0:00 Praise the Lord. We give all the glory to God. We have nothing that we have not received. If you remember that all your life that you have nothing that you have not received from God. It'll keep you on your face in the dust 0:18 before him. And like John, when he was on his face in the dust before God, says the Lord laid his hand on him. I don't know whether you long for that. I want the Lord to lay his hand on me. 0:36 And I see he does that if we keep our face in the dust. And in order to do that, we have to constantly recognize that we have nothing that we have not received. The second thing we must realize, these are important principles to build a new 0:55 covenant church. See, when we look at history, I'll tell you something honestly. If you study Christian history, you find that there have been different movements in different countries, 1:13 in different centuries, where God raised up usually a man. Uh, you know, Martin Luther or John Wesley, some of the Anabaptists, William Booth, different people to restore to the church 1:31 something that had been neglected. And uh they were usually called them heretics and false teachers in their lifetime, but as time went on and towards the end of their lives, whether it was John Wesley or William Booth, people began to 1:48 recognize that God was with them, but nobody could recognize at the beginning. Just like David, nobody recognized at the beginning that he was anointed. But towards the end of his life, people recognized God was with him. This always 1:58 been the history. Uh they rejected Moses when he first went to the Israelites, but later on they recognized he was their leader. So, but what we see in all these attempts to restore a new covenant church was that things lasted 2:17 during the lifetime of the founder. And once the founder had died every movement in history is just gone down. And I've tried to understand the reason for it. And I've come to this conclusion 2:37 that these movements in history, the founders knew God. Their followers knew the doctrine. They followed the doctrine exactly. We can say the founders built the tabernacle with the fire of God, which is most important for them. 2:55 The followers preserved the tabernacle in the pattern, but the fire was missing. And if the fire is missing, then you might as well throw away the tabernacle. There's no difference between an old covenant church and a new 3:08 covenant one if the fire is not there. It's the presence of Jesus Christ in in a church. We said that at the beginning. That's the mark of a new new covenant church. The mark of a new covenant home is the presence of Christ. It's not a 3:22 particular pattern. And so, what is the solution? The solution is that God in every generation seeks to lay hold of young people. I think all these great men in history that we talk about they were all laid hold of by God before 3:42 they were 30. I mean, they may have come into their ministry a little later, but God laid hold of them took them through tremendous amount of misunderstanding, criticism, opposition, uh many trials to see whether they would 3:57 stand. And um you know, they were tested with women and money and many many things. And if they survived it all, God could do something with them. And that's why we are seeking to encourage a younger generation 4:16 not to follow a pattern, but to know God. And if you find God speaking to some of you younger people, perhaps you're one of those whom God wants to use in the next generation. To use another illustration, 4:38 see in these movements in the past, the uh leader or founder was like an engine that pulled a train. And they were going full speed, you know, compared to all the other churches around them which were sluggish and stopped. 4:53 And they were going full speed and then the founder died. It was like the engine went off. But because the engine had been pulling so hard, the engine was disconnected now. The momentum that the rest of the compartments of the train had, it went 5:07 on going for quite a while. But you know what happens when a the compartments of a train are moving without the engine just on momentum, gradually it slows down. And maybe 30, 40 years it stops. That's what's happened. So, 5:26 God has to raise up young people in every generation and every country who've got that vision. Who are like that engine, under God's hand with the power of the Holy Spirit. Who are not just trying to stay on the tracks. I mean, 5:41 the tracks are like the doctrine, very important. But you can have the tracks and a stationary train cuz there's no steam, there's no power. Needs power to move the train along the tracks. Which is more important for a railway 5:56 train? The tracks or the power? You know the answer, it's both. So, I'm not saying we should neglect doctrine. But, I say it's no use having doctrine if you don't have power. And uh if you like I said, if you want God's 6:13 hand to be upon you, you got to recognize a couple of things. One is that there's nothing that you have not received. That's 1 Corinthians in chapter 4 and verse 7. What have you got that you did not receive? And if you received it from God, 6:33 why do you boast as though you hadn't received it? As though you produced it yourself. And the people who recognize that, you know, when God brings fruit in their life, they're like a branch. You know, that's the second thing we need to 6:48 learn. John 15:5, without me, you can do nothing. In both these verses, 1 Corinthians 4:7 and John 15:5, this word nothing comes. What have you got that you did not receive? Nothing. And without me, you can do nothing. There's nothing you got which you didn't 7:08 receive, and there's nothing you can do without Christ. It's like and he used the example there of the branch in the tree. And every branch knows that. Even if you have 50 years of experience as a branch, you still can't produce anything without 7:21 the tree. The new branch produces fruit, and the 50-year-old branch produces fruit all both on exactly the same principle, dependence on the tree and the sap, which is the Holy Spirit, flows from the tree. And you know, when the sap stops flowing 7:38 cuz a branch is cut or loose lost its connection, it dries up. You've seen that in trees all around. It dries up in no time at all. And you've seen that also, good believers who started out so well, filled with the Holy Spirit. You see 7:53 them some years later, and they've been cut. The love of money, the love of some woman, some purs- earthly pursuit, and the branch is cut. You know, it doesn't wither immediately, but just a matter of time, and you can see 8:09 the old zeal and love and fervency is gone. The old anointing which they had once is gone. I've seen that with my own eyes. In our churches, and in some of the elders in some of our churches in different places. It's very sad. 8:26 I seek to constantly exhort them. What do I exhort them? Um if you look at an article I wrote in the souvenir, there's three things I mentioned there. Always think of yourself as an ordinary man. Always. 