0:00 Welcome. We're glad to have everyone here this morning. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the NCCF conference this year. We have a few announcements before we start our first session. There's a schedule up here if you're curious about 0:12 what the when the next break is if if you need to rush to the restroom or if you can wait for a few more minutes, you can look there. We also have if you're ever thirsty or need coffee or water or anything like that, we have some here that's available 0:25 for the break time, but if you want it during a session, please use we have a table outside and you you can feel free to go out either of the doors and get a drink there. The third thing is if you wouldn't mind, please put your phones in vibrate or 0:38 turn them off. That would be great. We're trying to live stream this cuz there are a lot of folks from all over who who both here and abroad who are hoping to watch while we have the session and so just not interfering with that is great. 0:52 Next Let's see. Bathrooms, please during the sessions especially don't use the bathrooms here. We have if you walk just straight down this open pathway here. There's bathrooms on the left right down this walkway. So you 1:07 just go straight out the doors down that way and then the bathrooms are on the left. And then lastly for families with children, we love children. We have lots of them in our church and we understand that they make noise 1:19 and that's fine. Incidental noise, no big deal. If you feel like your child is becoming a distraction or making so much noise that you would prefer them not be in the room. Again, we get that. I have two small girls myself. There is a room for 1:33 children just about 25 yards down this way. So you can go out one of these doors right around the along this wall here and then 25 yards down that way. There's a room for children. There's toys and coloring books and the service 1:46 is being live streamed into that room as well. So if one of the parents We don't ask the kids go unattended. So if you're going to send your kids, please send a supervisor as well. But we'll you can just take them right 1:57 down there and either until they calm down or if or if that's more comfortable for you and for them then you can remain there. So those are all the announcements I think. I wanted to take a moment to introduce our speaker brother Zac 2:08 Poonen. It's my pleasure to introduce brother Zac this morning. As many of you know, he is coming from Bangalore, India to to be with us today where he is been a teacher and minister there for over 40 years at Christian Fellowship 2:22 Church in Bangalore. And um I've heard it said that you can discern the character of a teacher by looking at his family life and looking at his co-workers. And I can say having worked with Sandeep, his son, for the last 4 2:38 years and getting to know many of his other children as well, I can personally attest to the quality of brother Zac's family life and my family and I had a chance to go to Bangalore last year and I actually got to meet many of the elders that he 2:51 has worked with over the last several decades and I can tell you personally I was blessed beyond many of my interactions with those brothers. I feel I had such blessed fellowship, even more blessed fellowship than than I've had with people I've 3:05 known for much longer and I I take that as a strong sign of the of the character of brother Zac's ministry and I was greatly encouraged by my time with them and other workers that have worked alongside him. If you're new to the teaching of Zac, 3:21 you may be or you may be familiar with the details of his biography. You may have seen a few of his YouTube YouTube sermons, but I wanted to testify that he is not preaching theory. He's not a teacher who's teaching theory. Um 3:36 He's speaking out of the life which he has walked humbly before our Lord Jesus Christ and sharing what he has learned as he has faithfully carried the cross, his own cross as Jesus commanded. And the other thing that I wanted to 3:49 share is the attitude I feel like he has towards people that he teaches. Many are familiar I'm sure with his strong teaching and how he he kind of tells it like it is so to speak, but it's the heart from which his message 4:02 has come which I feel has truly blessed me. There's a story in Numbers 11 that you may be familiar with. I read it just the other day and it reminded me of brother Zac's heart, but there's a story where in Numbers 11 basically the Holy 4:14 Spirit comes upon the prophets who are gathered together and they start prophesying. And there's a couple of guys who for whatever reason didn't make it to the meeting and they start prophesying in the camp among the people. And this little boy runs up and 4:26 you know, to rat him out and he says, "Moses, these two guys are prophesying in the camp." And even Joshua, Moses' servant, says he's convinced we got to stop them. And Moses' response is essentially praise God. How wonderful. I wish that every single 4:43 person in the nation of Israel would prophesy. I wish that God would pour out his spirit on everyone. And that reminded me of brother Zac because I feel he has such an unselfish attitude towards the gifts which God has given him and his longing for God's 4:57 people to experience the reality which he himself has experienced. He's not a teacher who has some desire to hoard something that he has for himself, but he really is overjoyed as he sees people grasp and live in the truths and the 5:12 realities which he teaches about. And so it's tremendously blessed me to be under his teaching and I'm I'm so thankful for a teacher here with us today who's longing is for all those who are hungry today to receive the Holy 5:26 Spirit and to enjoy the wonderful satisfaction that he himself has found walking with Jesus Christ. So please join me in welcoming our brother Zac Poonen. I'm not sure if 6:01 Jesus or Paul got such introductions. But the Bible does say that we must appreciate our elders. I've done that myself when I was younger. And so when people obey that scripture, I 6:22 don't stop them. I want to turn to a verse in Acts chapter 10 first of all. Sometimes we think that certain 6:42 blessings are only reserved for certain people and we can never experience that. It looks as if God is blessed certain people in certain ways and we wish we could be like that, but we 6:58 say, "Well, maybe it's not for me." Here is what Peter says when the house of Cornelius. Verse Acts 10 verse 34 and I want you to remember this and take it to heart. 7:16 I most certainly understand now and I wish you could say that as well. I most certainly understand that God is not one to show partiality. See, whenever we think that God will do something for 7:35 someone or some church that he can never do for us or for our church. Unconsciously or indirectly, we are accusing him of partiality. It's a sin. We must always proclaim that what God 7:54 did for others, he will do for me if I fulfill the same conditions. One of the greatest truths that I discovered about 40 years ago which revolutionized my life when God filled me with the Holy Spirit and gave me a revelation on this 8:13 was that God loved me as he loved Jesus. I'll come to that little it's one of my favorite themes. If you've heard me on the internet, you've probably heard me say that many times. John 17:23 says that the Father loves us as he loved Jesus. 