0:12 We have a number of questions that are about I think about 80 of them. And we have about 60 minutes. So, we've only got about 45 seconds for each question and I won't have time to look up the reference. I'll quote the reference 0:28 where possible and you'll have to look it up on your own. The first question is concerning number of questions concerning the church. If a brother has been sent away from the church in discipline, uh does it does he lose his salvation if he 0:44 has repented and joined another body of Christ, can we have fellowship with him? Now, one of the things that I find many Christians don't understand is discipline. The Bible says in Romans 11:22 that God is kind and severe. 1:03 Many believers know him as kind. They don't understand his severity at all. And so, they have an imbalanced view of God. It's like a half a body. It's not a complete body. If you don't understand the severity of God, you only understand his kindness, 1:17 you don't understand God at all. If you understand only his severity and you don't understand his kindness, you don't understand God at all. So, uh God is strict and he's good. Like a father. A father cares for his children, provides for his children, but 1:33 disciplines them. And Jesus taught about discipline in the church in Matthew 18 and verse 18 to uh 6:15 onwards. Matthew 18:15 onwards. If your brother, this is not talking about people outside. Your brother sins, go and speak to him alone. And if he 1:52 listens to you, you're won your brother. If he does not listen to you, what should you do? Take one or two brothers with you and and then every with fact may be confirmed. And if he still does not listen to you, go and tell it to the 2:06 church, that is to the elders. And the church and the and he doesn't listen to the elders in the church, let him be to you as an unbeliever. So, if a person has rejected the last step, that he doesn't even listen to the 2:23 elders, you have to treat him like an unbeliever. Now, you may try to act kinder than God and be stupid. There are many believers like that. They try to act more kind than Jesus and they're absolutely 100% stupid. They hinder 2:36 God's work. But, I obey God's word. If he doesn't listen to the church, I treat him like an unbeliever. That doesn't mean I hate him. I'm not supposed to hate unbelievers. That doesn't mean I don't forgive him. I'm not supposed to 2:47 be unforgiving. Jesus forgave unbelievers on the cross. So, I forgive him. I love him, but I treat him like an unbeliever. I don't have fellowship with unbelievers. I can't have fellowship with him. If he repents, and then I'm not saying 3:00 he's got to come back to our church, but if he's repented of his sin and there's evidence of it, we can have fellowship with him. But, if there's no evidence of that, you're hindering God's work in his life by fellowshipping with him. 3:12 Okay, another question is where does it say in the Bible that we should not collect offerings in the church? Third episode of John chapter 1 verse 7. They do not receive any money from the unbelievers. Next question is how can you discern which elder you 3:29 should submit to? Well, the Bible says in Hebrews and 13 and verse 17, uh obey your leaders and submit to them. That that's a command. So, who are your leaders? You I hope you have some leaders. Then you must submit to them, 3:44 but that is in church matters. Uh you don't have to listen to them concerning whom you should marry or what house you should take for rent or buy. Uh that's up to you because that depends on the measure of confidence you have in 3:57 him. In church matters, elders are in authority just like out in the uh streets, the traffic police have got authority. And in the country, the government has authority. You don't worry about whether they're spiritual or 4:09 not. They're the authorities appointed by God. You listen to them. They're authorities appointed by elders in a church. You listen to them. If you're not If you don't have confidence in them, leave that church. Go and join 4:19 some other church where you have confidence in the elders. And if you have confidence in only one of the elders, you can go to him for advice, but submission, you must submit to all the elders in a church. That is God's will 4:32 in Hebrews 13:17. Submission is different from confidence and you don't have to submit in personal matters. It's only in church matters. Okay. Can Jesus do any miracle if we ask him? If it is his will. Jesus went to the pool of Bethesda in 4:48 John chapter 5 and he healed one man, but it says there were hundreds of people lying there. He never healed any of them. So, we can't force God to do something. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. He prayed. It was not answered because God 5:01 said there's a purpose. So, where it is God's will, he answers. He does many miracles. But, if it is not his will, he will not do it. Sometimes we can't understand, but God has a wonderful purpose in everything. Another question is if we reap what we 5:16 sow, like it says in Galatians 6, for our past sins, aren't we paying for that? No, you're not. The payment for sin is eternal hell, even for one sin. And you cannot pay for that. Jesus paid for it. But, what we When we reap what we sow, we are 5:35 reaping the consequences of our sin. And definitely, you're reminded of your sin, but you're forgiven. You cannot take away from your memory the memory of all the evil that you did in the past. You can never get rid of it. But, if you 5:50 believe that you're repented and Christ has died for you, you can be absolutely sure that you're forgiven and uh but the consequence that we face, for example, a man goes and commits adultery and gets a sexually transmitted disease, 6:09 he'll live with that for all his life. He may never be healed. And that may be a warning to him from God to be careful in future. So, God allows us to reap what we sow, but the sin is forgiven. Um in fact, the Lord says in Hebrews 6:22 8:12, I will not even remember your sins anymore. But, in our mind, it'll still be there. But, we can be sure it's cleansed in the blood of Christ. Uh what does it mean when it says in Romans 14:23, "Everything that doesn't come from faith 6:37 is sin." How can we live out this practically? Because we don't understand faith. Many people think of faith as an intellectual thing. Faith is dependence upon God. God wants us to live in dependence upon him. And the opposite 6:52 of that is independence of him. Independence of God is sin. So, it's not that every single act I'm conscious that I'm dependent on God. It's an attitude of life where I'm dependent on God. And that's what it's referring to. 7:07 And so, that's how we should In fact, one evidence of that dependence of God is we pray. If you never pray, you obviously are not dependent on God. You don't have faith. But, God gives us freedom in our conscience to do something. That that is 7:20 indication of his will. If you're convicted in your conscience, then that means you you should not be doing that. Does God put a desire in all people's hearts to seek him? Well, the Bible says God works in us Philippians 2:12 and 13. 