0:00 John 17:23, "He loves me exactly like he loved Jesus." 0:24 John 17:23, I'll tell you this is the verse that changed my life. John 17:23, 43 years ago. Not only the baptism in the Holy Spirit, along with that, like the Bible says, when the Spirit comes into your heart, he cries out, "Dad!" or as the Bible says, "Appa", "Abba" is the Hebrew 0:46 word for "Dad", or closer to our Tamil and Malayalam, "Appa". That's what it says in Romans chapter 8, you know, that the Holy Spirit, when he comes into our heart, he cries out, it's one of the marks of being born again, Romans 8:15. 1:06 He cries out, "Appa", or in English, "Daddy". That's how you know the Holy Spirit's come in. I've got a daddy in heaven, who loves me, wonderful. Nobody in the Old Covenant could have that. 1:26 Nobody could go to him and say, "Daddy". I can do it. I don't use the word, "Daddy" in public. I do what Jesus said, "Father, Father in heaven", but privately, when I'm praying alone to God, I say, "Dad". I call him "Dad", just like my children call me. 1:46 I don't sing these songs of Jehovah. There's no God like Jehovah. There's no God like Jehovah. I say, "All Jewish people, please sing that. I'm not a Jew, I'm a disciple of Jesus, I never sing that song". I sing softly, while they're singing that, I say, "There's no God like my dad". 2:07 Let them sing that, I don't think it's so loud, it'll clash with their words. All the Jews are singing, "There's no God like Jehovah". I sing, "There's no God like my dad". I take the New Covenant seriously. Every word is important. 2:24 Let no careless word come out of my mouth. And you heard me use the example. People have told me this, "Isn't God's name Jehovah, why can't we call him?" I said, "If my son comes to me and says, "Mr. Poonan, can I talk to you?" 2:42 I'll say, "Are you angry with me?" And you go to God and say, "Jehovah", I'll say, "Are you angry with me?" Sure, any father will wonder why his... Don't say, "Isn't his name Jehovah, I can call him." If you're a Jew, by all means call him Jehovah. 3:02 But for me, he's dad. And it means so much to me because it made a tremendous difference in my life. I was an insecure Christian, always scared, shy, withdrawn when I was born again. And I said, "Lord, I can't be a witness for you like this. 3:25 Fill me with the Holy Spirit." And when God filled me with the Holy Spirit, one of the things that happened to me was, he became my dad. And thereafter, I'm very careful. You know, even some of the well-known things, "Guide me, O thou great Jehovah." 3:41 No, no, no, no, no. Guide me, O my heavenly Father. I just don't use that word. And if you ask me why, I say, "Because I'm not a Jew. I'm a Christian. I'm a born-again Christian." And that's not for me. That's not the way I call him. 4:01 It's very important. Try and take a concordance and go through, look up and see the word Jehovah. And see how many times it comes in the New Testament. See if the Apostle Paul, who was a Jew for thirty years, he said, "Blessed be the God and 4:22 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." He got converted from calling God Jehovah for thirty years to calling God Dad. We who have never called God Jehovah, we get converted and start calling him Jehovah. We're crazy. I tell you, you think that's unimportant, you think of your relationship with the Father. 4:40 That's why so much insecurity. You don't know God as your dad. You've got a stranger in heaven, I've got a dad in heaven. You've got a head of government in heaven. He's not head of government for me. He's my dad. He may be the head of government for the universe, but he's my dad. 4:57 It's so important, John 17:23. He says, "The world must know, and I want the world to know, that you have loved them just like you loved me." John 17:23, the last part, "So that the world may know that you sent me and you loved them 5:22 just as much as you loved me." There are many verses in the Bible that says God loves us. But only one verse that tells us how much he loved us. Only one. God loves me as much as he loved Jesus. 5:44 To me, that is the central verse in the whole Bible. You ask me the message of the Bible in one verse, I'll tell you. God loves me as much as he loved Jesus Christ. Everything else in the Bible flows from that. God is the source of this spring, from which I get forgiveness, from which I get fullness of 6:05 the Spirit, from which God equips me to preach his word, anoints me continuously to preach his word, to build churches, to proclaim the truth. In every way, it flows from one spring, in my life anyway. God loves me as much as he loved Jesus. 