8:47 You're just a brother. And always keep your face in the dust. No matter what happens, no matter how much God uses you or doesn't use you. Keep your face in the dust. And third, think more of how much Jesus loves you 9:05 more than of how much you love Jesus. Cuz when you think of you love Jesus, you can be proud. When you say like John, I'm a disciple whom Jesus loved, you put yourself on the same level of as everybody else, cuz Jesus loves everybody. 9:21 It's very simple. It's like I say, the three secrets of the Christian life are humility, humility, humility. And that is what a lot of young people need to learn. If you want to build a church, you cannot build it any other 9:35 way than Jesus did it. And Jesus did it by humbling himself to the death. That's how he laid the foundation for the crow for the church. And if we had we need eyes to see that. And that's why we need revelation to see the way Jesus, the first body of Christ, 9:54 lived on this earth. Never seeking honor. Seeking to obey every little thing that the Father told him. Not just the big things. Every little thing. I see that right in the very first instance. When the devil told him to turn stones 10:12 into bread to satisfy your hunger. Now, what is wrong with turning stones into bread if you have the power for it? To satisfy your hunger. I mean, is it gluttony to want to eat a little bread after 40 days of fasting? Nobody would call that 10:27 gluttony. And you're not stealing anybody else's bread. You're not taking money from anyone. You're not not making your need known to anyone. And you're only using the power that God gave you. Not satanic power, God's power 10:45 to turn stones into bread to eat it. Why did Jesus say no? He said that can look like a legitimate need. All things are lawful. But I'm not permitted to do all things. There are very few Christians who live 11:04 at that level. I'll tell you. But that's the first test of leadership. The first test that Jesus had before he came out to build a new covenant church. Will you do everything lawful? Of course, unlawful things is completely 11:23 out of the question. But even among the multitude of lawful things, will you only select those things that God permits you? Jesus could have taken a holiday to Rome. Is that a sin? After strenuous work for 1 hour 1 year, 11:39 morning till night and every day for 1 year to take a 1 week holiday to Rome, there's enough money with Judas Iscariot to take a ticket on a ship to go to Rome just for a break. Why didn't he do it? It wasn't sinful. He wouldn't have 11:53 sinned in Rome. He wouldn't have sinned in any part of the earth. He lived in an entirely different principle that 99% of believers live by. A lot of believers do many things unlawful. There are few believers who are very careful never to do 12:11 anything unlawful. And they think they are spiritual because they do only the things that are lawful. They're not spiritual. Many of them are soulish. They don't know the difference between being soulish and spiritual. A spiritual man is one who walks like 12:26 Jesus, who can find a thousand things that are lawful, but may do only 10 of those things because he's got permission from the Father only to do 10. And um going to Rome was lawful, but it was not in that small circle of 10 that 12:44 the Father permitted, so But Lord, aren't you exhausted? Yeah, God will give me strength. So, God's looking for young people like that. He uses men and women to build the church. 13:03 But he's very strict and demanding in the type of person he uses. Christian organizations and missions will pick up anybody to serve the Lord. We see that all around India. Just go through the Bible school, get your degree and your certificate, and 13:19 you're ready. 22 years old, you're ready to serve the Lord. The Lord doesn't pick people like that. Jesus knew the Bible at the age of better than any Bible college student in the world today. Better than any PhD or ThD or whatever 13:33 other D people get these days. He knew it better at the age of 12, but he wasn't ready. Cuz the father said, "Knowledge of the Bible is not enough. You need another 18 years to be broken before you are fit to serve me." 13:51 And during during those 18 years, it's not just prayer and study, it is working hard and being misunderstood and ill-treated by your brothers and sisters and so many things. That was a training. And that's how we build a new covenant 14:04 church. God needs men. Men are always looking for better methods. Which is a better method? Better scheme? God's looking for better men because like someone said, men are God's method. Did you know that? Men and women are 14:19 God's method. So, while men look for better methods, God's looking for better men and women. How many of you will take that challenge and say, "Lord, I want to pay the price." I'll tell you something, if you listen to me and listen to these 14:32 words, when you come to the end of your life and you stand before the Lord, you will have no regret. Take my word, you'll thank me at the judgment seat of Christ. But if you live the way most believers are living, you may not accomplish God's full 14:50 purpose for your life. You may accomplish 10 or 15%. Do you want to Are you satisfied with that or you want to accomplish 100% of God's purpose for your life? That is my passion. Lord, before I leave the earth, there's some prayers I made like Lord, before I 15:05 leave the earth, I want to finish the work you gave me to do. Number one. I want to obey every commandment there is in the Bible. Number two. I want to claim every promise there is in the Bible for me. Do you have a passion like that? 15:19 Before I leave the earth, I want to obey every single commandment in the Bible. That's why I study the Bible. How will I know every commandment if I don't study it? How will I know every commandment in the Bible if I spend my time watching 15:30 television? Yeah, the building a new covenant church is only for