0:19 You know what is the uh minimum size for a church? I don't know whether you know the main thing about a church is not the number of people who meet there. 0:38 The main thing about a church is is the head Christ present in your midst or not? And for many years I've taught what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 18. and 1:01 Matthew chapter 18 and it says here in verse 20 where two or three are gathered together in my name there 1:19 I am in the midst. So, Matthew 18:20 tells me two or three is the minimum number for a church. But there's one condition and that's important 1:35 for Christ. The number of people is not important in the world. The number of people determines whether a church is a good church or not, like 10,000 member mega churches. But with Christ, that is not the thing. And most people don't understand because 1:53 in the world we are more impressed by numbers by quantity more than quality. And here is where the quantity is mentioned in Matthew 18:20 two or three. Please follow in your Bibles because I don't think you all know the 2:11 Bible so well that you can remember it by heart. Look in your Bible and look at that verse. And verse 19 says about the quality of those of those two or three. If two of you agree about anything. So the minimum number 2:29 for a church is only two or three. But not any two or three. It's two or three who are in agreement. And those of you who are married know how difficult it is even for two people, husband and wife, to be in agreement. 2:47 with the the frequent conflicts and controversies that even a two people husband and wife have at home. So it's a great miracle when Jesus Christ can get two or three 3:03 people act as one body. And that's why the Bible calls the church the body of Christ where he is the head. And we all understand that it's not a very complicated illustration. I I'm very thankful that Jesus used extremely simple 3:23 illustrations like a sewer going out to sew a seed or the foundation for a building. And very very simple illustrations of a man forgave somebody a huge amount of money and that fellow went and caught somebody by the throat 3:38 for a small amount of money and so the first person said okay then you're not forgiven either. Very simple illustrations and so the illustration of the body is another very simple illustration. What should be your relationship 3:55 with other members in your local church? If you have committed yourself to be a part of this local church in New York, what should be your relationship with them? It should be just like the parts of your body. Has your right hand ever fought with your left 4:14 hand? Has your right hand ever tried to dominate your left hand? No. The law of the body is total cooperation. The right hand is the one I use anyway. All rightanded people use the right 4:32 hand. We sign checks and all that. Now think that if one day my right hand is injured in some way does the left hand rejoice saying ah now I got a chance to sign checks which I could not do till now. If that left hand writes a check, the 4:50 bank will reject it saying, "I can't recognize whose signature this is." So the left hand is not in competition with the right hand, but cooperation. Where there's competition or conflict, 5:07 that's not the body. Even in a home, if husband and wife are in competition or conflict, something is wrong in that home. Even if you live in a big house with so many bedrooms, that's not a home. It's just a house. A 5:25 house becomes a home when the people in it are united. And a gathering of people becomes a church when the people in it are united. So unity is more important than numbers. Now that only you see in the Bible. 5:43 How many people were left with Jesus after he labored for three and a half years raising the dead doing miracles and the doing the greatest ministry that any person on earth ever did in all these 6,000 years since the time of 6:00 Adam? How many people was a result of Jesus ministry? 11. That's all. But those 11 were of such quality and when they got filled with the Holy Spirit, I mean before they were filled with the Holy Spirit, even in the last 6:19 supper after three and a half years of Jesus teaching them, teaching them, teaching them, uh going around with them everywhere. You know what happened in the last supper? The 11 of them were still arguing who is the greatest. 6:34 Hadn't Jesus taught them for three and a half years, that's not what you should be seeking. You should seek to be a servant and not seek who is the greatest. But did they listen to that? No. Did they want to follow Jesus? Yes. Then 6:48 why didn't they listen to it? Because there's something inside us called the flesh. And the flesh in one word is self-will. That's what the Bible calls the flesh. That means I want my way. You take a husband and wife. All 7:08 conflict between husband and wife is because of the flesh self-will. Each person says I want my way. The other person says I want my way. Result is conflict. And Jesus said if you don't deny that self-will, you cannot follow me. That's the meaning 7:25 of taking up the cross. Many people don't understand what taking up the cross is. If you take up the cross, there will be unity. It was on the cross that Jesus united Jew and Gentile, the two greatest opposites in the world. You know, the 7:45 Jews were so proud of themselves that they would get up in the morning and say, "I thank God I'm not a slave and I thank God I'm not a Gentile." That's it out of pride. There are many races on earth who have that type of 8:01 pride of their particular race. Oh, thank God I'm not like that. Well, the Jews were like that. They