0:25 So that's a great verse for us to remember throughout this year. Turn in your Bible to that verse again, Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 17. It's a good verse for all of you 0:42 all of us to remember throughout this year and all our life. It's been a great help to me, I must say, in many situations. Because it tells us a number of things. Just in that one little verse, there's so much content 1:01 in a single verse. First of all, you know, we have so many doubts whether God is really happy with us. One of the great teachings of the devil is that God is 1:18 slightly angry with you all the time. He's not mad at you because you've accepted Christ. He's not really happy with you. And imagine if you had a father at home and you always feel he's a little angry with you every day. 1:37 You're not going to have a very happy relationship with him in the home. And I feel that a lot of people are like that. How do I know? Because I had that type of relationship with God for years. And I was miserable. And nobody was there to tell me that 1:54 God's happy with you, man. He's not always looking at you with a frown. And the reason I felt like that was because I said, "Well, I'm not completely like Christ. I mean, I'm not going to be like Christ completely till he comes again." 2:11 So does that mean God's going to be angry with me right until that day? Rubbish. And the other thing is we the devil gives us doubts whether God is really with us. Is he really with you? Is he in your home? So many things wrong in your home, how 2:28 can God be there? Well, if God's only going to be with perfect people and perfect marriages and perfect homes, then he'll only be in heaven. He won't be on earth with anybody. He wouldn't have he wouldn't even have been with the Apostle 2:41 Paul. You remember the time when the Apostle Paul yelled at the uh judge who was judging him who commanded somebody to slap him. You read in Acts 23. Because Paul said, "I've always kept a good conscience." And the judge said, 2:57 "Slap that guy." And Paul got so upset and said, "You whitewashed wall." That's not the way Jesus spoke when somebody slapped him. Paul was not like Christ at that moment. But he immediately apologized. Was God with Paul? You see, from there 3:15 he went almost straight to jail. And God was with Paul in jail. So God's not the type of person who jumps on you just because you made one mistake. Very important to remember this verse, "The Lord your God is in your midst." 3:34 And as we look back CFC over the last year there are many situations which you may not know, which the elders know. There are many situations, many in many other churches which only I know. Many, many churches, problems with 3:53 people with elders. But I can say one thing, in every situation, in every single situation the Lord our God has been in our midst. We have survived, not just survived, we have triumphantly survived 4:13 till today. So that's the first thing to remember, "The Lord your God is in your midst." And the next thing to remember is the next sentence there, "He's in your midst as a victorious warrior." See, the our entire life on earth is a 4:30 battle. And the moment you become born again, the battle increases. I mean, the devil's after unbelievers, too. But they are his children, he still harasses them, troubles them in so many ways. But the moment you leave his 4:43 kingdom and become a child of God, he's after you. And then you become serious and you want to be a disciple, you come to some church like CFC and say, "I want to be a disciple." He's more after you. And uh you begin to take some responsibility in 4:59 the church, he is even more. You begin to serve the Lord, you're a target of Satan. What's that? Are we going to get discouraged? No. Because the Lord is a victorious warrior in our midst. He's not just a warrior he's a victorious warrior. And we know 5:14 one thing, you know, unfortunately when the gospel is preached very often, one part of what Jesus did on Calvary is not preached, not just one part. A lot of people preach that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. And some people preach he died to take 5:32 away our sickness as well. Now, we got to be realistic. All our sins are not gone from our life just because Jesus died for our sins. He died to forgive our sins. But being saved from sin, Jesus also died to save us from our sins. It's true. Our 5:51 old man was crucified with him. That's the second thing that happened on the cross. So that Romans 6 says 6 says so that you should not serve sin. So you know very well, but until we meet Jesus face to face, there is going to be some unconscious sin in 6:10 us and sometimes it pops up like it popped up in Paul's case in front of the judge, even though he was such a mature Christian at that time. But he immediately set it right. What I'm trying to say is uh there are occasionally sins that 6:24 surface in us. But the more you walk with the Lord, it becomes less and less and less and less. And the serious ones disappear. But it'll be there. In the same way with sickness Jesus died for our sicknesses, too, but we're going to get the deliverance from 6:43 that only when he comes. Till then, our body is going to perspire have sickness. And the greatest proof is that all of us and all Christians from the beginning have died. And Jesus died on the cross to save us from death 7:01 as well. But it's not going to happen till he comes again. So remember that. Don't be unrealistic and think that all sickness will go right now. That's like saying death will go, "I'll never die." It's as foolish to say, "I'll never get 7:17 sick." as to say, "I'll never die." Did Jesus die that I might be delivered totally from death? Yes. The Bible says he Hebrews 2:14 is very clear, he took away the power of death from Satan through his death on the cross. 7:36 But we have to understand what becomes ours fully when he comes again and what is ours partially now. What we are having now is a foretaste of the future. And healing is a foretaste of the resurrection life I shall have in 7:54 my body one day. Need to understand that. But he will But Satan has been defeated completely on the cross. That was not true in Old Covenant times. He's a victorious warrior, we read here. Warrior over whom? Over Satan. 8:10 Satan has been defeated 100%. Even if you're not free from sin 100% and you're not free from sickness 100%, remember one thing. Satan has been defeated 100% on the cross. And the reason why the Lord 8:28 allows us to come into that victory progressively is because that's how we become strong. It's not that the Lord just gives us strength one day and suddenly we are strong. No. He fills us with the Holy Spirit and makes us exercise our will in 8:45 different temptations and that's how we become stronger and stronger and stronger. It's like the Christian life is like going through a gym a gymnasium where we exercise, exercise and become stronger and stronger, our muscles become stronger. It doesn't 8:58 happen overnight. But that's how it is. So that's the second thing it says here in this verse, he's a victorious warrior. He will exalt over you with joy. Now, exalt is a a word which is more than rejoice. 9:16 It's not just that he will rejoice over you joy exalt is like you know, like the cricket fans in India rejoice when India wins. And the crackers go up. In the middle of the night, you hear crackers means somewhere India won, maybe in Australia 9:31 or somewhere. They they're exalt, it's more it's not just joy, it's not just saying, "Yo, I'm happy." It's more than that, it's a exalting. Now, we exalt in what Jesus has done for us, but to think that God exalts over us 9:48 with joy. If you somebody tells you God is exalting over you with joy, you look around and say, "Who is he talking to? Is he talking to me or somebody else?" He's talking to you. God exults over you with joy. And you know who doesn't want 10:04 you to believe it? The devil doesn't want you to believe it. He'll think it's somebody else, the person sitting next to you or behind you or something, but not you. It is you. So, that's the second thing or the third thing there in that verse 10:18 which we must remember that he is not just rejoicing, he's exalting. I mean, think of how a mother I mean, the best way I can describe it is in Isaiah 49:15, God said he's like a mother. He's a He's a father, but God is also like a mother. 