0:00 In relation to building the church, there's a verse that came to us when we first started nearly 40 years ago from Malachi chapter 1. 0:29 Malachi is the last prophet to proclaim in the Old Testament. And after that, the next one was John the Baptist, forerunner of Jesus 300 years later. But by the time it came to the time of Malachi, God had virtually given up on Israel. 0:58 God turned against him in the wilderness and he almost wiped them out except for Moses' intercession. And then this next generation went into Canaan and pretty soon, in the book of Judges, there was absolute chaos and idolatry. 1:22 And then God restored that kingdom again through David. But again, pretty soon, they went down in Solomon's time to idolatry. And then after that, in the book of Kings and Chronicles, there was always this up and down. Some kings would bring them back to the Lord. 1:40 A few like Hezekiah, Josiah. Most of the others would go down into idolatry and the kingdom was split. And the northern kingdom of Israel was worse than the southern kingdom of Judah. And so God sent them into captivity, the northern kingdom a hundred years before the southern kingdom. 1:58 And they were sent into the southern kingdom and God had almost given up on the northern kingdom of Israel. And the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin were sent into captivity because of their idolatry. And they were kept captive for 70 years there. 2:18 And they came back. And initially, like we saw yesterday, there was a revival in the time of Haggai and Zechariah. And they built a temple. But in a couple of hundred years, Malachi is just about 200, 250 years after, or 200 years after they came back from the captivity. 2:40 Again, they had declined. It's amazing how people are revived, brought up to God and declined. The same thing has happened throughout Christendom. With every movement that God raises up, it declines. Like I said yesterday, it all depends on a very strong leader. 3:05 Decline comes in very quickly. And by the time it came to Malachi, things were so bad that the Lord said, You people now, you still make your sacrifices, but Malachi 1:8, You present the blind for sacrifice and the lame. 3:23 Isn't that evil? In other words, they kept the letter of the law. You got to offer a bullock. Okay, they'd find, let me see which bullock I can give. There's a lame one. It's a bit of a nuisance to me. In any case, let me offer that. 3:36 If you offer a sheep, here's a blind sheep, which is a problem for me. Let me offer that. They would pick out, they had to offer a sheep or a bullock. And they would pick up the worst and offer it. And that is usually an indication of when decline has set in. 3:57 And the Lord says, would you treat your governor like that? Would you give him old bread and things that are spoilt? You wouldn't do that to a human authority. But you do it to God. And he says, where is my respect? 4:17 If you say, verse 6, a son honors his father and serving his master. If I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my respect? So that's always one of the indications that decline has come in. That we, our sacrifices are no longer that which costs us something. 4:39 The, we, our attitude towards God becomes, like we heard yesterday. What is the minimum I have to give to God? Whereas when we are full of love for the Lord, we don't think in terms of minimum. We think of, what is the maximum I can give to God with my one life? 4:55 What's the maximum I can sacrifice of myself and my own comforts and needs and etc. So that I can give to God. Whereas, decline comes in when we gradually say, we don't need to sacrifice so much. We can do the minimum necessary. 5:14 We'll still keep a good testimony. And then the Lord gives up on them. And He says, I wish there were some priests, verse 10, who would shut the gates and not even accept these sacrifices. And today the Lord says, I wish there were some leaders who would stand up and speak against this type of minimum attitude among Christians. 5:38 And so, the Lord says, I'm not going to accept an offering from you. Verse 10, the last part. And then He tells them what He's going to do. He says, I've given up on you fellas. You know, the Lord can do that even with the church. 5:55 The Lord told the church in Ephesus. A wonderful church that started so well. You have left your first love. Your attitude has now become, what is the minimum I have to give to God? Just like Malachi. In Malachi's time. 6:14 And the Lord says, if you don't repent from that, I will remove the candlestick. That means I'll de-recognize you as a church. I'll remove the lampstand and you won't be a church anymore as far as I'm concerned. You can still have your meetings and your conferences and everything else. 6:28 But the Lord won't be there. And a lot of church is in that condition. So the Lord gave up on Israel. And then He said, I'm going to do something else. You folks in Israel think you're the only ones whom I've accepted. Right? 6:44 You are God's chosen nation. Sometimes the church gets that feeling. Oh, we're the ones. Nobody else on earth. It's just us whom God has accepted. Well, it was true. But He says, when you backslide, then you're no longer the same before me. 7:03 So I've given up on you and I'm going to do something new. You are no longer going to be the only nation that I accept. From the rising of the sun. Verse 11. To the setting from east to west. That means across the whole earth. 7:18 It's no longer going to be Israel. My name will be great among all the nations. This is a prediction of the gospel that's coming in a few years. In a few hundred years. That will go across among all nations. And in every place. 