felt everybody in the world was inferior to them. And imagine Jesus could take such people and unite them with people who are 8:16 extreme opposites and make them one. But that happened only on the day of Pentecost. What happened on the day of Pentecost? They did not learn some new doctrine. Some people think that if we have more teaching, we can build a spiritual church. It's not 8:34 teaching alone. Teaching is necessary and important, but the power of the Holy Spirit. And because the power of the Holy Spirit is the most important requirement in the Christian life, 8:50 the devil has made sure that he could counterfeit that. Counterfeit means make fake examples of what is called fullness of the Holy Spirit. And there's so many counterfeits of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in Christendom today. I've seen a 9:08 lot of them myself. A lot of people yelling and screaming and babbling something and calling it unknown tongues. Fake. I believe in speaking in tongues. I have that gift myself. But 95% or 99% of what I've seen is fake. 9:24 Counterfeit. The genuine is so rare. There is a genuine gift but the counterfeit is plenty. It's like, you know, supposing you heard news that in New York there are a lot of counterfeit $20 bills going around. Lot of counterfeit $20 bills. Every time you 9:44 get a $20 bill, you'll look and say, "Is this genuine or not?" You'll be very careful. But people don't counterfeit $20 bills. They counterfeit $100 bills because a $100 bill is more valuable. You know, it's only what is valuable that is 10:00 counterfeited. Nobody counterfeits brown paper or toilet paper. What do they counterfeit? $100 bills. And people don't counterfeit anything that's cheap. So if there's a counterfeit of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, you can be pretty sure that is 10:15 not cheap. It's very expensive. That's why the devil counterfeits it. So we got to be very careful. So the way to check is, you know, people say if you're doubtful about a $100 bill in India and say go to the Reserve Bank. I don't know 10:30 where they do it. Check it here. Maybe a bank, any bank should be able to tell you they got a machine by which they check whether a $100 bill is genuine or not. There are some identifying marks of a genuine $100 bill. In the same way, 10:47 there are some marks of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And the first mark of it is very simple and that is what is the name? Name is holy h o l y spirit. 11:05 So if a person is filled with the h o l y spirit what should he have first of all holiness. If that's not there and it's just a lot of noise then I said that's not sure whether it's the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit can help us to praise the Lord 11:25 with a loud voice. But I remember one Pentecostal man came to our church in Bangalore once and at the end of the meeting he came to me and said hey you guys don't have the Holy Spirit here. I said how do you know that? Do you see 11:41 how we live at home? Do you see how I live with my wife? How do you say we don't have the Holy Spirit? He says there's not enough noise here. Aha. I said, you're talking about a noisy spirit. Yeah. Yeah. That we don't have. 11:53 But Holy Spirit, yes, we have. See how we live at home with each other. See how we relate to one another in the church. It's h o l y spirit, not n o i s y, noisy spirit. Please remember that. I told him. Of course, he probably heard 12:07 that for the first time because a lot of people don't speak the truth to people like that. So my brothers and sisters, please remember the first mark of the Holy Spirit is holiness. Then the other thing that we see, I told 12:24 you on the day of in the day they were breaking bread together with Jesus, the last supper, that was the last day they were with Jesus, they had been with him for three and a half years. And still, you know what was their argument? 12:36 Their argument was not how shall we spread the gospel everywhere? No, their argument was among the 11 of us sitting here who's the greatest. That is what they were arguing. Can you imagine walking with the humblest man that ever walked on this earth was Jesus 12:53 Christ? It he was so humble he could tell people learn from me for I am a humble person. Only a truly humble person can say that. You and I can't say that so easily. But Jesus could say that. And they walked three and a half years with the 13:10 humblest person who walked on this earth. And what at the end of it, they are so proud that they think I'm better than all these other 10 people. That's how those 11 people were. But just about 7 weeks later, 50 days 13:29 later, on the day of Pentecost, they suddenly became one. How is that? That's the other thing the Holy Spirit did. He united them. So holiness and unity 13:46 are the two marks of a spiritfilled church. Not numbers. I don't believe in megaurches. Jesus didn't have a mega church. 