10:36 Uh he says, "Even if a mother forgets her newborn child, I will not forget you." Even that mother may forget, but you know, think of a mother who's never had a kid for 10 years and suddenly gets a baby. Do you think that mother's going to 10:51 forget that kid in the first week or so? No. All the time her mind is on that kid. And it says, "Even that mother may forget, I won't forget you." So, that is how God exults over us. A mother picks up that 11:10 child and you know, child can't say anything in return. Can't do anything for the mother. But the child The mother is so happy with the child, and that's a picture of how God exults. Think of a mother uh exalting over her newborn baby. And picture this 11:30 throughout this year in the moments when you're discouraged with something that may happen. We don't know what's going to happen the remaining 360 days of this year. But one thing we can be sure every single day 11:47 God will exalt over you with joy. There's no doubt about it. Especially if you seek with all your heart like the Apostle Paul to keep your conscience clear. That's the only condition. Well, I would say two conditions. One 12:05 that you keep your conscience clear before God and men. And the other is that you always choose the way of humility. I always tell people, "If you want to remain filled with the spirit every single day and every single moment, 12:21 you don't need 25 rules. You need only two things to bear in mind. One, keep your conscience clear always. And the other is choose the way of humility in every situation. If somebody's coming into conflict with you, go down. 12:40 If you're having a problem with a group of people, go down. If somebody's coming to argue with you, keep quiet. Choose the way of humility. I always take this attitude that when someone wants to argue with me and prove something, 12:55 I keep quiet. I say, "Okay, let him think he has won the argument." Even doctrinally, sometimes people have tried to come to my house and argue with me about some doctrine. I can prove him wrong from so many passages of scripture. 13:11 But it'll only show that I know the Bible better than him. And I don't want to prove to people that I know the Bible better than you. I want to pursue the path of love. And I want to help him to see the truth, not convince him that I know the Bible 13:24 better than you. I want him to come into life. So, I know I won't come in him I won't lead him to life if I just prove to him that I know the Bible better than you. I can show you 25 verses or 100 verses that prove that you're wrong. 13:39 So, I'll keep quiet. Let him go away thinking he has won the argument. Choose that way. That's the way of peace, the way of humility. I'll never forget years ago when there was a Christian organization where 13:58 I had some responsibility and I had to discipline someone. And someone else who heard about that, who knew that brother, who did not know the circumstances under which I had to do that, called me up on the phone. He knew me 14:14 and yelled at me and shouted at me for minutes many minutes on the phone. I could have put the phone down, but that's rude. And I don't do that to somebody I know. So, I listened. I didn't say one word. Uh this is way back in 14:31 1973 or something like that. Anyway, I heard and heard and heard and heard. And finally he finished. You know, ultimately all people run out of words. So, I said, "Brother, have you finished?" He said, "Yes." I said, "God bless you." 14:47 And put the phone down. That's all. Six months later, he called me again. Said, "Brother Zach, I'm really sorry. I did not know all the facts when I spoke to you 6 months ago. Now that I know the facts, I know that your discipline was right. 15:07 I'm sorry for what I spoke to you that day." I said, "Oh, I ignored it and forgot it that day, so I've got nothing against you. God bless you." What would I have gained by arguing with him over the phone? Wasted another half an hour on the 15:21 phone? No, I wouldn't do it. So, the Lord is the victorious warrior and he exults over us with joy, and that's enough for us to know. And then the next phrase here is, "He will be quiet in his love." And I like the paraphrase of that, which 15:39 is not found in any of the well-known translations or paraphrases that I know. But here is a paraphrase of that verse, which is a legitimate paraphrase. Quiet means silent. 15:57 And if you can add one word there, it you understand the meaning. He is silently planning for you in love. What a wonderful truth to know for the rest of this year. I don't know what's going to happen to 16:14 me or you the rest of this year. But I rejoice in one thing, that I have a father who is silently planning for me in love. You know, like people who hate you are silently 16:32 planning for you in hatred. There were a group of people once who silently planned to send the police to my house for some silly little thing. But it didn't work. You know why? Because just like God took away Jesus 16:50 from before the soldiers of Herod came, God took me away from that house before the police came. So, the house was empty when they came. And by the time I came back to my house in a couple of days, the problem had been solved. 17:04 God is silently I can tell you numerous cases like that in my life where I experienced God silently plans for me in love. I hope by the end of this year, you'll have a few testimonies of the truth of this verse being 17:23 fulfilled in 2019. And I'll tell you something. You must keep a little notebook. If you have a computer, it's even easier. Open a folder for 2019, the things God did for me or God silently planned for me folder. And year by year, 2019 and 17:43 you may not have something to write every day. God's doing something every day, but you may not realize it every day. But when you realize it, something happened, jot it down. And 20 years later, you can tell your children about it 17:57 and tell those stories to your grandchildren years from now if the Lord tarries. Because sometimes we forget these things. But when you have a date and a time, you know that it has actually happened. God is silently planning for you in 18:13 love. Let a million people and all the demons of hell plan for you in hatred. They will not overcome because God is a victorious warrior. So, please remember this, my brothers and sisters. It's a very good verse to begin the new year with. 18:30 And it's almost as though God has to repeat again, "Listen, I'm I want to assure you again, I'm rejoicing over you with shouts of joy." Can you imagine God shouting? We only think of somebody shouting means he's angry with me. 18:48 Shouts of joy. Have you ever heard anybody sh- with shouts at you? Shout is always related to anger, right? The guy yelled at me. What does that mean? He's upset with me. He yelled with joy when he saw me. That's a rare expression. I've never 19:00 heard it used of anybody, but God does that. He rejoices with shouts of joy. Well, it's a very appropriate verse that was selected by those brothers in the churches in the US for sent it on to us to use. You know, even if you don't remember the 19:18 reference, one way to remember reference is what I did when I was young. With a red pencil, I would highlight these verses so that later on when I turn to the through cross the Bible, I Oh, that's the verse I remember reading it 1 year ago. Boy, 19:34 it's good to remind yourself of it. So, some of these verses if you highlight in your Bible, you'll find it much easier as as you go along. So, I told you, keep a good conscience and choose the way of humility Throughout this life throughout this 19:53 year in every situation I want to turn now to Galatians in chapter Turn with me to Galatians in chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7. Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. 