0:18 Like you turn with me, please, to Matthew's Gospel in chapter 22. The way to live 0:40 the most profitable and blessed Christian life is by having our priorities right. In other words, first things must be first. And all other things must be secondary. 0:58 Now, in worldly matters, we do that. In our home, we know what is most important to be done. With our children, we know what is most important to be done. For example, if they go to school, we know what is most important. In many 1:14 areas, if we are sensible, we recognize the importance of priorities. There may be 101 things to be done, but we know what is first. Now, the question is whether we recognize the same in our Christian life 1:34 and being a part of this church. We can ask ourselves, "Why do you want to be a part of this church? Why do you come to the Sunday meeting at all?" For many, many Christians, it is just to 1:52 hear a good message. I tell them, "You don't have to come to church to listen to me. You can sit at home, save on traveling time, and save on the cost of gas and all that. Just turn on to YouTube, 2:11 and you can listen to whichever message you choose. And one advantage of listening to me at home is you can turn me off whenever you don't want to listen. Here, it would be awkward to walk out. So, if it's only to listen to a message, 2:24 and I tell you there are many, many people, if they are honest, they go to a church because there's a particular preacher there. They have zero interest in fellowship with everybody. They have zero interest in building that 2:37 local church as a strong body of Christ. Zero. I mean zero. They 100% their only desire is to listen to a good preacher. I recommend to all such people, from next Sunday onwards, don't come here. Sit at home. There are 2,000 sermons of 2:53 mine on YouTube. You can even select the message. If you put a topic, you get all the messages on that. Listen at your leisure, if that's all you're interested in. But that is not what Jesus came to do. He didn't come here to get us to listen 3:08 to good sermons. He did not come here to listen to good preachers. There are very, very few messages that are really worth listening to. And if preaching was the most important thing, God would have made every member of his church 3:25 a preacher. Everybody in the body of Christ. Why he didn't do that. He's given that gift, I've seen, through very, very few people. Very, very few. And you know that as well as I do. And that shows that that is not the most 3:42 important thing. And we may say, "Well, I don't have any gifts to serve in some other way. I just come here to listen, and what can I do? Maybe I give a little money in the offering box." But I tell you, even that's not what God 3:57 wants. Missions, missionary work, that's not the most important thing. If we get our priorities right, everything else will fall into place. And that's what I want to tell you about. In Matthew 22, this is a question that 4:13 the people asked Jesus. The same way, he put it in They put it in other words, but it's really the same thing. What is the most important thing in life? They asked him, a lawyer. A lawyer means not as we understand an attorney today, 4:27 but one who was deeply um educated and instructed in the law, in God's law, in the law of Moses, the Old Covenant. Matthew 22, verse 35. One of these people who were deeply instructed in the Mosaic Law, an expert 4:47 in the Mosaic Law, came to him and asked him a question, "Teacher, what is the most important thing in life? What is the greatest commandment in the law?" Now, those days, they considered going 5:07 to the feasts and taking part in the Passover and paying your tithes. These are all very important things, but Jesus said, "All that is secondary. The greatest commandment is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart." That means with a 5:25 devotion to him. "And with all your soul." And his soul is your emotions and your personality. "And with your mind." That means with my mind, I must love God with completely. I must not allow anything into my mind 5:45 which is contrary to the love of God. And I must love him with all my emotion. My emotion, you know, we have emotions, it's a very good thing. It must be directed towards God with all of it. And in three times he says, "With all." With 6:04 all means there's nothing left out for anything else. If I give all my heart to the Lord, there is no place in my heart for anybody else or anything else. That is the way every husband is 6:24 supposed to love his wife by loving God with all his heart. I'll tell you, if a husband loves his wife loves God, sorry. If a husband loves God with all his heart, listen to me, he will never raise his voice at his wife once in 6:43 the whole year. Never. He will never complain and murmur against his wife the whole year. It's because they try to love their wife that they keep on doing that. Human love can never accomplish it. 7:01 It's the same way with fellowship in the church. If you love God with all your heart, from your side, there will never be a tension with anyone in the church. From their side, there may be. I can't do anything about that. 7:15 But from my side, I will never have a problem with another person. If he wants to have a problem with me and wants to avoid me, that's up to him. The answer to everything is to love God with all our heart. And I'll tell you this, all the tensions 7:32 and strains we have in our life are because we do not love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our mind. We have not put first things first in the Christian life. Christendom has taught us the importance of going to church, singing songs, in 7:51 some churches, worship and praise with all type of strobe lights and all is most important. No wonder that church is full of backsliders, of people who sit there and divorce, even the pastor is divorced. What What is Why is Christendom come to 8:05 such a state? Because there's hardly anybody preaching you got to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength. If that had been preached consistently, we would have had a different type of Christianity 8:22 where nothing takes precedence in my mind or my heart above Jesus Christ. And if we live like that, the Lord's promises in I mean, we all seek our own. And if you do seek your own, and