11 people were not a mega church. People would have despised him. What type of rabbi are you with only 11 followers? But 14:06 those 11 followers turned the world upside down in their lifetime and they started a movement that has lasted for 2,000 years. Christianity, pure Christianity has lasted for 2,000 years. That is a mark of the real work of the 14:22 Holy Spirit. So all of us should seek with all of our heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will make us more and more like Christ. And that should be your goal in life, not to accumulate knowledge. Knowledge is good, knowledge 14:41 of the Bible. But if a knowledge does not lead to life, it's worth nothing. The what we we can say our knowledge is one leg and our life is the other. And if one is shorter than the other, imagine if a man had one long three-foot leg and the 15:00 other leg is sort of 6 in, he can say he's got two legs, but they're not the same size. How will he walk? Can you picture this in your mind? One leg 3 ft, another leg 6 in. And the guy trying to walk, it is so awkward. But that is exactly spiritually speaking 15:16 the condition of many Christians. Their knowledge leg is so huge and their life leg is so small. Now, forget about other people. When you hear God's word, judge yourself, not somebody else. Don't hear this and say, "Yeah, yeah, Brother Zach, I think 15:32 I know somebody like that." I'll tell you, you not somebody else. Think of yourself when you hear God's word and not him. The Bible says, "Let a man judge himself." Do you know that verse 1 Corinthians, please turn with me? 1 Corinthians and 15:49 chapter 11. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 28. Remember this verse all your life. A man must examine himself. Five words. 16:08 1 Corinthians 11:28. A man or a woman must examine himself or herself. Who are you supposed to examine? Tell me. Isn't it a habit of almost all Christians to examine other people? How is that person doing? And how's the 16:26 other person doing? And and you got such sharp eyes to find out all the fault in other people. And the Bible says examine yourself. You'll have a wonderful church. If everybody examines himself or herself, that's what they did not do 16:44 at the last supper. Even though they had walked with Jesus three and a half years. And I want to tell you this, my dear brothers. Please listen carefully, brothers and sisters. If Jesus Christ were physically on the earth today, 16:57 you'd have thought, boy, imagine if Jesus Christ were physically in our New York church and even if you're only 11 people and Jesus is there, you'd say, "Boy, we'd be a wonderful church." No. No, you would not. Jesus was with those 11 people and yet 17:16 they were arguing and fighting and as to who's the greatest and you'd be like that also. But when they were filled with the Holy Spirit that brought the presence of Christ even though physically he was not there made them one. It's like you know the 17:33 Holy Spirit's like a fire. You put 11 pieces of iron, solid, strong iron, unbendable iron, put it into the fire, flaming furnace, it comes out as one piece. All the strength of that iron melts and 17:52 leaven pieces of iron become one piece. Only the fire can do it. It can't you can't do it by putting it in water. You can't do it by nailing it, nails and joining together. It'll break apart. But you put it in the fire and those 11 18:06 pieces of iron will become solid one piece that you cannot separate it. That is how the body of Christ is built. So I want to ask you, are you interested in building the body of Christ like that in your midst? That is the purpose of the coming of the 18:25 Holy Spirit. Not to make us raise the dead and heal the sick and no no. I tell you honestly, I'm not interested. If you gave me a choice, brother Zach, do you want to have to par to raise the dead or to make three people into one body? I 18:40 say, I would rather make three people into one body than raise the dead any day because that raising the dead, the guy will die again. What's the use of that? But if I made three people into one body, that'll accomplish something 18:52 for God on this earth and last for eternity. So, we must have a proper sense of values. What is the difference between animals and human beings? Animals don't have a proper sense of values. An animal cannot value a a dollar note, 19:09 currency note. It has no value. He'll just tear it up. They have value for dead bones and a dog is only value for dead bones and all types of rubbish that you know how an animal is always with his head down. Every animal on this 19:22 earth keeps looking down. Have you ever seen a cow looking up to the sky or a dog looking up to the sky? No. They're all looking down, down, down, down. And every human being who's looking down at the earthly things is an animal. No 19:36 better than animal. Jesus, the Bible says we God, God is the lifter of our head. Have you read that verse in the Psalms? You are the lifter of my head. That's what the Holy Spirit does. We are born looking down. Always looking down at earthly things. How can 19:53 I make more money? How can I get this? How can I get that? And the Holy Spirit one day comes and turns our head up and says, "You're not an animal. You're not to be looking down all the time. Dogs and pigs and cows, have you ever seen a 20:07 dog or a pig or cow looking up?" Never. They're always looking down. And I've seen most human beings are like that. Their mind is always what can I get on this earth for myself? Some honor, some position, some money, something or the 20:20 other myself. I come to a church. Can I get some honor in the church by getting up and preaching and getting a name? All types of things. Self is at the center. That's called the flesh. My will, my will, my will. And yet the Bible says, 20:37 we were looking at 1 Corinthians 11. Just turn to the previous chapter, chapter 10, 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 31. Have you seen this verse? Every single thing you do in your life, it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Do it 20:55 for the glory of God." Have you read that last part? Do all to the glory of God. Seven very important words. Remember these seven important words. 