. And when Jesus said, "I'll come and heal him." The centurion says, "Centurian said, you don't have to come. You just 15:17 stand here and speak the word 10 miles away. my servant will be healed and he gives a reason for it. You know a military person can usually recognize another military person. There's something about the bearing of a military person which they detect you 15:32 detect it and somehow this Roman centurion detected that this man Jesus seems to be a man under some authority. There's a dignity about him. He doesn't sort of he's not like the regular run-of-the-mill preachers. there's a 15:45 dignity about him and he seems to be a very you know as a man who's told from somebody higher up to tell him what to do. He's a man under authority. So that's why he says in verse 9 he tells Jesus I also he doesn't say I am a man under 16:04 authority I also am a man under authority. What did it mean? Lord, I see something in you which indicates that you're a man under authority. And there I see an example in Christ of 16:26 how I should be. I should be a man under authority, under the authority of Christ. That'll bring a dignity in my ministry. the way I won't be in a panic. I never see Jesus in a panic. He was a man under authority. He he was at rest all the 16:45 time because he only had to do what the father told him to do. He there was no great need that he had to go and meet. There was a need in China, he never went there. There was a need in Africa, he didn't go there. There was a need in 16:56 Europe in those days, he didn't go there. He was perfectly happy to for that matter for 30 years. When there was a need in Israel, he never went out of the carpentry shop. That's a man under authority. He does not operate on the basis of 17:11 need. I'll tell you this, you'll get frustrated if you operate on the basis of need. Even in your local church, you must operate under the basis of the authority of the Lord. You should be able to say, "I am under authority, 17:26 what the Lord tells me to do." That's why the most important thing is to be able to hear the Lord because otherwise you won't know what you're supposed to do. A man under authority means he's always listening. I think the I think of 17:39 these police cruisers. The policemen sitting in those cruisers have always got their walkie-talkie or radio on because there may be some emergency. Street number so and so and all the cars have got their radios on and uh the 17:53 headquarters says here cruiser number so and so go here or policeman number so and so go here. He may not be for him. It may be somebody for somebody else, but he's got that got that radio on because it may be for him. The call to go go to that street 18:07 immediately. That is what it means to be on subject to authority. Always listening. Anytime God may tell you to go and he's not rushing you off somewhere there's a need here. Oh, I there's an accident there. Let me go there. Has the Lord told you to go 18:19 there? Has the headquarters told you policemen to go there? There are other people who've been delegated to go there. So I see it something like that in our life too. we can get me all panic over there's a need here and a need 18:31 there. I used to be like that in the early days when I didn't have understanding. So he says I'm a man under authority. That means I've got somebody above me. I've got a general above me who tells me to go and I go immediately. I don't 18:47 question. And therefore I have authority also because I'm under manner under authority. I have authority over people under me and I tell them to go. So in our case, it is not that we want authority over people but we have authority over circumstances 19:06 and situations that we face in our life because I'm under the authority of Jesus Christ. I have authority over circumstances of my life. I'm not in a panic saying oh what will I do now if this particular situation has cropped up 19:19 in my family or some other thing has happened some emergency. There's no emergency that can come in my family or in my life or in your job that the Lord gets surprised. Oh, that happened to one of my children. No, if there's an 19:33 suddenly emergency that comes in your job, you're fired in your from your job. But God knew about it before you were born and he's made some provision for it. We must believe that. We're not to be like the people in the 19:45 world who don't know what's going to happen the new policies in the government. What what's is is my company going to uh dismiss certain people from from the job. I don't know. But I'm a man under authority and therefore I don't live in 20:00 a panic. It's a tremendous really wonderful place to be in to be under the authority of Christ where every part of my life planned from all eternity. Ephesians 1:4. 