0:00 Thank you. 0:30 Thank you. 1:00 Thank you. 1:30 We unite our hearts and sing, Rejoice, the Lord is King, your Lord and King adore. Lift up your heart, lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say, rejoice. Join with us. Rejoice, the Lord is King, your Lord and King adore. 1:58 Mortals give thanks and sing, and triumph evermore. Lift up your heart. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say, rejoice. 2:22 Jesus, the Savior reigns, the God of truth and love. When He was young, when He had birthed our sins, He took His seed above. 2:42 Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say, rejoice. His kingdom cannot fail. 3:04 He rules, He rules on earth and hell. He rules on earth and hell. The keys of death and hell. He rules on earth and hell. The keys of death and hell. He rules on earth and hell. The keys of death and hell. He rules on earth and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. 3:26 He rules on earth and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. The keys of death and hell. 3:46 his power my hand for me lift up your heart lift up your voice rejoice again i say rejoice 4:10 so come now is the time to worship come now is the time to give your heart come just as you want to 4:34 worship come just as you are before your god one day every time will confess you are gone one day every knee will bow 5:00 but still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now one day every time will confess will confess you are god one day every this treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now 5:26 raise your voice and sing come now is the time to worship come now is the time to give your heart 5:46 come just as you are to worship come just as you are just as you are 6:11 before your god come and i will sing of the mercies of the lord forever i will sing i will sing i will sing of the mercies of the lord with my mouth 6:40 with my mouth will i make no will i make no make no make no thy faithfulness to all generations i will sing of the mercies of the lord forever i will sing i will sing 7:01 i will sing i will sing i will sing of the mercies of the lord forever i will sing of the mercies of the lord forever i will sing of the mercies of the lord with my mouth with my mouth will i make no thy faithfulness 7:22 thy faithfulness thy faithfulness with my mouth will i make no thy faithfulness to all generations i will sing of the mercies of the lord forever i will sing of the mercies of the lord 7:42 i will sing i will sing i will sing i will sing of the mercies of the lord forever i will sing of the mercies of the lord and i will call upon the lord 8:04 who is worthy to be who is worthy to be praised so shall i be saved from my enemies i will call upon the lord i will call upon the lord 8:26 i will call upon the lord who is worthy to be praised who is worthy to be praised so shall i be saved saved from my enemy i will call upon the lord i will call upon the lord 8:49 the lord the lord liveth and blessed be the rock the lord liveth and blessed be the rock and let the god of my salvation be exalted the lord liveth and blessed be the rock and let the god of my salvation be exalted 9:11 and i will sing unto the lord as long as i live i will sing praise to my god while i have my being my meditation of him 9:33 shall be sweet my meditation of him i will be sweet i will be glad i will be glad in the lord bless thou the lord 9:54 oh my soul praise thee the lord bless thou the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord bless thee the lord 10:14 praise thee the lord bless thou the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord praise thee the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord 10:27 praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord as long as i live praise thee the lord as long as i live praise thee the lord as long as i live 10:32 praise thee the lord as long as i live i will sing unto the lord as long as i live i will sing praise to my lord as long as i live i will sing praise to my god as long as i live i will sing praise to my god while i have my being my being my being my being my meditation 10:53 praise thee the lord as i live i will be glad in the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord praise thee the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord 11:13 praise thee the lord praise thee the lord bless thee the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord bless thee the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord 11:33 praise thee the lord bless thee the lord oh my soul praise thee the lord oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul 11:53 oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul 12:17 oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul 12:37 oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul oh my soul glory glory 13:15 will be praised and adore we cry worthy lord you are worthy forever and ever forever and ever more 13:42 forever and ever forever and ever more sing this song jesus my lord i bow in full surrender for thou has purchased me on calvary sings to the tune of we rest on thee 14:15 jesus my lord i bow in full surrender for thou has purchased me on calvary now i am thine and thine alone forever 14:43 and now i am thine and thine alone forever and now i am thine and thine alone forever 15:07 and thou my portion for eternity far more than all my asking and my thinking 15:27 has been thy blessing on my life thus far with praise and song my grateful heart is 15:47 ringing for saving me from sin from sin and sin and spout with praise and song my grateful heart is ringing 16:07 for saving me from sin and sin i would be pure increasing in thy likeness 16:29 but this i know my flesh is weak my flesh is weak and frail yet by thy grace i'll overcome each weakness each weakness 16:49 and in thy strength i know i'll never fail yet by thy grace i'll overcome each weakness and in thy strength 17:09 i know i'll never fail yet by thy grace i'll overcome i know i'll never fail i long to follow in thy footsteps daily 17:29 i long to follow in thy footsteps daily i long to follow in thy footsteps daily i want to glory only in thy cross my one desire my one desire to be well pleasing to thee 17:49 all earthly gain i shall but count as lost my one desire to be well pleasing to thee to be well pleasing to thee 18:11 all earthly gain all earthly gain i shall but count as lost as lost reproach and shame reproach and shame this world may heap upon me 18:31 sorrows and trials may come on my way in heaven in everything in everything i'll offer thanks unto thee 18:51 who just ordained the best for me each day in everything i'll offer thanks i'll offer thanks 19:11 unto thee who does ordain the best for me each day Lord fill me Lord fill me with thy spirit's mighty power 19:33 make me a blessing to each one each one i meet oh let thy life flow through me like a river and help me 19:55 spread abroad thy savior sweet oh let thy life flow through me flow through me like a river and help me 20:15 spread abroad thy savior sweet i only long to do thy will forever to spend 20:35 each moment glorifying thee till one day i shall see thee in thy splendor and share 20:55 thy glory glory for glory for eternity till one day i shall see thee in thy splendor and share 21:15 thy glory glory glory for glory for eternity n eternity jesus told us to be witnesses 21:45 to him to the uttermost parts of the earth this is the purpose with which he asked the disciples to wait until they were filled with the holy spirit with the holy spirit he said you'll receive power so the purpose of the fullness of the spirit is that 22:05 we might have power to be witnesses to christ not bear witness a lot of people make this mistake as if jesus said you must bear witness to me to the ends of the earth no he said you shall be there's a difference between being his witness 22:21 and bearing witness bearing witness bearing witness is only with our lips words or give out a tract or preach a sermon but being a witness is by my life the our life is the light in jesus was life and that life was the light 22:41 so this is something we have taken very seriously that we want to be witnesses in our personal life living as christians in our place of work living as christians in our home behaving like jesus christ in our home in our place of work 23:01 on the road we travel when everybody else is ungodly in the midst of that darkness to be a light so when we began meeting together 41 years ago as i said we were just four or five people and uh... one of the prayers we prayed was 23:21 uh... lord we're not interested in meeting people who want to go to heaven when they die we're not looking for such people the whole world is full of people who want to go to heaven when they die i've never met a man who wants to go to hell 23:37 india is full of people who want to go to heaven when they die i'm not interested in looking for them i'm not interested in looking for christians who want to go to heaven when they die i said we're looking for christians who want to follow jesus on earth 23:50 and take up the cross every day before they die those are the only ones we're looking for jesus said the way to life is narrow and very few find it and we want to find those few who want to take up the cross every day and follow jesus 24:06 and that was our prayer lord we don't want great numbers but bring to us those who want to live a godly life on earth bring us in touch with them we prayed three prayers bring us in touch with them somewhere you know could be in a store 24:22 could be in a place of work could be somewhere in a bus in a train bring us in touch with those who are seeking a godly life or secondly bring them in touch with us you know through various means and if you don't do both of these 24:39 you don't bring us in touch with them you don't bring them in touch with us third show us what's wrong with us why won't you recommend our church to those who are seeking