0:07 Dear brothers and sisters, it's good to talk to you again. There's a word that is often comes to my heart which says exhort one another daily 0:25 or encourage one another daily lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13. It's a good verse for all of us to take 0:45 seriously. And I prefer the NASB New American Standard Bible translation in this verse where it says encourage one another 1:04 day after day. I think in the King James it says exhort one another. We all have a lust to exhort others. We need to be freed from that lust and decide more to encourage others because it says here 1:24 encourage one another day after day as long as it is called today so that no one of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 1:43 So, there are a lot of things we can see in that verse. First of all that sin is a very deceitful thing. It's uh uh Deceitful means it seeks it tries to 2:02 fool us making us feel that we are spiritual when we are not. And so that's the first thing you have to be aware of. We need to be very careful to imagine 2:20 that we are free from sin. Because of the deceitfulness of sin. We can think we are free and then there are things we don't see within ourselves. So, that's the first thing we need to see that sin 2:37 is very deceitful. So, don't be so quick to say that I'm free from sin. That's That's the first thing we need to recognize here. It's good to humble ourselves and say, "Lord, please give me 2:56 light more light on myself so that I can see what sin really is, which I don't even see." There are so many things which I've discovered through the years which in my earlier years I never even 3:14 thought was sin. I used one example of that once that when you expect someone to thank you for some service that you've done for them and they don't thank you and you're disturbed. 3:33 I remember a time when I was disturbed when somebody had served a lot, he didn't seem to be very grateful. And the Lord gave me light on that. And the Lord what the Lord said to me was that when you serve any of my 3:51 people, you're actually serving me. That's what Jesus says in the day of judgment. He will tell people in Matthew 25. Do you know that verse? If you're not familiar with it, it's good to know 4:08 what Jesus said about the day of judgment, Matthew chapter 25. And uh verse 4:33 40. Matthew 25:40. In the day of judgment, when they ask, "Lord, when did we serve you?" And the Lord says in verse 40, 10 Matthew 25:40, in I say to you that if you did something for one of these 4:53 brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me. So, we see there that a service that we do to a child of God is 5:10 a service done to the Lord. If you keep that in mind, we'll be delivered from expecting people to thank us. That's what I discovered. I was expecting some brother I served to be grateful to me. And the Lord said, "That's because you 5:29 did it unto him. If you'd done it unto me, you'd be expecting the thanks from me one day, not from him." So, I learned that in never, never to expect gratitude from someone for anything I did for them. I don't want them to thank me. I don't even 5:47 expect it. I'm not disappointed when he doesn't. But I found my younger days I was. I thought, "Well, the guy doesn't seem to be grateful." And then I realized I had done it unto man. Whereas this verse says that every service that I do to a brother in Christ 6:05 or a sister is done unto the Lord. That opened my eyes. And your whole service takes on a different color or hue when you do it as unto the Lord. So, that's just one example of how we can 6:23 get light on something which we think is perfectly okay. I mean, a lot of believers think, "What's wrong in expecting somebody to say thank you?" We teach our children to say thank you when people give them something. That's right. 6:35 But and you some of you may have heard me say this before and yet you may find that even after you've heard me, look back to the days that you heard me first saying this. And from that day till today, have you really finished with 6:50 expecting gratitude from others? Or have you slipped back into it? Sometimes we find that we need to be exhorted again and again and again before we can understand before something really sinks in. So, the other thing I want you to know that 7:05 I mean, that's why I was emphasizing the deceitfulness of sin. Sin is a very deceitful thing. Because you see in the Garden of Eden, the first sin that Eve I Satan made Eve to commit was through deceit. Saying that, "If you eat this, you'll 7:24 become like God. You'll your knowledge will become tremendous." Deceit. So, you see right in the very first sin, there's deceit. And that is the way the devil leads us. He doesn't give us the impression we're doing something wrong. 7:36 He may even give you the impression he's doing something good and it's totally wrong. There are many, many cases. That's why we need to ask God to give us light. If we walk in the light as God is in the light. Think of that standard. 7:51 In 1 John 1:7, it says, "If we walk in the light as God is in the light." Think of the tremendous light that God has. Do you know that verse? 1 John 1:7. "If we walk in the light as 8:11 God himself is in the light, then we have fellowship with him." So, many people they're not seeking to walk in the light. And their light doesn't seem to be increasing. I should have more light on my life on 8:30 the deceitfulness of sin in my life this year than I had last year. This is what I kept stressing in many many messages of mine. That just like a child goes from first grade to second grade to third grade, every year 8:48 getting more and more understanding of academic subjects that he's studying, in the same way it must be in our life, too. That we're getting more and more light on our lives. 9:07 If we walk in the light as God is in the light. And think of God's light so powerful. And we progress in that. So, this is how we measure spiritual progress. Turn with me to 9:31 Matthew chapter 7. >> Do you know there's a a group of believers in the world who say that the Sermon on the Mount 9:50 was given so that man could see how impossible it is to obey God. In other words, it's not given for us to obey at all. I think even Martin Luther taught something like that. That the Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7 is such an 10:07 impossible standard that it is it is given by the Lord only to show us that you cannot reach up to God's standard. So, help you to realize that you're a sinner. What a clever way of wiping out Matthew 5, 6, and 7 completely. 