0:00 A lot of things that we read of in the New Testament are patterned in the Old Testament. One of those which we are all familiar with is Jesus is called the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. 0:19 And then all those Israelites who heard it thought of the last 1500 years where the priests were always offering lambs, lambs, lambs on the altar all the time. So when Jesus came along said that's the lamb of God that takes away the sin of 0:34 the world, they realized this is what all those old testament sacrifices were symbolizing. This is the one who is the fulfillment of all that. So God has a way in the Old Testament to teach so many things in a symbolic way. And it's 0:51 good for us to know that. And there's wrong patterns too. For example, in the book of Revelation, we read about Babylon and Jerusalem. By Babylon is the false church and Jerusalem is the true church. You read that in Revelation chapter 17 and 1:08 chapter 19. I don't have time to go there, but you can read it sometime. So when you go to the Old Testament, Babylon began in Genesis 11 where you heard of the Tower of Babel. That is the beginning of Babylon. And so 1:27 when you see that Babylon is a false church, you can see how the false church is built from the Old Testament example in Revelation chap Genesis 11. It begins with people having a bright idea. Genesis 11:4, let us build. 1:47 It's their own plan. They don't consult God. And churches that do not seek to follow God's plan that says, "We know what what to do. Let us do something that something that really impressive to people. Let us build it." And uh we it 2:04 says they gathered verse three the bricks and burnt them and they used the bricks and so it was with their wisdom and with their material. Remember this it was with their wisdom and with the material they gathered 2:21 together and it was for their own glory. Middle of verse four let us make a name for ourselves. Do you know there are a lot of churches and preachers who are preaching to make a name for themselves and anybody 2:41 who does anything in the church to make a name for himself whether it's preaching or maybe you pray in such a way and at the end of the prayer you say I hope everybody was impressed by my prayer that's Babylon. I hope you remember that next time you 2:58 pray in public and you're conscious people are listening and you think, "Oh, I hope they will be impressed by my prayer." That's here. Let us make for ourselves a name. Or you get up to share in the meeting here on Sunday and you 3:12 say, "I want everybody to be impressed with what I'm sharing. Let us make for ourselves a name." See where it began. My dear brother and sister, there are many people who sit in CFC churches and bring the spirit of Babylon 3:29 that is by seeking a name for themselves. So that is how Babylon it begins with my ideas. It's done in my cleverness and ability and it is for my glory. Now the opposite of that is in the next book of 3:47 the Bible which is Exodus where God said let them make me a tabernacle. Now the difference between the Tower of Babel and the tabernacle is bar at Babel was like a huge skyscraper huge till God came and destroyed it. The 4:05 tabernacle, if you've seen pictures of it, is a very, very unimpressive tent made of cloth. No bricks, nothing. Tent and poles. And if you look at it, there was nothing impressive about it. If you looked at the Tower of Babel and the Tower of 4:25 Babylon, the rather not the Tower of Babel and the tabernacle, most people in the world will say, "Hey, this is the impressive thing. This is how we got to build something for God. This fantastic structure that is the stupidity of man that you see right in 4:41 the book of Genesis. Let us make a name for ourselves. And what was the purpose of this? Let us build a tower. Verse 4, Genesis 11:4 that'll reach heaven. The aim was to reach heaven. Remember, good aim, but they did it the wrong way. 5:00 And that's how many churches are also they want to preach about the things of God but they do it the wrong way. And then the Lord said it's that's not the way I I don't want to structure that's impressive in the eyes of men. 5:14 The Lord is more interested in purity than in size. So today you have many s churches which are like the tow of babel huge structures and uh the glory is that one man up there who's the pastor and when the pastor dies that's the end of that 5:32 church that's happened again and again and again in church history all of all the time because they never built a body they built a preaching center that's what many churches are Jesus when the Lord gave pattern for the 5:51 tabernacle. It was very different, very simple. And he told them, you read Genesis, Exodus 25 to Exodus 40, 16 chapters giving exact details how the pillar should be, how every little detail and 6:08 then in the last chapter you read that it's an amazing statement that comes again and again in Exodus chapter 40. When the tabernacle was completed, you see this expression. They did this verse 16, Exodus 40:16, 6:27 just as the Lord, Moses did, just as the Lord commanded him. You read at the end of verse 19, he did this just as the Lord commanded him. You read in verse 21, Exodus 40:21, just as the Lord commanded Moses. You go to the 6:42 end of verse 23, just as the Lord commanded Moses. You go to the end of verse 25, just as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 27, just as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 29, at the end, just as the Lord commanded Moses. And 6:54 verse 32, just as the end Lord commanded Moses. Thus, last part of verse 33. Thus, it's a very important word. Thus, Moses finished the work. How? Exactly as the Lord had commanded him. at every little point, the length of the curtain, 7:11 the