0:17 We will now we are ready to start and if as the as brother Zach and sister Annie walk into the hall there will be a music played and let's clap along with the music. Yeah, it's a familiar choruses that we're 0:34 going to play and we want to clap and welcome them and as they walk down the aisle we also want to to greet them. So let's use this opportunity as the music plays and as brother Zach and sister Annie come. Can we all rise up, please? 1:12 So brothers and sisters, please give a warm welcome to the couple of the occasion, brother Zach and sister Annie. As they come in we want to give them a warm welcome. We want to point out one thing at this 1:55 point. 50 years of every marriage is a milestone that must be celebrated. 50 years of every marriage is a milestone worthy of celebration. 2:12 50 years of a happy marriage and where all your children, sons and daughters-in-love are following the Lord is an amazing and fabulous event that we have to celebrate. Wait, one minute. One minute. But 50 years of a faithful walk where 2:33 you've inspired so many here in Bangalore and to the very ends of the earth, you've inspired us to be devoted to Christ, to wholeheartedly follow Christ. You've inspired us by your example and we've we've slowly learned to follow. 2:51 That is worthy of a standing ovation, brother and sister. As in the best wedding tradition we want to invite the happy couple to 3:10 please cut the cake. Let's So You you you have to feed each other. 3:29 That is that is how it is. That's how it's done. Thank you. Thank you so much, brother 3:48 Zach and sister Annie. Brother Ian and sister Vicky, we want to welcome you now to help us to give a small token of our immense gratitude to brother Zach and to sister Annie. If you can come to the stage. 4:06 We have a small token for to brother Zach which brother Ian will now give. And a small token to sister Annie which 4:24 sister Vicky will give. So thank you very much, brother Zach and sister Annie. We have a special program for you. We want to point out one thing 4:43 before we start our special program. We want to talk a little bit about the banners that we have up here. So these banners are representative of a prophecy that brother Bakht Singh gave at brother Zach and sister Annie's 5:02 wedding and that is from Genesis 12 verse 2 1 2 and 3. And the verse is there is the Lord has said I will bless you and in you all the families to the very ends of the earth will be blessed. And certainly we have been blessed. 5:21 You know, that promise was given to Abraham I think when he was 75 and this banner here represents Abraham you know, when he was 99. You know, you see the stars in the sky. By the time he was 99 Abraham was still 5:40 called Abram but God had such an encouraging word to him and God said, "Look at the heavens and count the stars if you are even able to. So shall your descendants be." And brother Zach, we here are 5:58 the spiritual descendants of you being so faithful all these years to the to the promises that God has given to you and we are so grateful to that. Thank you, brother Zach. Amen and the promise was that I will bless you 6:17 and make you a blessing to all the nations of the world. And your spiritual descendants will be as the the the sands of the seashore and we can say that that has also happened in in brother Zach's life. And thank you once again, brother Zach for 6:32 that. So I I was saying we have a special program for you, brother Zach. So in order for you to watch the program you will need to take the the seats. Okay. So can we have the couples on stage, please? We want to sing a song as 6:50 couples for this beloved couple as we remember the goodness of God to us. So while the while the couples are getting on stage, let's just think about what what we're going to sing. We're remembering the goodness of God and the role that was played by the 7:05 faithfulness of one couple. Okay, through the faithfulness of one couple. So if if we just think about that and the various aspects of the goodness of God that we've received, if you can go to the next slide. Yes, so these are 7:21 the things that we can remember. I will remember the love of God, all of God's love and his mercy in making me his child, part of his family through his word. I will remember all that Jesus taught. The importance of obeying his 7:36 commandments, the many reminders that we've received. I'll remember all his ways. How how you know, we've seen examples in this church and brother Zach and sister Annie in particular and all his will to press on to do his will, to fulfill his plan 7:53 and purpose for our lives. So here's the the thing, brothers and sisters. If we can just pause for a second and think of those those four aspects and we can thank God for brother Zach and sister Annie. God all of God's love, all that God taught, all of his 8:10 ways and all of his will and think about the role in each of our lives that the faithfulness of this one couple played and we can thank God for them as we sing this song. This is the day to celebrate the 8:34 goodness of the Lord we called by God as kind blessed us through his word it was for sinners that he came lifted me from death and shame placed me in the house of God, a happy family. 