those who are serious, not just for those who go to so-called go to church and have a little ease their conscience on Sunday morning, just singing a few songs and listening a message and going 15:45 home. It's serious business because we are fighting the devil. It's a bigger war than any war that's ever been fought in the history of this world. Greater than the First World War, Second World War, any war, a war with the devil 16:00 himself. It's not a picnic. A lot of Christians who treat the Christian life like a picnic, they're never going to accomplish God's purposes because the Christian life is a battle. The Bible says we got to fight the devil 16:14 and stand. We got to have discernment about all his subtle schemes. We got to have vision to recognize when he comes as an angel of light. Do you know the number of believers who see an angel and think it's an angel from heaven when it's the devil 16:31 masquerading as an angel from heaven and using some heavenly name and fooling people and telling them all types of things and these stupid believers believe that. Why is that? Because there's something in their life where the devil finds an affinity. 16:46 Affinity means uh closeness and an attachment something in their life. Usually pride. Cuz the devil fell through pride. And so, that's why I say we must always recognize there's nothing we have not received. 17:06 We can do nothing apart from Christ. John 15:5, which means put the other way around that whatever you do apart from Christ will amount to zero finally. That's a paraphrase of John 15:5. If you can do something for the Lord in 17:20 your own strength, it'll finally amount to zero. Because without me, you can do nothing. So, you try to do something without Christ, it'll amount to nothing finally. You don't see it on the earth. It looks like a massive structure of 17:33 wood, hay, and straw. But finally, in the day the Lord returns and tests it with fire, you discover it's zero. I don't want to do that. I don't want to spend 50 years building with wood, hay, and straw and have it all burnt up in the final day. 17:47 Do you know that all of us are building with our thoughts and our words and our attitudes and actions? We're building something with our motives. What are you building with? Every one of us can be a part of this new covenant 17:59 church. Everyone. We're all called to be priests. In the new old covenant, if you were not born in the tribe of Levi, you just missed it. You can't be a priest, you no matter how much you fast and pray. But in the new covenant, we can all be 18:14 priests. We are if we are born again. And all being priests means we can serve God. The priests taught people. And you can teach people. People come to your house, you should be sharing God's word with them. You can pray for people like the priests 18:32 in the Old Testament. You can offer your body as a sacrifice to God like the priests in the Old Testament did. They offered animals. We offer our bodies. But everyone is a priest, but there's a law. And I want you to see that. 18:48 And uh then we'll understand what Jesus meant when he said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." In the book of Hebrews, we read in chapter 7. It's a beautiful verse. It's comparing 19:14 this new covenant priesthood. The new covenant priests are the ones who build the new covenant church. And you got to understand how to become a new covenant priest. Like in the old covenant, the only people who were allowed to go 19:29 inside that center part of the tabernacle and do any work in the tabernacle, even in the outer court, killing the the lambs and the oxen, there was only one group of people who were allowed to do any work in the tabernacle. Those were the Levites. 19:45 You had to be born of the tribe of Levi. Otherwise, no matter who you are, you could not serve in the tabernacle or in the temple later on. But here in the new covenant, the contrast here is um in chapter 7, he's speaking about the 20:05 priesthood of Melchisedec. The last part of chapter 6, verse 20, you know, it says in the verse 19, Jesus has entered through the veil and become a forerunner for us and a high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Most believers do not know Jesus as a 20:22 forerunner and do not know what it means to be a high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Now, when you find a difficult passage in scripture, don't just skirt around it and go to the next verse. It's all right if you're a baby, 20:38 but come back to it later. Otherwise, you'll be like a farmer who's plowing the ground, sees a big rock there, and just ignores it and goes around. I mean, he's going to lose that part of ground completely, but here it's 20:48 more serious. We need to understand what the priesthood of Melchisedec is. In the Old Testament, we read that Melchisedec was a man who blessed Abraham. He came to him with physical food, a spiritual exhortation, a word of 21:03 prophecy, and then disappeared. He didn't want Abraham to be attached to him. That's the priesthood of Melchisedec. To bless people with a word from God and then disappear so that they are attached to Christ and not to them to 21:17 the preacher. Very very rare to find people of the order of Melchisedec nowadays. And we read here that Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchisedec, high priest, and we're the junior priests according to that. 21:33 And then he contrasts these two priesthoods in chapter 7 and verse 11. There was no perfection through the Levitical priesthood. That's the difference. That in the new covenant we can press on to perfection in our life which the old 21:47 covenant priesthood could not lead to. Then he says uh when there's a change in the priesthood, verse 12, there has to be a change in the law as well. And now this new covenant priest, Jesus, 22:05 did not come from the tribe of Levi. Verse 14, he came from the tribe of Judah. Now don't just skip around these verses. There's a great lesson coming through in a moment. And Moses said nothing, chapter 7 verse 14, about 22:21 the tribe of Judah having priests. Why wasn't Jesus born of the tribe of Levi? Because there was a change of priesthood. And how did he become a priest? It says there is a reason why you turn back to chapter 7 and verse one it says 22:39 about Melchisedec, verse three, without father and mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor That means why is there in a book like Genesis where every man of God's genealogy is known right