0:01 So about 20 years ago I shared a message which I think helped a lot of people and I felt burdened to share it again. 20 years ago, many of you were not here in the church. And there are children who have been 0:20 born in these 20 years. And even if you were 2, three years old when you when I spoke at first, now you can understand it. There is a great need in the church to repeat messages that were preached even 10, 15 years ago 0:38 because a new generation is growing up. New people are coming. So we don't have to always preach something new. So here is something that's been on my heart and I believe it'll be a help, a challenge and an encouragement. See, we 0:56 need two things like two arms or two legs. We need something that challenges us and we need something that encourages us both. If we only get challenge, we'll get discouraged. If we only get encouragement all the time, we'll 1:11 backslide. We need challenge plus encouragement. Please remember this when you read the Bible that from the scriptures you must get a challenge to live a godly life and you must get encouragement so that you never get discouraged. So 1:29 uh in Romans chapter 10, would you please turn with me to Romans chapter 10. It says here in 1:49 verse 9 and 10. Romans 10 verse 9 and 10. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you'll be 2:08 saved. Because with a heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. Now in the Christian world we all know that faith is emphasized. But here it says there are two things we 2:28 need. A faith that we have in our heart which we confess with our mouth is very important to speak out what we believe. That's why we emphasize that we must give testimony and that's why in our weekly Bible study 2:46 groups we encourage people to share even one minute two minutes a testimony because what we believe in our heart it says here we must confess with our mouth. So think of faith in the heart and confessing with our mouth as two 3:02 wires that touch and make the light burn. You know in an electric switch. What is inside an electric switch is just two wires that are kept apart. And the moment you put on the switch, the two wires touch and then the light 3:17 burns. And if they don't touch, they don't burn. So faith and confession are like that. What I believe, I must confess. I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth. And so this is uh what we must do. Our faith is based on 3:36 God's unconditional love. His love has not got any conditions. It's an unconditional love for all humanity. And secondly, faith is based on God's almighty power. There's absolutely nothing that he cannot do. And the third 3:52 is God's perfect wisdom. So we can say faith is based on first of all God's perfect love, unconditional love for us, his almighty power and his perfect wisdom. If you have a doubt of any of these things, you can't have faith. 4:08 God's love for you is perfect and his power is almighty and his wisdom is perfect. So if we believe it in our heart, we must confess with our mouth. So I want to say share with you today eight confessions that we believe in our heart and that we 4:26 must proclaim with our mouth. Okay. Number one, God the father loves me as he loved Jesus. So I will always rejoice. You get that? God the Father loves me as 4:47 he loved Jesus. So I will always rejoice because I believe it in my heart. I rejoice. And the verse I want to show you is what I call the favorite verse I have in the Bible. John 17 and verse 23. 5:05 I have proclaimed this verse for 50 years in CFC. It's a a verse that changed my life for many people. John 3:16 is the great favorite verse. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not 5:23 perish but have everlasting life. And that was the favorite verse for me for about 15 16 years of my Christian life. But when God baptized me in the Holy Spirit 50 years ago, I found another verse in the Bible which was more 5:37 precious to me than John 3:16. And that is John 17 verse 23. And I say to me, this is the central verse of the whole Bible. And what it says here, Jesus Jesus prayer, Jesus' last prayer. And one of the things he prays prayers in 5:54 the last part is in the last part of verse 23 John 17:23 that the world may know through us that the father sent Jesus and loved us just as he loved Jesus. This is Jesus prayer. Father that the world may know 6:13 that you sent me and loved them just as much as you loved me. Now can you believe that? Can you believe that God uh we all know how much God loved Jesus is his own son but I want to ask all of you do you believe that God loves you 6:30 as much as he loved Jesus I mean to believe God loves you that I can understand a lot of people believe that but to believe that God loves you as much as he loved Jesus many don't believe that they say that's not possible Jesus was so perfect how 6:48 can he love me as much he loved Jesus. I couldn't believe it either unless this verse told me this, but it radically changed my life. And one of the songs we sing is based on this thing that changed my life that God loves us as much as he 7:02 loved Jesus. And so that is the first thing that we need to believe and confess in there's a verse in the Old Testament in Zephaniah chapter 3 which I want to point out to you. Phet Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 17. 7:27 It's an amazing statement. It says here in the last part of Zephaniah 3:17, God says he he will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Now you know very often people have got the idea but God is a very strict person up there always 7:44 ready to point out some sin in you convict you of this and point out this is wrong that is wrong that is one side he just like a father will correct his children if they are going wrong but here's another thing which we don't 7:59 often think let me ask you how many of you when was the last time you thought of God rejoicing over you with shouts of joy You know like a mother looks at his baby child say baby that's two three months old the first child the mother 8:14 has and the mother just rejoices over that baby. This is how God loves us. He says even a mother may forget their sucking child but I will not forget you. That's what he says in Isaiah 49. So God's love for us is immense. And so the first 8:33 confession we must make is God the father loves me as he loved Jesus and so I will always rejoice in that love. If you don't begin there my dear brothers and sisters you cannot make progress in the Christian life. See many 8:49 of us have heard many strong exhortations in CFC and we try to keep them and we so discouraged sometimes when we can't keep them. Begin with this before you get to commandments. Begin with this. Acknowledge God that God loves you as he 9:08 loved Jesus. It's an amazing truth. And I would not believe it if it were not written in the Bible. Believe what it says in John 17:23. And say, "Lord, because of that, I'm going to rejoice not once in a time, once in a while, but 9:23 all the time." Okay. Now, we go to a second confession. God has forgiven me all my sins so I will never live with guilt anymore. 