7:35 This is why I believe there should be a local church in every place. In every place. In every place. Incense is going to be offered to me. There's going to be a worship coming up to my name. And an offering that is pure. 7:50 That's the phrase that struck us. When we started our church. A pure offering. In every place. From east to west. In every nation. That's what God is looking for. A pure offering given by people. Who have learned the spirit of sacrifice. 8:10 That God must get the best of my life. Not the dregs. And what's left over. And then my name will be great among the nations. We would never give. A visitor. The dregs. 8:30 Of anything. You know. Drink a cup of. Tea or coffee. And offer the rest. To a visitor. We wouldn't do it. We wouldn't even do it to a tramp. Or a. Homeless person. But he says. Are you doing it to God? And I believe it's a very good question. 8:46 For us to ask ourselves. Because I want to tell you. Most Christians do that. The best is for themselves. And what's left over. Of time. Or energy. Or money. Is for God. That's exactly like. Drinking the cup of coffee. And giving the dregs to the visitor. 9:08 We'd never do that to a visitor. Ask yourself. Whether you're doing it to God. Is the best. Of your life for God. So many people have spent all their life. Living to make money. And they feel guilty. Towards the end of their life. 9:26 And say. Oh I've got to do something. For God now. At least let me give the closing years. Of my life to God. The dregs. I'm surprised. They're not even ashamed of it. I'm surprised. That they don't fall on their face. Before God. 9:41 And say. Lord have mercy on me. That all my life. I lived for the world. I lived for the world. And to make money. And now at the end of my life. I'm giving the dregs of my life. To you. Or in terms of. Time. Energy. We have energy. 10:00 For so many things. In the world. And there was left over. For God. For God. Well it's not going to be like that. He says. I'm going to get an offering. That's pure. In every place. On the earth. And here and there. God finds it. 10:17 But what I want you to see. Is the same decline. That came in Israel. Has happened. Throughout these 2,000 years. Of church history. The church that started so well. With the apostle Paul. In Ephesus. Do you know that the apostle Paul. 10:36 Spent more time in Ephesus. Than in any other place. And that's why it was. The most spiritual church. Now the reason why I say that is. When Paul writes to the Corinthians. He says. I can't. Tell you some of the deep truths. 10:49 Of scripture. I speak wisdom among those who are mature. But among you. I can only give you milk. Because you're babes. But when he writes to the Ephesians. He writes about the wisdom of God. About the eternal purpose of God. 11:02 And things like that. So I believe the church in Ephesus. Was the most spiritual church. There was in those days. Among those which Paul planted. I want you to look at Acts chapter 20. When Paul spoke to the elders in Ephesus. 11:15 He says to them. In verse 31. Acts chapter 20. In verse 31. He says. Be on the alert. Remember that night and day. For a period of three years. I did not cease to admonish you. 11:35 Each one with tears. So we know that Paul lived there for three years. And he had meetings. At least twice a day. Night and day. And he admonished them. Very often with tears. With great compassion. See three years. 11:57 Is. Over a thousand days. And twice a day means 2,000 sermons. 2,000 sermons. Can you imagine sitting and listening to. 2,000 sermons of the apostle Paul. Wow. What a church that would be. No wonder it was the most spiritual church. 12:20 And not only 2,000 sermons from the apostle Paul. His life. He says. You know how I lived among you. You saw how I lived. I did not covet. Verse 33. Anybody's silver or gold. He says. I didn't want any money from anyone. 12:37 I didn't want anybody to come and give me a new set of clothes. I wanted nothing from you people. Verse 34. I worked with my own hands. And took care of my needs. Praise God for such men. There are those like that today. 12:57 And not only to my own needs. But to the men who were with me. That's amazing. I mean to take care of our own needs itself is an amazing thing. Paul went one step further. The some of them who were with him were not able to earn their own living. 13:11 So he worked and supported them as well. Absolutely amazing. No wonder God used this man so mightily. You know when the Bible says that in the last days will be like the days of Noah. And we know there was tremendous sex sin and violence in Noah's day. 13:29 And this characteristic of the last days. And we see it being fulfilled in our day. But we mustn't forget that that also means that there will be people like Noah in the last days as well. Not just that this world will be like Noah's days. 13:42 There will be a few people like Noah. And when God told Noah to build this huge ship. He did not ask like most Christian workers would ask today. Where's the money going to come from? He never asked that question. You notice that? 14:02 And God never told him. If he had asked it. God would have said from your own pocket. Where else Noah? You don't have anybody in other countries to whom you can send reports about your work now to get money. There will be people like Noah in the last days. 14:22 Who do the Lord's work. At their own expense. Without sending any reports of their work anywhere. Are you one of them? God's looking for such people. Paul was one of them. He never sent reports of his own work anywhere. 