0:19 Praise the Lord. Let's stand up and pray to God for this day. In the words of that song, Lord Jesus, we stand amazed in your presence. 0:37 Wonder how you could love us. Sinners condemned unclean. You loved us and brought us to yourself. Today we stand cleansed of all sin in the blood of Jesus. Justified as if we had never sinned in our whole life. Accepted in the beloved, we stand before 0:56 you our dad, our heavenly father. Without any condemnation. Without any discouragement. Without any fear or anxiety or worry or gloom. Oh, we praise you because you've delivered us from everything. We could never have lifted ourselves up from the 1:15 pit. But you lifted us up by your Holy Spirit. Thank you for the wonderful gift of your Holy Spirit that brings heaven down into our hearts and into our midst. Thank you for the church, the family of God in which you have placed us. Lord, 1:31 we just thank you for everything that you have done for us. We bow before you. Now we don't deserve anything, but you've given us far more than we deserve. We have no complaints this morning. Only gratitude, thanksgiving, praise 1:45 for all that you are and all that you have become to us and all that you have done. We glorify you. We worship you. We praise you. Father in heaven, in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. We have been 2:03 considering Paul's statement, I declared unto you the full purpose of God. I did not hesitate. Acts chapter 20 verse 27 and uh We picture the full purpose of God as you see there in a 2:21 circle with the colors of the light. Light has seven colors, white light. And it's a picture because it says God is light. That means there are many facets to his glory. And the Bible says that we, as a church, must be the light of the world. 2:40 There must be many aspects of that glory of God that is seen in us. And we can't do it all by ourselves. The only perfect body of Christ in one person was Jesus Christ. Never since Christ has there been another human being 2:58 in whom the whole glory could be seen in one person. And if you recognize that, you will eagerly long for fellowship with other brothers and sisters so that together with them you can manifest the wonderful glory of God. 3:17 It is arrogant people who think I can manifest all seven colors myself. You got to be really off your head, crazy to think that you can manifest all of God's glory by yourself. Now theoretically we'll all say we, yeah, we recognize that we cannot 3:37 manifest all the glory of God by ourselves, but the way some people behave, it act it's as though they believe that they can do it all themselves. Yeah, I've seen a lot of elders like that who think they can do it all themselves. 3:51 And they feel others are just lot of small little like in the puns in the office in India. That's that's not the church. That's a dictatorship. That's popery. If you are humble, we recognize that I can only be at the most maybe one part 4:08 of a circle. I need many others to complete it. And I shall not just admit it, but eagerly long for it. There's a lot of difference between admitting, oh yes, I agree, and eagerly longing for it. It's only those who eagerly long for God who 4:24 find him. And it's those who eagerly long for fellowship who find the body of Christ. You know, when the angels appeared to the shepherds and said, "Go down to Bethlehem and you'll find a They didn't give any address. You 4:39 know that? They didn't say go on such and such and such a street, such and such a number you'll find." They said, "You'll find one baby in all of Bethlehem lying in a cowshed in a manger." And so they went around looking for 4:52 cowsheds. And they said, "That's the only sign God the angels gave us." They looked for cowsheds in here and there. I don't know how many cowsheds they went to before they finally found one baby lying in a manger in a cowshed 5:06 and say, "Ah, we got it." It's those who are eagerly seeking for the body of Christ like those shepherds who find them. Imagine the kings of the east. How eagerly they sought. Travel, travel, travel. I don't know how many hundreds of miles and they 5:20 could only travel at night because they could see the star only at night. Slept during the day. Travel, travel. But they were eager to see the body of Christ. And I've seen through the years that those who are eager, eager to find the body of Christ 5:35 find it. The rest just drift along saying, "I've accepted Christ." So, we want to have the whole purpose of God and accomplish that uh all of God's purpose for our own lives before we leave this earth. 5:52 And God has given us the scriptures. We looked at it John 17 and verse 31. Let's look at that again. Uh sorry, John 17 verse 3, not 31. John 17 verse 3. Light is life. And Jesus said this and this is eternal life. He was defining eternal life that 6:11 they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. I'll tell you what I've discovered. All wrong doctrine comes from a faulty knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. All sin comes because you don't know God 6:31 and you don't know Jesus Christ. If you knew God and you knew Jesus Christ, you would hate sin with all your heart. Ignorant, illiterate women in the villages, they're not afraid of cancer because they don't know what cancer is. 6:47 If a doctor tells them you got fourth stage cancer, it doesn't disturb them. They think it's like a cough and a cold, it'll go away tomorrow. But if you're an educated person and you hear that you got cancer, you're not going to get much sleep 7:00 tonight, particularly if you discover that it's in the terminal stages. But I don't find many Christians who see sin like that. So many sins they tolerate in their life. They say little little things, little lies, little prejudices, little unforgiving 7:20 spirit, a little gossip, a little bitterness, a little jealousy, a little love of money, a little stubbornness and a little haughtiness and a little despising of others. And they don't see these as cancer. You know why? They are illiterate. 