7:35 God works in us to will and to do his good pleasure. But, it says there that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. What God works inside, we have to work out. How do we recognize and save ourselves from deceptive teachings these days like 7:51 hyper grace, prosperity gospel, immorality in these days? Um I ask these questions to edify my fellow believers. Well, you need to edify yourself as well. Don't think that you are beyond deception. Any of us can be deceived and if you are 8:10 proud and think you only need to help others, we'll be the first people deceived. Well, I'll show you a verse in 2 Thessalonians in chapter 2. It says in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 10 and 11. Here it says that there are certain people who do not 8:27 receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 10. And to such people, verse 11, God sends on them a deluding influence, something to deceive them so that they believe what is false. Can you imagine there's 8:45 such a verse in the Bible? That God allows a person to believe what is false because of two reasons mentioned in verse 10. One, he's not honest. He does not love the truth. He reads the Bible and he sees that what is written there is completely against 8:59 what he's heard in his church all his life, but he sticks to his church to please his pastor or please church members and he ignores what's written in the Bible. Such a person is a candidate for outright deception by the devil. 9:10 God allows it. The second is he doesn't want to be saved. Oh, before that, uh he doesn't love the truth about himself. For example, um God shows him something. He listens to something in a message and God speaks to him in his conscience and he doesn't 9:24 listen to it. He doesn't accept the truth about himself. He's a prime candidate for deception. If you don't listen to your conscience, you'll easily be deceived in some other area. The second reason is this person doesn't 9:36 want to be saved from sin. If you're not eager to be saved from all sin, you will be deceived. So, to avoid deception, all these false teaching, two things. Love the truth in God's word and about yourself. And secondly, be eager to be saved from all 9:52 sin. You will never be deceived. If grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, next question. Uh doesn't it mean that grace was there from the beginning? No, it wasn't. I mean, God existed from the beginning, but no human being got grace because 10:10 it was not possible till man's sin was forgiven and the Holy Spirit came in. You know, the Holy Spirit is called in Hebrews 10, the spirit of grace, Hebrews 10:29. So, the Holy Spirit could not come into a man's heart until that heart was 10:26 cleansed from sin. And nobody's heart was cleansed from sin till the day of Pentecost. Before that, they only had an external offering of a sacrifice to look forward to the death of Christ. But when the heart was cleansed, 10:43 then the Holy Spirit could come. The blood of Jesus had to cleanse our heart first. And it's only happened from the day of Pentecost onwards. So, that's the time the spirit of grace brings grace. Grace is not something that God gives us. It's 10:55 the Holy Spirit coming in and giving it to us and it's only then that we experience grace that helps us to overcome sin. Sin will not have dominion over you because you're under grace. The first person who walked on this earth 11:08 who was under grace was Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 2 verse 40 says as he grew up, the grace of God was upon him. Therefore, he never sinned. Uh what is the biblical understanding of predestination? Does God already choose some people to 11:24 go to hell? No. In 1 Peter 1 verses 1 to 3, you read there that we are chosen by God according to his foreknowledge. Foreknowledge means he looks into the future. It's like, you know, if you see a video, a home video made by somebody 11:40 of people playing a game or something, passing a ball or hitting a ball in cricket or some game. You're not involved in it. You're watching it. You see somebody doing something. In the same way, God sees a video of the future. We can only see a video of what 11:57 is past. But God can see a video of the future, what is happening 100 years from now. Way back before he created Adam and Eve, he could see a video of the entire future of the entire history of humanity, 6,000 years. He could see 12:10 everything. And that's called foreknowledge, seeing a video of the future. And seeing a video of the future, he saw way back, way down there in the 21st century, somebody accepting Christ. Chosen according to the foreknowledge, 1 12:24 Peter chapter 1 verse 1 and 2. It's not that God picks names out of a hat or just arbitrarily chooses anybody. It'd be very unfair if he just chooses somebody and sends him to hell. God will never do that. Even an earthly 12:39 judge would not be so unjust. Okay? Um Why does the fear Why is the fear of God not mentioned in the new covenant like the old covenant? It is. If you read the Bible carefully, it is there. In fact, you take a concordance 12:55 and look for the word fear of God. Let me give you one example, 2 Corinthians 5:11. Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. So, it's through the fear of God that we seek to please the Lord. It's cuz it says in verse 10 there about the 13:13 judgment seat of Christ we will stand before. And 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1, we perfect holiness in the fear of God. And it's a very sad thing that many believers do not have the fear of God. Even it says even about Jesus that he 13:27 overcame sin because of his fear of the Father in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7, he prayed with loud crying and tears to avoid being avoid sinning, that is to be saved from spiritual death, that is to be saved from sin. He prayed and he 13:43 was saved and he was heard because of his godly fear. So, it's mentioned in the Bible number of times even in the new covenant. And it's a sad thing that many believers don't have it. In fact, we must know the fear of God before we know the grace of 13:56 God. The early disciples for 30 years they had learned about the fear of God, then they learned about the grace of God. The unfortunate thing today is many believers know about the grace of God, they don't have a clue about the 14:08 fear of God. And that's why they're so defeated and a disgrace to Christ. So, we need to learn the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom even today. Psalm 25:14 says the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him. God does not 14:23 reveal his secrets to those who don't fear him. Uh how can I lead my unbelieving family to Christ? First of all, by your life. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. 14:38 If they If your family only sees you preaching, and they'll think, "Oh, that's just another religion." But if they see a life that has been transformed, what you were before you became a Christian, and what you are now, they'll say, "Hey, 14:50 something happened to this son or daughter of mine." That's how we draw them to Christ. And then we have the opportunity to witness to them. So, we wait for them to um respond through our life and then the ground is sown. Uh ground is dug up, we 15:06 can sow the wheat or the the seed. Okay? How do I teach young children to be prepared for tribulation and suffering? Well, we have to be we have to discipline our children and teach them that disobedience is a very serious 15:20 thing, disobeying parents, disobeying God. And we must teach them to be honest. We must teach them to be faithful in small things. And we must show them the examples in scripture how so many Christians have suffered for the faith, for 15:36 standing up for what is true. And that is how we prove that what we believe is right. And you can read them stories of the martyrs. There are many books about Christian martyrs through the years. Read them and tell them those stories. That will 15:49 encourage them to be faithful when the time comes for them. How do we discipline children without hampering their innate creativity, personality development, and individual traits? By being balanced like God is. God is good and he's