8:54 I will remember all his love, he will remember me. God will pass over me, my debt of sin he paid he set me free to follow him, a child of God he made 9:11 God will remember me, today I'll be with him. We celebrate the mercy of our loving King of kings. We celebrate the mercy of our loving King of kings. Oh no man anything keep short accounts 9:36 with Christ love each other and forgive always judge yourself first repent and believe in Jesus' name be filled up with the spirit's flame be submitted to each other all in humility. 9:54 I will remember all he he will remember me. God will pass over me, my debt of sin he paid. He set me free to follow him, a child of God he made. 10:11 God will remember me, today I'll be with him. We celebrate the goodness of the holy King of kings. We celebrate the goodness of the holy King of kings. Be merciful to others, 10:35 just God has been to you. Don't clean the outside only, but let your heart be true. Stand at the master's feet and learn. Always have an listening ear. Just give money, give yourself to build up Christ's body. 10:54 I will remember all his faith, God will remember me. God will pass over me, my debt of sin he paid. He set me free to follow him, a child of God he made. 11:11 God will remember me, today I'll be with him. We celebrate the wisdom of the mighty King of kings. We celebrate the wisdom of the mighty King of kings. 11:28 Brothers, clap and sing. Give everything to Jesus who gives all things to you. Follow those who follow Christ. Be an example, too. Always rejoice, give thanks and praise. 11:46 Be sanctified for Jesus' sake. Put your devotion to the Lord above your ministry. I will remember all his faith, God will remember me. Altogether, let's sing. God will remember all his faith, God will remember me. 12:06 God will pass over me, my debt of sin he paid. He set me free to follow him, a child of God he made. God will remember me, today I'll be with him. 12:22 We follow in the footsteps of the coming King of kings. We follow in the footsteps of the coming King of kings. Now we have a song of thankfulness. Our 12:41 young children, children come on come on the stage. Our young children want to lead us in a song to express their gratitude. Let us learn the tune of the song as they sing the first few verses because when the third verse comes, we 12:56 are going to be singing with them. So, as the children get in place, we we can learn to be thankful. That is a wonderful attitude that will take us down the steps that Brother Zach and Sister Annie have been. One, 13:31 for each blessed day. Two, every breath I take. Three, for my family. Four, CMC family. Five, for God's love for me. Six, for 13:49 the joy and peace. And seven, salvation for every good thing that I have comes from God. Every day, every hour there are blessings he sends without 14:08 number If I counted a hundred or a thousand, I'm sure there would still be more to be thankful for. Eight, 14:32 for your precious word. Nine, heart and hands and soul. Ten, for two eyes to see all God has given me. I could go on and on, counting the whole day long, 14:51 but knowing he's with me for every good thing that I have comes from God. Every day, every hour there are blessings he sends without number If I counted 15:12 a hundred or a thousand, I'm sure there would still be more to be thankful for. So, brothers and sisters, we want to join in singing with them. Okay? Uh this is our opportunity, so we have a 15:30 special third verse. If we can just look at the lyrics together. So, God spent a sent a special man to carry out his plan, gave him a helper, too, for all that he had to do. I see God's love for me in Uncle Zach and Aunt Annie. We thank 15:48 God for their lives. For every good thing that I have comes from God. Can we sing that third verse together with the children leading? Okay. God God sent a special man 16:08 to carry out his plan. Gave him a helper, too, for all he had to do. I see God's love for me in Uncle Zach and Aunt Annie. 16:27 We thank God for their lives. For every good thing that I have comes from God. Every day, every hour there are blessings he sends 16:45 without number If I counted a hundred or a thousand, I'm sure there would still be more there would still be more 17:02 and more to be thankful for. Brothers and sisters, now we have a special video presentation for you. This is a 15-minute video presentation. 17:22 This presentation was made as a poem, shall we say as a song to a faithful couple who the Lord who the Lord has mightily used. And uh we want to show that in this presentation. I want to especially 17:39 um ask uh couples, and even young people who hope to be married one day, to pay a special attention because you're going to hear some testimonies. And in that testimonies are some secrets of how we too can be inspired to to follow Christ 17:58 as Brother Zach and Sister Annie have. And what a tremendous blessing their lives have been. We too can aspire to a small measure of God's blessing in our lives. Now we will listen to this video. I again ask that we pay special 18:15 attention to this video. Dear brother Zach, I see from your life 22:04 you have seen everything you have as lent to you by God. And faithfully you have taken care of whatever God has interested to you. You have made your needs known to God alone and never to others. We see how you have trusted God as your 22:24 living and loving heavenly Father and how wonderfully he has provided all your needs. You have loved God and his word and never allowed money to become a master over you. In using your time, you have spent your time in building the kingdom of God on 22:43 earth. And you have never grown tired from sharing the marvelous truth of the new covenant. You have used your time so well in studying the word of God and much in prayer and fellowship with others. You have valued being a true worshiper 23:02 of God. Thank you, brother Zach, for being an an incredible example to us. Thank you. Thank you, sister Annie, for being an outstanding example for us. I remember one of sister Annie's favorite songs, "I would rather have 23:20 Jesus than silver or gold." Sister, I see from your life you have counted all your earthly riches as rubbish in order to gain Christ. You have always trusted and sought God's hand alone in everything. 