0:07 After being born again, I fallen into much sin for a long time. And now I'm ashamed to come back to Christ. Is there hope for me? What should I do? That's a question from somebody. Well, I want to give to you, whoever has 0:24 written that question, and anybody else with a similar question, the words of Jesus when he said I did not come to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance. You read that 0:43 in Matthew 9:13 and many other places. I did not come to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance. That That's what he said in Luke chapter 5 and Matthew and many places. You read that many times yourself. 1:03 So, remember this, Jesus did not come to call holy people. He did not come for those whose lives are perfect. He came for sinners. And not just to call sinners, but to call sinners to repentance. He didn't 1:22 want sinners to be in that condition. We I mean, if you look at uh Luke 5:32, I did not come to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to turn from their way of life. So, why did Jesus come from heaven? He 1:41 did not come for holy people. Are you a holy person? He I'm sorry to say, he didn't come for you. Those are his own words. Are you a sinner? I was a sinner. But he came to call me to turn from my sinful ways. And he made me turn. 1:59 So, no matter how many times you fall in a night, I tell you I also fallen so many times. But, I finally came to an end. When I persisted, persisted in seeking God, that going away, going away, and coming back came to an end, and it will come to an 2:16 end in your life. Jesus will ensure that. But, until that day comes, follow this principle. Keep your conscience clear. I'll tell you how you can come into a life where you will never keep going away and 2:35 coming back, going away, coming back. Follow this simple rule. As soon as Are you listening? As soon as you are convicted about something you did wrong in a thought life, immediately confess it to God. Lord, I'm sorry. 2:54 That was a dirty thought. Please cleanse me in your blood. Done. Or you spoke rudely to your wife or husband, or to somebody else, immediately Lord, I'm sorry for the way I spoke, and go to that person. Not after 1 week. 3:12 As soon as possible. Say, "Darling, I'm sorry for the way I spoke." Or to that brother, "Brother, I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you." Or for what I did. You develop that habit, and I'll tell you you'll come to a victorious life very 3:30 quickly. But, if you're too proud, too proud to apologize to people, then I'm sorry to say, I have no hope for you. I really mean that. I have no hope for you ever that your life will change. 3:48 Because God He proud people far away from them. Do you know that? He gives grace only to the humble. We read that in 1 Peter 5 and verse 5. God gives his grace only to the humble. And there's an amazing verse that has come to me more and more. 4:07 Psalm 138 verse 6. He keeps proud people far away. Haha. Are you proud? Too proud to apologize to somebody? God will keep you far away. Why is so God far from you? 4:26 Because he sees you as a proud person unwilling to apologize. So, you follow my advice, immediately set things right, and go to God and say, "Lord, 1 John 1:9, 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and righteous to cleanse us 4:43 from sin and from all, A L L, all unrighteousness." And after having done that, we read in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 12, a great verse. All of you must remember. Hebrews 8 verse 12. God says, "I will not remember 5:02 your sins anymore." You know, we human beings have this bad habit of telling, saying, selling, telling someone, "I'll forgive you, but I'll never forget what you did." God's not like that. He's not like man. He says, "When I forgive you, I will not 5:16 remember it anymore. I will not hold it against you. Even if you've been the worst criminal on earth." Thank God. Remember that, so come back to God, and your life will change. Yeah. Another person asks that I've recently realized how serious a sin 5:36 gossip is, but how do I make restitution for such a sin? See, gossiping is such a sin that we can never make restitution for. I'll tell you honestly. Because how in the world can we go to all the people all over the world say I 5:48 have said this against you, said that against you. You'll ruin your relationship with them. Thank God that they don't know that you spoke against them and don't go and tell them that you did. Cuz that will make it worse. 5:59 So, some of these things we cannot set right. There are certain things that we just cannot set right. We have to just say, "Lord, have mercy on me and forgive me." So, say, "Lord, there are You know, God is not unreasonable. 6:16 He knows what you can do and he knows what you can't. And we he recognizes that. Please remember he's a loving father and he will not force you to do something you cannot do. So, gossip is one of those things we can never, never completely 6:33 set it right to go to everybody we spoke against. Otherwise, there's no hope for any of us. Thank God he's merciful. Thank you. I've had another question here from someone. I've been hurt by some people who cheated me and lied 6:49 about me in the past. I can't change my feelings about them or toward them, but how do I truly forgive them? Okay, very important question. We must not live in our feelings. Number one principle of the Christian life. We must not live in our feelings. 7:11 We must live in our will. Let me explain to you a little bit about man's personality, which will help you in many areas. There's a verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which says man has got three parts. Like God is a trinity, 7:27 man has got three parts, spirit, which is deep down in our heart, soul, which is mind and feelings, and our will, and our body. Spirit, soul, and body. Spirit is the deepest part of us with which we communicate with God and where the Holy 7:44 Spirit comes and fills us what we call the heart. And mind and emotions, you know what that means, our feelings and what our intellect and body. So, uh in our mind and we God doesn't really dwell in our mind and in our feelings, 8:04 he dwells in our spirit. So, the important thing is the door into our spirit is our will. Please remember this. When you say no to your own will and yes to the will of God, God is able to dwell and rule you from your spirit. 8:22 It's not a question of what you think or understand. So many people think and understand so much about God, God is not with them. God does not dwell in our mind, he does not dwell in our feelings. You go to some meetings where they're so 8:34 emotional and shout and clap and all that and then go go on home and commit adultery. Feelings? No. It's in our will. Spirituality depends on saying no to your own will. So, please remember that. Don't live in your feelings. 8:51 That you feel this way or don't feel that way is unimportant. In your will, have you forgiven that person? That settles it. Will you remember what he did? Yeah, you'll remember all your life what he did. You can't help that because that's 9:06 in your memory. We have no control of our memory. I remember the evil things that people have done against me for so many years, many, many years ago, what they did against me. I remember it. But I can say before God, there's not a 9:22 single human being on earth whom I've not forgiven. I have forgiven them in my will. If I meet them, I can see them, speak to them face to face without trying to avoid them. That proves that I have forgiven them. But do I remember? Of course. 9:41 Cuz God does not remove my memory from me. So, it's a choice of my will in which I forgive. Please remember that. Don't condemn yourself that you remember what people did. And if you find it difficult to love them, ask God for help. 9:57 Lord, please help me to love them because you told me to love my enemies. If you love me, keep my commandments and I'll pray the Father will give you the Holy Spirit to love the those who don't love you. God will help you. He never asked you to 10:10 do something that he will not help you to do. Thank you. Here's a question from somebody, um how can I set right a marriage which began in fornication and now I'm born again and we have children? Shall I tell you something that will 10:30 really comfort you? It's I'll tell you the way it comforted me. Turn to Matthew chapter 1. This is the genealogy of the lifeline the descendants of the family Joseph and Mary both came. 10:50 This is the lineage of Joseph in Matthew chapter 1. And up till David it is the same even in um Luke chapter 3 of Mary was also a descendant of David and Joseph was a descendant of David but through different children of David. 11:08 But up to David, the genealogy is the same for Mary and Joseph. So, Jesus was physically born through Mary. That's not listed here. That is listed in um Luke chapter 3. But up to the person David, the genealogy is the same. So, 11:24 let me tell you something about Jesus' genealogy from the beginning to David. Uh Genesis uh sorry, Matthew chapter 1. Sorry, I'm talking about Matthew chapter 1, not Genesis. Matthew 1 It says here 11:42 Judah verse 7. Well, sorry. Matthew chapter 1 verse 3. Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And if you read the Old Testament that was through an act of 12:01 fornication that you know, Judah went and committed adultery with his own daughter-in-law. You read that in Genesis 39. Jesus chose that line. Can you imagine that? That Jesus chose a line 12:18 of incest. Incest means a father committing adultery with his daughter or daughter-in-law. Would you want somebody like that to be in your genealogy? Jesus chose that. That's the first woman mentioned there, Tamar. The one who committed adultery with her 12:36 father-in-law, Judah. And the second woman mentioned there is um, in verse 4 Salmon uh, verse 5, Rahab. The second woman. Rahab was the most well-known prostitute 12:56 in Jericho. Not even an Israelite. And Jesus chose that line. Would you Would you like it to be known that one of your ancestors was was the most most well-known prostitute in the town? Would you like to boast about it? 13:12 Imagine putting that in the first page of the New Testament. That Jesus' genealogy involved the most well-known prostitute in Jericho. Involved a person who committed adultery with her own father-in-law, Tamar. Second woman is Rahab. Okay. 13:27 The third woman is Ruth. Matthew 1:5. Ruth is was a Moabite. You read that in the book of Ruth. She was a Moabite, not an Israelite. And you know who Moab was? 13:43 Moab was a son born to Lot when he committed adultery with his own daughters. That's worse than daughter-in-law. Lot's daughters got their father drunk and committed adultery with him. And a son was born called Moab. And from 14:02 that son came Ruth. And from that Ruth one day came Mary, the mother of Jesus. Would you choose such a line as your genealogy? And the fourth woman, there are only four women mentioned in in this genealogy. I told you one of 14:16 them, Tamar. And second, uh Rahab, third, Ruth. The fourth one is verse six, Bathsheba. Aha. You know all about her. How David committed adultery with her. My point is, why does the New Testament begin 14:33 with a genealogy full of such women? I'll tell you what I told you earlier. Jesus said, "I did not come to call the righteous. I've come to call sinners to repentance." Is there fornication and incest 14:52 and all types of evil, prostitution in your ancestral line? Be encouraged. Jesus came through such a line. And he was the holiest man that walked on Earth. So what if there's all types of things like that in your ancestry? Just forget it. The blood of 15:11 Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin and makes it You know what justification means? Justified. We are justified. It means just as if I had never sinned. Remember that. Justified means just as if I had never sinned. 15:31 Just as if I been holy all my life. That's the meaning of justified. That is Romans 5:1, justified. Romans 5:9, justified by the blood of Christ. Not only forgiven, not only cleansed 1 John 1:9, but Romans 5, just as if I had always been 15:51 righteous. Praise God. Let that comfort you. Amen. Thank you for that answer. Another person asks, is it okay to set goals for a year or should I just walk with Jesus and ask him to lead me one step at a time? 16:11 Yeah, I I do not set goals for a year to tell you honestly. Somebody wants to do that, that's fine. But I believe that you know what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6. I love that verse. Matthew 6 16:29 uh verse 34 Each day has got enough trouble of its own. Have you read that verse? Matthew 6:34, each day has got enough trouble of its own. That means temptation and trials and all 16:49 that. God has allowed it. And so I live one day at a time. In James chapter 4 it says don't say I'll do this and that tomorrow. Say God willing, I'll do this because your life is like a vapor. You cannot say whether you live till 17:04 tomorrow. So I live one day at a time. I don't say that I'm going to do this up till December 31st of 2023. Who of us can say we live till then? I live one day at a time. Say, "Lord, today I want to follow you. Take up your 17:20 cross daily." Jesus said in Luke 9:23, not yearly, daily, day by day. And so, I say, "I don't worry about tomorrow." Luke Matthew 6:34. It's good to have goals for your whole life. Lord, I want to live for Jesus 100%. I want to be a witness for you, 17:38 not just for a year, but for your whole life. But, we live one day at a time. "Give us this day our daily bread." is our prayer. Not for the whole year. "This day, help me to forgive others, and help me to overcome temptation, 17:55 and help me to live faithfully to you one day at a time. And then, one day at a time it'll finally become 50, 60 years. For me, it has been now 64 years as a Christian. One day at a time. Yeah. Thank you. Some preachers teach that 18:13 generational curses and sins apply to Christians. Is this true? Not at all true if you have come into Christ really. And I use this illustration. I once belonged to a bad tree called the tree of Adam. 18:31 I was born of Adam. I was a branch from that tree. That tree is a corrupt tree. There was a curse on it. And all the filth came to me from that tree. What the Bible calls the sins of the flesh. 18:51 So, there was a Was there a generational curse on me that time? Yeah, sure. But, a day came in my life when I was born again. God pulled me out from that tree and planted me in another tree called Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not related to Adam. 19:09 Sorry. Adam, sorry. I'm not connected to you anymore. Not sorry, I'm happy, Adam. I'm not connected. I'm in Christ. Is there a generational curse now? Zero. It's only the blessing of God. There's a generational blessing on me now. 19:28 Amen. So, don't believe the lies which the devil says. You're not born again, oh, plenty of generational curses. But, if you're really born again, Christ lives in you, you're connected to Christ, even if you're imperfect, you're a new believer, 19:41 born again today, there's no generational curse on you. God bless you. Yeah, so good. Uh some sometimes I wonder whether I want to please God so that he will meet my needs rather than from devotion to him. How do I test whether my motives are 19:59 right? Only by examining ourselves, but there's nothing wrong in asking for our needs, let me tell you that. Even in the Lord's Prayer, he said, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed." We must start with God. Lord, I want your name to be 20:13 glorified first of all in my life. Hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. That's first. And then, give me also my daily bread. There's nothing wrong in saying, "Lord, please give me food to live on 20:30 this earth, and give me a house to live in." It's all included in that. Give us not only me, me and my family, and others around me. Give us food to eat, which means give me a job. How can I get food to eat if I don't have a job? 20:43 How can I raise my family if I don't have a house? So, all this comes in that prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. Give me a job, give me a house, give me money to educate my children so that they can earn their daily bread one 20:54 day. All this is included in that simple prayer, "Give me my daily bread." And not only that, "Please forgive me all my sins." It's all looks as very selfish prayers. "Give me, forgive me, and don't lead me into temptation, but 21:09 not me, always us, us, us, us. Lord, I'm not only thinking about myself. When you give me my daily bread, please I think of my fellow believers also, who are also part of you as our heavenly father. Please provide their need also. 21:24 When I say forgive me, I'm saying forgive us, Lord, forgive my brother what he's done. And when he says lead us not into temptation, mean don't lead me and don't lead my brother also in temptation. It's this collective prayer of family. 21:38 You know, we want our children, for example, to recognize don't just think of yourself, think of your brother and sister. For example, when you're eating together at the table, and you've got three or four children. What do you teach your children? Don't 21:51 grab everything on the table. There are others sitting at the table with you. Make sure that you take only how much you eat. How much depending on how many people there are. So, if there are only four cakes on the table, and there are four people at the 22:08 table, how many cakes are you supposed to eat? Simple division. 