color of the curtain, and every little thing. And what was the result was 34? The glory of the Lord came upon that tabernacle. What glory was there in the Tower of Babel? God destroyed it. And every 7:30 church that is built on the principle of the power of Babel with human wisdom and for human glory will every church will be destroyed by God one day. But that which is built exactly according to God's plan where it can be written about 7:46 us. This thing they did in this church was as the Lord commanded. And the other thing they did as the Lord commanded and the other thing as a they broke bread as the Lord commanded. They appointed elders as the Lord commanded. They had 7:58 their meetings as the Lord commanded and the pattern is given us in 1 Corinthians 14. They told the sisters should not teach as the Lord commanded. You find a church like that, the glory of the Lord will be in that church. 8:15 It may not be big. Compare the tabernacle with the Tower of Babel. Today people are impressed with huge structures. So we're very thankful that the Lord has opened a little fellowship, started a little fellowship in Sacramento. 8:29 I've often had at that place close by and people like Andre have been coming from there for ages over here and I'm sure he had a burden too and the Lord has answered the burden whether spoken or sometimes we have a burden which is 8:41 unspoken and the Lord sees an unspoken burden in the heart and he fulfills it and we want that church not to be a tower of babel we want it to be a tabernacle built as the Lord commanded every little point as the Lord commanded as the Lord 8:59 commanded as the Lord commanded so that finally the glory of God will rest on it. And it says the fire of God will rest on that tabernacle. And later on the Israelites took advantage of that. Oh, we've got the plan. We got the pattern. And they 9:17 disobeyed God and the fire departed. And that's also happened to churches that started exactly according to God's plan. The fire was there. A few years later, just like in the history of Israel, they thought, "Oh, God is with us. God is 9:32 with us." And the Lord departed. So that's a warning to us. You think of the church in Ephesus. Do you know that the Apostle Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus, more than in any other place? Most places he'd go there one week, two 9:51 weeks, one month, and move on. But turn with me to Acts the Apostle chapter 20. He I don't know the Lord led him to spend 3 years in Ephesus. Imagine if the Apostle Paul were here in the Bay Area for 3 years 10:10 and not just for here for 3 years and not that he just came and preached to us every Sunday. That itself would have been a great thing. I would have loved to hear the Apostle Paul every Sunday of the month. But it says here in ex Acts 10:22 20 in verse 17 he gathered in Ephesus all the elders of the church and he told them what did he tell them? Not you remember all the powerful messages I preached. 10:38 No, first he says you yourself know verse Acts 20 verse 18 last part from the very first day that I came to this place how I was with you 10:56 saw how I served you with humility and triers and trials that came upon me and I did not hesitate to declare to you whatever was good for do publicly, house to house. What was I preaching? Basically, two things. Verse 11:14 21, repentance towards God. Turn to God with your whole heart and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ completely. Trust the Lord completely and turn from all your sin. Basically, Paul's message was two things. Give up all your sins and turn 11:28 from it and trust the Lord completely. Essentially, that is what we are preaching in every meeting here. Turn from everything that is in sin in your life in thought, word, deed, attitude, motive. Turn and trust the Lord 11:44 completely in every situation. And he says they did that. Turn go down further to verse 31. Acts 20:31. Remember, be on the alert. Remember that night and day two meetings every day 12:04 early morning and late in the evening for 3 years I did not stop admonishing you with tears. Calculate that 3 years means night and day. How many sermons was that 12:22 in 3 years is more than a thousand days and night and day? Imagine listening to 2,000 sermons from the Apostle Paul. 2,000 and more sermons from the Apostle Paul. Night and day for 3 years. He had such a burden. 12:41 You'd think that was the finest church of all. And it was. How do we know? Because you read all the letters, read Corinthians, lot of problems. Read Galatians, lot of problems. He calls them foolish Galatians. Read Philippians. There are 12:57 sisters quarreling there. And um Corinthians, of course, they were taking each other to court, doing things wrong there. But Ephesians, the whole letter is teaching some of the most fantastic truths found anywhere in the New Testament about battling Satan 13:16 and overcoming Satan, about building a family life, husbands, wives, parents, children at chapter 5. and um how there are apostles and prophets in chapter 4 and so many wonderful things in many many whole Bible study I could take in 13:30 Ephesians. Ephesians is the one that tells us God chose us before the worlds were created. Ephesians 1:4 and many other things. It's the finest church of all. But yet Paul warns them. Acts 20:29. 13:48 I've been here for 3 years and I preserved all of you. Now I'm going away and I know that after I leave Acts 20:29, wolves will come into this church and they will speak all types of 14:07 perverse things. And the mark of a wolf is he does not draw people to Christ. Here is the clearest definition of a wolf compared to a lamb. A lamb and a good shepherd will draw people to Christ. 