9:42 God has forgiven me all my sins and so I will never live with guilt anymore. See all of us, you and I in our unconverted days have committed so many sins. Definitely, we've all done wrong things, 10:01 you and I, in the days before Christ came into our heart. And the memory of that, the devil can keep on reminding you of you remember what you did there, and you remember what you did there, and it's what the devil says is all true. 10:16 But we've confessed it to the Lord. We've asked Jesus to come into our heart, and we've been forgiven. Then why do you allow the devil to make you feel guilty all the time of something that you have confessed, forsaken, and trusted that the blood of 10:32 Jesus has blotted it out? This is the work of the devil to make you feel miserable. It's not only that we are forgiven. The Bible says in Romans and chapter 5, this is a many people think of forgiveness, but they don't think much about 10:49 justification. Justification is a big word, but it's a very important word. Romans 5:1, we are justified by faith. Romans 5:9, we are justified by his blood. 11:09 So, what is the difference between forgiveness and being justified? Now, some of you may already know it. Well, praise the Lord, but it's good to hear it again. But there are many here who may not know it. And I want to make 11:23 it clear. I want even the little children to be able to understand. I want to make the message so simple today that even young children can understand the truth. Not just the great scholars. So forgiveness means my past or sins I 11:39 confess to the Lord by the blood of Jesus Christ. He has paid the price. You know, every sin requires a punishment because God is so holy. Every sin requires a punishment. But Jesus took that punishment on the cross and his 11:53 blood was shed. And it says because of that blood shed, all my sins can be forgiven which I confess to him. If I confess it, I'll be forgiven. But not just forgiven. Justified means two things. One, just as if I had never 12:12 committed a sin. Forgiveness means I commit a sin, but God's forgiven me. Justified means God looks at me as if I have never committed a sin in my life and as if I was totally righteous from the day I was born. 12:31 Now, it's not true. But the blood of Christ makes us like that. It says here Romans 5:9, we are justified by his blood. Now many of us know 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins he's faithful and righteous to forgive us our 12:47 sins and 1 John 1:7 if we walk in the light his blood cleanses us from sin. So the blood cleansing us from our past sins is one thing. But it says here in Romans 5:9, we are declared right, justified means declared righteous by 13:02 his blood means that it looks as if that I mean God looks at me as if I have been righteous from the day I was born. Think of yourselves as you look back over your past life and you say, "Wow, 13:20 thank God I've been righteous from the day I was born." Well, you know, it's not true because you committed so many sins. But it says when the blood of Christ cleanses you, that is how God looks at you. It's almost unbelievable. If it is not 13:36 written in the Bible, I wouldn't believe it. And I think many people are miserable because they don't know this truth. that God looks at them as if they were righteous from the day they were born. That's the meaning of justified. 13:51 Many, many Christians know the meaning of forgiveness, but they don't know the meaning of justified. It's in the same Bible. Forgiven by his blood, cleansed by his blood, justified by his blood. But very few messages are preached on 14:07 being justified by his blood. It's very important for us to know it. God has forgiven me all my sins. So I will never live with guilt anymore. To use an illustration supposing you were just imagine you know sin is such a terrible thing before in 14:26 God's eyes that it is like having a big debt. I mean think of all your sins as a big debt that you owe to somebody. Let's say you owe somebody 100 million rupees. Think if you were in debt to 100 million rupees. I mean if you even if you're in 14:44 debt for a,000 rupees it's a burden. 10,000 rupees if you are in debt it's a burden. But think if you were in debt to somebody for 100 million rupees. What a terrible debt that is. How you will live in constant burden. How will I 15:00 clear my debt? How will I clear my debt? How will I clear my debt? And one day that person comes to you because he's such a good man. He says, "I have forgiven you all your debt." Wonderful. Happy. That's forgiveness. And then he 15:17 says, "Not only that, I am putting another 100 million rupees into your bank account." Wow. He say you what a what a wonderful man this is. He first of all forgives me my 100 million rupees debt and then on top of that he puts a 100 million rupees 15:36 into my account that is justification. If he clears the debt that is the blood of Christ forgiving me but when he adds another 100 million into my account that is justification. I hope you understand this illustration. It'll change your the 15:53 joy in your Christian life will increase. It'll change your relationship with your heavenly father if you understand these are truths that the devil has not allowed God's people to believe. And I want everybody in CFC to 16:06 believe this. I'm not telling stories. It's here in the in the in the word I showed you. Romans 5:9. Justified by his blood. Let me show you Hebrews 8:12. Hebrews 8:12 says, "I will be merciful to their sins, 16:26 iniquities, and I will not remember their sins anymore." Sometimes, you know, somebody says, "I forgiven you, but I can never forget what you did." Haven't you heard people tell talk to you like that? I forgiven you, brother, but I can't forget what 16:42 you did to me. But God is not like that. He says, "Not only I've forgiven you, but I will not remember what you did." What a comfort it is. I am so happy