severe. And God 16:05 wants to develop us spiritually and in every other way. And so, he he realizes that there's a need for encouragement as well as challenge and discipline. So, we need to be balanced and it must not be all discipline. And it must not be 16:22 all just encouragement. If there's a balance, the children will grow normally. Otherwise, they'll grow up in balance. And how do you heal an adult if his parents have abused him emotionally? Well, first of all, you got to forgive them. 16:39 And when it comes to every time the thought comes to your mind, forgive them and say, "Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to overcome the effects upon my personality because of abusive parents or um hurts that I've had in the past. The 16:55 Holy Spirit can help you to overcome everything. There's nothing that God will not help you to overcome from what you have inherited or what you've suffered because of your past. How does a wife and mother witness to her husband 17:10 and children if they do not feel that you can live an overcoming life? Well, first of all, by living an overcoming life yourself. And manifesting that you never get angry, that you're patient, long-suffering, that you're kind, 17:22 manifesting the spirit of Christ. That is how a father or mother manifests the life of Christ to the children. I mean, if children see father and mother yelling at each other, it's pointless telling them about victory over sin. 17:33 Repent. But if they see father and mother slipping up and asking forgiveness even from the children, they'll say, "Oh, my parents are different from other parents who never ask forgiveness." So, our witness is by our life first of 17:47 all. And if they don't see that, there's no use preaching to them about victory. Okay. How do you know if a mistake a kid makes is serious enough for a spanking? Well, a spanking is not the only way of punishment. There are many ways of 18:03 punishment, you know, that you don't allow them to play games in the evening one day. Today, you go and lie down on your bed. You're not going to play because you were disobedient. Or you know, sometimes some parents say, 18:14 "Go and sit in that corner facing the wall for half an hour and repent of what you did." Or withholding some privilege, not withholding food. Don't say, "I won't give you ice cream today because you disobeyed." That's wrong. 18:26 But some other way, withholding some privilege like games or something like that. Then it Spanking is not the ultimate thing. If they're absolutely disobedient and rebellious, it's a last resort. Don't just take spanking as the first one. Spanking as a 18:45 first step is the indication of a undisciplined father or mother. It should be the last resort. And we must take seriously disobedience and telling lies. Those are the two things I took very seriously with my children. And if I'm a young girl in a family and 19:02 my parents are unbelievers, I struggle to respect them. How should I obey? You must obey your parents in all non-spiritual matters. If they tell you to work hard, clean the floor, help in cleaning the kitchen, help in whatever it is in the house, even if 19:19 you're tired, get up and do it. That's obedience. And that will win their hearts. But if there's an area where they're telling you to worship idols, then you say, "No. Sorry." Because your parents are not the ultimate authority. 19:32 They are your authority, but above them is God. So, you have to say, "Dear Dad and Mom, God tells me not to worship idols. I can't do that." If um uh if there's my parents are not Christians and they they 19:50 keep on scolding me for my faith and I get very angry. What should you do? I'll tell you what. If your parents are not converted, treat them like blind people who cannot see. Spiritually, they cannot see. What do you do if you see a physically 20:04 blind man? You don't curse him for stumbling on the on a stone. You feel sorry for him. Don't you feel sorry when you see a blind man? He doesn't know where to go. Well, look at your parents like that. They They don't see the way. Be kind to 20:16 them and be merciful. And don't get impatient. You don't get impatient with blind people on the street. Don't get impatient with your parents. Help them. And uh This is speaking about married life with this conflict between 20:33 husband and wife and uh What should we do? I believe that you have to seek God to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Have you noticed in Ephesians 5:18, it says, "Be filled with the Spirit." It means continuously. Then it goes on to say, "Husbands, love 20:49 your wives. Wives, submit to your husbands." That is a result of being filled with the Spirit. Three or four verses later, if you read Ephesians 5:18, the fullness of the Spirit is for your family life. You read Ephesians 5:18 all 21:00 the way to chapter 6 verse 4. It's entirely relating to family life and then to fighting the devil, chapter 6 verse 10 onwards. And that's the only place in the Bible where being filled with the Spirit is mentioned. So, the primary purpose of being filled 21:13 with the Spirit is to live a godly family life and to stand against the devil and overcome him. So, you need to seek God to be genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit and you'll know you're filled when you're able to overcome. 21:25 And um This is a difficult question. What about your uh son or daughter is of marriageable age and they're not born again? Should we keep waiting till they're born again so they get married born again partners? Well, marriage is not the primary thing. The 21:39 main thing is for them to be born again. You concentrate on that. And uh if they have come to a marriageable age and you find that they're not born again, well, I cannot make a rule there. You got to seek God and say, "Lord, what 21:54 shall I do here?" And question another is should Can we look at matrimonial sites? You got to be very careful with matrimonial sites where you look for marriage partners because a lot of them they tell lies. Matrimonial sites are full of lies. 22:08 So, be very careful and um find out from people who live in that town or uh above all, ask God to guide you and don't make a mistake in this because it's a lifelong decision that you're leading your children into. If there is no financial need in our 22:23 family, from what age uh when a child comes to what age can a mother seek employment so as to keep pace with their profession? As a mother, if you want to keep pace with your profession, you should not get married. You should not have got married 22:37 at all. Remain single and keep pace with your profession. Once you get married, you read Proverbs 31, the last 20 verses. A mother's job is primarily at home. And even if your child is going to school, it needs a mother at home to 22:54 help with the homework and so many other things which you won't be able to do if you got another job. So, I don't encourage any of our uh any wives to go to work. My wife was a medical doctor, graduated from a top medical school, but 23:10 moment we got married to me, she worked for a year till our child was born. Once the first child was born, she gave up and has never earned one rupee as a doctor thereafter, only helped the poor people. And we don't regret it because all our 23:22 four sons are following the Lord today. And I've seen that with others, too. Those who neglect their children, years later they suffer. Their children are gone astray. They made money, more money than they could have made if the wife 23:33 didn't work, but the children are gone astray. Which is better, to make a lot of money and your children go to hell or to make your children not only saved, but serve