20:17 For whatever a man sows that he'll also reap. There is a good side to it and a bad side to it as the next verse tells us. The one who sows to his own flesh will from his flesh reap corruption. The one who sows to the spirit 20:36 will from the Holy Spirit reap eternal life. You know, eternal life is used in a very broad way. It's not something I get like that. It's not like a a gift. Somebody gives you 100 rupees and you got it. Eternal 20:55 life is not like that. Jesus defined eternal life in John 17:3 as knowing God. Knowing Jesus Christ and you can't get that in one moment. You can't even get it in a lifetime. It's progressive more and more and more and more. That's why Paul told Timothy 21:14 in 1 Timothy 6:17, lay hold of eternal life. Lay hold of it. That means it might go away. Lay hold of it. Get more and more. And Timothy was 45 years old already a Christian for 25 years and he's telling him lay hold of 21:28 eternal life. He's not saying be born again. He's saying what you got when you were born again, lay hold of it and progress more and more and more. It's like you know climbing up a rope going up and up and up and more. You got a hold of the rope 21:44 but go up more and more. So, we can reap eternal life if we sow to the spirit. That's another good verse for us to remember throughout this year. Throughout this year you're going to be sowing seeds 22:04 everyday. And one of the primary seeds you sow are going to be your thoughts and attitudes. Many thoughts pass through our mind. 22:24 The devil put thoughts into Jesus' mind. You know that? Turn the stones into bread. Thought flashed into his mind. Jesus said, "No." He quoted a word of God. Jump from the roof of the temple. God will protect you. No. Bow down and worship me. No. These are 22:42 thoughts flashed into your mind. But Jesus didn't sin. So, just because some horrible thought came into your mind don't condemn yourself. Did you want it? Did you accept it? Or as soon as you're aware you say, "No, I don't want that thought." 23:02 Then you have not sinned. You were tempted but you didn't sin. Please remember throughout this year the distinction between temptation and sin. When a thought is flashed into your mind it's from your flesh 23:20 from the lust in your flesh but it may be areas where you've indulged yourself for a lot. Those thoughts will come or from the devil. What do you do? I'm not going to condemn myself because if I condemn myself I'm defeated already. I'll never overcome 23:35 the devil. I'm not going to condemn myself. I'm going to say I don't accept that. That's not my thought. I reject it. It's not In my flesh dwells no good thing. The flesh is sort of throwing up a thought into my heart and I don't accept 23:49 it. Sorry. It's like somebody coming knocking at your door. Uh you're going to decide You can't stop people knocking. You cannot stop people from knocking at the door of your heart. But you can reject it. You don't open the door. Say, "I don't 24:09 want that." So, we have control over the door to our heart and mind. So, don't get condemned if you hear a knock. It's a thought. Say, "Are you going to open the door? Come in?" No. If you open the door, you're sowing something 24:29 into your heart into your mind. And if it is to the flesh you will it'll finally bring corruption. Not immediately. I mean, if you sow a seed of a tree in your garden or anywhere it's not going to come up tomorrow. 24:48 But many years later or months later you go by and say, "Hey there's a little plant come up there." Cuz you sowed a seed sometime ago. That works for good and for bad. So, if you allow that seed to come in and you don't throw it out 25:07 it will produce a plant which will become a tree one day. It could be an attitude towards someone. Have you noticed in the past how you develop the wrong attitude towards somebody? Somebody you don't like too much. 25:25 For some reason you don't like I mean, it's you got to be honest. There are certain people in this church you don't like for some reason. It's not a good reason. Don't ever use this wrong expression that some people say, "I love you but I 25:42 don't like you." Is that right? You'll say, "I love everybody in the church but I don't like some of them." Supposing God were to tell you like that. Listen, "I love you but I don't like you." Will you be happy? What if your husband tells you, sisters, 26:01 "I love you so much but I just don't like you." Or you tell your husband "I love you so much but I don't like you." How can that be? It's foolish. So, don't God doesn't say that to you. I God doesn't say I don't like you but I 26:21 love you. It's it's a contradiction in terms. So let's not have that attitude. Say you don't like somebody but I'm not saying you have to agree with all that they do. I don't agree with a lot of things 26:39 that even some people do in the church. And certainly I don't agree with a lot of things that other people do in other churches but that is not going to stop me from loving them. And it's because I love them that I speak the truth to them. 26:54 You may not love them enough and so you don't tell the truth to them because you love yourself. You love your reputation. You say, "Oh, I don't want to spoil my reputation as a kind, gentle type of person so I won't tell him the truth 27:04 even though even though I know the truth about him." But I say I love the person enough to tell him the truth. But you may not be called to do fulfill my ministry so don't condemn yourself. But loving a person does not mean that 27:18 you don't tell them the truth. Don't you tell them the truth to your children? If your children misbehave or they behave badly, if you don't correct them, how in the world will they become better? So we are sowing seeds in our thoughts and attitudes 27:36 that will reap strong trees one day and if you allow it to become so strong, I've seen people here in CFC who have not been careful with their attitudes and thoughts towards others. And I see them a few years later and I 27:51 see sometimes carelessly they say something of that person. I can see this towards that person for years. And I've known it. 28:09 And I can see that in the way he or she speaks about that person now. It's never been judged. It's never been cleansed and so it comes out in a moment of weakness this tree springs up. Yeah, what you sow you will reap one day 28:27 and it's destroying you. You don't realize it and someone with more maturity than you can see through you that it's destroying you. And you'll get a big surprise when you stand at the judgment seat of Christ and Jesus reveals all this to you who 28:43 thought you were so spiritual. And you suddenly discover at the judgment seat of Christ that you were not spiritual at all. Be careful with the type of thoughts and attitudes you're sowing in your heart 29:01 towards people. And you have to be particularly careful about thoughts and attitudes towards those who have harmed you. Because it's very easy to develop very negative attitudes towards somebody who's harmed you even many years ago and you keep 29:20 thinking about it. Yeah, you cannot remove from your memory the harm somebody did to you. I mean, I cannot remove from my memory the various harmful things people have done against me. But I'm not guilty because of that because memory is 29:36 something I have no control over. But my heart the door to my heart is not in my memory. The door to my heart in my will. And I choose that I will not hate that person. 29:55 I choose that I will love that person and one way I can test that is I say, "Lord, I want you to bless that person." It says, "Bless those who curse you." And Lord, I want you to bless his work and his family and his business and his 30:11 children. And if he's got grandchildren, bless them all. And say it sincerely from your heart with your will and you're okay. And don't worry about thoughts. Thoughts are coming from your memory. Don't condemn yourself because of that. 30:26 But make sure your thoughts and attitudes that you're going to sow this year are going to be good, loving thoughts. And I'll tell you, believe me, if you take my word today, you'll come to the end of this year more spiritual than you ever were in your 30:40 entire life. And more useful to God, more used by God to bless others. Do you know that it's God who can open doors? There's a verse in Revelation 3 where the Lord tells a very faithful church, church in Philadelphia. 