you 8:41 want the best for your life, and you want the best for your family, that's right. I mean, when we are married and we have children, we want the best for our wife and children, sure. I want the best for my wife and children. I wanted the best for my wife 8:56 and children from right from the time we got married and right from the time we had children. That's right. The father who does not want the best for his children is a is not a good father. You must desire the best for your 9:08 children. And if you desire the best for your children, you know what you should do from the beginning, teach them to love God first. To love God with all their heart. Financial needs. We all have financial needs, and it's perfectly all right 9:27 to want money to take care of our needs. There's nothing wrong in that. And if needs increase and the cost of living goes up, there's nothing wrong in desiring to earn more money or to have money in the bank so that if suddenly an 9:43 unexpected urgent need comes, we have enough to fall back on. We don't have to go begging. We don't have to go borrowing. There's nothing wrong in saving money. But if you want such a life where you're completely free from 9:58 tension. The solution is to love God with all your heart. You know, God has made the world in such a way that all those who follow his laws, it works wonderfully. Whether you know it or not, you're following certain laws 10:14 in your life. I mean, we obey the traffic laws to avoid getting into problems. But in our life, I mean, science has discovered that there's certain types of food that are good for the body. And we've heard so much nowadays about 10:27 junk food. Food that is not good for the body, that just makes you obese and fat and unhealthy. We avoid it. Why do you avoid it? Because there are laws for the body. We follow it. When people were told to wear masks to 10:44 prevent contamination of a particular sickness, we obeyed because we are protected by those laws. And so many many other things like this. We obey the laws of the body, it goes well with our body. So if you want all our needs to be met, 11:02 here is the solution. May we be 100% free from anxiety? Is that possible to be 100% free from anxiety in this world? Well, let me say this. If you believe the Bible, if you believe what Jesus said, 11:20 then it is possible. Concern is different from anxiety. Concern is a right thing. You must have a concern, for example, if your child is sick, you'll be concerned that the child should be healthy. If your child does not come back from 11:35 school in time, should be concerned. Anxiety is some another level. We are tense and worried. If you're not concerned about your children and about their needs, something's wrong with you as a father or mother. But if you're anxious, something's wrong 11:51 in your relationship with God. Let me turn to Matthew 6:33. He's speaking here about anxiety. Anxiety is one of those things which all human beings face. Their concern becomes anxiety. 12:09 And they try to solve that anxiety with so many human ways. But Jesus said here in Matthew 6:25-34, three times he says, verse 20, don't be worried, don't be worried, don't be worried. Now, in in a 12:27 passage that takes only less than 2 minutes to read, when somebody's speaking to you, if Jesus is speaking to you for 2 minutes, and in those 2 minutes, three times he says, don't be worried, don't be worried, don't be worried, there must be 12:41 very good reason for that. You read verse 25-34, it doesn't even take 2 minutes. But in those 2 minutes, he says in verse 25, don't be worried. He says in verse 31, don't be worried. He says in verse 34, don't be worried. 12:55 And then he says, it's all these heathen people who worry, and you're not supposed to be like those heathen. Well, you say, well, how in the world am I going to be free from worry? He mentions it number of times. Why are you worried? 13:09 Verse 28. By being worried, verse 27, how can you add anything to your life? Is worry, worry, worry, worry, five times he mentioned it in this short passage. And what is the solution? Verse 33. But seek first his kingdom. 13:31 If you want to be anxious about something, be anxious about God being king in your life. And be worried that he's not king in your life. That's the thing you should be worried about. Not about food and clothing and shelter, 13:44 he says. Why? Is it because God is not interested in our food, clothing, and housing? Or have in our having a job? Of course, he's concerned. He One of the first things he told Adam was, you know, I've provided all these things 13:58 in these fields, work hard, and by the sweat of your brow, you'll earn your food. Work hard, and you can earn your food. But you don't have to be worried, he says. And what does it mean in verse 33 to seek God's kingdom first? 14:13 Today, we don't have kingdoms. In the days when Jesus lived, every country was ruled by a king. A king here and a king there, and in all those count- They were not called countries, they were called kingdoms. The kingdom of Israel, the kingdom of 14:26 Moab, and the kingdom of Egypt. Today, we have countries. United States is not a kingdom. But the word we use today is government. Those days, it was a kingdom. These days, it's a government. Each country has a government. 14:42 So what the Lord is saying is, seek the government of God first in your life. That means let's God govern your life. It's the same as what we read in Matthew 22. To let the Lord be king and ruler of your life, you love God with all your 15:01 heart, soul, strength, and mind. Now, my dear brothers and sisters, how many of you know that that is should be the number one priority in your life? According to this this passage, it'll free you from anxiety. For many years in my Christian life 15:23 after I was born again, anxiety was a big part of my life. For at least 16 years after I was born again, I was frequently anxious, frequently angry, frequently discouraged. These were some very common sins in my life. I hardly a 15:38 day went by without one of these things being there. And if you are honest, you'll find that that is pretty true in your life as well. But I as I read the scriptures, I said, "Lord, you're not telling lies. You're not teasing us, 15:53 trying to give us something, promise something, and