0:01 In the last two evenings, we were looking at our worship of God and our walk with God and I mentioned that 0:20 our service for the Lord or our work for God that we're think going to think today about our work for God that our work for God must flow out of our worship of God and our walk with God. So you realize from that that you can go 0:40 to two extremes. one where like a lot of Christians do there's very little or no worship in their life even though there's a lot of singing and they're not walking with God in their personal life but they are seeking 0:58 to serve God and that of course is one extreme then there's another extreme of people who have swung Christianity has got this disease called pendulumitis swing to the extreme and say these fellows are not walking with God. 1:15 They're not worshiping. So we spend our time uh worshiping God and walking with him and never do anything for him, never serve him, never work for him. That is just another extreme. And uh to tell you quite honestly, the 1:31 devil is quite happy with both these extremes. Because imagine if all that the apostles did in their entire life was just worship God and walk with him. There wouldn't be any Christianity today. All of us became Christians because 1:48 somebody did a work. Somebody sacrificed. He didn't spend all his time worshiping and walking with God. He worked. The apostles worked. So we need to recognize that our worship 2:07 and our walk must lead to work. And when we think of our work for God, many people think only of full-time Christian work. Was Jesus working for God only for three and a half years? 2:25 Whom was he working for the other 30 years? At the end of 33 and 1/2 years, he said in John chapter 17 and verse 4, and that's the verse I want you to look at. You know, each of these evenings we've been looking at one theme verse. 2:45 And if you'll remember the first day, it was Matthew 4:10. You shall worship and then only you shall serve. And then the second day, we were thinking of 1 John 2:6. If we say we abide in him, we must walk as he walked. 3:03 And today we want to look at John 17:4. I have glorified you on earth by how do we glorify God on earth? By finishing the work which you gave me to do. Or as the message Bible says, by 3:22 completing down to the last detail the work that you assigned me to do. Completing down to the last detail the work that you assigned me to do. So if we believe that the father loves 3:39 us like he loved Jesus, then there is a work that God has assigned for you to do. Like an old hymn says, there's a work for Jesus that none but you can do. 3:59 Nobody else can do that. Only you can do it. That's why the Bible calls the church the body of Christ. Where each member of the body has got a function. the eyes, the ears, the hands, the legs, 4:20 even the little toes. I was I discovered one day that you can't stand properly if you don't have those little toes. Do you know your stability comes from those 10 little toes? 4:38 You can't despise them. If you had feet without those 10 toes, you wouldn't be able to stand properly. Every little thing in the body, every little person in the body has got a function. Some brother may be like a small little toe. 4:54 He brings stability to the body. What about the internal organs? Many that we don't see. There are many members of the body of Christ who never come up to the platform. Who you never see. Don't they have a work? 5:13 Like all the internal parts of the body, the heart, the liver, the kidney, many many things, every single thing has a function. You know, I heard that the doctors know there's a thing called the appendix and they say it doesn't have a function. 5:30 These are arrogant, stupid doctors who say that instead of humbly saying we haven't yet discovered the function. There is nothing in the human body that God created without a function. We may not have discovered it. That's another 5:48 thing. Medical science keeps on discovering new new things. Maybe one day they'll discover it or if they continue in their stupidity, they'll never discover it. But there's a function in every part of the human body. Every single part. And if that could be 6:04 true of the physical body and you are part of Christ's body, you must remember there is a part that you have to fulfill. It may be visible. It may be invisible. It may be something that brings honor before men or may not bring honor before 6:23 men. Well, then you'll still get your reward from God. But the point I want to stress is that if you don't fulfill that particular function then either somebody else's work becomes double or God's work is hindered. 6:43 See for example I'll take an example. If my left hand is paralyzed the right hand has to do the work of two hands. If my left leg is paralyzed, I got to keep hopping on my right leg and my right leg has to do the work of two 7:00 legs. So that often happens in the body of Christ unfortunately where many many people many sitting here who have not taken seriously their responsibility in the body of Christ who 7:17 are not gripped by the fact that you have a function to fulfill in the body of Christ. How long? I'll tell you from the day you are born again until the day you die or until the day Christ comes again. 7:36 Then we'll be taken up. But until the last day of your earthly life, there is a function that God wants you to fulfill. I'll believe that even if I'm 90 years old, I believe that God has got a function for me to fulfill until the 7:55 very last day of my earthly life. None of us know how long we're going to live. But we must believe this. I believe this with all my heart. And faith makes a difference in my life. That's why my life becomes exciting. You know, if you give up and say, "Oh, 8:13 well, God's got nothing for me to do." But that's exactly what the devil wants you to say. He wants you to believe that God's got nothing for you to do because you're not so gifted like somebody else. Why do you think the man with the one 8:26 talent went and buried it? Because he looked at somebody with five and he said, "Boy, I don't have what he has." And he looked at, "I don't even have what this fellow's got who's got two." And he got discouraged. And that's what happens. You know, very 8:40 often the devil says, "You don't have the gift that brother has. So what? But you still have a function to fulfill. Think if some of the internal organs in our body said, "Well, we are not. Nobody's noticing us. If we relax, it's 8:53 okay." Well, if we relax, the body dies. How many times the heart pumps and pumps and pumps thousands of times a day? That's what keeps our body alive. But nobody ever thinks about it till they get a heart attack or something. 