8:31 And when I understood that, I realized not just what God did for others, he will do for me, but what God did for Jesus, he will do for me if I fulfill the same conditions. As he cared for Jesus throughout his life, 8:49 he will care for me if I fulfill the same conditions. And if he doesn't do something for me, it's because I've not fulfilled the conditions. It was a revolution revelation that radically changed my life and it's after that 9:07 that we started building uh I mean the Lord built planted the church in Bangalore and many scores of other churches in other places. It was based on this revelation. There is no partiality with God. God 9:27 I mean the Lord often spoke to his disciples about how God was a father and he used earthly examples saying if an evil father would do this for his children, how much more your heavenly Father provide good 9:45 things, give the Holy Spirit. If your child asks for bread, he won't give him a stone. And I applied that to partiality. A good father a good earthly father would never be partial to any of his children. I have never been partial to any one of my four sons. 10:05 And I'm not the best father in the world. And I thought if that is true of someone like me, I tried my level best to be completely impartial because I felt that was a quality of a father, good father. How much more God would be 10:22 totally impartial? And coupled with that if you realize this truth that Jesus has become our elder brother. He's called the firstborn. Before he came to earth, he was the only 10:40 begotten, John 3:16. He is not the only begotten Son of God today. Many people don't know that. When I had only one son, he was the only begotten. When I had two, he was the firstborn. And the first time that Jesus became the 10:54 firstborn was on the day of the resurrection. That was the very first time that he told Mary Magdalene who met him at the tomb. Go and tell my brothers. That's the first time he used that word 11:14 to refer to his disciples. Earlier he earlier he had spoken in a general way, "Who are my mother and my brothers? These who hear the word of God and do it." But the first time he referred to his disciples as my brothers, he had called them his 11:26 servants. On the day before he went to the cross, he had called them his his friends. But after the resurrection, they were not just friends. He said, "My brothers." So something happened in the resurrection. It was a new creation, 11:43 just like when God made Adam, that was the old creation and he had formed him. He was a man, a living soul. When Jesus rose from the dead, it was the beginning of a new creation. A completely new race. And this race consisted of the brothers of Jesus 12:03 Christ. That's why he called them my brothers. So from that day onwards, Jesus is the firstborn. And if there is no partiality with God, then whatever he did for the firstborn he will do for the others. If he doesn't, there's partiality. 12:20 So this is an amazing truth that if you are gripped by it, it will revolutionize your life as it did mine. There is no partiality with God. What he did for his elder son his firstborn 12:37 he will do for you and me if we fulfill the same conditions. So Acts 10 34, I most certainly understand. I wish we could come to that place where we can say, "I most certainly 12:55 not certainly, but most certainly that God is not one to show partiality." If he has used somebody else to build a spirit-filled church somewhere, he'll use you to do that, too. Our theme for this this conference is the spirit-filled 13:14 church. That's what we want to what we want to think of. And he went on to say in Acts 10 verse 35, "As a result of this but in every nation there's no racism with God. He has no partialities. 13:33 One nation is not more important to him than another nation. This is the mistake that Peter made. He thought the Jews were special. Yes, up to the day of Pentecost, not thereafter. But Peter took a long time to realize this. You see, Acts chapter 10 is 13:51 probably about 10 years after the day of Pentecost. And or anyway, a number of years. Imagine for 10 years Peter thought the Jews were still special. 2,000 years later, there are still Christians who think the Jews are 14:11 special. Can you imagine how crazy people are? Even though it's written so clearly here in the scripture. There is no special place for the Jews. That's what Peter had to understand. God is not one to show partiality. In every nation 14:28 the man who fears him that's the condition. And does what is right according to his understanding is welcome to him. He's not saved thereby. Cornelius was not saved. Is welcome to him that God will lead him to salvation and God will lead him to 14:47 being filled with the Holy Spirit. And God will use him to build the church of Jesus Christ. So this very important for us to be gripped by this right at the beginning because I tell you, so many people come for so many conferences and they say, "Yeah, 15:03 it'll work for somebody else, it won't work for me." I hope from today onwards you will recognize that when you think like that, you're accusing God of some type of partiality or some type of racism. There's no partiality with him. There's 15:19 no racism with him. It doesn't matter if you're from the most depressed barbarian race in the world. Every man came from Adam and God Jesus died for everyone. And in every nation, the man who fears God. See, this is the beginning. 15:36 And does what is right is welcome to him. Now why do I mention that Jesus is the firstborn? And uh what God did for Jesus, he'll do for me. Because when we think of the spirit-filled church the church is called in 15:54 the New Testament, the body of Jesus Christ. It's very, very important to understand that. The church is the body of Christ. You read it in the New Testament. What are the practical implications of it? When we read scripture, we must not just 16:12 read it like the newspaper just to get some facts. We must meditate on it and see what is God trying to say to me through that. The church is the body of Christ. So that means that just like the earthly body of Christ 16:30 did certain things for God for 33 and 1/2 years on this earth the church is supposed to do that from the day of Pentecost. Jesus has two bodies today. One is his physical body with which he ascended to heaven and he's never come 16:45 down till now. He will be returning in that physical body to one day. He still has that physical body. But on the day of Pentecost another body was formed. 120 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and like 120 pieces of iron put into the furnace, 17:03 came out as one piece. Those 120 uh individual people were filled with the Spirit and they became one piece, one body. Like my body. Joined together or till then they were not joined together. They were individuals. 17:23 But they were joined together and they began to function as one body and you see that in the very next chapter in Acts chapter 3 where you read Peter and John walking together to the temple. In the Old Testament, no prophet worked 17:39 with another prophet. Did you know that? Great men of God in the Old Testament were all lone individuals. They could not work with others. They may have been very godly men but they could not work with others because they did not have the Holy 17:56 Spirit within them. They did not understand the way of the cross. There was no way of the cross in the Old Testament. And when the Holy Spirit is not dwelling within and people don't walk the way of the cross, it is impossible to be one. 18:12 No matter who they are. Go and ask the most loving husband and wife if they become one with each other. People are madly in love with each other. You ask them 6 months later whether they become one. It's not easy. It's the most difficult thing in the 18:27 world for two people to become one. Go and ask any husband and wife. And in the Old Testament, it was not possible because as I said the Holy Spirit was not within. The Holy Spirit was upon people. They blessed people, but 18:44 the problem was in the heart and that was never solved. Like I've used the illustration, if this is your heart or the spirit and there was a veil on top of it, symbolized by the veil covering the most holy place in the tabernacle. 