4 / 4, eat one. Now, if you eat two, somebody else is not going to get a cake. Uh I've heard the story about a true 22:27 mother. A mother who loves cakes. When she sees there are five people at the table, and only four cakes, she will say, "I don't really care for cakes." That's a true mother. She really loves it, but she sees there are only four people at the table, and 22:45 so she refuses. She says, "I I'm not interested in cake today. I don't feel like eating." A what what an example, but always think of others. But that's there's nothing wrong in asking for our needs. Uh uh our spiritual needs first, 23:02 and then our physical needs. It's perfectly right to ask and there's nothing wrong in that. Think of the Lord's If you seek God's kingdom first, it says all the other things will be added to you. I proved that from the time I quit my job 23:16 56 years ago. I tried my best to seek God's kingdom first and I've never lacked anything. My wife and I have never lacked anything. We've been able to eat. We've never been without a meal a single day. We've been able to educate our children and bring 23:31 them up and we never asked a soul for money. We never got a salary. God took care of us. So, trust God. He cares for your need. I can tell you that. Okay, thanks. We'll move on to another category of spiritual growth. Uh here's a question. What does it mean 23:50 for my faith to not fail when I go through a trial like what Jesus prayed for Peter and how can I ensure that I keep walking with Christ until the end? Yeah. I believe the secret of everything in our life is humility. Have you heard me preach on the three 24:12 secrets of the Christian life? You know, I've seen meetings where I say, "Let me tell you the three secrets of the Christian life." And people take out their notebooks and begin to write. And I say, "The first one is humility." 24:29 And then when I say, "The second one is humility." They stop writing. They know what all three are. Humility, humility, humility. Where do I get that from? Philippians chapter 2 verse 5, "Let this mind be in you which 24:47 is in Christ Jesus." Who being as God became a man, humility. As a man, he became a servant. For servant, humility. That's the second step. And then as as a servant, he went down and died like a criminal on the cross, mercy, humility. 25:05 So, that's where I get it, three secrets of the Christian life. Let this mind be in you which is in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:5-8, humility, humility, humility. It's not an original thought of me, the Holy Spirit gave that. You read the 25:17 Bible carefully, it's there. So, that is the way we get grace from God, and with grace we can overcome everything that we face. Can you repeat that question again, Santosh? One minute. Yeah, um what does it mean for my faith 25:36 to not fail when I go through a trial, like what Jesus prayed for Peter? Yes, so if I have grace, I will not fail. So, I have to do my part, God do his part. And if I humble myself, I'll get grace from God. And the reason why God, you know, when 25:53 in that place where it says Jesus prayed for Peter, that is in Luke chapter 22. He said, "I prayed that your faith will not fail." Now, it's very interesting if you look at that passage, that Jesus prayed for Peter, "I pray 26:06 that your faith will not fail." He had already told him that you're you're going to deny me three times. And but he said, "But I'm praying that your faith will not fail." Luke 22 verse 26:24 31 onwards. Simon, Satan has demanded permission to sift you. I prayed for you that your faith will not fail. But before the crows, verse 34, 26:41 today, you will deny me three times. And I say, "Lord, why didn't you pray that Jesus Peter would not deny you three times?" Isn't that important? I mean, if I know that a brother is going to face a temptation and he's going to fall, I 26:58 would think, "Oh Lord, please don't let him fall." And Jesus knows that Peter is going to be tempted to deny him three times, and he doesn't pray that he will not deny him. He only prays that after you deny me, then after you turn again, verse 32, after 27:18 you denied me, then you turn again, then strengthen your brothers. Why did God Why did Jesus not pray that Peter should not deny him? Why did he pray that yeah, after he denies him, he his faith will not fail, he'll turn again. I'll tell you why. 27:36 Because there was so much pride in Peter, like there is in all of us. And he had to be humbled. Humbled in such a way to do such a terrible sin. Do you know that denying the Lord is a terrible sin? I'll tell you why. Jesus once said, 27:55 "If you deny me, I will deny you before my father." He said that. I think it's in Matthew 10. But he never said if you commit adultery, I'll deny you. If you murder somebody, I'll deny you. Listen to this. If you murder somebody, I'll deny you. 28:14 He never said that. You commit adultery, I'll deny you. No. If you deny me before men, I'll deny you before my father. So, which is the greatest sin? Murder, adultery, or denying Christ? Tell me. Denying Christ. So, Peter committed a 28:28 sin worse than adultery and murder, and Jesus didn't stop him. He forgave him when he repented. I'll tell you why. Don't you think if you had committed 10 or 15 murders in your life, you'd be very humbled in your Christian life? 28:47 Even if you're a Christian now, if you have committed adultery with 20, 30 women, don't you think you'll be a very humble person now? That's what happened to Peter. He got so humbled by the fact that in a moment of testing 29:02 he had denied Christ that for his entire life, I think he lived up to the age of 60 or 65, for the rest of the 35 years of his life, he never forgot one thing. I have committed the greatest sin of all one time in my life. I'm forgiven, 29:17 but I'll never forget that I denied the Lord. And sometimes God allows us to fall so deeply that we never forget in all our life how we disappointed the Lord, let down the Lord after we came to know him. 29:36 And that keeps us humble and broken. That's what happened to Paul, also. He had murdered Christians, locked them up. All his life till the end of his life, he's never forgotten it. And that kept him humble. Lord, I'm a sinner. That's why he said at the end of 29:54 his life, I feel I'm the greatest sinner on the earth. And you know, when we come close to God, that awareness that we are the greatest sinner keeps us humble and broken before him. It's good for us. God allows something 30:06 like that to happen in our life that we'll I found some of the greatest servants of God, God has allowed something to happen in their life that they never forget. Nobody else knows about it, perhaps, but it's between them and the Lord. 30:23 They never forget, this is what I was. And it may not be murder or adultery like that. It may It may be some terrible sin, whatever it is. It may be murder, it may be anything. Paul's case it was murder, in some other cases it's something else, but in 30:36 Peter's case it was denying Christ. But whatever it is, something in our life that keeps us broken and humble before God. And God allows it. But he still prays that our faith will not fail. So, humility is the answer. Humble 30:54 yourself and God will give you grace and preserve you till the end. Since we talked about victory, I'll ask this question that somebody asked, "Why is the bondage of sexual lust so powerful despite my crying out for help? 31:08 What is the secret to victory?" Okay. I would say if you read Matthew chapter 5, I don't have time to go into it. But Jesus made this statement in Matthew 5 20 that your righteousness must be more than the righteousness of 31:25 the Pharisees. The Pharisees' righteousness was cleaning the outside of the cup. Our righteousness must be cleaning the inside of the cup. Old Testament holiness was outside of the cup. New Testament holiness is the inside of the cup. If your outer life is 31:40 clean and your inner life is impure, you are a Jew, not a Christian. You're an Old Testament Christian. To be a New Testament Christian, your inside has to be clean. The Jewish religion in the Old Testament was cleaning the outside of the cup. 32:00 That's what the Pharisees were. But Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, "Your righteousness must be more than that." Which means the inside of the cup. And then he said, "I'll give you two examples to begin with." Matthew 5 verse 21. First of all, old covenant 32:16 righteousness was, "Don't commit murder." New covenant righteousness inside of the cup, "Don't get angry." Anger is equal to murder in the new covenant. "I'll give you one more example," he said. Old covenant said in Matthew 5:27, 32:30 "Don't commit adultery." That's the outside of the cup. New covenant, "Don't even lust after women." That's the inside of the cup. Two examples. And he said, "If you don't take this seriously, you're on your way to hell." 32:41 You read Matthew chapter 5:21 to 32. You see how Jesus was saying the emphasis on the inside of the cup. So, in order to seek for cleanliness inside of the cup, he took two examples. Anger and lustful thoughts. And I have seen through the years in 33:00 observing Christians in all countries that anger and sexual thoughts are the most difficult sins for many people to overcome. Anger includes bitterness, unforgiveness. It's all part of anger. An unforgiving attitude, a bitter 33:15 attitude, anger. People have struggled, struggled, struggled with it. Sexual thoughts, struggled, struggled, struggled with it, especially men. Anger, men and women. Well, I think it's God's permitted it to show us how weak our flesh is. 33:35 And if you recognize your weakness, you'll cling to God. And when we realize how quickly we get angry or how quickly a man gets lustful thoughts, it'll make you cling to God even more. It's like I use this example sometimes. 