30:58 He says, "I've seen your works. And I'm setting before you an open door and no one can shut it." Do you know that verse? Turn with me to Revelation and Revelation in chapter 3 and verse 8. The Lord says, "I know your 31:19 works." That means he's saying, "I know exactly what you've been doing. Uh you've been faithful. Okay? Here is my reward to you. 31:35 I am opening a door before you of service for me which no one will be able to shut because you have sown something. You have very little ability. You're not a great preacher. You don't have the gifts that 31:53 outstanding preachers have. You have a very little power. And with that little power, you were true to my word. And you were not ashamed of being known by my name. In your place of work, you were not ashamed to be known 32:09 as a disciple of Jesus. Even if you lost your promotion, you said, "That's okay." You made it known that you were a Christian. You see, some of you have names which are very similar to non-Christian names. And when you sit in the office, 32:31 you can say, "Boy, these guys don't know I'm a Christian, so my promotion chances will not be hindered by my boss who's a rabbit anti-Christian." That's the person to whom you make clear that though you have that name, you're a 32:44 Christian. Don't deny the Lord for the sake of a promotion. Psalm 75 says promotion comes from the Lord, not from man. I believed that all my life. Promotion comes from the Lord. 33:03 Promotion in your job, you know, I was in the navy and I believed that promotion comes from the Lord. So, I said, "Well, he will give me the promotion I need at the right time." And God will give you the promotion you need at the right time 33:20 if you honor him. He's the one who opens doors. He's the one who closes doors. And if he sees that you're sowing good attitudes, good thoughts, and you're not ashamed of his name, it says here, "You've not denied my 33:38 name." Verse 8. Even though you've got very little ability, you're not a very mature saint. You were converted 2 years ago. You didn't deny my name. I will open doors for you. I'll give promotions to you which nobody can stop. 33:57 I know in my own ministry when we when I was gripped by building the church and not just being a world-famous preacher, so many doors closed because people didn't want 34:15 to hear the message of discipleship. The message of leave the dead Babylonian denominations and come out and be a new covenant church, people didn't want it. I mean, today we've become popular, unfortunately. I say unfortunately. 34:31 We were safer in those days when CFC was despised and rejected as a heretical group and to be associated with Zac Poonen was terrible. Because I was considered a heretic. So what? Paul was considered a heretic. Jesus was 34:49 considered a heretic. And all the great saints throughout the greatest prophets in 2,000 years of Christianity were all considered heretics in their lifetime. After they died, people recognized they're prophets. The heretics of today are recognized as 35:04 prophets tomorrow. It's like that. So, if you don't deny and I've seen in my own life how as you sow as I've sought to be faithful to the truth, God himself has opened door after door. I didn't have to push. I'll tell you honestly, I didn't even 35:20 have to push one door in one single place where the CFC church was planted. I'll tell you my honest experience. I'll tell you honestly my experience. I'd walk up to a place and the door would open. Have you Have you seen these 35:33 automatic doors? You don't touch it. It just opens. That's exactly how every single CFC church has been planted in the last 43 years. I never had to push in one place. You go there, it opens. Cuz the Lord says, "I'm the one who 35:52 opens the doors." If you have to push and shove and all that, brother, God's not opening that door. And if God shut a door, I've experienced that also. Door shut. Oh, God doesn't want me to go there. I go somewhere else. There's an open door 36:11 there. So, he doesn't open doors everywhere. Partly because the people are not ready. Or in some places the Lord says, "That's not your ministry. That's for somebody else." Oh, praise the Lord. God bless him. He God will open that door for somebody 36:26 else, but he's opened a door for me here. It's a wonderful thing to live like that throughout this year. You're not in competition with anybody. You're seeking to be faithful to his name. And whatever door It may be a door 36:37 in your job or some other door for marriage. Does Do you believe God can open doors in marriage? And he shuts certain doors and opens certain doors. It's a wonderful thing to live by faith this year. Lord, you're the one who will 36:55 open doors and I will not deny your name. The little seed that you sow is confessing the name of Jesus. So, like I said, our thoughts and attitudes towards people are seeds that we sow. And the other very important seed that 37:13 all of us are going to sow this year is in our words. As you look back over last year, you can probably see the very harmful, poisonous plants 37:31 that grew up in your life and in your relationships with others. Poisonous plants because of certain poisonous seeds, words that you spoke. Okay. Pull out those plants. 37:50 Love them. Bless them. The way to pull it out is ask forgiveness. Jesus said, "Don't come and pray to me if you have hurt somebody else. Go and pull that out. Don't say he also hurt me." No, no, no, no. That's his 38:09 business. He may not even be a Christian. You hurt him. Does he have to ask your forgiveness? No. Even though he may have hurt you more, he does not have to ask your forgiveness because he's not a Christian. You hurt him 1% of how much he hurt you, 38:25 but you got to ask forgiveness because you're a Christian. It's like saying, "He stole 1,000 rupees from me and I stole 1 rupee from him." You return the 1 rupee. He may never return the 1,000 rupees. That's okay. He's a heathen, 38:39 non-Christian. Why should I uh take anything from him? But I'm determined to do what's right. So, think of all the poisonous plants that have come up through words that you 38:56 spoke foolishly or carelessly perhaps to your husband or to your wife. You can remember. You'll never be able to get rid of that in your memory. All the evil words 39:15 or most of them, evil words and actions that your partner did. You remember. But you got to forgive. And say, "Lord, I'm going to see sow a seed of forgiveness today. And I know I'll get a good harvest from it in the days to come." 39:35 I'm going to forgive and I'm going to ask forgiveness. And from that, I believe I'll get a good crop this year. Really good. That I'll have a great harvest during this year. Don't be afraid of 39:54 going home and hugging your wife and husband. Do Indian husbands and wives do that? I hope you do. And say, "Darling, I'm sorry." Use some nice words. It's not a sin to call your wife or husband darling or sweetheart or 40:12 whatever you call. Don't say, "Hey, by the way, I was told to ask your forgiveness today." Not like that. Be affectionate, put your arm around. And you know, God's I mean, if you have a difficulty with 40:32 that, go to scripture. Go to Song of Solomon and read Song of Solomon. You husbands and wives must read Song of Solomon and get some uh suggestions from the Holy Spirit how to speak to each other. 40:51 Very important. Ask forgiveness for all that you've done and let's begin this year with sowing some good seeds. You may not be perfect, but if accidentally one day a bad seed drops out of your bag, pick it up. Pick it up as soon as you're aware. 41:10 Here, that's not a good seed. Pick it up and destroy it. Let's follow that rule. I'm not saying it'll be perfect this year. I'm not going to give you an illusion that you're becoming like Jesus tomorrow. No. But I say let's progress, press on. 41:26 Lovely words we have in front of our pulpit. Let's press on to perfection. Let's make that a little more of a reality in this year. So, that's very That's another thing. Be careful about the words you speak. Those 41:45 are seeds. Let me sow. And be very, very careful. Think Make this verse your goal this year. It won't happen in a day, but make it a goal. Colossians chapter 4. Turn to Colossians in chapter 4. 42:03 Colossians chapter 4, verse 6. I like that word always. Always means like they say, 24/7. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every week. 42:22 24/7, let your speech be with grace. What a verse. Gracious. As those seasoned with salt. What is the meaning of that, seasoned with salt? I thought about it. 42:40 And I picked it up like this. If you put one teaspoon of liquid or solid into your mouth, you immediately know whether it's got salt or not. You don't need to take 25 spoons to discover whether salt in it or not. You 43:00 know that very well. One teaspoon of anything. One small piece of a chapati or anything. The moment it touches your tongue and you don't have to You don't take time. Within a second, you know whether there's salt or not. 43:19 It's so immediate. You recognize in your tongue and I'll tell you something. You will know as soon as you speak whether there was grace in it or not. You may not You may pretend that there was grace, but you know the 43:38 motive with which you said it. You know there wasn't salt in it. And you may think that the other person didn't know it, but the other person also knew it. They're not dumb. Sometimes, you know, there's an expression in 43:57 English called hitting below the belt. I don't know whether you know that expression. It's a rule in boxing that, you know, the boxers have a shorts and they have a belt there and you're not allowed to hit below the belt. 