9:10 There are invisible parts inside our body that they don't relax. They keep on functioning because they are not doing it for honor. They're doing it for the head. The head tells the kidneys, the liver, the heart, and every part of the body to keep 9:27 functioning. And they're not concerned whether you see it or not. They're they obey the head. It's a wonderful picture the church the body of Christ where each person's connected to the head and the head's given me a burden to do something 9:44 and I hope the head has given you a burden to do something and you may not have a prominent place like some other parts of the body but if the head chose to give you that function are you happy to accept it that is the problem with Lucifer Lucifer was 10:02 not happy with the position God gave him. He wanted he was discontent. He wanted something else. And the moment you desire something other than what God has planned for you, that's the way to destroy your own ministry which God has called you for. 10:20 In Ephesians, it says about the growth of the body like this. Ephesians in chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 it says here about the growing up verse 10:42 15 and 16 we speak the truth in love and we grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ and from the head the whole body being fitted and held together by what 10:59 every joint supplies every joint has to supply something and the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body 11:15 for the building up of itself in love. Christrysendom has generally promoted outstandingly gifted personalities and made God's work depend on a few 11:33 outstanding personalities and such churches are not building the body of Christ. They are building congregations. Nowadays you hear particularly in the United States and even it's coming to India too mega churches churches with 10,000 people 20,000 11:52 people 30,000 people coming to listen to one man. It's like a massive cinema theater where everything is centered around one man and you remove him from that scene the whole congregation disappears. They're 12:10 not interested in anything else. Their head is not Christ. Their head is this man who they come to listen to every Sunday. And now it is it is such that where the people can't fit into that particular auditorium or stadium wherever they meet 12:29 nowadays they have video cameras um filming him and projecting him by cable or satellite. to some other part of the city and other cities so that in some place 12:49 they gather together 500 people in a hall and they watch a screen. So it's not just the 30,000 here there are thousands here and there and everywhere it's all centered around one person. Now that's not the body of Christ 13:04 because those people sitting there have no connection with each other. And they don't I mean it's like when you go in a sit in a cinema theater you don't know who's the fellow sitting next to you but next Sunday you come there 13:16 you there maybe somebody else sitting next to you you don't know anything about him and this is what's happening in the churches people have gone astray from the pattern that's been revealed in the in the New Testament where each individual part has 13:32 got a function. They may not have the function that the man who's gifted to speak has but everybody has got some function and some spiritual function. I mean I don't mean just to arrange the chairs and do the physical part of a conference or in 13:51 a meeting hall. That's that anybody can do. I'm talking about a spiritual function that every person who's born again has. See you must believe that God has given you a spiritual function. I thank God that I believed it when I 14:06 was 21 years old and I said, "Lord, I believe I'm a member of the body of Christ." Now, 21 years old means it was 46 years ago. I I don't even I didn't know much of what I know now. I knew very little. But I didn't have any great 14:20 gift of teaching or anything then. But I said, "Okay, I'm member of the body of Christ. I can bless somebody. I can talk to somebody. I can tell somebody about Jesus who saved my soul." And that's all that I did. Little I knew I shared with 14:34 other people I knew ABC. Around me were people who were illiterate who didn't even know ABC. Okay, I can teach them ABC. Maybe I can't teach them higher stuff, but I can teach them ABC. I want to say to you, everyone sitting here, 14:49 there is somebody in your circle who does not know as much about Jesus as you know. By your circle, I mean your relatives, your friends, your neighbors, the people with whom you work in the office every day. 15:08 Maybe a shopkeeper from whom you regularly go and buy something. Maybe the milkman who comes to your door every day. Maybe the place where you go for a haircut or you go go to get your face beautified. You ladies, somebody whom 15:25 you're meeting regularly. I don't mean the persons you meet occasionally in a bus or in a train. I'm talking about people whom you meet regularly. There's a work for Jesus that only you can do. That is your little world. And in that 15:44 little world of yours, you're the only one who knows them. Do you know that each of you sitting here has got a little world? maybe five people, 10 people, 20 people, 30 people whom nobody else in this hall knows about. They 16:00 don't know any of them who's who are in your little circle. And I remember years ago hearing one of our young brothers saying this in one of our other Tamil churches. He spoke on John 3:16 and said, "God so loved the world that he gave his only 16:16 begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And he said, "I've got a little world of people whom nobody else knows." You know, he heard that after I spoke this, but this is the revelation he got. There 16:33 is a little world of people whom I know in this church. And God so loved that little world that he sent me, his son, into that world so that those people may not perish but have eternal life. That's how he 16:53 understood John 3:16. There's a work for you to do in that little world. And to do that work, you need just like Jesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And you need just like those early apostles to be baptized in the Holy 17:11 Spirit and fire. When Jesus went up to heaven, the world was in tremendous need. There were people dying every day. I don't know how many people died per day in those days. Today it's in millions. 