18:57 And the Spirit of God came upon people, but it could not go inside the heart or the spirit. Flowed outside and blessed millions perhaps, like Moses, Elijah, everybody else. What happened on the day of Pentecost, the veil was torn on the 19:09 day Jesus died on Calvary and the way into the most holy place into the spirit of man was open and now the Holy Spirit could come within. And Jesus said, "Now from within the blessing will overflow from within and bless millions." That's what 19:27 happened on the day of Pentecost. So man's heart got changed, unlike Samson who had the spirit upon him and his heart was full of adultery. But it's not like that today. Today when a preacher falls into adultery, it's because 19:40 he's living in the Old Testament. Most preachers are Old Covenant preachers. The spirit may be upon them. You know, they'll stand one day before the Lord and say, "Lord, we did miracles, we cast out demons, we preached." And the Lord 19:51 said, "I never knew you." No is an intimate word in the Old Testament. It's speaking of the physical relationship between man and wife. And the Lord was saying, "I never knew you inside your heart." You were just used by me. 20:06 And I want to say to all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, if you're more interested in being used by the Lord, please listen. If you're more interested in being used by the Lord than in having a passionate personal devotion to the Lord, you will 20:19 always be an old covenant Christian. And you may be used by the Lord, but it'll be upon you, upon you. I don't want that. I don't care if the Lord does not use me in any ministry. I want to live in a personal relationship with him. 20:36 This is new covenant Christianity. And it's only such people who will build a spirit-filled church. And it's only such people who can constitute a spirit-filled church. And that's why we want to gather together in every local church people 20:49 who have a passionate love for Jesus Christ, who have the spirit within them, and not with an old covenant experience whose passion is not, "I want to be used by the Lord. I want to evangelize. I want to do this. I want to do that." God 21:03 will do all that. But do you know that Jesus never had a passion, "I've got to reach China. I've got to reach Africa. I've got to reach Europe." No. All his life he just lived within the boundaries of Israel almost entirely 21:16 except once or twice he went outside. And he yet at the end of and he lived only 3 and 1/2 years ministry, 3 and 1/2 years of ministry. And at the end of it he could say, not I've traveled the world like today's preachers say, "I have reached 150 21:29 countries or I preached to so many millions of people." Those are not the things Jesus could boast about. Those are the things shallow preachers who don't know the Lord boast about today. You see in the biographies or descriptions of people, he's reached so 21:44 many millions of preaching so many countries. Jesus preached in one country. Was he valuable? He could say at the end of his life, "I have finished the work you gave me to do." John 17:4. And I want to say to all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, I 22:01 hope you will be able to say at the end of your life, not I've done this, I've done this, I've accomplished so much, I earned so much money, or I became such a big person, or even in the church, but I hope you'll be able to say I 22:13 finished the work you gave me to do. And if you're you were a mother with a few children and you couldn't travel much, if you finished the work God gave you to do, you'll be greater equal to any apostle. I'll tell you that. The important thing 22:26 is to finish the work God's given you to do. And Jesus finished that. So that that is the first body of Christ that was on this earth, Jesus. So when the church is called the body of Christ, I see that what the first body 22:41 of Christ did on earth, the church is now to continue to do. So once the body of the physical body of Christ ascended up to heaven, he told his disciples, "It's better for you that I go away." And they couldn't understand it. "How 22:59 can it be better for you to go away, Lord, when you're with us? We are so free from anxiety, fear, we have no problems." No, he said, "If I'm here, then I'll only be here in one place, but if I go away, the Holy Spirit will come. 23:11 And then my body can be in every part of the world. You can have the body of Christ in Russia and China and America and India and every place. So that was the purpose with which Jesus went and poured out the Holy Spirit, 23:23 that there'd be local expressions of the body of Christ in many, many places. The church is the body of Christ. And when the first body of Christ came to this earth, 23:41 we read in John chapter 1, one of the functions he fulfilled, John chapter 1 and verse 18, John chapter 1 verse 18. It says, "No one has seen God at any time." And that is true even today. "No one has seen God at any time." John 24:00 1:18. But what did the first body of Christ do? At that time he was the only begotten. Today he's the firstborn. He explained the Father. Jesus, one of his ministries, a number of ministries Jesus fulfilled. One was to die for the sins of the world. 24:20 Another was to walk in a way as to be an example for all of us how we are to live as a child, as a businessman, carpenter, as a Christian worker. But another ministry he fulfilled was to reveal that God was a father, to reveal 24:37 the type of father God was. There was a great need for that because the Pharisees had portrayed God like a strict judge or a policeman flashing his lights. Well, they didn't have lights those days, but anyway, someone who is trying to catch you to 24:56 for a mistake that you might have committed. And there was this veil that blocked off the most holy place where God dwelled and nobody knew who was there. Was it a judge or a policeman or who? And Jesus rent that veil and said, 25:09 "It's a father. It's a father who loves you." He explained God. And I want to say to you that today also many people have a false understanding of God and a false understanding of Jesus Christ. Christians have brought tremendous disgrace 25:29 on the name of Jesus Christ. I say that my own country, and it's true in your America, too. The name of Jesus has been dishonored by Christians. Do you know that a person of another religion can never dishonor the name of 25:44 Christ? They can blaspheme and say all kind of stupid things and produce movies that dishonor Christ, but they cannot dishonor Christ if they don't take the name of Jesus. It's Christians who dishonor Christ because we say that we belong to Christ. 26:00 And then we we live in a way that Jesus would never live. We speak in a way that Jesus would never speak. We do things that Jesus would never do. And when you call yourself a Christian and you do things that Jesus would never 26:15 do, speak in a way Jesus would never speak, behave with others in a way Jesus would never behave, you're dishonoring Christ. I've often said about India that India has not rejected Christ. The people in India have rejected the 26:29 Christ they have seen in Christians. And when I talk to a non-Christian in India, I want to tell you, I say to them, "I've also rejected that Christ which you have seen in Christians. That's not the real Christ." And when I witness to them, I say, "I 26:43 want to point out to you the real Christ which you have not seen in that crooked Christian businessman who cheated you, or that other committed adultery. That's not the Christ I'm talking about." It's very, very important, and we have 26:56 to say that today also in this country where so much dishonor has come in the name of Christ by the way Christian leaders have behaved and conducted themselves and then say, "Oh, Jesus forgives. Jesus forgives." We our calling is a lot more than that, 27:10 not just to proclaim that Jesus forgives sins. And there are a lot of non-Christians who want more than forgiveness of sins. They want to overcome their sinful habits. And if we proclaim to them a Christ who can only forgive your sin, 27:27 but supposing he says, "Hey, listen. I want more than this." A non-Christian, you're witnessing to him and he's you tell him about forgiveness of sins and he says, "Well, well, listen. I want more than forgiveness of sins, man. 27:40 Uh how will I know that my sins are forgiven? Can you prove Can this Jesus prove it to me by giving me victory over my anger? I'm a terrible slave to anger." And you say, "Oh, well, well, I mean" and you don't have that victory yourself 27:54 and you tell him, "Well, Jesus can't give you victory over anger, but every time you do get angry, he'll forgive you." Or then he says, "I've got terrible problem with lustful thinking and pornography. Do you think Jesus can deliver me from 28:05 that?" And you say, "No, no, no. Jesus can't deliver you from that because you don't have that victory yourself. Uh