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Do all to the glory 21:13 of God." How many Christians do you think are doing that? How many preachers are doing that? So many preachers are interested only making money for themselves. Even when they write a book, they write a book to get money for themselves. This 21:27 is one thing we have stood against in CFC churches from the beginning. We don't write books to make money. We don't preach to make money. We don't look for money or gifts from anybody. We don't even take an offering because we see I'll tell you why. 21:43 Because many many years ago the Lord showed me something from scripture. It's written there in the same Bible for everybody. People don't seem to see it. Sometimes you know the Lord said to the people the Pharisees, you have eyes but 21:55 you don't see. You have eyes but you don't see. Now here is something that many people have got eyes but don't see. Please turn with me. Luke chapter 16. Luke Luke's Gospel chapter 16. Now you all have eyes and I'm sure 22:14 you've read this verse but I want to ask you whether you have seen it in inverted commas s e and spiritually seen the meaning of this if not I'll explain it to you today. Luke 16:13 no servant can serve two masters. Okay 22:33 let's stop there. All of us know that. Can you work in two different offices at the same time? One office will sack you. Hey, you're supposed to be here at 9:00 in the morning and you're somewhere else. And you say, "No, I'm trying to 22:49 work in glosses." He says, "No, you got to quit one of them." No servant can serve two masters. You can't work for two companies at the same time. You got to choose which one you want to. And I say, "Lord, there are only two masters, 23:03 right? God and the devil, and I'm serving God." No, no, no, no, no. He's not talking about God and the devil. If that is the choice, all of us will say we are serving God, not the devil. But see what he says. The two masters are God and money. 23:18 Did you know that the two masters that Jesus spoke about are God and money? And most people come to the United States to make money. There's nothing wrong in that. provided you keep it as a servant. 23:38 It's like saying, "Is there anything wrong in having a servant in your house?" No, there's no nothing wrong in having a servant in your house. No, there's nothing wrong in having a janitor who cleans up the hall. But don't let him become the master. 23:52 That's all I say. In India, many many homes have servants in their home. But if the servant takes over the house, there's problems. There's nothing wrong in all offices. You can see all people who work in an office office are servants. But if the 24:08 servant, somebody who's employed by the office takes over and drives out the CEO and takes over, there's confusion in that home. A person who works in an office cannot become the CEO. He must work under the CEO. So there are two masters. One is God and 24:25 the other is money. And money must be a servant. You have to ask yourself only you know even your wife does not know whether money is your master or your servant but you know in your heart. 24:44 Do you know that they have valuable money in heaven is called gold. Gold is not only on the earth. You read in the book of revelation chapter 19 to 21 there's gold in heaven. 25:01 But do you know where it is on earth? It is on crowns on top of people's heads. Gold, gold, gold or on the necks. In heaven the gold is on the streets. The streets are made of gold. We read in Revelation 22. That means they are under 25:19 your feet. Heaven is meant for people who have learned to put gold under their feet. That is why gold is on the streets in heaven. You walk on it. And if you have learned to put gold under your feet now, you're fit to go to heaven. 25:39 If you haven't learned to put gold under your feet now, how are you going to put gold under your feet in heaven? God and money are the two masters. You can be a millionaire and a servant of God. Poor 25:57 people. Don't think that by becoming poor you'll serve God. We have lots of poor people and you know in New York on the streets there are people who are homeless, people are extremely poor. You think because they are poor they are 26:10 serving God. No, it doesn't mean that people who are poor are close to God and people who are rich are far away from God. I have met some very rich people who are very close to God and most of the most of the very poor people I see on the streets have no 26:23 interest in God at all. I'm not saying that if you are rich you won't love God or that if you are poor you'll love God. That's not my point. Don't misunderstand me. In your heart you need to decide who am I serving? Am I serving money or am I 26:37 serving God? And I'll tell you one way to test it. If you can cheat to make some more money like cheat on your taxes to make some more money. Money is your master whether you know it or not. Well, if God says you should not 26:54 cheat, but you cheat in order to make a little more money, then money is your master or you tell a lie somewhere. There are people who do business who tell lies to their customers to make money for their company and make money 27:10 for themselves. You think they are serving God? No. They tell lies to make more money. Companies do that. salespeople, they are taught to tell lies to the customers. I mean, if I were a salesperson and a company told me to tell a lie about a 27:29 product, I will resign. I say, "I'm sorry. I can't tell a lie about this. I'd rather lose this job than lose my salvation. I'm more interested in pleasing God than earning your salary." How many people are like that? Those are 27:42 true Christians. And you get a few Christians like that, you'll have a church. But if you got a bunch of compromisers who will tell lies in order to make money and compromise in different situations, you'll have a bunch of 27:54 people who call themselves Christians. But I don't want to be a church. It'll just be a gathering of humbugs and hypocrites. And I pray that New York church will never be like that. Even if one or two crooks come in, they should never get power in a church. 