0:03 Check check check. >> [music] 0:35 >> Okay, for those of you who are in the atrium, if you can come into the auditorium, we'll [music] start our next session. Thank you for being timely. With a large group like this, it's often hard to stay on schedule, but [music] thank you for 0:49 your help with that. Let's stand together [music] and sing a couple songs. >> [music] [music] 1:15 [music] >> Hallelujah. >> [music] >> Thanks, baby. [music] [music] 1:38 Here's [music] [music] a wonderful hymn that Frederick Faber wrote many years ago. In the last verse 1:57 of this hymn, we sing, "Father of Jesus, loves [music] reward. What rapture will it be? Prostrate before thy throne to lie." and gaze [music] and gaze and the on thee. Everything we hear, dear brothers, sisters, and children, [music] 2:15 everything we hear is so that we might lay hold of eternal life. It's not so that we can gain something, but that we will receive the eternal life of God. And this is eternal life. It's not doing, it's knowing. [music] and knowing him, lie before him 2:33 and gaze on him. My God, how wonderful [singing and music] thou are. [singing and music] Thy majesty, how bright, 2:52 how [singing] beautiful thy mercy [music] seat. in [singing] death as a burning light. How wonderful, [singing] [music] 3:10 how beautiful [singing] the sight of thee must [singing] be. Thine endless [singing] wisdom, boundless [music] power, 3:29 and [singing] awesome purity. >> [music] >> Oh, how [singing] I fear the [music] living God with deepest [singing] 3:48 tendest [music] peace and worship [singing] with trembling [singing] and penitential [music] tears. [singing] Yet [singing] I [music] may love thee 4:12 too, oh Lord, [music] [singing] Almighty, as thou art. [music] For [singing] thou hast stood to ask [music] of me the love [singing and music] 4:31 of my poor heart. No earthly [singing] father loves like thee. [music] No [singing] mother 4:50 so bears and [singing] forbears as thou has done [singing] [music] with me. My sinful [singing] child. [music] Father 5:12 of Jesus [singing and music] loves reward. What rapture [singing and music] will it be? Cross [singing] straight before thy [music] 5:28 throne to life. and [singing] gazed and gaze. [music] A life [singing] 5:47 of overcoming, a life of [music and singing] ceaseless praise. Be this thy blessed [singing] portion throughout the [music] coming days. The victory [singing] was purchased [music] 6:06 on Calary's cross for thee. Sin [music and singing] shall not have dominion. The son [music] hath made me free. Take it a little higher. D. And would [singing and music] thou know the secret 6:24 of constant victory? [singing and music] Let in thee overcomer and he [singing] will conquer [music] thee. Thy broken spirit take his sweet captivity. [singing and music] shall glory in his triumph 6:48 [singing and music] and share his victory. Then from [singing and music] thy life ascending one triumph note of grace. [music] For they who always [singing] coner 7:06 a [music] victor song must praise shall echo unseasing [music] [singing] till Satan's house flee before our [singing and music] glorious watch. 7:21 brought victory for me. Through [singing and music] all the path before thee, the host of darkness fill look [music] to thy father's [singing] 7:38 promise and claim the victory. Still [music] faith sees the heavenly [singing] regions. Where doubt sees not [music] but f. And through the [singing] very conflict her life the stronger [singing and music] 7:57 grows. More [singing and music] stern will grow the conflict. Last years our clones [singing and music] return and they alone can face [singing and music] it. Who this great 8:14 lesson learned [music] that from them God has nothing [singing] but to unlatch the door. Admitting [singing and music] him who through them will conquer ever [singing] 8:31 more. Indeed, [music] unlatching the door and letting him who through them [music] will conquer ever more. Jesus said, "I am the [music] good 8:49 shepherd. My sheep hear my voice. They know me and I know them even as the father knows me and I know the father." This [music] is the standard of life he promises to give us. [music] Let the shepherd lead you, dear brothers, sister, children, to what's 9:09 ahead. >> I am a sheep and [singing and music] the Lord is my shepherd, watching [singing] over my soul, [music] my soul [singing] to keep guarding 9:26 [music] over me ever. Watching [singing] wherever I go. [music] >> Let's sing it again. >> I am a sheep [singing and music] and the Lord is my shepherd watching 9:43 over my soul. [music] >> My [singing] soul to keep guarding over me [music] ever. >> [singing] >> watching wherever I go. When the winds [singing and music] fall, 10:03 he is my [singing] shelter. When I'm lost and alone, he rescues [singing] [music] me. When the lion comes, [music] he [singing] is my victory. 10:18 constantly watching [music] over me. He is constantly [singing and music] watching over me. >> We [singing] are his children [music] and he is my father [music] watching 10:38 over [singing] our soul. What love great is his love for his sons [singing and music] and his daughters, watching wherever we go. [music] And when the [singing] wind blow, 10:57 he is [music] my shelter. When I'm lost and alone, he resues [singing] [music] me. When the lion comes, he [singing] is my victory. [music] 11:12 Constantly watching [singing] over me. He is constantly [music] watching over. [music] >> When the wind [singing] roll, he is my shelter. When I'm [music] lost 11:31 and alone, [singing] he rescues me. When the lion [singing] [music] comes, he is my victory. Constantly [music and singing] watching over me. >> He is [music and singing] constantly 11:50 watching over me. >> There is a hope [singing and music] that burns within my heart. >> [music] >> that gives me strength [singing] for 12:07 every passing day. That glimpse of [music and singing] glory now revealed in me eager of heart yet drives all doubt away. [singing] I stand in Christ which sins [singing] 12:27 forive and Christ in [music] me the hope [singing] of heaven my highest calling and [music and singing] my deepest joy to make his will my home. 12:46 >> There is a [singing] hope that lifts my weary head. A consolation [singing and music] strong against despair. That when the world [singing] has [music] plunged me in its deepest 13:03 pit, I find my savior [singing and music] there. Hallelujah. Through present [music] sufferings, future [singing] spheres, he whispers courage [music] in 13:20 my ear. For [singing] I am safe [music] in everlasting arms, and they [singing] will lead [music] me home. There [singing] is a [music] hope that stands the test of time 13:39 that lifts my [music and singing] eyes on the beckoning grave. To see the [singing] matchless beauty of a day. [music] When I behold [singing] his face. [music] and suffering seas and sorrows [singing] 14:01 [music] die. And every longing sadd is life and [singing] joy unspeakable will flood my soul for I [singing] am truly whole. 