godliness for example if there's a man like job living near our house 24:55 the man you read off in the book of job whom god could point out to satan saying there's no man like him on the face of the earth why should he walk past our house and go somewhere else for a church what's wrong with us 25:06 show us what's wrong lord we'll set it right and the lord showed us many things that were wrong and we had to set it right and we began to pray that anybody in our locality who was looking for a godly life supernaturally sovereignly lord 25:21 bring them in touch with us or bring us in touch with them and if you don't do both show us what's wrong so gradually the lord brought a few people from nearby and then we prayed for the whole city you know how Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria 25:36 the outermost parts of the years concentric circles so we prayed that if there's anybody in the city and then gradually we began to pray if there's anybody in India and then the lord brought us in touch after seven years of establishing us as a church 25:51 he brought us in touch with different places mostly in the villages most of our church is in the villages because that was a specific prayer I prayed I said lord all the big preachers go and preach in the cities so send me to the places where the big preachers don't go 26:08 to the villages and god answered that prayer and most of our churches are in the villages and two of them in villages where there was no church for 2,000 years and then we began to pray lord lead us beyond the shores of India to other countries 26:28 and then the lord began to establish some churches in the Arabian Gulf two or three places there and then the lord established began to establish churches in the United States in the United States in beginning about 12 years ago 26:46 see one of the when my children went to study in the United States one of the things I told them was never never join an Indian church why is that what would you think of a bunch of Americans who came to Bangalore and had a church only for Americans what would you think of them 27:07 it's all right to have an American church in America but they're not an American church in India that's not a local church and yet I have seen in many countries in America they'll have a Romanian church a Hungarian church 27:23 an Indian church a Telugu church and a Malayali church that's not what God's not building communities according to language now if they don't understand the language I can understand but these are all people who speak English 27:37 because that's how they go from India to the United States but when they go there they don't want to mingle with the people in the locality they want to gather with their own language speaking people they like to be with fellow Telugu speaking fellow Malayalis 27:52 fellow Tamils I say that's a club that's not a church those are all Malayali clubs Telugu clubs Tamil clubs now if you are in Kerala where everybody speaks Malayalam that's fine have a Malayalam church if you are in Tamil Nadu where everybody speaks Tamil have a Tamil church 28:09 or you are in Andhra where everybody speaks Telugu have a Telugu church but don't go to America and have a Telugu church that is completely against God's Word it's like it's a thing with the Jews wanted to do you know the early days this was the same problem 28:23 Jews said we wanted to have a Jewish church and Paul said rubbish I will not join a Jewish church that's why I told my children the same thing in fact Paul had such a battle to fight because some of the other Jews headed by James who was Jesus brother 28:38 were very strong to have Jewish customs and Jewish church and speak Hebrew and all that Paul stood against it and we have stood against it continuously there is no distinction in Christ between rich and poor educated uneducated or community 28:54 so that's why I told my children never never join an Indian church never join a Malayalam church or any such thing join a local church a local church means people who are living in that locality who represent that locality 29:09 and we are thankful that the churches that we've started planting in the United States are not Indian churches they are local churches comprising of people in that locality they could be Americans, they could be Brazilians, they could be Mexicans, 29:23 they could be Chinese, they could be anything but people who live in that locality so now today you're going to hear Santosh Poonin who is one of the elders in a church in Colorado in the United States which is a local church 29:41 there are maybe two or three Indians there but it's a local church all the others are from other places from the locality and he happens to be my son which is secondary he's my brother in Christ primarily and I believe that that was an answer to our prayer 30:00 Lord show us are there people seeking your life somewhere in other parts of the world as well and through the internet now and YouTube God has allowed us to reach out to the whole world we get contacts and there's a group meeting in Brazil 30:17 I haven't even been there yet but they're meeting around the things that we teach and they hear our words and I got a message I got an email from Greenland you know what Greenland is a place full of snow and many places amazing how we can reach through the internet 30:33 to the outermost parts of the world but our message is the same we're not looking for numbers we're not looking for those who want to go to heaven we're not looking for those who want a comfortable life we're looking for those who want to follow Jesus wholeheartedly 30:48 before they leave the surrogate Santos yeah it's a joy to be with you all again 31:08 it seems like every few years I come back the environment is different this is the first time we're in this hall but we must always be willing to grow you've heard it here in this church that if you haven't changed in how much you know of God 31:27 what you know about him since a year or two ago then it may be a sign you're not growing before I begin I want to make two apologies the first is I apologize for my American accent I want you to know I'm not trying to put it on 31:48 but having lived there for more longer than I lived in India unfortunately I lost my Indian accent but I'm comforted by this thought that when Jesus came to Israel he had a Jewish accent he didn't have a heavenly accent 32:07 he sought to be how the people around him were he wanted to fit in that's the reason he came to this earth was to be like us to be tempted like us in all things to have to do the everyday things that we have to do and prove 32:26 that godliness heavenly mindedness the divine nature is not contained in these outward things and so like you just heard the new covenant church and the new covenant life works and can be lived out in any accent as long as it's real 32:46 so because I live there in America my accent has changed over the years my wife tells me though that after I live here for after I be here for about a week or two my accent becomes more Indian so if you talk to me in another week 33:02 I'll sound more Indian we can have maybe deeper fellowship the other apology is I tend to speak very fast I'm learning in that I get very excited especially if I'm speaking about something that I'm excited about and again 33:20 my wife was a help for me in that for those of you from Tutukaran you remember when my wife Megan and I came there in 2006 she was my she's my helper and this was I didn't I wasn't used to speaking very often I wasn't even an elder in the church at that time 33:39 so it was new to me and I used to speak much faster than I do now so she used to help me out she was sitting in the front row intentionally and if I started to speak too fast she had a little cardboard sign that she would hold up saying 33:55 slow down and oh yeah slow down so thank you Megan and I it's worked so for you husbands who have wives who are loving enough to tell you how you can change instead of getting upset at them and complaining at them if you're willing to learn 34:16 you can grow and you can do it better and wives likewise that's also why God has placed us in the church and that's what I'd like to talk to you about today God has placed us in the church to help each other and if we see that that's the reason 34:33 he's given us the body of Christ not to be in competition with each other not to compare myself with how much money that person has or how much gift that person has why did they give him that ministry they didn't give it to me 34:49 instead if we see that God has placed each member in the church to be a help to one another and God has given you gifts and a calling and abilities and he wants to fill you with his Holy Spirit to fulfill your ministry in the church 35:06 and if you can be content with that and see that you can be a help in that ministry somebody else can be a help to you in that ministry and together we build up the head which is Jesus Christ then we will be happy we'll be truly happy 35:23 you look at the people who have even these big ministries and are very famous and I see that even in them they're discontent they always want more they're often defeated in their family lives many of them fall into adultery 35:39 and you find out later on that they struggle with depression or some of them even commit suicide so we know from that that these things that the world pursues ultimately will not satisfy I also wanted to tell you why it is that I keep coming back here often 35:58 any opportunity to come back to CFC I grab a hold of it and I'm thankful that the Lord has opened the door for me to come back here every year for the past few years and that's because I'm very aware that this is where my roots are 36:13 even though more of you are newer or weren't here when I used to grow up in CFC the spirit that's here is one that I recognize and I appreciate and I know my roots are here this is where God laid a foundation in my life 36:31 