don't give it." I've seen some evil people who not evil in the worldly sense, but who tease little children. It's like say, "Here, here's a chocolate for you. Come and take it." And as the child 16:13 reaches out for it, he pulls it back. And the child reaches out for it, he pulls it back, pulls it back. That's called teasing. He never intended to give that boy the chocolate, but he just make that boy come, aim for it, aim for it, and then 16:25 he finds some joy in seeing the frustration of that little child in not being able to get that piece of chocolate. Do you think God is like that? Here is a life free from anxiety. You want it? And every time you come near it, he 16:39 pulls it away. It's an insult to say that God is like that evil man, teasing us, offering us something which he knows we'll never get. He's not like that. We need to believe what Jesus said. I believe many people don't believe what Jesus said. 16:56 Is it possible when he says five times in this verse to be free from worry? Is it possible or not? The reason is we have not fulfilled the condition. You know, the Bible says in 1 John in chapter 2 and verse six. 17:17 It's not a verse that you hear much in many churches. But I preached it for many years, not only preached it, I've tried to walk in it. I can't say I'm perfect. I don't won't be perfect till Christ comes. But I can certainly say that I seek to 17:33 walk like this every day. The one who says he abides in Christ, I say I abide in Christ. Do you say you abide in Christ? Well, here's a word for you, then. If you're not abiding in Christ, this word is not for you. But if you are abiding in Christ, here 17:51 is a word for you. You must walk in the same manner that Jesus walked on this earth. Because he came as a man exactly like you and me. It's one of the preeminent things we teach in CFC that Jesus Christ did not walk on earth 18:08 as God, even though he was God. He did not use his heavenly credit card to use anything for himself cuz I don't have a heavenly credit card. I'm a man bound to earth. He walked as a man. He set aside his powers and abilities as God and 18:26 said, "I can't be an example to these people if I don't live like them." And he did not sin. That's the thing that challenged me. When I my defeated life, I saw that Jesus did not sin, and I said, "Well, Lord, what does it mean to follow you?" 18:41 It means to take up this challenge of seeking to live an overcoming life where I'll seek to love God with all my heart and not love anything else. That in no not a place in my heart for anything else. Many Christians, they don't believe they can love Satan 18:59 and love God at the same time. That's impossible. But many Christians believe they can love money and love God at the same time. Like I said the other Sunday, they really believe that. And if you look at their life, they have more time pursuing money than 19:15 seeking after God. And so, what does it mean to walk as Jesus walked? He walked with complete freedom from anxiety and worry all his life. And he asks us to walk like that. 19:33 And the reason was, for him, the Father was number one. Always in every situation. I mean, if there was a close disciple of his that did not go the way the Father commanded, you You for example, Jesus said, "If you want to 19:52 follow me you got to take up the cross every day and follow me, which means he himself took up the cross and followed. And that was not a burden. Jesus' life was the happiest, freest life that anybody lived on earth. And it is love 20:07 for his father that made him do it. And when Peter, his closest disciple, tried to turn him away from the cross, you know what he turned around and called Peter? You know what he said to Peter? In Matthew 16, "Get behind me, Satan." 20:27 Can you imagine Jesus calling somebody Satan? I mean, he didn't even say, "Peter, you Here, Peter, hang on. Uh let me tell this to you nicely. I think you're being influenced by Satan." I mean, that's the way we think we 20:42 should say it, but this was such a serious problem that he said in Matthew 16:23, it says here, he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. Your mind is not set on God's interest. 20:56 Your mind is set on man's interest." My question is this. Do you believe God Jesus loved Peter? Sure. Peter had sacrificed everything. He was a man with a family. He had a wife and children. And he gave up his job 21:16 because Jesus said, "Give it up and follow me." This is the man to whom Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan. You don't want to take up the cross." I tell you, verse next verse, 24, if you you cannot follow me unless you take up 21:30 the cross every day. Now, my question is this, my brothers and sisters. Do you believe Jesus loves you? I'm sure you do. Do you think Jesus will ever turn around to you and say, "Get behind me, Satan. You're only interested in earthly 21:48 things. You're a stumbling block to my church." Do you think Jesus would ever say that to you? I'll tell you something. If you've never heard a word of rebuke from Jesus in your life, I don't believe you've ever heard Jesus 22:05 speaking to you at all. You're imagining that Jesus speaks to you. They have heard people say, "Jesus said this to me. Jesus said this to me." I ask them, "Did Jesus ever rebuke you?" "No, he never rebukes me. He's a loving 22:16 person." Well, I'll tell you what Jesus said himself. In Revelation 3:19, he said, "Those whom I love, I rebuke." My dear brothers and sisters, don't 22:34 imagine that Jesus is speaking to you. I know Jesus speaks to me because there are number of times he's rebuked me. Personally, sometimes when I read the Bible, sometimes when I'm just meditating, sometimes through another brother. 22:52 And I have determined in my life I will not get offended. And that has been my salvation. Revelation 3:19, those whom Jesus loves he rebukes. And if you have not heard a word of rebuke from Jesus, I would say to you in Jesus' name, you have never heard Jesus 23:12 speak to you at all. Never. You're imagining. You say Jesus helped you to make money. Aha. You know what the Muslims say? Allah helped them to make money. What's the difference between your Jesus and his Allah? And that Muslim king has made 23:28 more money than you. If that is the case, his Allah is more powerful than your Jesus. Don't you see the ridiculousness of that? When you say Jesus helped you to make money and he says Allah helped to make money. You know what they say in India? 