14:25 A wolves they will draw people disciples after themselves. They will speak perverse things to draw people after themselves. In other words, they won't be drawing people to Christ. They'll project themselves. They say, "You got to see me." And they'll attach 14:45 people to themselves. And there are a lot of preachers today who attach people to themselves. I remember vividly there was a brother in Bangalore. He was a great admirer of me. I think of two brothers like that who they were 15:03 more admired me more than they admired Jesus. They would listen and listen and they come and and I remember once they used to come so often to see me. One day they came to my house and I said I never want to see you again. I said don't come 15:15 to this house till you have visited all the other elders and visited the other people in the church. You're getting too attached to me. I don't want it. He got offended. Both of them left the church. Paul was like that. He would not let 15:31 people get attached to him because he was connecting people to Christ. But these some of these elders connected people to themselves. What is the result? See the result 30 years later in Revelation chapter 2. 15:51 In Revelation chapter 2 to the same church in Ephesus which to which Paul had written such wonderful letter a letter in Ephesians. Now I call this the second letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 1 and this is Ephesians 2. 16:08 What does the Lord say? Verse 4, Eph Revelation 2:4 to the church in Ephesus verse one, right? You have left your first love. Therefore, you have fallen. When you lose your love for the Lord, your fervent love for Jesus Christ, when 16:26 that is gone, you have fallen. Now many people think we have fallen only when we commit adultery or told lies or yelled at our wife or something like that. No, you have fallen as soon as you lost your fervent love 16:45 for Christ. Even if you never commit adultery, even if you never yell at your wife and you never run after money, but that fervent love you had for Jesus once upon a time where he meant more than more to you than everything on earth, 17:01 that sort of cooled off. You have fallen. Please remember that all your life. The mark of a disciple falling away is in the world they say when oh he fell into sin or no to me the greatest sin is he's lost his love for Christ. 17:20 I check myself with that you have left your first love. Therefore verse 5 remember from where you have fallen. You were up there. You loved me supremely once. Now you've fallen here. Have you committed adultery? No. Have 17:35 you stolen money? No. Have you running after money? No, you're not running after money. Are you going regularly to the meetings? Yes, you're going regularly to the meetings. Then what happened? You don't love me like you did at first. 17:49 And that could be possible for some people sitting here today. You're not committing adultery. You're not running after money. You got a very good testimony. You believe all the things taught in this church. Your doctrines are all absolutely right. 18:05 But that once upon a time, you love Jesus supremely. He meant everything to you. Maybe some of you, you never had come to that place. I hope you'll come to that place quickly. But some of you did come to that place once and you have fallen 18:22 from there. Other things have become important for you. You have fallen from your first love. And is that a serious sin? It's so serious that he says in verse 5, you must repent. Have you ever heard a message of repenting from losing your first love 18:40 for Christ? We've heard of repentance from sins. Like repent from adultery, repent from your love of money and repent from getting angry and repent from all these other things, but repent from your love for Christ dropping to 18:54 75% what it was. You have to repent from that. That's what he's saying. You have fallen. Remember where you have fallen from. From where? That means you were up there 100% loving me with all your heart. Now you haven't gone down to zero. It's just 19:12 dropped to 75%. Is that a fall? The Lord says it's a fall. You haven't committed any gross sin. Your testimony is still so good. Everybody in the church thinks you're a wonderful brother. But in your private life, there was a time when you love 19:30 Jesus with all your heart. It's not the same today. That's the thing I want to watch out all the time in my life. And I want to encourage all of you to watch out in your life all the time. You can have a very good testimony in this church and 19:43 be a thorough backslider as far as God is concerned. Please remember this. The only test of whether you're walking with the Lord and not a backslider is is your love for Christ as fervent or more fervent than it was at the beginning. 20:00 And he says, if you don't repent, what'll happen if you keep ignoring this? My testimony is good in the church. I'm not committing any gross sin. Nobody knows that my love for the Lord has gone down a bit. But the Lord says, "I see it. And if you don't 20:14 repent, I will remove verse five, the lampstand from its place." That means the anointing that I gave you once upon a time, I'll take it away. I'll tell you honestly, I can stand before God today and say, "I'm more afraid of losing the anointing 20:33 of God on my life than going to hell." Many people are afraid to go to of going to hell. I'm more afraid of losing the anointing. Forget about hell. I'm never going to go to hell, but I can lose the anointing and glory in the fact that I'm 20:47 going to heaven when I die. Don't be like that, dear brothers. Because it says he'll take away that lampstand unless you repent. There's only one solution. Repent. Repent means turn around and come back to where you were 21:04 first. And I believe the Lord may be saying that to some of you. turn