6:25 It is an amazing truth. Do I deserve it? Definitely not. I am the last person in the world to deserve it, but he loves me. He loves those who don't deserve. He fills with the Spirit those who don't deserve. I remember when I was asking God for a refilling of the Holy Spirit forty-four years ago, I was 6:42 in such desperate need, broken, defeated. I had hit rock bottom and deserved to be sent to hell. And instead of sending me to hell, when I was praying and fasting and seeking God, he filled me with the Holy Spirit. Very opposite of what I should deserve. 7:02 Just like, I picture it like this, I am working in a factory and I am pretty useless with my hands and I mess up this machine and then the manager forgives me, the owner forgives me and then I go to another machine and I mess up that and then one day I mess up the most 7:19 expensive machine in the factory and the owner of the factory says, "Come here. I want to see you." And I go to see him. I am going to be fired, sacked and turned out of the office that day. And he says, "I am appointing you general manager of this factory. 7:39 And I am making your salary five times what you are getting." I said, "Don't make fun of me." "No, that is what I am doing. But sir, I messed up all these machines." "That is okay. I know you will be more responsible now. 7:55 That is exactly what God did for me when he filled me with the Holy Spirit. When I was at rock bottom, I learnt one thing that day, that the fullness of the Spirit is not given to people who deserve it. Some of you are trying to deserve the fullness of the Spirit. 8:11 You can keep seeking for 50 years. You will never get it. Did you get forgiveness of sins because you deserved it? All the people who think they deserve forgiveness of sins and roll on the ground and go give money and light candles and go to temples and mosques and churches, they don't get it. 8:26 But those who come and say, "Lord, I don't deserve it at all. I am the worst sinner in the world." They get it immediately. Immediately, "I didn't deserve to be filled with the Holy Spirit." I tell you the honest truth, I am not trying to be humble. 8:38 If there was a person on earth that day, that was January the 12th, 1975, if there was one person on earth who did not deserve to be filled with the Holy Spirit in all the seven or five billion people in the world those days, it was me. 8:50 God says, "I am going to fill him with the Holy Spirit." Don't go to God seeking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit thinking you deserve it. You will never deserve it. Go to him like you asked for forgiveness of sins. "Lord, I am utterly undeserving, but I am seeking you because I want to live for you. 9:13 I want this power." It is one of the great blessings of the new covenant. What all happened to me when the Holy Spirit filled my inside? It's like my eyes were opened. The veil was taken away from scripture and I began to read the same verses I read for years 9:28 and I got enlightened. God had become my dad and a dad tells his children things that he doesn't tell other strangers. What a wonderful blessing to be in the new covenant, to know God is my dad, Jesus my elder brother. I think we sing in that song. 9:48 That's when I wrote that song, when I understood that in 1907. What he did for Jesus, he will do for you. As he cared for Jesus, he will care for you. When people tried to kill Jesus when he was a baby, he was so helpless. 10:03 God saved him. I've seen examples like that in my life. I don't have time to tell you all of them. God saved me, protected me from evil men. How many accidents he protects from me. Because he cares for me exactly like he cared for Jesus. 10:20 Jesus could not die before his time. They could not throw him over a cliff. He could not drown in the sea. No! Because his hour had not yet come. They sent soldiers to capture him. They could not capture him. His hour had not come. 10:37 As he cared for Jesus, he will care for you. As he loved Jesus, he will love you. Why is it Jesus didn't get cancer and die when he was 25? I'm not judging people who get cancer. I don't know all the reasons that happens, but I know one thing. 10:57 I know that I'm loved just like God loved Jesus. John 17:23 is the foundation of my life. My personal life, my family life, my church ministry, everything is founded on one foundation. God loves me as he loved Jesus Christ. 