10:24 It's amazing how the devil has convinced so many There are so many people who call Calvinists particularly who follow Calvin, who believe that type of teaching. It's a tremendous deception. That's why I have very often taken 10:39 studies on the Sermon on the Mount in so many churches and say this is what we teach in CFC. That if you want to build your house on the rock don't just say Christ is the rock. Matthew 5 and Matthew 7 verse 24 to 10:56 25 says that if you obey all that I have said in these chapters then you build your house on the rock. We have taught that so much and that's hardly ever taught in most churches. And I want to ask you, my dear brothers and sisters 11:11 please study Matthew 5, 6, and 7 carefully verse by verse and ask yourself whether you're really obeying it. I go through that chap- those chapters many times and I get more and more light on it. The word of God is a tremendous 11:25 depth in it. And because if I want to build on the rock and I want my life to be solidly on the rock. Okay, what I was coming to was in Matthew 7 and verse 14. What we have stressed is 11:42 the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. So, listen to that carefully. The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. Now, most of Christendom has wiped out about the way. 11:59 Most of Christendom has said the gate is narrow or small that leads to life. That's it. They have rubbed out something that Jesus said. So, what they have taught us in practical terms, when you ask Christ to come into your heart, you enter in 12:14 through the gate. And then you come into life. Now, you need to ask yourself whether that's what you believe. And it's quite possible that some of you also may be believing that I accepted Christ some time ago. I've come into 12:28 life. And yet it says here so clearly the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. And there are very few who find it. And I think the reason very few find it is because they believe all those people who cut out that part of the way 12:47 and said the gate is small that leads to life. They cut out half of that verse and that's why many people don't find it. Because there is a gate and a way and the gate is when we first repent come to Christ for salvation. 13:04 And as I have often used the example, it's like coming to the starting line of a marathon race. Now, if you were called to represent the United States in the marathon race in the Olympics, the very fact that you've got to the 13:19 starting line itself is a great honor to represent the United States at the Olympic marathon race. And you're standing there among the eight people standing there to take part in the marathon race and you're one of them. 13:33 What an honor. But if you keep standing there for the next 2 hours, that's not what the United States sends you to the Olympics for. All those people who come to the starting line know that they got to run a race because the finishing line is a 13:49 long way off. It's 26 miles away. So it's That's a picture of here. The gate is small. It's I mean it's quite difficult to get to the starting line, first of all. I mean how many people in the United States who uh would 14:04 be selected to get to the starting line of the Olympics? Less than one in a million. And then, how many people who get to the starting line run the race and finish and even come anywhere, any rank there? And in connection with this, it says in 14:24 1 Corinthians in chapter 9, 1 Corinthians 9:24, "Don't you know that those who run in a race, all run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may win. Don't be 14:44 satisfied that you have entered through the gate. There is a way after that and there's a way that you have to run. And it says you must run in such a way the last part of verse 24, "Run in such a way that you may win." 15:00 So he's saying, "Don't be satisfied that I have come through the gate and I'm converted. I've accepted Christ. You must run in such a way that you may win." And he says these earthly people, like I mentioned about the marathon runners of the Olympics, 15:14 they exercise a lot of self-control to get a gold medal at the end. And Paul says about himself, "I run in such a way," verse 26, "not without aim. I run in order to win." And in order to win, he says in verse 15:33 27, "I discipline my body." Our body has got many, many lusts. A lust to get angry, a lust to defend myself, a lust not to forgive others when they hurt me. A lust to lust after women. 15:52 Men have that lust, a lust to get angry. Many, many lusts. He says, "I discipline my body and make it my slave. I don't allow my body to do what it wants to do. I don't allow my tongue to speak what it wants to speak. I don't my allow 16:09 my eyes to see what they want to see." That's the meaning of verse 27, "I discipline my body and make it my slave." And so that He's talking about the race, you know. He's talking about how he himself runs this race. Otherwise, he says, "I'll be the great 16:28 preacher, Apostle Paul, and I'll be disqualified at the end of the race myself because I did not discipline my body." So, the Christian life is not just coming to the accepting the Lord and coming there. This is one of the main 16:44 differences between what we preach in CFC churches and what many others new churches preach about who preach about the new birth. There's hardly anything that they have to do after being born again, except go to church regularly. 17:00 And don't commit some grievous sins that even the worldly people don't commit. So, in the midst of all this deception in Christendom, we preach certain things which are all written in God's word, but which people haven't taken seriously. 17:14 Take for example this simple passage, 1 Corinthians 9, 24 to 27. That when you take part in this race, you have to discipline yourself. And he says, if Paul says he himself, he's such a great servant of God and he's writing this 17:29 after he's served the Lord for more than 20 years as an apostle. And what does he say? I discipline my body, otherwise after I have preached wonderful messages to others, when I come to the end of the race, I'll be disqualified. 17:46 You can say, Paul going to be disqualified? Didn't he come through the gate? Yes, he did. But he did not discipline himself to run the race. Now, very few people take these verses of scripture seriously. So, you need to when you read something 18:03 like that, what I need to ask myself is am I disciplining my body in such a way that I want to finish this race and not be enslaved to sin or to some lust store or self-indulgence. You know, when he talks about 18:22 everyone who competes, verse 25, in this race exercises self-control in all things. And in another place, he talks about self-control in eating. Self-control in sleeping. He talks in 1 Corinthians 7 about self-control even in sexual matters, 18:40 even for married people. You read these passages 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and other places. It's amazing how our physical body we need to discipline if we want to run the run this race. That's exactly the point of this passage. 