17:30 But those days also many thousands of people must have died in one day. And so there was such an urgency before these people die. We got to go out and give them the gospel before they die and go to hell. And so Jesus said, "You got 17:46 to go and be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria in increasing circles like concentric circles. You start in Jerusalem, which represents your home and your local church. Then as you're faithful there, you go to Judea, 18:01 which is the state, and then to Samaria, the next state, and to the uttermost parts of the world, finally Jesus said, "You got to be my witnesses. Go into every nation and make disciples." And as they were all ready to go, 18:14 because Jesus is going up to heaven, he said, "No, don't go yet. You got to wait. You got to wait until you're endued with power. Otherwise, you'll go and you'll accomplish nothing. But Lord, you know how many thousands 18:31 will die tomorrow? That's okay. You got to wait. How long you got to wait? Many days. How many thousands will die in those days? You'll accomplish nothing, my people. Wait. And they waited to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They prayed. They praised 18:50 God. And the spirit of God came upon them. and they were changed. Then nobody had to tell them to go. You know, I have seen when people are genuinely baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, what did Jesus say in Acts 18, when the 19:13 Holy Spirit has come upon you, let me read it to you. Acts 1:8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And then what did he say? Read it carefully. 19:31 You should be my witnesses. No, you shall be my witnesses. Do you know the difference between you should be and you shall be? World of difference. You should be is an exhortation 19:49 like you should be generous. You should go and witness to people. This is what we generally hear. You hey you should be witnessing to people man. You should be doing this and you should be doing that and we get into all condemnation and 20:04 bondage because people tell me I should be doing so many things and I'm not doing it and I'm being told you should be doing it. But Jesus never said it like that. He said, "You shall do it." It's like um telling a cat, 20:24 "Are you going to have a kitten?" And when you have a kitten, it'll automatically lick itself and keep itself clean. You mean the cat cat says, "I don't have to teach it. I don't have to instruct it how to lick itself." No, 20:36 it shall keep itself clean. It's nature. It's something that's what God does it. You can tell a little piglet, I mean, whether you like it or not, your little piglet is going to be dirty, just like you. You mean I don't 20:49 have to teach it to be dirty? No, you don't have to teach it to be dirty. It'll be dirty whether you like it or not. It's like I would tell people who have children. This sweet little baby that you have now is going to be a liar 21:01 and it's going to cause you a lot of headaches when he grows up. He will be stubborn. He will not obey. You don't have to teach it. It shall be his nature. You know the difference? You don't have to tell a child, you should 21:13 be a liar. You should fight with your brothers, you should grab the toys. No, it will. That's what Jesus said. When the Holy Spirit's come upon you, you don't have to be told you should do this, you should do that. And I've seen 21:28 this in different cases. When people are genuinely baptized in the Holy Spirit, genuinely they get power and they become witnesses. It happens automatically. They begin to 21:46 have a passion to do whatever they can for the Lord. And if they continue to be filled with the spirit, that passion will continue to do something for the Lord with their one earthly life. 22:04 And they become reckless. They say, "It doesn't matter if I lose money. It doesn't matter if I lose my life. It doesn't matter how much inconvenience I have. It doesn't matter if I don't get you don't eat my meal or anything. I've 22:15 got to bless this man. I've got to help this man. I've got to sit up late at night and write those letters to bless somebody. Nobody has to tell you that. Nobody tells me what I should be doing. Even God doesn't tell me. 22:33 He doesn't say you should be doing this now. Oh, you should do that. You should do that. It's just a passion. And if you don't have that passion, I have to say to you, wait upon God. Those who wait upon the Lord will exchange their strength. That's the real 22:53 meaning of Isaiah 40:31. Those who wait upon the Lord will exchange their strength. They will give up their human strength and get divine strength. And they shall rise up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. 23:12 They shall walk and they shall not faint. Even the young people, it says there, will grow weary and faint in Isaiah 40. But those who wait upon the Lord will be strong. See, that's to me a perfect description of what happens when we are filled with 23:32 the Holy Spirit. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 30 and 31. Let's begin with verse 29. Because God is one. 23:54 In verse 28, it says, "God is one who never becomes weary or tired." Let me read to you from the message Bible. God is the creator. He doesn't get tired. He doesn't pause to catch his breath. 24:11 He not only he doesn't get tired, he energizes those who get tired. Verse 29. And he gives fresh strength to the dropouts. Are you one of the dropouts in the Christian life? He'll give you fresh strength. 