0:01 [Music] Just to review what we've already been thinking of yesterday, I was saying there was a 0:19 beauty and balance in the Christian life. And we saw how the Bible reveals God as a God who is light and love. one who is kind and strict and how he's interested in our 0:37 inner life and our outer life and how there must be a balance in the way our inner life and our outer life are before the Lord. Let me show you a verse in Proverbs in chapter 11. 0:55 Proverbs 11 and verse one it says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. It's good to look at our inner 1:11 life, private life and our outer life as something the Lord sees. And if it's not an even balance, it's an abomination to the Lord. It's an abomination when my inner life does not correspond to my outer 1:29 life. That's how I read this verse. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord. And a lot of people who don't take think of that seriously, they think it's okay. I want to be a good testimony on the outside. Remember this verse all your 1:47 life. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord. If your inner life does not match with your outer life, it's an abomination. So what should we do? Get discouraged? No. God has sent the Holy Spirit to make our inner life correspond with our outer 2:04 life. And that's the hope we have. So if you open yourself to the Holy Spirit and say Lord I believe you will deliver me from this abomination that my inner life will be exactly like my outer life my private life that I live by 2:18 myself we're not saying that we never slip up and fall but we're saying that if we do slip up and fall we set it right immediately just like we slip and fall on the ground we get up immediately and very often I have found 2:32 in many people who have come to our church in Bangalore in India that there's been a faulty foundation in their life and that's why they have so many problems in the Christian life. Sometimes if you're building a 10story structure and there's 2:49 a crack in the fifth or sixth floor, the fault may be in a foundation. The foundation was not strong enough and you think the fault is over there. It's not there. It's in the foundation. the crack in the wall on the fifth or sixth floor 3:04 is because the foundation is not strong enough. And so even in the foundation that the Bible speaks about there's a balance and the balance is not found in a lot of preaching of the gospel. It's repentance. He said, "What I teach people everywhere 3:41 in the world, whether it's Jews or non-Jews, Acts 20 21 is repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." You see the balance there? That's what Paul preached everywhere, whether it was a to a Jew or a non-Jew. 3:56 And those of you who preach God's word, you need to ask yourself whether you have a false balance in your preaching. It's an abomination to the Lord. If I preach any one of these more than the other, there are some people are very 4:10 strong on repentance. Some people say the great thing is believe, believe, believe, believe. And there's such a so much of shallow Christianity today because people are told to believe who have never repented. And then there are 4:21 some hypercalvinists who say that repentance is a work and we can't do it. Man can do nothing. Man's totally corrupt. But repentance is not a work. You see, when we are unconverted, as we are born into the world as children of Adam, we're facing the world 4:39 and sin and oursel and God is behind us. Everything divine is behind us. And here God is waiting to give us the gift of salvation and eternal life. What do I have to do? I can't receive it if my back is turned to him. I have to turn 4:56 around 180 degrees to receive his gift. And when I do that, I can't say that's a work I did to earn that gift. No, I didn't pay a scent for that gift, but I had to turn around. That's repentance. It's not a work. He's just 5:15 turning and facing God. I mean, if someone were to give you a gift and he's standing behind you, you're going to turn around and receive it. That's all the Lord is asking. And what is faith? Faith is stretching out my hand. Grace is God 5:27 stretching out his hand from heaven and saying, "Here, I got all the gifts of he heaven for you." And faith is just my stretching out my hand and collecting it. That's not a work either. So, it's a crazy thing when people say repentance is a work or faith 5:42 is a work. It's turning around and facing God and turning my back to what I was facing before. So here is where if repentance is shallow and that's what happens the vast majority of cases. I've had numerous people who come 6:00 and told me in our church in Bangalore, brother Zach, I was not really converted till I came here. I thought I was I thought I was born again and took baptism and some of them have taken baptism again because they said I wasn't 6:12 really converted when I got baptized the first time. I hadn't properly repented and it's true. You're not really converted if you haven't repented properly. Repentance is a 180 degree turn and if I've turned only 90 degrees 6:25 like most Christians do, they have a very very shallow experience of the Christian life because they got one eye on the world and one eye on God and it just doesn't work. Repentance must be thorough. It's very very important that and if you have not 6:41 repented like that in your life, you can do that now. You got to say, "Lord, is there anything that I want on earth more than you?" You got to repent of it because God is a jealous God. The Bible says 6:59 he's jealous for our spirit and anything that wise with him for our attention and our love is an idol. It's a form of idol worship. It's like being unfaithful to your husband when you're interested in some 7:17 other man as well. That is a half repentance or a false repentance. You got to see it like that. And faith, as I said, is to receive what God is offering. And one of the definitions I've used for faith is if there's something promised in 7:33 scripture. I can only believe for that. The other things are God's free gift. You can pray and ask God for a house or even marriage is a gift. There's no guarantee in the Bible that God will cause all his children to be married. 