through many of you who are sitting here brothers and sisters and that's why I'm very thankful to the elders in the church my dad and brother Ian and my Sunday school teachers who were the elders when I was growing up who were faithful 36:46 and for you sisters as well who took care of me in many different ways and watched over my growing up years I never forget it I want you to know that and it saddens me when I see those who have grown up in the church outside of that appreciation for the church 37:04 it has gone well with me to some extent because I've sought to always preserve that appreciation for what God did in my life through this church through CFC and I never want to lose that and I want my children to know that as well 37:21 which is why when I can I want to bring my children here as well for them to know that the spirit that's here even though the numbers are bigger multiplied more the hall is different it's bigger the spirit that's here I hope dear friends 37:37 wherever you've come from whether it's from other parts of India or other parts of the world that you're able to taste of the spirit that's here not the fancy building and the number of people and all of those things not even the teaching 37:50 but the spirit of God that's here I hope you're able to taste that see 16 years ago or so I reached a crisis in my life and I won't go into the details of that but a big part of that crisis had to do with this that I was not integrated into a local church 38:08 I was attending a large church in California at the time and but I was just there it was a congregation and I was just there sitting and warming a church seat I wasn't integrated into the body and some of that was my own fault 38:26 I'm well aware of that but around that time the Lord planted a seed in my heart and a burden to be a part of a local expression of the body of Christ like I knew I had grown up in in CFC Bangalore and you know the interesting thing is 38:43 at that time I thought because I had lived in America for about nine years or so at that time you know I've never seen it here I hadn't they may be there I'm not sure if they are but I hadn't seen it at that time I thought the only way you can build a local church 39:01 is to do it in India because I had seen many churches I had heard of many churches in India so I said Lord I'm going to go back to India so around 2000 or 2001 I felt like the Lord was going to bring me back to CFC Bangalore 39:14 and allow me to live here and grow up and mature here the Lord had a different plan but I know in my own heart I was ready to come back here because I wanted with all of my heart to fulfill that purpose that God had placed me on this earth 39:31 in a local expression of the body of Christ around that time he took me to Colorado and allowed me to meet some brothers and sisters there in 2007 and I wanted to just share a little bit about that briefly as well brothers and sisters who had been influenced through the teachings of Brother Zach and CFC 39:54 and had an appreciation for it and had become gripped with the vision the vision of a new covenant church and were seeking to follow after that vision wholeheartedly and through a variety of circumstances it came about that in 2008 40:14 there was a few of us, there was turmoil in that group as well but a few of us came together and decided that we were going to be a body according to the principles that we'd heard through the teachings of CFC and Brother Zach 40:28 but to prove that they would work in America in the local community just like you heard that it didn't have to be an Indian thing for example that head covering which can be a culturally Indian thing you know it's common even among some Indian people, Indian women 40:49 that they cover their head, there's a sense of modesty about it and it could have been easy for that principle of head covering which is a biblical principle to just be a culturally Indian thing but we wanted to prove that in America where it's unheard of 41:06 that a woman would sit and cover her head when she prays or prophesies in the meeting that we would see that principle in the word of God teach those principles and just as an example that's not our identity as a church 41:22 but these things, little things in God's word that we would prove that it could be done no matter where we are in the world and so together with my fellow elder Phil Lapp we saw a vision and decided that we were going to press on 41:38 and follow that vision follow CFC as CFC was following Christ really that's exactly how we thought of it and to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and to be a local expression of his body there in Colorado and what started in 2008 with about 41:58 eight families or so, eight or nine families I think over a period of time, much like it was with CFC Bangalore the numbers grew and then fell people came, people left but today we're a little over a hundred people or so 42:15 including children half of them are children, half of them adults I do have a picture that I would show you that's at a conference where my dad was here just last, no this year, earlier this year that's in the front of our church building 42:32 and here's another picture inside the building again, you can see, if you look carefully you'll see that there's a variety of different races we have in our church people from India, people from America people from Nigeria, from Romania, etc. 42:50 and we don't go finding we don't go looking to add somebody of a different color that we don't have what we do, and I've heard this example here is we said, Lord, there are needles in this haystack around us the haystack called Loveland, Colorado 43:07 that you've placed us in and we want to be a powerful magnet that's there in this haystack that's drawing those needles that you want to integrate into your body just like a powerful magnet and the powerful magnet doesn't even have to say a word 43:24 because of that magnetic power very quietly it's able to draw out and we believe that if we take up our cross and follow Jesus if we fall into the ground like a grain of wheat and die we cannot be alone Jesus promised it in John 12 43:43 that if we don't want to remain the small little group that we were eight years ago we would decide to fall into the ground and die holding on to that promise that when Jesus brought us back out of the ground he would resurrect us with power 44:00 and with strength with growth as well and he's done that and so we never look at the numbers I honestly don't have an exact count of our church somewhere around 100, 110 maybe but that's not as important even if 100 of those people left 44:15 and we were left with 10 wholehearted believers that's okay we want to follow Jesus and we're blessed that God has given us God has given me brothers and sisters around alongside me who are dear to me precious to me in thinking about 44:32 how we wanted to be a church see there's a mentality I see in Christendom in America that's often wants to be taken up with something new if there's a new teaching or a new thing it gathers a lot of interest people get tired of hearing the same old thing 44:51 if you're preaching a message that's 20 years old nobody wants to hear it but if you come with a new thing that people haven't really heard before you can get people excited about it and it's possible for us to think of the church 45:05 because there's not many people there maybe there's not many examples of this kind of church to treat it like this new concept and we didn't want to just do that we didn't just want to be a different kind of church we wanted to be a church that was truly a new covenant church 45:26 and this is a principle that God showed us very early in our ministry as a church I want to show you that as well in Acts chapter 20 Acts 20 verse 35 as I looked around at churches around me in America 45:46 I found and perhaps this is true in India as well I think it's a characteristic of the human nature is that most people come to the church meetings expecting to get something and I ask you a question my dear brothers and sisters 46:02 many of you have spent a lot of money and time taken time off of work perhaps to come here I wonder what is the mentality with which you came did you come here expecting that you were going to get a lot of things you were going to acquire something while you are here 46:20 in Acts 20 verse 35 we see a principle that Paul talks about and he's speaking to the church in Ephesus and I don't have time to show you but this is at the end of his life he had ministered in the church in Ephesus for three years 46:37 and he talked about how he lived with them and he said more than even my preaching I lived among you you saw how I lived my life how I never got a salary from you how I worked with my own hands I didn't covet anyone's belongings 46:53 he talks about all of those things and he says this is the principle on which I lived my life Paul says because this is what Jesus told him and he says he quotes the words of Jesus as it were in verse 35 where he said in verse 35 47:08 in everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner going about your everyday life working with your hands taking care of your family taking care of your children not being dependent on others not getting into debt 47:23 working hard and setting it as your goal to build up the church working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive 47:40 and so we decided that we wanted to build a local expression of the body of Christ from people who understood this principle that the greater blessing in our lives comes from this giving mentality rather than the getting mentality 47:55 and it is possible to sit in a CFC church I know that because I sat in CFC churches with that mindset for many years what am I going to get from this church I'll get a good message I'll get good fellowship I'll get, I'll get, I'll get 48:12 and if we sit in a CFC church with that the receiving mentality sadly we