20:19 I've always told people Ephesians 1:4 comes before Genesis 1 vers1. Genesis 1 vers1 people think is the beginning of creation of the earth in the beginning of the heaven and the earth. But before that is Ephesians 1:4 20:35 where it says, "I was chosen to be a child of God before he created the heaven and earth." It's a wonderful thing to recognize that that I'm not an afterthought in God's mind that after he 20:53 created heaven and earth and suddenly he decided to have children or when I was born he said oh I think it'll be I'll let this person be a child of mine not at all long before the heavens and earth existed God I existed in God's mind and 21:10 it's very important for all of you dear brothers to know that It'll bring a rest in your heart and mind when you come to situations that would bring panic into the hearts of ordinary people. And if you're not at rest, you can't be an 21:25 elder to the people in your church because people in your church don't understand that. Many of them are like babes. They face all types of uncertain situations and they look for security in something earthly. And then they'll come to you for advice. 21:42 What advice will you give them? So we ourselves must be at a in a constant position of rest. All authority is given to me. And so he told the Lord, you can stand here and command that demon to go. It'll go. 22:00 That's the result of authority. So turning back to Matthew 28, it says there, see I see that because this is the great commission. You know there are two commissions that the Lord gave. One is maybe I should show you Mark 16 22:15 first. Let's go to Mark 16. That's also a commission given by the Lord. Mark 16 verse 15. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. That's also given by the Lord a responsibility. But you can't go if the 22:31 Lord doesn't send you. It's given to the church. It's not given to any individual. Go into all the world. Who has to go into all the world? I can't go into all the world. I can go to one small little corner of the world. 22:43 And I got to find out which corner of the world has God asked me to. The command to the whole church is go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation and he who is believes and is baptized shall be saved. That's all. 22:54 It's a very limited commission. Bring people to faith and baptism. Finish. That's that that task is over. And if they don't believe, they go to hell. And for this type of this is what I call evangelistic ministry. Preaching 23:09 the gospel, the basics of the gospel. And in that connection, the Lord will confirm with miraculous signs like casting out demons and speaking with new tongues and protection from danger and all that to confirm the word with signs 23:26 following. But Matthew 28 is the other commission which is more for us. See, we we're all for evangelism, but when a lot of people are doing evangelism, it's what's left undone that God gives to us. Here's the other part 23:46 of the commission. All authorities, heaven and earth given to you. Matthew 28:18. Now, you go and don't just believe and get people to believe and be baptized. Make them disciples. And you say, "Lord, what's a disciple?" 23:59 And you know that passage in Luke 14 that we frequently consider. One, love me more. love the lord more than father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children. It's only a person who want who puts the lord first in everything. And I tell you 24:15 there are elders who have failed there. I'm not talking of any of you. I don't know how it is in your life. But I've seen through the years because I've worked with many elders in many places. There are people who have loved 24:28 some family member more than the lord and they have failed in the first condition of disciplehip. They've shown some partiality to either what their father said or their wife said or something. There was a case like that in the church in 24:42 Thatira. The Lord says to the church in Thatira, you know, in Revelation 2. You have that the word woman there, Jezebel, is is a Greek word which can also be translated as wife. Woman and wife is the same word. So I believe it's 24:58 a wife. The Lord's telling the elder in Thatira in Revelation 2, you allowed your wife to be like a Jezebel to lead people astray. Then you go back to the Old Testament. What did Jezebel do? Jezebel sat sat behind the throne of 25:13 Ahab as the king and he she was turning the screws and making him do what she wanted. And there are elders like that who got a wife behind them who turns the screws and make them do what they want. We must never allow our 25:29 wives to influence. By all means, let her be a helpmate in your home, but she's not a help in your church. Unless you want to find out something about the sisters whom you cannot speak to that if your wife is a godly woman and she can 25:43 give you some information about those sisters, but otherwise the wife is not to be a fellow elder in the church at all. But there are cases like that and that's destroyed the church. When a wife is allowed, you don't officially make 25:57 her a fellow elder, but she acts like a fellow elder. I've seen cases like that and I've seen the havoc it has brought. Be very very careful that you don't make a wife invisible fellow elder in the church. There's no need for her to know 26:13 so many things that are going on in the church. There's no need to know for him to know for her to know everything that you discuss with the fellow elders. Even in a offices they say certain things are confidential. Please don't share with 26:26 your wife. How much more in a church? So we have to be wise in these things that that doesn't mean we she's not our partner. She's 100% our partner in home matters. But other things I mean office matters. What does your wife need to 26:38 know about your office matters? Your fellow workers in the office need to know. It's exactly the same in the church. We deal with our fellow elders. So we go on the basis of God's the Lord's authority because that word therefore means what? 26:54 Not there's a need out there. Therefore go that would be something completely different. Let me turn for a moment to Matthew chapter 9. I'm not saying we should not be aware of the need or be concerned about it because Jesus was concerned. 