from Adam to 22:52 Joseph who was the last man of God in Genesis every man of God in the new book of Genesis, you know their genealogy, except one person. Melchisedec. You don't know his genealogy. He was born of the race of Adam, but you 23:06 don't know who his father was. You don't know who his grandfather was, but you know that about every other man of God in the book of Genesis, and that is to teach us a lesson. That it's almost as though he was there's no record of his father and 23:21 mother. Therefore, he's a picture of Jesus who has no earthly father and who came from heaven. Eternal, no beginning of you know, neither beginning of days verse three nor end of life. So, in that way, he's a picture of 23:37 Jesus. And if and uh now we come to verse 15, if another priest is risen according to the likeness of Melchizedek, he did not become This is the important verse now, verse 16. He did not become a priest on the basis 23:55 of a law of physical requirement, that is to be born of the tribe of Levi. No. But he did become a priest on the power of an indestructible life. Now, that's the phrase I want you to remember. The priesthood of Levi was according to 24:14 the physical requirement. The priesthood of Melchizedek is according to the power of an indestructible life. A life that cannot be destroyed. All those who partake of that life can 24:33 become priests according to the order of Melchizedek. It's not just studying some doctrine, attending CFC or some particular church. No, no, no, it's not that easy. Any unbeliever can come and sit here and fool the elders and even become a member 24:48 of CFC and partake in the breaking of bread. And there was a magician called Simon who fooled Philip the evangelist and even got baptism from him, but he wasn't even converted. Till somebody else with greater discernment like Peter came and said, 25:02 "You're in the bondage of iniquity. You are not converted." Yeah, so it's it's not a question of people accepting you and thinking you're okay. If you care for the opinions of men, you'll never be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. 25:17 You better care only for the opinion of God. It's the only opinion that matters. What is the power of an indestructible life? If you get into this, Satan will not be able to touch you. Jesus said in John 14, 25:36 but remember this phrase, the power of an indestructible life. John 14, Jesus said in verse 30, "The ruler of this world, that is Satan, is coming, but he has nothing in me." He cannot find a single point 26:00 in me in which there's an affinity between me and him. So, if you look at Satan's character, and you find there's something in him which you have and which you nourish. 26:19 Now, we have a flesh. All of us have a flesh. The most saintly man on earth has a flesh. Paul had one till the end of his life, which is in which dwelt nothing good. It was a sinful flesh. Jesus did not come in sinful flesh. It 26:35 says in Romans 8:3, he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. But you and I and Paul have sinful flesh in which dwells nothing good. Jesus had a will of his own, but he didn't have sinful flesh. Paul had sinful flesh, and therefore 26:53 there are things in us which Satan has in our flesh. There's pride there. There's selfishness there, particularly pride and selfishness. These are very difficult to discover. 27:16 So, we can't do anything about it if we have it. We inherited it from Adam. But the point is, do you nourish it when you see it? Then you are in league with Satan. If you don't see it, you're not responsible. If there are snakes in your house 27:34 hidden somewhere under some cupboard and you don't see it, you're not responsible. But if you see a cobra sliding around the floor in your house and you say, "Oh, that's okay." You're probably in league with that cobra. 27:47 You're agreeing with that cobra that it can go and sting your children or something like that. It's like that. That means you're not responsible for the snake you don't see, but you are responsible for the snake you see. 27:59 I mean, you would even kill a rat or a cockroach, leave alone a cobra. A rat and a cockroach can do a much less damage than a cobra. Why do we get rid of them? Why are we so keen to get rid of cockroaches 28:15 that never harm us or bite us? And we're not so keen of getting rid of little sins and even big sins. Doesn't it indicate a height of stupidity? Or to use an illustration, a man's had a road accident, his body's 28:34 all torn up and his shirt is all torn up and he says, "Take me to a tailor first. I want to get my shirt stitched." You really think the guy's a mental case. There are a lot of mental cases like that in the church. They got serious problem with their 28:48 soul, but they're more worried about cockroaches. Don't you think that these are mental cases? Sure. There's serious problems in their soul. What are they thinking of? Oh, I've got a little sickness here. 29:10 I've got a little problem there. I want to go to Jesus for this and that. I want a little more money. I want a better house. Yeah, Jesus said the prince of this world comes and he's got nothing in me. There's not an atom of selfishness. 29:23 There's not an atom of pride. Do you know what it means to want to be like Jesus? It means I'm pressing on to that life where there'll be not an atom of selfishness, not an atom of pride, not an atom of partiality in my dealing 29:38 with believers. I don't have any special friends among believers. All are the same. Cuz God doesn't have any special children. All are the same. You know, he treats us just like he treated Jesus when he was on Earth. Even 29:51 Jesus wasn't his favorite son that he allowed him, protected him from serious temptations, or protected him from death. No, he allowed him to face everything that we face. God has no favorites. It's those who are not like God 30:05 who have got favorites, favoritism. Many fathers have got and mothers have got their favorite child. This one who's clever or this one is good-looking or this one is a boy the others are girls or this one is a girl and all the others are boys. 30:20 Favorites. It's all a mark of people who don't know God. There are elders who have favorites. I've seen that in many, many churches. They show partiality to their own children or to their own friends. They don't deal with them in the same 30:35 way they deal with others. This is all I mean if and if you're if you're unconscious of and you don't know it. Okay. It's not a