0:02 On behalf of the elders, I'd like to say a few words about brother Zach. And then I'll invite sister Annie if you would like to come and share. And then Sil as on behalf of the uh sons and then we thought Broala if you would like to 0:15 share briefly. And then Kathy, sister Kathy Punan. And then lastly we hear from brother Zach and then we have a cake that we can cut afterwards. Yes. Okay. Um, but it's good um [clears throat] it's good for us to take a moment and appreciate Brother Zach. 0:32 He's turning 86 this week. Easy for me to remember because it's just Franc's age plus 80. So, it's easy for me. So, you all may not remember, but it's very easy for me because it's very simple math. Um, my brother Zach's turning 86 0:46 uh this week. And it's it's proper for us to uh bestow abundant honor. You know, it says that the elders who rule well and who who would labor among you to teach are worthy of double honor. And because brother Zach is an elder to to 1:02 not only the elders here, but to many other churches as well, you could say he's worthy of quadruple honor um because he's he labors here among NCCF uh but all not just in CCF, other churches as well. So, it's it is right 1:18 for us to honor him and to appreciate him in the Lord. We esteem you highly in the Lord and thank the Lord for what he's done through you and your life. Brother Zachary, you're tremendously blessed. One thing I will say, um 1:29 [clears throat] I you know Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown." That's something that he said about the people of Nazareth rejected him and took him to the edge of the cliff. And I was thinking that I hope 1:44 that at least in NCCF that could be very much untrue. That the prophet that we've been given, the teacher that it's been appointed to us, the apostolic figure that the Lord has appointed over our church, that he would be with honor 1:57 here. That it would not be true that a prophet is without honor. It would be a shame if this prophet was without honor. I know he will take he probably will come up and take issue with the the word prophet for example but allow me the 2:10 opportunity to speak as a you know uh just to speak my heart. I feel it's it's proper for us to give abundant honor quadruple honor to brother Zach. We know that the Lord called him out of the Navy more than 60 years ago. This is more 2:24 than 61 years ago. Uh we regard him as an apostle over our church. We are eager and happy to submit to his spiritual authority. We see how the Lord has attested to his life and ministry these now many decades. And it's an incredible 2:40 privilege to have someone with us who uh who the Lord uh is pleased to use and who's attested to his ministry. I don't know if Brother Zach could always say this about NCCF that that it's his church. You know, a prophet isn't 2:57 without honor in his own hometown. You could say, "Well, isn't brother Zach's hometown Bangalore?" Someone could say that, right? But I think no, not anymore. He's moved here. This is his hometown. We're claiming you [laughter] 3:09 uh no longer Bangalore. It's not your hometown. Respectfully, uh yeah, the Bay Area is your hometown. And I I believe that brother Zach is considers NCCF his home church. I don't know if he always did. you know, he's been here for a 3:24 while, but because he's he has such a meaningful role and responsibility for so many other churches, you know, maybe there's a transition period. I don't know. But I I believe Brother Zach considers this to be his hometown and 3:37 his home church. I don't know. I But I don't think it was always the case if I'm honest. I don't I haven't asked Brother Zach about this, but I think probably there was a time where maybe he felt more like a visitor or a visiting 3:47 pastor or a visiting teacher or something like that. That would be tragic to me if that were to continue. I believe now hopefully by the grace of God, brother Zackinson considers NCCF to be his home church. He considers us to 4:00 be his home church family. And I think it's very important that in in that sense, in the hometown sense, a prophet is with abundant honor, quadruple honor in his own hometown. Many of us have seen his faithful labor here, his 4:16 willingness to share God's word, his willingness to stand. I don't know if you noticed this. He stands in the back every Sunday, sometimes by himself. I have to fight the urge not to talk to him. I have to tell myself all the time, 4:29 don't go talk to him so someone else can. But but I see I see sometimes he's standing in the back by himself. And I think and I know for sure if we were at a church certainly in Bangalore or many other places, I know there would be a 4:44 line of people. You know, I don't think that we take full advantage of the fact that NCCF is brother Zach's hometown. I hope that that Brother Zach will have to correct me and say people are they're they're give