7:39 Spiritually illiterate just like that woman is medically illiterate. And I find the vast majority of believers are spiritually illiterate. They don't see sin as more serious than 7:56 sickness. I'll tell you if you're spiritually illiterate, you can check up yourself. Do you believe that having a dirty thought, lusting after a woman, is like terminal cancer? Which is more serious? If you'd say, "I'd rather have terminal cancer in my 8:15 life than lust after a woman." Then you're literate. If you can say, "I would rather have terminal cancer or AIDS rather than get angry and hurt another person with my words." You're literate. There are very few 8:34 who are literate. Most Christians are illiterate. That's why they don't see sin as serious. And it's amazing how you can see Jesus hanging on a cross dying, the Son of God shedding his blood, 8:52 and at the end of it all to tolerate the smallest little sin in your life, I say you haven't seen Calvary. You've seen the movies of Jesus hanging on the cross, but you have not had a revelation in your heart of Christ, the Son of God, dying on the 9:09 cross. There's a song which I've often quoted which where I sing to myself many times, "Ever when I'm tempted, Lord, let me see my God alone outstretched and bruised and bleeding on the earth he made. Whenever I'm tempted, help me to see my God alone 9:29 outstretched and bruised and bleeding on the earth he made, and let me feel the weight of my sin was heavier. He who could bear the universe on his shoulders could not bear the weight of my sin." I sing it and sing it and sing it to 9:45 myself till I can see what Jesus suffered me for me on the Calvary. Most of us don't know Jesus. I'll tell you that. You think you know him, you don't. The proof that you know the Lord is that you hate sin. And you love righteousness. You will 10:00 long to be more humble than you are today. You will pursue humility like the businessman pursues money. Many times I have thought of the businessman here in Bangalore who keep their stores open till late at 10:17 night so they get customers. They keep their stores open on holidays so that they can get customers. And even when their work people go away, the owner stays because he wants to make more money. And I can imagine that such 10:31 businessman at night when they dream, they dream about how to open another store. How to make a little more money. That's their God. They worship mammon. They worship wealth. And the way I've said to myself is I 10:50 say, "Lord, don't let any earthly businessman be a greater worshiper of this false God, money, than I am of the true God in Jesus Christ." In other words, that passion that man has to make more and more money must be 11:08 much less than my passion to love Jesus, to know him, and to serve him so that at night when I dream, I dream about the kingdom of God. I've said to myself, whether you accept it or not, that my dreams are a pretty good test of 11:25 what my heart longs for. You can fool everybody in the world, but you can't fool your subconscious. Your subconscious knows what you long for. And if you long after pictures of dirty women, you're going to see that at night, however spiritual you may look in 11:43 the meeting. We got to radically fight against it. Say, "Lord, I want to cleanse myself from that. I want to have the mind of Jesus Christ. What's the use calling myself a Christian if I'm only a Christian externally? If 11:57 I'm just a little bit better than some of these other Christians in other churches. I want to be better inside. I want my inside. God looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance and couldn't care for less for man's opinion. 12:11 It's so important to know Jesus, to know God, and to know Jesus Christ. That is eternal life. And it begins with knowing God as our Father. Jesus came with primarily to reveal God as a Father. When he died on the cross, 12:27 he was revealing the loving heart of a Father God who loved the world so much that he gave his only son. You know, once Jesus had to tell his disciples, "I don't have to pray to the Father for you. Father himself loves you." 12:41 Some many people think of Jesus as the one who loves, but not the Father. Many Christians don't know God as a Father. I did not know him personally as a Father. You know, it comes by revelation. One of the great words in the New 12:56 Testament is revelation. In the Old Testament, it was understanding, knowledge. But in the New Testament, the word is revelation. And if you live with understanding of the Bible and knowledge of the Bible like they teach in the 13:10 Bible schools, you will all your life be an Old Covenant Christian. I told you yesterday it's important to study the Bible. I believe that. But more than that, we must get revelation on the Bible. And revelation can only come by the Holy Spirit. 13:27 Paul says in one place in 1 Corinthians 3, I don't have time to turn to all these passages, but sorry, 2 Corinthians 3, he says, "When you read the law in the Old Testament spirit, it's like having a a veil on top of it. You put a 13:39 handkerchief over your Bible and try to read it. That's knowledge. You don't get revelation. You think you're getting knowledge, but I can show you how much you miss when you don't depend on the Holy Spirit. How much you miss of seeing God in his 13:58 Fatherly care for you. For example, how do you know whether you know God is your Father? I believe one proof is that we'll be free from anxiety. And we be free from fear. If you're not free from anxiety and fear, say to yourself, 14:16 "I have not got revelation yet as much as I should have of God as my Father." There are a lot of people in Christianity today who whose only understanding of God is one who's going to provide all their material needs. Material needs are the least important 14:32 for me. My physical needs are not the most important because all this will perish. But my spiritual needs are more important. And my Father meets my spiritual needs first. He does provide the other needs, but he wants us to 14:49 seek for that which is spiritual first. When the when Jesus was speaking to the Apostle Peter about He asked him, "Who do you say that I am?" He asked all the disciples actually in Matthew 16. 15:08 Matthew 16, he said to his disciples, "Who verse 15 who do you say that I am?" And Peter said, "You're the Christ, the son of the living God." And immediately Jesus used that word 15:26 revelation. You see that? "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, because flesh and blood or your human intelligence did not reveal that word revelation did not reveal this to you. 15:46 But my Father who is in heaven revealed it to you. He gave you a revelation which all those clever Pharisees and Bible scholars sitting in the synagogues could not get." Revelation comes to humble people. He said earlier in another place, "I 16:04 thank you, Father, you have hidden these things from the clever and the intelligent." We have far too many clever and intelligent people preacher preaching today instead of humble people like babes. Christendom is full of clever, 16:18 intelligent people who get theological degrees and become pastors. We don't want anybody like that in our churches, not even one. We want people who have revelation like Peter. Whether they are illiterate like Peter or extremely clever like Paul, it's the 16:38 same thing. They both need revelation. Paul says in Galatians, "It pleased God to reveal his son in me." Even a clever man needed revelation. This revelation is not found in the Old Testament. Ask yourself whether you got knowledge or revelation. 