18:56 That's part of you know, walking the way. Turn to Philippians chapter 3. He speaks about the same subject there. About the discipline of the body and says Philippians in chapter 3 he talks about certain people who are 19:16 enemies of the cross of Christ. In Philippians 3:18, the last part. He says, "I tell you weeping." Paul is weeping when he says there are certain people who are enemies of the cross of Christ. 19:34 And he's talking Let's read that verse. Brothers, verse 17, "Follow my example. And don't look at all believers, but look at those who walk according to the pattern that you have in us." He says, "Those who follow my example, 19:53 make them your example, not all those who claim to be believers." Because he says there are many believers, verse 17, who are not not verse 18, who are not a good example. And they are enemies of the cross of 20:11 Christ. Now, who are these people who are enemies of the cross of Christ? Are they fighting against God's people? No. They're just not disciplining their body. This is amazing that such a person can be an enemy of the cross of Christ. 20:26 Because he goes on to say, "How do you How does Paul define the enemies of the cross of Christ? Whose end is destruction." Boy, it's a terrible judgment. And here is a definition of these enemies of the cross of Christ. Their 20:40 god is their appetite. What a verse. Their god is their appetite. Or the actual word there is if you have a margin, it says the god is their stomach. So it says in the margin of my Bible, "Their god is their stomach." 20:59 That means they are absolutely uncontrolled in the way they eat. That's why Jesus told us to fast once in a while. Now, do you believe that one who has got an uncontrolled habit of eating and eating and eating is an enemy of the 21:16 cross of Christ? You probably won't hear that in any other church church except CFC but because we preach the word of God exactly as it is. You connect that with what I said earlier. In 1 Corinthians 9, he says many people run the race but 21:30 only one wins the prize because he disciplines himself. And Paul says, "I discipline myself because I don't want to come to the end of the race and find that I'm disqualified just because I said I accepted Christ 30 years ago." 21:44 The Christian life is not just going through a gate. It's going through a walking the way or running the race after we enter through the gate. And this is all part of running that race as he says in 1 Corinthians 9, "Everyone who runs his race disciplines 21:58 himself." My dear brothers and sisters, I'm sure all of you have accepted Christ as your savior. You've come through the gate. What I want to ask you is are you running along this way? And since you can't really run in this race 22:14 in the way you should be if you don't discipline yourself and if you don't discipline yourself to run this race, you're called here in 1 Corinthians Philippians chapter 3 verse 18 as an enemy of the cross of Christ. Is it possible that 22:30 somebody here is an enemy of the cross of Christ? You wouldn't dream of thinking that you're you are an enemy of the cross of Christ. But it says if your God is your stomach, you are an enemy of the cross of Christ. That's you read 22:43 meditate in verse 18 and 19 and if your mind is set on earthly things, that's the other thing in verse 19. Their mind is set on earthly things. I'm not saying we should not think about earthly things but if the mind is set on it. 23:00 You've heard me use the example of the rubber band. You know, the Bible says that we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ. So, our mind should be there in heavenly things, but like a rubber band, we have to stretch it down 23:19 to the things of Earth for, you know, 8 or 12 or some people 15, 16 hours a day we have to be doing occupied with earthly things. Many mothers have to be occupied with earthly things for 16 hours a day. People who do work in an office 23:37 sometimes have to work 12, 14 hours a day. Their mind is stretched down on earthly things. The rubber band is stretched down to the Earth, but as soon as their earthly response job is over, the rubber band springs back to heavenly things again. That is a true 23:54 Christian. His mind may be stretched down to earthly things for 16 hours a day, but the moment his he's finished, it goes back to earthly things just like a rubber band. But it's not like that with many believers. With many believers, the rubber band is 24:10 tied to the things of Earth and is stretched up to the heavenly things maybe for half an hour a day when they read the Bible or come 2 3 hours a day when they go to church on Sunday. And then when that is over, the rubber 24:25 band springs back to earthly things again. So, there are two types of believers. Those whose rubber band is attached to the Earth and they stretch up whenever they pray, whenever they go to church, or whenever they read the Bible. It's just a few 24:41 minutes or a half an hour now and then a day, and then the rest of the time down to earthly things. In other words, their mind is mostly occupied with the things of Earth. Now, I'm not talking about the essential things which you all have to do. And as 24:55 I said, a mother with small children has so many hours she has to be occupied with earthly perfectly right. The question is when all our earthly responsibilities are over for the day, where does our mind go? Is it still on making more money and 25:09 enjoying ourselves and things like that or watching television and so many things like that we can get distracted with. So then we find that our Christianity is just something we stretch for a little while and when to ease our conscience 25:23 and go to church and read the Bible every day and once it's released it comes back to the things of earth. In other words, basically our mind is set on the things of earth. But because we feel guilty that we are hammering at the Bible and we feel 25:34 guilty if we don't go to church on a Sunday morning, we stretch it up on Sunday. Where is the mind set? It says here in Philippians 3 and verse 19, their mind is set or we can say their mind is fixed on earthly things 25:54 and stretched occasionally to the things of heaven. So, this is part of the deception, the deceitfulness of sin. Turn back to Hebrews Hebrews 3 and verse 13 that we were considering. It speaks there about 26:13 the deceitfulness of sin. And what can happen, you know, the deceitfulness of sin is you you feel perfectly at ease