28:12 They must be exposed. You know Judas had a Jesus had a crook in his group of 12. We can say that 12 was a church. And in that 12 group of 12 in a church there was one crook. But the difference was that group got exposed. 28:29 And if your church is a powerful church with Christ in its midst every crook will get exposed. We've seen that in CFC in Bangalore. Different people have joined us for various reasons. They say this is a nice church. They don't they don't collect 28:43 any money and we sometimes have food every day on Sunday after me after the meeting and the children are all so well behaved. We'd like to be a part of the church and somebody comes there with crooked intentions. He gets exposed. I've seen that happen 28:58 again and again and again and again. Even some people who managed to become elders in some of our churches got exposed and got thrown out. So the light of God must shine so powerfully in your church through the Holy Spirit that anyone who's a 29:14 hypocrite and a humble will get exposed. I'm not saying someone who's weak or a sinner. No, no, no. Weak people and sinful people are welcome provided they want to give up their sin. But if they are hypocrites pretending to be holy 29:30 when they are not, they are the ones to be exposed and pushed out. We I'd be happy to have the worst sinner in New York come and join your church if he wants to be saved. But a well-dressed hypocrite who comes and sits there pretending to be holy, 29:49 that's the one to be thrown out. Tell me, do you find Jesus in the you read the gospels, do you find Jesus criticizing hypocrites or you criticizing sinners? Have you ever found Jesus criticizing sinners? You know, he was called the 30:06 friend of sinners. One of the titles of Jesus is is the friend of sinners, but he was never called the friend of hypocrites. Hypocrisy was the thing Jesus condemned all the time. You read Matthew 23, a full chapter of his condemning the 30:25 Pharisees for their hypocrisy. So, what should you be afraid of in your church? Of course, we must be afraid of sin. But more than sin, you should be afraid of hypocrisy. You know, people who pretend to be holy when they're not. None of us are 30:41 perfectly holy. I have sought to follow Jesus with all my heart for the last 50 years at least. I was born again 65 years ago. But the first 14 15 years, I didn't have a spiritual father to guide me into the right path. I had to sort of find my way 30:59 myself and so I wandered and I backslid and my first 15 years was years of confusion because I didn't have a spiritual father. You guys are lucky that you have spiritual fathers to guide you and examples. You have brother Joi Samuel with you for 31:18 so many months. He is let me tell you I've known him for years nearly 30 years. He is one of the most godly men I have met on the face of the earth. I have never met a humbler man in my 31:35 life than Joji Samuel. I consider it a great honor that I know such a man. I hope you were blessed by fellowship with him. I hope you took advantage of the fact that he was there for so many months. If you missed it, I feel sorry for you. 31:53 That was a man of God you could have got to learn something from if you had spent a little time with him. If you had sacrificed a little time and spent time with him. Yeah. Sometimes God sends some people like that across our path and he miss 32:07 the opportunity. It's like a businessman missing the opportunity to make some money. Oh, I wish I could have made some money there. You if you miss the opportunity to know more about the Lord through that brother, I'm sorry you missed it. Don't 32:21 miss it next time. Now and then God sends across our path a godly person and the his primary mark of his godliness will be humility. There you recognize there's a really godly man, not how well he preaches. No, 32:40 no, no, no, no. The devil can preach better than anybody else. I'll tell you that. And there are many preachers in the world who preach very well, who are not humble at all, who are just proud, arrogant people. Keep them at a 32:53 distance. You know whom God keeps far away from him. Turn to Psalm 136. Sorry, one. Psalm 138. Psalm 138. Psalm 138 33:10 and verse 6. Do you know this verse? Very important verse. The Lord is ex though the Lord is exalted. He regards those who are humble and lowly. But the proud he keeps far away from him. Uhhuh. 33:30 Do you know that God keeps proud people far away from him? If you're proud, God will keep you a million miles away from you. You can sit in a church, but God will keep you far away from him. Not because you're a sinner. 