but he'll forgive you every time you do it." And you can't blame that non-Christian for turning around to you 28:15 and saying, "Keep your Jesus to yourself. I don't want such a Jesus. I'm looking for deliverance, not for this hoax of forgiveness. How do I know I've been forgiven if he can't show me in reality in my practical life forgiveness? I could be just fooling 28:28 myself that I'm forgiven." There are non-Christians who go and dip themselves in a river and others who go to some pilgrimage place and say they are their sins are forgiven. Where is the evidence of it? This is why we need 28:40 in every place in the world spirit-filled churches, which consists of spirit-filled people, through whom God can speak. And if you can believe that there's no partiality with God, that what he did for Jesus, he will do for you, 28:59 if you fulfill the same conditions. And one of the things that you read about Jesus is he had a tremendous respect for the word of God. You know that how many times he would quote scripture? He would quote scripture. He 29:20 the very first spoken words of his were in Mark Matthew chapter 4, "Man shall not live by bread alone." In the first temptation, those are the spoken words of his ministry, first spoken words of his ministry. "But by every word that proceeds out of 29:38 the mouth of God." So those are the first spoken words of his ministry. The only way he was referring to himself, man shall live is by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and he lived by that. 29:56 He had a tremendous respect for the word of God, and he knew it so well. He knew it so well at the age of 12. I've been challenged by that. I mean, remember he was living in a time there was no printed Bibles. The only way he could read the Bible was 30:14 he went to the synagogue and asked the rabbi, "Please open up the scroll, and can you read me the next chapter? We finished chap- previous chapter of Isaiah yesterday. Can you read the next one?" And the rabbi would have been 30:25 delighted that this 8-year-old boy comes and wants to Hardly any 8-year-old boy ever came to him in Nazareth. He was delighted every day to teach him something, and in 7 years, say from the age of 5 to 12, that boy Jesus knew the scriptures. 30:40 That challenged me. What God did for Jesus, he'll do for you. If you don't have that same passion to study the scriptures because you have You see, I have to have some entertainment. I must watch that football game or that 30:57 basketball game. Please, by all means, watch it, but don't let it replace the Bible in your life. And if these other things your busyness with legitimate things lawful things keeps you from the Bible, but don't be surprised 31:16 if God does not do for you the things he did for Jesus. Don't be surprised if he does not do for you the things uh accomplish things through you that he accomplished through Jesus, and don't be surprised at the end of your life if you 31:28 say, "Well, I watched 10,000 football games, and I knew the names and the scores of so many people, but I didn't finish the work God gave to me." That would be the saddest words that you'd have to say at the end of your 31:40 life. I don't want to say that. I'm not against you watching football or watching clean movies or any of those things, but my brothers and sisters, I believe Jesus had time for relaxation. Once he told his disciples, "Come, let's 31:52 go outside and take some rest somewhere." That's okay. But his passion was to know God's word and to complete the work which God had accomplished for him. And I remember when I became a Christian, I said, "Lord, I want to do 32:05 that." And all the scriptures that I know today is what I learned in the first 7 years of my Christian life after I was born again. By the time I was born again when I was 19 and by the time I left the Navy at 26 and a half, I knew almost all the 32:19 scriptures. I got my example from Jesus, that in 7 years, without a Bible in his home, he knew the scriptures enough to challenge even the scholars of his day. I want to encourage you if you want to be a spirit-filled Christian, if you 32:33 want to complete the work God has called you to do on this earth, the reason with which he brought you out of your mother's womb, be different from the average Christian you see around you. Don't despise them. Don't judge them. 32:46 Don't compare yourself with them. Don't think you're better than them, but humbly walk with God and say, "Lord, I'm not here to judge anybody else. I'm willing to esteem everybody as more important than myself, but I want to 32:58 accomplish your will in this life." Don't even compare yourself with other people in the church. You are to live before God's face and accomplish God's will, and I want to say to you in Jesus' name, there is no partiality. 33:11 Be gripped by this truth. What God did for Jesus, he will do for you. Man shall not live by every bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. So, when we think of the spirit-filled church, who was the first spirit-filled man, 33:29 spirit-filled inside? Jesus Christ. Everybody up until then had the spirit upon them. But Jesus was the first person who had the spirit within, and from his innermost being, rivers of living water flowed and blessed people, not in terms of He 33:49 didn't reach China and Africa and all. It flowed out enough to accomplish God's will that he had planned through him. I don't want to reach the whole world. I don't want to travel to 150 nations. I don't want to preach to millions of 34:02 people. I'll tell you honestly, I want to finish the specific task God has appointed for me on this earth with which he formed me in my mother's womb and brought me out of my mother's womb one day and appointed the days that 34:19 were numbered for me. I want to finish it when I come to the end of my life. There may be many other things which are lawful I didn't have time for. And I don't judge other Christians who do it. But I don't I find I don't have time for 34:34 it. I'm not saying we shouldn't be interested in what's going on in the world. I'm all interested in every day in what's happening in the world. The news around the world interests me cuz I want to know if we are ready if we are 34:46 getting closer to the coming of Jesus Christ. I want to be aware of the world I live in. That's all okay. But it must never take me away from knowing God's word because of this verse, the only way I can live is by every single word 35:05 that has proceeded from God's mouth. What does that mean in practical terms? All Christians will say the Bible is the word of God. Have you read every word in it? If you've been a Christian for 7 years, and you haven't read every word in it, 35:23 I would say you're not a serious Christian. You're just playing games. And you're listening to the Bible as preached by other preachers. Most of them don't quote many verses in the scripture in any case. And you're a prime candidate for 35:39 deception. I've said repeatedly, if you have a Bible in your own language and you can read, and you haven't studied it in 7 years, you deserve to be deceived. 