7:48 There are people like Paul who are single. But if there's something promised in scripture for us, for example, forgiveness of sins for everyone or overcoming sin, sin shall not rule over you. Anything that's promised in 8:03 scripture or he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. That's for everybody. And faith is, listen carefully, to believe that God is more eager to give me that gift than I am 8:23 eager to receive it. God is more eager to help you overcome sin than you are eager to overcome sin. And that's not the way most people think. They think, "Oh, I'm so eager to overcome sin and I'm not able to overcome it." You are full of 8:42 unbelief. You think that God is not eager and you are eager. That's an insult to God. And that's why you don't overcome. Come to the place where you say, "Lord, if you have said in your word, sin will not have dominion over 8:55 me, you are more eager to fulfill that in me than I am eager to receive it, and you'll find faith coming." It was like that when when I was seeking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. My big problem was unbelief. I believe I 9:10 had yielded everything. I had repented 180 degrees from everything I knew to be wrong or dishonoring God in my life. But I didn't believe. I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and I fasted and I I realized later on my problem was I felt 9:26 I was more eager to be filled with the Holy Spirit than God was eager to fill me. And as long as I had that attitude, I never realized that was unbelief. My one side was okay. Repentance, faith was absent. And so I 9:42 waited years and I met people like that. According to your faith, be it unto you is a law in God's dealings with when with man. And you will receive not as much as God wants to give you. you will receive as much as you have faith 10:02 for. So when you come to seek God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit, if you can believe, God is more eager to fill you than you are to be filled. God is more eager to give you what he's promised in scripture than you 10:19 are to receive it. Now, I'm not talking about things not promised in scripture. There are a lot of people today preaching that God wants you to be rich and he wants you to have a fancy car and a fancy house. It's no use praying for 10:31 such things and believing God is more eager. God is not eager to give you all that. He's not promised in his word. What he's promised in his word is if you seek his kingdom first, he'll all the things needed for life will be given to you. He'll give 10:44 you a house to live in. Jesus God didn't allow Jesus to be a homeless person on the street. And I don't believe God will ever allow a child of his to be a homeless person on the streets. But he won't give him the fanciest house in 10:55 town. No. Nor the fanciest car. But what is promised in the word. So if you can understand this definition of faith, it's helped me tremendously. This balance, repentance is 180° turning around from everything that's other than God in my in my life. 11:15 And faith is to believe that God is more eager to give me what he's promised than I am to receive it. So there's this area of balance. So that's how we begin the Christian life. That's how we lay a foundation. Repentance and faith. You 11:28 see the balance there. And once we come there, the rest of our Christian life also there's a balance. The Bible speaks in Matthew chapter 7 about a narrow gate. That's not all. It leads to a narrow way. In fact, the New Testament 11:44 is full of areas where we need to be balanced just like repentance and faith. Jesus said, "The gate is narrow." Matthew 7:14, "And the way is narrow also that leads to life." So, how do I get to life? Some 12:02 people say, "Get through the gate." No. Jesus said, "Come through the gate and walk the way." It's not just coming through the gate. It's not just once saved always saved. No. Matthew 3 uh Hebrews 3:14 says, "If we hold 12:20 fast the beginning of our confidence, that is entering through the great firm until the end, that's the finishing line, we are made partakers of Christ." Read that in Hebrews 3:14. I remember someone once asked me, one of the Calvinists, "Brother 12:38 Zack, do you believe in once saved always saved?" I said, "No, can you show me a scripture?" I said, "I'll show you Hebrews 3:14. One verse is enough for me." If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence, that's when we cometh 12:53 through the gate. Firm until the end, that is the end of the way, we are made partakers of Christ. That is what God says. And I'd rather believe what God says than what any theologian says. Theologians are the ones who led people 13:07 astray. There is a And Jesus said it, too. The way to life is not just a narrow gate, a small gate. It's a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life. That's the balance. If you only emphasize the gate, it's like, as I 13:21 said, one side of the body muscular and strong, the other side skin and bones. That's the tragedy in Christianity. Everywhere we see imbalance, imbalance. And imbalance is ugly. And as we saw earlier, it's an abomination in God's 13:35 eyes. And very often people quote scripture. What scripture says this? Let me show you the devil quoting scripture. Matthew chapter 4. The devil quoted scripture to Jesus Christ. Do you think he won't script 13:54 quote scripture to you to lead you astray? Do you think he won't quote a scripture to you to try and convince you that once you're saved, you're always saved? Of course, the devil. He's been doing it all over. I believe it's one of 14:06 the doctrines that has led more people to hell than any other doctrine. You just got to come through the gate. There is no way. Who said there's no way? When Jesus said the narrow gate and the narrow way lead to life and the devil says no, it's just 14:19 the narrow gate. Who would you rather believe? And the devil can quote a scripture. He quoted it to Jesus. That's the thing that should alert us. That's why it's important to know the Bible. And I say this, if you have a Bible in 14:35 your own language and you don't bother to study it, you deserve to be deceived. I'm sorry to say that, but it is true. You deserve to be deceived. If God's given you a Bible in your own language and you don't bother to read it 14:50 carefully because the devil quotes scripture. He turned to Jesus and said, "Jump from the roof of this temple because it is written." Why did he say it is written in Matthew 4:6? Because earlier on when he asked 15:09 Jesus to turn the stones into bread, Jesus replied saying, "It is written." So the devil said, "Ah, this is an it is written person." Okay, then I'll quote, "It is written." So if you're the type of person who wants a scripture, he'll quote scripture for 15:26 you. If you're the person who believes in psychology, he'll quote psychology. But if you're a person who believes in scripture like most of you are, he'll quote scripture to you to deceive you. And if Jesus had taken that word, I 15:38 claim that word, his angels would take care of me and take care of my feet and jump off the temple. Jesus would have died. He'd have broken his head on the pavement below. That's what happens when you listen to a scripture that the devil 15:53 quotes if you don't know the other scripture. So what did Jesus reply? Satan, you say it is written. On the other hand, verse seven, on the other hand, it is also written. You see the balance there? It is written, right? That's in scripture. 