23:37 You have been content with very little and learned to be careful in spending. I also see your faithfulness with time. You have worked hard in every area and valued every opportunity to serve and help the saints. Each day you have sought to fulfill 23:56 God's plan and his will. You have invested your time on four children and the saints in the body of Christ so that they can become precious stones reflecting the glory of God. You have been a remarkable example of a wife and a mother. 24:14 Thank you, sister. What blesses me the most about brother Zach is that he has never left his first love for the Lord. In the various difficult circumstances, 24:33 opposition, and trials that he faced he did not let his love for the Lord become cold. Brother Zach has been honest about the struggles he faced both as a young Christian and as a young husband. He said that being filled with the Holy 24:52 Spirit on a continual basis made all the difference in his relationship with the Lord and with his wife. This encourages me because the same spirit is available to all of us who face the same struggles in our personal and married lives. 25:11 They valued those who loved the Lord irrespective of their language, community, education, and social status and treated them equally well without partiality. Thank you, brother Zach. Dear sister Annie, first on your devotion to Christ and the church 25:30 I've always been challenged to see how in every walk of your life your priority and your choices has always been for the Lord, your family, and the church. Of how you choose to spend time with each one of us even when you're just 25:44 back from a long journey. For never saying no if we came to you for help. For taking the time out for hearing us and for counseling us. Next on being filled with the Holy Spirit in the early years of your marriage when you were at a point of 25:59 desperate need and you were discouraged you wrote of how that need was met when you were filled with the Holy Spirit. How the Holy Spirit made all the difference in your life. And you wrote, "He picked me up and my tears stopped. 26:12 He filled my heart with joy and peace again." Thank you, auntie Annie. When we think of you as a couple, the words that we are reminded of is from Isaiah 61:3. So they will be called oaks of righteousness the planting of the Lord 26:28 that he may be glorified. Thank you, brother Zach, and sister Annie. Dear brother Zach thank you for your godly example. We 26:46 want to follow you as the scripture says remember your leaders. Think of all the good that has come from their lives and try to trust the Lord as they do. Two principles from your life which have challenged me and I desire to trust the 27:03 Lord for the same in our family. The first one you have built a godly home by giving our Lord Jesus first place in your life. And you have put building a godly home first then ministry. 27:21 Second one, as our Lord Jesus loved the church and gave himself for the church, you have showed us how God can meet all our physical and spiritual needs in bringing up godly children. If we love him and give ourselves to his church. 27:40 Thank you very much. Dear sister Annie, thank you for being a spiritual mother to all of us sisters in the church. I thank God for giving you to us as you have been a great example for me to bring up children in a godly way and to 27:57 encourage my husband in his ministry. Now I understand the great sacrifices you have made behind the scenes to build a godly home and a godly church. I want to follow your example. Your simplicity, modesty, dedication, love and concern 28:15 for the church, and secret sacrifices have always encouraged me and inspired me. Without your sacrifices and encouragement to brother Zach, we wouldn't have seen our church CFC as it is today. Your whole family is a great example for 28:33 us. Thank you so much. Happy anniversary. May God bless you abundantly. Dear brother Zach and sister Annie 28:50 it gives us immense joy to wish you on this 50th wedding anniversary. Words cannot express how much your lives have been a role model for so many couples in CFC both here and around the world. 29:10 Brother Zach among the many things that stand out from your life, I wish to mention two things. We see clearly that you have valued heavenly riches over any earthly riches. Luke 16:11. 29:28 We see your passion and longing for the true riches of God. That is the anointing of the Holy Spirit revelation from God's word becoming more and more Christ-like in our nature and character and many other spiritual riches. 