16:57 When you share something in the script in the in the church, is it knowledge or revelation? How do you know when you read the scripture what you got is a bright idea or revelation? Many times I've heard people say clever 17:12 things in the scriptures, uh clever things in the meetings, and they also are inwardly a little proud that they've shared something very clever in the meeting. But the test of whether it was just a clever idea or revelation is this. 17:27 Has it changed your life? If it has not changed your life, it's just a clever thought. And it just shows that you got a clever brain. You need revelation, brother. Revelation changes your life. It changed Peter's life. It made him forsake his 17:47 nets and forsake everything to follow Jesus. It wasn't just a a thought that came into his mind. And then, the important thing I want you to see here is after he said that, Jesus said, "On this rock 18:05 on this rock of revelation of a revealed Christ, I will build my church." Many people haven't understood verse 18. There are more than half of the Christians in the world think that Peter is the rock. You can read that and say, "Well, 18:28 you are Peter, but upon this rock which you just confessed through revelation, Christ, the son of the living that I will build my church." That's what he was saying. But you don't see that if you don't read if the Holy Spirit doesn't show you. 18:41 Peter's not the rock. I don't want to stand on a shaky person like Peter. And not even a an uh human understanding of Christ. There are a lot of people who followed a human understanding of Jesus Christ. Mahatma Gandhi, for example, in India, 18:56 is a very humble, good man who loved the poor. And he had a understanding of the physical Christ who cared for the poor and the lepers, and he tried to follow him. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a revelation. You 19:11 can't build a church with that type of following of Christ. You got to have revelation on this rock where the Father reveals Christ to you. I will build my church. And that's why you find so many people who started churches, they tried to follow the CFC 19:26 pattern, they sing the same songs, and read my books, and they think, "Yeah, we're going to do it this way." And it collapses because it's not built on revelation. It's not built on the rock. It's built on sand of human understanding and 19:42 following a pattern and seeing something somewhere and say, "We'll do it the same way and we'll think we'll have the same church." You won't. You got to have a passion for Jesus in your heart if you want to build a church, a 19:53 passionate desire to know the Lord and to know God as your father. You know, Jesus, one of his greatest longings were that the disciples would be would know God as their father. That's why he said so many stories and illustrations like 20:12 look how he cares for the birds. Don't you think he'll care for you? Look how he clothes the flowers. Don't you think he will clothe you? Then why you worry about earthly things? If you seek the kingdom of God first and his 20:27 righteousness, all these things will be added to you. See, man throughout the world is interested in earthly things. And um there's nothing wrong in acknowledging the fact that we need things of earth. Even Jesus needed to eat food. Jesus 20:44 needed clothes. Jesus needed a place to stay. But he was never anxious about those things. He was not even afraid of death. Cuz he was so secure in his father. So, if that was the body of Christ, I am to build a body today, 21:04 if I'm called to build the church, and I must be a part of that which has that same characteristic. A complete freedom from seeking after the things of this earth. But a passionate desire to seek God's kingdom first. Otherwise, it's not the 21:18 body of Christ. And if you got a bunch of people in your church who are just seeking honor and position and money, and you call that the body of Christ, that's an insult to Jesus Christ. See, the body of Christ that you build in your 21:33 locality must be similar to that first body of Christ. That's how it must be. He was so free from attachment to the things of the world or the fear that he would starve one day or get sick and dies soon or something like that because 21:48 he he had a father. And that's why it's so important for us to know the father. It is after Jesus spoke about the my father revealed this to you. He said, "On this rock I'll build my church." I need to know the father. It 22:03 says in Matthew chapter 11, let me read this. Matthew 11 verse 25, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, but you have given revelation to babes." And I never get tired of 22:22 repeating this. You got to humble yourself like a little child. And the more humility you have, the more revelation you'll get. If you don't get revelation, say to yourself, "I'm not humble enough. I'm proud." Proud people get knowledge. Humble 22:39 people get revelation. Revelation changes lives. Revelation builds the church. To understand the full purpose of God, you can listen to all the sermons here and keep on listening to the DVDs, and you will only got knowledge. 22:51 We need revelation on God's full purpose. And for that, we need humility. That's why I say, "Pursue after humility. It's the most important thing in the Christian life." Like I often say, "The three secrets of the Christian life are 23:05 number one, humility. Number two, humility. Number three, humility." And then then we get revelation. And then he goes on to say, listen to this in the last part of verse 27, "No one knows Jesus, the son, except the father." 23:23 You say, "No, I know." Yeah, oh, you don't know. You know Jesus like Mahatma Gandhi knew Jesus. And like a lot of other people in the world know Jesus. A lot of religious people know about Jesus. The Muslims speak about Jesus. 