33:46 That woman caught in adultery, Jesus said, "Okay, pardon her. Don't sin again." Mary Magdalene, who was a prostitute, demonpossessed, she got delivered and she was the first person to see the resurrected Jesus 34:05 Christ. What an honor. What a privilege. I mean, if I were asked by God, who do you think should be the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection, the beginning of the new creation? I would have said, Lord, perhaps his 34:19 mother, Mary, who suffered so much being misunderstood and what a lot she suffered. She should be the first. God says, "No. Whom are you going to choose, Lord? I'm going to choose Mary Magdalene." Lord, you're going to choose a person 34:37 who was demonpossessed and who was a prostitute? Yes, she will be the first to see the risen Christ because she's a humble, broken, repentant sinner. I praise God for that. That really challenged my heart when I 34:53 read that God chose Mary Magdalene to be the first person to see the resurrected Christ. She had a heart. I want a heart like that. a heart of repentance. So your past failure means nothing to God. Mary Magdalene failed much more 35:13 than any of you, much more than me. And yet God chose her above you and me. So it's not people who lived a very holy life all their life, but people are repentant sinners. Are you a repentant sinner? Then the 35:32 Lord will choose you, give you a high place in his kingdom. That's what I learned from that. It is repentance that God values. You know, when you do something wrong to a person, you go and apologize. That's good. But apology may not mean repentance. 35:51 You may apologize and not repent of what you've done. Repentance is much more important than apologizing. Repentance is a deep sorrow. first of all that I hurt the Lord so much by what I did. Lord, I'm sorry. You know this verse in Psalm 139, just 36:10 turn over the page to Psalm 139. And it says in verse 23 and 24, great verse verses. Psalm 139 verse 23 and 24, "Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. 36:30 See if there's any hurtful way in me. See that's the uh the margin says a way of pain. The a way of pain. P A I N. Is there a way of pain in me? And the meaning there is 36:47 anything that's causing you pain. How can I cause pain to God? If a father loves his son, how can that son cause pain to his father? Shall I tell you? By misbehaving. By doing something that brings a bad 37:07 name to the father. That's how the son can hurt the father. We think of a father who can hurt the son by discipline and punishment. I'll tell you how a son can hurt his father. by bringing a bad name to him by his behavior 37:24 that will cause pain in a good father's heart. And the psalmist is saying, "Search me, Lord. See if there's any way in me, anything in me that's causing pain to your heart. Anything that's making you sad, the way I'm living, the way I'm speaking, it's a 37:42 very good prayer." I have that verse in front of me. Lord, point out anything in me that's making you sad. It's a very very good thing to keep asking ourselves. Lord, is there anything in me that's making you sad? Let me show it to you. Here's the word I 37:59 have in front of me. Lord, point out anything you find in me that makes you sad. Psalm 139 verse 24 in the Living Bible. Lord, 38:17 point out anything you find in me that makes you sad. I have it in front of me here cuz I want to ask the Lord that question every day of my life. Lord, point out anything you find in me that makes you sad because other people 38:36 don't know my inner life. They don't know my thought life. They don't know my attitudes to people. They don't know the motives with they don't even know the motive with which I'm preaching. A lot of people preach for honor. A lot of 38:49 people preach for money. Who knows the motive with which a person preaches? Only God. And Lord, you who look at my heart, show me, is there anything that make you sad? I'm not worried about my testimony before other people. Other 39:01 people see my outer life. My outer life is about 1% of my life. They don't see my thoughts. They don't see what I'm thinking throughout the week. They see me for two hours on a Sunday morning and think I'm a holy person. Especially if I preach. Oh boy, 39:20 a real holy person. I could be a humble, a crook. The point is, how do I live the rest of the week? What are the thoughts that go through my mind when I'm all by myself and when I'm free from other things? What do my where does my mind 39:37 immediately go towards? Is it towards God or towards money or towards my honor? Lord, point out anything you find in me that makes you sad. I tell you, if all of you, even if 39:55 you're only 11 people, if all of you pray that every day of your life, you'll be a very powerful church. And if you take it seriously, I have never looked that our churches should be big churches. I've always 40:11 wanted them to be pure churches. When we started CF, the first CFC church started in my home 50 years ago, 1975. Two families, my family, another family, that's all. 40:29 And there was a word the Lord gave me at that time concerning what he wanted to do and that was from the book of Malachi. I want you to turn there for a moment. Malachi was the last prophet in the nation of Israel before Jesus 40:48 came. John the Baptist was there as a forerunner but before that Malachi was the last. And and the Lord says here the condition of people was so bad. Not that they were sinning, not they were committing adultery and murder and 41:06 all that. I'm not talking that way. But their attitude to God was so casual. And here is the proof of that. You know, they had to offer sacrifices to the Lord. That was every day the Jews had to offer a 41:23 sacrifice to the Lord, a sheep or a goat or a bird. But what would they do? They go through their flock. They were all many of them were shepherds. They had flock of sheep and goats and all that. And it says here in Malachi chapter 1 41:41 and verse 8, when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and the sick, is it not evil? So this guy, for example, he says, I've got to offer a sheep to the Lord today. Let me go through the block and find a lame 41:59 sheep, which is a bit of a nuisance to me. In any case, let me offer that. Oh, here's another sheep that is blind. That's another problem for