that God does not remember any of the sins I've committed in my life. 16:56 What a joy it is. And that's for you also. The blood of Jesus has cleansed me so thoroughly. I'm declared righteous in God's eyes, justified that God looks at me as if I was righteous from the day I was born. Not just that I did not sin, 17:11 that is one thing, but that I was righteous from the day I was born. Not only that he forgives me my 100 million rupees, but he adds another 100 million rupees to my account. What a wonderful thing it is. This is what salvation is. 17:25 It's far better than we have imagined. Okay, I must rush. Number three, God will give me his Holy Spirit's power and so I will be strong enough for every 17:43 task. That means everything God wants me to do, I will be able to do it. But God will fill me with his Holy Spirit so I'll be strong enough for every task. Luke 11 verse 13. There's a great promise in Luke 11 and 18:02 verse 13. It says there, you know, when we pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us, we can have doubt in our mind. Will God fill me? I'm such a rotten sinner. I know I've been 18:20 forgiven, but uh so many weaknesses in my life. Will God fill me with the Holy Spirit? Yes, he'll fill those elder brothers and those who are very close to him. But what about a poor ordinary brother like me, sister like me? Will 18:33 God fill me with the Holy Spirit? This verse is for you, brother, sister. If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy 18:49 Spirit to those who ask him? Okay, take the example of a father or a mother. The child wants something. The child says, "Can you give me a slice of bread? Can you give me a little rice? Can you give me an egg? Can you give me 19:06 something to eat?" Which father and mother will refuse a hungry child. You will deny your own food and give your child the food. And that's the example God uses. You think you're a good father and mother. It says here you evil you being 19:23 evil. That mean God is saying listen to this the best father and mother in the world is evil compared to how good God is. God is so good that the best and the the very best father on earth is evil 19:43 compared to him. I don't know whether you can understand that. It's a wonderful truth. Have you had a good father and mother look to look after you? I think almost all of you must have had good fathers and mothers to take care of you. But I 19:58 want to tell you God is much better than that compared to God's goodness. Even your best father was actually evil. So think how much better God is. And it says when you ask the father when you ask your earthly father for food, would 20:12 he say no if you're hungry? He'll never say no. Now you go and ask God for the Holy Spirit and say, "Lord, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit." Is God going to say, "No, no, no. I won't give you." You are desperately hungry 20:25 for the Holy Spirit and you pray. God is more eager to give you the Holy Spirit than your earthly father and mother gave you food. If you believe that then you'll say God will give me his spirit's power so I 20:44 will be strong enough for every task. That means there's nothing that God ask can ask me to do which I cannot do. It's difficult to love my enemies but God will fill me with the Holy Spirit and I'll be able to love my enemies. Sure. 21:00 God says don't lust with your eyes after women. That's difficult for men. But God says he'll give me the power of his Holy Spirit and I will be able to do it. That's what all of you men must confess to forgive somebody who has done great 21:15 harm to you. May be difficult. God says he'll give you the power of his Holy Spirit. You say with God's Holy Spirit, I will be strong enough for every task. Some of you may have a problem with overcoming anger. Anger is one of the 21:31 biggest sins even among God's people. You're honest. You'll admit there's anger that you had in your life. Maybe some of you are still slaves to anger. Probably many of you. Can you overcome it? Look at the problems created in your 21:47 home by anger. Husband or wife, father, mother shouting, getting angry. Is it possible to overcome it? Think how peaceful your home will be if there is no anger there. Is it possible to overcome it? Here is the promise. God will give me his Holy 22:04 Spirit's power and so I will not live I'll be strong enough for every task. Whatever God has asked me to do to live a holy life I will be able to live that life because by his holy spirit nothing is 22:22 impossible. Let me show you another verse in Acts chapter 10. Acts of the Apostles chapter 10 and verse 38. 22:40 What God did I remember what we that verse we read at the beginning. What God did for Jesus, he will do for me. Don't forget that. That's the foundation. Okay. What did God do for Jesus? Acts 10:38. 22:57 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power and he went about doing good and delivering people who were oppressed by the devil. Okay? What God did for Jesus, he will do for me. He will fill me with the Holy Spirit 23:16 that will enable me to go about doing good. Just think of that one phrase. God filled him with the Holy Spirit and power and the power was an ability to do good to other people. The world is full of people who harm 23:33 others, who do evil to others and here God has filled me with the Holy Spirit so that I can go around just like Jesus doing good to others. Dear brothers and sisters, I'm burdened that as we look into the future, we are beginning 23:49 another we completed 50 years at CFC. Now we are beginning our 51 first year and we continue till Jesus comes. I don't know how many years that'll be but we are to look forward to the coming of Christ. And until that day we want to 24:04 keep these promises and we want CFC to be a burning shining light for the Lord not only in Bangalore but in India and from Bangalore to the rest of the world. God has already taken the light of from Bangalore to more than 180 countries in 24:20 the world by now. He's done that and he'll continue. But we must believe that God will fill us with the Holy Spirit. He'll do it. Okay, we go to confession number four. God has determined my boundaries 24:39 so I will always be content. Boundaries means God has drawn a circle around me and I must stay within that circle. All the unhappiness and discontent is because we try to go outside our boundary. We want something that God has not given us. Turn with me 24:59 to Acts of the Apostles chapter 17 and verse 26. Acts 17 26. We read