24:28 Even young people will get tired and drop out. Young people in the prime of their strength will stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God and get filled with the Holy Spirit get fresh strength. They spread their wings 24:47 and soar like eagles. They run and they don't get tired. They walk and they don't lag behind. It's really true. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, it energizes your body. You become strong to serve the 25:06 Lord. Young people will get tired but you will not. I can think of numerous times in the last 32 years here in Bangalore. As far as I can remember, 25:25 I don't think I have missed a single meeting of the church in Bangalore in the last 32 years. I'm trying to recollect. I don't think I have. It doesn't matter rain or heat or sickness or anything except for quite a few days when I was in a 25:44 hospital. Other than that, if I was at home, I remember times when I've been at home, I've been lying in bed with a fever and it's Wednesday evening for the meeting. I get up and in the name of Jesus, I go and nobody knows that I got a fever. I 26:03 don't tell anybody either. And I get up and I speak for 45 minutes, 1 hour and the fever is gone and I come back. That's happened to me many times. I want to say to you, don't listen to 26:23 the devil's excuses. Ah, you're so tired now. You can't do that. Wait upon the Lord and seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. There's a work for Jesus that nobody but you can do. And if you don't have the strength for it, if you don't have the wisdom for it, 26:39 it says here he's got all the wisdom and he'll give that to you. We don't have the wisdom and we don't have the strength, but he'll give it to us. But there's a work that we have to do for God. And I'm sure that Jesus 26:58 was always looking for opportunities. Wherever he was, you know, he'd be alert, alert to the spirit. There was a day when he was very hungry walking through Samaria. And as normal, they would all go together as a team to some restaurant to 27:17 eat food. And Jesus felt, "No, the spirit of God is telling me to wait here." So he told his disciples, "You go." And he sat by the well. And sure enough, there was a needy woman who came there and he spoke to her and the whole 27:30 of Samaria turned to come to him. Think if he had not stopped there. Think if he had thought of his stomach, I'm hungry. I better go and eat. Think what would have happened. And think if you were like that. Think of the opport 27:45 times in your life when you were didn't listen to the spirit and you just satisfy the needs of your body. Think what you would have missed something God wanted to do through you and you missed it. I I you know listening to the spirit he 28:01 he would walk by a road and the spirit of God will say stop look into that tree and Jesus would look into the tree. There's a man sitting there. Uhhuh. His name is Zakius. Zakius, come down. I got to come to your house. The spirit of 28:17 God has told me to come to your house. And the man was all ready. He was like a fruit ready to fall. And Jesus picked it up already. Imagine being led by the Holy Spirit to go like that from place to place to 28:32 place. You can be in a secular job and God can take you here and there and build his church through you. Trust God that in your secular job he will transfer you to the place where God 28:50 wants you to be. How is it we have a church in Nanilm today? Because this brother Martin was a teacher in a secular job and he got transferred there. Who sent him there? The government. And when he went there, there was not a single Christian in the 29:03 whole village. Today we have conferences there. And then when the work is over, you get transferred somewhere else. This is this is God's way. You don't have to be a full-time worker. In fact, I've seen that a lot of people 29:18 when they become full-time workers, they become very lazy and it's almost as though the anointing goes away, many of them, because they got nothing to do and they sit around and gossip and backbite wasting their time. Whereas in the days when they were in a 29:33 secular job, they were busy and they were anointed and God was mightily using them. You seen that? I've seen that all over India. So wherever you are, there's a work for Jesus that only you can do. Nobody else can do it. I can't 29:49 do it. God so loved that little world of people whom you know that he sent you, his son, his daughter into that world. So the people around you may have eternal life and not perish. Not everybody will respond. Not everybody 30:01 responded to Jesus. Not everybody responded to the apostles. It was only a few. You know when people dig into the gold mines and they bring up a lot of muck, a huge amount of muck, they get a little bit of gold and you say, "Is it 30:16 worth going down 10,000 ft and bringing up all that muck?" Sure, because you get a little bit of gold out of it. And that's how God sends us multitudes of people in the midst of that, you get a few nuggets of gold. Those are the ones 30:28 God's looking for. And that's why we should be praying like we have prayed for many years. And I've myself prayed and I've taught other people to pray, "Lord, if there's anybody seeking a godly life, seeking after God in this 30:41 area, they must be praying to you. You know them. Somewhere in this area, there are people crying out to God." Lord, you know who they are. Bring me in touch with them or bring them in touch with me. And if you don't do both of them, tell 30:57 me what's wrong with me. Why can't you bring him in touch with me? Why can't you bring me in touch with them? I'm not talking about everybody in the world. I'm talking about those who are seeking after God, who are seeking for victory 31:10 over sin. And perhaps there's nobody else in a 100 mile radius who's preaching victory over sin except you except me. Well, then they have to come to me because there's nobody else in that radius near them who's telling them 31:25 anything about sin shall not rule over you because you're not under law but under grace. And here's somebody