14:44 Expecting money like almost every Christian organization and mission does today. Where did they get that from? Where did they get that idea from? Not from Jesus. He never sent reports about his work. Not from Paul. He never sent reports of his work. 15:02 It's worldly concepts that were put into people's minds. He has become a business. Just like the money changers in the temple. And if the Lord were here, he'd ride them out even today. So, here was a man who worked and he said, 15:22 I wanted to do this so that I could give you an example. Verse 35. In everything I showed you, by working hard, every servant of God must be hard working. You probably need to cut down on your sleep if you want to study the word of God. 15:44 You probably need to cut down on your sleep if you need to spend time counseling people. And if your own comfort and sleep and all that means so much to you, well, think of people who do business. In Bangalore, where I live, there are a lot of businessmen. 16:06 And I've thought of some of those people who run these businesses. Shop stores that are open till late at night because they want customers even till 9 o'clock. 9:30 at night, they'll keep their stores open. I mean, their employees may go home but the owner will sit there and sell stuff because he wants to make money. 16:32 Late at night, they'll open in the morning. And they're always thinking of how can I open another store somewhere. That's how all these big, big stores that you read of today started. They started as one small store and they always had dreamed of starting another one somewhere. 16:50 And at night, if they had dreams, it would be dreams of how to make more money. And the Bible says there are two masters in the world: God and money. And I used to think, Lord, these businessmen in Bangalore, how wholeheartedly they serve their God. 17:11 Their God is money and how wholeheartedly. Till late at night, they sacrifice so much of their convenience. They hardly have time for a vacation. You know, a lot of these businessmen, they don't take vacations. They'd lose such a lot of money. 17:27 They don't close their stores one day in a year. Money, money, money, money. Stores must be open every day. And I say, Lord, do I serve you like that? Are these businessmen who are so zealous to serve their God, mammon, 17:49 going to put me to shame who claims to be serving the true God? I want to ask you. Has any businessman in America put you to shame by his zeal to promote his business compared to your zeal to promote the kingdom of God? 18:10 Then we should say shame on us if that is true. We're like those people in the end of Malachi. No wonder hardly anything happens in our work. Or we do one little thing and we're happy. Can you imagine any businessman who has made one little store and he's happy with it? 18:27 Oh, I made one store. I'm okay. It's Christians who seek their own comfort and always seeking, you know, their life revolves around them and a little bit for God, the dregs for God, the dregs of my time, the dregs of my energy for God. 18:45 And they expect God to support them. Paul was not like that. He said, I've showed you by working hard how we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, verse 35, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 19:01 And when he called these elders together in verse 17 and he spoke to them, the first thing he said was, you know, verse 18, The day I set foot in Asia, in all these three years, you saw how I lived with you. Serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, with trials. 19:25 So many people plotting against me and I never shrank from declaring to you anything that was profitable. Teaching you publicly, visiting you house to house. Solemnly testifying how you must repent and have faith in God. 19:39 And it doesn't matter to me if I'm going bound in spirit. My only, I don't even consider verse 24, my life dear to myself. If I can finish my course in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of this wonderful gospel of the grace of God. 19:56 I'm not surprised that God used a man like that. And I'm not surprised that God does not use half-hearted people who sit back and do hardly anything and say, Well, maybe it's not God's time or it's not God's will. It will never be God's time and God's will for people like that. 20:12 You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. That's a law of God. That's a law of God. That's a law of God. And Paul says, Because I have lived like that among you. Verse 26, I'm innocent of the blood of all men. 20:35 I am not innocent of the blood of all men to whom I preach unless they have seen me radically wholehearted in my life, proclaiming to them the whole counsel of God that if they could examine my life, they see I'm serious about serving God. 20:54 The day and night my mind is on serving God. And he says, I know what will happen after I go. He was prophesying. Verse 29, After my departure, savage wolves will come in among you. 21:18 Like I said, that's happened in Christendom. A great man of God, God raises up like Paul to start something. And by the time his time is over or he dies, that's the end of that movement. Wolves come in and destroy it. Whether it's the Lutherans or the Methodists or the Salvation Army, whatever it is. 21:36 Some great man of God rises up and starts a work. And by the time he's dead and gone, the next generation, it's all over. Why? It doesn't have to be like that. Why did these savage wolves not come in during those three years when Paul was there? 21:59 They were there outside, those savage wolves. But they knew they had no chance as long as Paul was there in that church. Because he would stand no nonsense. He was strict. He would drive the money changers out of his church. 22:17 He would preach. He didn't mind if he offended everybody. He didn't mind if a whole lot of people got offended and left. And the wolves knew there was no chance as long as this guy is around. His standards of holiness are so high, we have no chance. 