14:21 and joy unspeakable [singing] [music] will flood my soul for [singing] I am truly. [music] >> This is our home. >> The world is passing away and everything that is in it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful 14:39 pride of life. It's passing away soon. Behold, I am coming quickly. I make all things new. When is this [music] passing world is done? When has sunk your [singing and music] radiant sun? 14:58 When I stand with Christ on [music and singing] high, looking over [music] life's history. Then, [singing] Lord shall I fully know. [music] Until then, 15:15 how much [singing and music] I When I stand before the [singing] throne, [music] dressed in beauty not [singing] my own. When I see [music] 15:33 thee as thou art, love thee [singing] with unsinning heart. [music] Then Lord shall [singing] I fully know not till [singing and music] then how much I when the praise [singing and music] 15:57 of heaven I hear loud [singing] as thunder to [music] the ear loud as [singing] many water [music] sweet as arms [singing] 16:12 the loious voice [music] and nor shall I [singing] fully know not till then how [singing and music] much I owe [music and singing] on earth as through 16:31 a glass [music] darkly [singing] let thy glory pass [music] make forgiveness >> [singing] >> feel so sweet. Make thy spirit's [singing] help [music] so me. 16:49 Brilliant on earth. Lord, make me know. [music] Something [singing] of the death my own. [music] Chosen God for good [singing] in me. 17:06 [music] Awakened out from wrath [singing] to flee. Hidden in the Savior's side by the spirit [singing] sanctified. [music] 17:22 Teach me Lord on earth to [music] show by thy [singing] love how much I owe. Teach me, [music] Lord, on earth to show [singing] by thy [music] love 17:41 how much I >> Amen. Please be seated. I want to 18:33 you know singing hymns is a major part of the our Christian life especially when we come together and it's also good for us even to teach our children we can sing 18:50 hymns together at home in family worship and they get familiar with the great hymns of the Christian faith because then when they're alone I know many times I sing hymns that I've you know you sing it so often it's in your 19:09 memory and it encourages you and refreshes you in times when you're tempted or when you're alone And [clears throat] I can only tell you my personal preference in this matter of him singing. 19:27 And my argument is like this. If you knew that there was a preacher who was preaching only to make money, maybe very intelligent, very clever, very gifted. and another preacher who's determined never to make any money 19:46 out of his preaching because he loves people. He wants to share God's word and his testimony and um maybe he's not so gifted. Who would you listen to? It's a very searching question. Here is a very gifted person who presents his message in a very polished 20:04 way with different points and the points all begin with the same alphabet or something like that. And here's another person who is a bit crude. Who would do you think knows the Lord more? I think I know who will know who will 20:18 know the Lord more because Christ and money are opposites. I don't know whether you know that like black and white, money and Christ are like black and white. Exact opposites. And I'll show that to you in a moment that the two masters Jesus said in the 20:35 world were not God and Satan. You ask the average Christian anywhere in the world, who are the two masters in the world? They'll all say God and Satan. Wrong. It's possibly some of you also have thought the two masters are God and 20:46 Satan, but the two masters of God and money. So, if a man is preaching for money, I would have I would not waste my time listening to him at all. I say he's got nothing to tell me. He may be very clever, gifted and quote scripture and 20:59 all that but if his heart is he's doing it something for money sorry even if he's a pastor see how do people select CEOs for a company they have there are organizations that you give 21:19 your name to and they submit to you these are the people who are qualified to be CEOs there are many companies that help you to find good CEOs for a company. So here's a man who's applying for a CEO of a company and he what's he 21:31 looking for? What are the benefits that I get? What is my salary? And if this if that CE if that company can give me a better salary, better benefits, I choose that. It's not because he loves the product of that company or doesn't love the product 21:48 of this. It's got to entirely to do with money. What benefits will they give me? Many pastors are selected in exactly the same basis. They recommend certain people, you know, they churches try out pastors. We'll try this man. Try this 22:03 man. Ask them to come and preach. Let's listen to him for one Sunday. How is he like? And then how does the pastor decide which church to choose? He says, "Well, is it in a city? Is it in a village? Can I my children get some good 22:16 education there because the good schools there? And what is the salary? What's the difference between that guy and a CEO looking for a job? absolutely zero difference. That guy's not a man of God. He's looking to be the CEO of a church and 22:31 he'll be a good for-no useless pastor. But there are people like that and there are stupid believers who admire such a man because he's so gifted. I want to see whether a man loves money. I