they're not giving me 4:57 enough space now. Ever since you said that, they're not giving me enough space. But I hope that because it's a it's a it's a shame if we don't make full take full advantage of the fact that he's with us. It's an incredible 5:10 blessing. You know, I'm reading right now. Michelle and I have been reading one of Corey Tinboom's books. And you saw that in the Hallelujah night. We did a skit of one of these amazing stories. And you think, "Wow, wouldn't it be 5:21 great if I knew someone who who uh who experienced God's miracles?" We do, brothers and sisters. We do. [clears throat] Hopefully, increasingly more and more each of us in our own lives. But if you've read A Day of Small 5:33 Beginnings, you know for sure how many miracles brother Zach and Sister Annie and their children experience in their life of serving the Lord, setting venturing out upon him fully entirely in emptying their bank accounts, setting 5:47 forth on God's word alone, trusting him, whether it's sitting in the back quietly, not speaking, or whether it's uh meeting with a small group in his home, whether it's uh being faithful in the pulpit of different uh conferences 5:59 and things like that. It's incredible to see that we have someone with us who has experienced God's power in a way that I think many of us as we're sitting reading our Bibles or our biographies, we go, "Oh, I wish I knew someone." We 6:12 have someone here with us. And um it makes me sad whenever I see Brother Zach standing by himself, even just for a moment. Because I think we're not taking full advantage. You know, if um if but to use an illustration, if Steph 6:28 Curry ever came to my house, I would not want my kids running around in the backyard. It's like, dude, take this guy out to the free throw line. He should be you should be working on your shooting for him, right? And if my girls are 6:40 like, "Ah, whatever." You know, I go, "No, no, no. This is Steph Curry. What are you, not whatever. Even if you don't want to play basketball, I want you just to say, "Hey, just take a look at my form. Tell any feedback." Right? We got 6:52 Steph Curry there. And and I feel the same way. If ever I see Brother Zach standing in the back and no one's talking to him, I could I as my beloved children, so to speak, I think, guys, we got Steph Curry here. What are we doing? 7:07 Somebody ask Steph about your shooting form. Somebody. It's It's an incredible privilege. Um and we pray that the Lord gives Brother Zach many more years, many more years of fruitful service. Hopefully, it continues to allow him to 7:20 serve here. We don't take it as a guarantee. I believe that that as we heard today, the need is not the call. The call is the call. Is it possible that the Lord could call brother Zach into some other field of service? If 7:34 imagine this family, if next week, Brother Zach says, "You know what? I got the Lord made it clear that he wants me to be at some other church." Would you have a regret? Not about the future, not out of time missed in the future, but would you have 7:49 a regret about how you conducted yourself just while he's here? It's a good question. It's easy just to make assumptions. Oh yeah, he's with us. He's his kids are here. He'll be here. He's responding to I I know from my last 15 8:03 years of knowing brother Zach. He listens to God's voice. Is it possible God could call him to some other field of service? I hope not. But it's possible. But if he does, hopefully all of us would say, "I do not regret how 8:18 enthusiastically I sought his counsel, his input, his advice." If Steph Curry I mean, remember we had one time we had somebody who played for the NFL. I I don't mean to dismiss that. It's wonderful. How many kids got that person's autograph? Now, 8:34 I'm slightly embarrassed of that. I wish children would, you know, give people space, right? But you go, "Oh, wow. NFL player. Let's go get your autograph." Right? Children, parents, we should have a far greater regard for those who labor 8:47 in the Lord. Not not as some public figure or some superhero or something like that, but we should start to love godliness. And our love for godliness should be reflected in the fact that we are eager to learn from the godly among 9:02 us. And especially that should be true of brother Zach. So, I I hope and pray that all of us would not take lightly this special season. It's really easy to take things for granted. And brother Zach, it's a real gift to have you with 9:16 us. I myself, I'm foremost among the offenders of not taking full advantage myself. So, I'm not pointing a finger at anyone. I'm not throwing stones at anyone. But as I was thinking about Brother Zach's birthday, I thought, I 9:28 want to be better at taking full advantage. If the Lord were to call him into another field of service, I wouldn't want to have any regret because I wasn't diligent to seek all the wisdom and input and counsel and guidance and 9:41 uh goodness. I have I I will say this is my personal testimony. I have never spoken to brother Zach once where when I left the conversation, I was not uplifted. Every single time I've ever spoken to brother Zach, and that's an incredible 9:55 testimony. I praise God for that. I'm sure many others can say the same thing. every single time I've spoken to Brother Zach, I've been uplifted. And so I pray that the Lord would give you that same privilege, that same um uh blessing. 