29:47 You have paid the price to get these true spiritual riches. I will always remember your words. Show me a man who is anointed and who brings a prophetic word from God every time he speaks and I will show you a man who has been 30:04 faithful with money in his hidden life. I want to follow your example, brother Zach. Dear sister Annie, I'm so blessed to see your example in laying up your treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys. You sought what was heavenly 30:23 first and God added the heavenly and also all that you needed on earth. I also think of you when I read the poem in your book God made mothers. Dear Lord, I do not ask that thou shouldst give me some high work of 30:42 thine. Give me a little hand to hold in mine. Give me a little child to point the way. I only ask that softly hand in hand a child and I may enter at the gate. You have held the hand of four little 31:01 children when they were small and helped them to enter through the gate. Today we can see from the lives of all your children where their treasures is stored up and you are continuing to help your grandchildren now. May God give me grace to follow the 31:20 priorities you set in your life. Thank you, brother Zach and sister Annie for being a role model to all of us in CFC. We wish you a very blessed 50th anniversary. Praise God. So, 33:13 we in terms of how we want to respond when we see these things and think about these things and hear these things, we want that Jesus should get the glory. And the one unique message is we heard even today that we've heard in this church and not just heard, 33:28 not just as theory, but we have seen exemplified in this church is that we can walk as Jesus walked. We can live as Jesus lived. And Jesus deserves to be glorified and magnified and he's calling us to live that way, too. 38:14 So, brother Zach and sister Annie, we would like to welcome you again on the stage. Brother Zach and sister Annie, this is the time your family would like to hear from you. Uh feel free either sitting up or standing, either way as you feel free. 38:31 Uh we would we would love to hear from you whatever's your heart. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to thank you all for your love. This day has been one of the happiest days of my life. And sitting here and listening to all 38:50 the beautiful songs and ex- getting a taste of such great love, I'm really so thankful. I'm humbled. I don't deserve any of the words that were spoken, but I want to give all the glory to God and I want to 39:09 in it I can see your great love for us. And that fills our hearts with joy. So, thank you so much for taking all the trouble preparing these songs and this wonderful program. And seeing you sitting there has given 39:26 us so much joy. 50 years has been a long time in one sense, but looking back it's been such a short time. I cannot believe that it almost looks like uh 50 days have gone by. 39:45 But God has done so much for us and I'm really thankful to the Lord for those all these years for keeping us in health, for giving us a church family, a wonderful family, our children and grandchildren, and all the blessings, so many, which I cannot 40:04 number. When I was in college, I used to have a picture on my table. And that picture I had cut out from one of the missionary magazines. That picture showed um a bullock standing in front of an altar. 40:22 On one side was the altar and on the other side was a plow. I think it was a motto of some missionary organization. But I saw that and I was so blessed by that that I cut it out and kept it on my table. And underneath were these words, 40:38 "Ready for the sacrifice of a service." And I I was I said, "Lord, I'm I want to be like that. I want to be ready for sacrifice of a service." And looking at that poor animal standing there, I used to feel very sorry 40:57 that this poor animal is waiting for whichever. But then the Lord opened my eyes to see in my spiritual eyes to see the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. And he came like that and that gave me so much encouragement. 41:16 And that challenged me. And later I found there was standing next to me another person with the same vision, ready for sacrifice of a service. And that is my dear husband God brought into my life and 41:34 I've not been lonely since then. I know that we both uh have the same goal and that time I was feeling sorry for that poor animal. Now I feel so happy that there is somebody with me and we can go this way, same way together. 41:50 And yield our lives to the Lord. The Lord has um really enriched our marriage because he opened our eyes to see the truths of the new covenant. I can say that has changed my life tremendously. 42:09 Marriage has changed my life. I would have been a completely different person if I hadn't been married. So I praise and thank God. God made me uh Some of the changes I cannot mention all, but some of the changes which I 42:25 have few of those which I want to mention is God taught me to be a sharing person. To share. Before I used to think of myself, I had to make my own decisions, I had to um plan my life, plan my days, my time, everything. But now God has given me 42:44 someone with whom I can share. I share everything. Share my thoughts, share my fears, share my desires, and pray with him. I praise and thank God that marriage has been a sharing for me. It has also been caring 43:01 for me, a life of caring. We have somebody I can care for and someone cares for me. I praise and thank God for the wonderful husband he has given me who cares and takes care of me that I don't have to think of the future with 43:18 any fear, but I have that confidence that God is with us and he's taking care of us. And God has changed and shown me that I I should not like in everyday life not be