seeking God, defeated like those Israelites crying out in Egypt, "Oh God, oh God, we are enslaved. We are in bondage. Please 31:39 deliver us. Please deliver us." I don't know where who they are. It's like looking for a needle in a haststack. But God, you know, like satellite communication, you know satellite communication is you speak in a telephone here, it goes up to the 31:52 satellite and from the satellite it goes down there to Canada or America, wherever it is, they hear. It's the same way. hear somebody praying to God who is much higher than the satellite and he's communicating to God and God brings him 32:05 in touch with me and we communicate. I didn't even know him but God the great um the one who brings people together brings him in touch with me and I could tell you numerous stories of people like 32:23 that whom I have met in Bangalore in India around the world and I want to say to you you can do that if you recognize that your primary calling in life is to be a witness for Jesus Paul was a tent maker. He worked with tents. 32:43 He worked with his own hands and earned his living like I've done for 30 years and like our elder brothers do. But if you asked Paul, Paul, what are you doing? He wouldn't say I'm a tent maker. No, you say, "I'm an apostle." Apostle? 32:57 I thought you were a tent maker. A tent maker? That's just to earn my living. I'm an apostle. What are you? I hope you can say I'm a servant of God. Oh, I thought you were a nurse. Ah, that's just to earn my living. I thought 33:15 you were a teacher. Teacher, it's just to earn my living. I'm a servant of God. You mean you're a full-time worker? No, no, no, no, no. Full-time worker. I'm a servant of God, but I work to earn my living so that I don't become a burden to the church or 33:31 to society. That's how Paul was. Is there anybody greater than Paul in the New Testament? Can't you be like him? That was the challenge that came to me. There's a work for Jesus that none but you can do. And in your little circle, if you're 33:49 faithful, God will expand that circle and make it more and more and more. But you have to seek for the power and the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Don't you think it was supernatural for Jesus to walk through Samaria and hear a 34:04 prompting saying, "Don't go for lunch today." Where did that come from? Don't go for lunch today. Oh, okay fellas, you go for lunch. I'm sitting here. Don't you think it was supernatural when he walked down the road and 34:19 said, "Look up. There's somebody there." It wasn't only Jesus. Peter when he prays he's praying and the spirit of God says to him go down there are a couple of people waiting to see you there was one man Cornelius communicating to God oh God I don't know 34:39 the way to you I want to come to you I want to know the way to you and God up there communicates with Peter down there and say hey you better go here he brought him in touch with him because Peter was ready for it the same God can 34:50 do it for you there are many people like Cornelius who don't know God here and there. I mean, Peter didn't go and speak to everybody in Cesaria. It was one person. God brought one person in touch with one person. And it's one person 35:03 that he will take you to. He's taken me to one person here and one person there and one person there. You, my brother, sister, will you seek God like that from today? Don't say I'm too young. No, you're not too young. 35:20 Don't say you're too old. You're not too old. As long as you're alive, there's somebody some work that God wants you to do if you pray and say, "Lord, I'm young, but it doesn't make a difference to you. You can make me a blessing." Do 35:38 you know that some of you 10-year-old boys and girls, if you speak to some 10-year-old boy and girl, they listen to you better than they listen to me because they say, "Ah, he's a grandfather. He's okay. He's about to die and maybe he's thinking of God and 35:53 all that. That's what they'll think. But when you 10year-old, you're not about to die. They you they hear you talking about Jesus. Hey, what's wrong with you? They'll listen to you because you're their age. God wants people like you to witness to 36:11 people of your age. He needs every single one of us. Do you think India is full of so many zealous Christian workers? No, not at all. How many people are worshiping Jesus Christ and God really worshiping in this 36:30 country? How many people are walking with Jesus seeking to live an overcoming life? There are very very very few and number of them are sitting right here. What are you going to do? Isn't there going to be is there going to be 36:42 an overflow from your life to meet the need of people around in this country? Are you willing to say, "Lord, send me wherever you want. I'm willing to sacrifice anything. I'm willing to give up anything. I'm willing to be 36:56 inconvenienced. I'm willing to take leave without pay if you want me to take leave without pay. If you want me to go and serve you, how many of you will be willing to take one month's leave without pay to go and serve the Lord somewhere?" 37:15 We have people in Bangalore who won't even take one day's leave for a conference because they say, "Oh brother, we got to keep our vac keep our leave to go and visit our relatives in some other place. We got, you know, we got some 37:29 unconverted relatives there. Of course, we never witness to them, but we want to have a good time with them. Go and sit wherever you like and waste your time. I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to the other people who are 37:41 willing to sacrifice who understood that when Jesus came from earth from heaven to earth it was a sacrifice for him. He didn't sit there and say I've got all my friends in heaven why should I leave all this and go and go to that miserable old earth. 37:58 No the spirit of Christ was such that he could not enjoy what he enjoyed and see other people not enjoying it. That is the spirit of Christ. If you don't have that spirit of Christ, 38:16 something's wrong with you. Do you know why the rich man went to hell? He could enjoy all that good food and he never thought that Lazarus is not able to enjoy what I'm enjoying. God said, "Such a fellow deserves to go to hell." I agree 100%. 