10:10 Don't don't let him stand in the back by himself. Say what you will about being respectful, about giving space, but if you see that he's alone, that's your time. Probably nobody else has seen it yet. Uh [clears throat] be like a kid 10:23 who's running for that football player for an autograph. It's a special gift that we have. I wanted to exhort the whole church and I want to esteem you, brothers Zach, highly in the Lord. Thank you for the labor, your faithful labor. 10:35 We've seen just a small fraction of it ourselves, but we know that you've poured yourself out for many others, many other places as well. And so, we want to do our part. That being said, Sister Annie, I would love to invite you 10:47 up to come share. dear family of God, 11:08 I find I I consider it a great privilege that I can greet my husband. He's 8 going to be 86 years old and most of his life we've spent together. So I praise and thank God that God has brought us together 11:27 and I want to show that I respect him. I submit to him and I'm happy God chose him to be my husband. Some of you may not know that he was born 5 years after his parents got married. For 5 years they didn't have 11:46 children and they prayed. You know those days there were no fertility clinics or anything though. So his parents prayed and he was born as an answer to prayer. So from the beginning I knew when I heard that that God has a a special 12:06 calling for his life and a ministry for his life. So he's brought up in a godly home and they gave him the best education. He studied in one of the best schools in New Delhi. his father was able to afford it and then he got the 12:22 best care and education. Then they sent him to the Indian Navy where he got the best discipline and training to lead churches and for the calling that God had uh called him for. Then the Lord called him to serve him and you know the rest of 12:40 the stories. And when um his name was proposed for me and when we talked to each other, my husband told me, "I've given up my job. I have gi I have no savings. I have nothing and God has called me to 13:00 serve him." And when he told me that, I didn't think of money or house or anything. But I said I thought in my mind we have God and if we have God we have everything. 13:18 What do I lack if I have God? If we have God together we have peace of mind. We have happiness. We have heavenly riches. We have God with us. What more do I lack? And so the Lord gave me that assurance. 13:36 This is the person God has chosen for me. I could not even think that I have some money in my bank account because all the years I worked as a doctor. I sent all my money to which I could save to my father because I had eight younger 13:52 siblings and he was trying to educate them. And my dad had given me a house and all uh I told him he can use the rent of that house. And later my husband said you return that house to your dad. Let him not think that he that we are 14:09 depending on anything from him. So we started with nothing on earth but we have god and he has been all sufficient. That's all I have I can say how we have proved and he has given us happiness. He has given us the joy of the lord. He has 14:28 given us so much which I cannot uh count. I think one day I'll sit down and write a book about all the blessings that the Lord gave us, all the miracles he gave us, the timely help we need needed, the 14:45 healings he gave in our families and they are too many to number and the time is too short. [snorts] And the Lord also gave us four little young boys to join our family. And as they grew up and became young men, he gave us four young 15:01 lovely daughters to join them and a brood of children, grandchildren. So we have so much of riches and I really thank and praise God for everything that he has done in our lives. Words are not enough to see. And now God 15:21 has given us so many brothers and sisters and children in the churches. And I say Lord our joy is complete. You've given us a work to do and you've given us so much satisfaction. I praise and thank God. When I think of our life 15:37 together, there's so much I can say. Um maybe Psalm 23 will picture. He led us to green pastures and living waters. He nourished us and fed us. And sometimes 15:56 he gave the rod in my husband's hand. He used the rod. And sometimes that rod was painful for many in many churches. But