16:13 On the other hand, it is also written. Right through, you find this emphasis on being balanced in our understanding of truth, in our understanding of the word, in our Christian life. There's repentance and faith. One without the other is 16:29 incomplete. What God has joined together. Let no man put us under. And I tell you, I could mention numerous things that God has put together which man has put us under. Repentance and faith being one of the primary things. The gate and the way 16:46 it's another thing God's put together and man separated it. It's the devil who separated it. So be careful of this. The whole truth is not contained in it is written. The whole truth is contained in it is written and on the other hand it 17:03 is also written. That's the whole truth. That's why it's very important to study the scriptures. And if you don't know or you don't have the ability to study the scriptures, you must go to a teacher who can teach you the scriptures or read a 17:17 book that'll help you to understand the scriptures. So, one of my great burdens, I mean, God's given me the gift of teaching. I don't boast about it. If God didn't give it to me, I couldn't do it. God could give it to any of you. It's no different 17:33 from any other gift God gives us. Sight, hearing, these are all gifts of God. There are people who born without hearing, without sight. So, I can never boast about it. But one of the burdens I had as I studied the scriptures for more 17:45 than 40 years now 50 years I said Lord I want to pass on to the next generation what you have taught me from the scriptures because I see so much of false teaching around and that's the burden with which I wrote that commentary called through the 18:03 Bible and I want you to know that I don't take royalties for any of my books. I don't get a salary for my services. I've never taken one cent of royalty for any of the 30 books I write. So, I don't mind promoting it because I 18:14 don't get any money for it. We're not in in our churches. We don't believe that we should preach for money. We don't believe we should write books or articles for money. Paul never wrote his episodes for money. I value those songwriters of 18:30 ancient times because they didn't write their songs for money. Today's songwriters write it for money. And most of their songs are just three, four sentences repeated 10 times. and they collect millions of dollars for it. 18:40 Whereas these old people like Charles Wesley and Rod who 7,000 hymns, he never got a scent for it. And that's why they were godly hymns with a lot of content in it, not the shallow type of stuff we hear these days. Anything done for money 18:53 doesn't have value before God. You you tell me if you knew one preacher was preaching to make money, another preacher was preaching because he he he wanted to live for God and bless people, who would you rather listen to? You know 19:06 the answer. Okay. Now you hear you know one preachers one songwriter is writing those three four lines to make money and another songwriter in 200 years ago wrote only to bless people. Which would you rather sing and listen to? I know 19:17 which I choose. I know what blesses me. You see it's it's it's sad that Christendom has drifted so far away. Babylon is centered around money. Anything to do with money is Babylon if it is religious. In Christianity, true 19:33 Christianity, money does not figure. That's why Jesus never offered his disciples a salary. It's very very important. If you want to distinguish a true servant of God from a false one, check his attitude to money. It'll 19:46 immediately show you where he if he's wrong in money, he's wrong in everything. And if you uh take this one guideline as a principle in your life, you'll be protected from a lot of false teaching. So, as I was saying here, 20:00 there's a balance in everything. And this foundation must be of repentance and faith. There will be a gate and a way. And as I said the other day, Jesus is not only our forgiver. He's also our forerunner. Forgiving our sins is the 20:13 gate. Forerunner is along the way. And how do I know whether I'm going along that way for myself? It's been like this. He gives me light. Okay, let me explain it simply. When I start, as I enter the gate, though all my past sins 20:33 have been forgiven, every single sin blotted out and God doesn't even remember it, yet I still retain with me what the Bible calls the flesh. The old man is different from the flesh. A lot of Christians even confuse that. Let me explain. The old man is the 20:51 desire to sin that has been killed. When we are born again, God takes that away. Now I don't want to sin. I may sin if I'm careless, but I don't want to sin. But the flesh is a storehouse of desires that makes me want to do my own will. 21:10 Basically, it is self-will. Self-will in different areas in relation to money and lust and so many things. That's the flesh that still remains with me. Even though I come through the narrow gate, the old man is finished, gone as I enter 21:25 through the narrow gate, but the flesh is still there. Self-will is still there. And the end of the way is the finishing line where I become like Christ completely. So what is this way? How do I know I'm along the way? It's very 21:41 simple. I will be getting more and more light on the flesh. I'll be getting more and more light on uncristlike areas in my life. That is the indication that you're walking the way or whether you're stagnant. Whether you're stuck, maybe 22:01 you came through the gate and walked a few yards and you got stuck. A lot of Christians are like that. Even those who hear me often because they don't seem to be getting light every year on the uncristlikeness area of their 22:17 life. I have looked through the Bible for a good definition of sin. And here is the definition of sin that I found to be the best. You know, many people's definition of sin is very shallow. And the shallower your definition of sin is, the 22:32 