me to have a blind sheep. I'll offer it to God. Oh, here's one that is sick. I don't know 42:10 when it will die. Let me offer it to God before it dies. the blind. You were offering to God the blind and the lame and the sick. They were offering, they were making offerings, but they were offering God 42:27 that which cost them zero. That is the condition of many Christians today. You think it cost them anything to come to church on a Sunday morning and to act very holy? It cost them about zero. Most Christians 42:45 You ask yourself, what are you offering to God? Is it the blind and the lame and the sick? That which is worthless to you or is your life a life of sacrifice where you sacrifice that which is costly to you. 43:04 And so the Lord says okay. And the Lord says I wish you priests. Verse 10. I priests I wish you priest was close the gates when somebody comes with the lame sick lamb. Close the gate and don't let them 43:21 come and bring their offering there. Why are you putting that with fire on my altar when the fellows brought a lame sick lamb? I wish there were priests who would close the gate and say, "Sorry, that's not acceptable." But he says, here's the thing. A day 43:38 will come verse 11 and that happened after the day of Pentecost when from the rising of the sun to its setting from east to west all across the earth the Lord says my name will be great and people will offer an offering the 43:55 middle of verse 11 an offering that is pure I'm going to gather people who will not offer the lame and the sick and the blind they will offer that which has really cost them something. I remember the Lord spoke that to me 44:09 years ago and the Lord said, "You got to build CFC churches like that with people who will offer that which is costly and which cost them something, not something cheap and worthless." 44:28 A lot of people they go to church on a Sunday morning, it costs them zero. Nothing. In fact, they gain a lot because they say, "Ah, it's a good place for my children to go and get some good learn some good habits with other children." 44:42 They're gaining. No sacrifice in their life. Yeah. I remember I used to work in the Navy. I was a naval officer for a number of years. And one day the Lord called me to leave my job. And one of the passages of scripture the 45:01 Lord spoke to me was from 2 Samuel. I want you to look at that verse. 2 Samuel and chapter 24. It's the last chapter of Samuel. 2 Samuel. In 2 Samuel the Lord told David, 45:20 I don't want to go into the history of all that, but he told him to go and off make an offering, erect an altar. 2 Samuel 24:18. 2 Samuel 24:18. Go to the threshing floor of Arona the Jebusite and erect an altar and give an 45:35 offering for me over there. And David went listen to this. It's very interesting. He went to make an offering to the Lord. And remember what I said in Malachi, offering that which is cheap. And Arona was a servant of David said, "Hey Lord, 45:55 why have you come?" He said, 'I want to buy your threshing floor because I want to make an altar here and I want to offer something to the Lord because there's a judgment has come from the Lord here. And Arona said, "Oh Lord, you 46:09 don't have to buy it from me. Please take it free. I'll offer this land to you free. The my got oxen here. Take it free. And uh there is wood here. The yolks of the oxen can use for burning as wood. I'll offer everything to you 46:23 free." Now tell me, don't most people, 99.9% of the world like to get something free. Yeah. All people are like that. Is it free? Oh, I'd like to have a copy of that. They won't buy a book if it costs $1, 46:42 but if it's free, I'll take it. Even if I don't want it, I'll take it. That is our attitude. What is free? Let me take it. And said, "Free? Okay, let me take it. then I don't have to spend anything. But you know what he said? No. 46:58 David the king said verse 24, I will pay you for it. Ra, you may be my servant, but I will not take anything from you free. I'll pay for the land. I'll pay for the oxen. I will pay for the wood. I'll pay for everything because if I 47:13 don't pay for it and I offer it to God, it'll be a cheap offering like the lame and the sick and the blind which people give. And then what will it cost me? Zero. And he said these wonderful words here. Listen to this. I will not or 47:27 middle of verse 24. I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing. That is a word the Lord spoke to me 60 years ago when he called me to serve him. He told me, "You must never offer to me 47:47 that which costs you nothing." I said, 'Lord, I give you my word by the grace of God. I will never offer to you that which cost me nothing. If I serve you, it must cost me everything. I took all my life savings in the Navy and gave it away for God's 48:07 work and left my job with zero in my bank account. And I said, Lord, I will never ask people for money in my whole life. I'll trust you to provide for me. And so my wife and I live very simply. What is there? We are alive. We are hail 48:22 and hearty and we had the tremendous privilege of serving God. So what if I could not drive a car? I rode a scooter for 42 years in India. So what? I could serve the Lord. That's the main thing. Brothers, I'm not saying that you should 48:40 get rid of your car. Don't misunderstand me. You need it in your in this country. But ask yourself, whatever you do for the Lord, is it costing you something or is it cheap? To whom do you give cheap gifts 48:59 to beggars, to homeless people? If you're going for the wedding of your daughter, would you give a cheap gift to her? Would you buy a cheap dress for your daughter or your son? But