23:42 Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, helps us to make money. And they are multimillionaires and you are not. Their Lakshmi and their Allah more powerful than your Jesus. It's a wrong understanding. Jesus helps us to love God with all our 23:59 heart. Those are the gods who don't do that. They love the world. And they live for the world. But we know Jesus is the true God because he's the only true God. Because he makes us love the Father with 24:17 all our heart. He makes us put first things first. And if you believe, my dear brothers and sisters, that the most wonderful life that anybody lived on this earth, the most blessed, the happiest, most powerful, and most 24:33 effective life that anybody lived was the life Jesus lived. You'll all agree, he wasn't the richest man. He was not a millionaire. And he suffered a lot. In fact, they killed him. They called him the devil. But if that is the most blessed life 24:49 anybody ever lived on this earth, we like all agree to that. I said, "You want to live like that, the most blessed life to on this earth?" Well, the secret of his life was he loved the Father first. Nothing was more important to him. 25:02 And if somebody came in the way like Peter, he would rebuke him and say, "You're a devil." Imagine calling person Satan. That's how strongly Jesus loved the Father. He would not allow anyone to come in the way. And if you love God with all your heart, 25:23 you will not allow your wife to hinder you from following Jesus. You will not allow your husband to hinder you from following Jesus. You will not allow your job or the pursuit of anything on this earth, not your children, you know, your love 25:35 for your children will not hinder you from following the Lord. And the result will be that your children will follow the Lord too one day. But if you love your children more than you love Jesus Christ, I can prophesy today your children will go astray. 25:49 Believe me, I don't want it. But it will happen. If you love your children more than you love Jesus Christ, your children will go astray one day. And if you've seen some of your children go astray, that's the reason. Because you loved them more. 26:05 Or you loved money more. And you did not put Christ first. Don't make the mistake that so many people have made. I'm telling you, after observing Christians for 62 years, I was born again 62 years ago, and I've observed Christians in all 26:22 denominations, various types with various doctrines. And I have seen that the most effective and useful Christians who have brought up their children properly are the ones who loved God with all their heart, who would rebuke their children 26:39 when if the children don't do something which is do so or children do something that's dishonoring to God. They don't love their children so much. They say, "Oh, darling, don't worry. It's okay." It's It is something to be worried about 26:51 when they do something wrong. A strict father is the one who brings up his children properly. He teaches them not just to be educated and to get a good job, but to love Jesus with all their heart. See, so much is dependent on our as we 27:09 as parents loving the Lord with all our heart. You know, it's possible for us to have a lot of regret in our life about many things we have done in the past. All of us have it. I told you I have a lot of regret about 16 years of my life 27:23 that I wasted. Well, I didn't waste it. I learned a lot of lessons how not to do God's work. If you 16 years you bungle up something, you learn something how not to do it. So, I I want to show you a little poem that I read. Can you put that up on 27:42 the screen, that poem that I gave you? Please listen to these words. When I was a very young Christian, I read this poem. And uh I 28:00 would sing it often to myself. When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, I want to read it slowly. We are all going to stand there. Everyone sitting here, if you're a child of God, one day you will stand at the 28:19 judgment seat of Christ. Doesn't mean no respect of persons. The youngest believer, the most mature. When When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and he shows me like a video, the plan his plan that he made for me 28:36 before I was born. The plan I planned that you should be born in such and such a town, such and such to such and such parents, such and such a day. I planned that your parents should take you here and there and you should be here and 28:55 there. And I planned for your life. The plan that might have been if he had had his way, if I'd allowed the Lord to have his way with me from the beginning. 29:15 That's from the day I was born again. Said, "Lord, I want to love you with all my heart. I know you've got a plan for my life. Please show me that plan. Every single thing, whom I should marry, where I should live, what I should do, what 29:28 should be my job, how I should live every day." Every day. God's plan is not general. Well, sort of I'd like you to live a good life. It's not like that. It's specific. Like the pillar of cloud led the Israelites through the wilderness day by 29:44 day, God's plan for you and me from the day we were born again was every single day to live according to a plan and he made a plan. He is more loving than any earthly father. And then I see how I blocked him here. He wanted to do something and I blocked 30:04 him and I checked him there when he tried to lead me in a certain way. I said, "No, I'll make more money here." Or he tried to lead me in a certain way. I said, "No, no, no, I want to go here." And I would not yield my will. 30:17 I'd go to church, sure. I'd sing all the songs louder than anybody else. I'd give money in the offering. But I would not yield my will. Oh, no. Daily, I would not yield my will. I say, "Lord, I want my way." I want to love you, but I want my way. 30:36 What's he going to do? Will there be anger? No. There'll be grief. You know, when your child does not take your advice concerning what is good for him, plead with him, tell him, tell him, tell him year after year and he does not listen to you and 30:55 he messes up his life, he ruins his life. And when you see him poverty-stricken and perhaps a drunkard with a broken marriage wayward children, will you be angry with your child? No. 31:13 There'll be grief. Oh, my son, my daughter. I wish you had listened to me 25 years ago. It's like that. Then will there be grief in my savior's eyes in the day I stand before him? Grief. Not anger. 