44:14 That's a foul. Uh hitting the belt below the belt in words is saying something which is not according to the rules. It's going underneath to hit someone in a hurtful way. Let's eliminate that from our conversation at home 44:33 and between each other. I mean, if you have something you disagree with someone, let's think about it a little bit and decide what's the best way to communicate it. Don't be in a hurry. So, let your speech always be with 44:50 grace, seasoned with salt. And if you feel as soon as the words came out of your mouth, uh there was no salt there. There was no grace in it. But you can't take back the words that you've spoken. But you can add a little salt 45:05 afterwards. Say something nice. And or say, "Listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I said that. Please, I take back those words." You can take it back. Very important. And it says it also says there in that verse that you can know how to respond to each 45:23 person. So, that teaches me that it's not a standard way in which I speak to everybody in the world. No. I have to speak to this person in this way and I have to speak to this person in this way. Very important. See Proverbs. Proverbs is a great 45:45 book and I hope all of you will read it many times in this year. There are people who follow the rule of one chapter of Proverbs every day. There are 31 chapters. So, 46:04 but you may not read it every month, but it's good to read Proverbs deeply this year. I would encourage you to do it. It's a wonderful book. It's the closest to a new covenant book in the Old Testament. Okay, I want to turn to Proverbs 26. 46:21 Answer each person according that you know how to respond to each person. That's what we read in Colossians 4:6. So, this is referring to that. Colossians I mean, Proverbs 26. And verse 4, it says, "Don't answer a fool 46:39 according to his folly." That means don't speak to him just like he spoke to you. Because you'll be You'll become like him then. If he spoke rudely to you and you speak rudely to him, you'll become like him. No, don't do that. 46:53 But it says here, "Answer a fool not according to his folly, but as his folly deserves." So that he doesn't become wise in his own eyes. So, if he says something which requires a 47:12 response from you, um you are going to give him an answer in a way that he needs to hear. Maybe a word of correction or a word of rebuke. So, when you meet a fool, you know, I need to ask yourself, is this fool A or fool B? 47:31 Fool A means you got to answer Don't Don't answer him if it's fool B, then you got to answer him. There are two types of fools mentioned in verse 4 and 5. And a fool is one who does not speak according to the will of God or do 47:45 things according to the will of God. Anyone who doesn't speak or do things according to the will is fool is a fool in God's eye. And we don't call him a fool. But God calls him a fool. So, as each person deserves to hear. 48:01 And I've often said that don't try to correct a person if you have never in the church, for example, if you have never appreciated him. You've never spoken one word in all the years you've known him for anything good in him. 48:18 Then you may not be the person to correct him. Maybe somebody else can correct him, but not you, because you've never said one good word or kind word to him in all your life. And if you look around, you will find many people here 48:38 to whom you've never spoken a kind word in all the years that you've known them. That's sad. You've known person for so many years and it's always been business words or but a good word, a kind word. 48:56 I praise God for for some very few outstanding examples I've seen in my life who know how to speak good words and kind words. And I'll tell you if you do that, one day when you have to speak a word of correction, they will accept it. Even though they 49:15 may get a little hurt in the beginning, they'll accept it. I have tried to follow that rule that if I mean, if it's a stranger, it's different, but usually, the people I know well, I first ask myself, have I spoken some Have I 49:33 appreciated something good in that person? Have I prayed for that person? Then I can speak words of correction. I mean, if you see the example of Jesus in Revelation chapter 2 and 3, the way he corrected the elders in churches. Imagine an elder in a 49:50 church, the most responsible person in that church, and Jesus speaks some strong words of rebuke to them. And in every case, there were five churches he corrected, five elders. In every case except one, he always said something positive. You 50:08 read that, Revelation 2 and 3. The only one he had nothing positive to say was the elder in Laodicea. He says, "You're just good-for-nothing." But all the others, you know, before he corrects them, he says some very good things about 50:22 them. That is wisdom. They're more likely to accept your correction. When you speak to your children, you ask yourself this question. How often do you encourage your children? That's the reason, if you don't, that's the reason they don't accept your 50:37 correction. That's the reason you don't they don't accept your And I'm sorry to say that I've met many fathers in CFC who never appreciate and encourage their 50:53 children. It's pathetic. They belong to that great tribe of people who are so arrogant that they think they know everything. And what is the dis- reason What is the result? 51:11 All the sowing of negative things to your children have increased the distance between you and your children till your child is so far away. And I'll tell you something. You may think because he's far away from 51:28 you, he's far away from God. No. You are far away from God. He may be closer to God than you are. Cuz he knows how to speak kind words and you don't. You know what you need? You need to hear a prophetic word 51:50 from an Elijah. Turn with me to Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5 and 6. Malachi 4 verse 5. He's speaking about the last days. In the last days, 52:10 and we're living in those days. I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet. Not Elijah himself, but those who come in the spirit of Elijah. For example, John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah. And there will be many people, 52:32 not many, at least some in the church in the last days who will have the spirit of Elijah, fearless, not afraid of kings, who will say, "I stand before God." And will speak the truth against all the false prophets 52:52 and against an Israel that's going away from God. And this there'll be people like that in the last days, in the body of Christ, just before the Lord comes. And what are they going to do? They are going to get the fathers, 53:10 verse 6, to reach out to their children. The hearts of the fathers that have been distant from their children in their crazy idea that I'm being spiritual and my son or daughter is rebellious. Brother, 53:29 the problem is with you. With many fathers, do you know the Bible never says, "Mothers discipline your children." Show me a verse like that. Fathers discipline your children. Instruct them. Not only discipline. It says in Ephesians 6:4, "Bring them up in 53:48 the nurture and instruction of the Lord." Instruction. And how does the Lord instruct us? He's silently planning for us in love. I know many of you have silently planned 54:07 in love for your children. You've sacrificed. You have you work hard and earn money to get your children education and brought them up to the place where they're employed or they are slowly coming up in their education. You children be thankful for 54:23 your father who works so hard. But there's another aspect of your heavenly father which you don't have, you fathers. And that is you don't let your children know that you rejoice over them with shouts of joy. Do your children feel 54:43 Let me ask you, fathers. Do your children ever feel that you really rejoice over them? You say, "Oh, Brother Zac, they're not perfect." How does God rejoice over you? Is it because you're perfect? You're so thoroughly imperfect. You 54:57 know, the distance between you and your son in perfection is about this much. 1 in. Do you know the distance between God and you in perfection? Millions of miles, and God can rejoice over you even though you're millions of miles 55:13 below him in perfection. And you can't rejoice over your son or daughter who is half a centimeter below you in perfection? Shame on you. My boys are not perfect. I'm not perfect 55:32 myself. But I rejoice over them. And I let them know that. I've corrected them through the years. But if there's one little thing I can appreciate in any of them, I say it immediately. Always. Not only my own sons. I've I've 55:50 got a thousands of sons now all over the world. And I whenever I get a chance to promote them in some way or encourage them some way, I always take it. Do it this year. Fathers, we are approaching the end 56:09 time. Let the spirit of Elijah urge you to restore your heart to your children who have drifted from you 56:27 not because of their fault, but because you have not know you have not told them that you appreciate them. You mean there's nothing good in them? I'll tell you how many fathers. I'm talking about fathers because it doesn't say any about mothers 56:43 here in verse 6, but I'm I think some mothers are also involved in this. Parents need to encourage their children. The heart. It's not words. Please remember this. Don't be a hypocrite and say, "Oh, Brother Zac said I got to go and encourage my children." 