crime. It's like a snake hidden somewhere, you don't know it's there. But if you see it, and you don't do anything about it, it's 30:52 pretty serious. Or you're not asking God to give you light on that. You're not going with a torch under every cupboard to see whether there is a snake there. If you're not serious about it, you're not serious about getting rid of 31:07 these things from your life. I'll tell you this, my brothers and sisters, it's selfishness, pride, partiality. These are some of the terrible sins that hinder people from building a new covenant church. You cannot do it. 31:24 You got to You know, I remember years ago seeing a picture of a automobile company in India where they had a board on one of the walls, "We aim for zero defect." I said, "Boy, that's a great word 31:44 for the church and for my life and for my home. We aim for zero defect." Now, I don't think there's any car ever produced that has zero defect, but that particular company did pretty well because they aimed for zero defect and 31:59 became a lot better than all the other Indian cars that were produced. Now, I'll tell you this, if you make that your motto, that you aim for zero defect, in your personal life, in your home life, in your church, you'll go a long way. 32:18 And there's another thing from that which we got, which those car companies don't have. We have the opposite of that. They They're aim is we aim for zero defect, but we aim for maximum profit. But in the church, we say we aim for 32:31 zero defect and we aim for zero profit. Zero profit from our ministry or from anything we do, even our book ministry, internet ministry, uh CD ministry, our aim is at the end of the balance sheet when it's finally made, when the Lord comes, our profit is 32:51 zero. Then we've achieved it. In other words, everything that came in goes 100% for the ministry. Nobody's making money out of all this. We aim for zero defect, we aim for zero profit. Now that's not what the devil The devil's not doesn't have such models. 33:10 And people who are don't have such models are in some way a little bit in league with the devil. They allow ah little bit of defect, it's not serious. You know that little bit of defect can cause a car to crash, cause your life to crash, cause your 33:27 home to crash. It happens. Why is it there are so many divorces? Used to be only in Western lands, then it's crept into India. How's that? It's crept in wherever Western influence has come. It's because those families from day one 33:46 never aim for zero defect. They live in selfishness and pride, and then you always end up in divorce if you continue to live in selfishness and pride. And in India where divorce is frowned upon, you may not end up in divorce, you 34:01 just may end up with a house that is always fighting, where people are fighting with each other. I agree it's better than divorce because the children don't suffer. But that's not the place where you can say the prince of the world, the ruler 34:14 of the world comes to my house and he finds nothing. How many of you can say Satan comes to examine your house and he doesn't find a filthy movie there? He doesn't find any movie with corrupt sex scenes in any of the DVDs in your 34:29 house? You see only 5 seconds. Only 5 seconds. Of that dirty sex scene. But that's what the devil lays hold on. Burn it. Get rid of it. Don't sell it to somebody else and make him sin. Do what the people in Ephesus did. 34:50 They burnt all those things which had connections with the devil. Get rid of it. Destroy it before you get rid of it. Can you say that the devil comes to your house and he can't find nothing? No book. No pages in any book 35:07 that dishonor Christ. You want to build a church. You better start with your home. Go through it. I'm told that the Israelites on the day before the Passover would go with a lamp under the beds and everywhere to see if there was a little 35:26 bit of leaven. Cuz they ate leavened bread on other days, but on the day of the Passover and the next day, the feast of unleavened bread, there was not supposed to be a bit of leaven in the house. And you know, little babies or their children, 35:38 they could have dropped a bit of bread somewhere and they had to go searching. I love that picture. I wish I could get a painting of that of these people looking under the beds for a bit of leaven. I wish Christians could have that 35:50 picture in their mind looking in the corners of their heart for a little bit of selfishness or partiality. Not just saying I'm waiting for God to reveal it to me. I'll tell you he'll never reveal it to you because you're 36:01 not serious. Those Israelites didn't sit down in their easy chairs and say, "Lord, show us if there's any leaven inside the house." No. God was not going to do it. They had to take the lamp, climb crawl under the beds to see if it was there. 36:14 You got to do that. We're not half as wholehearted as those Israelites. Will you go with that lamp through your house and get rid of everything starting today and anything that dishonors God in your house so that you'll be able to say, 36:27 "The prince of the world comes to my house and he finds nothing there." You know, Zacchaeus wanted to do it. It says in Luke 19 that when Jesus came to Zacchaeus' house, he stood there before the gate and said, "Lord, I'm going to I'm just imagining what he 36:42 said because it says he stopped. Lord, you can't come to this house. This is a You're a holy man. This house has been built with black money. Unjustly earned money. You can't come in here. I must first return to all the people I've stolen from, 37:00 cheated as a tax collector, all the money that's given. I want to make you that promise." And Jesus said, "I believe you. The promise is good as as good as the action. You don't have to wait. It may take you 10 years to return it, but your 37:14 salvation has come to your house today." I want to say, I want Jesus to say, "Is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus said to somebody, 'Salvation has come to your house.'" Luke 19. Do you want Jesus to say to you, 37:32 "Salvation has come to your house today because you decided to get rid of everything over which the devil has a claim in your house." Take it seriously. You'll become a man of God. You'll be a woman of God. You don't become a man of God just by 37:49 studying the Bible. You don't become a man of God just by learning how to preach. You got to have a life before Christ. And so, now we understand what Jesus said in Matthew 