he also gave a staff to comfort and said, "Don't worry about the rod of discipline which God gave my husband to 16:16 speak boldly." That's God God's calling to give him that work and not a hard work. It's not an easy work. It was a hard thing. Like Jeremiah said, Lord, you have not given me any good thing to speak to these people. Sometimes I feel 16:33 like that's the word the Lord has given my husband to speak to bring discipline in the churches. But he also gave a staff of comfort and said use this to comfort my people. And I've seen that both in the churches. And I I'm really 16:51 thankful. And the Lord told me all that you have to do is to support him and encourage him, submit to him and take care of his needs. And that's what I want to do the rest of my life and u do my part in God's kingdom. So may God 17:10 bless you my dear husband, my companion and my friend. We have shared our life together and cheered each other and encouraged each other and been there and looking back there's 17:29 um it has been a life of happiness. There's no other person I would have wanted to spend my life with. I know that if I had not married brother Z my husband, I wouldn't have married anyone else. So I praise and thank God for a life 17:49 together. And may God grant you many more years of blessing and usefulness in God's kingdom. And I want to do my part as long as God gives me life to do my part to support you and encourage you and be there for you. >> [applause] 18:22 >> Yeah, happy birthday, Dad. Happy 86th birthday. Uh, I thought I would uh share a few pictures from my memories with dad just to give you a picture. uh to extend on what Jeremy shared about getting to know him. But before I do 18:40 that, I'll say yesterday I had breakfast with one of my best friends and we were talking about how the Lord was revealing himself to each of us and we lost track of time and we just spent hours talking to each other. That best friend was my 18:54 dad and uh it was I've made it a habit to try and do that every Saturday morning as as much as my schedule allows me and it's been a huge blessing to me. So, and that that friendship started at a very young age. Um, so let me let me do this. So, as I was 19:13 saying, you guys can see the screen started at a very young age. This is me and my dad when uh uh we were really young. That's when around the time when our friendship started. And then along the way, we made some friendships that 19:24 didn't last very long. These are a couple of friends that didn't last very long. But this is u um but thankfully the Lord and none of this is AI generated back by the way. This is all real real pictures. This is in the zoo 19:37 in Singapore. They allow you to do this just in case you're curious. But uh we we made many so many valuable friendships in the church as well and through the children and the grandchildren. And I've been amazed to see how my dad has become not just a 19:49 friend to me but a friend to his daughters-in-law and a friend to his grandchildren. And that started with uh Zachary. This is him just playing with Zachary. This is the side of brother Zach that many of you don't see. And 20:03 this is him with Zachary as a young boy in in in Bangalore, India, just riding the seesaw together. And I'm sure he'll do it still. He'll still do it with Zachary. I've seen you've seen some of you have seen Zachary do that with your 20:15 young children. This is who he learned it from. This is the this is the spirit that uh I've been encouraged by the blessing of a friend that I've seen in uh my father to his children, to his grandchildren. This was uh with Kanan. 20:31 Um, as you know, dad spent a long time away from from us before he moved here, but he was always eager to see his grandchildren virtually. And Kanan was one who was extremely close to him as as a baby. Kanan would crawl up to him and 20:45 always ask for him to be carried by him. And it was a strange. We didn't understand why, but there was something special about that relationship where he wanted uh his popup to lift him up, put him on his lap, and then when he would 20:57 go away, he would try to reach through the computer and try and hug him. And this is a picture of how we did this. So, uh, on Kanan's birthday a couple weeks ago, we just reenacted the same scene of them. Uh, now you can do it in 21:07 real life. 16 years later, they can do it in in in real life. So, he's had that relationship and it's continued all the way to the to today. Uh, this is just a few weeks ago, him and Micah playing checkers together in their apartment. 