38:34 God's given you all that and you don't think of that other person who is needy with whom you should share what you have. You don't want him to enjoy what you have. That is what we need to get people stirred in our churches with a passion 38:52 for not just get them to dress properly and wear this type of clothes and that type of shoes and this take off these type of ornaments. That's not what I'm interested. I wish we could get people to have a passion to be a witness for Christ to share the 39:08 wonderful news which has changed their life. I remember when God gripped me 31 years ago and made the message of victory and Christ coming in the flesh and the overcoming life a reality to me. I was 39:26 just 36 years old, younger than lots of you sitting here. And I said, "Lord, if you give me life, I'm I'm just one person. And our church is probably 10 people. That's okay. But 39:43 if you give me life, I will do all that I can, whatever the cost, whatever the price, whatever the sacrifice, whatever price I have to pay in terms of my health or money or anything to spread this message all across India 39:59 to every group. I didn't realize that God had plans to take it beyond India to many countries of the world. And I also said, "Lord, I don't want any money for it. I won't take any money for it. I'm not doing it for money. I'll do 40:18 it because you died for me on the cross because you loved me and gave yourself for me." Does that grip you? Does that grip you that Jesus loved you so much that he came from heaven to earth just to bring that message to you? 40:37 And you sit back and it doesn't stir you. It stirs me so much that I say, "Lord, put that passion in me to reach out to other people." There are people sitting here who have heard this message for 30 40:56 years. They should have set India on fire by now. What are they doing? Coming for one more conference to get some new illustrations. to nod our head and say, "Oh, that was a good conference." Uh-huh. 41:15 Okay. And we are, what are we waiting for? We are waiting for December for the next conference. And what will you wait in December for? The next conference. Is that all we are here for? To the uttermost parts of the earth. 41:35 Let's start with the Jerusalem. Jerusalem is that little circle of people whom you know and say, "Lord, make me a witness. Make me a witness. Let people see that there's something in me which they will remind them of eternity and of God." 41:52 Let me not be ashamed of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, I will be ashamed of him before my father." Don't be ashamed of Jesus before your unconverted relatives. Show them that you're different. 42:10 Let people in the office know that you're not like the other Christians. Just namesake going to church. You're a disciple of Jesus Christ. Anywhere you can be a witness. You don't have to talk. I remember when I used to 42:23 work in the Navy, I used to keep a Bible on my table, some tracks. I couldn't witness. I couldn't witness to all the sailors who were working under me. But I could make it clear to them. I'm a Christian. I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ. I'd 42:34 carry a Bible with me. Wherever I went, when I in the evenings when I was going out of the ship, I'd carry my Bible in my bag and one of the sailors asked me, "Sir, are you an insurance agent? Every evening I see you going out with this little bag." I say, 42:48 "Yeah, I'm an insurance agent. I go out and insure people for eternity. You want to be insured?" I didn't witness to him. He asked me. You know, if you are different, people will come and ask you. I would stand in these naval officers parties with 43:06 everybody drinking whiskey and beer and all that and I would stand with my glass of orange juice and they say, "Hey, Zach, what is this orange juice? Why?" Okay, you asked for it right now. I'm going to tell you exactly why I drink orange juice. I'm 43:19 not seeking to witness. The fellow is asking me. He asked for it and I gave it to him. The gospel. If you are different, they will see it and they'll come to you and say, "Why? Why are you like this? Why don't you laugh at our dirty jokes? 43:36 They asked for it. Tell them. Why do you dress so modestly? This is not the style. You're dressing like some 18th century girl. You asked for it. I'll tell you now. But if you are going to be just like them, talk all the rubbish they talk 43:53 about and talk about what this film star did and what that film star did and what the other thing in here and the other thing there and they say, "Aha, this is just one like us." You know, Lot was like that in Sodom. Mingled with all the people there and 44:11 talked about how to make more money and all the other things they talked about, talked about. One day he said, "Hey fellas, God's going to destroy this city." They said, "Haha, this fellow came here to learn. Now he's talking 44:21 about God." And they didn't listen to him. They made fun of him. That's what the Bible says. So in order to be a witness for Jesus, you have to be different. You have to be different in your conversation. You have to be modest in 44:37 your dress. You have to be different in your whole way of life. You have to be upright. You have to your bosses must see that you will not do anything unrighteous. You're willing to lose your job. And numerous times I had to stand before my 44:54 senior officers and stand at attention and say, "I'm sorry, sir. I'm a Christian. I can't do that." Well, I suffered because of that. I didn't get promotions. I used to get transferred here and there. But those officers never forgot me. 45:11 I was down in Australia last month. And there was a a person who was a senior naval officer. I think he's about 12 13 years older than me. And he came to the meeting an Indian. He was Indian naval officer who was 45:29 migrated to Australia many years ago. He said, "Zack, I remember you from when?" from 40 years ago. I remember you had those verses on your scooter and you were talking about God. Imagine that he never forgot it. And he came to the meeting and he bought 45:47 some books 40 years. I mean, when did I do that? 43 years ago. The guy remembers it now and comes to the meeting. Be a saint and people will never forget you. Be a witness for Jesus. 