0:19 We are thinking about the words of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 speaking to the elders in Ephesus because he was not going to see them again. It's the only place where we read of Paul calling elders together to speak to 0:39 them. We frequently have elders meetings. We have had for more than 35 years in all our conferences, we have elders meetings. And these are very, very important because they we can correct wrong 0:59 directions in which people may be going without our knowing. Paul was very concerned about these elders. In fact, this whole passage in Acts 20 verse 17 downwards to verse 37 even though he spoke some very sharp words to them. 1:17 You know what he told these elders? Listen to this. Some of you are elder brothers. Think if somebody spoke to you like this. I know verse 29, Acts 20:29 1:35 that after I leave wolves will come in not sparing the flock. That means none of you will be able to keep the wolves out. You elders think you're very spiritual. I kept the wolves out for 3 years from 1:53 this church. That's what Paul is saying. I was here for 3 years preaching day and night and I kept the wolves out, but you guys will not be able to keep the wolves out. Because you're too soft. And secondly not only that, because you love yourself 2:09 so much from your midst, there are only five of them sitting there perhaps. Some will arise and speak all types of perverse things to draw disciples after them. This is politics. You know, where each party tries to draw 2:24 the members of parliament into their group. This is an apostle telling the elders that. So, he says, be on the alert. Verse 31, because I warned you night and day for 3 years. And you know, I was not interested in any of your money, verse 33. I wasn't 2:44 even interested in your getting me any clothes or any such thing. I took care of my own needs. And how did they respond to this? How would you respond if some older brother told you you guys are just going to seek your own 3:01 after I'm gone. And you will build your own kingdoms. And you won't be able to keep the wolves out of the flock. I don't know. Would you get offended? These people didn't get offended. It says they began to weep, verse 37. 3:21 Imagine, after a man rebukes them like that they embrace him and weep and repeatedly kissed him. Grieving over the fact that they would never see his face again. See 3:43 uh I don't know whether they took that seriously for the rest of their lives, but we know that 30 years later the church in Ephesus had gone down the drain. They'd lost their first love. But Paul had fulfilled his responsibility. 4:00 Verse 27, that's the verse we have here on the banner. I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. And therefore, verse 26 I am free from your blood. I want to say that you know, there are a lot of people who 4:17 do evangelism to say well, we got to be free from the blood of all men. We got to give them the gospel. And what I what they mean by the gospel is just telling them Christ died for your sins. And there's a lot of shallow evangelism 4:32 today like that. People go sticking uh you know, putting verses on windscreen wipers down a whole lot of cars and um putting tracks into people's mailboxes and say, well, I'm free from their blood. That's the easy way to get out of it. 4:49 Paul said, I'm free from the blood of all men when I've declared to you the whole purpose of God. There was a very popular statement many years ago made by a missionary pastor in North America who said listen carefully. 5:04 Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once? Now, think of the logic of that. Why should anyone hear the gospel twice before everyone has heard it once? Doesn't that sound logical? 5:28 But that's not God's way. How many of you sitting here can tell me honestly that you got converted after hearing the gospel once? I don't think there is a single person sitting here. If you had heard the gospel only once in 5:45 your life, none of you would be here today. So, even though that statement sounds so spiritual and it was stated by one who is revered as a great man of God. God bless him. He's a godly man. But I disagree with a lot of godly men. 6:02 Because I don't see it in scripture. And not only I don't see that statement in scripture, I don't see it practiced in scripture. Because if you hear the gospel once in most cases, I did not get converted by hearing the gospel once. And if 6:18 somebody had given me the gospel just once and said, okay, I finished with my responsibility for Zach. I go on somewhere else. I wouldn't be here today. Neither would you. And neither would many, many other people in the first century 6:34 who got converted. Why did Paul stay 3 years in Ephesus? Why does he say, for example, these words? Let me read this to you. In Acts 15 Paul says 6:50 in verse 36, Acts 15:36 Paul and Barnabas had already been round one missionary journey and established churches. Not only preached the gospel established churches. You read all about that in chapter 13 and chapter 14. Then they came back to Antioch and 7:10 reported what they had done to the elders and apostles there. And then it after some time Paul said to Barnabas what should he say according to this statement you just heard? Barnabas why should anyone hear the gospel twice 7:27 before everyone has heard it once? Let's go some to some new place now where the gospel has never been preached. This great Apostle Paul who was in touch with God, filled with the Holy Spirit, who had revelation on the new covenant 7:42 and the things of God says, let us return and visit those same brothers in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are and let's go back and establish them. This is the Apostle Paul. Why did why today somebody would go and 8:02 say, what do you mean, Paul, going back there? There are a whole lot of places in China and India and Tibet and all have never heard the gospel. Why do you want to go back to these people who have already heard it 50 times? 8:14 He He didn't live by logic. Unfortunately, today's Christians live by logic and by psychology. They don't know how to listen to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's been replaced today by logic, psychology, music and money. 