56:57 And you say some words which you don't even mean to your children today. Forget it. Go and repent before God and say, "Lord, these are words. I'm trying a psychological technique with my child. If I say nice things, I'll be restored." 57:11 Rubbish. It's not talking about words. It's talking about your heart. Malachi 4:6 being restored to your child. And then what will happen? The hearts of the children will be restored to their fathers. So, who's got to take the first step? 57:33 You're waiting for your child to humble himself or herself and come to you and say, "Oh, Daddy, I'm sorry." Forget it. You take the first step. When almighty God had a problem with you who's a million miles below him, who took the first step? You or God? 57:52 You've always You heard me often speak about that. When a husband and wife have a tension and they want to restore the relationship, both of them feel Yeah, it's I want to restore the relationship. Always the problem is who will take the 58:08 first step. What's the answer? In all Indian culture, it says the woman must humble herself and restore the relationship. I think in some Western cultures where the woman is the boss, it says the man must humble himself. You know how they In Do 58:28 you know how men propose to women in Western countries? Shall I tell you? They treat her as God. They kneel down. We kneel down before God. These men kneel down before the woman and say, "Oh my God, will you please marry me?" 58:45 Believe it or not, this is exactly what happens. It's very different. You know how uh in Western marriages, it's like that. Here comes the bride. That's the song they sing. There's no here comes the bridegroom. Bridegroom just walks and 58:59 stands there somewhere quietly. But here comes the bride. In India, it's different. In India, the bridegroom comes on his horse. Here comes the bridegroom and the wife is walking meekly behind on the on the road. These are two different cultures. 59:16 But in God's way, it is not like that. We value one another. So, when there's a tension between husband and wife, who should take the first step? Here's my answer, which I've repeated many times. Let's follow 59:34 Jesus. Let's follow God. When God had a problem with man, who took the first step? The answer is the one who was more spiritual. That is God. So, if you and your partner have a 59:52 tension, who should take the first step? Not husband, not wife. I won't say that. Cuz I'm not western or eastern. I'm Christian. And so, I say, whoever is more spiritual. And since both of you think you're more spiritual, 1:00:11 you should be just running into each other's arms. Why isn't that happening? At least this year, let's do that. There's nothing wrong in running into each other's arms. I'll tell you that. It's permitted in CFC. Restore the hearts. Let's do this 1:00:31 restoration of hearts between husband and wife, partners. Oh, how sad it is whenever I hear tension between husband and wife. CFC, which is supposed to be talking about the new and living way 1:00:50 where we put the flesh to death every day, where we judge ourselves and don't judge the other person. When are we going to learn? Dear brothers and sisters, we can't glory, "Oh, we are a spiritual church." I've always said the strength of this 1:01:09 church is the strength of the families in this church. If the families are not strong, the church is not strong. It's not the number of people sitting here, not at all. What is the quality of relationship in all the families in this church? That 1:01:27 is the strength of this church. If there's some way we could assess it, that's the strength of this church. And what is the quality of your relationship with that brother whom you love but don't like? Or that sister whom you love but you 1:01:41 don't like? What's the quality of relationship there? That is the strength of this church. Please remember this. So, let's get into this business of restoring hearts in this year. Let's sow seeds of restoration starting from 1:01:59 today, not tomorrow, starting from today. We want to really make this 2019, this new year, better than every year in our whole life. I'm not telling you words that I've not practiced. I've sought to do that. 1:02:17 I've gone to people in the past years who are younger than my youngest son and said, "Brother, I'm sorry. I I think I spoke a little hard to you the other day when I was correcting you in something. Please forgive me. I want to 1:02:36 um be more careful next time." Or sometimes if I have crossed my boundary, you know, I've got boundaries too, by the way. All of us have got boundaries. Or if I've crossed my boundary in something I have told someone, I I 1:02:54 quickly pull back and say, "I'm sorry, brother. That's your territory. Go right ahead." I will not interfere there. My follow that principle for years. And I'm a very happy man. Sometimes we make mistakes. 1:03:11 You can walk into another person's boundary. You can walk into your wife's boundary and you don't give her freedom. You know, your children also have a boundary. If you don't respect your children, if you treat them like dogs, 1:03:29 or like some animals that you kick or something like that, that's not the way to treat our children. They are creatures of God. They're They're created in the image of God and I can't kick God. So, I can't treat my children like that. 1:03:46 Must be respectful to everyone. Always speak respectfully to your wife and never use words that are disrespectful. But sowing seeds. And the other thing is we can sow We are going to sow seeds 1:04:04 this year with our words. I want you We sow words, sorry, with our actions. Thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions. Let us sow to the spirit and not to the flesh. Turn with me to Psalm 18. 1:04:21 Psalm 18. We read here in verse 24, "The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyes." 1:04:40 He's not boasting about his righteousness. Right? I'm sure he He says in other Psalms, "I have no goodness apart from thee, Lord." This is David. But he says in verse 25, "With the kind, you show yourself kind. With the blameless, you show yourself 1:04:58 blameless. With the pure, you show yourself pure. And with the crooked, you show yourself twisted." God acts in a twisted way with you, not because he's twisted, but he deals with you in a twisted way because you are a 1:05:17 bit twisted in your attitude towards somebody else. I really believe there are many fathers who have not grown spiritually because they are twisted in their 1:05:35 attitude towards their children. They don't realize it themselves, but I can see through it clearly. I have enough discernment to see when there's no progress in somebody's life. Now, it's always good to read what is written 1:05:52 at the top of a Psalm. It says here, "David wrote this Psalm in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of Saul and from his enemies." You see at the head of Psalm 18. So, when I read something like that, I go back to say, "When was What How was 1:06:09 that?" Let me turn back to 1 Samuel. This is how you can study the Bible, too. We read in 1 Samuel and how Saul was chasing after David. In 1 Samuel 23. Um 1:06:31 And verse 19, the enemies of David came to Saul. 1 Samuel, chapter 23. These Old Testament histories is very interesting. Verse 19, "The Ziphites came up to Saul and said, 'Hey, by the way, you're looking for David, right? 1:06:46 David is hiding with us in our territory, in the strongholds at Horesh. We saw him on the hill of Hakilah. I'll tell you the exact location. It's south of Jeshimon." 