46:05 Don't be ashamed of him. He died for you. That there's the thing I used to always used to think. Lord, let me never be ashamed of you. You were not ashamed to hang on a cross hop naked for me. Why should I be ashamed of you? 46:17 Live in such a way, my brother, sister, that people will never be able to forget you. Even when you're dead and gone, they'll think of you as a person who reminded them of eternity. I remember another naval officer when he was dying 46:32 with some sickness in his hospital bed. Somebody went to visit him and he talked to him about me cuz I was the only one who reminded him of eternity on that ship. You can be like that wherever you are. I was young. I was 23 years old. 46:48 But God filled me with the spirit and I was not ashamed of Jesus. That's all. I didn't know much. I wasn't a preacher. I was just a witness. You can be that my brother, sister. Many of you don't wait till you're 30, 40 before you start serving the Lord. When 47:04 you're 21, start being a witness and you'll find God expands your circle more and more and more and more. And above all, seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. And I don't mean what you see in these charismatic Pentecostal churches. 47:16 I don't mean all this rubbish of pushing people on the ground and all this psychology and music. And I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a power that makes you a flame with fire for purity and holiness and to be 47:28 separate from the spirit of the world and to be a witness for Jesus Christ. That's what I'm talking about. The type the way the apostles were. That's how they were. And in our work for the Lord, we need that supernatural power of the Holy 47:46 Spirit. And I want to encourage every one of you to pray to God that he will give you whatever supernatural gifts you need to serve him. And when you get those gifts, use them. Any medical doctor will tell you that if you don't 48:00 use your muscles, they'll become weak and finally they will atrophy and they'll just die. You know like people who've been in bed because they have got an accident or something many many weeks and they've not exercised their leg 48:15 muscles when they get up from the bed they begin to totter. Why? Because their leg muscles have become so weak. They never used it for 6 months. They were lying in the bed. And that's what happens when you have a muscle and you 48:26 don't use it. And God gives you a gift and you don't use it. God gives you the gift of tongues and you never use it. Okay, it'll die. Definitely it'll die. God gives you a gift, maybe a little gift of sharing the word with others. A 48:42 that's not such a great thing. And you don't use it, it'll die. I started using the little I had. I'd get up for 2, three minutes and share something. That's how I started. Go to somebody's house and witness for 2, three minutes. The little I knew, that's 48:59 all I had in the beginning. Why don't you exercise the gift? Seek God for a gift and exercise it. Exercise it regularly. Don't worry about what people say. You say, "But I'll make mistakes." Of course, you'll make mistakes. How many of you learn to walk 49:14 without falling down? Anybody? You fell a thousand times before you learned to walk? Every child does. But that's how we learn. And that's how I learned. I did a lot of stupid things. But I learned when I make a mistake, I 49:29 say, "Lord, I bungled up, but my heart was right. I tried to do the right thing. I didn't do it the right way. I didn't have the wisdom. I didn't have a spiritual father to guide me what to do." And the Lord said, "That's okay. 49:39 You'll learn something." Most of the things I have learned in my life, I learned by making mistakes, in serving the Lord. How did I discover my ministry? I did this, I did that, I did the other thing. And gradually over a 49:51 period of 101 15 years I discovered my ministry. But if I sat back and waited for some voice from heaven to tell me what my ministry was, I'd be still sitting there. So my dear brothers and sisters, whatever your hand finds to do, do it. 50:06 The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, do it. Do say, Lord, I want to be available to you. I want to be a witness for you. I want you to fill me with the Holy Spirit. I want you to give me supernatural gifts of discernment. Perhaps maybe a word of wisdom. God, 50:23 give me a word of wisdom for this complicated situation that this person is facing. Don't immediately say, "Well, I I better consult Brother Zach." That's the last resort. Why not ask God yourself for a word of wisdom for that person 50:39 and say, "May Lord, maybe you'll give me a word of wisdom for this person." And if after um some time you still don't find the right word, then go to an older brother. If somebody is sick, you lay hands on that person and pray for them. 50:52 Don't call for the elders. You lay hands on them. Pray for them in Jesus' name that God will heal them. And if nothing happens, then you can ask somebody else to pray as well. That's fine. If you encounter a demon-possessed 51:07 person, take authority over that demon in Jesus name. You don't have to call anybody else. If your life is clean, take authority over that demon in Jesus name. The devil's not afraid of me or you. He's afraid of Jesus. I remember hearing that story of a man 51:22 in China, pastor, who used to cast out demons. And um people used to come regularly to his house. A lot of demonpossessed people. He'd cast them out. Cast them out. One day when somebody brought a demon-possessed person to his house, he 51:36 was not at home. But his 12-year-old boy was there and he had seen his father casting out demons. He knew what to do. He said, "In the name of Jesus, whom my father preaches, get out of him." And the demon went. Does that surprise you? 51:57 The demon was not afraid of the boy. He was not even afraid of his father. It was the name of Jesus. Can you imagine what confidence came into that little boy with that one action? Do you know the confidence