31:33 Grief, though he loves me still. And the next verse it says He wanted me to be rich, spiritually rich, I mean. He wanted me to stand there at the judgment seat of Christ spiritually rich. 31:51 Having partaken of God's nature so much in the one life I lived on earth, having been so useful to God in the days I lived on earth to be a blessing to other people, to every family that I met. He wanted me to be rich that way, 32:06 not to make money which will all be disappear at the judgment seat of Christ. Our bank accounts will disappear, our gold and silver will disappear, but spiritually, he wanted me to be rich, but I stand there poverty-stricken spiritually. 32:21 A spiritually a beggar. A homeless beggar spiritually. Stripped of everything because all the things I holded on to, what I held on to I have to drop when I leave this earth. And only his mercy and his grace is there to forgive me. 32:39 And then my memory runs like something hundred down the paths I lived from the time I was born again. At the judgment seat he's talking about the judgment seat of Christ. I'm standing there and my memory is going back to the 32:52 time I was born again. And I remember all the ways in which I I heard powerful messages and I ignored them. I sought my own, sought my own, pretended to be very holy by going to church and acting very spiritual and talking religious language and fooling 33:09 everybody but inwardly seeking my own. And my memory goes down and say, "Oh, the opportunities I had, the times God challenged me through different messages, the times he spoke to me when I read the Bible, the time he spoke to 33:22 me when I listened to some YouTube message or I went to some church meeting." And I look at those paths I walked and I realize I cannot walk those that way again. We live on this earth only once. We don't get a second chance to live. 33:42 Paths that I cannot retrace. I cannot go back there. I cannot go back a single day. It's finished. I'm thinking of this is, you know, when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ. I look back, the paths I cannot retrace. 34:01 The next verse it says Then my desolate heart Desolation means loneliness. Forsaken all by myself, my heart is 34:22 desperate. It'll almost break in grief and sorrow. With tears, there no tears there. I cannot shed any tears. I'll cover my face with my empty hands. And the crown that God wanted to give 34:41 me, which I never cared for, I looked for earthly crowns. And so I have nothing in heaven. Even though people on earth thought me to be a wonderful believer or whatever it is, I'll bow my uncrowned head. And then it goes on to say in the next 34:59 verse Lord, I can do nothing about the past. Thank God none of us are dead yet. We all have some years left in our life. Starting from today. 35:22 The years that are left for you, I don't know how there are how many there are. I don't know how many there are for me. I don't know how many there are for you. You can't do anything about the past. That's finished. You can't walk those paths. 35:40 But of the years that are left to me I don't want to run my life anymore the way I want to. I give them completely to you, all of my life. Take me. 36:01 Break all the plans I made for my life. Every one of them, break them, shatter them. All the plans I made for my future and mold me. Lord, I cannot make myself like you. But fill me with the Holy Spirit so that 36:21 I can be molded into your likeness. And not just into your likeness in my daily life, but that I can live my family life the way you wanted me to live it. I made many blunders till today. I'll tell you something wonderful. 36:39 Even if you married the wrong person, it doesn't matter. God can restore everything in your life if you will start today. God doesn't torture you over decisions taken in the past. That'd be terrible. If he keeps on torturing me all my life 36:59 about decisions I made in the past, he does not. He says in the book of Joel, I will restore to you the years that have been eaten and wasted. You know that promise? It's a very beautiful promise in the book of Joel. You know where Joel is? It's in the 37:24 after the major prophets, after Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. Hosea then Joel. In Joel in chapter 2 it says here uh 37:49 verse 25 I will make up to you or I will restore to you the years that the locust, various types of locust have eaten up. I will restore that to you. 38:11 What foolishness those are the locusts ate up of your life. Different type of locust, the swarming locust, the creeping locust, the stripping locust and the knowing locust, all types of foolish follies 38:27 that wasted your life, the years I will restore to you. I will make up to you. God cannot give us time itself back. He cannot make you 15 years old again if you've already gone past that age. 38:46 But he can do miracles. He can restore to you the make up for the blunders you made in your life. I tell you, I have taken that promise so many times in my own life. I said, "Lord, I remember when I was converted in 1959 39:01 I never had a spiritual father to tell me these challenging things that I'm telling you now. I wish somebody had challenged me like this when I was 19 and a half and I was converted." I never found that every church I went 39:14 to was only interested in theory and doctrine and things like that and there was no there was not a one person in those churches who was passionately devoted to Christ and would lead me to a passionate devotion to Christ. I had to sort of 39:26 work my way through that. And finally, it's like a person who had who did not have a teacher to educate him and had to himself find out what is A B C and what the English language is and how is cat is spelt and bat is spelt and what 2 + 2 39:39 is and no teacher to teach him but find it all himself. Imagine if you had no teacher to teach you English or mathematics. Think if your children had nobody to teach them English or mathematics. And they had a real desire to learn. 