said Jesus would not draw a person 22:48 who's gifted. Do you think Peter was the most gifted speaker in in Israel? The Pharisees were hundred times better than him. And Jesus chose disciples who were free from the love of money who gave up their jobs to follow him and struggled 23:01 with him and they didn't have good food. They had to walk so many miles and they wouldn't have had all that problem if they were still catching fish. They could have become millionaires catching fish in those days. They gave it all up. 23:13 So in the same way when I look for songs I say has this is this a person who wrote songs and made money by writing songs. Almost every songwriter in the 20th in the present age makes money out of their songs. Some of them become 23:30 millionaires. Even the singers Christian singers become millionaires. And then there are others who wrote songs who never made any money out of it. But they were all in the 18th and 19th century. 23:49 Things have changed. Everything changed in Christendom after the second world war after 1950s as if the flood of demons have come into the world. All the you know women's rights and women's lib and all that type of stuff. It's all 24:04 after the second world war. Something happened after the second world war was over. Demons have flooded the earth. It's it's coming towards the end of time. So I recommend to you that songs that those godly people wrote who never wrote 24:22 a word for money, you know, man like Charles Wesley, I think he wrote about 8,000 hymns and he didn't earn one cent from it. And there are such meaningful hymns about victory over sin and wonderful things that his brother John Wesley 24:36 preached he would convert into a hymn. Whereas today people write two three lines repeated 10 times. Those are the type of songs nowadays and the guy makes so much money out of it. I have absolutely no interest in it and I have 24:49 no interest in listening to such songs or it just stimulates the intellect and I I want you to think about that. I don't ask you to follow me but I know the hymns of the past have helped me tremendously in my life especially 25:08 when I was young and many times lonely. I would sing hymns to myself. I sing hymns to myself when I'm in the shower and when I'm alone. Wonderful. It's good for children to learn hymns by heart. And some of those hymns and the 25:23 advantage of hymns that rhyme. It's easy to remember. And the old hymns written in the 189 they always rhymed. I said the verses rhyme, the lines rhymed either the first and third and second and fourth rhymed. That's how 25:37 hymns are written. And I want to say I want to encourage you my dear brothers and sisters to learn hymns by memory by heart and uh teach your [clears throat] children to learn hymns. Sing hymns at home. Have family prayer and where you 25:53 sing a hymn and share a word of scripture. We must all of us must have some family prayer in our home sometime of the day. We found it in our home. It was so busy pe children have to rush off to school in the morning. We could not 26:07 do it in the morning. The time we were most free in our home when my children were small was dinner time. You know they've come back from school, people have come back from work and we at the dinner time we are relaxed and then before we 26:25 eat we pray briefly and then while we are eating we talk about God's word or we read a small passage of scripture as well and then we can share God's word as the best time we found for family prayer where we're relaxed everybody's there all the 26:43 children are and we could share God's word together as a family. It's a very good habit to have particularly if you don't have a church where they're sharing God's word regularly or your children are not going to any Sunday school there. 27:02 It's good to have family prayer times at home where you talk in a relaxed way about God's word and to ask questions particularly in the days when children are growing up. I wanted my children to know the Bible from a very young age. So 27:18 I had four sons and um I got a picture story Bible for them where every pages you know like the comic books of old pictures from Genesis to Revelation and I bought one of those and I said you read this and it's interesting for 27:34 children to read. They read comics. They read the Bible in a comicster form. And then I would at the dining table I would ask them some questions from that book. And uh that would challenge them to go back and find out. And you know what 27:50 happened? They would try to discover some thing there which I would not know. Imagine a child knowing something which I do not know. And it's usually not not a doctrine or anything. I wouldn't we wouldn't be discussing doctrine there. 28:08 They would ask me some questions like uh who was David's sister and who was David's sister's son? I don't know who that is. And they [clears throat] were so happy they caught dad in something. This great 28:27 Bible teacher dad doesn't know the answer. Later on I discovered you know David had a u the chief of his army was a man called Joab. I don't know whether you know that David's army commander was Joab. Many of you know that and I always 28:43 read of him as Joab the son of Zeriah. Joab the son of Zeriah. That I knew but I never knew that Zeriah was David's sister till one day one of my children asked me that at the quiz at the dining table. And once they've caught that in 28:56 something they'll be really excited to study that uh picture Bible again. So let them catch you once or twice, then they'll really love to study the Bible. You got to use techniques to get the children to study the Bible. 