8:32 And there are not enough Christians who are alert enough to see that. They think, oh, this is this seems right because they're clever people to whom logic appeals. That's why God has hidden the truths of the Holy Spirit from clever, intelligent 8:47 people. You see, clever, intelligent people don't go to the scriptures. They say, yeah, that sounds reasonable to my logic. Go ahead. That's how you go astray. Brother, humble yourself and go to God's word. God says, my ways are not your 9:01 ways. Have you heard that? Isaiah 55:8 and 9. And if you want to know the difference between my ways and your ways is not just 10 degrees or something. As high as the heaven is above the earth, so different is my way of doing my work 9:15 compared to your way of doing my work. That's why it's very, very important to understand scripture. To see especially what Jesus taught, the whole purpose of God. And that's why this picture of the seven colors that make white is very 9:33 relevant to this what we are saying. There are different aspects to the full purpose of God. And if you proclaim only part of it, you don't get white. You don't get the glory of God. You got some favorite colors. And I believe that's what's happening in 9:48 a lot of Christendom today. And like I said, if we are sensible we I said right at the beginning, we're not the whole body of Christ. CFC is a very small part of the body of Christ, a very very very very very small part. And 10:05 we recognize the work that other members of the body of Christ has already done long before we existed in India and other places, some wonderful godly men and women have come as missionaries from many countries and preached the gospel and a 10:20 lot of work has already been done. I'm not talking up the about these people who come on two-week missions, calling themselves mission trips. They're not missionaries. They don't go and live like the old-time missionaries 10:31 in snake-infested villages where there's no running water and there's no electricity. They come like tourists today for so-called mission trips to ease their conscience uh when they uh feel sorry for these poor third-world country 10:44 people who are struggling, go and build houses for them and ease their conscience. And parents want to send their children to these foreign countries so that those children can learn how privileged they are living in the western countries when they see 10:57 poverty elsewhere. This is garbage. Don't call it mission trip. Say it is to make my children more grateful for what they have. That's not mission. So-called mission trips run by so many churches from western countries is a lot of 11:10 rubbish. I live in this third-world country. I've lived here 73 years and I say it from this end of the world. That's not what I'm talking about. I thank God for godly men and women who lived in this country for 20, 30 years, 11:23 sacrificed, and preached the gospel. I deeply appreciate them bringing the gospel. They did evangelism. But they didn't preach the whole counsel of God. And a lot of missionary work and evangelism today is not preaching the 11:36 whole counsel of God. It's what they've done is good. They've colored some of some parts of that circle. Praise the Lord. Some people have done evangelism. Some people have preached that infant baptism is not right, water baptism. Some people have 11:49 gone beyond that and spoken about baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Great. We're not saying all these other people in Christendom never did any part of the circle. They've covered a lot of parts of the circle. So when we come into the 12:01 scene uh 37 years ago and we see this wonderful work that's been done in India by Christian sincere Christian people and we find say five segments of the circle five out of seven painted, colored, and people are going over the same five 12:18 segments again and again and again and two segments completely blank. What should a person with any discernment do? What does God want us to do? God says, "Go and color those other two segments." Nobody's doing that. That doesn't mean that we despise or 12:37 ignore what many people have done through many years in coloring all the other segments. Not at all. But we say we've got to fill up what is left out. I mean, that's a sensible thing to do. And that is what God raised up our 12:53 churches for 35 years ago to do. Now, it's possible that you don't see that vision. It's possible some of you I know there are people who say, "Why don't you guys go and color that blue again?" I say, "Because there are 10,000 people 13:07 coloring the blue. It's these couple of segments which are not being colored that hardly anybody is doing. And that's why we concentrate on preaching that which is not been done, the whole counsel of God. Maybe 5/7 of it has been preached, but 2/7 of it is 13:22 completely untouched. And then you will realize why we don't do so much evangelism. Because 10,000 other people are doing it. We're not against it. But it's not completing the job and I'll tell you why. 13:40 What is it that Jesus said? Let's understand the whole purpose of God in Christ coming to earth, dying for the sins of the world, rising up from the dead, and just before he went up to heaven, this is the commission that he 13:53 gave to his disciples. He said, "This is what I want you fellows to do. Number one. There are only two sides to it. And I want to emphasize it. I've often done it. For 37 years I've done it. And like the Apostle Peter said, I'm 14:07 going to keep on reminding you of it so that even after I'm dead and gone, Peter said, you will still remember what I said. Peter was not afraid to preach the same thing again and again because he felt they were not sufficiently gripped by what he was 14:22 saying. He said that in 2 Peter 1, by the way. When you get time, you can look at it. He said, "I will keep on reminding you of what you already know because you need to hear it again. You You have not been gripped by it. 14:37 You're still being influenced by these fellows who color the blue part of the circle and you're wondering why you shouldn't concentrate on that. You've not been gripped. Some of our elders are fooled by this. They haven't understood 14:50 God's ways. They haven't understood what is God saying at this particular time in India to the church. They just sort of generally they have no understanding of God and they try to air their views. We must be balanced, we 15:04 say. Well, the balance comes in the total body of Christ and CFC is not the total body of Christ. And that's why CFC is not balanced. And just by the way, there is no church in the world that's balanced. There's no group in the world that 15:18 covers all seven parts of the God is not given anybody that task. He's appointed some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some teachers, some miracle workers, some help, some administrations, etc. He's distributed just like there's no 15:32 part of the body that's completely balanced. Every part of the body is imbalanced. But if the hand says, "Hey, I'm very imbalanced. I must start seeing. I must start hearing. I must start walking." You'll think the hand has gone crazy. 15:44 The hand is not supposed to do those things. Do we understand what God has called CFC churches to do? I'm sorry to say some elders don't even know that. Or maybe once they knew, but they've lost their vision because they've been 15:57 brainwashed by other voices. They hear from other people. They hear them more than they hear God. And that's why there's a necessity once again for those who have ears to hear. I can't convince everybody. But I can tell you what 16:10 God has called us to do, to proclaim the whole purpose of God. So, here's what Jesus told his disciples just before he went up. First of all, Mark 16 and verse 15. He said to them, this is after his resurrection, just 16:28 before he ascended. Because we read in verse 19, "After he had spoken this, he went up to heaven." So these were his last words. "He who is uh go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." That means preach the gospel to every human 16:44 being. "He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will not be condemned uh will be condemned." So when it comes to condemnation, baptism is not mentioned. So, baptism is not necessary for 17:01 salvation. You when you believe, you must be baptized. But to be condemned is it doesn't say who he who is not baptized will be condemned, but he who doesn't believe will be condemned. He left out baptism. Jesus is very exact. 