a person who will put the blame on others, but 43:37 um be slow in blaming anybody, but be quick to judge myself. If uh something goes wrong, not blame any uh so judge others, but uh see in which way I can uh change or do something better. And like that God has changed me in so 43:56 many ways. I praise and thank God. And I praise and thank God for the church. Thank God for all of you. Thank God for the children. And may God bless you all for this wonderful time you have given us. God bless you. I have 44:16 many times thought of this verse in Proverbs 4:18 as the path God has planned for every one of his children, single or married. It says, "The path of the righteous 44:34 is like the sunrise. Then it shines brighter and brighter until the full day." I picture that many times. The sun The sun never backslides for 1 second. It's always going. It's not going too 44:51 fast. It's going so slowly that you can't even see it move. And yet at dawn, when the sun just risen, it's all so dim, not so clear. It gets brighter and brighter and brighter. 45:10 I thought of that in relation to my personal life, family life, bringing up children. Nothing is perfect on day one. I say that for the encouragement of everybody here. It's a slow progress to perfection. 45:30 And that's why we have on our pulpit, "Let us press on to perfection." It's little by little by little by little and you The growth is hardly visible. But you find over a period of time, it becomes better and better. 45:49 And that's why whenever I give a testimony, I always want to tell people that I was not like this when I started my Christian life. Our marriage was not like it is today when we started our married life. I was speaking once 46:07 in another country where was some years ago where different families were giving their testimony and how everybody's saying how wonderful it was in their life and So I got up and said, "I was a sinner 46:26 when I got married. It means I had no victory over sin in my life. I used to get angry, discouraged many things. And I think in my heart, even though outwardly I did not love money, I think I did love like all human 46:44 beings. But over a period of time, as I particularly after God filled me with the Holy Spirit and opened my eyes to the new covenant, many things began to change. Again, not all of a sudden, slowly, slowly, slowly. 47:03 To step by step by step where I began to be delivered from discouragement so that I can honestly say today that I can't even remember how many years ago I was last discouraged. I got victory over anger. I can't even 47:23 remember how many years ago I got angry with my wife or anything. It's gone. Or upset about something All I did was what we've taught in the church, judge ourselves. I used to have this little verse I 47:42 printed out and kept in front of my table. "Happiest people in the world are those who judge themselves constantly and never judge others." But it's important for all young people who are considering marriage to think of the foundation. 48:01 The type of wife or husband you choose is very important because if they don't have those values in the beginning, you're not so sure whether they'll acquire those values later on. So I was so determined that because the 48:21 Lord had called me to quit my job and I'd given up all everything. In fact, I emptied my entire life savings and gave it away for God's work and left my job with zero in my bank account. And I said, "Lord, I don't want to 48:38 marry someone who doesn't have the same vision, who just wants comfort and money and comfortable house and all sort of gadgets and all types of things. I I don't want to make a mistake. I'd rather be single in that case 48:54 and serve you. I don't want to you know, make a blunder here. I I was so scared of marrying the wrong person that I said, "Lord, if by some mistake I say yes to some foolish girl, 49:13 please send an earthquake on the day of the wedding or something so that it'll be canceled." I really prayed that because I was so scared. I knew God had called me and I didn't want to ever miss that calling in marriage because I've seen so many 49:27 people. They're so zealous when they're single and then they get married and it all cools off. And so you know how uh Elijah and God when he said I'm going to 49:45 call down fire from heaven. If you want fire from heaven, if you want to help God a little, you can put a few matchsticks on the altar. But he didn't do that. He said, "I want to prove this is really from heaven." So he said, "Get a few buckets of 50:03 water." They poured and poured and poured and poured and all that water. And then when the fire came it's really from heaven. So I felt that when I consider marriage, I must present to my wife 50:22 to the girl considering my marriage the most difficult picture of the type of person I'll be or the type of work I'm going to do. You know, pour as much water as possible. So that um fire comes, it'll be from heaven. 50:40 Some things I told her truthfully I don't have any money. My bank account is zero. I gave it all away. I've no job. I'm not going to join any Christian organization. I will not get a salary. I will not 50:58 And also I will not use my gift to go to rich churches. I will go to the villages. I will work among students who cannot give me many gifts. And I don't know where at that time I didn't know where I was going. I said I may go 51:16 to Rajasthan to serve the Lord if the Lord calls me there. I don't know. I've got uh no no idea where I'm going to go. And then you know, like um I wanted to make it a little more difficult 51:36 to find out if she's really marrying me for Of course I had the advantage of my hair was almost all gone. So that was one advantage. She's certainly not marrying me for my looks. So then I thought I'd make it a little more difficult. 