those you love, 49:17 you'll spend any amount of money. And your love for the Lord is tested not by money but by other sacrifices that you have to make. Maybe I have to lose sleep sometimes. Maybe I have to spend money sometimes 49:33 for my own pocket to serve the Lord. I remember once when I had to sell my two wheel moped in India to buy a air ticket to go somewhere to serve the Lord. Fine. So what what did I lose? My two wheel 49:52 motorcycle. I got a chance to serve the Lord. You see a man anywhere used by God. You say, "Boy, I'd like to be used by God like him." I'll tell you, you sacrifice, God, he use you more than him. 50:10 Cuz God is looking all over the world for those who will offer him that which costs them something. And I want to tell you this, my dear brothers and sisters, I love you all. I don't know all of you. I know some of you, but not all. And I'll give you one 50:26 bit of advice. If you're serious, if you don't go to New York church just as a matter of routine, but if you're really committed and say this is my family. How many of you feel like that? This is my family. This is where I 50:40 belong. I'm not here a visit. I'm not a visitor here. I'm a family member and I want to pay any price to make this a strong church that glorifies God. If you're like that, I tell you, God can use you in an amazing way. to build the 50:58 church in New York. It doesn't matter if you're uneducated. It doesn't matter if you don't know much of the Bible. The power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will build the church if you're willing to sacrifice. 51:12 Because Jesus came from heaven to earth not to have a good time. He came here to sacrifice. from day one to the last day of his life on this earth, it goes sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. And he says, "Follow me." 51:31 And I'll tell you this, you you think I've sacrificed something. I tell people, "I have sacrificed zero." When I compare to what Jesus did for me, if you think you've sacrificed something, you have not seen the cross. God gave me a vision of the cross. I'll 51:47 tell you, I'll share this in conclusion. I think I've spoken long enough. You know, one day I said, "Lord, in Gethsemane, you said, "Father, let this cup pass from me." And you agonized, agonized for one hour 52:06 with your sweat coming like blood from your body. What was this, Lord? Many people try to understand what he suffered on the cross. I said, Lord, what were you suffering in Gethsemane? I want to know that sweat is coming like 52:20 blood. I've never seen sweat like blood in anybody. It must have been a tremendous agony that the sweat coming out of his body was blood. I said, "Lord, explain that to me." And the Lord did and I'll tell you how. I was meditating on it long many years 52:38 ago, nearly 50 years ago. It changed my life. And I pictured it like this. You know, I use my imagination a bit and I said, I can imagine Jesus having a conversation with the father in Gethsemane that night all alone. The disciples were all asleep 52:57 and the father telling this is imagination. The father telling Jesus, "You have lived a perfect life for 33 and a half years. You can come straight up to heaven from Gethsemane, but Zach will go to hell. 53:14 And Jesus says, "Zach will go to hell." Okay, Lord. Okay, Father. I'll go to the cross. I'll drink the cup. God gave me such a revelation that day. 53:30 I wept and I wept and I wept. I said, "Lord, I will never live for myself for the rest of my life. I will never live for myself 53:48 cuz I saw what you went through in Gethsemane." He said, "If Zach has to go to hell, I go to the cross." I made it personal. They say Christ died for the sins of the world. I say he died for Zach. Have you seen it like that? My brother, 54:10 sister, if you see it like that, it'll change your life. It changed mine. I've served the Lord now nearly 60 years. And I'll tell you, I count as zero the amount of sacrifice I've done for him. I'm not trying to be humble. 54:24 I'm telling you the truth. It has not been a sacrifice for me to serve the Lord for 60 years. It has been a tremendous joy. God has made me rich spiritually. He's given me so many wonderful brothers and sisters across the world 54:43 whom I would not have known if I had not if he had not chosen me to serve him. Wonderful people who will laid down their life for me. Such wonderful brothers and for whom I will laid down my life for them. He's made us one body. 55:01 I praise God for the tremendous privilege of knowing those who love the Lord. And I've seen many of them across the world. Not those who agree with me and who love me and respect me, but those who sacrifice for the Lord, those who say to 55:19 Jesus, Lord, I'll never offer to you that which costs me nothing. So I pray that all of you will be like that. I believe you'll have a wonderful church there in New York. Can we bow in prayer now? Let's bow before the Lord. 55:36 Heavenly Father, help us, Lord. We want to honor you in our life. Everyone here, we want we want I want you to build a strong church there in New York, Father. One that will glorify your name. Even if they are few in number, you can add to their number due 55:55 time, those who should be there. but build a strong body. Not a bunch of disconnected individuals, but a body. People who care for one another, who love one another. Because you said, "All men will know you are my disciples when 56:10 you love one another." Make them like that. People who love you with all their heart and who love one another. Bless them, Lord, and fill them with your Holy Spirit. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