21:18 So, it's a relationship of love. It's a relationship of fun. It's a relationship of building up that he's had with me, he's had with my children, and that I believe that he can have with each of Oh, I forgot to mention his best friend, 21:32 of course, uh, outside of Jesus is his wife. And this is him and Sister Annie dancing together a few years ago. I actually, if anybody's interested, I got a video of this, so you can actually see it. I'm I'm not going to embarrass them 21:44 over here, but this is the spirit of the joy of the Lord that many of you don't see because you Let me stop sharing here for a second. Um, because you see pulpit Zach. I want to encourage you all like like Jeremy just said, get to know what 22:01 I would call armchair Zach. Even though you've seen Pulpit Zach, get to know Armchair Zach, which is get to get him seated down in his armchair or in an armchair in your house and talk to him. It will you will not regret it. It will 22:16 there is a friendship over there. There is a building up over there that to be honest I I don't want to you know I I'm I'm sometimes jealous when Bala takes them on a ride. I say Bala you're stealing my blessing. It's my job to take to to 22:31 drive them and to spend time with them. And I see the eagerness that Bala has to be blessed by that. And that's why we've invited him to share as well. And I hope all of us can have that eagerness. Um, Hebrews 13:7 says, "Remember those who 22:44 led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, what are we supposed to do when we see those who have led us and spoke the word of God among us? Do we imitate their ministry? Do we spend time with them to 22:58 try and impress them or get their blessing or get them to pray over our needs for healing and all those things?" Those are not bad things, but this is what we're called to do. Hebrews 13:7 says, "Remember those who have led you 23:10 considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith." So I pray that each of you may get the time to spend time with brother Zach to say, "I want to imitate his faith." Not imitate his ministry, not live in fear 23:22 of him because I heard a powerful sermon from the pulpit or I got a word of correction, but I want to experience the staff of comfort, the friendship that comes with hanging out. I want to experience being on the other side of 23:35 this, spiritually speaking, being on the other side of the seesaw with him where we're just hanging out and we're building each other up. And that's something I've experienced. That's something my children have experienced. 23:44 And that's something brothers in this church have experienced, but many of us here may not have experienced that. So I want to encourage you to do that. It's another verse in Hebrews 6:12 which says, "Do not be sluggish." As we hear, there are times 24:00 when we leave him alone. Do not be sluggish, but be diligent. Be imitators of those who by faith uh and patience have inherited the promises. And brother Zach, my dad, has certainly be one who is inheriting promises, who has 24:16 inherited promises. And I want to be one and I want each of us to be one that through faith and patience that we are imitating that faith and patience that we see in him. And how do we do that? We don't do that by just listening to 24:30 messages and being stimulated by messages or there's plenty of people who have access to that on YouTube. You don't need to come to NCCF to listen to a Zakun and message. Even this series will be online and will be put together 24:42 in a series in a couple months. You don't need to come here to listen to the series. Don't come here, that's the fourth or fifth most important thing. Come here to build this church up. Come here to be built up by the fellowship 24:54 and the friendship that you can have that you can personally experience. If you haven't had the chance, if your family is a committed member of the church, invite him to your home. Spend time with him. Host him for for a meal. 25:04 I know those who've done it have not regretted. They've been built up. And the last thing I'll say is um this passage as we look at a legend of faith as a giant of faith and we seek to imitate that. I want us to know this is 25:18 very achievable. 1 Corinthians 9:24 says, "We all can run this race and we all can win." There's no special gold medal for the Apostle Paul or for brother Zach that we can't achieve when we get to heaven. We all can win that race. There's no 25:32 special gold medal for apostles and preachers and gifted ones. There are no giftings in heaven. The only prize is the likeness of Christ, the fruit of the spirit that I bring with me that I'm go to heaven. And in that category, all of us can be 25:47 winners. Whether you're a wife or a mom who's just staying home to take care of children, whether you're a little kid just help doing your small part to encourage your siblings, you can win that gold medal. You don't have to be a 26:00 big preacher or big minister up here in front. There is no special prize for that ministry. Imitate the faith you see. Don't imitate the ministry. And with that in mind, I'll just read this last passage. Philippians 3:12-14 26:12 says, uh, Paul says, "Not that