23:37 They all speak about Jesus, and perhaps you know Jesus in somewhat like that. But no one knows the real Jesus except the father. If you want to know the real Jesus, you got to go to the father and say, "Lord, reveal Jesus to me. Help me to see the 23:51 real Jesus." And then he says, "No one knows the father except the son." You think you know God as your father? No. A lot of people in the world who say God is their father. But no one knows the father except Jesus, and anyone to whom the son will 24:09 reveal him. So, what did we see in Matthew 16? The father has to reveal the son to Peter. And here we read the son has to reveal the father to us. So, this is my longing for myself. I say, "Lord Jesus, reveal the father to 24:26 me. I long to know the father." And the more I got that revelation, my life became more secure. Secure in God that I'm loved. And it took me, as I said, so many years after I was born again to come to that, 24:45 but you don't have to wait that long. Today, if you ask me, "What is the most important message? What is the message most important message of the whole Bible?" You've heard me say it before. It's in John 17 verse 23 that the father loves me 25:04 exactly like he loved Jesus. Now, you've heard me say that numerous times if you've heard me preach. And you say, "I know that." You think you know it. You don't. If you knew it, 25:20 it would change your life completely. The father loves me exactly as he loved Jesus. That is the main message of the Bible. It's a message of love. 25:37 It's a message that the father loves me, a a totally unworthy, condemned sinner, unclean, exactly as he loved his pure, holy son. Boy, when it hits you, I remember when it hit me many years ago. That's when I wrote that song. 25:55 What he's done for Jesus, he'll do for you. It opened my eyes to a number of things. I never treated any of my children with partiality. They were all the same to me. What I did for my elder son, I would do for all my sons. And I learned something 26:11 from that about my heavenly father. That if I, a very poor poor earthly father, would be like that, my heavenly father would never be partial to one of his sons. What he did for his elder son, he will do for his younger sons. Like I, 26:30 as a father, many of you fathers are I hope you're impartial. Treat all your children equally. I've done my best to do that, and I say God must be impartial. The Bible says there's no partiality with God. Which means he will treat all his sons equally. 26:50 And if I am a younger brother of Jesus Christ, like the Bible says, he will treat me exactly like he treated his older son. What he did for Jesus, he will do for me. I got that from the most unlikely verse 27:08 you would think. You know where I found it? That the father would treat me like he he treated Jesus? Romans chapter two and verse 11. Do you see it in that verse? Do you see what I mean by revelation? 27:26 Romans 2:11 is a very simple statement. You can read it and go on to the next verse. But if you read and stop, "There is no partiality with God." All of you have read that verse. All of you believe it. But you haven't plumbed 27:42 the depths of it. When you plumb the depths of it, you discover that because there is no partiality with God, he will treat me exactly the same as he treated his elder son, Jesus. And that can change your life. That verse changed my life. 28:00 What did you get out of that verse? You read it so many times. Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you. Don't read the Bible fast. Read it slowly. Stop. When there's a stop light, stop. I have sometimes read just one verse in a 28:20 whole day. And the next day, I'm still reading the same verse. There's a stop light. The Lord says, "I want to say something to you. I don't want to read through the Bible 50 times. I want the Bible to go through me once in my life. That's enough. 28:38 I want to go to go through fully. There is no partiality with God." I said, when I was gripped by it, I said, "Then, as he cared for Jesus, he will care for me." Not only he loves me, you know, we care for those we love. 28:55 As the father cared for Jesus, he will care for me. As the father helped Jesus never to sin, he will help me to overcome sin. I mean, because of my past sinful life, I tend to trip and fall in unconscious sin. Jesus never had that, of course, so he 29:15 never fell. But in my conscious life, the father will help me. And I can spend my life demonstrating to the world that if I seek God's kingdom alone and 29:32 his righteousness in every area, he will meet all my needs. That I need never seek to pursue after the things of earth like other people in the world. We have to earn our living and I've sought to earn my own living for more than 35 29:51 years now. Not dependent on any other human being. But I don't pursue after that. If God blesses it, well and good. If he takes it away, it's like Job. The Lord you gave, praise the Lord. One day you take it away, it's fine with me because my 30:07 confidence is not in my bank account or the shares I have or any such thing. It's in a father who never changes. These things are all fluctuating, can change, disappear, but I have a father who cares for me. He can use various 30:21 means to feed me. He can feed me through crows who bring meat. He can feed me through a brook and when the brook dries up, he can feed me through not necessarily a rich businessman, but some poor person. God is sovereign. That's what he taught 30:38 Elijah. When you know God is your father, you know, it's in the context of freedom from anxiety that Jesus said seek God's kingdom first. It's so important to understand this passage. If you know the father, when you this is one of the ways I find for 30:54 myself whether I really know God as my father. Let me read to you Matthew 6. In Matthew 6 verse 24 onwards, you got to read verse 24 to 34 in one stretch to understand it. It's a very important passage. It's a test of whether we know 31:14 God is our father. And maybe we should begin with um 22. The eye is the lamp of the body. We're talking about light, you know. We want clear light. These seven colors of light. If your eye is clear, 31:34 your whole body will be full of light. You know, it's if you want to know what blindness is, just shut your eyes. That's blindness. All the light goes out. But when you open your eyes, the light comes into your body through your 31:44 eyes. It doesn't come through your ears or hands or head. All the light comes in through the eyes and that's why