27:11 Matthew 9 and verse 36. Seeing the people, he felt compassion for them. And there's another one of the paraphrases his heart broke when he saw the people. Jesus' heart broke when he 27:29 saw the need among the people. And I believe we should see the need among the people. Particularly in our own church, we should, if you're an elder, you must be constantly aware, alert to the need in your own church, about the people in 27:43 your own church. He saw the need and he felt a compassion because they were distressed and dispirited. And there are many in our churches like that. And they were like sheep without a shepherd. Very relevant. You're you're 28:00 supposed to be the shepherd. And some of them are like sheep without a shepherd. and you have to guide them. So what should we do? Rush in and help them. No, the harvest is plenteous and the laborers are few pray to the Lord that 28:13 he will send out workers into the harvest. See, that's very different from the way missionary work is done today. There's a need out there who will volunteer. No, there's a need out there. So, you got to pray that the Lord will 28:24 send out people. I have seen missionaries in India. I've lived there for 80 years. I lived in India and I saw so many missionaries who came there. I wish they had never crossed the ocean and come and messed up God's work in 28:37 India. Tell you the honest truth. There are about 10% of the missionaries I met in India who really felt were doing good work. Most of them just I wish they had never crossed the oceans and never come to India at all. They 28:48 messed up God's work in India and led the Hindus to have a wrong idea idea of what Christianity is that it's a western religion influenced by western money and that's hindered God's work when you don't go and when you go on the 29:05 basis of a need so you you see a need and then you have plenty of money and you'll meet that need and you'll mess up God's work money has messed up God's work in India thoroughly And so I can see how God and money are two different masters. We have to be 29:22 extremely wise. Sometimes a person in financial need what he needs is not money. What he needs is to repent and turn to the Lord. So that requires wisdom. So he says beseech the Lord that he'll send out workers. It's good to see the need. I 29:37 pointed out that passage just to say that. But then coming back to Matthew 28 because the Lord's given us all authority. Our calling is to make disciples. And a disciple is one who loves the Lord more than everybody else. Number one and a 29:49 disciple is one who takes up the cross. M Luke 14:27 and every day and follows the Lord. That's what we got to teach. We have to teach everyone and we have to teach consistently because this is a message that is not preached 30:05 generally in Christendom that you have to die to yourself every day. You go and listen to all the messages on YouTube and see how many people preach about dying to yourself every day. Hardly anybody speaks on it. I remember 30:20 the years I lived as a Christian for 16 years. I went to so many different denominations. I can't think of one single time I heard a preacher get up and speak a full message on dying to yourself every day and taking up the cross. And yet that's 30:34 one of the fundamental conditions with disciplehip. I hardly ever heard anybody say that you got to not listen to your father and mother and don't allow your wife to interfere in your disciplehip. You got to love Jesus more than your father, 30:46 mother, brother, sister, etc. The three conditions of disciplehip mentioned in Luke 14 verse 26, 27 and 33. Number one, love Jesus supremely more than father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children. I preach it consistently. In fact, when 31:01 we started the first CFC church, that's what he taught first. And second, every day take up the cross. And to explain to people what it means to take up the cross. And you cannot explain it if you don't take up the cross yourself. 31:13 And the third condition is we must forsake all our possessions. And that also nobody explained to me. Possessions mean I often use this example. This is possession. Holding it tight. To forsake your possessions means you open your 31:27 palm. It's still in your hand, but you don't possess it. You have it. You have your house. You have your car. It's in your name. But you don't possess it. You don't say, "Lord, this is mine. It's yours. You can use my house or my 31:43 car or anything exactly as you like. I don't want to think of it as mine." That's what it means to forsake our possessions. And we have to teach everybody in our church, not just the elders. Brother, you want to be a disciple, you're going to forsake your 31:56 possessions. We're not asking you to give it to the church. We never in our CFC churches we don't even take an offering. We say if you want give the but you must not possess it otherwise you can't be a disciple. So go and make disciples. 