will miss out on the true blessing of the new covenant that Jesus wants to give us because this word is true it is more blessed to give than to receive 48:28 so now maybe you didn't think about it specifically but I want you to think about it over the next few days while you're here together yes the Lord will bless you there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the one who sets it on his or her heart to give 48:43 will be blessed in greater measure that's the point God wants to bless you God wants to fill you with his Holy Spirit and give you that blessing of his Holy Spirit but he wants to see first of all do you have that selfless 48:58 giving up of yourself mentality it is more blessed to give than to receive so we wanted to build a church from men and women and children we wanted to teach our children that principle as well it is more blessed to give than to receive 49:15 turn with me to Matthew chapter 9 in Matthew chapter 9 I want to show you some words here that I've heard quite often and you'll hear it 49:35 especially in evangelical circles evangelistic meetings or in seminaries Bible schools things like that you probably know these words well Matthew chapter 9 verse 37 Matthew 9:37 it says he said to his disciples the harvest is plentiful 49:56 but the workers are few therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest again you've probably heard these words before but how I most often heard these words was this way there's a 50:16 suffering world out there the city of Bangalore is hurting the city of Loveland there's so many people in need look at all those poor people living in the slums look at all those people who don't know Jesus what are you doing just sitting on your chair 50:31 when those people are dying out there that's usually how I've heard this this verse applied but look at it in this context it says in verse 37 in my Bible verse 37 begins with this word then that means Jesus had said something 50:51 or seen something or done something and because of that he said these words so he said these words there's a plentiful harvest and the workers are few so pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest 51:07 what was he talking about verse 35 let's back up two verses and look at Matthew 9 verse 35 and Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom 51:23 and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness and seeing the multitudes he felt compassion for them now remember he was looking at the multitudes healing their sicknesses and every kind of disease he was meeting their physical earthly needs 51:46 but that's not what motivated him it's not what caused him to say there's a harvest that's plentiful he wasn't talking about all the people that had that were blind or were lame or couldn't see or couldn't speak or any of these things 52:05 it says he felt compassion for them for this reason amidst all of their circumstances whether it was somebody who was poor and blind as a beggar or a rich young ruler who came to him and asked him what must I do to inherit eternal life 52:24 looking at both of these types of people which you can think of as kind of the extreme opposite there's a blind man like Bartimaeus and then there's a rich young ruler who has everything and he's religious on top of that 52:38 and with both of these people Jesus looked at both of them with compassion it was out of his compassion for that rich young ruler that he told him your need is you need to get rid of your possessions and he looked at Bartimaeus and said 52:54 your need is you need to see so it wasn't the earthly circumstances that dictated that motivated Jesus it says that he felt compassion for them because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd distressed and downcast 53:13 like sheep without a shepherd and I want you to see this first of all I put a few slides together so that you can see so that you can maybe if I start to speak too fast you can at least write it down a plentiful harvest needs shepherds 53:28 this is what Jesus was motivated by that's why he felt compassion because he looked around at these sheep that had needs and he said the problem is not the needs of these sheep because my father in heaven can solve these problems in a moment 53:43 the problem is my father lacks shepherds who can minister God's power who can minister God's grace to these sheep that are in need and so he looked around at all the needs of these sheep and he said but where are the shepherds? 54:00 where are those who have this mindset that they're willing to give themselves completely to God so that they can meet the needs of the sheep he felt compassion because of the lack of shepherds a plentiful harvest needs shepherds 54:15 and the harvest is plentiful in India my dear brothers and sisters as it is in America as well I believe it but because the harvest is plentiful what God needs is that you and I will become true shepherds now becoming a shepherd 54:30 doesn't mean that we become elders or preachers or teachers or have this outward gift or that outward gift it means that God is able to give us that caring heart towards others when new members when new people come to our church 54:47 and want to become members of our church we take them to a verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 which I'd like to show you some people say that they don't want to be members of any church because they say oh that's earthly 55:03 you know you'll become a club if you teach membership the reason we believe and teach membership is because the Bible does in this verse I believe the word member is used very intentionally by God 1 Corinthians chapter 12 55:19 and he's talking about a body he uses this earthly body as an example he says verse 25 now read the whole thing in its context sometime but let's just read verse 25 onwards that there should be no division in the body but that the members 55:37 there's that word members again he's talking about the church he's using the word members the members should have the same care for one another and this is what we tell people who want to come and be a part of our church 55:49 do you find in your heart that God is planting the seeds of care for this for the other people that you see in this church here you are you've been attending this church for we say you must attend for at least three months minimum 56:04 so that you've had the opportunity for the Lord to develop a care in your heart towards the people that you see not that you just want to come and listen to a good message or you like the music or it's a nice building the AC is put at the right temperature 56:21 you'll be amazed what kind of things people look for when they want to join a church and if you're looking to if you're not yet a part of a CFC church where you live and you're looking to be a part of it let it be because of this 56:33 because God has allowed that you've allowed God to develop in you a care a care for the sister sitting next to you the brother sitting next to you if you allow God to do that he will be able to integrate you into the body 56:50 so back in Matthew chapter 9 what I see here this care developing a care for others in the church developing a care for the body of Christ in a practical way see I can't I cannot have that care that he's talking about in 1 Corinthians 12 57:10 for you here in CFC Bangalore or in India because I live in Colorado thousands of miles away it's very easy for me to care for you and I do but it's very easy I don't have to die to myself when I care for you I just pray for you 57:25 I think of you often and I have very pleasant thoughts when I think of you now the brothers and sisters in Colorado on the other hand yes I do have pleasant thoughts about them as well but there are times when they rub me the wrong way 57:39 or they do something that's not how I would do it or they say something that just maybe irritates me a little bit that's when my care is tested and that's when your care is tested my dear brothers and sisters when you in your local church 57:55 whether it's in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Maharashtra in this country you're from or other parts of the world or here in Bangalore or in other parts of Karnataka in that local church with the brother and sister whom you see 58:09 if God is able to develop that sincere care see in the next verse in 1 Corinthians 12 he says when one member rejoices I rejoice you see that? let's go back there for a moment 1 Corinthians 12:26 if one member suffers all the members suffer with it 58:27 and if one member is honored all the members rejoice with it can you imagine such a thing where two of you worked hard on something let's say you and another brother or you and another sister worked on something in the church 58:43 and then the elders in the church in front of the whole church publicly honored only one of you the other person both of you worked hard on it it was a team effort and then the elders didn't realize that both of you worked hard on it 58:56 they only gave the credit to one person what would you think? what would go through your mind as you're sitting there knowing that you worked just as hard on that thing and the honor went only to the other person that worked on it 59:12 not to you if you have really understood this spirit of caring you would be excited you would be excited that your brother or your sister is honored see it's like that if let's say my son or my daughter and I work on something 59:29 we build a little toy let's say we build a little something we build a craft and then it's there and let's say my daughter says if you built this and you give her or him all the credit and I don't get any credit I'm not going to be jealous 59:45 because it's my daughter give her all the credit it's okay honor her honor him this is my family member or if you give the credit to my wife or to somebody else in my family it's very easy for me to rejoice when somebody honors your son or daughter as a father 