the Lord and earn less money? You I mean, you you got to make a choice 23:49 whether your God is Christ and the Father or money. What about if um a husband wants his wife to wear fashionable clothes? Well, I believe it's a wife's responsibility to dress modestly. The command from God is women should be 24:08 dressed modestly. And you have to tell your husband that this is what God's commanded me in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and 1 Peter chapter 3. So, I must obey God because uh husband, if he's a Christian, would recognize that God is above him, even if 24:23 he's a non-Christian. God is above him and we have to listen to God first in such matters. What about if the husband drinks? Well, the Bible says we shouldn't drink too much. So, but I personally don't touch it at all because I don't want to be a bad 24:39 example. So, the best thing is to avoid alcohol 100%. It's got a bad effect on the health and besides being a bad testimony. So, we have to take a stand against it, but we can't change people overnight. Talk to God privately about it. 24:58 And seek the counsel of godly older people in your locality. Um When we come to, you know, what about uh when you think about fashionable clothes for oneself? What about if one parent wants the children to wear fashionable clothes? 25:16 Well, I would say you're going to destroy your children if you make clothes on I believe we must get decent clothes for our children according to our ability to buy such clothes, but I don't think we should spoil our children by getting 25:28 endless clothes for them just to um make them look nice before others. Teach them godliness from an early age. Otherwise, they will become worldly. So, we got to be careful. There's a balance here. I'm not saying we we should be 25:42 careless about their clothes or they only one set of clothes or two sets of clothes. No, I don't mean that, but in all these things there's a balance and there's no standard rule. If you seek the glory of God and seek to 25:53 honor him, God will show you exactly how much to permit and how much not to. What about if we have been as parents careless with our children when they were young and now they're grown up, uh can we still have hope for them to 26:07 turn to the Lord? Yes. I've often told parents whose children have grown up wayward, if you will both of you, father and mother, or if they both don't agree, at least one of them, kneel down before the Lord every single day 26:21 and acknowledge your guilt first. Lord, we failed in bringing up your children properly. And we repent of it. We're sorry. Now, Lord, please the second best, please lay hold of them at least now and bring them to you. Pray 26:38 for them every day and repent yourself and live a godly life and you'll see God will do a miracle for your children. Let's definitely hope. And now, in the question of marriage, there are many questions concerning marriage 26:52 where These are all questions concerning marriage you find um how can you Well, if there's children are being abused by one of the one of the parents, what should you do? I think you should speak to the 27:10 parent. If it's a husband or wife, speak a away from the child. When you're alone with your partner, tell him, "See, that's not the way we should treat our child. We must be kind and good to them." And uh And if your partner is very hard on your 27:25 child, you at least be gentle, but don't turn your child against the other parent. But I think you should speak to your parent. And if you're part of a church, I think you should ask the your other partner to speak to the elders of the 27:38 church. But you you'll destroy your child if you're going to be physically abusive and hurt them. And um What about in a marriage where if one partner is committing adultery or committed What should you do? I do not believe in divorce. Divorce is 27:57 completely forbidden by Jesus Christ. He did permit divorce in case of adultery, but that's a permission, not a command. The best thing is to forgive and if necessary, live separately. Go back to your parents or something 28:13 like that. But I would never encourage divorce because that is against the word of God. I know there are a lot of Christians who do divorce, but that's because they don't respect God's word. They have no fear of God and they don't care for what 28:27 God says. They look around at society and do what everybody else does. And the same with a lot of pastors who encourage that type of thing, but I would never encourage it. So, pray and ask God to change your partner, forgive them and 28:43 if necessary, live separately because if that person is living in adultery, they can get uh sexually transmitted diseases which they will transmit to you if you live together with them. So, you got to be careful and avoid 28:55 living together and uh how that has to be done, you must ask God for wisdom. Um If if uh Again, it's another question of living with an ungodly family. I've already answered that. Should you leave your home? If you're grown up and you're 29:13 working on your own, by all means, leave your home and live separately if you're having constant conflict with unconverted parents who are asking you to worship idols, et cetera. But if you're young young, you can't afford to 29:25 stay on your own. You don't earn enough money, then you got to pray that God will help you and be firm there. Say, "Dad, Mom, please don't ask me to worship idols. I don't believe in it. I can't do it." And expect God to protect you. There are 29:38 many people who suffered for their faith, even being killed in the olden days. They stood true to the Lord. Um Is submitting to a husband a duty or you just do it only when you feel like doing it out of love? Ideally, it should be 29:54 done out of love. But if your husband asks you to do something unreasonable, I don't think you have to do it. Because God is above your husband. Don't forget that. And uh sometimes both husbands and wives can be mean towards each other. 30:13 And the one who is converted should act in a Christ-like way, but not allow the partner to take advantage of you just because you are humble and God-fearing and submissive. No. You humble and God-fearing submissive doesn't mean you can't be firm for 30:32 things that are wrong. And uh you can't change your partner. But in there's a firmness in love which ask God to give you wisdom. And if you don't know, you must seek counsel from some godly person nearby whom you can consult. 30:52 And here is another question where parents interfere in um person who's married. My advice to all husbands is follow Genesis 2:24. Leave your father and mother and cleave to your wife. If you don't obey that, you suffer, then you must face the 31:11 consequences of your disobedience. Wives, Psalm 45:10. Forget your father's house and be devoted to your husband. You don't obey that, well, then you must reap the consequences of it. Many people want this and that. You can't disobey 31:26 God's word and then expect God to help you. No. You first of all obey God's word. Break away. I don't mean you don't care for them. See, Jesus told his mother, "What have I got to do with you?" He broke away from her in the marriage at Cana. But even 31:40 when he was hanging on the cross, he provided for her. That's the balance. We care for our parents, but we don't have to listen to them. And if you can take that stand right from the very first day of your marriage, you love, be respectful, care 31:54 for them, but say, "Dad, Mom, you can't run my life now. I'm married." If you take that stand and don't bother about their tears and their pleadings, you'll have a happy marriage. And what should we do when we are reminded of our