29:09 So I'm just encouraging you because we I'm concerned that we can have a growing generation that knows all about ABC and about even about artificial intelligence nowadays, but they don't know the Bible. Pathetic. That's more important than 29:21 anything today. So I encourage all of you to encourage your children to get a picture story Bible for them. You can all afford that. And uh best way is to ask little you know simple questions begin with simple questions 29:39 who who was the mother of Jesus simple question who was the one she married and then move on to who was the mother of Moses you know you go step by step to things more difficult and then it's all in the book I said go and look up that 29:53 Bible story book which you have and see the answer and they are stimulated my aim is to stimulate them to read that and by the time my children left school and went to college and they were 18 years old, they really knew all the 30:11 stories in the Bible. I'm very thankful and that's how they know the scriptures today. So that's the best thing you can do for your children. Not just feed them and clothe them and send them to school. Get them to know the Bible. And it's a 30:26 pathetic thing when grown-up believers don't know the Bible. I want to encourage all of you. Uh I got converted when I was 19 and I had not read the Bible fully by then. But I decided that the one thing I must 30:44 do now if I believe the Bible is God's word, I will read it thoroughly. People go to work in a company, they study everything needed to join that company. They study to get a when they go for an interview to know everything on that 30:58 subject and we say that God is more important than this world but they don't prove it by their life. If God is more important then the one book that God has given to humanity you don't read it. Don't ever say that God is most the most important 31:12 person in your life. You're telling a lie. God is not the most important person. Your job is more important. Your home is more important. You search the internet to find buy a good house that's more important to you than 31:28 studying the Bible. Well, so then we are hypocrites preaching something we don't really believe. So I would encourage you take time to read the Bible and we have plenty of spare time. There are people who listen to the audio Bible while they're driving 31:44 the car to work and you can finish the whole Bible in a few months. No, we have audio Bibles for the whole Bible. Thank God for that. When I on when I get my exercise on my treadmill every day to keep myself fit, I'm listening to audio 32:01 Bible and I've covered the Old Testament a number of times because I read mostly the New Testament because I've read the Old Testament number of times, but I hear it all the time. The audio Bible is such a great help when we are doing 32:14 something else. And so we must get to know the scriptures. Now I want to encourage all of you to develop that habit. And children, you know, as churches, we now encourage children to memorize one verse every week. Small verse, that's a very 32:33 good habit. If you don't have it that practice in your church, please develop that habit. And many of our CFC churches, we ask the children to come up front and repeat the verse. Even small children, six, seven years old come up 32:46 and read a repeat a small verse. They get into the habit of memorizing scripture. Very good habit. It'll help them later on. So many times in my life in some situations, suddenly one verse comes to my mind which I've memorized. 33:01 Get into the habit of memorizing scripture and read the Old Testament, large sections of it, and meditate on the New Testament. That's what I do. New Test the Old Testament is mostly stories. Read it all in great sections 33:15 of it and then New Testament read a few verses a day and meditate on it. We must become familiar with the Bible because it's the word of God and it'll answer many of your questions in when you are found in difficult situations. 33:34 I found that in my life in different situations what I'm meditating on that particular day comes home to me as an answer. Okay, [clears throat] I want to speak to you about certain important things today. Hebrews 33:50 13, let me read begin with Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13, it says here in verse 5 and six, make sure that your character is free 34:08 from the love of money. Have you taken that word seriously? Make sure your life is free from the love of money. Be content with what you have. Because he has said, 34:28 "I will never desert you. I will never forsake you." So that we can boldly say, "The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?" Many people in the world, they say, "Money is my helper. I will not be afraid of 34:47 difficult circumstances in the future." Okay, let people in the world say that I have enough money in my bank and so I will not be afraid of difficult circumstances in the future. Nothing can harm me. But we say it the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. 35:04 What will man do to me? We have to believe the promises of scripture. And we read in Philippians in chapter 4, Philippians 4 and verse 19, 35:20 my God will supply all your need according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So money and God are opposites. Turn with me to Luke's gospel in chapter 16. Luke 16, Jesus said verse 13, "No 35:47 servant can serve two masters." You go to the average Christian in any part of the world, even many who are born again and ask them perhaps some of you, if I were to ask you, who are the two masters in the world? I think even some of you 36:07 may say, God and Satan wrong. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God and master are the God and Satan are the two masters vying for your obedience, longing for your 36:23 obedience. It is God and money. Luke 16:13, no servant can s serve two masters. And the last sentence, you cannot serve God and wealth or money. So the two masters in the world, don't forget, are 36:40 not God and Satan. Satan uses money to deceive people. But God and money are the two masters. So I don't think any of you will ever think of serving God and Satan. Completely out of the question. No sensible Christian would ever think of 36:56 that. But many Christians are trying to serve God and money and they are. How do you know whether who's your master? Supposing there are two people sitting here both are saying Zach is my servant. A he says Zach is my servant. B he says Zach 37:16 is my servant. How to find out? Simple. Tell them both to call Zach. Tell them to say Zack come here. A says Zack come here. B says Zach come here the one I go to is my servant is my master rather I'm that person's servant very simple to 37:33 find out in one second okay here's god and money in a particular situation god