39:53 They struggle, go here and there, and pick up this book and that book, and try to learn by themselves. What a struggle it would be. It was like that for me. I'll pick up this book of some godly man and that book of some godly man and say, 40:06 "Lord, I want to live a useful life for you. I I I want to give all of my life to you because you gave all of your life for me." And in spite of that, I wasted a number of years and did a lot of foolish things. Because I was struggling, trying to 40:23 learn. It's like a child saying 2 + 2 is 6, or 5, or 5 and 1/2. Learning, learning, one day he learns 2 + 2 is 4. Thank God I did learn. Well, as time went on. But you brothers are so fortunate, particularly those of you who are young. 40:40 You have the opportunity from a very young age. I I say it's really blessed young people who can grow up our children growing up in CFC. If you can teach them from the beginning to take seriously what they hear, I tell you 40:53 they are the most blessed people on the face of the earth. They don't have to make the blunders that you and I made. They can love Jesus with all their heart from day one. They can learn to take up the cross, deny themselves at home, in relation to 41:10 their siblings, in relation to work that they need to do at home. We don't allow them to grow up lazy, doing nothing, but work hard like God told Adam to work hard. And to love Jesus with all their heart. But the Lord says, "In our case where we 41:30 made mistakes, I will restore to you." So, I want to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, this is not a message of condemnation. Like I always say, the word of the Lord is Let me repeat that verse. 41:48 What the Lord is saying to you today is from Revelation 4 and verse 1. John was standing on the earth. And the Lord was trying to speak to him. He was in the Isle of Patmos. Now, see this 42:08 Take this to yourselves spiritually. Revelation 4:1. A door standing open in heaven. That's what you're hearing today. A door opening into heaven. Where everybody loves God with all their 42:27 heart, soul, strength, and mind. A door is open for you to get up there spiritually. And a voice like the sound of a trumpet. Why like a trumpet? It's so loud that he wants you to hear it. It's not a whisper. It's a trumpet you're hearing today. 42:46 And what is it saying? Come up here. Come up higher. Don't live at that low earthly level anymore. Come up here. And I will show you some amazing things 43:05 from here. When you look at earth from heaven's standpoint, it looks very different. Do you have regret over the blunders you made in the past? Some of you may have regret about money that you could have made a little more 43:29 if you had not taken that decision, but took this decision. And even though that happened years ago, you're still thinking about it. You see how much you love money, even though you say you love Jesus. That thing that happened years ago, 43:42 because of which you lost some money, still comes to your mind. Oh, I wish I hadn't done that. I wish I'd taken this decision. What a lot of more money I would have made. Money, money, money. Like they say in the world, money makes 43:55 the world go around. We say God makes the world go around. Regret over some blunders you made in the past which could have made your life more comfortable or easier or but not a regret that you did not love for live more for Jesus Christ in the 44:14 past. Have you got your priorities right? Or are you like all those heathen who also have regrets over money that is lost? I remember when from a very young time I was a Christian, I wanted to be a wholehearted Christian. 44:30 And I quit my job when I was 26 years old to serve the Lord. And one of the things I said was, "Lord, I don't want to love anything on this earth more than you. Everything will be subject to you. Money, job, position, everything." In 44:47 fact, I said that to the day I was converted. And one of the things I prayed was I prayed that many times. I read in the story of Zacchaeus. He was a great lover of money. And Jesus said in at the end of that story, "The 45:04 Son of Man has come to seek and to save those who are lost." Luke 19. Lost in the love of money. And I remember, I said, "Lord Jesus, I'm lost in the love of money. You came to seek and to save the lost. Not just lost in sin. 45:24 I'm lost in sin, but I'm also lost in the love of money. Will you save me from it? I can't save myself. I can't save myself from sin. I can't save myself from the love of money, but you can save me. And I want to believe that you'll do it. 45:41 And he began to do it in my life, a little by little. And he changed my life. And I remember in those days, through some transaction I was involved in, I lost a huge amount of money. It was 46:00 in Indian rupees, it was 80,000 rupees many years ago. That's I don't know how many thousands of dollars it was those in then. And well, well I needed it. I wasn't a millionaire or something to just lose that. And I said, "Lord, 46:22 why did you allow me to lose it? You could have protected me from loss." And the Lord said to me so clearly, "I'm answering your prayer. You wanted me to save you from the love of money. So, I allowed you to lose it." 46:41 I discovered that day that one way the Lord saves us from the love of money is by allowing us to lose a huge amount. So, don't pray that prayer unless you're willing to pay the price for it. I warn you. And it did not happen only once. 47:00 Many years later, in some decision I made, I lost a much larger sum. I won't tell you how much. And I said, "Lord, why?" And the Lord said, "I'm taking you to a 47:20 deeper level where you love me with all your heart." I bowed my head and wept, and I said, "Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. You don't leave me alone. You want to root out this cancer completely, this speck of cancer there 47:38 of the love of money. You're going to pull it out." Thank God for such a surgeon. Do you want it? Or do you love that little cancer which is destroying you? Perhaps you could have been a more effective 47:58 servant of God by today, even if you're a woman. You know, half of the world's population is women. And a woman can reach a woman much better than a man can. However much I may know, I cannot