32:12 Look around in Christendom and see how much people are preaching this the fundamental principles of disciplehip that Jesus mentioned in Luke 14. Hardly ever I never heard it in my entire life till we began to preach in India. I'm 32:26 talking about India. And then you baptize them in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit. And then you don't stop there. Once you have taught them disciplehip, then teach them to do verse 20. All that I commanded you, 32:42 particularly the sermon on the mount. So that's how we started in the first CFC church taught them. We took for months we took studies on Matthew 5:6 and 7 so that everybody understands all that Jesus taught. That's how we got that book on our 33:00 website. All that Jesus taught. It's based on this verse. Teach them, not teach them, but teach them to do. There's a difference between teaching them and teaching them to do. When you when you teach a child, 2 plus 2 is 33:13 four. It's not making him do anything. He's learning learning something in his mind that 2 plus 2 is four. But here is teaching them to do like um not love money for example. teach them to do or forgive others as God has forgiven you. 33:30 Teach them to do. So you got to not just teach them generally the 2 plus two is four method but teach them to do. Have you forgiven everybody? If not do it right now. Sometimes many times I've done that in a church meeting at the end 33:46 of the meeting. Sometimes I the other day in this conference itself we had here in the middle of the conference I interrupted the message and said okay let's bow down in prayer right now in the middle of the meeting and I said can you think of 33:58 somebody you have not forgiven before we proceed with the message right now forgive that person in your mind and say Lord I will forgive I won't bring that thing to mind again forgive forgive teach them to do all 34:16 that I have commanded you and now see the promise. Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. I've seen that verse hung up in many homes. And I say, who has the right to claim that promise? Not every Tom, Dick, and Harry. 34:35 Those who fulfill the conditions. Believe, repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved. If you don't fulfill the condition, are you saved? No. So here go baptize and teach them to do everything I commanded you and then I'll 34:52 be with you always. So does that mean the Lord will be with you always even if you don't do all those things? I don't understand it like that. I want the Lord's presence to be with me all the time. All the time. Wherever I am you are in 35:05 your place of work or wherever you are and especially in the church you need the Lord's presence with you when you stand up in the pulpit to speak. Not just that you prepared a good message in your mind. The Lord's presence must be 35:16 with you. And if you want his presence to be with you, you must have this attitude. Lord, I want to teach people in this church every single thing that you have commanded me. I don't want to leave out anything. I want to study it thoroughly. And I don't 35:35 care whether it's popular or accepted or not accepted. I want to teach and I want to say what have we already taught and what are the things I've not taught. I mean if you have to teach geography and history and math and English in a school 35:51 you say what are the subjects that have not been taught supposing you're doing homeschooling which are the subjects not been taught let me concentrate on that now so ask yourself what are the things that have been taught in your church 36:03 regularly what are the things that are not taught teach them to do all that I have commanded you and then I will be with you always this is why we really need the power of the Holy Spirit to do this ministry otherwise you'll never make it 36:21 and to make people disciples is such a such a tremendous challenge and to lead them personally into the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Now I want to turn to Acts chapter 1 and verse one. Acts one and verse one. The first account I composed of 36:48 Theophilus about all that Jesus began to do and to teach. This is Luke describing the first letter he wrote, the Gospel of Luke. He gives a title to it. All that Jesus began to do 37:07 first and then teach. This was Jesus principle of ministry. First do it, then teach it. I haven't done it. Don't teach it. He began to do and teach. Do and teach. Do and teach. Now, and if you were to ask 37:26 Luke to give me a title for the Acts of the Apostles, what he wrote, he would say, "Well, this is a account of all that Jesus continued to do and teach through his spiritual body." That was through his physical body on earth for 37:42 33 and 1/2 years in acts of the apostles. What