God has made from one man every nation on the face of the earth and he has determined their appointed time. That 25:18 means the time in the way you should live. That means God decided when you should be born and when you should leave the earth when you should die. And God has also determined where you should be born. the boundary of your habitation 25:32 whether you should be born in India or whether you should be born in uh Andra or in Tamil Nad or Kerala or Maharashtra God has determined the boundary of your habitation means of your dwelling. God has decided where you are to live. Maybe 25:49 right now in Bangalore. And in within that boundary, he wants you to seek after God. Verse 27. And to find him, and he's not far from you. Within that boundary, it says in verse 27, you can find God. And so, you must be content 26:07 with the boundary God has drawn around you. It's a wonderful verse. God has determined the boundary of where you live spiritually in every other way. So supposing God has not given you a post-graduate degree. You were not 26:25 clever enough to get a post-graduate degree. Okay, your boundary is limited. Maybe some of you have not even given a got an ordinary degree. You've just finished high school. Okay, God is that is the boundary God has drawn for you. 26:37 Be thankful. And God has drawn a bigger boundary for somebody else. Let him be thankful for that. I'm not in competition with anybody and I'm not to look down on somebody who's got a smaller circle than I have. No, it's God who has drawn the 26:52 circle for you. What about your your income? Maybe you get much less income than somebody else. But that is the boundary God has drawn around for you. So if God has determined that boundary, you must say, "I will always be 27:08 content." Because it is not man or me who determine my boundary. God determine the boundary of my life. It's a wonderful thing when you understand and believe these truths. And when you believe it and you particularly when you think 27:24 agree what scripture says, let me show you. First of all, Psalm 139. Psalm 139 is one of my very favorite psalms and I hope it'll be your favorite psalm too. In Psalm 139, it says that I was formed by verse 13, you formed my 27:47 inward parts in my mother's womb. He's talking about what how God made you and me inside our mother's womb. We all came out of her mother who had us in her womb as a little baby. And while we were in our mother's womb, it says here verse 28:04 16, while our body was not fully formed. Psalm 139:16, God's eyes saw us. And in his book means in his mind while I was in my mother's womb, God had determined how many days I must live on the earth before I had even been born 28:22 for one day. Not yet born. My first day has not started, but God has already decided how many days I must live on the earth. than what I must do. Isn't that a wonderful thing to know that that God has decided a boundary for me 28:36 and if I follow him, I will fulfill my days. I cannot die by accident or sickness or anything before God's time if I seek to follow him. If you disobey God and do so many other things, then you may die before your time. But if 28:51 you're really seeking to follow the Lord, he'll protect you from accidents and sickness. I know numerous times God has protected me from accidents on the roads in Bangalore and from sicknesses and he's kept me because I believe that 29:03 before I was born God determined God determined my ministry while I was in my mother's womb. That's not something that happened after I was born. It's wonderful to know that. I want to say to all of you brothers and sisters that 29:16 when you were in your mother's womb, God planned a life for you and that's the perfect life for you. Don't ever compare yourself with other people. Don't say I wish I had that. I wish I had this. No, most of the time for example in 29:29 Bangalore for 42 years I rode a scooter and I could sometimes borrow my mother's car but I couldn't afford the petrol. So 42 years I rode a scooter most of the time in Bangalore and those of you who have seen me there know that I was 29:42 happy. I say okay I can't afford to put petrol in a car and drive it. So a scooter is more than enough for me. It's perfectly okay. And here I am now in the US and I don't own a car. I I have to get somebody to give me a lift when I 29:57 want to go somewhere. I'm perfectly happy with what God has arranged for me. I do not wish anything more than what God has given. I'm perfectly happy. It's a boundary God has drawn around me. And so I'm perfectly content. Turn to 30:11 Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Please don't forget these verses. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5. You know we always desire to have more 30:29 and more money. Yeah. When the cost of living goes up it's good if we can get more. But if God has given you only so much in the middle of verse 5, Hebrews 13:5 middle it says be content with what you have. What a wonderful verse. 30:47 Be content with what you have because why? Because he has said I will never leave you or forsake you. Not because you have got plenty of money in your bank. What? Why are you content? Will you be content if you have got 1 million rupees 31:06 in your bank account? No. That won't make you happy. You can be miserable. The person who's really happy is the one who knows that God has said to me, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. H that's more than 10 31:22 million rupees that God says to me, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Have you read that in your Bible? Underline it and say, Lord, I believe it today. You have said you will never leave me. You will never forsake 31:37 me. And today, I'm going to believe it. And therefore I will have no jealousy of anybody else. I will have no competition with anybody else. Let me ask you straight. Can you honestly say that you're not jealous of anybody? 