around today and come back to where you were first. The same principle applies in building the church. It begins with a fervent love for Christ and from there you go on to build the 21:22 church. And if it is the real church, see we first need to see, let me show you that from Matthew chapter 16. We first need to see Christ and be devoted to him, you know. Matthew 16, the Lord asked his 21:38 disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Matthew 16:15. And Simon Peter said, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." And Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjonah, son of Jonas." That means because you 21:58 did not get this revelation by your human cleverness. That's the meaning of flesh and blood did not reveal. You did not understand who I am by your human cleverness. My father revealed me to you. Now my question I want to ask you all is have 22:14 has Jesus been revealed to you through the holy spirit by the father. I knew about Jesus. My father was born again before I was born. So I was in a home where from the beginning I mean I people came to our 22:33 house and preached the new birth but I did not know Jesus till I was 19 years old even though I knew all the doctrine. It's possible that some people sit here you got all the right doctrine but do you know Jesus personally? 22:50 Have you seen has the Holy Spirit shown you? Blessed are you, Simon, because human cleverness did not show this to you. My father showed you my glory. And on this rock, verse 18, now here is where some people say the 23:09 rock is Peter. Rubbish. Peter is a very shaky type. He he denied the Lord later on. You build your house on Peter, you'll collapse. He's not a rock. He's a small stone. In fact, in the Greek language, there was a different word. 23:23 You are Petros, but on this Petra, I will build myself. That means you're a small stone, Petros, but on this big rock, which is called Petra in Greek, I will build my church. And that Petra, the big rock, is the revelation of Jesus 23:38 Christ. Simon, my father has revealed me to you. That revelation of Christ, that is the rock on which he said, "I will build my church." And how do we know that is the church of Jesus Christ? Here's the proof 23:56 of it. Listen to it. Verse 18. I will build my church and the gates of hell or all the powers of darkness will not be able to overcome it. The one mark of a church that Jesus builds is that the powers of darkness will not be able to 24:11 overcome it. Any church that is overcome or any church leader that is overcome by the powers of darkness that was not building the church of Jesus Christ. That was a human structure. The real church of Jesus Christ can never be demolished by anybody. The 24:30 powers of darkness can attack it as much as like it will not collapse. And that's the type of church we want to build here. And if we want to build that type of church, we have to follow the divine pattern. Turn with me to Ephesians 24:48 where Paul tells them in Ephesians 4, he speaks about a church which is called a body. Ephesians 4:16. The last part, verse 15, the head is 25:06 Christ and from Christ. Ephesians 4:16, the whole body, that is a body of believers fitted and held together. There's no conflict. They're all connected to each other just like a human body. And there are many joints supplying that strength. And each 25:26 individual part functions properly. We want to be a church where each individual part that means every single member in this church has got a function. It may be very small function maybe just praying for the church 25:43 fulfills that function and the result is the body grows in love. You know one mark of a human body is that every part of it is connected to the head. and obeys the head. [clears throat] 26:01 Whether it's my little finger or my tongue or any part of the body, legs, hands, they all obey the head. Every part is connected to the head. There's no part of this body that is not connected to the head. 26:19 So nobody can be a member of the true church if you're not directly connected to Christ in your personal life. That's the number one thing. Not that you come here along with others and sort of ooze into the group. No, you must have a personal 26:38 inward invisible connection with Christ. Then you can become a member of his body. Not otherwise. But then it's also fitted together. It says with many many joints were 16 different for example 26:55 in this body here's one hand that's you can see look at this as one church and here's another hand that's another church or you look at a leg that's another church just I'm taking a human example now when this this church for example 27:13 has got some leaders that's the shoulder when the shoulder goes up this finger can't say hey I don't feel like moving I want to be around here. No, you got to move. If you're a part of the church, you move with the church. If you're part 27:25 of this hand, when the shoulder says move up, this little finger cannot say, "No, no, no. I don't want to move up." Then you better get out of the body. Do you understand that? Now, this finger does not have to listen to this 27:37 shoulder. That's another church. But when it's part of this church, this hand, it has to move with this hand because there's something God has appointed up here to decide whether it's going to go. This shoulder says we're 27:51 going to go down. You go down and any person who's got an independent opinion. I I want to have my own opinion. I want to have a direct connection to the head and I want to do what I like. Then that finger is going to drop out and not be a 28:01 part of this this part of the body. The picture of the body is so exact. And I want to ask all of you sitting here, are you a part of the body like that? That's why God has appointed elders. Today we're going to appoint a few 28:17 facilitators who will later on become elders. It's a sort of a first step. They called deacons in the old test in the New Testament. But leadership is very important. You take the leg, look at that is another church and from the hip onwards 28:37 the legs move and the whole leg moves one little toe in the leg can't say I don't want to move but you find in many churches people have got this independent opinion I don't have to move along with I got my own opinion brother 28:51 sister fine go and sit somewhere else this is not the place for you submission to authority is the first principle to build the body of Christ this the same principle to build a home. What is the first thing you have to teach your children? 