16 about building the church. I will build my church, verse 18, 38:09 "And the gates of hell, which is the powers of spiritual darkness," it says in the margin of my NASB, "the powers of spiritual darkness will not be able to over The powers of spiritual death, rather, the powers of spiritual death 38:22 will not be able to overpower it. What is it that death cannot overpower? An indestructible life. We come back to the priesthood of Melchisedec. The power of an indestructible life which death cannot overpower. Imagine having a joy 38:41 which like Jesus said in John 16, nobody can take away from you. That's a great verse. I really love that verse. Your joy, no man can take away from you. He said that to his disciples in John 16. Sometimes, you know, I don't like to say 38:59 the verse cuz I want you to search for it. We're so lazy. Go and search for that verse. I told you the chapter. A joy nobody can take away from you. You'll get to know the scriptures. There is a joy nobody can take away from 39:14 us. An indestructible joy which the devil tries, tries, tries, tries, tries, tries, tries. Can't take it away. Uh you can search for it later. Please listen to me now. Uh a joy which nobody can take away from 39:34 you. It says in Philippians 4 of a peace that passes understanding. It says in Ephesians 3 of a love uh to know the love of Christ which is beyond understanding. Do you know that love? That joy? That 39:53 peace? It's an indestructible type of thing. People try to kill that love in you by hating you, calling you the devil. Brother, I still love you. Do you have that? That people can speak evil of you and you still love them. 40:08 People can do evil to you, you still love them. People can hate you, you still love them. That's an indestructible love. Or an indestructible joy like Habakkuk says in the end of his book. The victory doesn't blossom, there's no 40:23 fruit in the vines. There's no herd in the stalls, the sheep have died, the oxen have died, but I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. That's how he ends that beautiful letter of Habakkuk. And he there's a little note at the end 40:43 of it, that's what I love. He said, "Please don't sing this to a monotonous tune. Sing it with string instruments with joy." I like that. What are we going to sing with string instruments with joy? There's no harvest. The sheep have died, the oxen have died, 40:58 SING IT WITH JOY. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. That's an indestructible life. Habakkuk only had a taste of it. We have the Holy Spirit. You know, it's it's called a In other words, it's called the power of 41:12 resurrection. That's the indestructible life which death cannot touch. And the only way to build a church is with this resurrection power of Jesus Christ. The greatest event that took place on this earth was not the death of Christ on the cross, 41:31 but his resurrection from the grave. We need to understand that. We've spoken about the way of the cross, it is so important. We spoke about it the other day, seeing the way of the cross. Well, I'll tell you having said that, 41:45 that is not the greatest thing that happened. Death to self is not the greatest thing. It's only a way to resurrection. I mean, all of you when you came from your home this morning, you traveled by a road. But if you got so taken up with the road 42:02 and say, "Boy, they paved this road. This is a great road. I just love this road." and spend your time admiring that, you wouldn't be here this morning. The road was only a way by which you had a goal to get to CFC this morning. 42:16 And I've seen Christians who are taken up with the cross. The cross. I've got to die. And it sounds pretty close to Hinduism and yoga. Death and death. And you can look at their face faces and you know they are miserable and dead in any case. 42:31 Because they're concentrating on death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death is there, but it's a way. The rent veil is a picture of death, but it's a way. I'm not stuck in the veil. I've gone through the veil into the most 42:44 holy place, which is the presence of the Father. That's where I've got to live, but it's through the veil, I agree. I mean, I come I've got to come through the road to get here. There is a way and the way is important, but the way is not 42:58 the goal. The veil is not where I get stuck. There is a narrow gate, but it leads to a narrow way. Remember that. And that is my goal is the power of his resurrection. The greatest event that ever happened on this earth is the resurrection of Jesus 43:17 Christ. And the devil doesn't want us to know that. That's why like I've often said, you see more paintings of Jesus hanging on the cross in the world than you see paintings of Jesus coming out of the grave alive. Tell me, in how 43:32 many homes have you seen paintings of Jesus coming out of the grave alive? Even the Bible story books don't have much of that. But there are millions and millions of paintings of Jesus hanging on the cross, you know, looking so helpless. 43:48 The devil wants you to see and meditate on a helpless Jesus. You know, little baby in Bethlehem, that's another famous painting. Or kneeling in Gethsemane in weakness, that's another famous painting. Or hanging on the cross, that's another 44:03 famous painting. Or this effeminate, you know, sacred heart. I'll bless every home that really looks like a woman. This is not Jesus. I want to see a resurrected, mighty, muscular 44:22 Jesus who looks like a man, not like a woman. Men are not supposed to look like women. Women are not supposed to look like men, but men are supposed to look like men. And Jesus did not look like a woman. He was a man, every inch of him. 44:39 And when he was resurrected, he was more of a man than ever. He had an indestructible life. Now, when Lazarus was raised from the dead, it was not resurrection. He was just raised from the dead in order to die again. Death had power over him. Every guy who 44:58 was raised from the dead in the Old Test- in the Old Testament and New Testament died again. Death had power over them. But resurrection was different. Jesus rose from the dead, death had no power over him. And Jesus says, "I will 45:09 build my church, and the powers of death will not be able to overcome it." You see the connection? That the church can only be built with the resurrection power, with this indestructible life of the priesthood of Melchisedec. They 45:21 all fits in together now. Now we understand scripture. This is what the priesthood of Melchisedec is about. This is what the indestructible life is about. And we try to build a church with destructible life, with a little improved life. 45:35 I don't lose my temper as much as my neighbor. Great. He got zero, and you got 1%. You're better than him, right? And you're glorying in the fact, "Mom, I got 1%. I came first in my class." What stupidity. 