1:00:03 don't you get a sense of pride this is that spiritual mentality that he's talking about where somebody can honor my brother in Christ and because that's my brother because that's my sister I don't have jealousy I'm excited that my brother is honored that way 1:00:19 I'm excited that my sister is honored that way this is the true church and we want to build this kind of a church that has that mentality so in Matthew 9 verse 36 we see that what motivated Jesus was his compassion for the multitudes that he saw 1:00:37 and this is what it means to be an active member who has the heart of a shepherd towards others in the church is that we are ones who are motivated by compassion for those so listen to this my margin says in verse 36 in the NASB it reads 1:00:57 distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd in my margin it reads harassed and thrown down harassed and thrown down like I said when Jesus looked at the multitude he felt a care for them he felt a compassion for them 1:01:14 not because they were blind not because they were poor not because they were slaves of Rome or any of these earthly things so my dear brothers and sisters as you seek to build a local church in the communities in which you live 1:01:27 what is it that motivates you? is it because there is a bunch of homeless people in the village a lot of poor people or maybe even demon possessed people a lot of blind people a lot of lame people is this what motivates us to build a church 1:01:41 or is it this whether they have a lot or little they are distressed harassed and thrown down by the devil and sometimes the rich young rulers in the cities are more harassed and thrown down by the devil than the poor people in the villages 1:02:01 so let's not allow our human eyes to deceive us into thinking where the need is or to seeing where the need is where we can see a rich person who comes into our church and because God is developing in us the heart of a shepherd 1:02:16 I see there is a man in all his wealth and his fancy suit coming in that fancy car with his security guard next to him but I see a man harassed and thrown down by the devil that the devil is ruling him in his marriage the devil is ruling him through his love of money 1:02:32 the devil has control over his life and out of that control I am not afraid to tell that man you need to get rid of your money because I care that you are distressed and downcast by the devil that the devil has authority over you 1:02:47 because of your money you see this is what motivated Jesus so first of all compassion that we must be those who have that shepherding heart of God towards others who are motivated by compassion for those harassed and thrown down by the devil 1:03:04 now earlier in Matthew chapter 9 we see how Jesus lived out this heart of a shepherd the word of a shepherd in everything that Jesus taught and asks us to follow he always set us an example that is the beautiful thing whenever you are wondering 1:03:21 about how you can be more Christ-like you know you have an example in Jesus if it is not recorded in scripture as some things are not like the first 30 years we have the Holy Spirit to disclose those things to us but here we have plenty of evidence 1:03:37 even in the gospels that Jesus we see in verse 18 for example that while he was walking along the road this man Jairus we know from another gospel came to him a ruler of a synagogue a very important person in the town 1:03:57 came to Jesus and said my daughter is sick he said in verse 18 my daughter has just died Matthew 9 verse 18 but come and lay your hand on her and she will live and immediately Jesus rose and began to follow him 1:04:17 Jesus didn't wait for a convenient time Jesus didn't say hey hold on I am in the middle of this I am in the middle of that he was listening to the father and the father said go and he went he didn't delay and then you find that 1:04:31 as he is going along the way somebody touched this woman grabs his garment pulls on it just touches the hem of his garment and he stops and again you know I don't know if it was there was a crowd pressing around Jesus and they were thronging around him 1:04:48 it must have been a very uncomfortable thing for Jesus I mean if you think it is uncomfortable to sit so close together think about what it must have been like for Jesus multitudes sometimes 5, 6, 10,000 people just crowding him 1:05:02 wanting to grab at him and touch him and in the middle of that a woman touches him touches his garment and Jesus wasn't offended by him Jesus wasn't allowed wasn't ever affected by inconvenience this is what God looks for as well 1:05:18 if you want to have a shepherding heart and my dear brothers and sisters this applies to all of us sisters as well to children I say this to the children in our church God wants you to have the same care for the church that we adults do 1:05:34 children you can have that if you are listening to this and you can understand God can build up within you and allow to grow within you a care for the church and a burden for the church in your heart at the age of 12, 13, 14, 15 years old 1:05:49 start young but it must be this I'm not I'm not I'm not so so interested in my own convenience well this is inconvenient for me if I do that I'm not going to do it you know there's another example in Mark chapter 6 where this is 1:06:07 very interesting to see you know we heard yesterday that Jesus never took a vacation and he didn't but there was one time where he tried to take a little rest we see this in Mark chapter 6 because maybe for days they had been 1:06:22 it was like day after day after day and so Jesus wants to just take a little break he wants to go away quietly with his disciples and maybe just get a little bit of rest he says in verse 31 Mark 6 verse 31 he said to them 1:06:39 come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while he says man we've had thousands of people around us let's go rest for a while 4 verse there were many people coming and going and they did not even have time to eat 1:06:54 I mean there's no time to even have lunch or dinner because constantly Jesus Jesus Jesus this Jesus that I have this problem I have that problem counsel me this heal my son heal my daughter Jesus says let's go away let's get some rest 1:07:07 and so they go away to a lonely place by themselves in verse 32 but the people saw that he was going over there by boat and they ran ahead of him and by land and when he got off the boat expecting a little bit of rest what did he see 1:07:23 more people another multitude of people the same multitude of people had got there and verse 34 when he went ashore he saw a great multitude what would you do dear brother dear sister if you were harassed by this multitude 1:07:38 for days couldn't even eat and then you went away for a little break and they found you there in your little room where you're trying to take a break and they're harassing you there when he went ashore he saw a great multitude 1:07:51 and he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things and he didn't allow his convenience he said yeah I was looking for a little bit of rest looking for a little bit of rest 1:08:05 but father you have a greater plan here and I see these people without shepherds and that's why they need me and that's why he invested in these 12 men hoping that they would become shepherds who could lead this multitude 1:08:20 after he went back up to heaven and they did at least 11 of them did and they established churches with this mindset so we see that Jesus was willing to be inconvenienced by people whether it was a rich young ruler or this poor lady 1:08:36 who had been bent over for 12 years no matter who it was he was willing to help them and be inconvenienced by them for the sake of kingdom for the kingdom of God I believe this with all my heart and the Lord has tested this in my own life 1:08:51 if I'm not willing to be inconvenienced whether it's through financial inconvenience giving of my own money inconvenience of my time giving of my own time inconvenience of my comforts if I'm not willing to be inconvenienced 1:09:05 in these areas God can never build a church through me and I'm not talking about just the elders because you will see in our churches and that's the thing that challenges me that there are elders in CFC churches who live this way 1:09:19 but it's so easy for us and we will miss out on the blessing if we come here expecting to receive from those who are living in that sacrificial way I hope you're not content dear brother, dear sister to be in a church where your elders are sacrificial 1:09:36 and not be sacrificial yourself if we can all see every one of us no matter what our calling in life is that God has called me to live this sacrificial way that's willing to be inconvenienced then I can be fulfill my calling in the body 1:09:52 willing to be inconvenienced later on we see in Matthew chapter 9 that Jesus came across a dumb man in verse 32 Matthew 9 verse 32 as they were going out behold a dumb man 1:10:12 demon possessed was brought to him and after the demon was cast out whoa stop there for a moment compare this this is the real ministry of Jesus with what you see in Christendom today imagine it was a meeting today where these preachers that you see on YouTube 1:10:33 and televangelists they're having a meeting and a demon possessed person comes in you know what you'll see today the preacher will stop the meeting stop his message and say oh this is an opportunity for me to make a name for myself 1:10:46 and I'm going to go and deal with this person the people very often from what I've heard is a plant somebody pretending to be demon possessed acting in a certain way so that this preacher can make a name for himself and so that the video can be there on YouTube 1:11:00 of what he's done and that this big show is like a boxing match between this preacher and the demon inside of the 12 rounds you know and at the end of 12 rounds you're not sure who