in conscience because you're you're going to church every Sunday and you're reading the Bible every day 26:26 for 15 20 minutes at least and you say you're a good Christian because I read my Bible every day 15 20 minutes, I go to church, I never miss a Sunday meeting and I even go for the Wednesday prayer meeting. Wow. Do you think such a person could still 26:42 be guilty of having their mind set on earthly things? Sure. That is the deceitfulness of sin. The sin fools you to think that you're a spiritual person when you're not. The true Christian is one whose mind is primarily set on the 26:58 things above. But he's willing to spend even 14 to 16 hours a day on earthly matters if they are necessary. He does not any of his earthly responsibilities, whether he works in an office or a mother working at home. She'll do every 27:15 part of her work faithfully, looking after the children, cooking the food, and washing clothes, and ironing clothes, and everything. But the mind is set on the things above. Essential things that is stretched down to earth and then released. The rubber 27:30 band is a beautiful example of that. Please keep that in mind. And examine your own life, dear brother sister. Where is your rubber band fixed? Is it in heaven and stretched down to all the earthly things? Let me repeat, 27:45 stretched down even for hours perhaps. But when it is over, released to the things above. Or is it attached to earthly things and stretched occasionally to spiritual things? I believe these are two types of believers. I want to challenge you to the highest. 28:02 Don't you challenge your children to the highest? In India for example, pass marks in a examination is 40%. People are marked up It's not They're not graded in India like A A plus A or B or anything like that. In India it is 28:19 marked out of 100. In the in all the examinations in every subject is marked out of 100. And you can get 100% in one of them. You get over 80 or 90% you get first become the first class in the examination. But to pass, you need only 28:37 40%. You get 40% you pass. And what do you think of a father who tells his child, "I just want you to pass." Just somehow great scrape through and get 40% and get promoted to the next class. 28:55 I don't think I've ever met a father. Even uneducated fathers don't want their children to be like that. We want our children to aim for the highest. But if what I'll take another example of a your child is taking part in a 29:10 say a 400 m race in the school sports. And what do you tell your child? 400 m means you've got to go twice around the track. You say, "Listen, somehow finish the 400 m. Doesn't matter what place you come in the in the race. Somehow finish it." Is that 29:29 what you tell him? How would you say? "You're a good runner. Aim to come first." That's what we teach our children to do. Do the Do your best in your running the race. Do your best when you're studying math or English or physics or any subject. 29:46 Only when it comes to following Jesus and doing seeking the things of God, our attitude is even you may you may not say it like that, but our attitude is, "What is the minimum I have to do to keep a good testimony in the church? 30:04 What is the minimum I have to do so that everybody thinks I'm a spiritual person?" That to me, that is absolute garbage. That type of Christianity is good for nothing. Seek for the things that are above. This is what the deceitfulness of sin. It says here 30:22 in Hebrews 13, "Be careful that you don't get hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." So, what I'm saying, what I'm trying to tell you now is I'm just obeying Hebrews 3:13, which says, "As long as it is still called today." 30:39 That means as long as you're life on the earth. that means I'm still alive. I want to paraphrase it. Hebrews 13 is like this. Hebrews 3:13 is like this, as long as you're still living on this earth, as long as you're still still called 30:55 today means as long as you're still living on this earth, make sure that you don't get deceived by the deceitfulness of sin because that'll harden your heart. And I'll tell you how it'll harden our heart. That means you can have this attitude of 31:10 doing the minimum necessary to have a good testimony in the church and it doesn't disturb you. Till you get challenged by some message like this and you get all stirred up for maybe one or two weeks and then sink back to the old habit again. 31:27 That is why we need to hear some of these messages again and again and again, yes. Very, very important. Don't say, "Well, I've heard that before." That's not the point. What I want to ask you is, have you obeyed what you heard? If you haven't, you probably 31:42 need to hear it a hundred times until you obey what you hear. Don't be Don't get hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. God has a wonderful plan for us. You know, it says in 32:01 John's Gospel chapter 17, those of you whose aim in life is to please the Lord, not to go to heaven. I have often said that I have no interest like other gospel preachers to take people to heaven. Zero interest in that. 32:19 I'm not preaching that to make sure all of you go to heaven. I couldn't care less for that. My preaching is to make sure you please the Lord every day of your earthly life. And then at the end of it, you will go to heaven, but that is secondary to me. 32:33 And I'll tell you honestly, my testimony is this, I have zero, believe me, I'm standing before the Lord and saying this, I have zero interest in going to heaven. My interest is in being with Jesus for eternity. I don't care where he is. 32:49 My heaven is Jesus Christ. Not some golden street and mansions and all that. Let me ask you, what is your passion for? Ah, one day I leave this wretched earth and go to heaven. I have no such desire. I want to be where Jesus is. And that is 33:05 why I say for me heaven is already begun in one sense because Jesus is with me now. I seek to live in his presence every day and heaven has begun. And it really it really be a clearer vision of Christ when I finally pass leave this world and 33:19 go and meet my savior face to face. But it's not going to be the golden streets and the atmosphere of heaven that's going to attract me. It's just the presence of Jesus. Can you say that that's what you're looking forward to? 33:32 That's what we should be that should be our passion. So I I often take the example of a an engaged couple. Here's a girl who's been engaged to a attractive young man who loves her very much but he has to go to some foreign country 33:47 for a long period of time and says, wait for me, I'm coming back and I'll marry you. And she is madly in love with this man and is waiting waiting waiting for him to come