17:13 And then he says, "When you go out into these places, it's called frontier evangelism. Frontier evangelism means going out into pushing the frontier of the gospel further and further and further to new areas where it has never been preached." 17:30 Now, most of us are not doing that. We're not I mean, those who are called to do it should do it. Even in the early days, not everybody was called to do it. Some were called like the Apostle Paul and some apostles to preach like Thomas 17:45 came all the way to India. That was frontier evangelism. And there are people doing this today in parts of the world who are pushing the gospel into tribes and languages where it has never been preached. And when people go into that type of 18:02 ministry, God confirms his word to these people who don't know anything about the Bible, don't know anything about Jesus. The only way he can confirm the word is with signs and miracles and he does that today just like he did it 18:18 20 centuries ago where there is frontier evangelism. And when we read in the Acts of the Apostles that signs and miracles took place, remember it was all frontier evangelism. And that's what he says here. These signs will accompany not every single 18:33 person who believes. You got to read it carefully. A lot of confusion comes because people don't read scripture carefully. These signs will accompany the group of those who believe. This whole company of people will have these signs among them, 18:46 not that every single believer will have it. This is how people misunderstand it. But in the company of those who believe, there will be these signs. Some will cast out demons. Some will speak with new tongues. That agrees with 1 Corinthians 19:01 chapter 14 which says not everyone speaks in a tongue. 1 Corinthians 12 as well. But some will. And they will pick up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. Meaning that uh if they go into dangerous areas, you need to understand 19:18 the spirit of this. And um they face dangers like that of snakes or poison or things like that, they will be protected as they go out to preach the gospel. It's It's in relation The whole thing is in relation to frontier evangelism. 19:37 And among them will be people when they lay hands on the sick, they will recover. This is so necessary for frontier evangelism because you go into some completely unreached area where nobody's ever heard about Jesus Christ, nobody knows what 19:50 the Bible is. And you go there go there and tell them uh you know 2,000 years ago a little baby was born in a land called Israel. And these people have never heard of Israel. They don't even know anything but they they don't even know India. They know 20:03 just one little village where they live in and you tell them 2,000 years ago one little baby was born in a nation called Israel. They say, "Where's Israel?" Oh, that's many many thousands of miles away. I say, "So what?" 20:15 Well, this baby was born without a human father. And they'll immediately think you're gone off your head. Born without a human father? What what's what's wrong with this guy? Born of a virgin. Yes. It was God who had come inside that. And 20:30 then he grew up and he did all types of miracles and he raised the dead and all that. And finally they killed him. And they'll say, "Why didn't Why if he was God why did he allow people to kill him?" And then he came out of the grave alive. 20:40 And they're absolutely convinced you're off your head. And then 40 days later he went up to heaven. That settles it. They said, "This guy is absolutely crazy." And say, "Now believe in this Jesus because he died for your sins." You 20:53 think they're going to believe? You think they're going to believe that's like a fairy tale. But then you conclude by saying, "Now bring me your demon-possessed people who were not delivered. Bring me your sick. And I will prove to you that this Jesus 21:10 is alive. And that that demon is cast out in the name of Jesus that could not be cast out with for so many years. And that sick person is healed." They say, "Boy, this is true." That's how they come to faith. That's how they came to faith in the Old 21:26 Testament. That's why he says, "These signs will accompany those who believe." And that's why it says they went everywhere, verse 20, and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word they preached by the signs that followed. 21:41 This is the first part of the circle being filled up. But that wasn't all. Once these people are converted, now they're converted, now they believe in Jesus, now they know that Jesus is Lord and he is the only true God. Now what? 21:56 What do they do? They don't go straight up to heaven. They're going to live on earth for another 50 years. What are they going to do for these 50 years? And supposing one of them asks you, "Well, now what are we supposed to 22:05 do now?" Most people will say, "Now you go out and bring other people." Is that what Jesus said? That means everybody once he's converted he's got nothing else to do but go and convert other people. Now you see other side of the 22:21 Great Commission is in Matthew 28. Now listen to this. Before Jesus went up to heaven, Jesus told them he came and spoke to them and said to them in verse 18, "All authority, Matthew 28:18, has been given to me in heaven and on 22:41 earth. The basis therefore go." It's very important to understand that. Therefore means based on what I have said. Therefore go into all nations. Now today the way people are sent into all nations 22:59 is there are needy people out there who have never heard the gospel. Therefore go. That's not what Jesus said. There are people dying out there without having heard of Christ. What in the world are you doing there working in a 23:11 job when those people haven't heard? Go. That's not what Jesus said. Jesus said all authority in heaven and earth is given to me. I'm telling you to go. Therefore go. You dare not go if Jesus hasn't told you to go. 23:31 Don't go because there's a need there. The problem with a lot of Christian work is they don't go on the basis of God's command. They go on the basis of need. There's a need, so I must go. Where do you see that in scripture? 23:47 Do you know when Jesus saw a need what he told them to do? I'll show you that. Maybe I'll come back to this. In Mark Matthew chapter 9 we read about a time when Jesus saw a tremendous need among people. Matthew chapter 9 we read that 24:03 verse 36, Jesus saw the people and he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. They were confused and aimless. And it says here in this paraphrase his heart broke. 