says come here money says come here ah you'll find out very quickly whose servant you are not saying money is not needed in the 37:54 world We need money. We need money to Even Jesus needed money. He worked as a carpenter. Joseph had died and he had to support Mary and himself. And he had four younger brothers and two younger sisters at home. He was the eldest of seven 38:14 children. That was the training Jesus received to be a example for us. when he says follow me, he did not God did not allow Jesus to be born in a rich family. A family that was so poor that they probably lived I I know I don't know many of you 38:33 may not see what a carpenter poor carpenter lives like. I have been to many homes in India of carpenters here. Carpenters may live in rich homes because they make a lot of money. But Israel is a poor country, more like India. And I've seen where the poor 38:50 carpenters live in India. It's a small house, maybe one, one or two rooms, that's all. And they live there. I've been in homes where the front room is their sitting room, bedroom, dining room, everything. One room. And I believe Jesus lived in a small 39:05 house where maybe two or three rooms. And uh and he had to from the age of 18 he had to work in the carpenter shop. He had to be an example so that he couldn't just just say just preach to others but say follow me. When he said follow me it was not 39:25 just as a preacher. I follow him as a preacher. But everyone who's a working man can look at Jesus example and ask the Holy Spirit. I told you that day how the Holy Spirit takes of the things that are of Christ and shows it to us. You 39:39 remember I mentioned the last verse in John's gospel which there are many other things that Jesus did in the carpenter shop. How did he deal with customers? If you're in a business, Jesus can be your example. How does he deal with 39:53 customers? Did he cheat anyone? and many things like I said the other day how if a if a table he was making was chipped and he covered it up with putty or something he would tell the person he's selling this is I covered this up with putty it's it 40:09 looks all new but it's a bit defective here so you can pay less than we agreed for the price he'd be absolutely honest he didn't want to make one cent somebody to take something home to his home and say hey I'm disappointed with what this 40:23 carpenter called Jesus made for me yeah he didn't want that testimony. He'd rather be cheated. If some child came into a house and broke something that he had made made, he wouldn't get upset with that child. He'd pick up the child 40:35 and kiss it and say, "Don't worry, my darling. I I can do it again." You see, things like this, you meditate on how Jesus lived. And Jesus went through everything so that he could say to me, "Follow me." He had to handle money to be able to say 40:52 he was free from the love of money. He can't just preach be free from the love of money. If he didn't earn money, he earned supported his family, learned how to discipline himself in the area of money. And you know, if you're a 41:05 millionaire, you know, discipline is not so much needed. Even then it's really needed. But when you earn so little, many of us are struggling to support our families and cost of living is high and income may not be so high, then we have 41:18 to discipline ourselves. Now, I did not have to discipline myself when I was in the Navy. I was earning such a huge salary as a naval officer, more than enough. And so I could I would discipline I would still discipline 41:32 myself once I became a believer. Never waste money on anything. And if something was broken, I could I could fix it. I would fix it. I wouldn't wouldn't buy something new. Be very careful with my clothes. And the clothes 41:45 are torn. They could be stitched and used again, not thrown away. And shoes could be resold again and used and things like that. so that I don't waste money. And you know when you're faithful with money like that, God gives you a 41:57 greater ministry. I really believe that God tests us in the area of money to see whether he can commit a greater ministry to you. To serve God is the greatest work you can do and he uses your attitude to money to test you whether he 42:13 can give you a preaching ministry perhaps. And I know he tested me many times in the years I was in the Navy. What will I what will you do with this all this extra money? Well, I could help a lot of poor people. I could buy Bibles 42:26 for people who couldn't afford them and poor people in India and things like that and not make not let anybody know about it. Do it all secretly. I can talk about it now because it was 50 years ago, 60 years ago. And uh I didn't know all these rules that 42:45 God was testing me. But I was just saying that's the right thing to do when you have more than enough for yourself. Help those who are in need and who are poor. And there were many people like that in India in our churches. 42:57 Don't make people but at the same time don't be foolish. Don't make people dependent on you. And uh be wise. I've learned some things through my foolishness also. I remember one man who came in uh somebody who was in the Navy 43:12 but a junior sailor was a believer and said, "Brother Zach, can you lend me some money? I'll give it to you next month. I said sure. How much do you want? And I gave him and um you know give to him who asks of you. So I gave 43:24 him and he came back next month and said I'm sorry I can't return it today. Can I can I I can return it to next month. Can you give me some more? I said sure. The Bible says give to him that asks of you. So I gave. Next month he came and said 43:37 brother Zag I'm sorry I still can't repay it but can you give me some more? And I gave. And after a while he was transferred to some other place and I heard he started drinking went away from the Lord. And then I wrote to him and I said hey if you're 43:53 giving your money on to alcohol and the devil you can return what I borrowed from me. And he said oh even when I was a Catholic the Catholic fathers did not harass me like you are harassing. I was just asking for my money back. 44:09 And uh I said, "Okay, forget it." But I went to the Lord. I said, "Lord, what did I do wrong? I read in