back. He waits to get letters from him and writes letters long 34:01 letters to him. That is the relationship we must have with Jesus Christ. Lord, I'm waiting to see you face to face and till then I want to talk to you and I want you to talk to me like two lovers two lovers. My dear brother and sister, is that your 34:19 relationship with Christ? That is mine and has been like that for a number of years is may made my Christian life so satisfying. As I said, I'm not waiting to go to heaven. I'm with Jesus now and I want to have a fuller experience of the presence of 34:34 Jesus when I leave this world. That's all. I have no interest in escaping hell. I I I told the Lord once, "Lord, if you're in hell, I'll be there with you for eternity." I'm not afraid of the fires of hell. I want the presence of Jesus. I don't care 34:47 where he is. I want to ask you, my dear brothers and sisters, please change the focus of your vision. And if that is your focus, before I meet the Lord, I want to finish the work he gave me to 35:05 do. When he When I was born again 67 years ago, I was 19 years old. I'm 86 now. God planned my life with something. I never knew what it was in 19 when I was 19. Now, when I look back over my life and 35:24 all I see all that God has given me an opportunity to do to serve him, I see, "Oh, Lord, what an amazing plan you had." I never knew all that when I was 19 years old. I was just a young Christian. I was thankful that my sins were forgiven and 35:38 I had an assurance that Christ had come into my heart. That was it. But, step by step by step as I sought the Lord, he began to show me more and more of a plan he had for my life. And I'm so thankful as I look back now. 35:52 I don't believe I finished that plan. If I finished that plan, I should be going. I shouldn't be here. The very fact that I'm here shows I haven't finished that plan. There's something more for you to do. And there's a plan for my life and I 36:03 want to see you to remember this, my dear brothers. I don't care if you were born again yesterday. God's got a plan for your life. Please remember that. And I'll tell you this, if you don't fulfill that plan and you go to heaven 36:19 because your sins are forgiven, you'll be miserable in heaven. Let me tell you that. And some people don't believe that what I say. They don't They feel there'll be no regret in heaven. I think I'll have a regret. If I get to 36:32 heaven and I've not finished the plan God has for me, I'll say, "Oh Lord, I feel so bad that because of my selfish way of life, I didn't finish the plan you had for me. I allowed my mind to be so occupied with the things of earth 36:44 that the plan you had for my life, I didn't finish it. Please forgive me. Give me another chance to go back to earth and complete my plan." And the Lord said, "No, you have only one life." That's what makes me very serious for 36:58 me. I have only one life in which to finish the plan God has planned for me from the time I was born. If you're not familiar with that verse, let me show you Psalm 139. One of my favorite verses, Psalm 139. And verse 16. He's talking about the 37:23 time when the Lord shows us in our mother's womb. Yeah, that's right. In verse 13, "You wove me in my mother's womb." And verse 16, "In my mother's womb" This applies to all of you who are born again. Take it a put it as a personal word to 37:38 you. When I was in my mother's womb, you saw me with my embryo, my body not yet formed, my unformed substance, which we call an embryo, inside the mother's womb. And while I was an embryo in my mother's womb, you had already planned out my whole 37:57 life. In your book means in your mind, in God's mind. That's God's book is his mind. In his mind, all the days were 1/3 Psalm 139 verse 16. All the days that were planned for me were already planned in your mind. When did God make a plan for my life? 38:17 When I was in my mother's womb. And before my first day on earth, he had already planned my life. Today is the 6th of May 2026. 38:37 The 6th of May is an important day in my life because I'll tell you why. It's like my birthday. On the 6th of May, 1964 62 years ago God called me 38:57 to leave my job as a naval officer and to serve him. And I wrote it down in my Bible, 6th of May, 1964, Isaiah 49. See, I had the habit of reading the Bible chapter by chapter. And that particular day I was sitting in a train 39:16 in India. I was on leave, vacation. I'd gone for some meetings and I was traveling. And I was reading Isaiah 49. That was my daily reading for that day. And I read there in Isaiah 49 in the middle of verse one, "The Lord 39:30 has called me from my mother's womb. From the body of my mother he named me. I was given the name Zachariah when I was in my mother's womb by God. And he 39:49 and he and he showed me what my ministry was supposed to be. My ministry was to be like a sharp sword. And verse two, two things, a sharp sword and an arrow. Those are things that hurt. You know, some people have a ministry 40:06 which is like putting a warm blanket on people, comforting them. And that was not the ministry God called me for. That is a necessary ministry. You know, comforting people and encouraging them and but my ministry was one to be challenging and convicting and 40:20 correcting. It's like a sword and a arrow, you know. God said that to me um 62 years ago. I didn't know all that it meant at that time. But now as I look back over my ministry, I see that's exactly what happened. I didn't choose that. 40:36 I didn't say, "Lord, I want to be like a sharp sword or an arrow." To tell you honestly, I'd rather be the one who puts a blanket and comforts people. You'll be more popular that way. This is very unpopular ministry to use use a sword and an arrow 40:50 on people. But if the Lord called me for that, you got to do that. And the Lord says to me, this is what he said to me 62 years ago, verse three, "You are my servant and in whom I will show my glory, not your glory. I'll show my glory in you." 41:08 And there's a wonderful chapter, the whole chapter the Lord spoke to me that day. And as soon as I read it, I decided I would leave and I put in my resignation. And the Navy would not accept my resignation. I applied again, they said 41:25 no. I applied again, they said no. I was a bit discouraged. I thought as soon as I applied they would, you know, the Lord's got all authority in heaven and earth, I'd be released immediately, but the Lord And I was discouraged. I was young. I 41:37 wouldn't didn't know what to do. And I sought the Lord, "What shall I do, Lord?" And the Lord said, "What did Moses do when Pharaoh said no, you can't go to serve the Lord?" I got my answer. So I thought I'd have to go back 10 41:49 times. And well, I mean, the Lord did not bring any plagues upon the Navy or anything. But I went back again and I applied. Again, the Navy said no. And I think I applied just two or three times. I didn't have to go 10 times. 