24:20 When he saw them confused and aimless just like a lot of people in the world today. And what did he say? He didn't say, "Therefore go. See those needy people. Go." No. He said, "The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Therefore go." No. 24:34 Therefore pray. That's what people haven't understood. Therefore pray that the Lord will send people. There's a lot of difference between the Lord sending people as a result of prayer and people going out and say, "Hey, 24:50 there are a whole lot of people there confused and aimless. I'm going to go and help them." This is the cause of a endless confusion in Christian work. They've gone without God's call. They've gone thinking I can do God's 25:04 work. You can't do it. So Jesus said in Matthew 28, "All authority in heaven and earth is given to me. Therefore go. Because I command you to go, go. Don't go because there's a need." And when you go 25:21 make people into disciples. Now you know what a disciple is. We have seen that many times in Luke 14:25-33. 26-33. A disciple is one who loves Jesus more than father, mother, brother, sister, wife, and children. 25:40 And a disciple is one who loves Jesus more than his own life and is willing to crucify his own life in order to follow Jesus. And a disciple is one who loves Jesus more than his own possessions. Three things in Luke 14:26-33. 25:54 A disciple is one who loves Jesus more than all his relatives including his family members. A disciple is one who loves Jesus more than his own self and his reputation and his dignity and everything and is willing to die to that every single day. 26:10 And third, a disciple is one who loves Jesus more than all his property. Now let me ask you, how many Christians have you met like that? Let me ask you another question. How many Christians have you met who say, "I'm born again." 26:27 Because I asked Jesus I said, "Lord Jesus come into my heart. I'm a sinner. Come into my heart." I said that 35 years ago. I was born again. I met lots of Christians like that. How many Christians have you met who are disciples? 26:40 Who fulfill the conditions of discipleship that Jesus said in Luke 14:25-34. And do you know how Jesus Jesus used an illustration in the middle of that. I want to show you that. Turn to Luke 14. In Luke 14 where he spoke about the 26:56 condition of discipleship. This is very important because these are some important segments of the circle that are not being filled up. And then you'll see why God raised up CFC. And so that you need to refocus your vision now. 27:11 And see what is your particular calling. Luke 14, Jesus said "No one can be my disciple if anyone comes to me and does not hate, verse 26, father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and his own life he cannot be my disciple." In Mark 27:27 Matthew chapter 10 he said if you love them more than me. So we understand the word hatred to mean that compared to your love for me there must be almost hardly any love for them. It's not that you don't love them but it's so little compared to your love 27:41 for me. In other words, you love Jesus supremely more than all your relatives. And 28, sorry, 27. If you don't carry your cross, if you're not willing to die to yourself every single day, you cannot be my disciple. And third, if verse 33, if you don't 27:58 forsake all that you possess. Possess means what you hold on to. The things that possess you are your possessions. We can have things but we're not supposed to possess them. In other words, we love Jesus more than what we 28:10 have. We don't possess them. We hold them as stewards for God. Now I found in all my travels in many many countries very very few people are disciples. There are thousands of people say, "I asked Jesus to come into my heart." 28:28 Fine. But are you a disciple? They don't even know the conditions of discipleship. Whose fault is that? It's the fault of all those people who keep coloring two three segments of the circle again and again. Millions of people concentrating 28:40 on those two three circles. Completely neglecting some others sides of the circle. That's why now and then God raises up a church or a movement to say, "Hey, I want somebody else to color color the other parts of the circle." 28:54 But God but you'll find that the devil always sends some people into even such churches and say, "Hey, we shouldn't be neglecting those other parts that have been that are also being colored by others." Don't listen to them. 29:08 They haven't understood. They don't know God's ways. They are logical people and God hides truth from the clever and the intelligent. And I find I have found it's the clever intelligent elders who have problems in this area. 29:22 The one who comes like babes understand clearly what our calling is. So I believe the time has come for us to refocus our vision once again so that we see what God called us initially to because I sense that many people are 29:37 drifting away from it. And I don't mind speaking openly about it. If you get offended, it's you better get offended. But we're not going to change our vision. I won't I'm going to please any man, even if he's a senior elder or junior 29:51 elder or nobody or a somebody. Because we'd have to disobey God to please you. We're not going to do that. God has called us to make disciples in every nation, and India is one of those nations. And you be honest. Be honest and see if disciples are being 30:08 made. People who love Jesus more than anything else. I believe in some of our churches the elders have lost that vision, so that they're not concentrating on discipleship. They're just excited that so many people are coming to our church. Well, I'm not 30:23 excited when I see a lot of people coming. I'm not excited when I see, "Oh, more people are coming here." It doesn't interest me one bit. I say, "Have you become disciples?" Have you become the type of person God wants you to be? 30:39 Otherwise, you're going to be a hindrance to the work of God. And Jesus used an illustration. He said, "Let me use an illustration to explain this type of preaching the gospel without discipleship." Okay? And Jesus' illustrations were 30:56 perfect. He says, "If you preach the gospel without discipleship, it's like trying to build a tower, verse 28. This is right in the middle of that discipleship section, and you just lay the foundation because you did not sit down and count the cost. 31:13 When you build a tower, verse 28, you first sit down and count the cost. Imagine tower means today we'd say a skyscraper. You're not building a one-story building. You're building a 30-story skyscraper. That's what the Christian church is supposed to be like. 31:26 And you first sit down and say, "Hey, listen. Do I have money to build a 30-story skyscraper?" Otherwise, what will you do? You'll just lay the foundation, verse 29, you just made them accept Christ and left it and didn't do 31:40 anything more, and you went and laid another foundation, another foundation. You got all these foundations and not even one floor of the house. And people laugh. Do you know that Christendom today has become the laughing stock of Hindus and 31:54 non-Christians. They laugh and say, "You Christians. I've seen enough of you Christians." When I witness to non-Christians in this country, in the train or anywhere, when I speak to them about the gospel, do you know the first statement I have to tell them, 32:08 very first statement? I want to tell you something about Jesus Christ. Not about the Christianity you have seen. 95% of the Christians you've seen are not Christians. That's the first statement I have to make to them. Because they know enough Christians have 32:26 cheated them and were crooks and upright and drunkards and all that type of stuff. That's the first thing I have to tell them. There Christians have brought tremendous dishonor on the name of Jesus Christ in India and in every country. 