33:53 If you're trying to cross a busy street in in India, there are no crossings for pedes- pedestrians in many streets. Many, many streets, there are no pedestrian crossings like in other countries. You have to just somehow run across that 34:09 the traffic going both ways, and you have to somehow escape for your life and cross the road. Now, supposing a father is standing with his 2-year-old son and his 15-year-old son on the side of the road, and they want to cross the other side of the road. 34:25 And dad says, "Hold my hands, sons." Cuz there's a lot of traffic going up and down. The 15-year-old says, "I don't want to hold your hand. I'm a man. I'm going to walk." The 2-year-old says, "No, Daddy. I want to hold your hand." 34:38 Who is more in danger? The 15-year-old or the 2-year-old? The 2-year-old is immature, but he's safer in crossing the road. Why? Because he knows he cannot cross the road on his own. The 15-year-old is so confident young 34:53 man, he thinks I can cross the road without holding my dad's hand, and he gets run over by the car. It's exactly the same in the Christian life. Some people think, "Yeah, I can overcome." And they don't depend on the Lord 35:05 helplessly like a 2-year-old. And they are the ones who fall in anger, they fall into sexual lust. But if you recognize your weakness, "Lord, I'm weak in both these areas. Please help me. There's not a moment, even if you know I'm 100 years old, I'm 35:19 weak in these two areas. Please help me." That person will cross the road without getting run over. It is the helpless person who clings to the Lord, and says, "Lord, please help me." That's why God has allowed these temptations to be so strong. 35:37 It's like a road where the cars are going up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down all the time. There's no way you can cross without your father holding your hand. That's why he's allowed these temptations to be strong, so that we 35:49 will cling to him more closely. And then he won't fall. He'll keep you from falling. I'll tell you that. He can keep you from falling. You know the last promise in the Bible before the Book of Revelation? Who knows the last promise in the Bible 36:04 before the Book of Revelation? Let me tell you today. Jude verse 24. Jude is only one chapter. The last promise in the Bible before the Book of Revelation. He 36:25 can keep you not only from falling, from stumbling. Falling means you tripped and fell on the road. Stumble means you just tripped over a stone and you didn't fall on your face. You just stumbled. He can keep you even from stumbling and present you one 36:41 day blameless. Aha. I praise God that the New Testament concludes with that promise. Before the book of Revelation, the last letter written. He can keep you even from stumbling. And 37:00 when he does that, it says, verse 25, let the glory be only to God, not to you. Amen. What does walking or being led by the Spirit look like practically? It practically it means that I keep my 37:20 conscience clear all the time. Turn with me to Acts to the Apostles in chapter 24. This is a great verse. Acts 24, verse 15 and 16. I tell you the Bible is a very exciting 37:40 book. I probably you've heard some things today in the answer to these questions which you never knew in your life even though you read the Bible for so long. From the very passages that you have been reading for so long, you 37:50 discovered something new today, right? From Matthew chapter 1, from Jude verse 24 and 25. I'm just trying to show you how interesting the book of Bible is. So, here's another passage like that. Acts 24, verse 15 and 16. The last part 38:06 of verse 15. There will certainly be two resurrections. How many of you know that? Resurrection from the dead is split into two. They'll be separated by some years. First, the resurrection of the righteous. Acts 24:15. 38:25 Then some years later the resurrection of the wicked. Anyway, there's a separation between the two. Now, which resurrection do you want to be in? In the resurrection of the righteous or the resurrection of the wicked? The 38:41 wicked also will be raised from the dead. Well, I'm sure you say that like me, I want to be in the resurrection of the righteous. Okay. Then Paul says, in that case, you got to do this. Verse 16, let me paraphrase it like 38:54 this. Paul's saying, because this is Paul testifying, because I want to be in the resurrection of the righteous, here's what I do. I do my best. That's number one. Do your very best, just like you do your best to make money, do your best to keep 39:11 yourself healthy, do your best to keep your conscience clean. How often? Always. Always means 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and not only before God, but before men. I apologize to God. I apologize to men. 39:29 Two arms of the cross. Relationship with God, relationship with men. Apologize to God, apologize to men. Keep my conscience clear. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's the meaning of always. And I guarantee you, every one of you, you'll be in the 39:45 resurrection of the righteous. Otherwise, no hope. Keep your conscience clear. That is what it means to walk in the spirit every day. The spirit of God tells us, this is wrong. Let me use an earthly example. 40:06 If you're walking on the road and you slip and fall, what do you do? Let me ask you honestly, if you're a healthy person, how long do you lie on that road and weep and cry, "Oh, I fell down. I fell down. I fell down." Tell me, how 40:17 often do you lie down like that? I'm sure all of you have slipped and fallen somewhere. How often did you lie down on the ground and weep and cry? Two-year-olds may do it, but you're not two year old. You get up immediately, as soon as 40:33 possible. Do that in the Christian life. Did you slip up sexually, anger-wise, or any-wise? Repent. That's the meaning of getting up. Lord, I'm sorry. Next day you fall again. Get up immediately. Next day you fall again. 40:53 Get up. Get up. Get up. A day will come when you don't fall. But if you keep lying down there and take sin lightly or get discouraged, there's not much hope. Don't ever condemn yourself. 41:11 Let me show you something. There are two things we must have a no entry road. Watch this. No entry to condemn yourself, and no entry of discouragement. 41:30 When you see a no entry sign, you never enter that road. So, that's what I say. Two no entry roads. Please remember that. Discouragement. Never get discouraged. I used to be discouraged so many times in my life. It hindered my spiritual 41:49 growth. Till the Lord said, "Finish with it. The blood has cleansed you. Don't keep on thinking about your past failures. Repent." And I overcame. And discouragement. I used to get I used to be a slave to discouragement. I used 42:01 to be a slave to condemning myself. "Oh, I'm not good. I'm not good." And it didn't make me more spiritual. I said, "Lord, I know nothing good dwells in my flesh. I don't have to keep saying that. But I'm in Christ. I'm a new person. 42:13 So, please remember that. Okay. Thank you. Another person writes, "As a single person, I feel overwhelmed when I read the biographies of those who did so much for God. What would you say is the one thing I should focus on?" 42:30 Well, I'll tell you one thing. When a person writes a biography of somebody else, he will never reveal all the blunders that man made because he doesn't know it, first of all. And even if he knows it, for example, I remember as a young man 42:48 reading the biography of Hudson Taylor, great missionary to China, written by his daughter-in-law. Now, which daughter-in-law will write about the father-in-law, man of God, and reveal all the blunders and mistakes and sins he committed? Impossible. 43:05 And I tell you that biography discouraged me like anything. Because I see this man was a perfect saint. Hudson Taylor's spiritual secret, that is the name of that book. It discouraged me. Then later on, I read another more 43:18 honest biography of Hudson Taylor called Hudson Taylor and Maria. Uh-huh. And that shows how he fell in love and he and did foolish things and all that. I was encouraged by that. So, very few biographies uh mention honestly. I remember when 43:36 uh I decide I would not write anything about my in my life, but one of my elder brothers in Kerala in India said, "We are publishing a magazine. Can you please write one page in a month about something in your life?" So, he I said, "Okay, I'll write one 43:52 page." But he kept on asking me for 4 years every day to write something something something. So, 48 months for his monthly paper, he asked me to write and write and write some some incident from my life. It ended up becoming a book. 44:08 Which he published first in Malayalam and then in English. It's a book available on our website called The Day of Small Beginnings. It's It's my testimony. But I wrote it one chapter at a time over a period of 4 years. Because I was asked to. 44:23 And I decided when I write about myself, I got to mention my failures. Where I slipped up, where I bungled up. Where I was discouraged. And I said, otherwise it's not an honest testimony. Otherwise I'm telling a lie. I don't want to write a book which is 44:38 telling a lie. I know many people have told me reading that they were encouraged just by the fact that I also used to get discouraged and defeated. And I didn't come to victory overnight. So, uh it's very easy to get discouraged 44:51 when you read biographies. Don't believe everything there. It may be true, but there's a whole lot left out. And that part is what he realized that they were all failures. But one thing about the Bible, the Bible is absolutely honest. 