talk 48:15 to a woman intimately about her needs. You know, I keep a little distance. But you sisters, you can talk to a woman intimately. And half the world is full of women. Do you want to be effective for the Lord? Sisters, do you want to be servant of 48:33 the Lord? Or do you want to preach to men? Forget it. Seek to reach the sisters. To make them love Jesus with all their heart. Don't have a lust to preach in the 48:51 church. To love the honor and position to uh get up here and say some profound thing that everybody will clap. "Oh, what a wonderful thing that brother said." I've seen a lot of people like that. They come to the church and within 1 week 49:04 they want to get up and preach. They don't love Jesus with all their heart, but they want to preach. It's amazing. What a lust for honor. As much as there's a love for money, there's a tremendous love for honor. It'll all disappear when we love Jesus 49:23 with all our heart. Then we will share even more wonderful truths from scripture and desire no money and no honor. We will humble ourselves and say, "Lord, I can't touch your glory." It's you. 49:40 It's you and not me. It's all of you. It's a wonderful life. I'll tell you, I haven't tasted the fullness of how much Jesus experienced it, but that's been the passion of my heart. But I'll tell you, as year by year goes 49:53 God goes by, it's better and better and better. And I want to stand before the Lord one day and have no regret about the choices I made in my life. Not from the beginning, because I made some 50:11 foolish choices, but at least from a certain point in my life. And maybe for you that point in life is today. From a certain point in my life, I don't want to have any regret about the decisions I made and the choices I made, even though I 50:30 have a lot of regret about the years that before that. And one of my favorite verses is Acts 17 and verse 30. Acts chapter 17 and verse 30. Why before I get to verse 30, 50:57 in verse 26, this is what Paul preached in Athens. God made every human being from one man, that's from Adam. That we understand. But God is the one who determined the time in which you 51:15 should be born. That you should be born in the 20th century or some of you children in the 21st century. He determined the time you should be born onto this earth. Even though the earth's been going on for 6,000 years, 51:34 you could have been born 5,000 years ago. You would never have heard about Jesus. You could have been born 1,500 years ago and you may not have heard of Jesus in the country you were born in. But he determined the year in which you should be born 51:50 so that you would know about Jesus. Some of you came from non-Christian religions and you heard about Jesus. God determined the time you should be born and the boundary in which you should be born, which country you should be born 52:07 in. That was not a mistake. He allowed you to be born in a particular place at a particular time so that you would hear of the gospel. That you would hear the word of God which says you must love him with all your heart. 52:23 He decided that. You did not. It was not an accident. You Your birth was not an accident. And why did he allow you to be born at a particular time and a particular place so that in that time and in that place you would seek after God, verse 27. 52:39 And if you can't find him, you will grope and find him. Oh God, I want to find you. Even though he's not far. And if you have blundered in the past and wasted years, then you never knew that till today. What the Lord is saying to you today is 52:58 verse 30. I will overlook all the years till today that you lived in ignorance of this truth. This wonderful truth you heard only today. Never mind. The Lord says, "I will overlook it." But now 53:17 now, that important word is n o w, now. Acts 17:30. He's declaring to men and women everywhere, "Turn around." Repentance means turn around. He's not talking about that first repentance when you accepted Christ. Turn around 53:35 from the wrong priorities you have in your life. Turn around and love God with all your heart. Make Get your priorities right. Lord, with my mind I want to love you first. I'll tell you this, whatever job you're doing, you'll be able to do it 53:51 100 times better if you love God with all your heart. I found that, you know, when I was in the navy and I was a Christian and I had to work in the naval base and on ships and all types of things I had to do. I felt that if I loved the Lord with all 54:09 my heart, I'd be able to do my earthly job better. I would not, you know, all the others in the ship because alcohol was cheap, they'd be drinking and playing cards and they'd be dancing and all types of things, worldly things. 54:24 And here I was, I I didn't go around preaching to people unless a door opened up. I wouldn't go and say, "Hey, you need to hear about Jesus." But sometimes doors would open up in an amazing way. Everybody's dancing over 54:38 there, drinking alcohol, and I'd be standing there with my glass of orange juice. And they say, "Zac, why are you drinking orange juice?" I say, "Okay, you asked for it. Now I'll tell you. Now I'll tell you. Don't tell me I 54:52 introduced the subject. You have introduced it." Then I give them the whole gospel. That's why I don't drink alcohol. It happened to me even to Once a commanding officer once a non-Christian senior officer of mine was so upset that I did something 55:09 upright which disturbed him, which put him in a bad spot, that he took me before the senior commanding officer. Complained about me. And the senior commanding officer was a Roman Catholic. And I'd been waiting for an opportunity to 55:23 witness to him. You know, you can't go up to a commanding officer with who's got four stripes on his shoulder and try to say, "I want to preach the gospel to you." You can't do that on a ship. In the military, the rules are very different. 55:33 So this man took me before the commanding officer complaining that made some silly excuse about me and complained about me, rather. And the commanding officer was a Catholic, said, "Why can't you do that?" The thing is, the senior officer wanted 55:51 me to There was a job in the Monday officers that we take her in rotation. One job was called wine secretary. The one who orders all the alcohol for all the all the people officers to drink. Everybody takes a turn. When it 56:05 came to my turn, I said, "Sir, I can't do that. I'm a Christian." So he marched me in. That means took me before the commanding officer. "Sir, this officer does not take up the assignment that I've given him, the job of wine secretary." 