29:08 It's not how to eat and drink, not how to go to school and learn ABC. The first thing that the Lord said children need to learn is what children obey your parents. For this is the first commandment with promise. There were ten commandments. 29:28 You turn over the page to Ephesians 6. Children, obey your parents. Ephesians 6:1, honor your father and mother. Because this is the first of the ten commandments which had a promise attached to it. The other nine commandments had no 29:44 promise attached to it. But this commandment, the fifth one, honor your father and mother, had a promise attached to it. What is it? Children, if you obey your parents, it'll go well with you. Number one, you will live long 30:00 on the earth. Number two, by live long means you will fulfill the number of days God planned for you. For Jesus, it was 33 and 1/2 years. He fulfilled right up to the last day. For some people, it is 90 years. For Moses, it was 120 30:15 years. But you will live long on the earth means you will live as long as God wants you to live. You will not die one day before your time. I am convinced about that in my life. I've sought to honor God and I believe I will not die 30:30 one single second before my time. I'm absolutely convinced about it. I have no doubt about it. No accident, no sickness, nothing can take me away because I'm seeking to honor God. But same applies to you if you have faith 30:42 for it. It'll go well with you. And I the other thing is I obeyed my parents. To the best of my knowledge, my parents are God-fearing parents and I obeyed them. I want to tell you children, obey your parents now. It will go well with 30:59 you. Parents, please teach your children to obey you because you want you want it to go well with them. Don't allow rebellious children to grow up in your home. Discipline them. The Bible says use the rod and discipline 31:12 them. I did with my children. I used the rod on every one of them. I obeyed the book of Proverbs and it didn't bother me if they cried. They cried and they got over it. But they grew up to be disciples of Jesus. And I hope all your children will grow 31:28 up to be disciples of Jesus and not waverward because you were so kind to them and so good to them and let them go astray in a wrong way. Hopeless. Such hope. Such parents are absolutely hopeless and stupid. Be a living demonstration in your 31:44 family. I brought up my children with strict discipline and today they are following the Lord. I hope that will be the testimony of your family. But you got to start when they are small, not when they are 20 years old. You got to start when 31:57 they are small. And what do you have to teach them? Not the Bible. Teach them when daddy and mommy say do this. Do it. And daddy and mommy said don't go there. Don't go there. When do you teach them that? Not when they're 19 and 20. It's 32:10 too late. Teach them that when they're one year old. You've heard me tell the story of that child I saw who once went near the staircase and uh the daddy said no one year old. I saw it myself and the child got a shock and looked 32:28 around and did not go up the staircase because dad knows that he'll climb the staircase that one year old will fall. And I'll tell you the next day I saw that child in that home going near the staircase and looking around to see 32:41 I learned something that day. A child knows the meaning of the word no. Not if it's spoken softly. Darling, don't go up that staircase. Not like that. No. A military command. The child will understand. You speak it, darling. Please don't come 32:59 staircase. It'll never learn to listen to you. Speak firmly like a military commander. It will obey and it'll go well with that child in the long run. You won't have to shout at it all the time. In the beginning, you have to be 33:12 firm. It'll go well with you. So that is how that's included in building the church. And it says here that in the church, Ephesians 4:11, he gave apostles, prophets, 33:30 evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These are authorities that God has placed in the church. What for? He's placed apostles who plant churches and give appoint rulers over appoint elders in churches as we read in the 33:48 acts of the apostles. And there are prophets who have prophetic word. Not everybody have a has a prophetic word. Some people have a prophetic word that god gives them that gift. They can't be proud of it. And then there are others 34:00 who are evangelists who have a tremendous gift of bringing other people to Christ. No, not everybody has it. But God gives some people the gift. They can't be proud of it. But and the some are shepherds. The word pastor actually 34:14 means shepherd just like gathering the sheep together and taking care of them. And then there are teachers who can explain God's word. So these are all gifts for what purpose. Verse 12, for the equipping of the saints to equip all 34:28 the saints so that they can serve and build the body of Christ. So read Ephesians 4:11-12 carefully and you all understand English. Ephesians 4:11-12 carefully and tell me who builds the body of Christ. If you read it carelessly, you'll see 34:47 the apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors build the teachers of Christ. Wrong. The apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers and evangelists equip the saints. Verse 12. And the saints build the body of Christ. 