22:35 But he's not going to be around forever. He'll leave one of these days. Then our chance will come. That's what these wolves were saying outside. And their chance came. As soon as Paul left. And he's not talking to the half-hearted believers in the Ephesus. 22:56 It's to the elders. He called the elders of a church that he had planted. He'd been with them for three years. They had listened to 2,000 sermons of his. To those elders, he says. In other words, he's saying, you guys are not wholehearted. 23:12 You guys have got other interests. You're not like Timothy. You're not dreaming about God's kingdom. Your dreams are about something else. You won't sacrifice time in your business in order to do something for God. You won't shut down your stores to do something for God. 23:34 No, no, no, no. Stores must run. We've got to make money. Okay. Then be ready for the wolves to come and destroy your work. You'll have a name that, oh, I'm an elder in church in Ephesus planted by the apostle Paul. It will only be a name. 23:53 The wolves will come right in. And not only that, once the wolves come in and create chaos in your church, some of you elders, verse 30, will also begin to speak perverse things and draw away disciples. What are perverse things? 24:12 It's not wrong doctrine. No. The wolves always come in sheep's clothing. Remember this. Sheep's clothing is fundamental evangelical doctrine. Otherwise, you wouldn't accept that wolf. So, perverse things is not wrong doctrine, but that which is drawing people after themselves and not pointing people to Christ. 24:36 Paul pointed people to Christ. These elders would draw, try to attract people so that people would appreciate them over the other elder. Oh, I'm a greater preacher than him. Don't you fellows think so? You know, that can come even in a good church. 24:53 Saul was greatly appreciated as king in Israel. When they made him king, he was so humble that when they looked for him, they couldn't find him. And he had hidden himself under some luggage, it says. 25:14 So they wouldn't find him. But they found him out and pulled him out and said, you've got to be the king. He was a very humble man when he started. But a little later, when he saw the anointing had moved to a younger man like David, he just couldn't stand it. 25:31 He just couldn't stand that the people were praising David more than him. And there, you saw his real nature. He wanted to kill David. He wanted to get rid of him. That spirit I have seen so much in Christendom. 25:54 Saul was the man who was head and shoulders above everybody, it says. When he stood in the crowd, he was one head taller than everybody else. And that's what one type of leader represents. A head. A clever mind. Whereas David was a man after God's own heart. 26:18 And the head leaders don't like the heart leaders. Because the heart leaders draw people to Christ. And those who are hungering after God long to hear them. And the head leaders get jealous. 26:40 So here were elders in Ephesus who had listened to 2,000 sermons from Paul and who hadn't understood the way of humility or the way of withdrawing and pushing other people forward. We're always seeking to project themselves. 26:53 Lots and lots of preachers in Christendom seek to project themselves. Christendom is full of such preachers. Very eloquent. Very capable. A lot of Bible knowledge and they can very forceful and impressive. But in their inner life, they're seeking to draw, get people to admire them. 27:14 And gradually get a following. And even if they don't split the church to get a following within the church. They want to show that they're, I don't know how many elders there were there. Four or five maybe. But I'm the best of the lot. 27:30 Or I'm better than the other four. Be aware of that spirit. That's what destroys the church. And that shows you don't really love Jesus at all. You just love yourself. See, the salvation is to deliver me from the love of myself to love of Christ. 27:49 And if that hasn't happened in an elder, how can we ever expect it to happen in a church? So that's what we need to ask ourselves deep down in our heart. Has God delivered me from the love of myself? I'm wanting to promote myself or project myself before people. 28:07 Or hope that everybody will admire me or quote me perhaps. I get a thrill in my heart when somebody quotes me. There's so much of love of self. We have to be ruthless, my brothers. And it's like we saw yesterday. Paul is in a man who's renewed day after day after day. 28:29 And these are areas where we have to cleanse ourselves. And judge ourselves ruthlessly. And cleanse ourselves from any desire to draw people to ourselves. Or to get people to admire us. That's the way to destroy a church. 28:44 And God won't back such people. I remember many years ago, I was beginning my own ministry. The Lord pointed out to me a verse in Colossians chapter 1. Where it says about Colossians in chapter 1. 29:11 Verse 18. Christ is the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning. The first born from the dead means the very first who rose up from the dead. And the purpose of this is, why is Christ the head of the body, the church? 29:30 So that he himself might have first place in everything. Or the preeminence in everything. And what God said to me from that verse was, The Father's desire is that Christ will have the preeminence, the first place at all times. 30:00 And the Lord said to me, If you make that your goal as well, I'll back you all your life. I've never forgotten it. If your goal in life is to give Christ first place in everything. In your home, in your life, in your church. 