1 Samuel 23:19. "Now then, oh king, come 1:07:04 and do whatever you want. We will help to surrender David into your hand and you can cut off his head or do whatever you like." And Saul was so happy. "May you be blessed of the Lord that you're going to help me cut off his 1:07:19 head." Can you imagine what an evil man Saul was? "Go now and make sure. Investigate. See his place, where his haunt is. And when you've seen him, and though he's very cunning, so look and learn about all the hiding places, 1:07:33 verse 23, where he hides himself. Come back and tell me definitely and I will go with you and I will search him out." And they rose and went. And David, verse 24, were in the wilderness of Maon. And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told him 1:07:50 David And they told David and he came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon. And Saul went on one side of the mountain and David on the other side of 1:08:07 the mountain because David was trying to, verse 26, to get away from Saul. And the messenger came to Saul and said, "Hurry." So, Saul stopped pursuing. See how God protected David? Some Philistines came and attacked him that side. 1:08:23 Okay. He defeated the Philistines and now chapter It's amazing how God protected David. And then chapter 24, verse 1, Saul came back. He says, "I'm still going to hunt for David." And they Somebody told him he's chapter 24, verse 1, "He's in the 1:08:36 wilderness of En-gedi." So, he took 3,000 men to hunt for one man. And he came to the sheepfolds. And listen to this. Verse 3. There was a cave there. And Saul went into the cave to relieve 1:08:54 himself. Alone. And he didn't realize inside that cave David and his men were sitting there in the inner recesses of that cave. And one of the men of David said to him, "Hey, David, 1:09:14 this is the day which the Lord said, 'I will deliver your enemy into your hand.' There he is. Just take your spear and spearce it through him or take this dagger and finish him off." And that'll be the end of his reign and 1:09:30 you can be the king. And David said, "No." But when Saul was resting there or whatever he was doing, stay David went to a corner and just sliced off a small part of Saul's robe. 1:09:48 I mean, such a small part that Saul didn't even wake up. And just cutting off that robe, David's conscience bothered him. Verse five. See, when we think of David and Jesus calling himself the son of David, we say, "How in the world can Jesus call 1:10:06 himself the son of a man who committed adultery with Bathsheba and had seven wives and murdered Bathsheba's husband and married her and I'll tell you, he slipped up. There's no doubt David slipped up in moments of weakness. 1:10:23 He slipped up in that moment when he saw Bathsheba. It wasn't a regular habit of his, but he wasn't going around raping every woman he saw, but he slipped up once and when he was caught in that situation, he tried to cover it up by 1:10:35 he didn't kill her husband himself, but say, "Okay, told the general, let him go up in front." And yeah, it wasn't straightforward. He slipped up, no doubt. But basically, this verse tells me he had a conscience. He would not kill 1:10:54 even if he's going to be a king thereby. He was convicted when he cut a small part of Saul's robe. And then he told his men, verse seven, "No, no, no, don't kill him. We can't touch the 1:11:11 Lord's anointed." The last part of verse 10, "I will not stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed." There's a verse in the Old Testament that says, the Lord says, "Don't touch my anointed. 1:11:28 Don't do my prophets any harm." It's a very dangerous thing to raise your hand against the Lord's anointed or your words. And so finally, David decided Saul must know that I could have killed him. 1:11:46 So he comes out of the cave and he stood before David. He stood before Saul and said, verse nine, "Why are you listening to the words of people who say I'm trying to harm you? Here, you see this piece of your robe? I could have killed you right now when 1:12:03 you came into the hand into my hands inside the cave and people told me to kill you, but I didn't. I said, "I will not stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed." Verse 10. And Saul felt so ashamed of himself. Verse 22. 1:12:18 Saul went home. It says here in verse 16, he even wept. And we read later on another time again, chapter 26, a second time. And David was hiding, chapter 26, verse 1:12:39 one, and Saul arose again with 3,000 men. This is after he was spared once before. And David heard, verse four, that Saul was coming. So David arose and came to the place where Saul had camped and they were all asleep. 1:12:57 It was at night. And David said to one of his soldiers, "Who will go down with me to Saul?" And they were all sleeping, Saul's army there, 3,000 of them. And David and Abishai, verse seven, chapter 26, verse seven, came to Saul's 1:13:16 army by night. And Saul was laying sleeping inside the circle of the camp and Saul's spear was stuck in the ground near his head. And Abner said, "Today, God has delivered your enemy. Just if you don't want to kill him," Abner 1:13:36 said, "let me take this spear and strike it with one stroke and I'll fix him to this ground. He won't get up." David said, "No." Again, the same words, verse nine, "Who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed 1:13:51 and be without guilt?" Remember those words. Be very careful, my brothers and sisters. Be careful who you speak against. Be careful who you stretch out your tongue against. Will you be without guilt? 1:14:14 That's what made David a man after God's own heart. He He made mistakes like all of us make mistakes. He slipped up in adultery as well. But he had a sensitive conscience most of the time. And God saw that. He would not grab for 1:14:28 himself. And he says, "If the Lord wants me to kill him, the Lord will strike him one day." And but I will not do it. And so David took the spear, verse 12, Saul's spear and the jug of water and went away. 1:14:47 And everybody was fast asleep. And then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the mountain and he shouted out, "Abner, aren't you supposed to take care of the king? Somebody came to kill your king. 1:15:08 See where his spear is. See where his jug of water is. It's with me. Here it is." And Saul again recognized David's voice. He said, "You, David?" Verse 17. David says, "Yes, it is me." 1:15:26 Then Saul said, verse 21, "I have sinned. Please return my son, David. I know one day you will be the king." So when that happened, that's when David wrote 1:15:45 Psalm 18. And what did he read in Psalm 18? With the kind, the Lord will show himself kind. That guy tried to kill me, but I let him go. Again, he came after me. I let him go. Take that example, my brothers, this 1:16:05 year. Somebody's coming after you? Forgive him. The Lord will protect you. He's kind to those who are kind. Don't remember all the wrong things they did against you. Forgive. Let this be a year when we sow seeds of 1:16:24 forgiveness. It doesn't mean you shouldn't correct your children when they grow up. You don't love your child if you don't correct them. But it's a question of how you correct them. In fact, the Bible says in Hebrews in chapter 12, 1:16:41 Hebrews 12, which father is there who does not correct his children? It's a clear word. You read that whole section from um Hebrews 12 and verse five onwards. 1:17:00 Verse seven was what I quoted just now. What son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you don't discipline your son, your your son or daughter, they'll become wayward. I hope you're strict with your children. 1:17:14 I was very strict with all my four sons. I'll tell you that. More strict than I have been with any of my other thousands of sons that I have. Much more. If you Some of you think I've been strict with you, you haven't seen how I've dealt with my 1:17:28 own sons. Because a father must not only encourage, he must also discipline. But if you have disciplined them in the right way with kindness and I always used to pray with my children after I disciplining them. And if you 1:17:44 do that and hug them and make sure that it's not just discipline, discipline, discipline, but encouragement as well, you'll find that your children are drawn to you. And if you want to know how much to encourage and how much to discipline, 1:18:00 that proportion also is written in scripture. Turn with me to Isaiah. Everything is in scripture. If you know where to find it, that's why urge you, brothers and sisters, please read the Bible this year. Get to know the Bible this year better 1:18:16 than you've ever known it. Read through the Bible. There are people who have read more than once that book. Look at all the Bible study resources we have 1:18:34 in our CFC website. 