your word, give to him that asks of you and who wants to borrow, don't turn away." I read that in your word. And the Lord 44:26 taught me a lesson that day when I was 22 years old, a lesson I've never forgotten. The Lord said you treated that money as if it were your own. And if you had if somebody had given you 44:44 5,000 rupees to keep with you and somebody came to you and said, "Hey, Zach, I hear you got 5,000 rupees with you. Can you give me a,000 rupees from that?" I say, "Sure, but let me ask him, let me ask the man who gave me that money 44:58 whether I can give it to you. It's not my money." And if that man says yes, give it, I'll give it. But if he says no, I can't give it to you. I have to ask him. And the Lord said, you must treat your money like that. It doesn't 45:09 belong to you. Even what you earned as your salary on the first of the month, it's not yours. If you belong to me, your money belongs to me. And so when somebody comes and asks you for money, you must say, let me ask the person who to whom this money 45:22 belongs. Lord, should I give this man? The Lord may say yes or how much should I give? or should I go Lord may say no I learned a lesson that day so I'm thankful that this guy cheated me because I learned a lesson and I have nothing against that man I 45:40 don't know where he is today but later on in life people came to borrow from me I would say hang on I'd go into the other room pray and say Lord what should I do and the Lord say okay give him this much and I would give him that much and 45:58 if it's a loan I'd say yeah you please return it every month or something like that. If it's a gift, you can keep it. I don't want it back. But it's very important to recognize that our money does not belong to us. You know, our body doesn't belong to us. 46:14 I can't use my body as I like. It's the Lord's. So many of you may be thinking it's my hard-earned money. Brother, sister, it is not. It's what the Lord helped you to earn. Please look at it like that. And if everything that is 46:31 yours belongs to the Lord, your money belongs to the Lord. And Jesus said that you cannot be his disciple. If you possess money, turn to two chapters earlier. Luke chapter 14. Turn back one page. Luke 14. It says 46:50 here in verse 33, none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions. So I have possessions. Those are things I possess. They're 47:08 mine. Say take this watch for example. I can possess it. That's mine. Or I can say, "Lord, it's something you have given me. It's still in my hand, but I'm not grabbing it and saying it's mine. I'm saying the Lord's given it to 47:26 me." I'm not talking particularly about this watch, but about money and whatever I have. I say, "Lord, it's yours. You've given me." And if the Lord says, "Take some of that money and give it to this person who's needy, I do it." But it's 47:42 not possessed in such a way with my tight fist as nobody can take it from here. I can't give it to anybody. That's what it means, possessions. So he says you can't be my disciple if if you don't give up all your possessions that you 47:54 can have it but don't possess it. You know the difference between having and possessing. Possessing I say nobody can take it from me. It's my tightfisted hand that holds it. Your salary and everything don't hold it like that. Keep 48:06 it in an open palm and say Lord it's yours. I remember when [clears throat] the Lord called me to leave the Navy. He said, "I want you to empty out your bank account." I had earned quite a bit of money as a naval officer for many years. 48:20 And the Lord said, "When you come out to serve me, you must empty out your bank account and give it away for my work and start with zero." I did that. My entire life savings I took out and gave it away for the Lord's work. And I started 48:35 serving the Lord 60 years ago with zero in my bank account. And I said, 'Lord, I'm going to trust you. Just like the disciples, they left their nets and their fishing boats followed the Lord. Now, God doesn't call everybody to do 48:47 that. He told me to do it, and I've never told anybody else to do it. And I'm not asking anybody here to do it either. Every disciple in Israel did not have to give up all their possessions. But Peter and James and John, they had 49:01 to do it because the Lord told them, "Get rid of leave that and come." and they dropped everything, their fishing nets and boat and everything and came for few people are called like that. I happen to be one of those whom God 49:12 called like that to give up everything like those apostles and follow him. So I'm not saying telling any of you to do that. But whoever you are, you must still whatever you earn, even if you earn a$100,000 or $200,000 a month or a 49:26 year, it must be in an open palm. Lord, it's yours. It's not mine. And then you use it wisely. very important to use our money wisely because through the use of our money, God tests us. Listen to this. I did not know in the years when I was 49:44 in the Navy how I was being careful with not wasting money, always helping the poor and caring careful very careful with my money that the Lord was testing me to see whether I was fit to be his servant. And I'm absolutely con I didn't know 50:03 that. Nobody taught me that God and money were the two masters. I never knew that till years later. But I said, well, it seems to me I should be righteous with money. Never cheat anyone and pay back all anybody I cheated and always 50:16 live without debt. I knew that I must be very clear. I'm even when I have nothing, I must not borrow. I must trust the Lord. And my wife and I have sometimes come to very little left in our resources. And the Lord said, "Don't 50:30 borrow. live simply and we've lived like that. And I real I didn't realize then that God was testing me to see whether I was fit to be his servant. God tests a man with his earthly resources 50:48 to see how he uses it before he gives him spiritual ministry. And then when he gave me a ministry, it was absolutely amazing that at the age of 23, I started preaching God's word 51:05 and people were getting converted and people were being blessed. And that's not by human ability because I was very a reserved, shy type of person from even when I was in school. But God gave me an anointing to preach God's word. And I 51:24 believe there are many people in the churches today who could have a mighty anointing if they were faithful with money. Turn to Luke chapter 16. And there are three ways in which money, you know, we read about the two masters in verse 13. 