shallower your experience of holiness or of Christ will be. So here's what I discovered. The biblical definition of sin. There are many definitions. It says in 1 John chapter 3 verse 4 and 5, transgression of the law, that is 22:48 sin. That means you know a command and you disobey it. Thou shalt not kill and you go and kill. Thou shalt not murder. Or there's another type of sin which is James 4, the last verse says to him who knows to do good and does not do it. 23:05 That's the opposite of doing. Here is where you know you have to do something but you don't do it. One is called the sin of commission. The other is the sin of omission. Most of us confess only the sins of commission. Lord, I lost my 23:17 temper. I told a lie. Those are sins of commission. Sins of omission are, let me give you one example. Hebrews 3:13, encourage one another daily. Have you ever confessed to the Lord, Lord, I'm sorry I didn't encourage my wife today? Any of you confess that 23:34 sin to the Lord any time? We don't confess sins of omission. Hebrews 3:13 is clear. Encourage one another daily. Who's the one whom you see daily? Encourage one another daily. If you don't do 23:53 it, you haven't slapped your wife or hurt her, but there's a sin of omission there or your husband. So those are two definitions of sin. But here is the highest definition of sin. Romans 3 and verse 23. All have 24:09 sinned and come short of the glory of God. So sin is coming short of the glory of God. And when you compare that with another scripture, it is also written John 1:14, the glory of God was 24:27 seen in Jesus Christ full of grace and truth. There's a balance again, grace and truth. As I said, the whole New Testament is full of balance. It's amazing how we discover these things as we read carefully. So when I come short 24:43 of that perfect grace and truth that was in Christ, I've sinned because sin is coming short of the glory of God. In other words, anything uncristlike is sin. So who can say there's no sin left in him? The only time you can say it is when you 25:01 reach the finishing line and you become perfectly like Christ. And if you're serious about your walk with God, you will ask God to show you more and more the uncristlike areas in your life. If you're serious about getting rid of it, 25:16 if you're really interested in a thorough house cleaning and not a superficial one just to impress others, you will say, "Lord, I want a real revelation on everything in my life that is uncristlike." In other words, is there anything in my life that I'm doing 25:34 which I cannot do in fellowship with Jesus Christ? Everything in my life I must do in fellowship with Jesus Christ. and something I can't do in fellowship with Christ, I must not do. I've told people if you're sitting watching 25:50 television and something comes up which Jesus Christ will not sit next to you and watch and you keep watching it, I would even be bold enough to say your Christianity is shallow. You've never really repented. Your convers your 26:07 repentance was 90 degrees perhaps or zero. Certainly not 180 degrees. If it was 180 degree repentance, you would not sit and watch that television program which Jesus cannot sit and watch next sitting next to you. You would not do 26:23 anything. If you're signing a document and there's something fishy about that document, it's not absolutely accurate. Maybe a financial statement and Jesus cannot sign that as a witness. I would I wouldn't sign it. I remember a brother in our church once 26:41 came to me said, "Brother Zack, can you sign as a witness for this?" I said, "I can't because I feel this is not absolutely right. You can get offended with me you like." I said, "I will not sign as a witness because it's wrong 26:52 what you're signing. You're cheating." So, if you follow this principle, you'll be amazed to see the tremendous progress you make in your Christian life. Even within one year, it'll be constant progress. The revelation you get in scripture year 27:08 after year after year, the progress you make, the understanding of God, laying hold of eternal life, knowing God more and more, and experiencing his life more and more in you. So here is walking the way. This is how I know that I've not just come 27:26 through the gate, but it's just not just one side of my body being built up, the other side as well. I'm progressing. People have asked me this, brother Zach, how do you know God's blessing you and I say by the fact that he shows 27:39 me uncristlikeness in my life regularly. That's how I know. It's not that oh so many people came to hear me or somebody said he was blessed. Well, praise God for all that. But that is not to me the mark of the greatest blessing. 27:53 And that's God's mercy. And I know one thing that God can use me even if I slip up and fail somewhere. You know, some people ask me, is it right for a woman to be a preacher, a teacher of God's word? I see 28:11 according to scripture, no. One Timothy 2 is very clear. A woman should not teach men. It's an absolute statement. She can share her testimony or share what God has done in her life, but to teach is wrong. And they they say what 28:27 about these uh some famous women preachers on television who they speak such good things and people are being blessed. I say I agree. I'm not saying people are not being blessed. Let me tell you an old testament story. You 28:41 read it in numbers in chapter 20 21. God told Moses to speak to the rock. The first time in Exodus 17 when they began their journey, God said hit the rock and the waters flowed. Now 40 years later, God says you don't have to hit the rock now. 28:58 Hitting the rock as a picture of Christ being crucified and he doesn't have to be crucified a second time. I mean, Moses didn't understand that, but that was a symbolism. You don't hit the rock a second time. You don't crucify Christ 29:09 again. Speak to the rock. Now, even if Moses didn't understand the symbolism of it, he should have obeyed God. But he was so angry with the Israelites, he took his rod and used rebels, he said, and he hit the rock. Now my question is when you 29:25 disobey God will there be a blessing? Did the waters flow or not? Does God bless a disobedient servant? Amazingly yes. Why? Because he loved those two million thirsty people. 