45:10 Who would write a book about a man after God's own heart, David, and say that he committed adultery with somebody else's wife and then killed her husband? Only the Bible would write such honest things. Or that Peter the great apostle 45:22 denied the Lord three times. Or Paul, the great apostle, circumcised Timothy, which is wrong, and went and shaved his head like a Jew after becoming a Christian. Who would write all this? Only the Bible. And I I you know, 45:39 do you know who wrote the Acts of the Apostles? Luke. And Luke, by the way, was the closest co-worker of Paul. And there's a place in Acts 21 where 45:55 Luke writes that Paul lost his temper. After so many years of being a Christian. And I when Paul when Luke was writing the Acts of the Apostles, I can imagine Paul going up to him and he says, "Hey, brother Luke, don't try to hide my weaknesses when you 46:11 write this book. Write honestly. Tell them where I shaved my head foolishly. Tell them where I circumcised Timothy foolishly. Tell them how I lost my temper and called the high priest a whitewashed wall. Tell them honestly all those things. 46:28 Let them see that I was not a perfect person, but a sinner saved by grace. I have wanted all my life to be known as a sinner saved by grace. Don't forget that. So, don't the all these biographies that you read are not true. The biographies of the 46:47 Bible are true. A lot of biographies you read are not true. Okay. Uh somebody writes, "I've been praying for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I've not received it yet. Is this because I have not been baptized in water?" And the person says, "I haven't 47:01 been baptized in water because I have I don't know of a new covenant church in my area in the UK to be baptized in." We have a new covenant church, or at least we call it CFC church. I'm not here to describe whether it's new 47:17 covenant or not. A CFC church in London. And if you write to our Bangalore website, which is CFC, which stands for Christian Fellowship Center, cfc at cfcindia.com, they will link you to the address in London. You can go there 47:37 and get baptized by the elders there. But, you don't have to be baptized. You can be baptized by any born-again Christian whom you have confidence in. It doesn't have to be a perfect person. If you have If he's not born-again, 47:52 don't let him baptize you. But, if he's He doesn't have to be a pastor or a preacher or any such thing. It is a truly God-fearing, born-again person. He can baptize you even all by yourself. Remember the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 48:05 chapter 8. Nobody witnessed his baptism. He was not in a church being baptized. He was just on the roadside. Nobody except some unconverted drivers of his carriage watched him. And Philip went into the water and baptized him. 48:19 You can be baptized all by yourself. You and that person baptize you in a river or somewhere. But it must be a born-again Christian. So, don't wait for that. But if you've not had opportunity for it for some other reason, maybe you're in a sickbed 48:31 or something, you don't have to wait for that if you're willing for that. But if you have disobeyed it for some other reason, then of course disobedience hinders you. But the Bible says, "Be repent, believe, and be baptized." And then you can seek 48:46 God in faith. The fundamental requirement is hunger and thirst, John 7:37. If anyone will thirst, let him come to me. If you don't thirst, don't come. Wait. When you thirst, when you're desperate, come to me and believe in me. There are only two 49:04 conditions, thirst and faith. John 7, verse 37 and 39 to 39 are very clear. For rivers of living water to flow from you, you need a tremendous thirst in your life for the life of God in you. And you must believe that God will do it 49:20 for you. Jesus will do it for you. That's all. A tremendous thirst to be free from all sin for the holy, h o l y, holy spirit to come inside you. You have that? What will the holy spirit do? I ask people, 49:39 "What does an unclean spirit do when he gets into a person?" He makes him unclean. "What does an evil spirit do when he gets into a person?" He makes him evil. "What does a demonic evil do when he gets into a spirit in a good 49:52 person? He makes him demonic. What will the Holy Spirit do when he gets into a person? Some people say, "Speak in tongues." No, he'll make him holy. Why don't you understand it in the same way? An evil spirit makes a person evil, 50:05 a Holy Spirit will make you holy. You're trying to say that an evil spirit has got more power to make a person evil than the Holy Spirit has got power to make a person holy. Don't insult the Holy Spirit like that. You say, "Lord, 50:15 if an evil spirit could make a person evil, you are the Holy Spirit, make me holy." He'll do it. See God like that. Amen. While you were talking about the church in London, a number of people wrote asking about churches in their 50:31 area. I'll just say this, that if you'd like to know about uh churches, even though CFC's not a denomination, there are many like-minded churches in different parts of the world or contacts in your area. So, just write to CFC or 50:44 to RLCF. Uh I'll play that uh announcement again at the end so you can find out the email address if you're looking for a fellowship in your area. I want to add I want to add something here before you go on. See, if you go to our CFC website, which 51:00 is cfcindia.com, you'll never find a list of other churches there. People who come to think come to that site think we are only one church in the whole world. We're actually about 100 in 14 countries, but we don't advertise 51:15 that on our website because we're not in that business. So, we say each church is independent. There's no central control, there's no central financial control or physical control or anything. Uh a lot of them look up to me for 51:30 spiritual guidance, but each church is un- independent elders, all self-supporting elders in all our 100 churches. There are over 200 elders like that. But they're independent churches, but we don't want to advertise that like some 51:43 type of boasting. And we can't guarantee the quality of all those elders will be exactly the same. Some of them may be Some of them may be a little in uh you know not so spiritual like some of the elders in Revelation chapter 52:02 2 and 3. We try our best to keep the standards the same. So, if you write to that address cfcindia.com about the country you're from, we if there is a church there we'll let you know. Thank you. Another question on baptism. Uh is I 52:19 This person writes, "I was baptized by pouring of water because uh immersion baptism was abandoned by that church during COVID. Uh I was a new convert and didn't know what I was doing. Should I get rebaptized now?" Well, I don't think anybody got 52:37 COVID by being dipped in water. I've never heard of that. Then you won't even take a shower. But if you understand what baptism means, see in Romans chapter 6, it says we are buried by baptism. How do you bury a man? 52:56 Not by sprinkling sand on his head. When a man is dead, you put him 6 ft under the ground. Put him completely underneath. That means you don't see him anymore. And resurrection is to come up from the grave. So, how do we show that in baptism? Not 53:12 by sprinkling water on his head. You got to bury him in water and lift him up. You read that in baptism they came up when Philip baptized the eunuch, he came up out of the water. In John chapter 4, we read that John was 53:26 baptizing people where there was plenty of water. Why do you need plenty of water? You only need a cup of water if you need to pour pour it on people's heads. You can do it anywhere. So, every evidence in of baptism in the 53:37 New Testament is where there was plenty of water. They were dipped completely to symbolize baptism. Now, if a person is on a sick bed and can't go there or he's in a locked in a prison for life imprisonment, then he can't be baptized, 53:51 then God understands. For such a person, God would be merciful. I'd pour a bucket of water on his head. But, where it is possible to be baptized in the right way, I would say you should be baptized in the right way. Okay. 54:11 Yeah. Um here's another question. In the early days after my conversion, I felt the Lord's presence with quickly answered prayers and even visions. I don't feel the same now. Have I backslidden? I think, you know, visions and all are to help us 54:30 in the days of weak faith. Unless there's some specific purpose. But, the external signs and symbols are more needed. Just like little children need a lot more encouragement than grown-up adults. So, it doesn't mean you're backslidden. It 54:49 probably means you've grown up. But, the test is not whether you have visions or not. The test is, are you able to overcome sin in your life? In the early days, you could not overcome so many sins. Now, you can. That's the mark of spiritual growth. 