42:06 And the amazing thing that happened, the man who was the admiral of the Navy at that time was refusing to let me go. And he he retired and went out and somebody else came in his place. As soon as he came and he released me. 42:23 It's amazing what God can do. And I I came out. I was so delighted. And usually when they release a person because they have spent millions of rupees training me in the military academy and they didn't want me to just quit and 42:42 go. Many times they ask people to pay back if you quit early. But they didn't ask me to pay back one cent. I didn't have the money to pay that back that much in any case. But I saw there that God had a plan for my life and 43:01 that plan is to be fulfilled. Now as I look back over these Finally, the navy released me two years after he called me. It was almost two years on the 4th of May 1960 six was I two years after I was called, I was released. 43:19 And as I look back over these 60 years, the thing that I keep questioning is, Lord, have I finished my plan? Have I fulfilled your plan? Have I done everything that you want me to do? Why did you call me out? Why did you 43:30 take me out? As I look back now, I see little by little day by day how God opened up that plan. I never knew when I left the navy what I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to live or what sort of ministry mine would be. 43:42 But now when I look back, I see God opening up little by little, but I it was step by step by step. And I And I look back now, I say, "Lord, what an amazing plan you had for my life." I wouldn't want any other life than the 43:56 one you chose for me. My dear brothers and sisters, God's got a plan for your life, too. Each one of us is like a member of the body. I'm a one member of the body, you're another member of the body, and God's got a particular plan for your life. 44:12 That is the way. The gate is narrow and the way The way is that long marathon race. That is God's plan for your life. Just make sure you finish it. Make sure you discipline yourself. Make sure you don't worship your body 44:26 and be more interested in the desires in your body than fulfilling God's plan. And I'll tell you why this is important. Now, turn with me to John's Gospel chapter 17. In John's Gospel chapter 17, this is the prayer that Jesus prayed on the last day 44:46 of his life. He'd just broken bread with his disciples and he was about to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and then to the cross. And just before that, this is the last long prayer that he prayed that's recorded. It's the longest prayer of Jesus that's 45:05 recorded in the Bible. And one of the things he says in that prayer, it's very interesting, John 17. He prays to the Father and saying, verse four, "I glorified you on earth having completed 45:24 the work that you gave me to do." Okay, just meditate on that verse. We must meditate on every verse and not rush past. We all want to glorify God on earth. How can you glorify God in your earthly life? Read that. 45:43 By finishing the work God gave you to do. That's how Jesus glorified God on earth. "I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you appointed for me to do." And as I look back over my life, I say, "Lord, I'm amazed how little by little 46:02 you've shown me your plan for my life." And if at any point I disobeyed you and said, "No, no, no, I can't go that way. I want me to make a little money here. I'll choose this way." I had a completely missed God's plan. 46:15 There are people who've done that, believers, who at some point said, "If I choose that way, well, I won't make much money. But suddenly, if I'm going to quit my naval job where I had such a huge salary and I go out to serve the Lord trusting 46:28 not receiving a salary from anybody and not uh asking anybody for uh s- and my needs or anything, I would certainly come down. My financial income would come down about 80%. It did come down 80% when I quit my job and came out to serve the Lord. I 46:45 see money was an important thing to me. I'd never finish God's plan for my life. Now, I want to say that to every one of you, my dear brothers and sisters, if money is a very important thing in your mind all the time, you will never finish God's plan for 46:58 your life. You certainly need not enough money to take care of your family. And I always took care of my family and educated my children all that. You certainly need that. I'm not against that. And definitely, you need to work 47:09 hard and earn enough to take care of your family's needs. And if some people need to work two jobs in order to meet their needs, that's all fine. But don't let that take the place of God's plan for your life. That's what I say. 47:23 In God's plan for your life, he will arrange for enough for you to have a job that will give you enough resources to take care of your family. God is more Let me believe this. God is more interested in your taking care of 47:36 your family and your children getting an education than you are. Are you interested in your children getting a good education? Let me tell you in Jesus' name, God is more interested than you. Are you interested in your children 47:48 having enough to eat and uh being healthy? Let me tell you God is more interested than you are in that. If you believe that, your heart will be at rest. God is not a spoilsport. He loves you and he loves your children. He loves your children more than you do. 48:04 And he wants the very best for every one of us. I've seen that I've seen the miracles God has done for my own children and we when we struggled financially how he took care of them, provided for them, provided education for them, everything 48:19 between beyond my expectation. You honor God, he'll honor you. You often heard me quote 1 Samuel 2:30. This is one of my favorite verses. Like I call it the Bible 1 2 3 0. 