he continued to do and teach through his spiritual body, the church. And that's continues on to us today that Jesus wants to do and teach through us today. It's a continuation of the acts of the 37:58 apostles. And that's why you read that the acts of the apostles ends with the word what's the last word in acts of the apostle un unhindered. Preaching the kingdom of God and 38:17 teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness unhindered. It's like an endless continue. It hasn't ended. The Acts of the Apostles, God's word continues to go unhindered. So we are in that calling now, the 38:34 continuation of the last verse of Acts of the Apostles. to wherever you are in your hometown in your church. I'm called to make disciples and to do first and then teach. Not to teach anything that I haven't done or at least I'm not at least that 38:54 what I'm striving to do. One big area I have found if I want the Lord to endorse my ministry is and found in Luke chapter 16. Please turn with me there. Luke 39:10 chapter 16. Yeah, I find three verses here which are very important 39:29 starting from verse 10. If you are faithful in a very little thing, then you'll be faithful in much. The that means I'll be faithful in the big things. The big things is the ministry of God's word in the church and building the church. But to be faithful 39:49 in that I have to be faithful in the very little things in my life. And I I believe the subject here is money because he goes on in verse 13 when conclusion to say there are only two masters God and wealth. And you got to choose which master you are going to 40:06 serve. So verses 10, 11 and 12 are sort of an introduction to being faithful in money. And he calls money a very little thing in verse 10. If you see it in his context, if you're faithful in a very 40:23 little thing, I have to see money as a very little thing in my eyes. It's needed for my life on earth. I need it for my family. But if I if I see money as a very big thing like everybody in the world sees 40:42 it, I will never be able to fulfill my ministry. I have to see money as a very little thing. I'm not saying you shouldn't be careful. It says you got to be faithful and and righteous in a very little thing. You must be faithful in a very little thing. 40:58 You have to be faithful with it. It's a very little thing, but you must be faithful with it. But don't let it be such a big thing in your life as money is the most important thing. That's a problem with everybody in the world 41:09 thinks money is a very important thing. Even the homeless man on standing on the streets. Doesn't he think money is a very important thing? Of course. The billionaire thinks money is a very important thing. That homeless man on 41:20 the street thinks money is the whole world from one end to the other think money is a very important thing. And in the midst of it, we are there to say it's a very little thing and we're going to be faithful with it. We don't waste it. 41:34 Money is a very little thing and if you're faithful in that very little thing then you'll be faithful also and much to me much is the ministry the Lord gives us to build the church you know if you turn back to let me turn 41:50 I'll come back here in a moment turn back to Matthew 16 where we started I spoke about the importance of revelation Simon said you're the Christ the son of the living God in Matthew 16:16 And Jesus said, "You're blessed because 42:06 you got revelation." And let me emphasize again, we need revelation constantly, more and more of Jesus. We are told to look unto Jesus and run the race. And there's so much in Christ that I need to see. And it'll come by revelation, 42:25 not just by study. Holy Spirit of God, give me revelation on Jesus. And then um that's what the Lord told Simon. You got this is not something you got from flesh and blood and other you didn't get this by study but my father revealed it 42:44 to you. So what I learned from that in Matthew 16:17 I'm coming to ministry now in a moment but verse 17 is I before I have any ministry because the next verse is talking about building the church verse 18. So before I build a church, I need 43:02 revelation on Jesus. I know who you are, son of God. My father has revealed this to you. Next step, verse 18 is building the church. So if you don't get revelation on Jesus, you're not going to be able to build a 43:21 church. That's what I see here. And not just an academic study of Jesus. Mahatma Gandhi studied about Jesus and he felt that he must serve the poor and cleanse the wounds of the lepers and all that but I don't even know whether he's 43:36 saved. He certainly didn't build the church. So there can be an external following of Jesus in caring for the poor. Mother Teresa did a great job in the streets of Kolkata caring for the poor. I don't know how much of the 43:48 church he built. I don't despise such people. I don't know what their calling is. But I know what my calling is. It's I praise God for all those who care for the poor and the lepers and everything else. But if I don't feel that's my 44:00 calling to spend all my life doing that. I am called to build the church and you are called to build the church. Those who feel