it's so important that your eye is clear. If you if you get blind, light doesn't come in. That's what he's saying. And if your eye 31:57 is bad, your whole body is full of darkness. And if what you call light is darkness, then how great is that darkness? I mean, some people are blind and they know it. What about people who are blind and don't even know it? 32:13 Now, if you're physically blind, you know it, but spiritually you can be blind and not even know it. You think you got light. Then why do you get angry? Why do you lust after women? Why do you get anxious? Why are you afraid? Why do you run after money? You 32:28 haven't got light. How great is that darkness then? When you think you got light and there's darkness, that's the worst darkness of all. When you think your church is a new covenant church and is exactly like any other any other church of any denomination, 32:43 that light is greatest darkness of all. And then he says, here's what I mean by having a single eye. You got to seek God and not money. There are two masters and you can have your eye on this and on that or only on 33:03 this or only on that. No one can serve two masters. You will hate the one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. He never said you can't have God and wealth, but you cannot serve God and wealth. 33:23 That's absolutely certain. And the trouble with a lot of people today is they're trying to serve God and money. Most full-time Christian workers that I know, they got one eye on money, 33:41 another eye on God. In that church, they're afraid to offend the rich people because the rich people are the one who put the offerings. And the pastor's salary is dependent on that rich guy paying his tithe. Is that man serving God? 33:57 You think he can rebuke that rich man? I remember once there was a rich man, businessman in our church. He's not here now. He left us. He came to me once in my house many years ago and he brought a thick bundle of envelope of currency notes 34:16 and said, "Brother Zac, this is for you." I said, "Okay, thank you very much." And um we had a discussion. And when he went away, the Lord said, "Don't take that. Go and give it in the church office. Get 34:35 a receipt. Don't touch that yourself and give him that receipt." So, I did that. I gave the money to the church office, got a receipt and gave it to him. And he said, "No, brother Zac, that was for you personally." Anyway, you gave it 34:51 to the Lord. It's gone to the Lord. Don't worry, I said. 3 months later, I had to rebuke him for serious sin. And I could rebuke him. And he got offended and left the church. Have you ever tried speaking when your mouth is full of currency notes? 35:09 Stuff your mouth with a few currency notes and see whether you can speak. You become dumb pretty quickly. That's how a lot of pastors are dumb. There are rich men who stuff their money down there into their mouth and they are 35:23 silent after that. But thank God this guy couldn't silence me and I decided nobody will ever silence me. If I'm going to be a spokesman for God, I'm going to make sure my mouth is clear always, empty. No one can serve God and money. It is 35:41 impossible. You have to be free from it completely. You're not to expect it from anybody. You're not hope that somebody will give you and you don't have to be a full-time worker. You can sit in a good church and hope, oh, I hope everybody 35:55 will know that I'm sick so that they'll come and give me some money. I hope they heard that my child is in hospital and I hope that they will come and give me some money. You're no better than any full-time worker. Your faith is not in 36:06 God. Your faith is in a human organization or a human club called a church. I'm not saying you shouldn't receive gifts that God gives you. I would receive. Paul received also. But if you expect it, "My soul, wait thou only upon God." The psalmist said 36:25 Psalm 62, "My expectation is only from him." That's how it should be. My expectation is only from him. I look to the hills. From where shall my help come? The psalmist says, "My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth." Not 36:39 from the hills and not from Egypt and Syria and all these places where Israel sometimes looked for. Where shall I look for my help? My look is My help is from God. This is how Jesus lived. He never once had to mention his needs 36:53 to anyone. He received. Sometimes we read that in Luke chapter 8 verse 2 and 3, Herod's palace managers supported Jesus. Jesus received it, but he never expected it. If one day that guy got offended and stopped, that's fine. The father would 37:08 still take care of Jesus maybe through a widow in Zarephath. He was not dependent The father is not dependent never dependent on anyone. He can feed you with crows. He can feed you with manna from heaven. The Bible is full of examples like that. If you seek 37:21 God's kingdom first, he will never let you down. And so my longing is when I began to understand this was I said, "Lord, I don't want to just talk about a father. I want to demonstrate in my life that I if I seek the kingdom of God first in 37:41 his righteousness, all my earthly needs will be added for me and for my family because Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father in heaven, give us this day our daily bread." We don't have to expect that from some rich man who's going to finance us or 37:59 help us. And daily bread means what does it mean to say give me my daily bread? It means help me to find some means of earning my living. That's how we get daily bread. Whatever way it is, whether in a secular job or some other way or you do some 38:13 private business or something. Lord, help me to get my daily bread so that I can put food on the table for my family and so that I can educate my children so that they can grow up and they don't become beggars and depend on others, but they can grow 38:33 up and that they will get a job as well. You know, David says in Psalm 37 verse 25, "I'm an old man now. I'm 70 years old, but I've never seen a righteous man forsaken in my life. I've never seen his children or his grandchildren begging for bread." 