that will come into you when one situation you 52:16 face? It may not be demon possession. It may be some other situation, a needy person. It's like that man who comes to his friend's house at midnight. He hasn't eaten. And that man goes next door and says, "Hey, give me some food." That's you going to God and 52:30 saying God give me something for this person. That's the way we should go to God for a word to help people with to pray to deliver them from situations. You know like Joseph when he was in jail he saw those two Pharaoh's butler and 52:47 beggar looking discouraged and he say hey what's wrong? Why are you fellas discouraged? They said we have a problem. He says tell me I'll ask and Joseph went and contacted God. God said tell them this and he delivered them. He 52:58 gave them the revelation which God gave him. There are a lot of people around you who are discouraged, who need help and God's put you. God so loved that little world that he put you, his son and daughter right there to be a 53:12 witness for him. Be alert. Don't go there sleepy. Go alert. Lord, there's somebody discouraged. Let me just go and sit next to them and befriend them. You don't have to preach Christ to them the very first day. Just encourage them. say, 53:26 "Hey, you're looking discouraged. Can I pray for you? I heard of a church that newly started in a locality." And that's a good thing for churches to do. They went to all the houses nearby 53:45 and said, "We're we're starting a church here. We just want to be friendly with you. We're not trying to convert anybody. we are we want to um pray for you if you have a problem. If you have a problem, just let us know. We'll just 54:00 pray for you. And they prayed for people and got amazing answers to prayer. God's given us authority over Satan. Let's take it. And God wants us to use that authority to build his church. I'm talking about 54:17 the Acts of the Apostles. And then they supervised those elders to make sure that the churches would grow up properly. They exercised discipline there. They advised them. They wrote letters to them. Corinthians, Ephesians, 54:30 Galatians, circular letters that they sent to them. And that's how those early churches grew. Now we don't see that today. Today we see churches which are like the multinational companies. some chairman on top, pope, cardinal, archbishop, 54:47 bishop, parish priest. That's one type of church. Then you have Pentecostal churches where you have a president or general supernant and um area supernent, district superant and pastor. It's like a pyramid. You never see that in the 55:00 acts of the apostles. And then they elect all the people come together and say we'll elect. They didn't elect Paul to be an apostle. God appointed him to be an apostle. They elect the pope. They elect the supernance. They elect the president. 55:12 Where do you see all this in the Acts of the Apostles? No. And if you look around, and I've traveled around the world, and I tell you, it's almost impossible to see the pattern that you see in the Acts of the Apostles anywhere 55:27 is this pyramid structure everywhere. Or you see these independent churches that are answerable to nobody. Just say we're living under God and the pastor falls into adultery and uh just makes money out of the people. Nobody to correct him 55:39 or discipline him. These are the only two types of churches that you see. Generally speaking, 99% of it is like that. Or some organization that keeps on sending reports to America and get a lot of money and say, "Okay, this is what 55:52 we're going to do." Or they run a Bible school and an orphanage to make money. Okay, that's all good. But I say you don't find any of that in the Acts of the Apostles. Why not do it the way you find in the acts of the apostles where 56:05 people go around and save souls and gather them together, appoint elders, plant churches and go to another place, gather people together, appoint. Why do I say this? Because many people in our churches who have never been outside our 56:18 churches think they have not appreciate sufficiently what God has done in our midst in the last 30 years. They think it's like that everywhere else. I sometime wish that some of you young people who have grown up in the 56:31 church would go and spend one year somewhere else. I tell you, you'll come running back thankful what you what you got here. God has done a work and I want you to appreciate that and I want you to carry that on in the next generation 56:44 with the same vision. That's why I say you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that you can do God's work. And I believe that God needs just like Paul said to Timothy. Paul was around 67 years old when he died. And he told Timothy 57:01 time, my time is up. He said, "You fellas, be you be sure that you do the work of an evangelist." Timothy, there are not many people like you. Everybody's seeking their own, but you don't seek your own, do you? You're seeking Christ's interests. Paul had 57:13 very few people like Timothy Titus at the end of his life who really were gripped, but he was burdened. He says, "Make sure you teach that to others, to faithful men, not clever men, but faithful men that they'll be able to 57:25 teach the fourth generation." What a burden he had. And that's the burden we have now that some of you young people will be gripped by the truth and carry on the torch in your generation. God needs you. He really needs you. Be the man of God and the 57:43 woman of God God wants you to be. Ask him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Stop majoring on minor matters in your church. Concentrate on the main things. Lead people to a godly life. Lead people to be free from the law, to come under 57:58 grace, to be witnesses for Christ, to be happy, rejoicing Christians. Build a church like that. God wants many of you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we bow before you, we thank you for the opportunity you give us to serve 58:14 you. not only to worship you and to walk with you but to work for you in the one life you give us. Help us to honor you Lord. Each one of us here you got a task for us. Help us to fulfill it in Jesus name. Amen.