1 2 3 0 means 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 48:38 30. In the middle of that verse it says, "Those who honor me, I will honor." That's one of my favorite verses. Because I want God to honor me. I know that I can do miracles for God 48:55 if I honor if he honors me. I can fulfill God's plan for my life if he honors me. And the only condition is honor him. He doesn't ask you to travel the world or give him money or any such thing. He says you honor him, 49:15 he will honor you. "Those who honor me, I will honor." And so I say, "Lord, to the best of my knowledge, I want to honor you. I want to run this race every day seeking to honor you in the way I speak, in the way I think, 49:32 the way I plan my life, I want to honor you." And the way I build up faith in my own heart is like this. I say, "Lord, if I honor you and you don't honor me, 49:51 then it'll be the first time in 6,000 years that you broke that promise. When I say that, I have faith. God can never break his promise. He's never broken it in 6,000 years of man's history. So, I say, "Lord, if I honor you, 50:07 you are obligated. That means you have to honor me, and you will." And it's been a wonderful life for me as I've sought to follow that principle throughout my life. And then you will come to the end of your life and you'll be able 50:23 to say like Jesus, "Father, I finished the work you gave me to do." There are a lot of people who want to go to heaven. I tell you I've got no interest in going to heaven, zero. And God is my witness. I have a tremendous 50:36 interest in finishing the work God gave me to do. And then in God's own time he will take me into the presence of Jesus. That's what I look forward to. As I often said, not heaven, but the presence of Christ is what I'm looking forward 50:49 to, the physical presence of Jesus, meeting him face-to-face. So, unlike other believers who are longing to go to heaven, I have no interest in going to heaven. I have a tremendous interest in meeting Jesus face-to-face. 51:01 That's what I live for. And before I meet him face-to-face, I should be able to say, "Lord, I finished the work you called me to do from my mother's womb." That should be the passion of your life, and I hope I will succeed at least in 51:16 some cases. I hope in all of your cases. That you will be challenged by the fact that God made a plan for your life, every detail, every day of your life before you were born, every day. That's what it says in Psalm 139, that 51:34 verse I read, "The days that were for me were all written down in God's mind." And I say, "Lord, I want to fulfill that every day. I don't want to." And sin is not in that list. There's no sin in there. That's why I want to be free from sin as far as 51:49 possible. As I have light, I want to be free from sin. I want to be free from sin in my thoughts. I want to be free from sin in my attitudes to people that I don't have any grudges against people who hurt me. This is one 52:02 You know, all of us have been hurt by somebody or the other. You keep a grudge in your heart, you've blocked yourself from hearing the voice of God. I'll tell you that in Jesus' name. You keep a grudge in your heart against 52:17 somebody. You have thereby blocked your heart from being able to hear what God is trying to say to you. And I never want that to happen. Um I'm a servant of the Lord and so lot many more people have hurt hurt me and tried to hurt me than they 52:35 tried to hurt you. But I can say before the Lord I have forgiven every single one of them. I have nothing against any one of them. I don't keep any record of what they wrote to me. I destroy those letters or those emails. 52:51 All the wretched things people wrote to me is all destroyed. And in my foolishness in my younger days anything stupid that I wrote I've destroyed that also. There's no record in my emails of anything that anyone said against me or that I said against 53:07 anybody else. It's gone. My heart is clear. I've got I don't want to read all that stuff. In my younger days I was foolish and I tried to defend and think I thought I was defending the Lord's name and all that. I wasn't mature enough. 53:22 But I say I'm free from all that now. We should be growing spiritually. And I want to finish the work God gave me to do. And I'm very thankful that day by day by day and I say Lord I want health only for that reason. Many people are praying that God will 53:39 give them health. I say why do you want God to give you help?" To make more money. I have zero interest in making more money. I want to finish the work God gave me to do. To be able to say at the end of my life, my like my savior said, 53:53 "Father, uh listen to this. I have glorified you on Earth by finishing the work you gave me to do." John 17:4. So, that teaches me I cannot glorify God. All of us say, "I want to glorify God." How do you glorify God? The only way you can glorify God is by 54:13 finishing the work God gave you to do. And God shows you that day by day. And that is the meaning of I show you Isaiah 59 from which the Lord called me. Turn to the next chapter, Isaiah 50. 54:32 In Isaiah 50, and verse four. In the middle of verse four, it says, "The Lord wake wakes me up morning by morning." This is something I've kept on stressing nowadays to people. 54:50 As soon as you wake up in the morning, please remember that it is the Lord who woke you up. And the purpose with which he woke you up is also written in Isaiah 50:4. "He woke me up in order to wake up my heart to listen 55:10 as a disciple." He wakes my the ear of my heart. My heart has got a ear. And it says he wakes up that ear so that I can listen. Lord, what do you want me to do today? That's why Jesus used to go early morning and 55:29 be alone somewhere so that he could find out what is God's plan for that day. And that's the way he wants to live every day. Lord, you may not hear a voice from heaven, but if you have that desire to hear in your heart, 55:42 even without hearing any audible voice, you will fulfill God's plan for your life. This is the wonderful thing. And that is how we finish God's plan for our life. But if you don't have the habit of listening every day, you're not going to fulfill God's plan. 55:56 Remember the first words that Jesus spoke in ministry? What are the first words of Jesus spoken ministry? Matthew 4 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every e v e r y. 56:14 Every word that proceeds from the Father. Not that proceeded 2,000 years ago when the Bible was written. No. The word there is present continuous tense. Matthew 4:4. Every word that proceeds, 56:32 that is proceeding. Do you know there are words proceeding from the Father today for me to hear, for you to hear. When you wake up in the morning, say, "Father, I want to hear what you have to say to me." That's one of the things, you know, not 56:51 just as soon as I get up and I start talking. More important to listen than to talk to the Father. That's another example I often used in Let me repeat it. If you Please listen to me this example and tell me the answer. 