11:12 You believe it, it's yours. You don't believe it, it's not yours. Somebody gives you a check for a hundred million rupees. You take it, put it in the bank, it's yours. You look at it, frame it up and put it on the wall, you get nothing. 11:28 You know that when it comes to money, you know that the only way is you put your name on it, cash it and give it in the bank for them to cash it. It's the same way, the promise. God loves me as he loved Jesus. Lord, I believe it, not because I deserve it, far from it. 11:42 I'll tell you, I'm not trying to be humble. I did not deserve that more than any of you. I deserved it less than all of you, but God filled me with the Holy Spirit. My whole life was changed. It's the secret of the Christian life, the new covenant, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 11:57 Don't treat it lightly. You go to God and say, Lord, I will not let you go unless you fill me with the Holy Spirit. Jacob laid hold of God one day. He spent his life grabbing women and money and all that. One day he said, I grab hold of you, God. 12:11 Read in Genesis 32, I think it's verse 25. I will not let you go until you bless me. I will not let you go. When you see God like that, Dad, you're my dad. I've forgiven everybody. I have repented of everything that I know. 12:31 I don't have victory yet. No, no, no. I need the Holy Spirit to get victory. But I've forgiven everybody. I've repented of everything. I've turned from everything. I want you to fill me with the Holy Spirit. Dad, why won't you do that for me? 12:43 You will do it for me. And then believe he'll do it. You, unworthy, undeserving you, can experience the mighty miracle of God in your life. Go and seek him. And you don't have to go to some meeting where you ask somebody to lay his empty hands on your empty head. 13:02 That's not the way to get the anointing. Go before God and say, Lord Jesus, put your nail-pierced hands. That's what I often say. Put your nail-pierced hands on my head, Lord, and anoint me. That's what I want. I tell you, God will do it. 13:17 Why won't he do it? If he did it for me, I'm absolutely sure he'll do it for you. He won't make you a preacher like me. If you're coveting to be a preacher like me, forget it. Your gift may be something else. If God has called you to be a little finger and not a tongue, maybe I'm the tongue. 13:32 If God says, you're to be a little finger, not a tongue, be happy to be a little finger. Be happy to have the ministry God has for you. Don't look for ministry. Say, Lord, I want the life that Brother Zach has. The same life of never getting discouraged, always giving thanks and forgiving everybody and releasing everybody and free from anger. 13:53 I want that life even if I don't have any ministry. I want that life. Seek for the life. Many people, when they seek for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they're coveting a ministry. That's why you don't get it. Seek for the life. 14:12 Let's sing, when bowed with burdens and with care. When bowed with burdens and with care, your soul is in despair. You don't have to fear. God is very near. 14:36 He loves you as he loved his son and he will help you too. Just trust his word of promise and he will see you through. This is the good news, what God can do. 15:03 What he did for Jesus, he'll do for you. With mighty power, he'll strengthen you. There is no end to what God can do. 15:31 Though sin and evil fill this world and you are overcome, Yet God's word is true. Sin card reign o'er you. And when temptations pull this strong, 15:53 God's grace will be your stay. So you can walk like Jesus In victory every day. This is the good news, what God can do. 16:13 What he did for Jesus, he'll do for you. When mighty power, he'll strengthen you. There is no end to what God can do. 16:40 When pain and pain and sickness come to you and touch your loved ones too. God knows how you feel. He has power to hear. Your father will provide your need. 17:03 God knows how you feel. He's faithful and he's true. And as he cared for Jesus, he will care for you. This is the good news, what God can do. 17:26 What he did for Jesus, what he did for Jesus, he'll do for you. With mighty power, he'll strengthen you. There is no end to what God can do. 17:50 Oh, what a glorious comfort this if you have come to know. Jesus as your Lord, and elder brother, too. For all God has is now your own, and he won't let you go. 18:17 And now that God is for you, who can be your foe? This is the good news, what God can do. What he did for Jesus, he'll do for you. 18:44 With mighty power, he'll strengthen you. There is no end to what God can do.