won finally the referee raises somebody's hand 1:11:14 this is what's going on in Christendom today look at what it was like in the true ministry of Jesus Christ they brought a demon possessed person to him and after the demon was cast out you don't even read how the demon was cast out 1:11:28 because the point was not how the demon was cast out the point was that the demon got cast out Jesus was not interested in impressing people with the authority that he had over the devil because he looked around at the multitude and felt compassion for them 1:11:45 he was bothered he lived in the spiritual realm all his life even though his feet walked on this dusty earth in his spiritual being he was there in the heavenlies and you and I my dear brothers are seated in the heavenlies with him 1:11:59 we are told set your mind on things above not on the things of this earth live like Jesus lived who saw in the heavenlies that it doesn't matter what this looks like on the earth the devil has authority there and that's burdening to me 1:12:13 I have compassion for this soul that is harassed by the devil and very quietly it says with a word in other in another place so I imagine in this case they're going along the road and there's a dumb man demon possessed and Jesus can see in the heavenlies 1:12:28 somebody harassed and thrown down by the devil with this demon inside of him very quietly says go with a word and the demon goes and they just go on there's another one set free there's another one where the spiritual power 1:12:46 over their life has been broken this is what Jesus was interested in not in I mean it's not even recorded how the demon was cast out sometimes it is but if we have this mentality where we're willing to be used in such a way 1:13:00 that somebody thinks man there was a need here in the church and a few minutes later the need was met I don't know how it got met or who met the need there was some something dirty there was maybe some child vomited or something like that 1:13:14 I went to get something to clean it up but I came back it was cleaned up I don't know who cleaned it up I don't know how it happened but it got cleaned up if we have this mentality to meet the needs of others without seeking glory for ourselves 1:13:28 where we can share something for example in a Wednesday meeting or in a Sunday meeting and somebody is blessed by it during the week and they don't even remember who shared it they know man I was in the Wednesday meeting 1:13:42 and I heard this word and they showed me this verse in the Bible and that gave me such grace and such help in my problem in the workplace I don't even remember who shared it we live in the opposite mentality in Christendom today 1:13:56 where everybody wants to be quoted everybody wants their name on the book and you know hey this is my book and I have a copyright on it you don't misquote me you don't take what I said and you know make sure you put my name attached to it 1:14:10 this is the mentality that's in Christendom today book rights and all of these things people making money in the name of religion in the name of Jesus Christ you don't see that in Jesus but the point I wanted to make here is that 1:14:24 what God is looking for in us is those who have spiritual authority because the prince of this world has nothing in us see Jesus whenever he confronted the domain of the devil whether it was in the rich young ruler or in the woman who was sick for 12 years 1:14:43 or in this demon possessed dumb man he saw the devil has authority here like we saw there a multitude and saw those harassed and thrown down by the devil and felt compassion for them and he knew that he was coming into the devil's territory 1:15:01 and he was going to win there was absolutely no doubt in Jesus mind who was going to win the boxing match now there was no boxing match but who was going to win this tussle this conflict between Jesus and the devil Jesus said 100% of the time 1:15:18 I'm going to win why? there's a very powerful verse that Jesus said about his own life in John chapter 14 that I have taken much comfort in for my own life it's a challenge for my own life I hope it will be for yours as well 1:15:33 this can be true about our lives my dear brothers and sisters this can be true if you're a housewife at home and you feel like your only calling in life is to wash the clothes and to clean the plates and to clean the table 1:15:47 and sweep the house if you feel like that's all you spend your day doing I want you to know that Jesus because he has placed you in his body in a local expression of the body of Christ he wants you to exercise spiritual authority 1:16:01 in the realm in which he has placed you so dear sisters if you're there and you don't you never get to speak you never get to do any public ministry even but you know that God has drawn what seems like a small circle around you 1:16:15 at least outwardly if you're faithful in that circle and you say Father you've called me to live on this earth with spiritual authority in the areas in which you've drawn given me within my circle let me exercise that spiritual authority 1:16:30 through prayer over your children over your husband over those other sisters in your fellowship when they share something with you of what they're going through and you can exercise spiritual authority because you don't even have to be there with them 1:16:46 when they're going in the earthly circumstance to exercise that spiritual authority it is an authority in the spiritual realm you read about it in Matthew 16 and in Matthew 18 whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven 1:16:59 so you could be there in front of the kitchen sink doing the washing the plates and the Lord speaks something to you it reminds you about some sister a sister that you know is going through a difficult time and instead of judging that person 1:17:13 or comparing yourself with them how you're better than them you could bind the work of Satan in the name of Jesus and exercise that spiritual authority over the devil but in order to do that we must be able to say like Jesus said here in John 14 1:17:27 verse 30 in the middle of verse 30 he says this the ruler of the world is coming and he has nothing in me can you say that? you know that if you're a child of God you must be able to say it all of your sins been forgiven 1:17:47 I hope they are every sin you confess even if you've just sinned a few minutes ago right now in this moment you can confess that sin because the blood of Jesus Christ we are faithful in the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness 1:18:01 and you can have a clear conscience in that moment and as you seek to maintain a clear conscience before God and before man there's nobody on this earth that you have done any wrong to that you haven't set right and if somebody has done something wrong to you 1:18:15 you have forgiven and released everybody if that's true if those conditions are met you can have spiritual authority we must have spiritual authority and God is looking Jesus is looking for under shepherds people who have that shepherding heart 1:18:31 towards the local church towards their family towards whatever area God has placed them in to exercise that spiritual authority so ones who can say like Jesus the prince of this world is coming and he has nothing in me yeah there's that situation 1:18:47 where the devil is exercising his authority but the devil has nothing in me I can exercise this authority in the name of Jesus within the boundaries that God has drawn around me and finally in Matthew 9 verse 35 you see 1:19:02 that Jesus was going about all the cities and the villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing we heard this yesterday what did he preach on? what did he do? he released those who were captives 1:19:23 so he healed and he set people free from every kind of sickness and disease but what did he preach on? the kingdom of God God is looking for those who have a passion to preach proclaim the full gospel of the kingdom of God 1:19:42 not just a half gospel not just a part of it not those things that are popular but if we have a willingness to proclaim the full gospel of God then God can use us he can give us that shepherding heart towards people around us 1:19:56 God is looking for those who have whose passion is to proclaim the full gospel of the kingdom of God I want to close with one more one more thing turn with me to Isaiah chapter 6 something interesting happens to Isaiah 1:20:18 God had a purpose for Isaiah to be a prophetic voice that's the calling for us as a church every local expression of the body of Christ has this ministry to be a prophetic voice it's no longer single prophets like it was in the old covenant 1:20:34 now it's the church in different parts of the world prophetically speaking the word of God and as Isaiah was being prepared for this ministry you see in Isaiah chapter 6 that now first of all Isaiah has already been prophesying some things 1:20:52 this is not chapter 1 this is chapter 6 and it's interesting if you read the first 5 chapters Isaiah has a lot of things already to say and most of it is this woe to you woe to you and he had a burden he saw the needs of people 1:21:08 and he says you guys you're going to be in trouble God is going to judge you over and over again you see woe to you woe to you verse chapter 5 verse 20 for example woe to those who call evil good and good evil verse 21 woe to those who are wise in their own eyes 1:21:26 verse 22 woe to those woe to you woe to you and then something happens in chapter 6 verse 1 in the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord I don't know if Isaiah had had a revelation of God before this but he did in chapter 6 verse 1 1:21:43 and God had seen this man who maybe out of his own zeal had gone around rebuking the works of unrighteousness around him and he said I need to make this man this man who's going to be my prophet I need to give him a shepherding heart 1:22:00 