35:58 Those are strong words, but it's the truth. You deserve to be deceived because you haven't taken God's word seriously. You say this is the only book that God's written for man. Non-Christians don't believe that. You say you believe it. 36:16 If it were the only book, how carefully do you read it? Would you read a legal document which you're going to sign, which involves some money? Would you read that more carefully than you read God's word? Because that may involve you in having 36:34 to spend some money. Is money more important to you than God's will for your life? Be honest before God. Confess your sin. And say, "Lord, uh it's the truth what I heard today that if I have a legal document that involves finances, I will definitely 36:50 read it over and over and over again. Be absolutely careful before I sign it, and I have not treated your word like that. I want to admit it." God loves honest people. And when you're honest before God, he'll help you to take the next step to take 37:02 God's word seriously. Why do I say that? Because, you know, when you say I want to be a spirit-filled church, this is the only book written by the Holy Spirit. I believe that. In in Today, I believe it because for 55 years 37:18 I've read it, and it has changed my life completely, changed my family life. It changed my ministry. It changed what I understood of the church, everything. It came I got in line with God's way of thinking. And I didn't realize that the that in 37:33 the days when the first one or 2 years, I didn't take studying the scriptures too seriously. I didn't realize then then I was leaning upon my own understanding. I thought I was clever enough. I don't need to I'm glad God 37:50 that every word of God is how I live. And the Holy Spirit has come to make me live that full Christian life. Now, I want to say that to all of you. Don't miss out on God's perfect plan for your life. Don't stand one day before 38:07 Jesus and discover, when the Lord says to you, "My son, my daughter, I had such a wonderful life planned for you in spite of your mistakes. If you had only taken me a little more seriously. If you had only taken my word 38:24 a little more seriously, I could have done so much more in you and through you." And then he he the Lord shows you a video of what your life could have been when you stand before him. 38:41 And he shows you how much you missed. I want to ask you, will you have some regret that day? "Lord, you gave everything for me on the cross, and I was so cold and calculating in the way I responded to you. Have mercy on me." 38:59 I believe with all my heart there are many, many Christians who stand before the Lord who will say, "I wish, Lord, I could live my life again." That's one of my been one of my prayers. Lord, I don't want to say in that day, 39:13 "I wish I could live my life again." I have only one chance to live. Jesus came to earth and said, "I will build my church." He did not come here to build holy individuals. No, he never said that. He said in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my church." 39:31 And the apostles understood that after the day of Pentecost. Paul did not go around producing holy individuals and leaving them alone. No. That's happening today. There are great evangelists today and thank God for every one of 39:48 them. I don't despise them, but I have a question in my heart about it. I don't see that in the New Testament. That's all. My standard is not today's great evangelist. I'll tell you that. My standard is what I see in the 40:02 in the scriptures. Jesus said, "Follow me." He was the first person in the Bible who said, "Follow me." The second person in the Bible who said, "Follow me." was Paul. 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Follow me as I follow Christ." He also said that in 40:15 Philippians 3:17, "Take us as an example." So, I'm not ashamed to say I'm follow I follow Paul. Some people are ashamed to say that I follow a godly man. I'm not ashamed to say it. Because the Bible says, Holy Spirit says 40:32 through Paul, "Follow me as I follow Christ." I wouldn't follow Paul if he was not following Christ. But when I see a man following Christ, I can imitate him. And behind Paul, there are other godly men. And if ever I see a godly man, I mean 40:46 among the millions I may find one. That's the one I'll follow. I'm not following every Christian. But if I find a man who's really following in the footsteps of Paul and Jesus Christ, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm following him. 40:58 Some people tease others say, "Oh, you're following a man." Okay. Who are you following? See, and so I see that the Apostle Paul did not just go around winning souls. Today there's a great passion to win souls. I say, "Fine." 41:15 But if you ask some of the great evangelists today, "Hey, I heard that you went to many countries and you brought thousands to Christ. Where are they?" Where are the ones you brought to Christ in India or in Thailand or 41:30 Argentina? And he'll say, "I don't know." You don't know? I hope they went to some church. That's not how what Paul would say. If you went to Paul and said, "Hey, I heard Paul that you brought some souls to Christ in Philippi. Where are they?" 41:46 He'll come with me. He'll take you to Philippi. He'll take you to the local church and say, "Here's every one of them. Here are the 100 people I brought to Christ in Philippi or 200. You see them all? They are here." And Paul, I heard that in Thessalonica 42:00 you brought a few people to Christ. Where are they? Come, I'll show you every one of them. He'll take you to a local church in Thessalonica and say, "Here they are." And I heard that you did that in Ephesus, too. Come, I'll show you in 42:10 Ephesus. Here, come here. I'll show you the ones. This is the New Testament pattern. You can either follow that or 20th century evangelism pattern. That's your choice. I decided to follow the New Testament pattern. It works. It works in a poor country 42:27 like India. It'll work in any country in the world. And it works in the 20th century and 21st century. I proved it in about 100 churches that we planted over the last 40 years. It's not just one or two. We have proved it in the poorest 42:42 villages and in rich cities with PhDs. We proved it among illiterate women who can't read and write and with postgraduate doctors. It doesn't make a difference. Christ is the same. Education or no education, poor or rich, 43:00 we have proved it in two villages where there were no Christians for 2,000 years. And you see a church there. You come with me, I'll show you. Here they are. All the people who were brought to Christ in this village where the Christ 43:13 was not preached for 2,000 years. I'll show you every one of them. This is a local church. This is what Jesus came to build. When he said, "All men will know you're my disciples by the fact that you love one another." How is that How are they going to see it 43:29 if it's in not in a locality? I mean, don't you find it very easy to love the brothers and sisters in Argentina and China and people who are far away from you you'll never see? What about the ones who live in your own home? 43:44 And the ones in your local church? He says, "That's difficult, right?" Yeah. It's very important to build a local church. So, I want to say to you, if you read the scriptures and you seek to follow the scriptures, you must be a living testimony at the 44:04 end of your life that what's written in the scriptures can be fulfilled today. In your you can think your situation is difficult. Nothing is impossible with God. If you trust him, he can use the weakest among you. If you don't seek your own 44:18 honor, that's another important thing. If you're seeking your own honor, brother, sister, forget it. Don't ever think God's going to accomplish anything through you. You can get a name for yourself. Jesus never sought his own honor. He 44:32 always sought to glorify the Father. And if you can say, "Lord, my passion in life is to glorify you and accomplish your will." He taught us to pray that you remember, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." 44:45 My name is unimportant. Can you say that honestly to the Lord? "Lord," this is the first request he taught us to pray. "Our Father, who art in heaven." I'm not worried about my cancer or my backache or my financial problems. 45:01 Hallowed be your name. That's my number one request. Get me a few Christians like that who have no interest in any other thing but number one, God's name must be hallowed on earth. In my locality, through my life, in my 45:17 home. Secondly, I still haven't come to my backache and my financial problems. Secondly, "Thy will be done on earth in my life as it is done in heaven." How do the angels in heaven do God's will? 45:34 They first of all, they wait on God. They don't run around trying to do something for him. I mean, you know, sometimes people say, "Hey, why don't you do something for God, man? Go do something for him. There are needy people out there. Go and do 45:46 something." You can't get Gabriel or Michael to run around like that. They wait on God and God says, "Okay, go and do this. Go down to Nazareth and tell that woman, Mary, she's going to have a child." And Gabriel does that, 45:59 comes back. That's how they do God's will on They don't have their own bright ideas how to do God's will. They wait on the Father because they know that only the word that proceeds from the Father is going to produce result. 