I've already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so so that I may be lay so I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ." Do you know that Christ 26:26 Jesus Christ laid hold of Brother Zach when he was a young person? Do you know that Jesus Christ has laid hold of each of you? And there's a reason he's laid hold of you. And what is the reason he's laid hold of you? To be a great 26:38 preacher. to be a great apostle to the entire world. No. Verse 13, this is the reason he's laid hold of you. Philippians 2:12. And then moving on to verse 13. I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one 26:53 thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. What does that mean? If I had a good day walking with God yesterday, I forget about it. If I fell into sin yesterday and I repented before the Lord in sorrow and I'm restored into his presence, I 27:06 forget about it in the past, good or bad, yesterday. But I press on so that I may lay hold. Sorry. But but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind, I reach forward to what lies ahead. Verse 13. Then verse 14, what lies ahead? I press 27:22 on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's the prize. The prize is not getting into heaven. The prize is not being a great preacher. The prize is today's upward call in Christ Jesus. And 27:35 when you look at brother Zach's life, what I like to picture it is 60 years times 365, whatever that number is, 20,000, whatever it is. That's the number of times that he's chosen to just say, "Today, I'm going to answer the upward 27:52 call in Christ Jesus." And I see that that's an achievable target. That's a step in the marathon that I can take tomorrow. And so it's not something I need to be intimidated by by. I can just say Lord tomorrow I want to imitate his 28:05 faith by saying tomorrow I am going to answer the upward call in Christ Jesus by asking for the power of your holy spirit to draw closer so that the likeness of Jesus may be manifest in me. So I pray that that may be an 28:17 encouragement to you and one of the best recipes for taking that step forward is by befriending this man of God and getting to know him. You call him brother Zach. Is he your brother? Is he Pastor Zach? Is he preacher Zack? Or is 28:31 he your brother? If you call him Brother Zach, make sure he's your brother. Amen. Happy 86th birthday, dear loving brother 28:54 and my spiritual father. On this special day, I thank the Lord for blessing me through you. Your unwavering faith, wisdom, and dedication to God have strengthened me many times and greatly supported my spiritual 29:12 growth. When I heard your messages, I could see your devotion and zeal for God. It a deep devotion and zeal for God in my spirit. You have shown me what it truly means to 29:30 walk in the light of Christ through your humility, kindness, reprove, rebuke, exhortations, and your compassion towards the brothers and sisters. I see Jesus in you. Without your ministry, I would not have 29:50 understood the depth of Jesus love for me. I thank the Lord for showing me through you that there is a narrow way and for guiding me to walk in it through your life and teachings. 30:07 One day I watched you and sister Anie sharing the word of God in Zoom meeting with the Sri Lanka church. You spoke about the believers there and quoted this verse. Third John 1:4. I have no greater joy than this to hear of my 30:25 children walking in the truth. As you shared these words, I saw great joy on your face and an sister on his face. In that moment, I clearly saw a fatherly heart for God's children and it deeply 30:43 touched me. I prayed to the Lord, Lord Jesus, please help me. I long to see this servant of God on this earth before I see him in heaven. Even if it is from a distance, 31:01 God heared my prayer and the Lord answered it far beyond what I could have imagined. Truly, he is the God who does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. To him be all the glory. 31:20 May God continue to bless you and sister Rani abundantly, granting you strength, joy, and peace in all that you do. May his grace carry you forward and may your journey be filled with his love. My humble request for my brothers and 31:38 sisters, if we truly desire to bring joy to brother Zach, then let us do one thing, walk in the Lord's way. Nothing will bring him greater joy than seeing God's children walking in the truth. Once again, happy 86th birthday, dear 31:55 loving brother Zach. Thank you for being a true shepherd to my soul and for your pure devotion to Christ. I am deeply grateful for you today and always. May the Lord continue to use you powerfully in his ministry for many more years. 