31:54 I can say it. I'll tell you why. Because I am perfectly I believe that God drew a boundary around me and I don't want to make it bigger. God has kept me there and I say I'm happy. Be content. And I'm not. And you say, "Well, Brother Zack, you're so well 32:10 known. You preached so much and and you can be content." No, I was content 60 years ago when I was just an ordinary young man and nobody knew who I who I was. I was content even then. So, I'm not telling you that I'm content now. Be 32:24 content with what you are. Your life will be so happy if you learn to be content with what you have because you say, "God drew my circle around me." And you'll never be jealous with against anybody. You will never compete with 32:37 anybody. You know for think of spiritual gifts. Do you wish that you could have a gift of preaching like someone? There are many people who say, "Oh, I wish I could preach like brother Zach." No, don't ever wish that. God has made you a 32:51 particular part in the body and you he you can fulfill your functional belief. You're happy with the gift God has given you. Don't ever try to be like anybody else. If you're seeking honor and fame in the world, then you always compare 33:06 with somebody else. Oh, I wish I could be like that. That is all seeking your own honor. And when you seek your own honor, you're not worshiping God. You're worshiping yourself. Very dangerous. Never never try to wish for the gift 33:21 that somebody else God has given. Okay, I got to rush. Let's go for number five. God's commands are all for my good and so I want to obey all of God's commands. You hear that? I believe God's 33:39 commands are all for my good and so I want to obey all of God's commands. Yep. 1 John chapter 5 and verse three. 33:55 What do we read there? 1 John 5:3. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not a burden. Do you believe that no command of God is a burden? When God says you shouldn't get angry, 34:14 that's not a burden. When God says don't lust with your eyes, it's not a burden. Is health a burden? Sickness is a burden. Sin is a burden. But health is not a burden. And so just like holiness is like health. How many of you will say 34:31 that health is a burden? Oh brother, I'm so healthy. Such a burden. No, sickness is a burden. So equate sin with sickness. Sin is a burden. Health is like holiness. Holiness is not a burden. I'll tell you that my life has been supremely happy as 34:50 I've tried to stay away from sin in my thoughts, in my words, in my actions, in my attitudes to people and in my motives with which I do things. I say, "Lord, I want to be free from sin and I'm supremely happy as a result of 35:06 that." So, for example, take a matter like forgiving others. Jesus told us to forgive everyone who has harmed us. Is that a burden? I tell you, it's like throwing away the burden to hold somebody something again your heart 35:24 against somebody. That is a burden. Do you ever toss around at night not getting sleep because you're thinking what somebody did to you or said against you and you meditate on that and you lose your sleep? I never lose my sleep 35:38 because I say I'm not I've not gotten any bitterness against anyone. I don't care what anybody does to me or says to me. I am a child of God and I'm perfectly happy. Whatever God allows, I accept it. If he allows people to say 35:51 something against me, I say, "Praise the Lord." If he allows people to praise me, I say, "Praise the Lord." If he allows people to criticize me, I say, "Praise the Lord." It's all the same to me. Everything that God allows is for my 36:03 good. I want to show you a verse in Deuteronomy chapter 10. Deuteronomy and chapter 10. and verse 13, God's commandments, 36:28 Moses said, which I'm commanding you today are all for your good. What a wonderful verse that is. God's commandments and his statutes, laws which I'm commanding you are for your good. Do you believe that? 36:46 Sometimes you know when little children are told to take some vegetables which they don't like and the mommy says this is good for you. They don't believe it because it doesn't taste so good. But we all when we are grown up we know that 36:59 some vegetables are very good for us. Chocolates are not the best thing for our health. So some things that don't taste so good are very good for our health. So we can believe that God's commands are it says here clearly for your good. 37:16 What a wonderful verse to believe that Lord I believe that all God's commands are for my good. For example, God asked me to forgive everybody. I tell you you'll sleep much better if you forgive everyone. You have no grudge 37:30 against anyone. It's for your good. Your health will be better when you're free from anxiety. I've tried to live like that. Forgiving everybody immediately, going to sleep at night with a clear conscience, without any 37:48 anxiety, casting my burden on the Lord. For many years, it's been like that. And the result is I'm very healthy by God's grace. Even though I'm going to be 86 in a couple of months, God's preserved me. And one of the reasons is I forgiven 38:04 everybody in the world. So many people have tried to harm me. I forgiven them. And so many burdens can come. I say Lord, I cast them on you. I will not carry any burden. I cast it on my heavenly father who's going to take care 38:17 of me. And I want to encourage you. Be a living testimony as you grow older and older that God preserves you in health because you don't have any bitterness against anyone. and you've forgiven everyone and you obey God's commandments 38:31 and all of them are good. God will never allow something to happen to his children which is bad for you. That is impossible. Even sicknesses and trials, why God, why does God permit them? I in my younger days also I've had some 38:50 sicknesses and trials. They help me to become stronger spiritually. So every trial and everything that God loves is to work as character in our life. Okay. Number six, 39:06 God controls all the people and events that affect me. So I will always give thanks. God is the one who controls all the people and events that affect me. So, I 39:24 will always give thanks. I believe this and so I confess that I'll always give thanks to God. Romans 8:28. You know, there's a well-known verse. It's one of the well-known verses to many Christians. And if you don't know it, you must know 39:38 it. But when you know it, you must also know the next verse. Romans 8:29, which many people don't know. Romans 8:28 says, it doesn't say all things work together for good. That's how some people read it. No, he doesn't say all things work 39:55 together for good. Read carefully. God makes all things to work together for good. That's different. Many people say Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for my good. No, sir. Romans 8:28 says, "God makes all things 40:12 work together for my good." When I look at all those things, some of those don't look good for me. Some of the things that happened in my life didn't look good for me. But I believe Romans 8:28, God makes them work for my good. It 40:24 looks like evil, but it worked for my good. There are many people in my life who have tried to do harm to me, but they never succeeded. And more than you, the devil has tried to trouble me because I'm a servant of God trying to stand true to his word 40:42 without compromising. And I can believe the devil and his demons hate me like anything. And they've tried to do so much harm to me through other people. Many many things I can tell you. But I'll tell you this today. Everything in 40:56 the last 66 years since I was born again. Every single thing has worked for my good. Good means it has made me more like Jesus Christ. Not that it made me more famous or richer or any those things. Those are not things I look for. 41:12 It the one thing I wanted in my life is to become like Christ. And it has made me like Christ. It has worked for my good. And some people say, "How what what if some big trial comes into my life which I won't be able to handle." Here's a 41:28 promise for you. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our ability. He will not give me a test which is too much for me to handle. 41:47 Tests are good for us. Think of your children. Don't you prepare them for the school tests with what is the result of a test? They get a promotion. Test is the way by which your student finds out whether he has understood what 42:04 he was taught in that year. Now let me ask you a question. If your child is in standard three and the final examination, will he get a standard six question paper? Yes or no? No. No teacher is so foolish as to give 42:24 a standard six question paper to a student who's in standard three. Not even a standard four question paper. If you're in standard three, you get a standard three question paper. when you go to standard 4, you'll get a standard 42:36 four question paper in your final exam. Now, if ordinary human teachers are got that much wisdom, he says God also will never give you a test which is more than your ability to handle and bear which he sees you cannot overcome. No. So, don't 42:54 look at any trial that comes into you your way and say, "Oh, that's too much for me." No. Whatever trial comes to your life, you say, "God thinks I can handle this, so I'm not going to give it up." You ask all the older brothers 43:09 here, the elder brothers, they'll tell you that they've been through many trials in their life, but every time God gave them some grace to overcome it. God never allowed them to face a situation where he didn't give grace. You know, I 43:22 look at it like this. Trials are like examination. Think of your trial that comes in your life like a examination in school. But the wonderful thing about this examination is if I were to use an example, the teacher is sitting with me and 43:39 helping me to answer the paper. So what a wonderful examination this is where the teacher comes and sits with me and says I'll help you. What is the difficulty you're finding? I'll help you with the answer. I'll never fail in any 43:51 any subject because the teacher comes and sits with me and helps me to answer the question. That is the meaning of God will give me grace in every trial. I hope you'll never forget it. That's why we have such a wonderful 44:05 father. He comes and sits with us and says, "I'll help you through this trial and I'll make you an overcomer." What a wonderful Christian life the Christian life is. And I want to give you a promise which has been a tremendous 44:16 promise for me all my life. That's one of the most my favorite promises in the Bible in 1 Samuel chapter 2:30. 1 Samuel, you've probably heard me quote this many many many times in different messages. 1 Samuel chapter 2:30. 44:35 I say the way to remember it is, you remember what I taught you? 1 2 3 0 1 230 1 Samuel 2:30. In the middle of that verse, it says, "The Lord declares, "Those who honor me, I will honor." Just 44:52 remember that simple sentence for the rest of your life. Those who honor me, God will honor. I will honor, God says. So, this is the way I sometimes, you know, sometimes I'm in a difficult situation, a trial and a heavy trial, 45:09 and I faced many of them. But what I say to the Lord in that difficult trial or when some heavy burden is there, I say, Lord, I am going to honor you here to the best of my knowledge and ability. I'm going 45:25 to honor you. And your word says, if I honor you, you will honor me definitely. And if I honor you and you don't honor me, then that will be the first time in 45:43 6,000 years that you did not keep your promise. I tell God that. Why do I say that? Just to strengthen my own faith. So this is what I say to the Lord. Lord, your word says that if I honor you, you'll honor me. Okay? To the best of my 45:57 understanding in this situation, I'm going to honor you. And if you don't honor me, that will be the first time in 6,000 years that you did not honor somebody who honored you. I say that just to strengthen my faith. I said, 46:11 "That's impossible. How can God break his promise? He's never done it in 6,000 years and he's not going to do it for me." 6,000 years because Adam, Adam was created 6,000 years ago. We're talking about the history of human the human 46:26 race. There's never been a time when God did not honor those who honored him. So my dear brothers and sisters, if you find God is not honoring you, I'll tell you why. You are not honoring God. That's the only reason. I've tried to the best of my knowledge 46:44 to honor God in different situations. When I've been in tight situation, I say, "Lord, I will not cheat. I will not tell lies. I will honor you. I'll speak the truth. whatever the situation and I found every single time God has 46:59 honored me. If you seek God's kingdom first, he says, "Seek the kingdom of God first and all that you need on earth will be added to you." Wonderful promise. Matthew 6:33. Seek the kingdom of God first and all that you need on earth will be added to 47:16 you. I can testify to that in the last 60 years that I've been in full-time Christian work without taking a salary from anybody without sending any prayer letter asking for money like all these missionaries do trusting God maybe I 47:31 lived simply but I had enough always because he honors those who honor him and if we seek his kingdom first I've tried my best to seek God's kingdom first in wherever I've gone without compromising spoken the truth without any compromise 47:49 and God has provided me with all that I need on earth and if he didn't give me something I asked for I say okay then that's not good for me then I don't want it there are things I asked for God never gave me thank god he didn't give 48:03 me some of you fathers when your children ask you for something sometimes you may say no son that's not good for you god has said that to me also no son that's not good for you thank god he didn't give it to me if I got something 48:16 which is not good for me, it would have ruined me. So I'm thankful not only for what God gave me. Listen, I'm thankful for the things God never gave me which I foolishly asked for. That's why I say all my prayers have been answered in my 48:30 life. Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes the answer is wait. Sometimes the answer is no. To me it's like the traffic lights. green, yellow, red. The green means God says yes, here's the 48:49 answer to your prayer. Yellow means wait, I won't give it to you now. Wait, wait a few years and I'll answer your prayer. Red means no, I'm not going to give it to you ever. So all the time God's traffic lights are working. Every prayer is answered with 49:03 yes, wait, or no. So that's why I say every prayer of mine has been answered. Every prayer of mine has been answered doesn't mean it's always yes. Sometimes it is wait, sometimes it is no. That is also an answer. No is also an answer. 49:18 God's traffic lights are always working. Either red, yellow or green. Please remember that all your life. And the purpose of everything as it says in Romans 8:28 29 says it is to make us more like Jesus. So the trials of life 49:38 are not only to make me strong but to make me a little more like Jesus Christ which is my goal in life in any case. Okay. Number seven. Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power 49:56 so I will never be afraid. Number seven. Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power so I will never be afraid. Many people know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But what they don't know is that Jesus died on the cross to 50:14 defeat Satan also. So Hebrews chapter 2, this is not proclaimed so much by people who preach the gospel. Many people preach the gospel that Christ died for our sins. Sure. But something else also happened on the cross. Hebrews chapter 2 50:31 verse 14 and 15. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 and 15. Since the children that is we have flesh and blood. Jesus also took part of flesh and blood. So that through death he already forgave our sins but 50:50 something more. Through death he made the devil powerless. That means he took away the devil's weapons from him. Like a terrorist comes to fight with you with his guns and somebody takes away those guns from him. He cannot shoot 51:07 you. The devil's weapons have been taken away from us and verse 15 delivered us who through fear of death were subject to slavery. Many people live in fear of the devil. I also lived in fear of the devil. And people didn't tell me the truth. Many 51:24 people told me that Jesus died for my sins. But they never told me another thing that Jesus defeated Satan on the cross. That the head of the serpent was crushed on the cross. Just like God told Adam, the seed of the woman will crush the 51:41 head of the serpent. And Jesus came and crushed the head of the serpent on the cross. Many people don't preach that part of the gospel. I never heard it myself till I discovered it in the Bible that Satan was defeated on the cross and I don't have to be just 51:54 like I know my sins are forgiven because Jesus died for me. Satan has defeated me and there's no place for fear anymore in my heart. There's no place to be afraid of the devil. The devil cannot harm you. He's not dead but he's like a paralyzed 52:10 snake. A paralyzed snake may be alive but it can't harm you because its power has been taken away. The devil has been paralyzed as far as Christians are concerned. So therefore see Hebrews 13 and verse 6. 52:29 Hebrews 13 and verse 6 we say the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid what any man can do to me. I will not be afraid what Satan can do to me. I will not be afraid of anything. Isn't that a wonderful way to live? 52:49 As we begin our 51st year as CFC, rejoicing in all that God has done for us in the last 50 years, we say, Lord, our coming years are going to be very much better than the past. We will not fear anything in the days to come. 53:07 Fear and faith are opposites. They can't live in the same mind or heart. When fear comes in, faith goes out. When faith comes in, fear goes out. If fear has not gone out of your heart, that means faith has not come. That 53:22 means you don't trust what Jesus said. I crush Satan's head for you. I forgave your sins. Satan's been defeated. Don't be afraid. Trust in me. I will take you through. Whatever your situation, whatever your situation your children 53:38 are facing, anything the Lord says, I will take you through. Never, never be afraid. Okay, the last one, number eight. God wants to make me a blessing 53:53 and so I will be a blessing to others. That's wonderful to know that when God blessed Abraham, Abraham is called the father of faith. And one of the promises he gave Abraham 54:10 in Genesis 12 verse 2 is very simple promise. Genesis 12:2, God told Abraham, I will bless you and you will be a blessing. And you say, well, that was what God said to Abraham. I'm not Abraham. God 54:30 said, I'll make you a blessing to all the people, all the families of the earth. In other words, every family you meet, Abraham, you'll be a blessing to them. Okay? I'll tell you how this applies to us. Turn with me to Galatians 54:45 chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. It says in Galatians 3 and verse14 verse 14 in Christ Jesus 55:08 the blessing of Abraham has come to us Gentiles. Gentiles means non-Jewish people. We are not Jews. It came for us so that we can receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through faith. So there are a number of things we learn 55:22 here that the way God makes us a blessing through others is through filling us with the Holy Spirit. That is the blessing of Abraham. The blessing of Abraham for us is called the filling of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord said I will bless you to 55:37 Abraham. To us it is I will fill you with the Holy Spirit. And God told Abraham you will be a blessing to every family. The Holy Spirit's power will flow out from you like a river and bless other people. That's for us. But how did 55:51 it happen? Listen to this wonderful truth which you probably don't never heard before. Galatians 3:13 in the middle of verse 13. Christ became a curse for us. How many of you knew knew that? You know that he died on the 56:10 cross. But when he died on the cross, he became a curse. Because it is written in God's word, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. That's why Jesus could not be killed by his head being chopped off or of sickness. He had to die hanging on a 56:25 cross because he had to become a curse for us because the Old Testament law said it's a person who hangs on a tree who is cursed. And so Jesus had to be hung on a cross because he had to take a curse so that we could get a blessing. 