55:05 Visions prove nothing. Even doing miracles prove nothing because Jesus said, many will stand before him in the last days and say, "Lord, we did miracles in your name." And he will turn around and say, "I don't even know you who you are." 55:17 So, that proves nothing. Don't be taken up with the spectacular. You hear too many testimonies of the spectacular, and you want to yourself perhaps to give testimonies like that to get some honor for yourself. That'll lead you astray. 55:29 If you have an experience with God like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, "I was caught up to the third heaven." And he says, "I'm not permitted to sell you what I heard there." Have you read that in 2 Corinthians 12? I believe he had a genuine experience. 55:47 You go to Google and search about people who have gone to heaven. You see hundreds of them. They're all ready to tell you what all they heard there. All lies. All lies. Because I believe 2 Corinthians 12, if a person's really taken to heaven, he will 56:00 not be permitted to say anything about he saw there. That's what Paul said. So, all these lies, you believe all these lies that somebody was taken to heaven and he saw this and he saw that. Maybe he had a dream. That's all. 56:13 So, I don't believe these lies of today. I believe the word of God. So, don't think that visions are any indication of spirituality. Not at all. Okay. Yep. Um again, more questions coming from people asking about uh churches. Um please 56:31 write to us. We won't um as as Dad said, we won't publish that. If you've written to us and we haven't replied, we we apologize for that. We may have just missed the email. Please write to us again. Another question is, does keeping 56:43 God first mean devoting a lot of time to reading the scriptures and prayer? If so, how do I do that with a busy secular job? Well, I told you that for 1,400 years, nobody had a Bible. How could they read the Bible all the 56:57 time? It was obedience to God which is more important. The purpose of reading the Bible is to know God's will. And to know God's will in order to obey him. So, the emphasis was not be on reading and understanding, but the purpose of it 57:14 is to know what God's will is so that we obey him. So, in the days when there was no printed Bible, they still had the Holy Spirit and a conscience. They knew what to do. So, that's the important thing. So, following the Lord and walking in his 57:28 ways does not mean reading the Bible the whole time, but more meditating on what You know, let me read to you in Psalm 1 Psalm 1 says like this Blessed is the man who walks does not walk in the way of sinners but walks in the 57:47 pathway of the righteous. But it says here by the scriptures he walks he meditates Psalm 1 verse 2 on the law of God day and night. He doesn't read it day and night. But he thinks about God's scripture all the time. All the time means not actually every 58:04 second but God's word is in his mind the whole day to guide his life. And then it says in verse 3, whatever he does he will prosper spiritually. I want to prosper spiritually in everything in my life. And according to that 58:22 if I don't walk in the way of sinners and obey and meditate on God, think about God's word I will prosper spiritually. Yeah. Here's a question somebody just typed which I think is worth asking right away. Um they write that they are associated 58:40 with another religion. How do I start to become a Christian? Well first of all, let me say that Jesus loves people of all religions. Don't think that Jesus loves only Christians. God loves everybody. 58:59 He loves every non-Christian in the world. Whatever religion or atheist with no religion God loves them all. John 3:16 says God so loved the world. Not God so loved Christians. If a Christian gives that impression, he's giving a wrong impression. 59:18 I would say to any non-Christian my dear friend, I don't despise you. We are all sinners. We've all come from Adam. Adam had no religion. Religions are all made by man. And more than 90% 9 more than 90% 59:37 of those who call themselves Christians are not Christians in my understanding cuz they're not born again. There's no difference between them and a non-Christian. In fact, it's worse to call yourself a Christian and not behave like one. So, I 59:51 say they are worse than non-Christians. That's what I say. 90% of Christians are worse than non-Christians because they're not born again. And they're bringing a disgrace to the name of the Lord. So, I would say that whatever religion you 1:00:05 are, don't see yourself as a religion belonging to a religion. See yourself as a sinner. That's all. The world is divided into those who sinners who are not converted and sinners who are converted, who are born again. Yeah, all have sinned. 1:00:22 Romans 3:23. Whatever their religion may be. I was born in a Christian family, but I was basically a sinner. And I never became a Christian till I was 20 years old, even though I went to church all those 20 years. My parents took me to church. My father 1:00:36 was born again, but I was not. So, there's it doesn't matter what you are from. If you see yourself as a sinner and not as a person of some religion, even if you call yourself Christian, non-Christian, it doesn't make a 1:00:48 difference. We are all sinners. We have sinned. We have violated God's law. And Jesus came to Earth to die for our sins, to take away take the punishment for our sins, and to show that God loves everybody, and God wants to save everybody from 1:01:05 their sins. God wants everyone to dwell with him for all eternity. God wants us to love one another, to love those who hate us, to be good on this Earth to one another, and he wants to change us so that we can love and be good to others. 1:01:19 And if you want that life where your sins are forgiven, and you want to live a life of love and goodness to others open your life and say Lord Jesus I'm a sinner. You died for me on the cross. Please come into my heart and 1:01:31 change my life. Thank you. And thank you for asking that question um whoever you are. I'll move on to another category about church life, Dad. Uh here's the first question. What should I do if the church I attend has many good aspects but a few practices 1:01:47 that are not scriptural? Well, I would say you should go to the leaders of the church and point out scripture to them and say why are you not following it? Very often their answer will be if you're honest that our church system doesn't believe in 1:02:03 that or some explanation like that. But if that is the best church you can find in your locality I would say stay there because there may be genuine born-again Christians there who don't have light on everything but who really love the Lord 1:02:21 stay there. Stay in that church. I always say stay in the best church in your locality and seek fellowship and in that church say Lord, please bring me in touch with somebody in this church who's seeking for more than what is found here, who's 1:02:37 seeking for a godly life. And out of a hundred people or two hundred people in your church, there may be two or three who are really seeking for godliness like you are. God knows who they are and if you pray, he will bring you in touch with them. 1:02:53 That's how he brought me in touch with one or two here and there. That's how I've come in touch with different people in different parts of the world. But we prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. Lord, please bring us 1:03:03 in touch with somebody. Bring us in touch with somebody. We started out first in our hometown and then in our state and then in our country and then in the world. And it's amazing what God has done. How he's made us now come in contact 1:03:16 with people in a hundred and eighty countries. So, God can do amazing things if we humble ourselves and don't think that we have to leave this and leave that. Lord, first show me which is the best church I can attend here in 1:03:30 this town I'm living in. Let me go there. And then don't go there to criticize everything you find there. No. Go there and accept whatever is good. I would suggest don't become a member. Once you become a member, there are all 1:03:42 types of problems. Attend