29:45 Why should those two million people die of thirst just because one servant was disobedient? So that was not a proof that God was happy with Moses. It is a proof that God loved two million thirsty people. So when God blesses a woman's ministry or a man's 30:00 ministry, it does not mean that God approves of that woman's teaching, it proves that God loves those needy people sitting there. That even when somebody's disobeying my word, I'll still bless those people. But then he will deal with 30:14 that servant later on. Sure, he'll deal with every woman who disobys God's word. and he'll deal with a man who disobys God's word as well. He hauled up Moses after the water had flowed and everybody was blessed. Okay, Moses, now time for 30:27 me to deal with you. How shall I deal with you for disobeying my word? You have longed for 40 years to enter the land of Canaan, right? You are punished. You will not enter the land of 30:47 Canaan. Wow. I mean, he would have gladly chosen leprosy or cancer instead of that. That was the severest punishment he could get for what? For one simple thing that he disobeyed the word of God. 31:05 It was a small thing. It's a small thing when it says a woman shouldn't teach men. It's a small thing when God says, "Don't hit the rock. Speak to it." The question is not whether it's a small thing or not. The question is who said 31:21 it. The person who said it was Almighty God. And that's what makes the difference. So that's just in passing. I want to say that the fact that God blesses our ministry is not the proof that God is happy with us. Please remember that all 31:38 your life. I learned that long ago. The proof that God is blessing me is that I'm getting light on the uncristlike areas in my life every day. And God is my witness when I say this. I live in repentance every single 31:57 day of my life. I'm discovering areas of uncristlikeness. I want to become totally like Jesus one day and I want to make progress in that and I know that my self life is like a huge 32:16 onion. I peel off one layer and I think I've come to the end of my self life. No, tomorrow something else happens and I discover another layer. Wow, I thought I had finished with that. No, you haven't. Now, if you're not serious, you 32:31 will never discover that second layer. You may tear off two or three layers of your self life and you say, "I made some progress." Because you're better than most of the other believers. You know, that's the biggest problem with 32:44 comparing yourself with others. If you want this all progress to stop in your life, just compare yourself with other believers in your church. I guarantee your progress will stop and you will be proud. You'll get no more light on yourself. 33:00 But if you really want to make progress and you want to go along the way, make a decision in your life that you'll only compare yourself with Jesus Christ. You'll run the race looking unto Jesus, not looking here and there like 33:12 Peter when he was walking on the water. He sank. You will sink too if you look here and there. Look only unto Jesus. And I guarantee you will always discover some area in your life that is unlike and you repent of it. You may slip up again tomorrow. I I know 33:31 in my life I've slipped up in the same area sometimes, many, many times. But I hate it. I confess it. I renounce it. And a day comes when that giant is under my feet. Maybe some giants can be killed with one blow. But some of these 33:46 stronger giants need many blows before they are killed. But I'm determined to kill them. And you know how the the Lord said, "Don't even spare the little children of those giants." And sometimes we spare those little children, those 33:58 teeny weeny things which we think are not so serious, teeny weeny acts of selfishness, words that are spoken in a subtle way to hurt somebody. The little giants, they don't look ugly like angry words. Do you ever use subtleties to 34:15 hurt others? Those are the little children of the giants that need to be killed. And if you're serious about it, the giant and its family will be killed and you'd have possessed a little more of the land of Canaan. So this is how 34:28 progress is in the Christian life. There's a balance, the gate and the way. Another area where we see balance is in where Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 10 when the devil told him to worship him. He said no it is written you shall 34:45 worship the Lord your God and serve him. If you try to serve God without worshiping him your service will be shallow. That's not the way to serve him. The essential preparation for worship is uh essent sorry the essential preparation 35:04 for serving God is not going to a Bible school. If you have not gone to a Bible school, praise the Lord. Thank God for that. No prophet or apostle in the Old Testament or New Testament ever came out of a Bible school. The false prophets all came out 35:23 of the Bible school. Do you know that there was a Bible school in the days of Samuel? I don't know. Probably Samuel established because it says in those days there were no prophets. And Samuel Samuel made a few mistakes like bringing 35:39 up his children in a wrong way. But and I think history says that he started a school of the prophets which is called a Bible school. And you read of them in the Old Testament they called the sons of the prophets. Sons of the prophets 35:50 doesn't mean they were actual physical sons of the prophets. They were the Bible school students. We'd call them Bible school students today. You read other Bible school students who came to Elisha once and said uh we were building 36:01 our Bible school and the axe fell into the river and Elisha said okay tell me where it is and the axe floated. That is a Bible school students there. So those are the people who completed their degree and got their certificates and 36:14 became false prophets in the king's palaces. But no true prophet ever came out of a Bible school. Not Elijah, not Elisha, no apostle. Jesus never sent his apostles or prophets or his servants to a Bible school ever. And I believe Christianity has 36:29 suffered tremendously because of all the false teaching that has come out of Bible schools. All the people who just go and study there for a few years and suddenly become pastors with no experience. All they know is Greek and 36:41 Hebrew and um ways of preaching and all that. They teach over there. But they haven't gone through the grind of life which all the people sitting over there are facing in their daily life. These people have never done a day secular job 36:54 in their life. How can they teach hundreds of people who are working in the secular job and struggling to survive in a secular atmosphere? This is the tragedy in today's churches. Those people who stand in the pulpits have 37:06 never gone through a secular work in their life and say they don't