they called to do something else, let them do that. But Jesus said, "Go into all the world and not heal the 44:14 sick and take care of the poor. Teach people to do every single thing I commanded you because I've got all authority. Come under the come under the authority and teach people to do everything commanded you which means teach people to love others to love 44:27 their enemies to bless those who curse them teach them to overcome their anger teach them to overcome the lust of the eyes etc etc now that doesn't sound as spectacular as you know cleaning a leper's wounds and running a hospital 44:39 and taking you'll get a lot more honor you'll get the Nobel Prize if you do things like that you want to get a Nobel Prize if you teach people to overcome anger and lust of the is. So, I'm not against all those. Some people feel called to do all that type 44:53 of physical ministry, go right ahead. I'm not here to judge them. I know that I cannot afford to waste my one life doing that when the Lord's called me to build a church. Those who don't have that calling can go and do all those other things. But for 45:08 us in CFC churches, the Lord has told us to do all that he has commanded us and teach others to do every single that he's commanded. And if that whittleles down the size of my church from 100 to 10, so be it. What I see in the ministry 45:26 of Jesus was always the crowd was whittleled down to a small number. Again and again, you read Luke 14, a great number come them comes to him and talks them. He talks to them about disciplehip. John chapter 6, a great number. He's fed 10,000 people there, 45:40 5,000 men, and many women and children with bread and fish. And at the end of that, he says, "You got to eat my flesh and drink my blood." And 99% of them go away. It's fine. There's such a dignity about Jesus there. He doesn't go to the other 12 and 45:56 says, "Oh, I hope you all won't go away." He doesn't say that. He said, "Do you also want to go?" There's a dignity about a servant of God. We're not begging people to please stay in our church. Don't go away. We're getting 46:07 small. I couldn't care less. I'm happy to stay with 11. With 11 people, Jesus turned the world upside down for 2,000 years. This is the Lord we serve. So, I'm not bothered. I I'd rather have 11 disciples than 10,000 compromises in a church. 46:25 We can do a lot more for the Lord. So, we got to have our vision focused and clear. So on the basis of revelation he the next step is I will build my church. I need a revelation on about Christ and a revelation about the church and then 46:44 the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So now we turn back to what we were looking at in Luke 16. Money is a very little thing. I must be faithful with it. The second 47:01 thing about money in verse Luke 16:11 is that money belongs to somebody else. Uh sorry that's in verse 12. Verse 11 is all Jesus always talked about money as unrighteous mammon and unrighteous wealth. I don't know why I never see him 47:19 speaking in any verse in the Bible about righteous wealth and righteous money. We have to earn everything righteously. But I don't know. It's like Jesus saying all money is really dirty. This is so easy to pollute ourselves with money. 47:35 And that's the impression I get. We earn our money honestly and we're absolutely righteous. We pay our taxes and we do everything righteously, but I got to be very careful because I'm I'm handling something which is essentially dirty 47:49 and I got to make sure my hands are clean. That's why I I wondered about it. Why does Jesus always speak about unrighteous wealth and unrighteous mammon? Unrighteous mammon. I get the impression that with all carefulness, we earn our money 48:04 righteously. We pay our taxes. But there's something I have to be extremely careful about. It can tend to stick to me that even when I earned everything righteously, I go to sleep and my money is my mind is thinking about how to make 48:18 more money. That's the unrighteous part of it that it never seems to leave my mind even when I have plenty. I mean if you're struggling to survive and you say yeah I need to provide for my family definitely we need to provide or I'm 48:33 losing my job and I need to find other and all that is right but there's something in it which even the billionaire he's he still has his mind on it to want more and more and more and more. I have prayed I honest God and give you 48:46 my honest testimony. I have prayed numerous times, Lord, free me from the love of money. I want to be completely free from it because I cannot be your servant if I've got even a slight bit of love of money in my heart. And I gave up 49:00 all my job to serve the Lord. I took my entire life savings in the Navy and gave it to the Lord's work. When I left, I started with zero in my bank account. But I still pray, Lord, free me from the love of money because I see it's a thing 49:13 that can easily make my hands dirty. And I say, Lord, if I if that happens, my ministry for you will be affected. And I don't want it. I want liberty in my ministry. I want an anointing in my ministry. And if this wretched thing is 49:28 going to hinder me, please clean my hands. I want to be righteous. I want to be upright in providing for my family. But I never want to beg. I never want to borrow. I never want to steal. No begging. No borrowing, no stealing. 