30:21 And you want to disappear. You want to withdraw. You don't want people to see you. You don't want people to admire you. You don't want people to think about you or quote you or anything. You just want Christ to have preeminence everything. 30:32 God says, I'll back you 100%. Dear brothers, be like that. God needs, not for you to build a local church in your area and say, I built a local church. No. But because God wants a church, forget about you and me. 30:52 That's unimportant. So that Christ might have the preeminence. Not that you might have the glory. That you started a local church in your place. Get rid of it. You'll never build a church in your place if that's your goal and ambition. 31:12 Here were these wonderful people who had listened to 2,000 sermons of Paul who were still seeking preeminence for themselves. And so he said it will happen. Can you think of how those elders, can you imagine if here Paul was speaking to four or five elders. 31:31 There were not so many elders, maybe five of them. And he tells them. I'll tell you, what he's indirectly saying is, you guys are not as wholehearted as I am. I could keep the wolves out, but you will not be able to. And I know what's going to happen. 31:48 You're going to speak a lot of perverse things and draw people after you. Can you imagine how those, how would you have reacted if you were one of those elders listening to Paul? You would have thought, what an arrogant guy. 31:59 He thinks he's the only one who's wholehearted around here. Wouldn't you think like that? But Paul was right. He had discernment. He could see. You know, he looked at all his coworkers once and said, there's none like Timothy. 32:17 He is the one. He doesn't seek his own. He's 100% devoted to the interests of Christ. He's genuinely concerned about the welfare of others. All the others are serving and doing a lot of things. The elders are right, but they don't have that commitment of Timothy. 32:32 Paul had such discernment. One of the things that happens when we get closer and closer to God. God gives us discernment. Which is not, you don't discern by a person's actions or you don't listen to his messages and discern. 32:46 It's a spirit. You know, it's like people who've got a sharp sense of smell. None of us have got as sharp a sense of smell as a police dog. A dog can pick up smell and trace a criminal for miles. Imagine if God gave us that type of smell of discernment of people's. 33:10 The God who gave a sense of smell to that dog. And we don't have it as human beings. Can't he give us that sense of discernment that I can, even when a person appears very spiritual and talk the right language. And looks very holy and a wholehearted person in the church. 33:29 You can see that he's not really serious. If you don't have that, it would be very difficult to build a church. You'll be fooled by people who are gifted, by people who are eloquent, people who are great preachers, or great singers, or people who appear to be wholehearted, or rich people who give money to the church. 33:52 You'll be fooled by all of them. So we need discernment. And we've got to get closer and closer to God to get discernment. There's absolutely no way one can give it to another. And Paul could not give his discernment to anybody. 34:11 You had to get it yourself by walking close to God. I mean, there's no other way. But that's so important. And so, I mean, these people may have thought that Paul was arrogant, but he was not. He was just warning them. He wasn't hoping that it would happen. 34:27 Paul could never hope that after I go, the wolves will come in. No, he wanted that church to be preserved, but he warned them. And a warning doesn't mean it has to happen. Remember, Jonah went and told Nineveh, "Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days." 34:39 It didn't happen. It did not happen because they repented. And if Paul said the wolves will come in, they need not have come in if they had repented. You guys will draw people after yourselves. It need not have happened if they had repented. 34:57 But unfortunately, it did happen. You read 30 years after this in Revelation chapter 2. I call this the second letter to the Ephesians. The second letter to the Ephesians. Revelation chapter 2. 35:17 It says, "Look at this church now." And look at this church now. The other people who followed after Paul were the elders. And look at all the good things they had. And look at the church. Your deeds. 35:37 Revelation 2:2. Your toil. Your perseverance. Imagine if that can be said about your church. Or about you. Your hard work. Your perseverance. You don't endure evil men. You've taken a strong stand against sin. 35:57 And you test these false apostles who come and preach the health, wealth, gospel and all types of nonsense. And you found that they are false and you put them out. You think that's a pretty good church. This is a pretty good elder. 36:10 And you have perseverance. And all the opposition that has come because you stand up for Christ in your town. For my name's sake you have stood true and you have not grown weary. You think this is a wonderful church. But. 36:27 You left your first love. You're not devoted to me anymore says Jesus. You're not seeking to give Christ preeminence. All this activity. You know you can have all this activity. Zeal. Standing up for the truth. You hear of some church. 36:46 Maybe. Here in this country where it's got a lot of activity and zeal. Fundamental in doctrine. That's got a good pastor at its head. And preaching the whole truth. And preaching against sin. And exposing the false gospel. 37:00 And also you say what a wonderful church. And the Lord may say no. They've got all that. But they don't have a fervent love for me. But they don't have a fervent love for me. Is that serious Lord? Yes. Verse 5. It is so serious. 