51:50 I said, "You know, I got false teeth. I wear dentures." It wasn't true. It's one of those lies lies I said to to find out if she's marrying me for my teeth or I wanted it to be 100% for the Lord only. That means if he's a spiritual 52:09 person, I don't care whether he's got false teeth. I don't care whether he's got no hair. I don't care if he goes to if he goes to Rajasthan. I don't care if he has no money. Only he's devoted to Jesus and he's going to live for him. 52:23 Full stop. Amazingly, she said yes. And she really believed I had false teeth. And was waiting for me to take it off sometime. When I said, "No, I was only I was only testing you to see whether you really 52:42 will choose me 100% because you see some spiritual values." And that is very necessary because you know I thought I would be working with Brother Bakht Singh. And we were married by him. 52:59 He was the only man of God I have to say that I have respected in this country. And so I could not think of ever working with anybody else cuz I never see I never saw any other man who was so upright with money, so anointed. 53:13 And what happened within 1 and 1/2 years after we got married we just had a baby. It was Sanjay was born. I was thrown out of that church by the jealousy of some of his coworkers 53:33 who were older than me, who were jealous that Brother Bakht Singh was training me up like a Timothy. So we were stranded. I did not know what I'm going to do. And we wandered around you know, going to some meetings here, 53:51 some students meeting here with no clarity. And she was so discouraged because we had a little baby. We didn't have much money. We didn't even have money to rent a house. 54:09 We stayed in one corner, one room of my dad's house. We never had a house of our own for 4 years. I mean, it was just like I predicted. We But God took us all through all that for a purpose. Years later when we went to the villages of Tamil 54:28 Nadu where so many poor people many of them when they get married, they also don't have money to rent a home. Then I could say to them I can be a forerunner for you. I know what you're going through. I've been through it myself. 54:47 I had to live without a home after getting married for years. So you know, God trains us in everything for a ministry in the future. I say ministry does not come by Bible study or thinking clever thoughts. If you're not willing to go through I said, "Lord, 55:07 I'm willing to go through anything. Anything. Anything you plan for me in anything, I'll go through it, but help me to fulfill your will." And so that's the way he trained me. And at that time I did not know. And I had a wife who stuck with me throughout, 55:21 you know, when when she was considering marriage to me um she prayed and said, "Lord, I can't preach." She had heard me preaching so powerfully even when I was 24 years old. And she said, "I can't preach like him." And the Lord told her very clearly 55:38 "You don't have to preach ever. He is my servant. You just take care of him." And that's what he she's done all these years. And I'm very thankful that she's never once asked me to buy anything. When we had money, we bought. When we didn't 55:54 have money, we never bought. Never never did we get into debt in our entire life, not even one rupee. Did we have to borrow? We were in great need many times, but we'd say, "Okay, we live with what little we have." And when we had children, we lived with 56:08 what little we had. And we're very very thankful for that. So I say to young people if you want a happy married life make sure you go by spiritual values. That's most important. 56:28 The other things are also important, but not as important as spiritual. If you love Jesus everything will be all right. And the other thing I wanted to see when I was considering marriage was does she have There are so many types of 56:40 Christians. Whereas God had shown me 4 or 5 years before I got married that the way of the cross was the way God wanted me to walk all my life. That was in 1963, 5 years before I got married. So I wanted to know if this girl also was interested in the way 56:58 of the cross. So I asked her what type of books she read and I found the same type of books I read about being crucified taking up the cross and missionary biographies that challenged me, that challenged her. So what I'm saying is 57:14 50 years of married life, it's because we had a good foundation. We started out with similar values, not seeking comfort or earthly gain, but God has provided us. I mean you look at us today, we are almost living like kings. 57:32 But I can tell you honestly, I never sought one of those things. Not one single thing. Even when my dad was dying in 1982 and my son Sanjay was just in seventh standard or something. 57:51 He 12 13 years old. And my dad called me and said when he was on his deathbed he said, "See, I can't understand why you have such a gift of preaching and you can travel and become a well-known preacher. You know, like you're traveling to all 58:09 these international conferences, invited here and there. Why have you given it all up? Why have you given it all up and sitting with 10 people in this house when you could be traveling the world? Uh you can be like Billy Graham." He 58:22 said to me. And I said, "Dad, I'm not called to be like Billy Graham. I will not use my gift to get a name or fame or money for myself. God has called me to build the church. Which 10 people? 