45:54 Do you aim for 100% like Jesus? I've used this example also. Supposing pass marks in an examination is 35%. And two children doing the maths examination. 46:14 One got 99% and the other got 35%. Tell me who comes home happier. Who? The one who got 35%. He just said, "Mama, I'm so happy I passed." And the other fellow with 99% oh 46:33 mama, I'm so discouraged. I lost 100% by one mark. It's true. That's the two types of Christians. I'm making it to heaven. My sins are all forgiven. I'm on my way to heaven. And the other Christian is weeping at night over his pillow. Oh Lord, 46:52 that little bitter thought I had against somebody. It's not Christ-like. And he weeps and the pillow is wet. For what? Something which 99% of believers don't even think about. A little bitterness against somebody. These are two types of Christians. One 47:11 is seeking an indestructible life. And that's the one who will build the church. And I believe like I said, when one generation passes on, you can't just inherit that anointing. Nobody inherits an anointing. No. Nobody. 47:33 If Peter's son wanted anointing, he got to seek it himself. I don't know whether Peter's son was anointed. He was a married man. He's probably had children. Maybe your father's anointed, doesn't mean you will be. You got to seek God 47:48 yourself. And um Moses' children, he had a couple of sons. I don't know what happened to them. I don't even hear of them. It's not Anointing doesn't flow down family lines unless each generation seek God on their own. That's why you should not be partial 48:09 towards your children. You'll destroy them. I'll tell you in Jesus' name you'll destroy them. Urge them to seek their anointing for themselves. Because they cannot inherit it from you just like we all understand a child 48:23 cannot inherit being born again from you. They got to be born again on them- themselves. They got to be anointed on their own. They got to have a vision of the church on their own. Well, but we've got to show them the way. We've got to give them the word. 48:40 Right from childhood. Show them the glory of the church. And I'll tell you something. If like some parents do stupidly sit around the lunch table and criticize 48:58 brothers and sisters in the church and their little children hear it, blame yourself if your children go to the devil. Go to hell. Blame yourself if your children never come to an anointed life to build the body of Christ. 49:15 Cuz all they heard around your table was criticism. Maybe even criticism of the elders. Or criticism of this brother, that brother, the other brother, the other sister, this and that. Go ahead. Despite all that we hear because that is 49:29 the spirit of Satan who's called the accuser of the brethren. In many homes Satan has got a foothold because he sees the spirit of accusation there among some people and says, "Ah, I've got one agent there." It's like these 49:45 our enemies having a a spy in our country. Has the devil got a spy in your home? Maybe your wife. She comes to the meetings. She says she's born again. But she's got the spirit of the accuser 50:03 of the brethren. Make sure you can overcome it. If you're the head of the house by the power of an indestructible life. There is a life, my brothers and sisters, that we can live on Earth in the power of resurrection. 50:22 The Apostle Paul said the end of his life in Philippians 3, after having known the power of his res- of Christ's resurrection for so long, he says, "I want to know my Lord better." 50:41 Philippians 3:10, "My desire is to know Him better, because that is eternal life, to know God and Jesus Christ. And I want to know the power of His resurrection." But hey, Paul, haven't you already known that 30 years? Yeah, 50:56 but you don't realize the power of resurrection is like a huge, fantastic power. It's greater than nuclear power. I've just tasted a little bit of it. I want to know more. That resurrection power which death cannot touch. 51:10 And that comes through the fellowship of Christ's sufferings and being conformed to His death. Yeah, he says, "I know the way. The way is through death, but the goal is the power of His resurrection." See what he says in 2 Corinthians 4. 51:28 These are wonderful verses when you read verse 10 to 12. Death and life. The death of Christ and the resurrection power of Christ. Always always always always always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus. That means the way 51:45 Jesus died to himself for 33 years. It's not the death on the cross. I may never have nails in my hand because people have got rid of that method of killing people now. But the dying of Jesus, which he bore for 33 and 1/2 years, always I want to 51:59 carry it in my body so that this resurrection life of Jesus, it's a resurrection life, that's the only life Jesus has now, the resurrection life of Jesus can be manifested in my body. And so now you understand the reason for all 52:13 the trials God allows you to face. We who live are constantly delivered into death. That means we are surrounded by people who humiliate you. You are surrounded maybe in your home by carnal husband or wife who are irritating you. You're being delivered 52:30 to death. That's what it says. We are being being delivered to death. How often? Constantly, many times a day, in my place of work, through my boss, when I travel in a train or a bus, there are always selfish people who are 52:42 delivering me to death. And if I'm willing to die instead of fighting for my rights, like stupid children of Adam do, if I'm willing to follow Jesus in his dying, what will happen? The life of Jesus will be manifested in my mortal flesh. 52:59 I remember those days when I was younger when I used to travel unreserved in the compartment, train compartments, different places. And uh people would be so selfish, wouldn't allow you to sit even if they were occupying a 53:12 um seat. This is this is my seat and this is half of my seat. And I say, "Okay, forget it." I'm not going to fight with you over a little seat. It's the journey is just three, four hours. I can stand. I'm a young man. It's amazing. 