32:41 I don't believe India has rejected Jesus Christ. I believe India has rejected the Christ they've seen in third-rate, good-for-nothing Christians who are not wholehearted, who are fighting with each other at home. Christians who claim to be elders of 32:54 churches and they're fighting with each other. Even New Covenant CFC churches. What is that? Do you expect a a Hindu to come to that type of gospel? No. And I have to tell such Hindus, "I have rejected that Christ. That Christ is not 33:06 the real Christ. If you reject it, I also reject it." Then he begins to listen to me. Hey, this guy has rejected this Christ. I remember once I was speaking in Australia and they asked me to speak in a school to the 11th, 12th standard students, and 33:21 they said, "Zac, be careful. These guys don't respect. Most of them are atheists. They have no respect for Christ or the Bible or any such thing. Don't be surprised if they boo you or yell at you or they have no respect for anybody." I 33:34 said, "Okay, let me go." I prayed and I took the Bible and I went up there and I saw these people not sitting on chairs, lying on the ground like this and all types of poses on the floor. It's very interesting. And uh this is supposed to be a school, you 33:51 know, auditorium where there are no nobody sitting on a chair. Some are sitting on chairs. Some are just lying on the ground casually. And I said, "First of all, I I didn't open my Bible. I had my Bible with me. And I said, "First of all, I want to 34:01 tell you something about India. You know, you got to get their interest first. So, I told them some interesting things about India which they'd never heard of. And then they probably thought, "Hey, let's listen to this guy." 34:14 And then I told them, I said, "There's a Christianity which I've rejected." Ah. This sounds just like us. And they started listening. Here's a guy who's saying he's rejected Christianity. I said, "Yes. And I said a lot of it is trash." They 34:30 agreed with that. I said, "I think 95% of what you see among Christians is rubbish." Agree with that. And I said, "Now I'll tell you about Jesus Christ." And for half an hour you could hear a pin drop. Absolute silence. 34:48 The spirit of God silenced them as they listened to me. One or two of our brothers' children were in that school. They told me later that they were talking about it the rest of the day. See, they were hearing Christianity 35:03 from someone who had rejected this corrupt, third-rate, good-for-nothing Christianity that just says, "Lord, accept I accept you." Just coloring two, three parts of the circle. That's not the whole purpose of God. I'm not surprised that they reject that. 35:15 And I'm not surprised that a lot of people in our country reject it. And I'm not going to make that mistake of keeping on adding to these parts of the circle that are colored. We have to proclaim the whole purpose of God. And 35:26 if that means we can do only a very little work in our lifetime, so be it. But, I'd rather produce one little church of disciples than the type of churches we see in many parts of this country or the world. That's what I'm gripped by, and I don't 35:42 know whether you're gripped by. Otherwise, it'd be like laying a foundation, Jesus said. You haven't built a house. That's the way Jesus explained it. A gospel without discipleship is like a house which has got no structure, just a foundation. 35:55 And he uh put it like this. You must first sit down and count the cost. In a lot of evangelism today, they say, "Stand up and come forward. Give your life to Christ." I never do that. You know what I tell them? Don't stand 36:15 up. Sit down. Count the cost. Go home. Think about it for 3 days. And then decide whether it's worth it to love this Jesus who asked you to love him more than your father, more than your mother, more than your wife, more 36:29 than your child, more than your house, more than your car, more than all that you have, more than your reputation, more than your dignity. Are you willing to die every day and follow this Jesus? Don't answer me now. Go and think about 36:40 it for 3 days and then come back." That's what I tell them. I don't say, "Come, come. Please, as the music is playing, just as I am without one plea. Please come. Please come. Come on. Keep playing that music. Come, come, come. 36:50 How long are you going to stand there?" All these emotional tricks to satisfy the pride of some evangelist who wants to say that I so many people came forward at my gospel. Where are those people going? They're going to hell. 37:05 And you fooled them. You made them twofold the child of hell. That's what I say to all these evangelists. Because you haven't made them disciples. You got them to color one part of the circle. And you say, "Okay, you're okay. 37:18 You're I'm free from your blood." You're not free from their blood. Paul said, "I'm free from your blood when I proclaim the whole counsel of God to you." How many of you, my brothers, who preach, who preach, and many of you sit here 37:29 preach, do you have a burden to make sure that everybody in your church hears the whole counsel of God? Or you're afraid your church will become small. Your offerings will become less. We couldn't care less for offerings. We 37:43 couldn't care less for numbers. We're interested in making disciples. We're interested in cover covering the whole circle. I'd rather have one brother who colors the whole circle than a whole lot of people with two, three sections of the circle 37:56 completed. It's like that old story I always like to tell about the um female rabbit speaking to a lioness. You know, rabbits get a lot of children every year. And the female rabbit said to the lioness, 38:13 "I got 24 rabbits last year. How many did you get?" The lioness said, "I got only one, but it was a lion." So, that's what I think. I got 24 converts last year. I got one disciple. 