37:18 He says remember from where you were fallen. Remember those days when my servant Paul was there. Where you were. 30 years ago. 30 years ago. You're still doing the same things externally. You have increased in number much more than when Paul was here. 37:33 But you've fallen. And you've fallen so badly. Then you need to repent. Who would ever think of looking at a church today that's fundamental in doctrine. That's like preaching against sin. And exposing false teachers. And zealous and persevering. 37:51 Standing up against opposition. Who would ever think of telling such a church to repent? Only a prophet. John was a prophet. He told the church. He says. You don't fool me. God's shown me that you guys need to repent. And if you don't repent. 38:12 The Lord says. I will take away the lampstand. In other words. I'll de-recognize you as a church. The Lord appreciates the good things. You've got some good deeds. Like you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. Whatever that was. 38:27 Which I also hate. But. Despite all those things. Good qualities. The fact that you've lost your love for me. Christ is not preeminent in your life. You can't be a church as far as I'm concerned. I'm calling you to repent. 38:44 So we see there that. Love for Christ. Fervent love for Christ. That leads to fervent love for one another. Is. What the Lord looks for. Everything must spring out of that. And if it doesn't spring out of it. It has no value. 39:04 It's like you know. A newly married couple. So much in love with each other. When the man comes home from work. The wife is there to open the door. And kiss him. And welcome him. And the food is ready on the table. And they're so happy together. 39:19 And you go to that same house 20 years later. And the husband comes in. And the wife is somewhere else. And says I've already eaten. The food is on the table. You can have it. That's right. Yeah. She cooked the food still. 39:35 Just as good as before. But it's not that fervent devotion. That she had. The first days when she's married. This happened in many marriages. God's will is that in a marriage. Love for each other should increase. Year by year by year. 39:56 I ask married couples. When they come and say. Brother Zach pray for us. It's our 10th wedding anniversary. I said you love each other 10 times more than you did. When you got married. What's your glorying 10th anniversary. 40:08 You love each other 10 times more today. Otherwise what's the use. Just counting the calendar dates. It's the same way with Jesus. If I don't love him more. All my activity is worth nothing. It's not our work that God looks at. 40:29 It's our heart attitude. Our service for God. Must come out of a fervent love for him. We may have made a mess of our life. Like I said yesterday. You know. Moses messed up things when he killed an Egyptian. Jacob messed up things when he told a lie. 40:51 And stole the birthright. A lot of God's men did those foolish things. Peter denied the Lord. And the Lord still picked them up. And that's what gives hope to all of us. If you're honest. You'll acknowledge that sometime in your life in the past. 41:08 You're messed up. Even as a believer. Even after becoming a believer. And does that mean we're disqualified? No. You know when Peter messed up. What do you think? 41:28 Do you think Peter's denying the Lord was a very light type of sin? Do you know what the Lord said about denying him? He never said if you commit adultery I'll deny you before my father. If you murder someone I'll deny you before my father. 41:44 You know what he said? If you deny me before men. I will deny you before my father. So that's a pretty serious sin. Because murderers and adulterers would be forgiven. They're not the one who denied him. And that's what Peter did. 42:01 I see it as worse than murder and adultery. Because it's the one sin Jesus said would make him deny you before the father. And he's done that. Imagine if you had after becoming a believer. Not just a believer. Peter had become a full time worker. 42:17 He'd given up his job. He had gone around preaching for three and a half years. Heal the sick. And perhaps raised the dead as well. We don't know because in Matthew 10 the Lord gave them that authority to raise the dead and cast out demons when he sent them out. 42:35 After all that. Then to commit this terrible sin. Have some of you been like that? That after you came to the Lord and began to serve him and really began to serve him and began to be used by him and then you fell into some terrible thing? 42:54 Is there hope for you? There is. Peter felt there wouldn't be. He says, I've messed it all up. There's no hope for me. That's why he says in John 21, I am going back to my fishing. I failed as an apostle. I'm good for nothing. 43:13 But there's one thing I can still do. I can fish. And the Lord made him fail. You know, once God has laid his hand on you and called you to serve him, if he loves you, he'll make you fail at everything else you try. Thank God. 43:33 Till you come back and say, Lord, I want to do what you called me for. So he failed. And the Lord called him. The Lord blessed his fish. I mean, he caught more fish that day than he'd ever caught in his life. And just because God blesses us in some area 43:52 doesn't mean that's our profession. If God blesses your business, that may not mean that he wants you to continue there. There was this Peter whose fishing business was blessed so much that day as he had never been blessed before. 