past sins? Yeah. 32:09 Remember what God says in Hebrews 8:12, that your sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Believe 1 John 1 verse 7 and verse 9 that the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all the sin you have confessed. If you don't believe God, then there's 32:24 no way to get out of it. Uh how does a born-again person hear God speaking? Well, see, it's in our heart that we hear and we become more and more familiar as we get familiar with God's voice. And the best way to hear God's voice is by 32:40 beginning to read the Bible every day. If you don't read the Bible regularly, well, you're not going to be hearing God speaking to you on your heart in different situations. If I remember when I got converted at the age of 19 and 1/2, 61 years ago, I 32:53 had never read through the Bible, even though I was born again in a Christian brought up in a Christian home. I had never read through the whole Bible. So, when I got converted, one of the first things I did was I said, "I want 33:03 to read through the whole Bible." And in 6 months, I read the whole Bible quickly through. I didn't understand most of it, but I read it. And then I would read also along with that a short portion every day and meditate on it. 33:15 So, we must have two types of readings. One, quick reading through many, many chapters so that we can finish the Bible. And along with that every day, a meditation on a short passage, maybe from starting from Matthew, going little 33:27 by little through the New Testament. So, then we become familiar with God's voice. It's like the day you got married to your wife. You could not recognize her voice because you've never heard her before. But now, after 20 years, even if your 33:39 wife is in the other room with many sisters talking, you can recognize your voice. How is that? Because you've heard her so often. So, the more we hear God speaking to us through the scriptures, the more we become familiar with his voice that we 33:50 can know it in different situations. Um How can we complete the work which our father has given us to do? John 17:4, Jesus said, he finished the work he gave me to do. Well, it's day by day, step by step. If you follow your conscience exactly and 34:07 obey everything that you read in God's word exactly, little by little, you can be absolutely sure when you come to the end of your life that you would have completed the work God wants you to do. And it's going to be step by step. 34:21 If you violate your conscience, then you can't do it. But you got to repent of the past and ask God to forgive you also. Um How can I know if my love for God is growing cold? Well, you won't have as much interest in obedience. You won't 34:34 have as much interest in um reading God's word. It's like when you're if you're a married person, how do you know your love for your partner is going cold? You don't want to spend much time with them. You want to be on your own. You don't want to spend time 34:45 with Jesus. Well, obviously, it's growing cold. How can I maintain a disciplined fellowship with the Lord? Well, discipline is something you have to just decide that you're going to do. It's like physical exercise. Supposing you're getting fat and flabby 34:58 and the doctor says you need to take some exercise. You got to discipline yourself. Get up a little early and go and do that exercise. Spend some time, half an hour every day to do some exercise. It's a discipline. It's 35:10 not easy. If you're getting too fat and the devil uh doctor says you're eating too much, you got to discipline yourself by getting up from the table and um putting away that and say, "Okay, that's enough. I'm not taking a second helping." So, discipline 35:27 is something you got to just decide to do by the grace of God. And that's how it happens. It doesn't come naturally. How can I value godly things more than earthly things? Um It's by recognizing which is valuable. How is it you value gold more than 35:44 garbage? How is it you throw the garbage out of the house, but keep valuable things there? Because you've realized the value of this and the value of that. So, the first thing you need to see is from scripture, what is the value of obeying God and 35:56 what's the uh value of money and what's the value of the honor of men? And what's the value of pleasures of sin? Give a relative value to all that and chuck all the garbage away. But if you don't understand the relative 36:06 value of these things, you'll never choose what is the best. And it's only if you allow your mind to be changed as you read the scriptures and try to have the mind of Christ by reading the gospels and say, "Lord, show me the mind of Jesus." 36:22 Then the Holy Spirit will make you more and more like him. How can I be constantly filled with the Spirit? Well, I would say two things basically in a very simple way. You know, to begin with, you got to thirst. If any man thirst, let him come 36:34 to me. John 7:37. That's the first step to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And then, we must keep a good conscience. You can never remain filled with the Holy Spirit if you don't keep a good conscience. As soon as you're aware of 36:48 something, you hurt somebody, ask forgiveness immediately. Don't wait. If you have to ask somebody's forgiveness, ask immediately. And if somebody has hurt you, forgive them immediately. These are little things that we follow 37:04 if you want to be consistently filled with the Spirit. And the second thing I'd say is keeping a good conscience. The second thing I'd say is with every opportunity you get, humble yourself. If you find in a particular situation 37:15 that somebody is asserting themselves, you humble yourself. Not compromise your convictions. No. Humble yourself. Take the first step to humble yourself and go down. If the other one person wants to think he's big, let him think he's big. Fine. 37:30 Don't get in an argument with people. And then you can remain filled with the Holy Spirit all the time. But you have to have a constant thirst for it every day. Early morning when you get up in the morning, talk to Jesus and say, "Lord, I 37:42 want to live a spiritual life today." You don't have to spend long times in prayer, but you have to be yielded. How to overcome jealousy of wealth and spiritually and financially of others step by step? Well, when you see other people more 37:58 godly than you, don't look at it as something to be jealous about, but say, "That's a good example for me to follow." And when you see other people wealthier than you, say to yourself, "Money is not everything." Money doesn't make a man more acceptable 38:12 to God. And say, "Lord, you give me enough money to live. In fact, if I have too much, it can probably ruin me." So, jealousy will destroy you. God decides how much you should have. Spirituality, God wants us to have the 38:25 maximum. But money-wise, he doesn't give equally to everyone. You can see that in the world around. So, if God has decided that you got to have so much, you got to live in this type of house, and you this is your income, 38:39 say, "Lord, I thank you." Be satisfied with what you have. Be content with what you have. The Bible says, "Because the Lord has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13 and verse 4:5, "Be content with what you 38:53 have." "Because the Lord has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5. And uh How can I know the love of God as a heavenly father? I feel I'm like an orphan. Well, Jesus said to his disciples, "You're all like orphans." 