10 people. Fine. But Jesus came to build the church and I 58:41 will spend my life building the church. I will not use my gift like other preachers to go around traveling to conferences and fame fame and honor and money." He couldn't understand it. And those days when he died, we were a 58:56 small group. And the other thing he said is, "See, you've got four children. It's very expensive to educate them in college. How are you going to do it? You don't take any money from anybody. How are you going to live with 59:10 And I said, "Dad if I don't seek God's kingdom first even this 30 rupees that I pay those days school fees in Clarence School was 30 rupees per month. Even that school fees I will not be able to pay." But if I seek God's kingdom first, God 59:29 will take care of them. I mean God has given me children, he'll help. And uh my dad never lived to never lived to see it, but God gave the scholarships to all my children to study computer science in the United States, full scholarship, 59:45 and so and then through the years how God has opened so many doors and planted churches in so many places that I don't know whether my dad could see from heaven, but if he can see, he will look at me and say, "Son, you were right. 1:00:03 The way you chose was right." So, that's the other thing I want to say, you know, when God shows you something, the future may look very bleak in front of you, but if you're listening to God, seek the fullness of the Holy Spirit. 1:00:19 That's what helped Annie, too. When we were so discouraged one day, she went to pray with one sister, and while she was in prayer and saying, "Lord, why am I so discouraged? I used to be so devoted to you when I was single. 1:00:34 And here I am struggling. And I want to and there was so much complaints and bitterness in her heart about the situations, not against me, but against all the circumstances of our life. And she confessed it all, and God filled her with the Holy Spirit, and 1:00:52 suddenly she who was so much against speaking in tongues, she says, "Suddenly, she began to speak in an unknown language, and she couldn't stop. She didn't try to go back to English, but she said she preferred to continue flowing out in an unknown 1:01:11 tongue, and she was changed. And I was still arguing against these things in my mind. It took me 6 years later before God filled me with the Holy Spirit and gave me the same gift. But I know that that 1:01:30 is what started CFC. The first church was started through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And CFC also was started when we were both baptized in the Holy Spirit. And Ian also was baptized in the spirit, and we came together. 1:01:46 And it was through that, and that is why when I look around at so many Christians today, I feel, "Boy, what is missing in their life is the baptism of the Holy Spirit." They've got all the doctrine, they understand everything, they've heard 1:01:59 clear teaching, and this, that, and the other. Everything is there, and the fire is missing. It's like putting all the electric fittings, fan, light, AC, but the electricity is not there. I feel like that about many people in 1:02:14 CFC. How much understanding we have? It's like the electrical fittings, all types of gadgets, or what about the electricity? What about the power of the Holy Spirit? She was desperate, I was desperate for the power of the Holy Spirit, and 1:02:33 that's how God met with us. I want to say to you that that is what has helped us even in our married life. So, I want to encourage all of you to go that way, and let your life be devoted to Jesus and to build his church. 1:02:51 We are very happy today. I want to say that I believe that we have experienced in our home a foretaste of heaven. I mean, we could when we move into heaven from here, it's not going to be much different. We're going to be happy there like we 1:03:08 are happy here. And I pray it'll be like that for all of you. Thank you so much for taking so much pains. We've been very reluctant to go through these celebrations, but then I was telling Annie, "If our children, supposing my four boys 1:03:26 said, 'Dad, we want to celebrate your anniversary.' You would say no?" You wouldn't say no. And I said, "These are our children. These are our sons and daughters God's given us, and if they want to celebrate, I won't say no." 1:03:39 So, thank you very much. Brothers and sisters, yeah, we don't have words to say, but there's a song that Brother Zac and Sister Annie wrote for their wedding. 