38:32 Which do you want? What do you think God wants? His commission is clear. "All authority is given to me in heaven and earth. If you're under my authority, listen to me," the Lord says. "If you're under my authority, go into every nation 38:49 and make disciples and baptize them." When you baptize them, don't just baptize them in a hurry. Make sure that they're disciples. You know, people ask me, "Well, how is it in the early church they baptized them immediately?" Those were 39:04 days of persecution. Take me into a country where there's persecution. If some Muslim in Saudi Arabia comes to me and says, "I want to be baptized," I'd baptize him straight away. But, some third-rate nominal Christian today comes to me and says, "I want to 39:16 be baptized." I say, "You better come to my church for 6 months and listen to what we preach." That's the problem in India. We don't have persecution. And what is right in a country where there's persecution, in communist China, 39:27 where you can be imprisoned for being a wholehearted Christian, if somebody says, "I want to be a Christian," I'd baptize him straight away. But, not in India, where it costs you nothing to be a Christian. So, that's why you find in the early 39:40 church in those days when there was so much persecution by the Jews and all they would baptize them straight away. But otherwise, we got to make clear to them the conditions of discipleship and baptize them in the name of the Father, 39:51 Son, and Holy Spirit. And that, by the way, is why I don't push children to get baptized too soon. I did not allow any of my children to get baptized till they were 17 years old. I didn't want a reputation in the church, "Oh, brother Zac's children are 40:07 all baptized." I couldn't care less for that. They grew up 17 years and they I couldn't care less whether people said, "Brother Zac's children are growing up, they're teenagers and they're not baptized." So, what? I wanted them one day to be convinced of 40:22 the truth and then decide to be baptized. All these people who are eager to push their children into the water when they're 9 10 years old, I hope they will grow up to be disciples. I'm not against it. I hope they'll grow up to be 40:32 disciples and not third-rate believers. Do they have conviction? Have you taught them about discipleship? Is your church preaching discipleship? Then at least there's some hope. I'm not saying that you should wait till your children to get to 17. What I'm 40:47 saying is I never told urged my children to get baptized. They decided themselves. They heard the message of discipleship and they wanted to be baptized. I said, "Fine." But I'm not going to push you. A lot of parents want to get their children baptized for 41:01 their own honor in the church. Do you know how much parents seek their own honor through their children? It's amazing. And God sees that. And that's why it can go badly with your children because you're seeking your honor. 41:16 You're not seeking their eternal good, you're seeking your honor. And God sees that. You're You'll ruin your children, I tell you that. Stop seeking your honor through your children. It's like all these worldly parents, 41:30 they themselves could not be engineers and doctors, so they force their children, "Come on, YOU GOT TO BE AN ENGINEER. You got to be a doctor." And the poor child cannot study properly and messes up their life by being forced 41:39 into a profession which he has got no ability for. So much of seeking honor through the children, parents. Let them grow up to be disciples. Teach them. And let them come to it. Jesus never forced anybody. Come on, come on, you 41:53 got to get baptized. These are things we have to be careful about, otherwise a church that started well can slowly go down the drain. It's happened in history and I tell you it can happen in in your church. And once you have taught them 42:10 discipleship and baptized, "Now, Lord, what shall we do for the rest of the years?" The Lord's given us a commission. Verse 20. Teach them to do every single thing I have commanded you. This is the Great Commission. Not just teach them, 42:30 but teach them to do. What is the difference between saying teach them and teach them to do? The illustration I use is teaching people swimming. I can teach people swimming on a blackboard. Move your hands like this, move your legs like this, and breathe 42:46 like this. It's all explained. Okay, fellows, go and jump in the river now. Swim. Not one of them will swim. But teach them to do is, "Fellows, come with me. I'm going to go to the river and just see what I do. See how I move 43:00 my legs. See how I lift my head and breathe and put my head into the water and breathe and Okay, just watch me and just do what I do. You don't need to understand all the theory, just do what I do." That's how all these villagers who live near 43:13 rivers, all of them learn swimming. It's not by some instruction. They see somebody doing it, they jump in and learn themselves. And that's how we got to teach people to do everything that Jesus commanded. That's why the Apostle Paul said, 43:30 "Follow me as I follow Christ." He didn't say, "Here's all these instructions, do it." He said, "Follow me as I follow Christ." He told Timothy, "Remember from whom you learned these things." "You've seen my example, Timothy," he 43:44 says. "Now, be an example to others." The great need in our churches is for examples. People who can look around to others and say, "Follow me as I follow Christ." And I tell you, you young teenage girls can be an example to those little 44:00 6-year-old, 7-year-olds growing up. Like one father in CFC came to me and said, "Brother Zac, what shall I do when my little girl comes to me and says, 'I want to wear ornaments and dress 44:17 stylishly like those other CFC sisters.' What shall I say to them?" I said, "Tell your daughter, just like in the Garden of Eden, there were two trees and Adam had a choice. God didn't send him into a garden 44:35 without a choice. In paradise, there was a choice. I said, 'In CFC, there's a choice. Even if CFC is as good as paradise, there's a choice. There are sisters like this and there are sisters like this. And I said, 'Tell your little girl, you choose which one 44:53 you want to follow. You want to follow those stylish, worldly types who are just like the models you see and cinema stars, or you see the one who's a little more modest and who want to honor Christ in the way they dress.' 45:09 Tell your little girl she has a choice, just like Adam and Eve had a choice. And it's good to have a choice because then God sees what you really want. If everybody were forced into a mold, the people don't have a choice. It's 45:23 like a military regime. Church is not a military regime. I thank God that there are worldly people in CFC. Believe it or not. And I think there are godly people also. Because that's what makes you to have a choice because some people are wanting 45:42 to be worldly, but they want to be in CFC. And they find a great comfort when they find some other worldly people in CFC. Ah, that's okay. And God says, "I know what you want." That's why I thank God that 45:59 God uses worldly people to test you to see what you want. Because there are godly people also and I don't mean just by dress, many other ways. And you have a choice. But we need more and more people, young 46:17 people, young men who can say, "Follow me as I follow Christ." To for say follow me as I follow Christ doesn't mean you've reached the top of the mountain. If becoming like Christ is like going to the top of Mount Everest, 46:32 10,000 m, you may have climbed only 100 m. Where is 100 m? Where is 10,000 m? But you can say to the fellows who have climbed only 10 m, "Follow me. I'm climbing." Some fellow You can't tell the fellows who are ahead of you, but you can still 46:49 tell the people behind you. Every one of us has got someone who's a knows the Lord a little less than us. Yes. You know, I say to people who have a great lust to be elders. I remember once in CFC, I said, "I appoint all of you as 47:05 elder brothers and elder sisters. Are you happy now? You wanted to be elder brothers and elder sisters, right? Hereby I appoint you as elder brothers and elder sisters over all people who are younger than you." Got it? Are you happy now? 47:22 Now you can go around saying, "Brother Zac appointed me as an elder brother and as an elder sister over every single person who's younger than you, so that you can turn around and look to them and say, 'Follow me as I follow Jesus. I'm a disciple.'" 