56:40 The curse which God had put upon the human race because of disobedience. Jesus took it upon himself. Not only our sin, it says he took a curse upon us so that we could get a blessing. Which blessing? This blessing of Abraham, this 56:55 blessing of the Holy Spirit, which is what? I will bless you number one. And I'll make you a blessing to every family you meet. I take that. I say, "Lord, I want you to bless me. I want you to bless my family. And I want you to make 57:14 me a blessing to everybody I meet. Maybe in some small way. And you sisters, you can be a blessing to everybody. For example, almost all of you have got a a phone. When you speak to somebody on a phone, why not try to be a blessing to that 57:31 person by before you finish all your conversation talking about so many things, give them a promise from God's word. Give them a word of encouragement before you put the phone down. Think of doing that. It takes only one minute to 57:48 add something to say if if you have a problem, brother, if you have a problem, sister, I'm just praying for you. I want to encourage you. I want to ensure you that God cares for you. What a difference it'll make to the person at the other end of the phone 58:03 listening to you encouraging. Maybe that person is going through some pressure. Just a word of encouragement. It does not cost us anything to give a word of encouragement to people. And we speak to so many people every day. Maybe somebody 58:17 you meet in the office or your neighbor or somebody you speak to on the phone or somebody you write a letter to. Just you can add one sentence, a word of encouragement that can change their life. It's a wonderful thing to live like 58:33 this. Take this as a promise for you. God says, "I will bless you and your family and you and your family will be a blessing to others." I claimed it for myself. 58:50 I said, 'Lord, I've got four children. I want you to bless me and us and make us all a blessing to others on this earth. And now I have 17 grandchildren. And two or three of them are already 59:08 baptized, but all 17 have accepted Jesus as their savior. All of them. I'm so happy to hear that. And I want them also to be a blessing in their generation wherever they go. That's that's what I pray. I'm not asking God to make them 59:23 rich. I'm asking God to make them a blessing wherever they go. Because when we get into eternity, how much money you had in your bank account is not going to matter. But it will matter whether you are a blessing to other people on this earth. 59:36 Even if you had very little, you'll find in that day that people who lived in very small two room houses were a blessing to thousands of people. And people who lived in big mansions, they were not a blessing to anybody. And 59:49 you'll discover in heaven some very poor, unknown people, far more greater in heaven because they were a blessing to so many. They just simply trusted God. So I want to say to everybody sitting here, don't envy those who are richer than you or those who got 1:00:04 a bigger house than you or a better car than you or any of those things. The greatest thing is for God to say to you, I will bless you and I'll make your blessing to every person you meet on the face of the earth. There's absolutely nothing greater than 1:00:21 that. Okay. Now, let's just go through all these eight one by one. Uh can you put that up on the screen so that we can see the number one? I believe this therefore I confess it. What is it? Number one, 1:00:39 this is what I believe and confess. God the Father loves me as he loved Jesus. So I will always rejoice. Number two, God has forgiven me all my sins so I will never live with guilt. Number three, 1:01:00 God will fill me with his Holy Spirit so I will be strong enough for every task. Number four, God has determined all my boundaries, so I will always be content. 1:01:18 Number five, God's commands are all for my good, so I want to obey all of God's commands. Number six, God controls all people and events that affect me, so I will 1:01:36 always give thanks. Number seven, Jesus defeated Satan and freed me from his power, so I will never be afraid. And number eight, God wants to make me a blessing so I'll be a blessing to others. If you have a phone, you can 1:01:55 take a picture of this on the screen and keep it or later you can get it from CFC and u keep it before you or print it out and keep it in your purse or somewhere where you can look up every now and then and make sure that you confess these 1:02:14 promises and believe and experience the reality of it in your life. And I believe that the coming years of your life will be glorious, far better than all that has gone by. We rejoice that God has given us 50 wonderful years in 1:02:33 CFC and like they say, we believe the best is yet to come. Thank you for your love and care for me and for praying for me. I am tremendously blessed and Annie and I keep good health and we are able to 1:02:51 speak to many many churches in many parts of the world and we are very very thankful for your prayers that preserve us. God bless you all. Thank you very much. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, 1:03:09 thank you for making us one family. We're so different, but we are one family. Purchased by the blood of Jesus, cleansed by the blood of Jesus, made one by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ. I pray for every single person whose head is bowed here today. 1:03:29 Everyone, let the blessing of the Lord be upon them and overflow through them to many people around them. Thank you, Lord. I thank you for making me a part of this body and for all that CFC has been to me and my wife and my family. So 1:03:47 bless everyone here we pray and that the truths that we heard today will bring forth fruit in everyone's life. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening patiently. God bless you all.