46:13 In Isaiah 55, God says, "The word that proceeds out of my mouth will never return to me empty." And they wait on him. And then when they the Lord asks them to do something, they go and do it completely, not partially, and joyfully. 46:31 So, when I say, "Lord, thy will be done in my life as it is done in heaven." I say, "Lord, first of all, I want to wait on you to see what do you want me to do?" I mean, there are lots of Christians around me who want me to do many things, 46:42 but I'm not going to listen to them. I'm going to listen to you. Do you know how many Christian workers have tried to brainwash me through these years to do what they think I should do? I say, "Thank you very much, but I'm not 46:57 going to listen to you. God bless you. If you feel you should do that, go ahead and do that. I'm a servant of God. I'm not your servant. Sorry. I listen to the head. See, this finger does not tell this finger what to do. 47:09 No. We listen to the head. Thy will be done on earth. I want to listen to him. And then I want to do it completely. I never want to do a half job for God. I don't want to build half a church and just leave it. I don't want to go somewhere and bring a 47:23 person to Christ and say, "Okay, go and join some church." No mother has a baby like that. Okay, here's a baby born and throw it on the street. Got to produce another baby. This is the type of stupid, foolish evangelism being done today. 47:36 Jesus said, "Go and make disciples." Matthew 28:20. "And teach them to do everything that I have taught you." Matthew 28:20. That's how we build a spirit-filled church. A spirit-filled church is does not consist of people who just raise their 47:52 hand or sign a decision card and say, "I have accepted Christ." No. There are two sides to the Great Commission. Mark chapter 16 is one side. I've said these things many times, but I find that it needs repetition because people don't 48:07 seem to hear clearly. I agree with Charles Finney, the great evangelist and teacher in America 150 years ago who said, "I've discovered in my preaching that people need to hear something 10 times before they really understood it." 48:21 The same thing. And I've discovered that, too. Sometimes more than 10 times because you are so dull of hearing. The writer to the Hebrews says to the Hebrews in Hebrews 5, "There are many things I want to say to you, but you are 48:33 dull of hearing." Mark 16, it says, "Go and preach the gospel to all creation." Verse 15 and 16. "He who believed and is baptized will be saved." That is like one side of a currency note or one side of a coin. If there's nothing printed on the other 48:51 side of the currency note, it is fake. If the other side of a coin is blank, it's fake. Here's the other side of the coin, Matthew 28, which completes the Great Commission. So, first of all, you go into all the world and preach the gospel and bring 49:05 people to Christ. They believe and they are baptized. Then then what? Here it is. To complete the Great Commission, Matthew 28, verse 18 to 20, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go and make disciples." A disciple is a 49:19 learner and a follower. He's accepted Christ now. His sins are forgiven. He's born again. He's become a child of God. What next? You must make him a learner and a follower. Teach him to listen to Jesus speaking to him. Not just to the preacher speaking to 49:39 him. Teach him to listen to Jesus speaking to him and teach him to follow that. And baptize him and then verse 20, here's the most difficult part. Teach them to obey or do 49:57 every single thing I have commanded you. This is the most difficult part of the Great Commission. Now, notice carefully. It is not teach them all that I commanded you, but teach them to do all that I commanded you. 50:16 And the difference is like this. If I were to teach people swimming on a blackboard and draw a diagram, say move your hands like this and your legs like this and lift your head up like this and explain it all on a blackboard and 50:31 say okay folks, go and jump in the river now and swim. They'll all drown. But if I have to teach them to do swimming, I say hey, come with me to the river. I'll show you. You see how I move my hands? Do you see how I put my head under the water and up 50:45 and do you see how I move my legs? Do that. That is teach them to do. The other is teach them. Teach them to do every single thing I commanded you. In other words, God wants a church. If there are 100 people in that church, 51:01 every one of those 100 people must have forgiven every one of their ones who have done harm to them. Every one of those 100 people must really be battling sexual lust and fighting it with all their hearts. Everyone, not 99, all 100. 51:17 Every one of those 100 must be fighting and overcoming anger day by day so it gets better and better and better and better and number of them come to the place where they totally overcome anger. And every one of those people must love 51:29 all their enemies. And every one of those people must do all their works in secret. If they give money, nobody must know about it. If they pray, nobody must know about it. If they fast, nobody must know about it. Every one of those people must be led to 51:42 the place of being free from anxiety. Jesus said don't be anxious for anything. Every one of those people must be freed from the love of money. Jesus said do not love money. You cannot love money and God. I'm just mentioning a few things that 51:54 Jesus taught. Can you show me a church like this? Where people are where the preacher is even attempting attempting to lead people into this. I've been doing it for 40 years and I'm sure there are others in the world. I'm not the only one. 52:11 But I want to say to you, those are the only ones who are building the church that Jesus wanted built on this earth. Unfortunately, we've been influenced by a world which emphasizes quantity more than quality. Jesus wanted quality, 52:33 not numbers. You never see him interested in numbers. He's always interested in quality. He'd drive away the big crowds. He'd say yeah, yeah, I know he says why you fellows came. You fellows came because you saw the miracles. 52:45 But you got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. You got to die with me and when they heard that, they all left. He said okay, go. He never went after any one of them. He never went after rich young ruler who had so much money with him. 52:59 Jesus said, go and give your money away and come to me without your money. Have you ever heard a preacher say that? Go and give your money away to the poor and come to me without your money. I want you, man. I don't want your money. 53:11 Jesus was the one preacher who did it. I've done it. I've told people, listen, we don't want your money. I want you, brother. I want you to change, become Christ-like. If you want to teach people everything that Jesus did by his life and by his 53:23 teaching, this is what we are to practice and we need to build churches like this across the world. See, if there's a wonderful church in some country, how can some people here know about Christ? You, wherever you live, 53:39 you have you are a you have called called to build a little fellowship, however small it may be, that manifests Christ, the life of Christ. The first body of Christ did the will of God and when the church is called the body 53:53 of Christ, it must complete God's will in the same way that that church functions just like Jesus functioned on earth. This must be our passion. Any of you who have responsibility to preach in a church or lead a church, 54:11 I hope you'll be gripped by this. And for this, there's only one way. A passion to go is not enough. The disciples had a passion to go and Jesus said wait. Wait until you're filled with the Holy Spirit. And when you're filled with the spirit, 54:31 you will be my witnesses. Acts 1:8. Not just bear witness. Bearing witness is with lips. Being a witness means by my life plus my words. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be 54:50 my witnesses. And that was the secret. That's how the Christians built the church in those days and this is the only way. I I find in our own history as a church, God began with filling us with the Holy Spirit. That's how we began. 55:10 We did not become Pentecostals. We love Christians in every denomination. There are born again believers in every church and we love them all, but we don't agree with all of them. We agree with scripture. And we sought to be filled with the Holy 55:26 Spirit in the scriptural way and to be In other words, the people ask what is the proof that you're filled with the spirit? Well, Jesus said it himself. Acts 1:8. You shall receive power. Power for what? To be my witnesses. 55:41 That's the mark of being filled with the spirit. That means power to be a witness by my life and my words. And if that's not happening, I say Lord, I'm not filled with the spirit. And you can be filled with the spirit and then lose that also. 55:57 So, I want to be filled with the spirit continuously and we must seek that everyone in the church comes into this life. We can't force it. Jesus couldn't accomplish it himself. Have you noticed this in Acts chapter Sorry. 56:13 1 Corinthians 15. Do you know that Jesus never appeared to any unbeliever after his resurrection? It would have been a great temptation for him to go up to Pilate and Annas and Caiaphas and say, hey, you thought you'd get rid of me. Here I am. 56:31 You know what a lust that would have been for you and me? If he got raised from the dead to go to these fellows who crucified you and say, you thought you got rid of me. Here I am, fellows. He never did it because he was not 56:44 interested in proving himself to unbelievers. Remember this. He didn't want that cheap sort of try He didn't come with that cheap triumphalism. Sometimes Christians have that. They want to try and prove something to the 56:57 unbeliever. I want to prove nothing to anybody. I want to do the will of God. And the Father told Jesus you're not to show yourself to any unbeliever. He never went and showed himself to Herod or Annas or Caiaphas or anybody. He 57:10 showed himself only to believers. And we read in Acts 15, he was raised from the dead, verse four, on the third day. He appeared to Cephas, that is Peter, and then to the 12. And after that, he appeared to more than 500 57:26 believers, brothers, brethren, brothers and sisters at one time. And a few days after that, out of that 500, how many were eager to wait for the fullness of the Holy 57:44 Spirit? Do you remember? 100 What happened to the other 380? Have you ever thought of that? They were like a lot of believers today. Yeah, we believe Jesus. We saw him. Don't you want to seek to be filled with the spirit? Oh, 58:03 I married a wife. I can't come now. I bought a house. I can't come now. You know all the excuses that Jesus said in a parable. There are other things that are priority. Don't you want to be filled with the spirit? Are you born again? 58:16 Don't you want to be filled with the spirit? Yeah, yeah, in time, but I got other things to do right now. I don't know whether those 380 ever ever ever in their life sought to be filled with the spirit. I don't know. There There is a group like that in 58:32 Christendom today. Born again, without a doubt. Born again, they call themselves believers, brothers and they are born again. But they don't have a passion to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's where you need to ask yourself 58:46 which category you're in. Let me show you the first picture of a spirit-filled church in the Old Testament. You know, the Old Testament had word I mean pictures in different incidents like many people are familiar with the 59:02 Passover lamb, a picture of Jesus Christ slain. They put the blood outside the door and the angel of death wouldn't come into that house, a picture of Christ. We trust in the blood of Christ to forgive us. Or the rock being smitten 59:16 and the rivers of living water flowing out, a picture of Christ smitten and the Holy Spirit being poured out. Here's another beautiful picture of the church. Two beautiful pictures of the church of a spirit-filled church. 59:29 The first two pictures of the spirit-filled church in the Old Testament. Exodus chapter 3. Exodus in chapter 3. Moses was pasturing the flock of his father-in-law and the angel of the Lord, which is in 59:48 the Old Testament, that's the messenger of the Lord. The word angel and messenger are the same. Refers to a pre-incarnational manifestation of Christ in spirit. It was God himself appearing in a blazing fire. That's a picture of the Holy Spirit. 1:00:06 In a bush, that's a picture of the church. So, what do we see here? A bush, just like any of the other bushes. It wasn't the biggest bush. Probably it was very small one. But it was on fire. The Holy Spirit, spirit-filled church. 1:00:25 And God was in its midst. And when Moses saw it, he'd never seen anything like it before. He stopped. And his attention was drawn to it. 1:00:43 See, this is the tragedy. We talk about churches, but they're not on fire. It's like the joke I heard about a church building that caught fire somewhere and all the neighbors came to pour water on it and there was an atheist there 1:00:59 pouring water as well. Somebody joked and said, "Hey, first time I'm seeing you in church." He says, "The first time I've seen the church on fire." That's the tragedy. What is it that stopped Moses? 1:01:20 A bush that was on fire. We wonder, "Why aren't these people being drawn to Christ?" Is the church on fire? If God is in the midst, it'll definitely be on fire. 1:01:39 A fire that purifies. A fire that lights up. Not an explanation of fire, but real fire. Not a painted fire that produces no heat and no light. But a real fire. 1:01:58 And that's what made Moses stop and that's what will make the unbeliever and the nominal Christian stop and say, "Hey, this is different. I see something in this church which is different." That's what drew sinners to Christ. 1:02:12 Jesus said, "I If I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." People have often asked me, "What is the mark of a New Testament church?" I believe this is it. That people who come to a church meeting must go away saying, 1:02:31 "Boy, I met with Jesus today." Not the singing was great. And there was some clever stories the father the preacher said stirred my heart. But I met with Jesus. He spoke to my heart. 1:02:51 He showed me my need. The fire was like a scan that exposed my inner life. Moses stopped. And then God could speak. So, God wanted Moses to arrest Moses' 1:03:09 attention first. And that's what a spirit-filled church must be. There must be something about it that makes people stop and say, "Hey, there's something different about this." What I mean is that people from that church who work in offices, 1:03:27 their neighbors and relatives say who must say this, "Something different about this Christian. He's not the ordinary run-of-the-mill type of Christian. He's different." That's what people must say and they must say, "Which church do you go to?" 1:03:40 And then they're drawn to that church. That's what we see here. Moses stopped and he said, "I must turn aside, verse 3, and see this marvelous sight." Imagine if people could say, "I want to stop and see this marvelous church. This is amazing. This 1:03:59 is so different from any other church I've ever come across. I go to this church and they're not interested in my money first of all, which is itself surprising. They're not interested in to get anything out of me. They seem to be 1:04:15 genuinely interested in my welfare. They seem to be interested in helping me come to a godly life. Helping me to have a better family life. What are they getting out of it? They're not even asking me for my money. This is a marvelous sight. 1:04:32 They seem to be genuinely interested like God so loved the world that people should not perish, but experience eternal life. And I see a church here that's really interested in leading me to knowing God better 1:04:49 and want nothing from me. That's the type of church we must build. That really is. He stopped and then when the Lord saw verse 4 that he stopped, God called to him from the midst of the bush. And I apply that. That's a spirit-filled church. 