35:03 So who builds the body of Christ? You. Do you know that you have a very important part in building the body of Christ? But in order to build the body of Christ, you got to submit to the authority of apostles, prophets, shepherds, evangelists, and teachers. 35:17 It's so clear here because they are the ones who will equip you to build the body of Christ. So you read the Bible carefully. You'll never go astray. And that's why submission to authority is very very important. Children obey your parents. That's the 35:36 first thing the children need to be taught. And that's exactly the same in spiritual children. The spiritual children must first of all learn to submit to the elders in the church. I want to ask all of you if you're a part of this church. If you're not a 35:56 part of this church, I don't I've got nothing to tell you. If you're a part of this church, I want to ask you, do you have a spirit that is willing to submit to the elders of this church? There are four elders in this church. 36:16 You probably don't know. I submit to their authority because I come here. I'm not an elder here. And if they if I suggest something, they say, "No, brother Zach, we shouldn't do it like that." I submit to them. You don't believe me? Go and ask them. 36:36 Can you submit to them? It's not got nothing to do with age. I am older than all of them. But if I'm in this church, I got to submit to the authority. If they say we meet at 1:30, we meet at 1:30. If they say next Sunday, we're 36:48 going to meet somewhere else. Okay, we'll meet somewhere else. And if I suggest something and they say, "No, brother Zach, I don't feel we should do that." Okay, don't do it. It's not only here. We have a 100 churches. Whenever I suggest something and the 37:00 local elders say, "We don't want to do it that way." I say, "Brother, do it your way. You're the elders." So, submission to authority, it has gone exceptionally well in my life. I'll tell you that. Because I have learned to 37:15 submit to authority. Wherever I've gone, I've looked to find out who's the authority. I want to submit to that. I want to suggest to you, you follow that in the office, right? Why do you follow it in the office? Because if you don't follow it, you lose 37:31 your pay. You won't get your salary. You'll be dismissed. That it is the fear of some loss. But in the church, we submit to authority because God has commanded it. Why do you submit to the policeman when he flashes a light behind you and you 37:49 pull up immediately? Why? And when he comes to your door, you don't argue with him, do you? If you do argue with him, that'll probably the last time you ever argue with the policeman because he'll teach you such a lesson. 38:05 You submit in the office because you don't want to lose your job. You submit to the policeman because you don't want to be arrested. But in the home you say, "Oh, who's dad to tell me this?" That's how some children grow up. And you come to the 38:16 church and who does he think he is? Why should I listen to him? I've got my own ideas how to follow the Lord. No wonder it goes so badly with you because you don't learn to submit to authority. I want to ask all of you sitting here who are members of this 38:29 church. Do you know who the elders are? There are four of them. Do you submit to them? If they tell you something, do you listen? If [clears throat] you're considering some course of action, do you ever 38:47 consult them? Or you say, "No, no, I don't consult till you then you go and make a mess of everything and then you say, "Brother, I made a mess of it. Please help me." Why didn't you ask them before you started out on that? Of 38:58 course, they don't charge for their consultation. It's free. It only costs a phone call. So why is God so interested in submission to authority? Because I don't have time to show you you. I've said that many times. You read 39:16 two chapters. Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28. You remember the numbers 14. One is the double of the other. 28. Isaiah 14. Ezekiel 28. We read there about how the highest of the angels, God created all the angels and two of them were the senior angels. 39:35 One's name we know is Michael, archangel. The other archangel, we don't know his name. His name is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. People call him Lucifer, which is just a Latin word for morning star. We don't. His name is not 39:52 mentioned anywhere in scripture because God doesn't want anybody to know his name because he fell away and became the devil. He rebelled against authority. And I believe that God did not appoint one person to be the archangel. I 40:06 believe he appointed two. Why do I say that? Because in the New Testament pattern, Jesus always sent his disciples two by two. That is the New Testament pattern. A body functioning. It was there with the angels. But in the Old Testament before we had 40:24 come into the God's perfect plan in the New Testament, there was one man leader, Moses, Noah, Elijah, Elisha. But that was not the perfect plan. As soon as you come to the New Testament, Jesus sends his people two by two. So I believe, 40:36 well, let's call him Lucifer. Okay, Lucifer and Michael were the two archangels. And I think he could not get along with Michael and he wanted to be greater than Michael and he wanted to even be greater than God. He