70 hours through the Bible and 28 studies on foundational truths, 72 studies on basic Christian teachings. And verse by verse through many number of important Old Testament books, 1:18:53 verse by verse through the New Testament, every single verse. And all of that comes to four or 500 hours. The only person who has told me that he's listened to every single minute of that 1:19:09 is brother Ebenezer in our church. You don't think much of him. He's read through that more than all of you listen to it. And that's what 1:19:27 helped him to be a godly brother more than many others who think they are godly. Says in Isaiah 61 that Jesus comes to proclaim verse 1:19:45 two. Let me read verse two to you like this. To proclaim 365 days of favor and one day of discipline. You wanted to know the proportion how you should help and correct your 1:20:04 children. 365 days of encouragement one day of discipline. That's the proportion. 365 365 words of encouragement. And one word of strong correction. 1:20:23 365 days words of encouragement. So if we are like that, we'll find God is kind to us when we are kind to others. God is very strict to us when you're 1:20:40 strict to others. What about the servants who work in your home? Who are poorer than you? That's why they work as servants in your home. Who serve you? Anybody who serves you in any way whether in your home or elsewhere. 1:20:58 They're below you socially. Be kind to them. You are much below God in that. God will be kind to you. I've experienced that. I've experienced the amazing kindness of God in my life, both my wife and I in our health 1:21:16 in protection in travel in giving me words to speak when I don't know what to speak. He's been exceptionally kind to me. And I want to continue being kind to people, but yet being strict as well. God is very strict. 1:21:36 When it comes to myself, I have nothing against anybody. But when it comes to the church and the purity of the church I will have the same whip in my hand that Jesus my savior had when he went into the temple 1:21:53 and spared nobody. Not everybody is called to use the whip. I know God has called me to do it do it. And I will do it faithfully. If I don't do it, I'll be unfaithful. I will continue to use that till Jesus comes. So, but that's not perhaps your calling. 1:22:12 Very few people, one in a thousand perhaps is called to use a whip in the church. Your calling is more to encourage and speak words of encouragement. Not everybody is called to be like brother Zach. No. I I've often told my fellow elders, 1:22:27 "Please don't imitate my ministry. It's not yours." Your ministry may be the ministry of Jesus putting his arm around the leper or telling the adulterous woman "Go in peace. Your sins are forgiven." That is one ministry of Jesus and that 1:22:42 may be your calling. Please do it. I think the Lord needs as I said 365 to one. He needs 365 people who will speak those words and maybe one person like me who takes the whip. So, you don't have to imitate me there. But I will continue to use that whip 1:22:58 because God's called me to do it. And so, that to me that doesn't contradict all that I preach today. Because if I don't sow that the church will not be kept pure. It's my responsibility. Thank you for listening patiently. I 1:23:16 want to show you a few pictures to encourage you. First of all, a picture blind man with a stick. Here it says, "Depend on the Lord Jesus." You remember this is a word that Santosh spoke at our conference. As the blind man depends on his cane all 1:23:34 the time. You know, when a blind man, this is what Santosh said, when he gets up in the morning he can't see a thing. What do you reach out for first thing in the morning? Most people, a cell phone. First thing in the morning. 1:23:54 The cell phone is useless to a blind man. He needs a stick as soon as he gets up from bed. And that's what Santosh was saying when you get up, say, "Lord I want to walk with you. I'm a blind person. 1:24:12 I I said, "Only just in the morning?" All the time. Gradually it'll become a habit. Lord, I want you to guide me now. I want you to lead me. What do I do next? And here's a place I'm stuck. Gropes around. And it's amazing how these blind people 1:24:26 over a period of time develop such a sense where I should turn and where I should go. Uh it's a great picture. Please remember that all your life. Say, "Lord, I want to depend like that." Or sometimes I use the picture of a 1:24:41 you know a two-year-old child trying to cross a busy road MG Road or something when it's really busy and his dad holds his hand and he's perfectly safe. I I want to think of always Jesus holding my hand. And I many often say that 1:25:00 "Lord, I'm a little two-year-old. Please hold my hand. The world is a dangerous place. So much temptation coming this way, that way, all trucks and cars and all. I cannot cross without getting hit. But if I if I hold your hand, I know 1:25:15 you'll take me weave me in and out of all those temptations and miss all that traffic and reach the other side safely." Do you believe that you can take your two-year-old across a busy road like that? Jesus can make you avoid every 1:25:27 temptation and take you through this whole year. Let's believe it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we bow before you we really want to begin this new year on a good note. And every single person, we don't want 1:25:45 anybody to be left out. We want fathers here sitting here to have their hearts restored to their children. We want the initiative to come from the fathers and children's hearts restored to the father fathers. Gaps between husband and wife, gaps 1:26:00 between parents and children to be closed up little by little in this year. And gaps between brothers, between sisters to be closed up. Nobody becoming perfect, but everyone pressing on to perfection. Make it a glorious year. And throughout 1:26:18 the year, help us to know that you rejoice over us with shouts of joy and you are silently planning for the whole year and for the whole future for us in love. Lord, let the blessing of the Lord rest upon every brother and every family here 1:26:35 and make the testimony of CFC like a shining light in the midst of the darkness of this world. Yes, Lord, make us a blessing. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. There are two songs here which I want you to also remember this year. 1:26:53 The first one is he did not come to judge the world. He did not come to blame. The first verse referring to Jesus and then referring to us. He did not come to judge the world. He 1:27:11 did not come to blame. He did not only come to seek. It was to save he came. And when we call him savior, and when we call him savior, 1:27:36 and when we call him savior, we call him by his name. We do not have the right to judge. We 1:27:51 are not here to blame. We're only called to bless and and love in Jesus' name. And when we love each other, 1:28:10 and when we love each other, and when we love each other, we glorify his name. And when we love each other, 1:28:30 and when we love each other, and when we love each other, we glorify his name. Okay, there's one more song which has got uh 1:28:49 a message and they sing it out in the world, too. But it's I think it's a it's got a Christian message that we I believe we can practice this year. It's in relation to all that we've spoken also. Let me be a little kinder. You're not going to be 1:29:03 perfect, you know, it's we read that with the kind, the Lord shows himself kind. Psalm 18. You're not going to be perfect in kindness this year. But can we be a little kinder? That means more every day. Pressing on to perfection in kindness 1:29:23 and pressing on in perfection to blindness about the faults of others. Okay. It's probably a new song for many of 1:31:26 you. I think we should sing it again. Listen to those words carefully as we go along, especially for those who are hearing it for the first time. Try and follow and make it a prayer to the Lord. Let me be a little kinder. 1:31:42 A little closer to brothers who are losers. There are brothers and sisters in our midst who are not the warm, exuberant type. They're the introverted personalities. They're always in. Many of them have difficult Think of the 1:31:55 number of people here who are rejected by their parents, non-Christian homes, who don't have friends. Let's learn to be a little closer to them this year. Okay. Amen.