39:12 Do you know that almost every Christian Most Christians I've met are like orphans. They're so insecure. They don't realize they got to such a loving father in heaven. Now, whether they were physical orphans or not physical orphans, doesn't make a 39:27 difference. If you don't find security in your heavenly father, you are an orphan. Jesus said in John 15 14, read there, "I will not leave you orphans. I'll give you the Holy Spirit." So, the only way to overcome that feeling like an orphan and uncared for 39:44 is to ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit who will show you God is a loving father who loves you as much as he loved Jesus. That's the only way. And um when I I read God's word and um where all the writers write in different 40:03 ways and you begin to question whether this is a word of man or a word of God. Well, such questions can come to everybody. But if you try to claim some of those promises and say, "Lord, I want to claim this promise." And you find again and 40:16 again God fulfills those words, then you know it's not the word of a man. Somebody can't write something 2,000 years ago and work in your life. No. You uh prove it is God's word by testing it out. Say, "Lord, I want this promise to 40:32 be fulfilled in my life." Okay. What about if I've got a lot of wrong teaching from the church I grew up in? Well, come to God's word and respect God more than your church and more than your church leaders. And say, "I want And how can I 40:48 fellowship with like-minded people?" Pray that God will lead you to people who are of like mind. If God sees an eagerness in you, if you hunger and thirst for fellowship, God will lead you. Say, "Lord, I want to meet with people who are wholehearted 41:05 and follow Jesus. They may be of different community, but learn to love them. See, there's a question here about sexual sin. Sexual sin is one of the most powerful sins that enslave most men. And the only way to overcome it is to 41:21 ask God to give you power to battle it, to discipline yourself. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, the last verse, "I discipline my body." You got to you know, it says in 1 Corinthians 6, towards the end, verse 19, "Run away from immorality." 41:37 Don't try to fight immorality. If you're being tempted with your phone or computer to watch something unclean, turn it off. Go away from there. Go for a walk. Go and meet some friends and avoid That's meaning of flee from 41:50 immorality. Don't try and stand there and fight it. You'll you'll be defeated. It's too strong for you. We are supposed to resist the devil. He will flee from us. But when it comes to immoral temptation, we must run away. 42:03 When David faced Goliath, he could go up and meet him and kill him. But when he saw Bathsheba, he should have run away. Bathsheba is stronger than Goliath. So, remember that. You can resist the devil. He will flee from you. James 4:7 42:16 says that. But 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "You must flee from immorality." Verse 16 to 19, read that. If you don't flee, you will fall. How can I be receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit? By first of all, by hungering and thirsting and saying, 42:34 "Lord, I don't want to get baptized in the Holy Spirit to give a testimony that I'm baptized in the Spirit." That way you will get a counterfeit. A lot of people just manufacture some tongues and say I got baptized in the 42:44 Holy Spirit. What do they got? They're fooling themselves. You say, "Lord, I don't want anybody in the world to think I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit, but I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit myself before you. I don't care what what people think about 42:58 me." You got to be free from the opinions of men. So many people want to join a club. Baptized in the Spirit club. I want to be part of that club. You'll never get the real thing. I'll tell you that. I want to speak in tongues. You'll get a 43:11 fake tongues. Don't seek for tongues. Say, "Lord, I want to live before you and I want power to live an overcoming life. And I want power to be a bold witness for you before my friends and enemies and relatives and everybody 43:25 else. That's why I need that power, Lord, and I don't want to testify about it. I don't want people to know that I'm baptized in the Holy Spirit. I want the real thing. If you live before God, you will get the real thing. A lot of people 43:38 live before men and they either get a counterfeit or and deceive themselves or they never get anything. So, seek for it before God. I've committed many sins willfully after I've repented. And it says in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 26 that if you sin 43:57 uh willfully, there's no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judgment. Hebrews 10 verse uh 26 onwards. So, what can we um what shall we do? Well, how do you know that you can be 44:16 forgiven? Do you have a desire to turn from your sin? That is an indication that God is working in you. That's enough. Do you have a desire to confess your sin? The Bible says if you confess your sin, he'll forgive you. I 44:26 don't care what sin you committed. I don't care if you committed willfully. It doesn't matter. The meaning here is in Hebrews 10:26, if you keep on sinning willfully, that's the meaning. If we go on sinning, not if you sin once. 44:40 If you go on sinning willfully and you have no And the one proof of that is you have no desire to turn from it. But if you have a desire to turn from it, praise the Lord. Then it doesn't apply to you. If someone uh did some injustice to me 44:53 in the office or place hurts me in some way, uh I feel relaxed only when I tell this to one of my friends. I'll tell you, tell it to Jesus. Let him be the friend you tell to and don't tell others. It's like a heavy burden in my heart. 45:10 I'm not able to speak normally to that person. That's because you love yourself so much. Jesus said you cannot follow me if you love yourself. You got to hate yourself. You got to forgive. Just like Jesus forgave you. You compare the sins you've committed 45:24 against the Lord and say, "Lord, what that person has done against me is nothing compared to what I've done against you." That's what helps you to forgive and ignore that person. His opinion is fit for the trash can. Why 45:35 are you worried what he thinks about you? Say, "Lord, I only want to be worried what you think about me." That's the way to battle these temptations to uh remember the evil others have done. If there's one advice that you would 45:48 give to all believers, what would that be? Uh very simple. Humble yourself. Learn humility and gentleness from Jesus, Matthew 11:29. That's the most important lesson of all. I'll tell you why, because God gives grace to the 46:02 humble and he resists the proud. So, that's the one advice I'd give you. And here is a question, "Do you think the Lord will return in this century?" I hope so. I'm expecting the Lord to come in my lifetime. Paul was expecting that in 1 46:15 Thessalonians 5. He says, "We who are alive will be caught up." But later on, towards the end of his life, he said, "No, the Lord has shown me I'm going to I'm not going to be taken up. I'm going to go die now and the Lord's taking take me 46:26 home." So, until the Lord shows us very clearly that we're going to leave uh the earth and go to him, we must expect his coming. But when he's coming, we don't know. Nobody knows even the day or the hour. Um Uh how do we get rid of a judgmental 46:44 attitude towards other people who wear stylish clothes? Well, I say it's none of your business. The Bible says don't be a busybody in other people's matters. This is one of the most important commands that all believers must obey, 46:57 but they don't. 1 Peter chapter 4, it says here there are three four things you should not be. Don't be a murderer. Don't be a thief. Don't be an evildoer. And don't be a busybody in other people's matters. They're all in the same category. Being 47:16 a busybody in other people's matters, 1 Peter 4 and verse 15, is in the same category as being a murderer and an evildoer. Well, if you don't obey that, uh you got to suffer for it. Don't be a busybody in other people's matters. 