rebelled against authority 40:48 and he was cast out immediately and became the devil. That is how the devil came. He was not in case you did not know this, God did not create the devil. He created a perfect angel who became a devil. And from that time he's always see to stir 41:12 up other people to rebel against authority. It's the devil who stirs up your children to rebel against you. Parents, [clears throat] it's the devil. He's just in giving his nature to them. He's the one who stirs up all the people to 41:25 rebel against the authority in the government. Don't you see all the in the newspapers, all people strive? They go out and march march on the streets to protest against the president and they won't do that in their office because 41:36 they lose their job. But in the streets, they can do it and they don't lose anything. It's a spirit of rebellion everywhere in the world. >> [clears throat] >> It's in homes. It is in countries. It started with Satan. And it started in 41:50 the Garden of Eden. God made Adam [clears throat] and he took a bone from his side to show that Eve comes out of Adam must be subject to Adam and made Eve separately and brought Eve to Adam. Adam, sorry. Yeah. Brought Eve to Adam and told Eve, "This is your 42:08 head. Now together go out as husband and wives and they went to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. First of all they shouldn't have gone there but Eve somehow dragged Adam there and the devil says eat from this tree. What should Eve 42:27 have done? Eve should have told Satan God has given me an authority. This man standing next to me is my authority. Let me consult him. Adam, you're my head. What should I do? The story in Genesis 3 would have been 42:45 completely different. But she didn't do that. She refused to submit to authority. Where did she get that poison from? The devil. In speaking to her, she he injected that poison which she accepted. Why should I submit 43:04 to authority? I can decide for myself like many wives today. Why should I consult my husband? I can decide myself. Started with e and you see the end result today in the world. And Adam also failed. So I always say the first sin was not 43:24 eating the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first sin was uh in the human race was that Eve did not submit to her husband's authority. And the second sin was when Adam saw that he did not put his foot down and say, "Eve, stop it. 43:37 Stop talking to him." I wish there were husbands like that would protect their wives from doing foolish things. He didn't do it. God had told him, "You're the head of this woman." Did he exercise that 43:55 authority? Like many husbands today, they see their wife doing something wrong and they just keep quiet or she'll get offended. Maybe Adam felt like that. I don't want to offend her. What is the end result? A submission to authority. Eve failed. 44:14 Adam failed in exercising authority. I'm not afraid to exercise my authority over my children or my wife. God has put me there. I have to fulfill it. Where whenever I was an elder of a church, I was not at all afraid to exercise my 44:28 authority. I put people out of the church. Brother, you shouldn't come to this church anymore. I'm sorry. I don't care what they think of me. If I don't do that, I'll be like Adam. I want to be popular with people. An elder who wants to be popular should 44:45 resign. I say that an elder who wants to be popular with the people must resign. I have never sought to be popular. And all of you who listen to my preaching know my preaching is not for popularity. I know what is good for God's people. 45:02 And I tell them I never sought to be popular with my four sons. Never. I wanted them to be disciples of Jesus. And that meant firm discipline. And the same in a church. The church needs discipline because church is like 45:17 a family. and children obey your parents in the Lord that it may go well with you. I apply that to the church members in the church submit to your elders that it may go well with you. The same principle. So it's very important. This is why and 45:34 so when we are starting a new church you know people may not be mature enough to be elders but they need some leadership. So we appoint someone what the New Testament calls deacons. Because the word deacon is a Greek word which means 45:48 servant. I mean in in Greece if you went and spoke deacon they say it's a servant. We don't want to call a person a servant. So we call it facilitator. And that is a preparation for eldership. Even in many churches in India we 46:02 appoint a person as a facilitator. So gradually after some years he becomes an elder because he's got to be trained. The difference between an elder and a facilitator is an elder doesn't have authority over people's lives but he's 46:15 complete authority but a facilitator does sorry an elder has authority over all the people in the church. A facilitator is one who has got authority in the meeting. He he's got authority to conduct the meeting to tell people the 46:27 timing of the meeting but he has no authority over people to run their lives. When he becomes an elder he can tell people you shouldn't do this. He's got authority over their lives too. So authority is very important and where people don't submit to that 46:42 authority, you can't build a church. Now I'll tell you this in the body of Christ. The Bible says, let me turn you to this passage in John chapter 1. The g, you know, the church is supposed to manifest the 47:00 beauty and the glory of Jesus Christ. Listen to this. the glory of God. You know, in the Old Testament, you see of the glory of God, the glory of God, the glory of God. And everybody thought it's a bright shining light. Bright 47:13 shining light. That's all that they