32:12 Amen. [applause] Okay, it's getting late and I was told I only have a few minutes, so I will keep it short. Um, but I wanted to say first 32:31 and foremost, Dad, um, you've always been available. You I've never felt that you were too busy for me, and um, you've been available to listen, to give godly advice, and to pray together. I've been so blessed by your steady, 32:47 unwavering confidence in God and his sovereignty over every situation. In times when Sanjay and I have come gone to you and mom when struggling with a parenting challenge, for instance, your peace and your faith have strengthened me and encouraged me not to 33:03 lose hope. Also, I've w uh witnessing the security, confidence, and positivity of all your sons in every situation. I know that's because of your godly influence as a father of being present and consistently reminding them of God's 33:21 truths. You have truly given them a solid foundation for their lives. And although I didn't have that growing up, once I became your daughter-in-law, I have been blessed in that same way, too. So, I'm very thankful that um thank you 33:36 for consistently proclaiming God's truths. And I could go on and on and on about truths that I have learned from you that I had never heard anywhere else before. I became a Christian when I was in high school. And um yeah, so I could 33:52 go on and on. Um so that has really changed my life. the truths that I've heard from you, but as equally just seeing your incredibly incredible godly example to me and to Sanjay and to our kids. It's a spiritual her inheritance 34:10 and godly foundation that we have because of you and your life and it's priceless. So, thank you and happy birthday. I wish you many more. Okay, so we have a cake. 34:32 Oh, sorry. Brother Zach, please. Brother Z, come. I got I got excited about cake. Obviously, obviously, please, please, please come. You can please say a few words. We would love to hear from you. Well, once [clears throat] I come up 34:52 here, you know how long I sit and speak to you for, but you have a cake coming up. So, [clears throat] um, when I look back over my life, I think of times in my life when I could 35:10 have died. When I was 12 years old, I was living in Delhi with my parents and we were sitting outside. It was a hot climate in the late at night 35:27 and we had a a lamp connected to the plug inside the house and it went off. We didn't know why. So, I wasn't very wise. I thought there was a break in the wire somewhere and it was all dark. 35:45 So very foolishly I began to feel my way along that wire and at the place where it was exposed it caught my hand and [snorts] threw me to the ground and the wire the current still flowing through my body and I was screaming lying on the ground. 36:05 when I was just 12 years old and my mom was inside the house and came rushing out and switched off the main switch and I was delivered. [clears throat] And I thought of that how 36:23 I'm not sure whether I was really saved then. I don't think I was. I think of that and say Lord why did you spare my life? I think of another time. I [clears throat] can't think of all the instances. [snorts] I was in the Navy and we were on a ship 36:46 and I was the second in command of that ship and we were scheduled to, you know, India was at war with Pakistan in 1975 and I was on a ship called a mind sweeper. The way people blow up the enemy ships 37:05 is by putting mines underwater. A mine is a bomb. The children, if you don't know what it is, it's a huge bomb and they anchor it down to the ground under the water and you can't see it and it's got little spikes sticking out which if a ship 37:22 touches it, it'll blow up the ship. Or it sometimes they have magnetic mines which are drawn by the metal in the ship and the ship comes near it, it blows it up. So what the way we protect the ships is by ma having a ship called a mind 37:38 sweeper small boat made of wood not metal and which has all the equipment to blow up these ships. No to blow up these mines so that when the big ships come the they will not be destroyed by the 37:56 mines. So I was the second in command of a mine sweeper and we have to go in front of the ships to clear the whole sea in front of Karachi harbor where India was going to attack Pakistan. This is 19 uh 65 38:15 and there's a big chance of you know the we the mines won't blow our ship up us because we know how to destroy them but when you get near the enemy harbor they can fire guns at you and blow up your ship in no time. So that was the danger 38:31 we were facing. So we have to be willing to you know when you join the military you have to be willing to lay down your life for your country. So I know in another war with Pakistan one whole ship Indian naval ship was blown up and everybody 38:48 was drowned. So [clears throat] the day before we were supposed to go out to fight and to clear the mines, there was a ceasefire and India and 39:04 Pakistan decided we'll stop the war. And there was a very high possibility that he could have died. And I say, "Well, Lord, by the time I was saved, I was already