47:39 Teach them to do what I have commanded. That's what we teach Not teach them, teach them to do what I have done. It's not that we are perfect. Perfect means I've reached the top of Mount Everest. No, I haven't. 47:57 And perfect and overcoming sin doesn't mean in this climbing up the mountain, I don't slip sometimes. Do you know that mountain climbers don't get discouraged because they the axe, the pickaxe slips somewhere and they They just get up again and 48:11 continue. We're not glorying in the fact that for so many years I never fell. But we're glorying in the fact that if I fell, I got up immediately and pressed on. And I've climbed, I've moved on, I've moved on. I'm not just stuck in one 48:24 place. Nobody went through first standard, second standard, third standard, fourth standard getting 100% in every subject. Anybody here like that? No. We got 40%, 50%, 70%, 80%, 90% and then we moved on. But you got promoted. Maybe you came 48:43 first in the class and you still didn't get 100% in every subject. But you moved on to a higher class. We're not glorying in the fact that, "Oh, I never fell." No, but I got up and things are improving in my life. It's better and better and better. 48:58 It's not like it was in the old days. The inner man is being renewed day by day. We're pressing on. Every one of us should be able to say to people younger than than us, "Follow me as I follow Christ." And there we need to see, "Lord, what is 49:12 it?" You need to open your eyes and look around and see, "What is it that's being emphasized in Christendom?" That is why I read to see what other people are preaching. I don't have cable television. But for 1 year, I watched cable I got 49:27 cable television to watch what all the Christian TV programs in India were doing. Now, I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying I just don't have time. I don't know enough of the Bible. Where do I have time to watch television? 49:44 I I still need to know a lot of more of what God God's mind is in the scriptures. I'm amazed that so many people have time to waste who still don't know the Bible properly. That's what surprises me. People ask me, is it right or wrong to 49:58 have television? I say, it's like a library. You can have a good books and bad books in the library. There's nothing wrong in it. But it's a question of time. The question is not is it right or wrong to have TV? The question is, do you have 50:11 the time, brother? How much time do you Okay, you'll see a little bit of the news, a little bit of sport. That's fine. But if you get so taken up with that that you don't have time to know God and you don't have time to know the 50:22 Bible, then the devil has won the victory. And if you're going to train other young people to follow you, you're going to lead them astray. See, I personally don't believe that drinking a little bit of wine is a crime 50:39 because the Bible doesn't say so. You know, it says for example, there are some people say with the wine in the Bible is all about grape juice. But I don't think so. I think Jesus made wine, it was wine. And I'll tell you why I don't think so 50:53 because it says one of the qualifications of elders, he should not drink too much wine. It's not elders should not drink too much grape juice to be an elder, brother. You shouldn't What about pineapple juice? Can they drink a lot of pineapple 51:08 juice? It's crazy. Wine means wine. Let's be honest about it. So, I don't believe this is sin to drink a little bit of wine. But I'll tell you why I don't keep wine in my house and why I avoid it because 51:26 if somebody came to my house and I offered him a little bit of wine. I know where to stop. I just a little bit. No, that's it. And that guy thinks, hey, Brother Zac has got wine in his house. I suppose it's all right. 51:43 And he begins to have wine in his house and gradually, all these things happen gradually over years, becomes a drunkard and loses his salvation and goes to hell. And one day in the day of judgment, I see I 52:01 sent a person who was saved into hell because I could not deny myself the pleasure of a little bit of wine. That's why I don't do it. Like I say, it's not a sin. And if you do it, it's not a sin. Just be careful you don't stumble anybody. 52:20 Just be careful you don't send anybody to hell because of it. Paul said, if meat will cause my brother to offend, I'll be a vegetarian all my life. He said that. You know, when you're concerned about others, your standard becomes very different 52:34 than you just trying to find out in the Bible what's right and what's wrong, what's right. I say, I'm not interested in what's right and what's wrong. Paul said, I'm concerned about other people as well. He said, I'm concerned that my life 52:45 doesn't stumble other people. So, teach them to do every single thing I have commanded. And I tell you there are whole segments of the circle which comprise of everything that Jesus commanded. Let's take a just the Sermon on the 52:58 Mount. Only the Sermon on the Mount. Leave alone all the other things Jesus said. You go through Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Do you know when we started CFC in 1975? We know what Bible studies we had. We had Bible studies on discipleship. 53:14 We used to meet Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, Friday evening, four meetings a week. And we took Bible studies on foundational truths from Hebrews 6. We took Bible studies on discipleship from Luke 14 for a number of weeks. 53:29 And we studied through the Sermon on the Mount to see everything that Jesus commanded. We were just obeying you know, first explaining what salvation was all about, foundational truths, repentance and faith. A lot of people who came to us said, I 53:45 thought I was saved till I came here. And I discover after I come here, it's the first time I hear about what repentance is. A lots of people who come to our church who say, I never even knew that getting angry was a sin. Imagine that. 53:59 And yet Jesus said in Matthew 5 and verse 22, 23, that it's the first of three steps to hell. And they never heard about it. All that I taught you completely neglected. Think of whole segments of the circle completely neglected 54:14 because people are just busy coloring one or two segments. And you go adding to coloring that and leaving out these other segments. Dear brothers and sisters, let's get our vision focused once again. Jesus People ask me this question, why 54:29 do you preach so much against anger and lusting with your eyes, two sins? I say because in the Sermon on the Mount, there are only two sins that Jesus said can take you to hell. He mentioned hell only in relation to two sins. And if you don't believe it, 54:47 you take your I don't have time to go through it, but you read Matthew 5 and verse 21 onwards till 30. You'll see the two sins he spoke about. And he said that immediately after saying your righteousness must be more than the righteousness of the Pharisees. 