47:33 You be modest yourself, but leave other people to go that way, whichever way they want. Unless you're an elder, in which case you have to correct them in your church. It says God will not test us beyond our endurance. 1 Corinthians 10:13. But sometimes it 47:52 looks as if some problems are beyond endurance. You know, it's like children who uh learning some new subject in a higher class. For example, you studied uh multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, and they go to geometry. 48:06 Oh, that's tough. And trigonometry, sine and cosine and tangent and all that. They say this is tough. But after a while, they become experts. You keep on by constant practice. Then they go to study calculus. And they say, "Oh, this 48:19 is so tough." Yes, in the beginning. But by practice, they overcome. So, everything becomes uh possible as God takes us through to higher level. Do you want to live in the same class forever? The same grade forever and ever and ever? And have all 48:34 easy problems to deal with? You're all going to spend all your life just um learning addition and subtraction? Don't you want your children to go higher? God wants you to go higher, too. So, that's why he leads us one step 48:45 higher to a little tougher problem, little tougher problem. I thank God that he's led me like that for 60 years. Tougher, tougher, tougher, tougher. That's given me confidence that whatever comes, I can handle it because God will 48:56 not allow me to be tested beyond my ability. God A teacher will not give you a question paper in the examination day which is above your grade. If you're in the fifth grade, he The teacher will not give you a 10th grade paper. And if 49:09 teachers can be trusted to do that, you can be sure that God will not give you something beyond your ability. What does it mean when it says Jesus never did anything on his own initiative? John 5:30. Does it mean this is how I'm supposed to 49:21 live, constantly wondering is this from my initiative or God's initiative? Uh I'm What does it mean to offer my body as a living sacrifice so that I don't say or do anything until moved by God? Well, I'll I'll you what. I'll give you an 49:35 example. Supposing I tell you you must breathe every moment in order to live. Okay? And you say, "Oh, what a burden. I got to breathe. I got to remind myself. Now I got to breathe. Now I got to breathe." Is that what it means? 49:53 No. If you're having breathing difficulty, yes, you got to keep breathing exercises, but otherwise it becomes natural after a while. And many things after a while it becomes natural. You know, if you In the beginning, any new 50:06 habit is difficult. For example, you start the discipline of saying, "I'm going to go do some exercise for a half an hour 45 minutes every day." In the beginning it's tough, but after a while you enjoy it. In the same way, every new thing that 50:18 you do is tough. But if you go into it after a while, so this is what it means that you develop the habit of depending on God. It's almost unconscious. Jesus was not asking God every second the Father every second, "What do I do next? Can I take 50:32 one step now? Can I take the second step now?" That's not how he was living. It's like breathing. It becomes gradually it becomes more and more automatic. And don't worry if you don't see anybody else living at that level. 50:46 God alone knows who all are living close to him. You worry about yourself. So many of our problems, like I said earlier, is because we are busybodies in other people's matters. We try to compare ourselves with others. Second Corinthians 10:12 says, "Those 51:00 who compare themselves with others are foolish." Or we can say they're spiritual idiots. We must not compare ourselves with others. Why is it so difficult to take up the cross? Because we got a flesh which loves to sin. 51:12 Naturally. It's like the law of gravity. Why is it so difficult to fly? Because the law of gravity is pulling us down. And you need a power. How How is it the birds enjoy flying? How is it a truly victorious Christian enjoys flying and 51:26 overcoming sin? Like the birds enjoy flying. In the same way, if you're really serious about overcoming sin, you you got to fill you with the Holy Spirit and one day you will not want to be dragged down to the dirty things that the flesh drags 51:41 you down. To take up the cross means I put to death these things of the flesh. And uh it will it doesn't happen overnight, but God can do it. Why do God-fearing people suffer more than others? And others who are worldly live in a 51:57 smooth sailing life. Well, that's because, you know, there's a saying that it's easy to flow with the current. But to swim against the current is tough. The world is going away from God. So you lie down in that and you'll be 52:10 carried along with the tide into hell. It's easy. I don't want to go that way. I'm going the opposite way. I'm going to follow the Lord in this world and therefore I'm in opposition with the whole world going the other way. Few 52:21 there be that find the way to life. And I'm finding myself in opposition to a lot of Christians also who are going the other way. Well, naturally. If you're in the midst of a crowd and everybody's going the same way, well, 52:32 it's easy. You just follow along. They'll push you along. But if you're going the opposite way, you find crowds and crowds of people going against you. Well, that's it. So if you find opposition, there it indicates that 52:43 you're going the right direction. Uh how do we know God's will in different situations to take right decisions? There's a little book of mine called Finding God's Will. You can read it online at cfcindia.com. And that'll show you 52:57 help you more and more. Another question is concerning the stock market. Is it okay to trade stocks in good companies for believers? Short-term and long-term trading. Now, I think it is dangerous to go in there because almost everybody I've met 53:11 has lost money on it. Uh you have to be watching it all the time in order to make money on the stock market. What I would suggest is, if you know, there's more money in buying investing in a business, and that's what the stock 53:25 market is, than putting in a bank because the banks may give you very little interest. So invest it long-term. That way you don't have to keep on checking checking and buying and selling every day. That way it'll be a headache. You won't have any 53:38 time for God. You won't have any time for the Bible. And you'll always be in a panic. You'll wake up in the middle of the night and do all types of things which will hinder you from following the Lord. But if you ask God to give you wisdom to put some 53:50 money in some good companies, you may not make as much as those other people who are uh trading day by day and all, but you will not lose as much as them either. But invest in something long-term. Mutual funds or something where you 54:03 don't have to do the searching. Let other people do it for you, but you don't have The main thing is to not keep our mind on this money money money money because that will destroy you. So long-term investing is like investing 54:16 in a you buy a land somewhere, means value will go up. It's not that you're buying today and selling it and going and buying another one and constantly trying to make that way you'll become get into a panic and destroy yourself. 