53:27 You see that on the road sometimes. If you can manifest the life of Jesus and die, supposing somebody came and hit your scooter. And instead of doing what every other carnal The carnal method is whoever shouts the most is right. 53:44 Let him shout the most. You say, even though it's not your fault, "I'm sorry. I should have been more careful." Suddenly, he will melt. "Oh, it's okay. It's okay." Otherwise, you start a quarrel there and you'll miss wherever you're going to. 53:58 You'll It'll go on forever. And maybe you just got a scratch on your scooter. It's not worth it. No, always we are delivered to death. Accept it. The life of Jesus will be manifested through you. You'll have the sweetness of the life of 54:15 Christ. People will love to be with you. People will love to listen to you. They like to listen to Jesus. They'll never get tired of being with you or listening to you or fellowshipping with you because it's so wonderful. 54:30 Don't you want to be a person like that? I long for it. I've longed for it for many years. I say, "Lord, the most beautiful life that ever was on on this earth was the life of Jesus. I want it at any cost." The Lord says, 54:43 "You got to die." I say, "Sure. You got to die to your selfishness. You got to root out your anger. You got to root out sexually dirty thoughts and anything that provokes it." Yes, Lord. You got to root out lying completely, 55:00 total deception, no hypocrisy. Just be willing to be known as you are, not more spiritual than you are. Yes, Lord. Hate money. Use it. Keep it as your servant. Don't ever love it. Don't pursue after it. I'll give you enough for your needs. 55:16 Yes, Lord. Don't ever do anything to honor for the honor of people. Don't tell other people of the sacrifices you make in secret. Yes, Lord. Don't let anybody know how much you pray, how much you fast, how much you give. Yes, Lord. 55:33 Your life must be in secret before me. Yes, Lord. And don't judge other people. Leave that judgment to me. I can do that without your help. Yes, Lord. I've discovered that. You can do it without my help. So many years I thought God needed my 55:48 help to judge others. Isn't it a great discovery that God can do it without my help? He doesn't need my recommendation. He doesn't need any certificates from me. He says, "I know. I know. I know more than you know." Great. 56:01 And I can spend my time judging myself. We are delivered to death so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us. And finally, verse 12, when death works in us, life works in other people, also. Isn't that amazing? Not only in me. 56:18 This is the most wonderful part. Verse 10 and 11 is only referring to me. And that can be pretty selfish. I want to die so that I can have the resurrected life of Jesus. Hang on. That's selfishness, too. It must flow out from us to others. That 56:31 I die and other people get life. You know how that is? The more you die, the more the life of Jesus springs up in you and bubbles out, usually through our mouth, because the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth 56:43 speaks. Flows out through your mouth and it blesses your husband, blesses your wife, and blesses neighbors and like that godly man's wife said at his funeral, he says, "I was living with an angel." He was not an ordinary man. 57:03 What what a what a testimony. I hope your wife can say that about you when you die. "I was living with an angel." Or your husband can say that about you. "Up to a certain point she was a devil, but beyond that, she she became an angel 57:17 after a certain date. Uh she attended one meeting in CFC, and boy, after that date, my husband was like an angel. My husband was like My wife is like an angel." We were all like the devil up to a certain point. Have we changed? 57:34 There's only one way where devil will have no power over us. And I want to tell you every single one of you has got a part to play in building this new covenant church. How do you produce life in others? Death in you. Building a 57:47 new covenant church is giving other people resurrection life. Let death work in you. And then this resurrection indestructible life that Jesus has will come and Satan will not be able to touch you. I wanted that life. I wanted I I 58:01 remember the old days when I was scared of the devil. I wanted a life where the devil will be scared of me. Do you want that? I want that life. Jesus The devil was mortally scared of Jesus. I want the devil to be scared of me. 58:18 That's indestructible life. Most Christians are living such a substandard life, you know, it's like people who live in the slums generation after generation bonded labor in the slums. They've never known anything better. They saw their father, 58:31 grandfather all live like that and they live like that. That's It's something like that with many Christians. They see other Christians around them defeated, third rate, useless, defeated lives, losing their temper, getting anxious, 58:42 seeing dirty movies and having dirty thoughts and they say that's normal Christianity. It's not. You can get out of that slum. If you allow the life of Jesus to come through so that you build a new covenant life, a new covenant home, and a new covenant 58:56 church which the devil will not be able to touch. If you want it, you can have it. Fall down in your face before God and cry out and say, "Lord, I want it at any cost." There's a price to pay. Forgiveness of sins is free. 59:12 Baptism in the Holy Spirit is free. But to build a church and to build a home, there's a price to pay. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, with our heads bowed in prayer, As we have gone through these studies, 59:30 we pray that they will not be just theory. But reality. Lord in our life. Reality. We can experience that power of your resurrection. 59:48 In our life. Glorify your name. Help us we pray. Each one. Many here who feel they are so insignificant. And worthless. Give them a sense of worth today. Because they were redeemed by the blood 1:00:07 of Christ not with silver and gold. So that they become effective members and priests. After the order of Melchizedek in a new covenant church by the power. Of an indestructible life, an indestructible love, and an indestructible joy. 1:00:23 And an indestructible peace despite the turmoil in the world. We thank you such a life is available for us in Christ. Something that can even touch our bodies and bring physical healing. Thank you for that. In Jesus name. 1:00:38 Amen.