51:44 We just saw that verse. You cannot serve God in money. And you got to hate the one, verse 13, and love the other. So to love God, you got to hate money. Now, what does it mean to hate money? Earlier on in chapter 14, he said, "You 52:00 got to hate your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children." It's in Luke 14:26. I need to meditate on that. What does it mean to hate father, mother, brother, sister? You see that in verse 26 of Luke 14. If you don't know that verse, first 52:13 condition of disciplehip. hate father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children to be my disciple. Luke 14:26. So I looked at it like this. I I like to use pictures just like Jesus used pictures. So I thought my love for my 52:31 brothers, my father, mother, brother, wife, children must be like the light of the stars. Very bright at night. It's not dark. I must love them. Every one of them. But when the sun comes up, the stars are there, but they disappear. 52:46 It's not that they have ceased to exist, but you can't see them. So in other words, when the when I my love for Christ comes up, my love for others becomes almost insignificant. Then I love them through Christ. That's how I understood it. So I still 53:05 love my wife, my hus, my father, mother, children, everyone. But Christ loved Christ. Christ Christ is supreme. So that if the Lord tells me to do something and my wife asks me to do something to make her happy and it's 53:20 contrary to what the Lord says, I say, "Sorry, darling. I don't think we can do that. We need to buy something for this home. Maybe I have to borrow money." And the Lord says, "No, you shouldn't borrow." Say, "Sorry, darling. I can't 53:35 do it. Even if she's upset with me for a few days, it's never happened, but because she was a disciple herself. But if your wife is not a disciple, she may be upset with you because you love the Lord more than you love her. 53:51 If you want a happy life, put Christ first in your affections, not your wife, not your husband. You'll be a better husband and you'll be a better wife and you'll be a better father and a better mother if you don't put your children first. Put them next 54:07 to Christ always. Every son of mine knows that Christ is more important to me than him. I'm willing to offend and hurt my sons. If I have to that is the price I have to pay to please Christ, I'll do it. And the Lord tests me on that. I say, Lord, 54:25 you can test me. No son of mine will be more important to me than Christ. And if that happens in your life, you're disqualified to serve the Lord. You can sit in meetings like this and sit in your church, but as far as service to 54:39 the Lord, disqualified. And in the area of money, you'll be tested. Now, in Luke 16, the words pre we read verse 13, but there are three verses before that which are an introduction to verse 13 about money. We must 54:56 meditate on scripture. And in verses 10 to 12, money is described in three three ways. Three ways. Remember this. It helps me to recognize. Read it in context. First 55:12 of all, when you read verse 10, think of money. He who is faithful in a very little thing. That's money. That's the context in verse 13. Money is a very little thing. That's the first thing you need to understand. And if you're faithful in 55:31 that very little thing called money, then you will be faithful in the more important things in the Christian life. You'll be faithful in much. But if you're unrighteous in this very little thing called money, you'll be unrighteous in many other things in your 55:44 life. So one lesson I learned from there, money is a very little thing. Have you understood that? It's a very big thing in the eyes of many people. You know that saying that you can take a small coin and put it just a small 56:03 worthless coin and put it close enough to your eye and you can't even you won't even be able to see the sun. That's how money can blind out even blot out the sun from your vision. If you put it close enough to your eyes and you bring 56:16 money close enough to your heart, you won't even see Christ. Money will be everything. So the first lesson you need to learn about money is it is a very little thing. Don't think that God will make you starve if you have the right attitude to 56:35 money. I'll tell you my testimony. God's not called you to full-time service so you don't have to do what I do. I did. But he called me for full-time service and told me to follow the apostles and give everything up. And I did that. And I'll 56:49 tell you through after 60 years of full-time Christian work. I've never lacked anything. My wife and I had never had to miss a meal. We did not have the grandest meals. Of course not. We could never afford to go to restaurants. That's 57:06 fine. You can live without going to restaurants. I don't believe Jesus went to restaurants, expensive restaurants. We didn't do that either. That is not the most important thing in life. I rich millionaires can do all that, but we 57:17 don't have money for that. We lived simply. We taught our children to live simply. And uh we saw money is a very little thing. I'm not going to make big of it. And we did not spend any money that if he had to borrow. We spent only what we 57:33 had. Here's how much is in the bank in my account. I can only spend what I h have. And certain things were priority before we spent. I had to uh my dad had given me a house to live in. So of course I didn't know if we had to pay 57:49 any rent and but I had to pay my electricity bill, water bill and then more important than that I had to pay the school fees for my children. They [clears throat] were going to school where we had to pay fees every month. 