it. Attend regularly. Say, "I'm not very free to be a member, but I'll attend regularly." And contribute whatever you want towards the expenses of that building, etc. But pray, "Lord, there may be one or two 1:03:59 here in this church of 200 people who are looking for something more for godliness and overcoming." God will bring you in touch with them. Then, don't try to bring a division in that church. Seek to meet with those one or two 1:04:10 people in your home once in a while. And build fellowship with them. And like that, you can have a little fellowship there which builds something more. You know, Jesus also had number of concentric circles. You know what a concentric circle is? A 1:04:24 circle inside a circle. So, Jesus had a big circle of great multitudes of thousands of people who would listen to him. Inside that, there's a small circle you read in Luke chapter 10 of 70 people who were his disciples. That's a smaller 1:04:38 circle whom he sent out to preach. That's a And inside that circle of 70, there was a still smaller circle of 11. One was a crook. But 11 very fine disciples. And inside that, there was a still smaller circle of three. Peter, James, and John. 1:04:55 With whom Jesus had closer fellowship than with the other eight. So, Jesus had concentric circles, and he had more fellow most fellowship with the three, a little less with the other eight, a little less with the other in the 70 1:05:08 group, and a little less with the larger group. He loved everybody, but his fellowship was more with that smallest circle. And you'll find that it's like that. I found that even within a CFC church. I don't have fellowship with everybody 1:05:19 in that church equally. I have these concentric circles, just like Jesus had. It will be like that. Okay. Another person writes that a very small group of them have built a small hall that where they meet. Should they do outreach evangelism or 1:05:37 just trust the Lord to bring people to them? Jesus said, "You must be my witnesses to the whole world." So, we sought from the beginning when we started our CFC, we were only two. Two families. That's how we started. 1:05:54 August 1975. And then, some would come, some would go, some would come, some would go. Slowly it increased, and then we prayed that the Lord would bring us in touch with others. But, meanwhile, we sought in every way to reach out by literature. 1:06:09 We printed little tracts and printed little things to distribute to people, and we prayed, "Lord, bring us in touch with people." Somebody would meet somebody in a store, perhaps, or meet someone in the bank and say, "Would you 1:06:21 like to come to our church?" Invite them, somebody in their place of work. They'd invite them to come to a come to our meeting. Or some sometimes a child with a close friend in another uh close friend of the child's in the 1:06:35 school would say to that child, "Hey, would do you and your old parents like to come to our church?" Imagine a child witnessing to another child. Six-year-old child or eight-year-old child, and then the parents who come to 1:06:47 pick up their child get to meet one another. And that's how some people get to go to our church. So, there are different ways we must reach out. Not to force people, but, you know, like a light. I mean, Jesus said, "You're the light of 1:07:00 the world, and you're the salt of the earth." Have you ever thought of Have you meditate on these? I try to meditate on What does it mean to be a light? What does it mean to be salt? What are the What is the common thing 1:07:11 about light and salt? It doesn't make any noise. If your cube light makes a noise, something wrong with it. Uh a a good light does not make any noise. It just shines, and everybody recognizes it. Salt is like that. It doesn't make 1:07:26 any noise in your food, but as soon as you put one spoon into your mouth, you know that there's salt or not. That's how a Christian is primarily. I'm not saying we don't witness, but primarily, it's our life. Let your light shine before men. 1:07:41 Let the salt give taste. And then our witness will be powerful. So, it's not only just gathering together, but seeking to reach out. Go into all the world and make disciples. And your world may be just a few people in your street 1:08:01 or in your town. Go out and Lord, lead me to people who What's I prayed that for years. Lord, lead us to people who want a godly life in in this area where I live. Then I we prayed in this town. And then we prayed in our country. Then 1:08:18 we prayed in the whole world. And at each stage, little by little by little, God has brought us in touch ultimately with people around the whole world. So, we must reach out, but we must concentrate on That's not primary. The purpose is to 1:08:32 bring them in and make them disciples. Yeah. There are a few questions uh addressing specific practices in the churches that the that the folks are attending. I won't go into those, but there's just one I'll I'll bring up that someone 1:08:48 asked. In our church, many women often see visions that are then shared publicly as the word from the Lord for the days to come. Is this practice right? I never see it in scripture of people speaking about visions in a church. 1:09:04 Visions first of all are rare. And I've heard a lot of people speak about it. A lot of it is trash. And 99.999% of it is rubbish that I throw in the garbage bin. When I hear people talking about it, it's very often just empty boasting. 1:09:20 Don't listen to it. In the Old Testament, God spoke through visions. When God wants to speak to you, he'll speak to you directly. He doesn't have to speak to you through some woman who says he had a vision. And if you want to know the 1:09:36 function of a woman in the church, it says in 1 Timothy in chapter 2 very clear, the Holy Spirit says, listen what the Holy Spirit says, I do not allow a woman 1:09:54 to teach a man. How much clearer can there be than that? The Holy Spirit does not allow a woman to teach spiritual things to a man. To teach Sunday school children, okay. To teach uh arithmetic and algebra in a school, 1:10:13 okay. But to teach spiritual things to a man, zero. That is not God's plan. Now, the world is full of people who disobey God. Christian churches are full of Christians who disobey God. And there are women pastors and women who teach 1:10:28 all types of things. It doesn't mean they don't have any function. They have a great function. They've got to bring up their children in godly ways. See, a little later, five verses down, it says, uh no, three verses down, verse 15, same 1:10:43 chapter, 1 Timothy 2:15. But women can bring up children. That's their primary ministry. Teach their children to grow up in godly ways and bring them up in faith and love. That's their primary ministry. And not in the church. In the church, it's a man 1:11:01 who's to teach. And even a man, if he says he's got visions, he doesn't have to lead me by vision. How about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit will tell me directly what to do. And it also says in 1 Corinthians 14 about visions and preaching and 1:11:14 prophecy. You know what it says in 1 Corinthians and 14, let me read it to you. Very important. Particularly churches that emphasize the supernatural. That when somebody talks about uh reve 1 Corinthians 14:26 onwards. When it comes to revelation, tongues, 1:11:31 and all, it says here, the others must judge what they hear. Very, very important. Verse 29. When somebody speaks, 1 Corinthians 14:29, let the others judge. We are not to judge people. 1:11:52 That's clear in John Matthew 7:1. But when a person preaches in the church, it says here in Matthew uh 1 Corinthians 14:29, you sit there and listen. Don't just sit and swallow it all. You'll be deceived. Judge. So, one place in the Bible where we are 1:12:07 told to judge. When somebody preaches, compare it with scripture. Is that right what he's saying? Is that according to scripture? And it says in verse 34, the women must be keep silent. Why is this woman getting up and trying 1:12:23 to preach? She can testify, give her testimony what God has done for her, but try to teach me through some vision which she imagines she had, I don't believe it. I say it's rubbish. I throw it in the trash can. And be preserved. These are days of 1:12:39 great deception. We read in Revelation chapter two about such a woman in one church. Revelation chapter two, the Lord says, "I've I've something against this woman with Revelation 2:20 called Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, 1:12:56 who claims to have visions and all that, who's leading my children astray by all her actions. So, be careful of these women who talk about visions, and be careful about men who do not proclaim God's word, who do not point you to 1:13:10 Christ. The most godly person is the one who points you beyond himself to Christ, who says, "Follow me as I follow Christ." Who points you to God's word. Amen. Okay. One more church practice question. Our church practices going to the wilderness 1:13:28 to learn how to survive in preparation for the end times. Is this right? How should we prepare for the end times? See, I have one verse for all these things. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13, which applies to many, many situations. 1:13:45 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. It says, in the middle of that verse, "God will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability." There are a million situations. I cannot train myself going to the wilderness 1:14:04 only one thing. There could be a thousand other situations that I You'll have to go and sit in prison and be beaten to experience that, because that's more Christians have experienced beatings more than wilderness. You know 1:14:15 that? So, if you want that type of thing, ask somebody to beat you on your back with a whip every day to train yourself for that which you're going to face. That is stupidity. You don't have to go to the wilderness to practice how to live. You don't have 1:14:29 to be beaten on the back to practice how to be a Christian. Believe that when the time comes, God will give you grace to overcome. I don't have to go and sit in prison to learn how to be in a prison. When the time comes, God will give me 1:14:41 grace to overcome. And if I go into the wilderness, God will help me to survive there, if it happens, that's all human ideas. Where did they get it from? Not scripture. Human ideas are the things that have led many Christians astray. 1:14:55 So, you don't have to listen to your pastor or leader in those things. Okay. Uh some denominations such as the Anabaptists teach that you can only make disciples if you meet daily or live together. How do we truly make disciples and build 1:15:10 fellowship if we only meet once or twice a week? Yeah. You know, the early Christians could not even meet once or twice a week. They were running for their lives from here and there. Whenever they could, they could meet. In many 1:15:24 countries where there's persecution, they have to meet in secret. You think the secret Christians in China are meeting frequently every day? Far from it. It's very easy to live in a comfortable country like America where all the 1:15:37 Anabaptists mostly are and imagine that all Christianity is has got the freedom there is in the United States to meet regularly. You think of countries like China or other countries where there's persecution against Christians. 1:15:49 It's not easy to meet so easily. Meet whenever you're able to. And some places they have to meet secretly. So, the circumstances are different. Don't make laws for everyone. And the Bible does not say you have to meet daily. 1:16:03 In fact, if you follow literally what it says in Acts of the Apostles, they used to break bread every day. You know that? It says that in Acts chapter 2. That they would meet daily and break bread every day in verse Acts 2:46. 1:16:17 So, imagine breaking bread every day. How many people do that? Maybe some Roman Catholic monks or something. But these are not written in Acts of the Apostles. It's not a book of doctrine. Don't get doctrine from the Acts of the 1:16:31 Apostles. Don't say everybody spoke in tongues, therefore we speak in tongues. Acts of the Apostles is a history book. And you never get doctrine from a history book. The doctrines are in the episodes. And nowhere in the episode it says, "We 1:16:44 must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together." But it never says, "We must meet together daily." What it does say daily is Hebrews chapter 3, I'll tell you. What we must do every day is Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 13, 1:17:00 "Encourage one another every day." That exhortation I'll give to all of you. I'm sure you meet at least one human being every day. Yes or no? Unless you're in solitary confinement in a prison, you'll meet at least one human being 1:17:15 every day. Usually your husband or your wife. What should you do? Encourage your husband every day. Do you do that? Encourage your wife every day. If you don't do that, you're disobeying Hebrews 3:13. Oh, you say maybe maybe your husband or 1:17:31 wife are dead. Your children. Even if they're not there, drop them a line. Call Call them up on the phone. If you're in your house, encourage them. Don't just keep correcting them the whole Speak a word of encouragement to your 1:17:42 children. How many of you parents, tell me, encourage your children saying, "Well done, my son. That was really good what you did." We don't do that enough. We correct our children much more than we encourage them, and that's why they go astray. 1:17:55 Please, my dear parents, I exhort you. Please, from today start encouraging your children more. Encourage one another every single day. You don't have to go to the wilderness. You don't have to sit in a prison. You don't have to listen to preachers. 1:18:10 Just something that blessed you, share it with others. Encourage them. It's a very good exhortation. Encourage one another daily. And even if you don't have a word to encourage, smile. Husbands, smile at your wives. Wives, smile at 1:18:28 your husbands. That itself will encourage many people. Why can't you do that? Do you know that I read somewhere that it takes more muscles in our face to frown than to smile. It takes less muscles to smile. Why do we frown more than we smile then? 1:18:45 It takes more effort to frown than to smile, but we frown more. Why? It's an inner attitude. Smile at each other more. That's one way we can encourage one another. God bless you. I can see you all smiling. I can see you all smiling already. 1:19:00 You're encouraging me. Yeah. How can a church stay in love for the Lord and with one another until Christ's return? Okay. I have discovered in my life, you know, from the beginning as converted 63 years ago, I said, "Lord, I want to love you with all my 1:19:18 heart." Love for Jesus has been the primary passion of my life, not preaching, not serving. And the Lord showed me two ways in which I my love for him can increase. I will share that with you. It's not a great secret. It's in the Bible. 1:19:33 Number one, please remember these two things all your life. How can our love for Christ increase? First, 1 John chapter 4 and verse 19. We love because he first loved us. Number one way in which I can increase my love for Christ 1:19:50 is by understanding how much he loved me. And I see that on the cross. So, for 63 years, I have meditated on the cross. And I think of how much Jesus suffered for me. How he sought after me. 1:20:11 The The other day I was listening to uh a hymn called There Were 99 that safely lay in the shelter of the fold, but one was out on the hills far away, far off from the gates of gold. Talking about the 99 sheep. I was listening to that. 1:20:28 And then how the shepherd went searching for it. And it says in one line, "Away in the desert he heard its cry." One sheep, sick and helpless and ready to die. And I said, "Lord, that was me. That was me. You had many sheep in your fold, but you 1:20:45 heard me one day, sick and helpless spiritually and ready to die, and you came after me and you sought me and you found me. And I'm so thankful. It brings tears to my eyes whenever I think of that. So, you meditate on the love of the Lord for 1:21:01 you, love will spontaneously come for him. Meditate on the cross, not just the physical suffering of the nails, but that he suffered hell on the cross, 3 hours of hell, eternal hell, and the Father forsook him. Meditate on that. 1:21:19 And that will spontaneously bring love in you. That's number one. And the second is from Luke chapter 7. Only two things. One, meditate on how much the Lord loves you. We love him because he first loved us. And the second is from Luke chapter 7 in 1:21:33 the story of the sinful prostitute who came with a ointment of oil that she bought at great expense and poured it at Jesus' feet. And the Pharisee in whose house it was happening, the Pharisee was looking down and despising this woman. 1:21:52 And Jesus said to the Pharisee, "The one verse Luke 7:47. You know why she loves me more than you, you Pharisee? Simon, you Pharisee, you know why this prostitute woman loves me? She's born again now. Oh, she's saved now. 1:22:10 Because she has been forgiven much. You also, Simon, have been forgiven much, but you don't realize it. That's why you love me so little. You did not bring any wash water to wash my feet. She anointed my feet with oil and wept and cleansed it with her 1:22:27 clothes and with her hair. And it says here in Luke 7:47, "She loved She loved much because she was forgiven much." You love little because you're forgiven little. So, I learned from that we don't we don't have to sin. I just 1:22:46 got to be aware of how much filth there is in my flesh, in my thoughts, in my attitudes, in my so many past life and all. Say, "Lord, you have forgiven me much. Then I love much." So, meditate on these two things. One, how much Jesus loved you, and how 1:23:01 much you've been forgiven. Your love will automatically come for the Lord. That's the way to grow in love for the Christ.