55:03 And I mentioned two areas particularly he said, anger and lusting with your eyes, the two biggest sins that people are enslaved. Anger, both men and women. Lusting with the eyes, mostly men. These are the biggest sins that 55:20 Christians are enslaved to today and they don't even think about it. They take it as normal. Ah, I slipped. I'm sorry. Well, that's fine. Glad you're sorry and you're glad you asked the Lord to forgive you. But when are you going to 55:33 get over it? When are you going to get over it? When are you going to finish with it? Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'll live with this all my life. It's like saying, well, these giants of Canaan have to live there. You read the 55:49 book of Judges. Yeah, the children of Reuben and Manasseh and these people occupied the the children of Judah and the children of um Gad and if different people occupied this, but they did not drive out all the inhabitants. But they left some of the 56:05 Canaanites there. It's exactly the same story among Christians today. Yeah, they got a little victory because they came to CFC, but they left some Canaanites still standing occupying certain areas saying, you can't come in 56:18 here. Sorry. And they allowed those Canaanites to be there. Where are the those who got the spirit of Caleb who say, give me that land which nobody else wants. I'll drive those giants out. We need more people like that. 56:33 Teaching people to do everything that Jesus commanded. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about being free from the love of money. He spoke about free from being free from anxiety. Can you tell me sermons that you've 56:45 heard on these subjects? On being totally free from anxiety, totally free from the love of money, on not seeking the honor of men. That when you give, nobody should know how much you give. When you stick a bag in front of somebody, do you think 56:58 nobody knows that you're giving money? Complete disobedience to what Jesus taught. It's almost as though Jesus teach them not to do what I have taught. That's what's happening in Christendom today. And there are so many people who call 57:11 themselves Christians who are not bothered by it. They're not concerned that the name of Jesus is being dishonored. He doesn't seem to disturb them. If somebody spoiled the name of their daughter by telling stories about them, 57:24 they'd be more disturbed. But the name of Jesus, the devil laughs at what's going on in so many churches today. Where do we find strong preaching against sin? Particularly all the sins mentioned in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 57:38 7. It's in relation to the Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, do you know what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount? I want you to listen to this. Two things. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, 57:50 he said, the way is narrow. In other words, all that I've said so far about freedom from anger and freedom from the lusting with your eyes and freedom from the love of money and learning to love your enemies and always speak the truth and never seeking honor 58:07 for yourself, being free from anxiety, etc., etc. It's a very narrow way. Very few will find it. That's why I don't expect multitudes to find it anywhere in the world. Not in India, not anywhere. Very few will find it. What's written in the Sermon on the 58:27 Mount? You ignore the Sermon on the Mount, you got a broad way. And that's where a lot of people are going. I'll tell you this, any church that does not preach the Sermon on the Mount faithfully and regularly will have crowds coming in and that church will be 58:39 on the broad way to destruction. Even if you link yourself up with CFC and you're on the CFC address list, it makes absolutely no difference. And then, the next thing he said, beware of false prophets. That's the next thing, Matthew 7:15. Meaning, false 58:55 prophets are the ones who will tell you the way is not so narrow. Don't be so narrow-minded. Be a bit more broad-minded. Those are the false prophets. And then there are other people who will come and say, we can do miracles in 59:12 Jesus' name. That's also mentioned in Matthew 7. We did miracles. We cast out demons. And the Lord will say, get away from me, you people Let me paraphrase it. You people who did not keep what I taught here in the Sermon on the Mount. 59:25 Without doing without teaching people to be free from anger and lusting after their eyes, without being teaching them to be free from the love of money and honor seeking and anxiety and judging others and all that, you did miracles. 59:37 Get away from me. Go to hell all of you. That's in the sermon on the mount. Where they emphasize gifts and not fruit. But do you think people understand that? Do you know how many people even in CFC watch these TV preachers and glassy-eyed boy, look at 59:51 that. That's the work the devil has done and people have heard CFC messages for years. It's amazing. That's why we keep preaching it because we're fighting the devil tooth and nail. And we'll keep fighting him till Jesus comes. 1:00:10 And at the end Jesus said, "And this is how the church is built. If you listen to all that I've said and obey it, your church will be built on a rock, unshakeable. The gates of hell will never prevail against it." That's the end of the sermon on the 1:00:25 mount, Matthew 7. But if you listen to all this like all of you have listened and you go home and say this is all extreme teaching. It doesn't We really don't have to follow that. Yeah, yeah, you'll build something. You'll build 1:00:35 something that looks fantastic in the eyes of men. Wait till the flood comes. Wait till the rains come. Wait till the storm comes. Wait till God judges that work. Your work will collapse. I don't want 1:00:53 to build something that collapses. Noah followed God's instructions exactly in building that ark. So it went through the flood. I want to build the church exactly like Jesus commanded. 1:01:12 And I believe it'll go through the flood and stand. Are you interested in being a co-worker in this work? There's a whole section of that circle that's not being proclaimed in most of Christendom today. That's what we're seeking to do. That's 1:01:28 our primary calling. Brothers and sisters, if you don't feel that is your primary calling, you're invited to go to hundreds of other churches. Be a member there. Don't cause confusion here by airing your views. Go and color 1:01:45 color the colors you like in some other place. I'll tell you that. Because we're focused on what we want to do. We don't want confusion. God bless you all. Let's pray.