and so he says I'm going to show him myself I saw the Lord sitting on a throne lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple seraphim stood above him each having six wings with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet 1:22:16 and with two he flew and one called out to another and said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out while the temple was filling with smoke 1:22:31 after Isaiah has seen the Lord look at his first words woe is me this is what God looks for he cannot impart his shepherding heart in us if we haven't first seen woe is me you read in Peter 1:22:51 it's time for judgment to begin with the household of God this is why you hear in CFC and almost nowhere else the happiest people on earth are those who always judge themselves and never judge others and the only way God can use us 1:23:05 as effective individuals marriages homes and effective local churches if all of us without exception every single one of us has this mentality woe is me I have seen the Lord I used to see all the problems around me and all the need 1:23:22 and all the sin around me but then I my eyes were open to see God seated on the throne and then I looked at myself and said woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among the people of unclean lips 1:23:38 for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts and immediately when God sees this repentant heart in Isaiah he said then one of the seraphim flew to me instantly with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar 1:23:54 with tongues verse 7 he touched my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips and your sin your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven in that moment the forgiveness of Jesus Christ is instantaneous 1:24:08 when you confess it and repent from it and then verse 8 I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send it was a rhetorical question you know they say there's a saying rhetorical question that means the answer is obvious 1:24:26 God was interacting with Isaiah one-on-one secretly I don't think anybody else was there around and he's interacting with you one-on-one dear brother dear sister during this conference he's not interacting with you in a public way 1:24:38 it's an individual way perhaps you've seen your sin through things you've heard over the last two days already and you're coming you're come to see woe is me I hope you have I have and right after that he says whom shall I send 1:24:52 he asks you can I still send you yeah I know you've seen your sin whom shall I send and who will go for us and look at Isaiah's response then I said here am I send me God still wants to send you you know you know it's blessed me recently 1:25:09 as I've meditated on this God hasn't entrusted the gospel to angels who have never fallen you know angels have never sinned the good angels they've never sinned and yet it's not to them that God has entrusted the ministry of the preaching 1:25:24 and the being a witness of the glory of God he's entrusted it to us the redeemed ones who were picked up from the pits ones who disappointed the heart of God so terribly and I hope we haven't forgotten how much we let the Lord down 1:25:41 by our sin I hope we're not so short sighted but if we have seen the glory of God and seen our own sin and God has been able to cleanse us of it now he says whom shall I send who will be my shepherd to the sister around you 1:25:53 to the brother around you you know sometimes it might be voiced needs people come and share a burden with you Jairus sometimes it can be unvoiced needs like that poor woman she didn't even have the boldness to say it she just brushed Jesus' shirt 1:26:13 if you can use today's language are you sensitive my dear brother, dear sister during this conference or especially in your local church to the little brushings spiritually your sense something's going on there they didn't say anything 1:26:28 but I sense there's a struggle there's a spiritual battle going on and you make it the passion of your heart in secret to fight for that brother fight for that sister they haven't said a word to you but you sensed the brushing 1:26:40 that the Holy Spirit allowed you to have in your spirit of what's going on in their heart if you have that then you're qualified you're ready to be a functioning effective member of the body of Christ may it be so this is a message for all of us 1:26:57 you know when God made Adam and Eve he said I want you to multiply 1:27:17 and populate the earth and whenever God plants a new covenant church like he did with CFC 41 years ago I think his word is the same I want you to multiply and 1:27:37 there should be such churches in different parts of the earth and you know how when you have children you see the resemblance of a child in the parent and that should be how our churches should be I thank God for different churches in 1:27:56 Tamil Nadu and all where they're reproducing I don't go there they're doing it themselves but you can see the the image of the original church there reproduce Adam had a son who looked like him 1:28:17 and you have children who look like you and so CFC's desires to plant churches around the world not we ourselves but through others members that look like them and I've been to this church which Santosh is an elder in Colorado 1:28:35 and I can say I've really seen there the spirit of a family they really care for one another and they seek to glorify God and they seek to reach out to others so we want to be we want to see that in many parts of the world 1:28:53 and we thank God that God has begun to do that in a little way in distant countries local churches and we pray there will be many more so if you want to hear more of Santosh's messages you can go to the internet and either put his name Santosh Phunan 1:29:14 or go to YouTube and the name of that church is River of Life Christian Fellowship and they got a website RLCF which stands for riveroflifechristianfellowship.org and there are a whole lot of messages there by him and the other elder and some of the other brothers there 1:29:39 so we thank God for many other churches like that that are also having an internet presence where they spread the same message where they spread the same message and this has been our great longing I often think of Simeon 1:29:59 who was an old man who was praying and praying for the Messiah to come you read about it in Luke chapter 2 and the Holy Spirit told him don't worry you won't die till you see the Messiah and it's interesting that how he one day came into the temple in that spirit of prayer 1:30:22 so many babies are being brought every day to be dedicated in the temple and the Holy Spirit said to him you see that in the midst of all those mothers with babies see that one there that's the Messiah Jesus didn't marry his arms 1:30:41 Jesus didn't look like any different from any other baby but the Spirit of God led him there and he saw that baby and he said now I can depart in peace for my eyes have seen the body of Jesus Christ 1:31:01 I've seen the body of Christ too I thank God for that in different places the actual body of Jesus Christ built by people who you just who are shepherds like you just heard who are gripped 1:31:22 by the calling to give and not to receive that's one reason why we don't collect an offering in our churches because we say that's between you and God and that's why if you see all these offering boxes in different places 1:31:40 we have some conditions there you're not born again if you're in debt things are not right between you and others don't give we don't want to we believe in sacrifice being willing to be inconvenient all those things you heard 1:31:56 and also to have authority over Satan every shepherd must have authority over Satan his life must be so clean because it's cleansed in the blood of Jesus the spirit of never wanting to receive but wanting to give not stretching out a hand to receive but stretching out a hand to give 1:32:16 to serve others around us in need and if you think that who will meet your need I'll tell you you stretch out your hand to serve others God will meet your need Proverbs 11:25 says if you water other people God will water you 1:32:30 that's the type of shepherd we want not shepherds will look for getting something or even expecting anything from anyone not expecting not getting but wanting to serve and serve and serve and serve do you know in one place it says about Jesus 1:32:48 that they were serving so he was serving so much that he didn't have time to eat you read that in Mark's gospel and it's chapter 2 or 3 and it says not just one meal one meal many of us may miss but he was missing so many meals serving others 1:33:06 that his relatives thought he's gone off his head this man must be insane that he's missing so many meals has everybody anybody any of your relatives thought you're insane to be serving Jesus Christ like this without any money and without receiving anything 1:33:27 and just day and night going out and exhausted and we have some brothers like that here in Bangalore as well and in different places I praise God I can save like Simeon Lord I can depart in peace my eyes have seen the body of Jesus Christ 1:33:47 I praise God for that I started praying in 1965 1965 before many of you were born 51 years ago when I was still in the Navy I'd read the Bible and I saw how church is the body of Christ and I said Lord I want to see it 1:34:08 and I tried building it and it failed it was an Ishmael it was an Ishmael and then in 1972 I tried again when I came to Bangalore and it failed another Ishmael Abraham had only one I had two total failure 1:34:28 and the Lord had to do that in me saying you cannot build the body Jesus said I build the body of Christ I said thank you Lord I take my dirty hands off your work I will never again attempt to build the body of Christ 1:34:49 because I am a failure I had to come to that place Peter had to fail so badly deny the Lord three times