1:03:57 I think it would be good if we can all sing it together as a song of dedication. It's a song that many of us have chosen to sing, have sung at our weddings. But it's a beautiful song for all of us to think about and to sing. 1:04:19 Jesus, my Lord, I bow in full surrender. For thou hast purchased me on Calvary. Now I am thine and 1:04:44 thine alone forever, and thou my portion for eternity. Far more than all my 1:05:05 asking and my thinking has been thy blessing on my life thus far. With praise and song my grateful heart 1:05:25 is ringing for saving me from sin and Satan's power. I long to follow 1:05:44 in thy footsteps daily. I want to glory only in thy cross. My one desire 1:06:01 to be well pleasing to thee. All earthly gain I shall but count Lord, fill me with thy Spirit's mighty 1:06:25 power. Make me a blessing to each one I meet. Oh, let thy life flow through me like a 1:06:43 river, and help me spread abroad thy savors sweet. I only long to do thy will forever, 1:07:07 to spend each moment glorifying thee. Till one day I shall see thee in thy splendor, and share thy 1:07:26 glory forever. Amen. Brother Ian, we request you if you can come up and um you can pray and we can 1:07:44 you can share and pray, brother. Yeah, let's just bow heads and give thanks to the Lord for this very blessed, precious, and I trust a challenging time for all of us, 1:08:03 all of us who are married, young and old, but particularly the young people who are married, young couples, the generation that is now leading, will take the church forward, and all those also 1:08:22 who hope to get married. We want to really thank the Lord for Brother Zac and Sister Annie, and for 50 glorious years that he's given them, raised up four blessed boys who have glorious families, who are being used of God. We want to 1:08:42 thank the Lord. We don't take anything for granted, and we want to follow their example. We've heard so much. We can receive grace, but more than anything else, we can see receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Grace abounding is available for all of 1:09:00 us if we humble ourselves, and the power of the Holy Spirit to help us to follow in their footsteps, that our married life would be glorious, and we will accomplish God's purpose in our generation. We want to thank the Lord for Brother Zac and Sister 1:09:16 Annie for these blessed years honored for them, and believe it'll be more blessed and richer in the years that the Lord keeps us on earth. The sky, not the grave, is our goal, as 1:09:34 he's always reminded me. And we are near to that when Jesus returns. So, let's really, as we sang this song, dedicate our lives to the Lord, surrender everything to him. Come read all earthly gain as loss. 1:09:54 May God work in our hearts to that end. Make it our one ambition to be pleasing to him in this one life on this earth. Heavenly Father, we bow. We bow before you, worship you, and praise you. 1:10:11 Present these bodies to you, Lord Jesus. And offer them up to you as a living, holy sacrifice acceptable to you. Which is the worship and the only worship you long and desire, Father, and 1:10:29 you look for all over this earth. We want to give ourselves to you. All of us have touched our hearts afresh this afternoon. Through the lives of our brother Zack and sister Annie, we want to thank you for them. In the 50 glorious years, in all those 1:10:48 50 years that he served you, Lord. And 43 of those years he gave to building of the church and he received so much here in CFC Bangalore. Lord, we humble ourselves before you. We pray that you will raise up 1:11:05 godly examples among us. Raise up shepherds after your own heart. Brothers and sisters, those who not seek their own, Lord. We thank you for living examples that you have set before our eyes. And Lord, to whom much is given, much will be 1:11:24 required. And so, we want to offer ourselves to you. Thank you once again for this blessed time. Thank you for brother Zack and sister Annie. We ask you as a church continue to give them good health, Lord. Extraordinary good health 1:11:41 for the coming years as they grow older. They travel to be a blessing. And through the internet that you have given us so blessedly to reach people, reach places where he's never been able to travel to. We thank you that this gospel 1:12:00 has reached the whole counsel of God has reached many people all over this earth, and we want to give you thanks and praise. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We worship you and praise you, Lord, that you're in our midst and your presence that you have 1:12:14 been glorified, Lord. And give you all the honor and all the glory for these blessed lives that you have set as examples before us. I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, you lift up your heart, lift up your hands if you 1:12:26 feel free. Let's all together praise and give thanks to the Lord for brother Zack and sister Annie, and for all that God has spoken to us this afternoon. Let's lift up our hearts and really praise him. Let's all praise the Lord together. 1:12:41 We praise you, Father. We lift up our hearts and our hands this afternoon to you. We thank you. Thank you for what you're doing in these last days. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have sent your spirit. We are not left here as orphans. 1:12:56 And we thank you that we can also follow the examples of our brother Zack and sister Annie, that we can also be living examples, that you can have faithful witnesses. We can teach our children, we can teach others, and they in turn will 1:13:10 make others and help others to be faithful. And so, we give you praise and thanks for this blessed time, Lord. We thank you that you will bless them with good health. We thank you that your grace will be upon them. We thank you 1:13:23 that a rich anointing will be upon our brother and sister, richer than all the years that they have ever lived on this earth, and they would be a blessing to many, Lord. We bless you and we praise you. We give you thanks and glorify your 1:13:36 name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