38:52 That's true in the old covenant, much more in the new covenant. If you seek God's kingdom first, I can tell you in Jesus' name, you'll never beg for bread. You will never depend on other people giving you a handout. You won't be 39:03 always waiting for somebody to come and give you a gift. I mean, if you've been in the church so long and you're still like that, you don't know the father. I'm sorry to say many believers do not know the father because they know they know good 39:15 brothers and sisters more than they know the father and you've missed out on so much in your life. Always expecting something from others. That's the way to make sure you'll never know the father. Make sure your expectation is only from 39:30 God in everything. God may use any means. He may use a widow in Zarephath. He may use a crow. He may use anyone. But let your expectation be from God. Seek his kingdom first, and I believe that uh the calling of a true Christian is 39:46 that at the end of your life, if people know every detail of your life, your private details, your financial details, they should be able to say there's no explanation for this man's life except that he sought God's kingdom 39:58 first. And he honored him, and God honored him. It must be like that, my brothers and sisters. Our life's testimony was should be though not those who see us outwardly be given impression on people. People know less than 1% of our real inner life. But 40:14 if people knew everything about your life, all the things that you're thinking about, how you deal with money, how you handle things and everything, if they knew everything, they should be able to say this man has honored God. 40:26 God has honored him. This man is only interested in God's kingdom and his righteousness. And God's honored him and provided for him and made sure that his children get jobs and made sure that his grandchildren get jobs. 40:40 Isn't that a fantastic testimony to a God in heaven? And that is why as a church from the beginning we decided we will never send a report. India is full of churches, organizations, missions. They survive by sending reports. 40:59 And if a worker there if they pay a worker on the field to do some work, that worker has to send a monthly report. And the report better be impressive. Supposing he says year after year like Noah, I haven't converted anybody just 41:14 my family. That's all Noah could say. 10 years, 15, 20 years, what have you done? Nobody converted except my family. Why Noah? Because my standards of righteousness are so high, nobody wants it. Well, you can't survive like that in a 41:27 mission today. If you send those type of reports, you'll be sacked. Sorry, we can't send you any more money. You got to send reports. And the end result is all types of people produce reports. Ah, we got somebody with some name like 41:39 this who got converted or somebody got healed. The whole purpose is money. What are they serving for? What are they sending these reports for? Money. We must get money. And where shall we send it? We're not going to We're not 41:52 going to send it to Africa. Nobody will send us money from there. We'll send it to America and Europe and Australia and all these places. That's why we want to send money. In fact, there are books full of addresses of churches 42:06 that people sell. Is this Christianity? And you are we such people saying they're following Jesus? Where did Jesus go around sending reports of his work? Where did the apostles go around sending reports of their work? And if there were cameras in 42:22 those days, you think they'd have taken photographs of um Paul giving out a tract to somebody, get a photograph of that and send it to people? Can you imagine the Apostle Paul, he'd have smashed that camera and said, "Get out of here." 42:35 Where do we find people like that? Where are the prophets? Everybody's a server of money. That's what I find. And that's why God wants a light. When we say the whole counsel of God can you say you're completely free 42:53 from the desire for money? Not only for yourself and your family, but even for the ministry. We trust God for our needs. We don't go begging from people, never. It's a very, very important principle 43:13 that I want to say for those of you who got local churches. You know Paul never took any money from many churches, but he did take from the church in Philippi because he had a relationship with them. But he never took from most of the 43:29 others, almost none of the others. He was very wise in the way he handled things, but he had no desire, and even the Philippians he said, "I don't expect anything from you, but I receive it because I know you'll get a reward 43:42 for taking care of God's servant." That was his desire that they will be blessed by God. And so here we read in Matthew 6, "No one can serve two masters, God or money. And for this reason, verse 20 five, for this reason 44:00 I say to you, don't be worried about your life." If you serve God, you don't have to be worried. In fact, don't be anxious is a command that comes three times. Here, don't be anxious. And further down in verse 31, don't be 44:18 anxious, don't worry. Verse 34, don't worry about tomorrow. In 10 verses or 11 verses, three times do not be anxious. Do not worry. The same God who said, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do 44:37 not be anxious." Why is it we give more weight to some commandments? Supposing you say, "Well, I get anxious only once in a while." It's like saying, "Well, I commit adultery only once in a while, you know, it's not every day." 44:50 I murder somebody just once in a year or so, and I don't murder people every day. It that It's like saying, "I don't get anxious all the time, just once in a while." You're spiritually illiterate. You don't see the seriousness of it. For 45:06 this reason I say to you, do not be anxious. So, what I learned from that is this. When I connect it with verse 24, if I'm anxious about material things, that proves that I am not serving God. I'm serving money. Yeah. 45:24 If I'm anxious and I'm waiting for handouts from people, I'm not serving God. And that's the reason why I say that that's because most people don't know God is their father. Do you think a little 2-year-old is worried about where his food is going to 45:40 come from? When you become like a little babe what if the landlord has said you must be you got to be thrown out of your house tomorrow because you haven't paid the rent. The little 2-year-old in that house is not bothered. 45:56 The father's worried, but the 2-year-old is not bothered. He's a child. He says, "My father takes care of everything." I tell you it's a wonderful life when you know God is your father. And the test is are you free from anxiety? 46:11 Or the other is fear. It says in Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13, again it says in relation to the love of money, verse five, "Make sure that your character is free from the love of money. 