have experience. What they only know Hebrew and Greek and how to preach. And that's why Christendom is in such a shallow state. Jesus never never called an 37:20 unemployed person for his work. Do you know that every person he called to be a apostle was someone who had been in some secular employment because they needed that experience of secular work to be able to preach to other people who were 37:35 in secular work. Not by going and studying the Bible. That's why he called them from their fishing. Fishers fishermen are hard workers. They survive through getting fish. And a fisherman can't come home one day and tell his wife and family, 37:54 "Sorry, no food today because I couldn't catch any fish." They can't say that. You see how those apostles, those disciples fished and fished and fished all night because that's how they were to survive. And a truth. And why did Jesus 38:09 call people like that to be his servants? He says he wanted people who felt whether it's saving souls or building the church, I have to do it until I win them. I have to do it until I build the church. Not I've done my 8 38:22 hours day's work. If the souls are not saved, forget it. If the church is not built, forget it. No, the fisherman couldn't be like that. They couldn't say, I've finished my 9 to5 fishing. Now I can go home. If you haven't caught any 38:33 fish, you can't go home. You got to sit there till midnight to catch the fish because that's how you're going to feed your family. Those are the type of people who Jesus said, I want people like that to be my servants. Not 9-to-f5 38:46 workers who will just preach or just go some evening and preach and no, but who are passionate about bringing people to Christ and building them up in a local church and who will lay down everything to build them up. He called such people 38:59 because and they were trained in secular work. Think of Matthew. I mean that man is a chartered accountant making the accounts of the Roman government and Jesus calls him right there in the office. He says put that aside and write 39:15 your resignation letter and come with me and he does it. I used to think why couldn't Jesus wait till 5:00 in the evening when Matthew had gone home. He could have gone home and asked him to resign his job. I'll tell you why. Because then it 39:33 would have been written Jesus went to Matthew's home and asked him to follow him and people would have said there Jesus called an unemployed man to be his servant. That's why he went and called him in his place of work to show that he 39:49 never never called one unemployed person to be his apostle. So how is it today there are so many people who have never done one day's decent secular job who are calling themselves servants of God. I have no respect for them. That's the 40:09 tragedy. You have to worship and then serve, not go to Bible school and serve. And what does it mean to worship? The first time the word worship comes in the Bible, just by the way, is in Genesis 22. It's a it's a wonderful passage. 40:30 God told Abraham one night, "Take your son and he emphasized the son whom you love." Genesis 22:2, he was emphasizing the fact you love the Isaac, don't you, Abraham? You'd give your life for 40:48 him. He has become an idol in your life. You love Isaac more than you love me. That happens sometimes. A man can start a 41:05 business and struggles. He's interested in survival. God blesses it. He earns enough for his family. But covetousness takes over and he wants more and more and more and more and more and his business becomes his 41:23 idol. He still goes to church. He still takes part in everything. But very subtly this Isaac has become an idol. It was a gift of God. That business was a gift of God. But it's become his idol. And then God has to say to him, 41:42 take that and kill it. It could be something else in your life. Something that is didn't have the place that God had years ago. It was only Jesus those days. But something else that God gave you. This is not an Ishmael that you manufacture yourself 42:00 that you can understand when God says send him away. Yeah, that God didn't give me. I'm gladly send it away. But this is something God gave you. It could be your ministry. I met a lot of people whose ministry is their idol, whose 42:13 preaching gift is their idol. They can say, "God gave it to me." Well, God gave Isaac to Abraham. He said, "Kill him." God is a jealous God. He does not allow anyone to take the place he should have in the throne of your 42:28 heart. And you know what Abraham did? He didn't think twice about it. It says early in the morning, Genesis 23:3, he saddled his donkey. And that's how I know God spoke to him at night. Here was Abraham and Sarah sleeping next to each other in the 42:45 bed. And God says,"Abraham, I want to tell you something. take your son tomorrow morning and to the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. He doesn't question. He just gets up next morning. I'm sure he didn't tell Sarah. I'm absolutely even though 43:01 it's not written there, I'm absolutely sure because imagine if Sarah asked him, "Where are you going?" He said, "I'm just going to kill my son over there." That have been a fight right there and it would have been very difficult for him to 43:12 move. So, he just said, "Bye, sir. I'm just going for a trip." He didn't tell a lie, but he didn't tell the whole truth. Sometimes you don't you should not tell the whole truth because it can create problems. You don't tell a lie. So he 43:26 took Isaac to the foot of the mountain. And now the servants who were with him said, "Master, where are you going?" See, listen to this. Genesis 22:5. I and my son will go up and we will worship 43:44 God and come back. What type of worship was there? Is it what people today call praise and worship? Swinging your hips and strumming a guitar and singing songs. That's not what Abraham went up there to do. What we call praise and 44:01 worship is not worship at all. And if you don't believe me, just take a concordance. Take the word worship and look at every reference to the word worship in the New Testament. I'm talking about new covenant. I'm not talking about the psalms and old 44:21 covenant type of banging timberals and all that. Okay, that's old covenant. But we finished with the old covenant. At least that's what you say. You say you finished with the old covenant, but have you finished with the old covenant in 44:29 worship? Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4:24, "The true worshippers will now worship in spirit, not in body and soul." See, man is body, soul, and spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:23. And the Old Testament, they could 44:48 only worship in body and soul, symbolized by the outer court and the holy place of the tabernacle. That's all they could come to. They couldn't enter into the most holy place symbolized by the spirit. because this flesh, this veil of 45:03 self-life was there. And so they could only worship in body and soul. And that means with a lot of emotion and mind and uh timberalss and all types of instruments and everything that would stir up the emotions and the mind. That was 45:17 right. They were permitted. But now the veil has been rent. The way into the spirit is open. That's how we fellowship with God. And then the Lord tells the Samaritan woman, "Now the hour has come when the 45:33 true worshippers will worship God in spirit." Of course, the body and soul will also be there. I still raise my hands. I raise my voice and I clap and glad to use instruments everything else. But that is secondary to my worship in 45:49 the spirit. Do you know what worship in the spirit means? In the outer court, there are many people, crowds of people who are interested in being born again, go to heaven. All the people who want to go to heaven, they're in the outer 46:02 court. In the holy place are the people who want to go a little more than that, who want to serve God. Yeah. And as long as you like to mingle with people who serve God, you're there. But the most holy place can be a bit boring for you because it's only God 46:19 who's there. And if you don't love Jesus with all your heart, he can be a very boring person. How long do you like to sit and talk to Jesus? Tell me. You get bored after a few minutes, right? You want to come out to the holy 46:35 place and meet with people who are serving the Lord and talk about how we are serving the Lord. Then you want to go out with other people who believers. I want to mingle with them. To be alone with God is the most boring thing for 46:45 most Christians. They've not understood worship in the spirit. And so they replace it with just a few songs and all call it praise and worship. It is not praise and worship. It is praise. It's thanksgiving and prayer. What we do on Sunday morning is 47:02 prayer, thanksgiving, praise. Very important and very good. But don't call it worship. The devil has fooled people by saying people say, "Well, what does it matter in a word?" Now, if you go to a uh a store to buy a Cadillac 47:20 car and somebody gives you a bicycle and calls it a Cadillac car, and you come home paying for a Cadillac car and say, tell your wife, "This is a Cadillac car. I've never seen one, but they told me, "This is a Cadillac car." You say, "What does it matter? Why 47:35 you call it a bicycle? Call it a Cadillac car." That's how people are being fooled with worship. Call it worship. What does it matter? Words don't matter. It matters a lot because then you miss out on the real thing. You didn't get the 47:46 Cadillac card at all. You paid for it, but you came home with a bicycle and Jesus paid for you to be a worshipper in the spirit and you end up with worship and soul and body just like in the old covenant. And you talk about new 47:56 covenant. You words, you use the words new covenant even in your songs, but it's not new covenant at all. Worship is what Abraham did. taking the most precious thing there is in your life and offering it up to God and saying, "God, you mean more to me than 48:14 this and you live there." Very often we lay laid it on the altar and after a while pull it back. I have to be a worshipper every day of my life. In other words, to say the psalmist in Psalm 73:25, "Lord, there's nothing I desire on earth but you." 48:32 That's a worshipper. And when I get to heaven, the same verse, I I have nothing but you there. I'm not worried. I'm not looking for crowns and mansions and things like that. You know the song which says, "I've got a mansion over the 48:44 hilltop." I don't have a mansion over the hilltop. I'm not interested. What will I do with a 14-bedroom mansion in heaven? You can have it. I want Jesus. Tell you honestly, people are looking for mansions and crowns in heaven. Going to 48:58 be terribly disappointed. Those are pictures God uses because those are the things valuable on earth val. What is going to be valuable in heaven? Closeness to Jesus Christ. I love that song. My God, how wonderful thou art. 49:14 Thy majesty, how bright, how beautiful thy mercy seat with depths of burning light. I sing it often. And the last verse especially, father of Jesus, loves reward. What rapture will it be? prostrate before thy throne to lie and 49:33 gaze and gaze on thee. Do you believe that'll be rapture? Just to fall before God our father and not even say a word but just gaze and gaze not for five minutes for 49:52 eternity in wonder. That is worship. That's what I'm looking forward to and that's what what I'm practicing to do on earth. I'm a worshipper and the more I worship, I can serve better. It's a balance. I don't want my service part of my body to be 50:12 muscular and strong and the worship part of my life to be skinny bones. There's a balance in the Christian life. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. It is written, "Thou shalt serve the Lord." It is written, "Thou shalt 50:24 worship before you serve the Lord." It is also written. So you see how importance how important balance is in the Christian life. Let me tell you just one more thing before I close. The fullness of the Holy Spirit 50:41 is called in Galatians chapter 3. I don't know whether you've seen the connection here. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 14. Let me read 13 and 14. Christ became a 50:59 curse for us on the cross. Many people don't know that he he he took our sins on the cross. But it also says he became a curse. Do you know how what depths Jesus went to to save us? Becoming cursed by God the father. 