57:08 If I'm You hear me speaking on the phone to somebody, and I'm I'm 1 hour on that phone, and I speak for about 2 or 3 minutes, and I'm listening, listening, listening, listening to for 57 minutes. Who do you think is on the other end of 57:27 the line? Is somebody important or a young kid or someone. Definitely someone who's older than me. And whom I respect. That's why I speak only 2 3 minutes and I listen for 57 minutes. Okay, now here's another example. I'm speaking on the phone and I speak 57:46 for 57 minutes. And uh listen only for 3 minutes. Then you know the other fellow is much younger than me. Uh some young fellow whom I'm exhorting. Got it? Now apply that to your prayer to God. If you speak If you spend 30 minutes with the Lord 58:05 and you speak 27 minutes, who do you think is more important, you or God? Definitely you are more important. But if you have 30 minutes talking to God and 27 minutes you're listening, then you recognize that the person at 58:17 the other end of the line is more important. That is true. Just like in a human relationship, you won't be talking talking and talking to someone who's more sure than you and wiser than you and older than you. You listen more. 58:35 Apply that to God. God is the ultimate source of all wisdom. I want to talk to him and I do most of the talking. It was like that in the beginning. I the talking talking I said there's not a single thing that I need which God does not know. 58:51 Look at this lovely verse. In Matthew chapter 6. I know these are all probably revolutionary ideas about prayer that you've never heard from other people, but I it has changed my life. It says here in Matthew chapter 6. 59:10 Have you read this verse? Matthew 6:32. The last part. Your heavenly father knows the things that you need. Oh, what a verse that is. 59:30 Why do I have to give him a big list? Your heavenly Father knows the things that you need. And I say, "Lord, I don't have to give you a big list of anything. I want to spend if I have half an hour, I want to spend 27 minutes 59:47 listening and 3 minutes worshipping you and maybe 30 seconds asking for something. Give me this day my daily food and forgive me my sins as I have forgiven others. Deliver me from evil. But I want to listen, Lord. I want to 1:00:06 listen. Then you will complete the plan God had for your life. I fear there are many, many believers who are going to wake up in eternity and find that God had an amazing plan for their life and they messed up their life. Oh, they 1:00:26 went to heaven, all right. That's all they were interested in. My life as I said before, I have zero interest in going to heaven. I want to get to see my savior's face and I want him here to say to me, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have 1:00:43 accomplished the work I gave you to do." Not that my savior says to me, "Oh, you made it, did you? I wondered whether you'd make it up here." Is that what you want the Lord to say to you? "Oh, somehow you made it. You scraped through and came here." 1:00:58 I don't want to hear that type of word from my Lord after he gave his life for me and did everything. I want to say I want to hear him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have finished the work I planned for you." 1:01:12 So, I want to encourage you, my brothers. Don't be fooled by the deceitfulness of sin. Obvious sins are easy to detect. Telling lies, getting angry, lusting after women, stealing. Obvious. What about the deceitful ways where he fools 1:01:28 us into thinking we're doing something. Look, that's how he fooled Eve. You know, you'll get something if you eat this fruit. The deceitfulness of sin. So, be careful that you don't get fooled by the devil by the deceitfulness of 1:01:42 sin. Say, "Lord, I don't want to miss the plan you have for my life. Please help me at least from today. I wasted many years when I want to run the race looking unto Jesus." One last verse and then I'll close. Hebrews chapter 12. 1:01:58 It says here, "Let us run the race." Hebrews 12:1 and 2. Look, looking unto Jesus who ran the race in front of us, the author and finisher of our faith. Let me run this race and where he's gone in front of me. He is the author and finisher. He's the one 1:02:18 who's my example. He's my forerunner. Hebrews 6 calls him a forerunner, the one who's gone in front. If I keep looking unto him, I can run this race and then I can join him. There it says here, "I'll see him at the right hand of God." Hebrews 12:1 and 2. 1:02:35 Let us lay aside every sin and the weights. See, it says here about weights. Hebrews 12:1. Let us lay aside first of all sin and 1:02:51 the weights that entangle us. Every encumbrance and sin. Every heavy weight. Everything sin Sin is something that ties down our legs. We can't run. Cut that off. Weights are, you know, you go to take part in the 100-m race and you've got 1:03:10 some 50-lb weights in your pockets. You're not going to run with that. Get rid of those weights. Something like that when you're running in Christian race also don't let the devil tie down you tie you down with sin but get rid of unnecessary 1:03:22 weights that prevent you from running. That's what it says here. Let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin weights and things that tie us down and let us run the race looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. 1:03:41 So I believe God wants us to every one of us to finish the race and triumph and I hope none of you are discouraged by what you heard but challenged to something higher and don't don't now get gloomy or the years gone by which are 1:03:54 wasted. Never mind. Say Lord, I'm going to forget the things that are behind and is I'm going to run faster because I wasted so much time. And that's what came to me when I realized that I had wasted so many years. I said, "Lord, I'm going to make 1:04:09 up for that by running faster." So if you feel you wasted many years, run faster from today and say, "Lord, I want to finish the race. I want to finish the plan you got for my life. I thank God I at least know about it today." 1:04:23 Here is a book which I would encourage all of you to read. It's called Gladys Aylward. G L A D Y S A Y L 1:04:42 W A R D and it's published by YWAM publishers. And YWAM is um Youth With A Mission. It's an amazing story. Many missionaries go out supported by others 1:05:00 or by some organization or here is a lady who went out without anybody supporting her. She was not educated and it's an amazing work that she did and it's a remarkable story. I was greatly challenged by it. If you get the name G L A D Y S Gladys 1:05:20 Aylward A Y L W A R D and the publisher is YWAM Youth With A Mission you can order it online. I would really encourage all of you to read it. It's a tremendous challenge. It was a challenge to me. Thank you. Let's pray. 1:05:39 Heavenly Father please help everyone here to accept the challenge. Not to be to run the race and finish the plan that you have for each of our lives. And not to be deceived by the deceitful schemes of Satan. We pray in Jesus' name. 1:05:58 Amen.