49:45 And by God's grace, I've avoided all three all these years. And please be careful in this area, dear brothers. It's very, very important. There's something unrighteous about wealth. He says, if you have been not being faithful in the use of unrighteous 50:00 wealth, he calls everything unrighteous wealth. Who will entrust? The true riches are revelation on God's word, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, becoming like Christ. Those are the true 50:17 riches I want. Revelation on God's word, anointing of the Holy Spirit, and becoming more like Christ. I want those three. That's the true riches. And if I want those true riches, it says I got to be faithful in the use of money. So I got to be very careful. 50:34 And what does that mean in practical terms? It means I don't waste money unnecessarily. Now each person must decide what is wastage and what is not. I'm here to not to judge for anybody else and each of us have our own standards there and matter 50:50 of what we spend money on and I don't dictate that to anybody even in my local church. I know for me and my wife how we are to use it. So don't make your standard for somebody else. Your standard is for yourself and you don't have to say I 51:06 don't buy this so why should you buy it. Let him buy it. Let him buy 10 times what you buy. It's none of your business to be. Don't be a busy body in other people's matters. I I have to live according to what God told me to do. Do you know in the entire 51:20 gospels there's only one person to whom Jesus said sell all that you have. We have no right to tell people that because Jesus said that only to one person in his entire ministry. He never said that to Lazarus and Mary and John 51:33 sell your Mary and Martha sell your house. One person he said sell all that you have. So we have to be careful that we don't try to make people live according to our financial standards or the thing you don't buy the things I 51:49 don't buy. No. The other mention of money is that money is three things. First of all, it's a very little thing. Verse 10. Second, there's something unrighteous about it. Verse 11. And the third thing is it belongs to somebody else. 52:05 If you're not being faithful in that which is anothers, who will give you that which is your own? What is my own? What is my own is likeness to Christ, anointing of the Holy Spirit, revelation on God's word. That's mine. But money is 52:18 anothers. And I got to be faithful with it. And it's it's wonderful to see that all the money I have really belongs to somebody else. Think if you realize that all somebody had given you a loan to use all this money for yourself but remember it's 52:32 mine. It's something like that. I see the Lord's given me uh whatever I earn with the little business I do whatever I it's the Lord's it's not mine. I have to remember that always then the Lord will give me what my own is. Now I say this 52:49 because I've seen so many Christians who haven't got this true wealth. I told you what the true wealth is. Revelation on God's word. Many people read God's word and they can understand it. They study it. They explain it. But when I 53:06 listen to them expounding it, I don't I don't find revelation. There's no revelation. It's just something there which you study it academically like you study a school subject. Revelation is what we need. That's the first part of God's wealth. 53:22 anointing of the Holy Spirit. Continuous anointing of the Holy Spirit. You cannot serve God without a continuous anointing of the Holy Spirit. And I need to know that it's not that way back in the ancient past I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. Fine. I 53:38 need to be anointed in the Holy Spirit every day. Jesus lived under the continuous anointing. And we must live under a continuous anointing of the Holy Spirit. And you must say Lord I am willing to pay any price for it to live 53:50 under the constant anointing of the Holy Spirit. Then only my words will go with power. It'll be like a sharp sword that goes in. It'll be a word of comfort that comforts the needy. And the third is likeness to Christ. This is what I see as spiritual wealth. 54:09 Revelation on God's word, anointing of the Holy Spirit and likeness to Christ in our personal life, in our attitudes to people and in our thought life, in our speech. So that is my own verse 12. But I for that I must recognize that money is in 54:25 others. Then he says no servant can serve two masters. Verse 13. What is he talking about? He's talking in verse 13 last part of God and wealth. Okay, put God and wealth in the middle of in the first part of verse 13. No 54:42 servant can serve God and wealth because that's the two masters are described in the last sentence there verse 13. No servant can serve God and wealth. That's like saying you can't work in two factories at the same time. You can't 54:56 work in two offices at the same time. If you got a job in one office, you got to stick to that. You can't halfway tell the boss saying, "Hey, I got to work