then only he was ready for Pentecost Abraham had to fail produce an Ishmael then only he was ready to have Isaac Jacob had to fail so badly 1:35:11 that his hip had to be broken then he became Israel Moses had to fail and to run away for 40 years then he was ready the trouble with a lot of shepherds is they think I am capable and all such shepherds 1:35:32 are false shepherds they produce Ishmael after Ishmael after Ishmael look at the quality of their church you look at the condition of your church and you will see whether it is an Ishmael or an Isaac it will show you what type of shepherd you are 1:35:50 you read in Revelation chapter 2 the church became like the shepherd if the shepherd lost its first love in Ephesus the church was like that the shepherd had a name that he was alive but he was actually dead in Sardis the church was like that 1:36:07 and if in Pergamos the church leader loved money like Belaam the church was like that or in Thyatira if the leader allowed his wife to be a Jezebel to control things from behind the scenes the church produced Jezebels like that 1:36:25 what if there was an elder a humble godly man in Philadelphia who was seeking to glorify God the church became like that the church becomes like the shepherd that's what we have preached that's why every year I spend most of my 1:36:44 in every conference we try to speak to the shepherds because I can't speak to all the thousands themselves but if I can reach the shepherds and what I tell the shepherds is be a father don't be a teacher be a father look at everyone in your church like your own children 1:37:07 they are your sons your daughters do you have to correct them? yes but correct them like you correct your children do you have to take care of them? sure, like you take care of your children do you sacrifice yourself to feed your children? 1:37:23 you sacrifice yourself for the sake of the church I've sometimes heard preachers scold the church as if there is enemies you scold your children like that we have to rebuke our children correct them 1:37:43 correct the church like that but we care for them we provide for them you know if a church sees that that shepherd is willing to lay down his life and sacrifice and give and give and give you can correct them any amount 1:38:01 they will love you you know like your children sometimes we have all had that experience we spank them and after they come and hug you and say daddy I love you what it does to you after you just spank them they come and hug you and say daddy I love you 1:38:18 because they have seen before you spank them what a lot of effort you took to care for them and provide for them that's the type of shepherd you must be all of you elders who are sitting here that after you correct and rebuke people in your church 1:38:37 they will come and hug you and say brother you say you want to go away and they'll say where can we go these are the words of eternal life that's the type of church we want to build the body of Christ across this land and in many other lands 1:38:58 I want you to pray that God will do that Jesus said pray that God will raise up shepherds I prayed for years Lord raise up apostles prophets shepherds teachers we need many more of them in this land I once prayed and asked the Lord 1:39:20 Lord why is it that in a land of 1,200 million people like India there are so few prophets where are the prophets preachers people who can present clever messages but prophets you love this country so little in the Old Testament 1:39:39 when God forsook Israel there were no prophets the mark of God forsaking a people is that there are no prophet they don't have a prophet you read that in the Psalms Lord we don't see any prophet you have forsaken us and the Lord told me 1:39:55 there are many young men in this land whom I prepared to be prophets but as they grew up they fell in love with somebody who was unfit 1:40:15 not the one I chose to be their wife they got married and that was the end of one prophet and then there was someone else who wanted all the benefits he could get from being supported by some western mission that would send money to India 1:40:33 then I lost another prophet you know the amount of damage that well meaning good people in the west have done to the work in India by sending money to people who are not godly to people who love money I can go all across this country 1:40:53 and I will tell you about that that's why from the beginning we decided that we will never ask anybody for money we will never send we never sent a report anywhere in 41 years we have thousands of people in our web circulation 1:41:06 in weekly circulation and we have been sending that out for many many years maybe 15-20 years never once did they ever see any report about our work you go to our website and you will think CFC is the Bangalore is the holy church 1:41:23 you will never see any branches there we don't talk about our work that's hidden before God we don't report about our work because most prayer reports are begging for money indirectly begging we decided we will never have that 1:41:40 there is a dignity about a servant of God there is a dignity about a CFC elder we don't need money from anyone our heavenly father owns billions he is the richest billionaire trillionaire in the whole universe and if we are doing his work 1:41:56 God's work done in God's way we will never lack God's supplies it doesn't drop from heaven but God moves people to give we don't have to move them we move them we will get money we shouldn't get when God moves them then we know that God moved them to give it to us 1:42:13 that's how we operate it every church becomes like its elder and if you are a self denying elder brother who judges yourself everyday I do that every single day God is my witness I judge myself many many times from the time I get up in the morning till I go to bed at night 1:42:34 I live in a self judgment of myself I live in a self judgment of myself and when I see so many un-Christ like things in different areas of my life and I cleanse myself I repent I ask the blood of Christ to cleanse me I keep my life pure 1:42:48 because I want the water that flows through me through my mouth not to be corrupted with self and with that of Adam it must be pure Jesus Christ it can be for you too the anointing of God I know times when I have laid on my bed and said 1:43:09 Lord you can take away anything from my life I don't want money I don't want my house I don't want health but don't ever take the anointing of the Holy Spirit from me when you are desperate like that like the business man is desperate not to lose his money 1:43:23 you are desperate not to lose the anointing of God upon your life I tell you there will be many more anointed people in CFC we won't have all those boring sermons that we hear in so many churches we will have anointed speakers who speak forth the word of God that grips people 1:43:43 we want many people like that not just one or two that's our need that's our need and Jesus said pray that God will send forth people not people who can present very intellectual clever thoughts and presentations 1:44:03 there's a lot of difference between a person who just preaches a clever thought and an anointed word a clever thought goes into your mind and says oh yeah that's interesting I never saw that that's a very nice thought from that part of the Bible 1:44:19 what do you do? one week later you have forgotten the whole thing but if it's an anointed word it will go to your heart and you will never forget it we want shepherds like that we need many we need many who will be anointed speakers of the word in every church 1:44:36 and who need, don't, who I'll tell you when an anointed man begins to speak even if he goes on for two hours you'll sit there and wish he didn't sit down oh, why did he sit down? I wish he'd gone on but a man's not anointed 1:44:58 he goes on and on, rambles on and on and you sit there and say, when is he going to sit down? you can make out a difference you can make out there's a lot of difference and we want people with the anointing of God but your heart burns when you listen to them 1:45:16 those are the shepherds we need and if you say you're an elder in one of CFC church and you're not like that I want to ask you to go and bury your head in the ground and say, Lord have mercy on me go before God and say, Lord I'm a boring preacher 1:45:33 because I'm not seeking your anointing I'm seeking honor from people forgive me you repent I'll tell you, I judge myself after every sermon I preach many times I sit and listen to myself on YouTube and listen to it and say, Lord show me 1:45:53 did I say something I shouldn't have said do you listen to yourself? do you get a recording and listen to yourself at home? now we have these facilities you can have these small things you can record even on your cell phone you can record your message 1:46:05 judge yourself cleanse yourself purify yourself all the time even if you speak for five minutes in the church judge yourself we want shepherds who got a heart for God's people let's pray heavenly father 1:46:28 you taught us to pray that you will thrust forth shepherds into the harvest and any of us who have high thoughts about ourselves we pray you'll humble us we'll pray you'll bring us down in our face 1:46:48 there are people who have high thoughts about themselves who think what they hear does not apply to them it applies to somebody else have mercy on us Lord we want to fall before you we want to live in a judgment of ourselves every single day 1:47:04 purify ourselves as you are pure have mercy on us we pray give us grace to overcome getting offended so many who claim to have known you for so long get offended so easily help us never to get offended 1:47:26 you said blessed is he who is never offended in me we want to be in that number we want shepherds thank you for hearing us in Jesus name okay thank you thank you 1:47:46 thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you