1:05:08 People stop and then God can call them from the midst of that church and say, "Hey, I have a purpose for you." That to me is one of the perfect descriptions of a spirit-filled church. 1:05:26 We read in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians 14. If the whole church comes together, it says in verse 23, the whole church comes together and people think that the best way to impress everyone is by everybody speaking in tongues, that's not it. I've 1:05:45 been to churches where everybody speak in tongues. And you know what I say? I say exactly what's written in this place. Are these people mad? That's what it says here. You go to a church where everybody speaking in tongues and the Holy Spirit 1:05:59 says they'll say you're mad. That's not what you should be doing. There is a place for the gift of tongues in private. Before God is a private prayer language within you and the Lord. If God gives it to you, use it, but not in public. 1:06:12 But if all prophesy, means share the word. If there's a sharing of the word in the meeting inspired by the Holy Spirit, then even if an unbeliever or man who doesn't believe in the gifts of the spirit comes in there, he's convicted. 1:06:26 People come into such a church and they say, "Boy, the secrets of my heart, verse 25, are disclosed." That means the Lord spoke to me and gave me a scan of my spiritual condition. And he'd say, "God is here." 1:06:44 What do you say? God is certainly here. Just like Moses said in the burning bush. That is the mark of a spirit-filled church. And my prayer for myself has been, "Lord, if I have a responsibility for a church and I'm leading a church meeting, 1:07:02 every single meeting, not 90%. That's not my goal. 100% is my goal. Every single meeting that I'm responsible for, people come in must go away saying, "The Lord gave me a revelation of my 1:07:21 true condition and gave me hope that he can change me. The Lord spoke to me. I met with Jesus." That should be our goal. Like I heard of a man who went and heard two preachers and at the end of one sermon he said, "Boy, 1:07:40 what a wonderful preacher." And he heard another preacher and he said, "What a wonderful savior." He was drawn to Jesus. He must go to a place. He must belong to a church where you meet with Jesus. Not just hear wonderful sermons. 1:08:00 Wonderful sermons will only tickle your ears. Paul speaks in to to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4. He says, "The time will come when people will accumulate teachers who tickle their ears." Do you know that verse? 2 Timothy 4. If 1:08:14 you're not familiar with it. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, 1 2 Timothy 4:1, verse 2, "Preach the word of God." What a need for that today. Because, verse 3, "The time will come and he's referring to the 20th century 1:08:34 health wealth gospel and all that, when people will not endure healthy, hygienic, the word for sound sound doctrine in the Greek is from the word from which we get the word hygiene, hugiano. Hygienic doctrine, that means hygiene is related to health. 1:08:53 People don't want healthy doctrine. You know, we have a great emphasis today on unhealthy foods, junk foods. There's a lot of junk food in Christian churches today. Healthy doctrine that leads you to a godly life, but instead of that, they want to have 1:09:08 their ears tickled with all types of stories and you know, promises, empty promises that God will make you rich and healthy and all that and they will accumulate for themselves, not just one or two. Accumulate. What is a 1:09:23 picture of accumulate? What picture does that form in your mind? It's one or two. One or two is not an accumulation. Hundreds of teachers in accordance to their own desires. What is their own desires? What are the two things everybody in the world wants? 1:09:38 I'm talking about worldly, unconverted, godless people. What are the two things they all want? Money and health. And when Christian preachers begin to offer you that, you know that they are just satisfying the desires of everybody in the world. 1:09:54 There are multitudes of Christians who want their ears tickled with that type of thing. They'll turn away their ears, verse four, from the truth. And they will turn aside to all these stories. But you be sober and fulfill your 1:10:08 ministry. He says, "As far as I'm concerned, I fought a good fight to preserve the true gospel, verse seven. I finished my course." So, that's one picture. The other picture in Exodus is the tabernacle. And from Exodus 25 right up to Exodus 1:10:27 40, you have a description of the building of the tabernacle, which the Lord said in Exodus 25 is going to be my dwelling place. Exodus 25, verse eight, "Let them construct a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them." 1:10:42 That's the church. A place where God can make his home. And we read here that when the work was finished, Exodus 40, the last verse 33, the last part, that's Moses finished his work, the cloud covered the tent, and the glory of the 1:11:02 Lord filled the tabernacle. And it was there, verse 38, last part, like fire at night. That's the second place where you see God's dwelling place is manifested by fire, the picture of the Holy Spirit, 1:11:19 a spirit-filled church, the bush and the tabernacle, God's dwelling place. These are two pictures. The The important thing was not the pattern of the tabernacle, but the fire. You know, the details of the tabernacle are written so clearly in Exodus 25 that 1:11:36 even the Moabites and Ammonites could have made a tabernacle exactly like that. You can make one today. But there's one thing you won't be able to duplicate, that's the fire from heaven. That's the only thing in the tabernacle you cannot duplicate. 1:11:52 Everything else you can make, the curtains and the rods and the poles and sockets and everything. Any heathen could have made it. But the they could not reproduce the fire. And I want to say to you, if you follow church pattern, 1:12:06 anybody can duplicate it. But the one thing you won't be able to duplicate is the fire of the Holy Spirit. That's what we should long for. It doesn't matter if some of these are It's good to have the full pattern, but the fire is more important. It's 1:12:19 like saying, it's good to have all 10 fingers, 10 toes, and every part of the body, but life is more important. Health and breath. Breath is a picture of the Holy Spirit. I would rather have breath in my body and a couple of fingers missing 1:12:34 than to have all parts of the body and be dead. That's what I mean by being concentrating on doctrine. Make sure all the nails are there. Oh, okay, okay. But the man's dead, man. What's use counting his nails and fingers? Right. 1:12:48 What's use checking up on all the doctrines in a church? Cuz the major doctrines are important, I agree, the person in the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. But to be particular about the small things is not the main thing. Is the fire there? 1:13:02 So many people have got a doctrinal statement, which I believe the devil can sign. Yes. Do you believe that there's trinity? Yes. You believe Christ died for the sins of the world? Yes. You believe he rose from the dead? Yes. He's coming 1:13:12 back again. And he's willing. Yes, yes, yes. Sign, Satan. He can join your church. If there's a fire there, he will not survive there. There must be such a fire in the church that disturbs those who are comfortable 1:13:33 and comforts those who are disturbed. So that the church is kept pure all the time. That's God's will for every church. We'll think more about it after break. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 1:13:52 we don't want what we've heard to be empty words. We want your Holy Spirit to write these words in our hearts like you wrote it on the tablets of stone. Do it, Lord, so that not just that we'll understand something, but that we'll be gripped, 1:14:10 so gripped that it changes our whole way of life in the days to come. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. A couple of quick announcements before you leave. So, you're on break 1:14:28 now. There are some books that are for