a Christian. So, I knew I'd go to be with the Lord, but the Lord spared 39:23 my life." Time I was just 25 years old. And the next year I left the Navy, came out to serve him. And then I have had numerous experiences in driving a scooter. I I used to ride a scooter, two wheel scooter. It's like a 39:39 motorbike for 42 years in India. That's the only thing I could afford. I couldn't afford gas to have a car. So I rode a scooter and scooter is very dangerous driving in India you know weaving weaving in between the scars and 39:57 on the roads you know in India [snorts] uh we're not under the law that means we don't keep any laws on the road that's what I mean everybody does goes wherever they like and you got to be very very careful so I've had many many escapes 40:14 but I'll tell you one one of those escapes was when uh Sunil was I think in 11th st standard we call them we call them grades here it's called standard in India and I was taking him to he had come home for lunch and I was taking him back to 40:31 the school was about a mile and a half from our house and I'm [clears throat] usually very careful and I was on the correct side of the road but there was a cyclist mailman who going around delivering male on his cycle 40:49 and he was on the wrong side of the road and without looking he suddenly drove his cycle across the road and I didn't anticipate that I went headon hitting him and uh because we were traveling as a scooter I go both Sunil and I got 41:05 thrown off the scooter to the other side of the road to the sidewalk and um we didn't have any helmets either of But amazingly two two things. One, we didn't hit our head. We just scraped our 41:22 elbows and and more other than that, there was no car coming from the opposite direction. So it was a amazing way God saved my life and his life too. So what I see from all these things is 41:41 when God has a plan for your life, he watches over it. Every I say that for benefit of every single person here. We all face dangers at home or on the road or anywhere. 41:58 And if God has a plan for your life, you can be absolutely sure that if you're seeking to honor him and you only want to live for him, you don't want to live for yourself. You're not living for making money and you want to 42:13 live for his glory and that's all we were doing. Nothing can happen to you. No, no accident, no loss, nothing can happen to you that'll prevent God from fulfilling his plan for your life. I never realized I'm going to live up to 42:32 the age of 86 and I haven't finished. I'm I'm trying to hit a 100 >> if it is God's will or better than that if the Lord comes. But I mean, it's not in my hands. God has planned my life before I was born. It's all written down in the book and I 42:49 haven't seen that book. But I want to encourage all of you if you want to complete your life on earth, be faithful to the Lord. Love Jesus with all your heart and don't love anyone more than Jesus. That's my advice to every young person 43:09 here and older person. Keep him first in your life and be careful that you don't eat the wrong type of food or eat too much and become fat and get sick. So 43:26 be wise. Don't tempt God by doing things which will shorten your life because God needs every one of you to be his witnesses. And there are very few witnesses, true witnesses for the Lord in the world. And 43:45 you are one of them. Please be faithful. Think of days when God saved. Think of events in your own life where God saved your life. It's with a purpose. So all these things I mentioned tell me that God has got a purpose for my life. 43:59 I want to fulfill it. That's my passion. Every day when I get up in the morning, I look up to heaven and say, "Dad, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit today. I want to fulfill your plan for my life." whatever it is. And I say that 44:11 please do that for all of you. Okay. Enjoy your cake. Thank you. [applause] Thank you. Okay. Brother Zach, if you would stay or will you stay here? We're going to we're going to bring the cake up. Let's see. So, we can we can sing to 44:27 Brother Zach. Do we have a candle? Yeah. All right. Good. You can blow out the candle and let's let's all sing together. >> Wait for Oh, Sister Annie, please. You You have to come up, too. Do you have a knife or anything? Okay. Yeah. 44:47 And children, no, we will not be eating the cake in the front. Okay. We'll we just going to blow out the candle, cut the cake, and then we'll eat in the back. Okay, everyone, please. Hey, let's practice singing loud right now. Right. 45:01 Birthday greetings today. May God bless you, we pray. Live for Jesus, brother Zach. May God you do always. Happy birthday to [singing] you. To Jesus be true. May 45:21 God's richest blessings be ever with you. Woohoo! [applause] >> Blow out the candles. >> Yeah. Blow out the candles before we 45:39 start a fire here. >> [applause]