44:10 He could have said, oh, this may be God's leading. I mean, I failed as an apostle, but I'm going to succeed now as a fisherman. And he's looking at those fish, as Peter was looking and calculating in his mind how much he'll get for those 153 fish 44:26 in the market. And if he kept going like this, how it would be? That's the moment when the Lord turns to Peter and says, Peter, do you love me more than these fish? Do you love me more than this money you can make by expanding your business 44:45 and doing more fishing, setting up more fish stores in Galilee? Do you love me more than all that? And he was broken. He knew he had denied the Lord. And you know, it doesn't come out so clearly in the English, but in the original language, 45:07 in the Greek, the Lord was asking Peter, do you love me with that supreme love that a man must have for God? And Peter said, no, Lord. He used a lower word for love. We could translate it like this. Do you love me, Peter, 45:22 with all your heart? Lord, I'm friendly with you. It's a friendship love he spoke about. Again, the Lord says, do you love me with that supreme love that a man has for God? Lord, I have a friendship love for you. He was not the old Peter. 45:38 He said, hey, if everybody denies you, I won't deny you. If it was the old Peter, he said, sure, I love you with that type of love. But he was a little more honest now. And the wonderful thing there is the Lord, the third question is, 45:51 okay, Peter, do you love me at least with that friendship type of love? Let's start there. And Peter was broken there. The Lord had descended to his level. One is agape, the other is philio. Those are the original words in the Greek. 46:06 Do you love me with agape love? No, Lord. I love you with philio love. Do you love me with agape love? No, with philio love. Do you love me at least with philio love, friendship? And he's broken. He says, Lord, you know all things. 46:19 You don't even, I don't even know. You know whether I love you or not. And each time, the Lord said, take care of my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. That's enough, Peter. You're honest. You're sincere. You're not boasting anymore. 46:42 That's what the Lord looks for. Honesty. Lord, I want to love you like that, but I don't love you like that yet. Are you like that today? The Lord will give you a ministry to tend his sheep, to feed his sheep, to build a church. 46:58 Love is the thing. That's what he looks for. Do you love me? Even if it's a very weak type of love and you're honest about it. You're not boasting that you love him more than everybody else and all that type of stuff. The Lord says, 47:11 I'll give you a ministry. And that's how he went out. And that's why we see here too that that's what the Lord looked for in Ephesus. Not all their perseverance and their deeds and their toil and their standing against sin. 47:28 You know, we can think we have reached great heights when we preach against sin in the church. Oh, what more can we have? We can be a bunch of legalists preaching against sin. Sure. You'll never be a legalist if you lead people to love 47:43 and if you love yourself. A man who loves Jesus with all his heart and seeks to love others can never be a legalist. But a man who preaches against sin, sin, sin, sin, sin can be a legalist. It's all a question of the motive. 48:01 In the final day when we stand before the Lord, the important question will not be what did you do but why did you do it? Not whether you gave up sin but why did you give it up? It was your motive. Did it come out of love? 48:19 What hasn't come out of love really has no value before God. Did you serve me because you love me? You know the Bible speaks about Jerusalem and Babylon. Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. Babylon is the harlot or what we would call a prostitute. 48:40 It's very clear in the end of the Bible there are two types of churches. And how do we know which church we are building? Babylon is great and big. Ten times in Revelation you read Babylon the great, the great, the great, the great. 49:01 If you're looking for something great you're doomed to build Babylon. But Jerusalem is called the holy city in Revelation. It's greatness or holiness. It's quantity or quality. If you're interested in quantity I guarantee you'll build Babylon. 49:21 If you're concerned oh there are only four or five people in my church. We need more and they are so excited when 50 people come. You're on the road to Babylon brother. Sure, without a doubt. Because you're excited at numbers. 49:41 Jerusalem is the holy city. If that is what you're pursuing. What's the difference between a loving wife and a prostitute? It's this. 50:01 A loving wife gives you her body because she loves you. A prostitute gives you her body because you pay her. There are preachers who serve God because they love. There are preachers who serve God because they get a monthly salary. 50:26 You decide who's the bride and who's the prostitute. It's motive that matters. And some of these prostitutes can preach great sermons which impress people build mega churches. And people who have no discernment are amazed. 50:47 They listen to them. They read their books thinking they'll be spiritual. What's it that's going to make you spiritual? A moving, eloquent sermon? Yeah, there's a lot of Babylon being built all over Christendom. 51:09 And there's a movement like in the old days and you know when Israel was in Babylon God raised up a few men to lead some out of Babylon to Jerusalem. And there's a movement from Babylon to Jerusalem today as well which is very small. 51:26 But it's those who are not taken up with greatness but holiness. And those who are not taken up with impressing others but who want to please God. Those who want everything they do to come out of love for Christ and who never want 51:45 to lose their love for Christ. If other things there's no time for other things it's okay. Preserve your devotion to Jesus Christ and let your labor in the church come out of love. It says in Ephesians 5 and verse 25. 