46:30 You be content with what you have." One way I demonstrate my lack of love for money is that I'm perfectly content with what I have. I don't look at what somebody else has and say, "Oh, I wish I had that." You know, if you look at somebody else's 46:46 wife and say, "Oh, I wish I'd married her." That's terrible. It's exactly the same when it comes to material things. And you look at what somebody else has material and say, "Oh, I wish I had what he had." It's the same thing. 46:58 To me it's a sort of a spiritual adultery. I'm not supposed to be into all that. Be content with what you have because God has said, "I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you." And so we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper. 47:14 I will not be afraid." If I know God is my father I'm not going to be afraid. I'm not going to be anxious. And for me anyway, I don't know about you, that is the test for me. How do I know whether I've got revelation, whether the Son of God has 47:32 revealed the Father to me? I will be free from anxiety. No matter what happens. I'll be free from fear of what man can do to me. Because I have a father in heaven. What if all my friends forsake me? Doesn't make a difference. 47:50 Jesus once said in John 16 and verse 32, in John chapter 6 a lot of his disciples left him. It didn't disturb Jesus one bit. And then but he told the he said the 11 didn't leave him, but in John 16:32, he says, 48:09 "You left him. You're also going to leave me now. You didn't leave me in John chapter 6, but here in John 16, each of you will go to your own home. And you will leave me alone. But I'm not alone. 48:30 The Father is with me." To me that's been a great verse. I said, "Lord, I want to walk like Jesus on the earth. I don't want to find my security in a lot of people standing with me. I I mean, I appreciate fellowship, but I don't want my find my security in 48:48 people. A lot of people when they think of a church, they're thinking of security there. That's a good place for me to be in. That's a good place for my children to grow up. They've got a good Sunday school." You've got a pretty selfish 49:02 attitude towards the church. Do you know that many people go to a church because they say, "In that church my children will grow up properly." You don't have one bit desire that Jesus' name should be glorified in your town. That's 49:13 unimportant. My children should grow up protected from the world, and this is a good church to You're downright selfish. And that's why your children become worldly. Because they were more important to you than the name of Jesus Christ. 49:29 That should be a secondary result of your primary goal that Christ should be exalted in my town. Lord Jesus, let the name of Jesus be exalted in Bangalore. I want to see a church where your name is exalted. Forget about my children. 49:43 If I seek God's kingdom first, he'll take care of all the other things. That should be our attitude. You ask yourself, why have you joined CFC Bangalore? You ask yourself that question honestly. And there are people who see something 49:56 here and are gripped by the truth and go somewhere and say, "Well, I'm going to help build a church there." I'd like to see what kind of church you go and build. There's an arrogance I find in some people who think, "I know all the 50:07 doctrines. I've understood everything. I've heard enough of what Brother Zac teaches. I'm going to go and build some You'll build nothing, brother. You'll build confusion. I've seen that happen in some of our churches because they depend on their reason. 50:22 Yeah. How do we know that we know the Father? I seek. I My dependence is only on him. Like Jesus said, "You can all leave me alone." makes no difference. The Father is with me. There's a plan 50:40 that the Father had for Jesus. And Jesus submitted to that plan 100%. You know, when we say that the Father loves us as he loved for Jesus and what he did for Jesus, he will do for me. We got to think about this. The reason why the Father did somethings 50:58 for Jesus was because Jesus took a certain attitude before him. For example, why did the Father listen to Jesus prayers? You say because he was the son of God. Well, that's not what the Bible says. Jesus once said, "Father, I thank you 51:17 that you always hear me." I'd like to be like that where the Father always hears me. And I'll tell you the reason. The reason why Jesus prayers were heard is mentioned in Hebrews chapter 5. And that's helped me because I know then 51:33 I can follow in Jesus footsteps and have my prayers heard, too. In Hebrews chapter 5, it says about Jesus about how he prayed. And if I pray like this, my prayers will be heard, too. Hebrews 5:7, in the days of his flesh, 51:53 that means during the 33 and 1/2 years that he was on earth. That's the meaning of in the days of his flesh. During the 33 and 1/2 years he was on earth, he offered up prayers and supplications. Supplications means 52:10 specific requests. Not bless me, but this particular thing, Father. Prayer and supplication. And how did he pray? With loud crying and tears. And his primary prayer was to be saved from spiritual death. In other words, he wanted to be saved 52:29 from sin. When your primary desire in your life is to be saved from sin, Jesus was not afraid of physical death. He never prayed that he should be saved from There are two types of deaths in the Bible, physical and spiritual. Do you 52:42 think Jesus was praying that he should be saved from physical death? It says his prayer was heard. His prayer was heard. Which proves that he was not praying for to be saved from physical death. Spiritual death. And his prayer was heard. He never 52:55 touched sin because he prayed with loud crying and tears. And he was heard. Verse 7, because of his godly fear. That's the meaning of piety. Because of his godly fear, his prayers were heard. I've learned 53:15 something. I said, "My prayers will be heard, too. If I have a godly fear, if I have a reverence for God, my prayers can be heard. Otherwise, I can go around saying the Father loves me as he loved Jesus. I fear this is happening to a lot of 53:31 people in CFC. The Father loves me as he loved Jesus. He will do everything for me that he did for He will not. If you don't have a godly fear, he won't hear your prayer. There are laws. Jesus obeyed those laws, then he will do for you what he did for 53:44 Jesus. You don't obey those laws, it's not going to happen. Jesus refused to jump off the roof of the temple. You jump off the roof of the temple, you will die and break your head. You can't say the Father will do for me 53:56 protect me. So, because of his godly fear, his prayers were heard. And because he prayed Well, you know, people say, "Why can't I get victory over sin?" I'll tell you, brother. You start praying with loud crying and tears. 