56:17 And the commanding officer said, "Why can't you do it? Lieutenant Punnen, why can't you do it?" I said, "Sir, I'm a Christian." He laughed and said, "I'm also a Christian." I said, "You asked for it now." I said, "Sir, 56:36 I also was born in a Christian family and I thought I was a Christian. But I realized that I had to be born again and receive Christ as my savior. What a wonderful opportunity. It's the thing I was longing for to at least once 56:50 give the gospel to the captain." I don't think he forgot it for the rest of his life. That's one of the things, you know, I found that a lot of people in the navy never forgot me. They were upset with me, but they would 57:03 never forget that once in my life I came across a crazy man I remember I used to have verses written on my Lambretta scooter. You know what a Lambretta scooter is? Got panels on either side. The two-wheeler and I could write on one 57:18 side, "Prepare to meet your God." And the other side, "Christ died for our sins." And I would write it all over the place. And the people in the navy saw me and it became quite a matter of complaint and joke and everything else. 57:31 But 40 years later, long after that, when I was living in Bangalore, a man who was in the navy, older to me, I met him in the bank one day. And I said, "Hello, sir. I remember you from the old days in the navy. My name is Punnen." "Oh," he said, 57:49 "you're the one who had those verses on your scooter, right? 40 years ago." I said, "Thank you, Lord. They never forget it. They never forget prepare to meet your God and Christ died for our sins." I'll tell you this, if you're not ashamed of Jesus Christ, 58:05 that is one thing I decided I'll never be ashamed of Jesus Christ. And the picture I had was, "Lord, you were not ashamed to hang there half naked for me." Hang half naked for me. I will never be ashamed to acknowledge you. 58:23 In the midst of people who despise you, in the midst of people make fun of you, I will never be ashamed to acknowledge Jesus Christ as my savior. And I taught my children that. Don't ever be ashamed to acknowledge Jesus 58:35 Christ as your savior. Doesn't matter what you lose. What popularity you lose in school or college or anything, don't worry. I faced it all. They called me all types of names. That I was a religious nut and a crazy person and 58:51 I mean, people on the street called me the devil. I said, "Fine." It's a wonderful thing to belong to Jesus Christ. And I tell you how the Lord has stood by me through all types of situations. He will stand by you. Today 59:09 is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation. I believe God is speaking personally to a number of people you hear saying, "My son, my daughter, in love I have spoken to you today," says the Lord. "Because I don't want you to waste any 59:28 more of your life pursuing empty things which will all evaporate one day. Which will all burst like balloons that you're pumping up today. They'll all burst. Live for the things that are eternal. Love God with all your heart, with all 59:46 your mind. It will not make you suffer in your business. I told you how in I'll tell you this I mean for the glory of God. Every ship I was in every commanding officer when they had to write an annual report about me 1:00:05 what they wrote was they had to read it out to me. His work is excellent. We have no complaint about his work. But he's unsocial. He does not sit with the other officers and drink and smoke and gamble and all that. That was my crime. 1:00:23 Because that's what all the other officers did. I mean that didn't disturb or affect my promotion. But that I was so glad that my testimony was that he wrote it there. He doesn't socialize with others. Socialize means I don't play cards and dance and drink 1:00:40 with all the others. But as far as the work on the ship was no complaints. And it can be like that with you. It doesn't matter if the whole world around makes fun of you. They made fun of Jesus first. Remember that. Don't be ashamed of him. 1:00:56 There's a song I don't know whether you've ever sung here. I'm not ashamed to own my Lord. Or to defend his cause. Maintain the honor of his word. The glory of his cross. I would sing that many times. Oh Lord, I'm not ashamed to own my Lord. 1:01:14 Or to defend his cause. Maintain the honor of his word and the glory of his cross. My dear brothers and sisters I really wish you the best in the rest of your life. You can't do a single thing about the days gone by. You can't 1:01:28 even do anything about yesterday. It's gone. You can't get it back. But you can do something about today onwards. Say Lord, I really want to love you with all my heart. I never want to be ashamed of you. I don't want to be rude and 1:01:44 put the gospel on people who don't want to listen to it, but I want my life to be such that there's a light shining. You don't have to make a lot of a lot of noise. Look at these lights. They don't make any noise, but you come into a room 1:01:55 and you know there's light. That's how we are supposed to be. May God help you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father I tried my best, Lord, to convey what 1:02:17 you laid on my heart. But I can never do it enough. I wish I could do it better. But your Holy Spirit can make up for what I lack. And I pray I love everybody sitting here. I want the best for them. 1:02:35 I pray that one day when they stand before you they'll be thankful that they heard this word today and took some decisions that brought that will bring them great joy in that day they stand before you. 1:02:55 Thank you, Father. I pray for every single head bowed here, every single person, even a little child. They'll be gripped to love you, Lord, with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind. To put you first in everything. 1:03:14 To know your word. To study your word. To obey your word. And to be like a burning shining light wherever you have placed each of us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