51:18 Because it is written in scripture, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. That's why he had to be crucified. That's why he could not be killed by stabbing. That's why he could not be killed in any other way. He had to be he 51:31 had to die hanging on a cross because it is written that's the only way a person can be cursed. That's why he hung on the cross. Did you know that he had to become a curse for us? Why? So that none of us will ever have a 51:47 curse in our life. You've not only been freed from your sins, you've been freed from curse. Nobody can curse you if you're in Christ. Let them say what they like. Christ became a curse for me so that the blessing of God can come upon my life. 52:00 And it says here, Christ became a curse so that in order that not that I might go to heaven in order that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us and that is to receive the promise of the Holy 52:19 Spirit. So the promise of the Holy Spirit is linked to the blessing of Abraham. Let's look at the blessing of Abraham. Genesis chapter 12. It's good to compare scripture with scripture. And again, there's a balance in the blessing of Abraham. This is what 52:35 I'm trying to show you. The whole scripture is full of the beauty of balance, the balance of truth. Here's the blessing of Abraham. Genesis 12:E 2 in the middle. One part is I will bless you and 52:53 the other is you will be a blessing. There's a balance. It's not just that God will bless me. That's one side of the body. The other side you will be a blessing. Many people are seeking I want God to bless me. What about the second 53:10 part? You want this side of your body to be skin and bones. Bless me. Bless me. Bless me. What about being a blessing to others? That's the balance in the Christian. That's the blessing of Abraham. That's the fullness of the Holy 53:22 Spirit. God blesses me. That's the fruit of the spirit. To bless others, God needs to give me the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So, which do I need more? The fruit of the gifts. Which did Jesus have? Imagine if Jesus had only 53:39 character and he met a demon-possessed person and said, "I love you very much. Oh, I really feel compassion for you, but I can't help you. Sorry, I don't have any gifts." And uh needy people. He says, "I love you folks so much, but I don't have 53:54 any gift of teaching or preaching, so I can only pray for you. God bless you." Imagine what Jesus' life would have been if he had no gifts. There'd be nothing to write in the epistles, rather in the gospels. He had fruit plus gifts. Which 54:11 is more important? There's no question of comparison. God's will is that he might bless me, make me a blessing. That's the blessing of Abraham. He wants to give me the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, 54:28 goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. That blesses me. Sure, I want all of it. I'm freed from sin thereby. But then, what about being a blessing to others? It says God, Acts 10:38 says God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 54:45 Spirit and he went about doing good, delivering people who are oppressed by the devil. The world is full of people oppressed by the devil. I want to deliver those ones whom I can, those ones who come across my path. Anyone who's a needy person who comes 55:01 across my path is like that person who came to his friend's house at midnight hungry and I have to go and bang at God's door and say give me some bread for him. That is seeking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I began to seek the 55:13 gift for preaching God's word when I was 21 years old because I read in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 14:1 covet to prophesy. Just like people covet for money it said that covet to prophesy. I was very young and I said, "Lord, I don't understand 55:31 what prophecy really means." But it says here that he who prophesies speaks to men for edification, exhaltation, comfort. I want it. I'm trying to preach to men to edify them and comfort them and strengthen them. If that is 55:44 prophecy, I want it. And you told me to covet for it just like that worldly businessman is coveting for money. I'm going to do it. No worldly businessman is going to put me to shame by coveting more for money than I coveret to 55:55 prophesy. And God is my witness. All these 56 years since that time, I have coveted to prophesy. I get up to speak in a meeting and I covet to prophesy before I get up. Even today, I never get up to speak without coveting 56:10 to prophesy because I know it'll be just my empty words which don't help anyone. Covet to prophesy. Do you want to be a blessing to others? Don't seek for healing gifts. God decides to give that to very few people. Prophesying is 56:24 more important. Much more important. I remember I sought God for the gift of healing many times and the Lord said, "I'm not going to give it to you." I said, "Why not? Think of the thousands of people and I promised God." I said, 56:36 "Lord, I promise I won't go to rich people. I'll only go to the poor people and I promise I'll never take in money from anyone if I pray for them and they're healed." He still didn't give it. And the Lord told me, you know 56:48 what'll happen if if I give you the gift of healing? Your phone will be ringing 24 hours. All types of people will know about it and they'll be calling you day and night. You'll never be able to sleep and all types of people will come to your 57:03 church to be healed and you won't be able to distinguish who's come for healing and who's wants to be a disciple. But when you preach disciplehip and holiness, there's a sifting and now and then I can still use you to heal a few people and I'm happy with 57:20 that. Cover it to prophesy. It is the most important gift that we should seek for and it's for all believers. Maybe not to the same extent that God has given to one. He may give you less but at least to a little extent. Seek for the blessing of 57:37 Abraham. I will bless you says the Lord and you will be a blessing. It says there to all the families of the earth. And I look at it like this that every family I run into must be blessed by me in some way. Like it says goodness and mercy shall 57:53 follow me all the days of my life. That means I go into a home and when I leave that home I have left goodness and mercy behind. What a wonderful thing is because it's following me and when I left the home I've left goodness and 58:04 mercy behind that. Think that you can be like that every one of you. That's why you need to pray for the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. Then goodness and mercy will follow you everywhere you go and you leave that behind in every place you 58:18 visit. And every one of us can be like that. And it's not just in the Old Testament. It was just for the prophets and the priests in the New Testament. It's for everyone. Amen. Do you agree with me? Let's pray. Heavenly 58:39 Father, bring us into this beautiful life of balanced Christianity where we don't emphasize one truth over the other. Help us to be your disciples. Make us a blessing to others. Pray in Jesus name. Amen. 58:56 [Music]