understood about the glory of God in the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. Glory of God means a bright shining light that you can't even bear to look at. And then finally, you come to the 47:26 New Testament and you read the glory of God is not just a bright shining light. John 1:14 we saw his glory the word that is God Almighty word means see when when I speak a word 47:43 it is the expression of my thought right if I have a thought in my mind you cannot understand that thought till I speak it in words that's why Jesus is called the word because the invisible thought is understood by you by my words 48:00 and the invisible God is seen in Jesus. That's why he's called the word, the visible expression of the invisible God. Just like the word is the manifest expression of my invisible thought. Jesus is called the word. And that word, 48:16 the glory of God was seen in that in Jesus Christ. Here's the glory of God. It's not a bright shining light full of grace and truth. The balance grace is compassion, help, strengthening. 48:34 Truth is rigid, firm. Truth is completely uncompromising. 2 + 2 is not 3.5. It is not 3.1. It's it's not even 3.9. 2 + 2 is 4. It's not 4.001. It is 48:51 four. There's a rigidness about truth. Grace is the thing that balances truth to manifest the glory of God. If it was all truth, we'd be scared. But grace is God's power and encouragement that comes 49:10 to help us to live up to that truth. So the glory of God is seen in this perfect balance. To me, it is like the two legs you stand on. And a balanced church will have ministry where both legs are equal, grace and 49:27 truth. So from the pulpit, it does not all have to come through one man, but there'll be a balanced ministry from the pulpit of grace and truth. That is a steady person with both legs of equal length. In many churches, truth is about 1 in 49:45 leg and grace is 3T leg. That's why it's so unstable. Imagine if you had one one leg 3 ft long and the other was 2 in long or something like that. You won't be able to walk properly. That's a trouble in many many places. And there are some legalistic 50:01 churches where truth is 3T long and grace is about 2 in. But the balance was seen in Jesus Christ full of grace, full of truth. This is the balance and this is what we seek to 50:18 manifest in this church and this is why we have elders and you'll find in the elders if God appointed elders there will always be this balance of grace and truth in the total ministry if they are God appointed there will be that balance 50:35 of truth and grace in some are more gifted some one way now if person is God challenging for example if an elder is being urged by God to speak on something and he says no if I preach that it'll make me unpopular he's not fit to be an 50:52 elder we have to speak I know many times God has prompted me to say something and I have to say it doesn't matter to me one bit what people think about me I have to answer to God that's all I don't have to answer to any 51:07 of you I have to answer to God one day when he'll ask me one day did You say what I told them. I believe this whether you believe it or not. I believe with all my heart when I stand before the Lord, I had to answer for every single 51:21 sermon I preached in my life. Have you read that verse which says, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account in the day of judgment." Turn with me to Matthew 12 51:38 and verse 36. It's a tremendous word. I wish all of us would take it seriously. Matthew 12:36. Every careless word that people speak or the margin says an 51:56 idle word. What is an idol word? An idle word is a word that accomplishes nothing. It's like a lazy man. He does nothing. Idol is a lazy word that accomplished nothing. Every careless word that people speak, useless word, it says in my margin, they 52:15 will give an account in the day of judgment. I'm absolutely convinced that 99.9% of believers don't believe that verse. I want to ask all of you sitting here, how many of you believe that all the careless words you have 52:32 spoken, you will give an account in the day of judgment? the words that you spoke to hurt people to hurt your husband or hurt your wife. Do you believe that you'll give an account of the unless you have repented of it and asked forgiveness from the 52:50 Lord and asked forgiveness from your wife and your husband, then it is clear. If you only confessed it to the Lord and you have not asked forgiveness from your husband and wife, it is not clear. Let me tell you that if you sinned only against God, you ask 53:07 only forgiveness from him. But if you sinned against a human being, you have to ask forgiveness from that human being and from God. And every careless word, imagine and a person if it sits in a pulpit and speaks a careless word. You 53:19 think he won't give an account in the day of judgment? Absolutely. I am convinced about one thing that I will have to give an account to God for every single sermon I have ever preached in my life. for every sentence I said and it 53:33 won't be just the words the Lord will ask me what was the motive with which you said that did you say that because you wanted to be popular did you not say something because you were afraid you'd become unpopular if you said it that's more serious there 53:51 are many preachers who the Lord prompts them to say something and they won't say it because it'll make me unpopular that also they'll have to give an account in the day of judgment I tell you if All the preachers who stood in pulpits or 54:03 sat in pulpits preached with that verse in mind. We had a much more of purity and holiness and revival in many churches. So this is how we have sought to build the church here and this is why we want to have such leadership in every