54:12 You start praying with loud crying and tears from today onwards with earnest prayer for that spiritual death, which is sin, will not touch you. I guarantee, very soon you'll get victory over sin. But you want some cheap victory. You 54:28 know, like we go to a bargain in a shop. Can you give it to me cheap? God says, "No, it's not cheap." Overcoming sin doesn't come cheap. And that's the reason why many of us have not overcome sin today and will never overcome in the next 100 years 54:44 because you don't want to pay the price. You don't want to pray like Jesus, but you want to get the result. It doesn't happen. You don't want to sweat in your brow, but you want to earn your bread. It doesn't happen. He prayed with loud crying and tears, 54:57 and he was heard. And you'll be heard because the Father loves you like he loved Jesus. Why did God exalt Jesus? You say because he's son of God. No. Not at all. Philippians chapter 2. It says here 55:19 verse 8. Philippians 2:8, when he was found as a man, he humbled himself. How did he humble himself? There's only one way to humble yourself before God. By being obedient to death on a cross. There is a cross for you and me every 55:37 day. If you are willing to die to yourself every day, you are a humble person. All the rest of what you call humility, you know, talking in a humble way and hanging your head down and all is garbage. False humility. There's only one true 55:52 humility before God. And that is where when you are tempted, you die. You die to yourself. You have no desire for your name or position or honor. You die every day. You die. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death on a cross. For this 56:12 reason, God highly exalted him. Not because he's son of God. God loves me as he loved Jesus. If I die, he'll exalt me, too. Without a doubt. And if you die to yourself, he'll exalt you, too. Exalt you over what? Exalt you 56:27 over sin. Sin will not have any power over you. You got to humble yourself. Be willing to die. It's no use saying God loves me as he loved Jesus. But Jesus followed certain laws. That's why God did certain things for him. 56:41 And then we can walk as Jesus walked. Otherwise, you know, this We must have this passionate desire. Lord, you got a plan for my life. I want to fulfill it. I want to fulfill it, Lord. I want to walk as Jesus walked on this 56:58 earth. I really want to, Lord, with all of my heart. I see, for example, that there was a certain plan that God had for the life of Jesus. And Jesus walked in that moment by moment by moment. That's why God could fulfill his plan for his life. 57:18 Let me show you. Matthew chapter 2 and verse 6. It was written in the Old Testament that he should be born in Bethlehem. And he was born in Bethlehem. It was written in the Old Testament that he should go to Egypt. Matthew chapter 57:34 2, verse 6. He was born in Bethlehem. It was written in the Old Testament, Matthew chapter 2, verse 15, that he should go to Egypt as a baby. He went to Egypt as a baby. It was written in in the Old Testament, Matthew chapter 2 and verse 57:54 23, that he shall be called a Nazarene. So, he went and lived in Nazareth. It was written in the Old Testament that the land of Zebulun, chapter 4, verse 15, and Galilee of the Gentiles should see a great light. So, he moved from Nazareth, 58:11 verse 13, to Capernaum. Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth, Capernaum. Jesus didn't go wherever he liked. There was a plan written in the Old Testament. He moved. He moved. He moved. Do you have a passion to go where God 58:30 wants you to go? You believe there's a plan God has made for your life just like he made for Jesus life. If you're gripped by that, you say, "Father, I know you love me as you loved Jesus. I want to make the most of my earthly 58:47 life." And if you want to make the most of your earthly life, be gripped by one thing. The Father has got a plan for you. And if you walk in that plan, one day he will use you to do the greatest work that any human being can ever do, 59:02 build his church. And not a rotten church where people fight and quarrel and have misunderstandings, but a church which is like a family that will remain for eternity. Do you want to do that? That's the only work I want to do. 59:16 That's the thing I'm gripped by. And I know God's got a plan for my life. I realized it many years ago. I stumbled and I never had a spiritual father to guide me. But I stumbled and sort of tried to find my way through all this. Say, "Lord, how 59:29 can I know you?" Well, you guys are so lucky that you can hear these truths when you're young. And I wish you'd be gripped. Because of the years that I failed the Lord, it gave me such zeal that I began to run faster. And I feel that's the problem with some 59:47 of you young people. Maybe you haven't failed the Lord like I did. And so you don't don't run so fast. And that's why an old man like me will be ahead of you. You should be far ahead of me. Cuz you're young, you're zealous. 1:00:02 You should be running much faster. But you feel you're good enough. I never feel I'm good enough. I don't feel I'm good enough even today. I say, "Lord, what a long way I have to go to be like Jesus." Dear brothers and sisters, 1:00:19 the whole purpose of God is seen in the life of Jesus, the way he lived. And God wants us to live like him, to be his younger brothers. I hope you'll be gripped by this. My words can only go to your head. The Holy Spirit, may he reveal it to 1:00:33 your hearts in a way that'll grip you and change your life by the time you go away from this conference. Let's pray. As we bow before you, our God, our Father, oh, I'm so gripped, excited by the fact that you love me so much. 1:00:53 I wish everybody here would be gripped by that. Be secure in that love in our insecure world, where people try to find their comfort in money and possessions, Lord. Help us to find our security in you as our heavenly Father. 1:01:10 Thank you. We commit ourselves to you this day. Make it a good day for us, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.