in that office now." Then he'll say go on go and go there don't come here. No 55:09 servant can serve two masters. And he says God and money are like two masters. It really is absolutely true. Money has a tremendous control over people. Tells us what to do. God also wants to have God is a jealous 55:28 God who wants that authority over us that he purchased through the death of Jesus Christ. He said, "I don't want money to control your life. I want money to be your servant. You can have it. You can have loads of it. But every bit of it must be your 55:44 servant, not what controls you." The Lord's never told us how much we should have. That's up to you. To some people, he gives a lot. To some people, he gives a little. To the early apostles, he gave very little. But we don't have to follow 56:00 that. To some, he gives much. to people like Job, first godly man in the Bible. God gave so much to Abraham. He gave so much. So it's not necessary that we have to be poor in order to serve the Lord. But 56:20 I must not let it control me. That must not be my master. God is my master. And now I have meditated on this. You know, put God and wealth into verse 13. How does it read? You cannot serve God and wealth. Number 56:39 one, you will hate one and love the other. How does that apply? Have you applied it? If you want to love God, you got to hate money. I'm sure you never heard a message on that. Yet, it's there. Tell me if I'm 56:57 misinterpreting it. If you love God, you got to hate money. And you if you want to be devoted to God, you got to despise money. Tell me if I'm misreading it. And if you're if you love money, you will hate God. 57:17 That's the first part. And if you're devoted to money, you'll despise God whether you know it or not. I want to take scripture exactly because I want God's best in my life. I face it like that and I say, Lord, 57:33 what does it mean to hate money? Um the and what came to me was just like I told you to hate your father and mother and your wife. The Lord tells me to love my wife and to hate my wife. It's it's in that way that I have to 57:49 hate money. Not that I throw it away. I don't throw my wife away. I don't throw my children away but I got to hate them in the sense that like the best example I use is the brightness of the sun makes the stars disappear. 58:03 Disappear means they don't go to non-existence. They're there and stars are very bright and you can be a millionaire very bright star but when the sun comes it it just disappears. That means in the light of Christ money becomes insignificant but is 58:22 there. You may be a millionaire. I believe a millionaire can follow Christ. I have no doubt about it. But even a person got only $1,000 in his bank account may not be able to follow if he loves it. It's not a question of how 58:35 much you have. It's a question of whether you have put Christ in his proper place in relation to your job and your money and what you earn. And that I when it comes to being devoted to Christ and despised I know in see I got a little inheritance from my dad 58:53 and that's how I lived through the years done a little business with it through the years and supported myself but there are times when I had big losses and I'm not such a great businessman. I've lost and the Lord's tested me there. 59:07 Does that bother you? I say Lord I I did my best but I lost so much money. I'm not going to be disturbed. I'm going to not going to lose sleep over it. I'm your servant. If it's gone, it's gone. I try to be faithful. I'd be more 59:22 careful next time. But I'm not going to be worry about it. I don't believe we should ever go to bed worried about money or anything else. Cast your burden upon the Lord. There's some practical advice I want to give to you because we 59:36 live in a world where there's it's getting increasingly difficult. Life is very tense for many people in this world. They don't earn enough to survive. Many people in our churches are like that. We need to be able to advise 59:48 them. And we should not if you're earning a lot of money, don't give advise them from a super spiritual position. We need to understand what their position is. And sometimes God takes us through circumstances to be able to teach us to 1:00:03 sympathize with people who are going through struggles. So I talk so much about money because that's a very important ma uh subject when it comes to serving the lord. The other thing is which I want to mention is the principle of 1:00:23 sacrifice. Uh in the statement of David's in one 2 Samuel 24 is what I always go to. 2 Samuel 24 1:00:40 and verse 24 that you probably heard me speak about this many times a simple statement in the middle of that verse. I will not offer to the Lord my God that which costs me nothing. 1:01:00 So in everything I say Lord if if I do something for you it must cost me something. If there's no sacrifice in it, I will not offer it to God. And I it's a good way for us to examine everything we do in our life to see if 1:01:18 there's a principle of sacrifice involved because Jesus came with that spirit and particularly in obedience to God's commands. It may involve sacrifice sometimes. Obedience to what God has commanded. 1:01:33 [Music]