54:27 So I do not believe in day trading and that type of thing, but long-term investing, yes. What are your thoughts on life insurance? No, buy Is buying life insurance a lack of faith? No, it's just being careful. It's like having a savings account. 54:43 To have a savings account is not wrong. Jesus received gifts from different people and he had a savings account. Judas Iscariot was a banker. He was a crooked banker, but he Jesus kept money in his bag. And that was savings. He didn't spend He 54:55 didn't spend everything he got the same day. And you don't have to spend everything you get the same month. So savings is right. The The Bible says in Proverbs 6, "Go to the ant and learn how the ant lays up food for the winter when he knows when 55:11 it knows that there won't be any food available." It says, "Go and learn wisdom from the ant." So in the same way, in life insurance is something like that. It's not a lack of faith because I don't know when I'll die. The Bible says in James 4, "I don't 55:21 even know whether I live tomorrow." So I need to provide for myself and my family. Uh what about people who practice yoga and martial arts? Well, anything connected with demonic activity, to do exercise physical exercise, there's nothing wrong. 55:36 But if yoga involves praying to non-Christian idols and all that or worshiping the sun and all, nothing to do with. But stretching your arms and legs, there's nothing wrong. It's good to keep exercise. And martial arts are 55:47 different types, some which is just physical and the other involves bowing down to demons. You got to distinguish and avoid that which involves anything to do with demonic. Ask God to give you guidance in that. And um if there are people who 56:04 are engaged in this who are believers? Well, leave it to them to decide. Maybe they're There are different types of martial arts and some are involved involved demons and some don't. Uh what is your view about voting in the 56:18 president US presidential election? Well, I'm not a citizen here, so uh it doesn't involve me at all. But I believe most more important than voting is praying. I believe in India every election we would pray, "Lord, you're in charge and 56:35 uh we want you to appoint the government which is in your plan." In the 1st century and all, there were un-Christian ungodly emperors in Rome. And the Bible says, "Pray for them." 1 Timothy 2. So we must pray whoever is in power, 56:51 even if he was an ungodly heathen. The emperor Nero was the emperor in Rome when Paul and Peter told the Christians to pray for the those in authority. So we are not interested in who rules. We want to make sure that we 57:05 pray that God will overrule in who he allows to come into power. That's my belief. Casteism is not in Christianity. Yes, it's a very strong thing in Hindu religion. Um but if people are influenced by that, what can you do about that? But you 57:21 don't get affected by yourself and steer clear of it. Dowry is another thing which is very evil. Now, I believe dowry is 100% wrong because it's like buying a wife. That's completely wrong. And every Christian should stand against it. I 57:39 believe Jesus and the disciples apostles would have stood against it. But uh I also say on the other side of it, and that is the father must, if he's got an inheritance to give, he must give equally to his sons and daughters. 57:55 Not favor one over the other. And so and it's best given when the father has written his will and he's about to die. All must get equally. And if a father does not do that equally because he's ungodly, well, then trust God to take care of you. 58:12 But I'm I don't believe in dowry at all. I My four sons got married, they never received one cent as dowry. I don't believe in it at all. And in our church, whenever I conduct a marriage, I get a certificate from both uh 58:25 people getting married that we have not ex- the parents have not exchanged any money in this transaction. If you don't give me that certificate, I say I will not conduct your wedding. What about dealing with transgender 58:36 people at work? This is a new thing that's come up nowadays. And uh they want to be called by a name. Now, what does it matter if a person changes his name? Who said this is a female name, that's a male name? If somebody wants to be called by some 58:49 particular name, I'll call him by that name. I'm not here to determine what his name should be. And if it sounds like a female name to me, that's none of my business. He has chosen that name. So I would not argue with them about, "No, you should 59:00 not have that name." Who am I? What if somebody tells me that I should not have a particular name? No, that's none of my business. And there are some names that sound similar in both sexes. What do you do then? No, we're not here to decide uh what 59:16 another man should be called by. And I If he wants to be called by that name, I'll call him by that name. No problem. And I'm not here to decide what a person's sex is. So I don't get into arguments about all these things. I believe it's wrong the 59:28 way that they're going, but it's not my business to judge them. And uh The last another question is but there's what are Christians Christendom saying about the pandemic and social unrest in America? Is it God's judgment? 59:46 I'm not here to say what is God's judgment. God hates all sin and he judges in various ways. But there are Christians also who are suffering from this pandemic. So is God punishing them? No. Because we live on this earth, there's a curse on this 1:00:00 earth. The ground is cursed and that's why there are germs and bacteria and viruses and all types of things. As long as they'll be here till Jesus comes. And we live in this world and we seek to protect ourselves. We are careful. But 1:00:14 I'm not here to determine what is a judgment of God what is or not. I'm not a prophet like that and don't try to be a prophet yourself. Stick to what God's word says. Live a godly life. That's the main thing. You don't have to decide 1:00:25 whether a pandemic is God's judgment or not. Okay, last question concerning husbands and wives. There's a verse I conclude with this. This is the last question. In Ephesians in chapter 5 it says in verse 30 the last verse of Ephesians 1:00:41 5 every husband must love his wife. What a wife needs is love. And every husband every wife must respect her husband. Two things mentioned here. A wife needs love 1:00:59 and a husband needs respect. Ask yourself whether you do that. If you're a wife ask ask yourself whether you respect your husband. Speak respectfully, treat him respectfully. And if you're a husband ask yourself whether you love your wife, treat her 1:01:15 lovingly, speak lovingly, be good and loving. It's very clear in Ephesians 5:33 what Well, that's what a wife needs. Many husbands do not express their love for their wives. And many wives do not express their respect for their husbands. But that's 1:01:31 what scripture says. Beyond that in the little little details you must ask God to show you what you should do. So that's the last question and we can now pray. Heavenly Father as we bow before you we pray you will help the dear brothers 1:01:50 and sisters to know the things which have not been answered. To find the answer from you because you've got wisdom for every situation. Please guide each brother and sister Lord to seek for your highest, to be filled with the Holy 1:02:08 Spirit, to be deep students of the word of God, to know your will, to walk in your ways. Bless everyone who's listening to this message. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