52:05 Ephesians 5 verse 25 Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Never forget that expression my dear brothers if you want to build a church. It's the word that God has spoken to me many times. If you really love my church 52:24 you'll give yourself for it. yourself not your money or time that'll come as a result of giving yourself. You know like it says about Paul says about the Macedonian Christians when they gave money for God's work 52:45 it says 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 5 they gave a lot of money for God's work for the saints for the poor saints but not as we had expected they first gave themselves to the Lord and then gave their money. 53:08 There's a lot of difference with people who just give money for God's work give themselves to the Lord that's why if you go to our CFC website and go to the section there on finances you'll see there are five conditions 53:23 for giving money to the Lord. you've got to give yourself first otherwise we're not interested in your money. So the Lord wants us to love him before we serve him. If our love if our service for him does not come out of love for him 53:40 it's not worth anything. if I don't love the church my service for the church is useless. And if you love the church and if you love the Lord even if you're weak and helpless you seek say Lord I love you and I want your name to be honored 53:59 in this town where your name is so dishonored. That's the thing that always used to burden my heart in India. I say Lord your name is so dishonored in this land I wanted to be honored at least in a small way in one small 54:18 little corner where I live. Can we honor your name? You seek that my brother God will back you up. Sometimes in India when people come to our conferences and they see what God's done in different places they say Brother Zach 54:38 please come here to where we are and we'd like you to oversee our work and we want to build a church here. I say I can't build a church. It's not my calling. Jesus builds a church. He may use anyone but I will look to see 54:55 I said whether God backs you up where you are and if I see God backing you up and gathering and gathering even two or three wholehearted people I will come behind God and support you 55:15 but I'll never go ahead of God and try to build something when I see God hasn't backed you up yet. I'll never go in front of God. No, I never do it. I'd be wasting my time because God sees people's hearts and he may see things 55:31 in somebody which I don't see. He appears to be genuine. He appears to be gripped by the doctrine and comes to all the conferences and he seems to be very serious but I don't see God backing him up and I say okay I don't 55:44 know he's a good brother I love him very much we're good friends but I say I have no partiality I want to see if God backs him up. That's the principle I've sought to follow everywhere because I'll tell you why because I have 56:01 only one life and I have only 365 days in a year and I don't have time to waste in areas where God is not doing something. Okay I may not do it perfectly I may make a few mistakes that's alright but at least I want to get 95% 56:20 right where God wants me to go and do his will. Love the church and say Lord I love you and I love the church and I'm ready to give myself for it. let's turn to John chapter 17 56:41 believe this was the great secret of Jesus life and we close with this John 17 verse 10 it's gripped me tremendously since many years John 17 verse 10 Jesus says to the father in his last 57:01 prayer father all things that are mine are thine I won't hold anything back from you and therefore all things that are thine are mine what a wonderful thing to do you 57:22 give 10% to God God says sure I'll give you 10% of what I have also I don't want to be a 10% Christian look at all these preachers telling people to give 10% they're going to produce 10% Christians God's going to give such 57:37 people 10% God gives you according to what you give Jesus said everything of mine is yours I'm 100% son oh really God says 100% of what I have is yours do you know this is the reason why you find some believers have a lot 57:54 more of God a lot more revelation than you have because God is not partial we reap as we sow and I'm not talking about the seed faith that these Pentecostals 58:16 and charismatics talk about they're talking about sowing to their ministry no do you know that every word about giving in the New Testament is never for the ministry have you discovered that every passage that people quote 58:34 on giving 2nd Corinthians 8 2nd Corinthians 9 1 Corinthians 16 it is about giving to the poor show me one place where there's a word about giving for God's work in the New Testament I like to see it that's in modern preaching 58:52 it's by believers who don't read the Bible carefully you read it carefully and show me Paul never asked anybody to support his work he gave to God everything he had God gave everything to Paul Paul didn't live a very comfortable 59:11 life there were times when he says I don't have a blanket Timothy can you please get my blanket I'm shivering here in this Roman prison there were times when he didn't have enough to eat but he finished his course and he 59:25 kept the faith and he fought a good fight he built the church and you and I can do that if you have the same devotion to Christ if you say to Jesus Lord all that I have is yours he will say to you all that I have is yours 59:40 too let's pray heavenly father help us we pray to be gripped by these truths not just in our minds but in our hearts we pray in Jesus name amen Thank you.