58:03 Those are all priorities. So we [clears throat] had to make a budget and say well those things are important. I can't put school fees and all at the end that must come in the beginning. I don't want to run short of paying my 58:16 electricity bill, water bill. These things all are priorities. And then what's left over, that's what we live on. And so that's how it must be with you. If you have to pay house rent, you to put that in top and all the other 58:30 requirements. And then from the remainder of the money, then you decide how much to spend on food and whether you can go for an outing or a vacation or yeah, if you can afford to go to restaurants with your children, by all 58:42 means, do it. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm saying I could not afford it. That's why I didn't go. If you could if you can afford it, it's perfectly okay to go. Give your wife a break from cooking food in the Oh, excellent plan. But don't do 58:55 it if you have to get into debt. Pay the important things. Pay your school fees. And in India, schools were all you had to pay fees in every school. There was nothing free. So you pay fees and then as they if their children go to college, 59:11 you have to budget for that. You can't suddenly get money when college education is more expensive. And I did want to give my children a good education so they could get a job. I didn't want them to be stranded without a job. So I wanted them to get a college 59:26 education. So then you have to save up. You have to save up and save up and you sudden you can't suddenly get money to pay for college education. You got to save up. I'm telling you practical things. This is how we worked at it. And 59:37 the end result is I could give my children or my children college education and we were never in debt even for 1 cent. And I did not want now some people go through college taking a college loan. Okay? If they want to do it that way 59:53 that's fine but I wanted to do it as far as possible that my children could finish college without being in debt. That's the best way. And so for that what we do my wife and I would cut down cut down cut down any expense. We never 1:00:07 spent money on ourselves. We would not buy we'd be happy with the clothes we have and I say if the clothes are torn then we get new clothes. We don't have to buy such a set of clothes for this occasion that occasion. We lived very 1:00:20 simply you know and in the early days I could not afford to get even shirts for myself. I mean, I I had a few old shirts from the naval days and I'd wear them at home and somebody once gave me a gift of two shirts and I preserved those two 1:00:38 shirts for all anytime I had to go somewhere to preach uh because I must be dressed decently there. If I if I go to a shirt to preach with a stone shirt, somebody will give me a gift. And I didn't want any gifts like that. I 1:00:51 didn't want to give a hint. So I kept two good shirts for all preaching sessions. So somebody once told me, "Brother Zach, I always see you wearing two shirts." Yeah. I said, "I love them." I didn't tell him that they were 1:01:02 the only ones I had, which I could wear. You will never give a hint to people. But what I'm trying to say is I'm not saying you must live like that. You earn much more than me and you're not called to full-time Christian work like me. But 1:01:14 God was testing me. And I said, "Lord, I want to be faithful. Even I if I don't become a great preacher, I want to be faithful with the little I have. And those days, what I wasn't preaching to crowds like this. I was preaching to few 1:01:27 people here and a few people there. God was testing me in those days. And little by little, I didn't know he was testing me for greater ministry in the days to come. But he tests you with little things, then he'll give you a 1:01:39 promotion. Just like in a job, they test you, your boss, and see can I give him more responsibility. It's exactly like that in Christian work. God tests you with little things. Are you faithful? So first of all, money is a very little 1:01:51 thing. Secondly, Luke 16:11, if you've not been faithful with the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches? That means money is false riches instead of unrighteous wealth. I say false riches and true riches. So I read it like this. If you 1:02:10 have not been faithful in the use of false riches, who will give you the true riches? So I saw that by faithfulness in money I could get the true riches. So what are the true riches? First of all, the true riches are to get the nature of Jesus 1:02:28 Christ in me. That's the natur that's what I wanted to get the nature of Christ in me. I wanted that. And next was to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's the true riches. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And third, 1:02:47 when I read the Bible, I don't want just information. I want revelation. What's the difference between information and revelation? When I read the Bible and I get information to be able to preach to others, revelation is 1:03:02 where I read something there that changes my way of life. For example, be anxious for nothing. You can preach a message on that. But when it becomes a revelation to you and you discover that you can live a life without anxiety in any situation, 1:03:20 you lose something expensive and you're not bothered about it because you say, "Well, it's okay. I was careless. I must be more careful next time." But you're not don't spend your nights worrying about it. You know, sometimes we have such a grab 1:03:34 on that we're not liberated in other areas. I remember hearing a story of a a child whose hand was caught inside a a flower was how do you pronounce it here in America was or ways or whatever it is you the hand was inside this flower was 1:03:52 and she that poor child couldn't pull it out and said the mommy said straighten your fingers darling so and she said if I straighten my fingers I lose the coin that I'm holding inside aha that's why she couldn't pull the hand out because 1:04:07 there was a coin inside that vase. And she was holding on to that. She wanted to take that. So that's what the Lord says, open your hand and release that money. You'll become free. That's an illustration there for you. You're 1:04:19 holding on to something tight and that's why you're not getting free. Your hand is locked somewhere. So the true riches are likeness to Christ, fellowship with Christ, fullness of the Holy Spirit, and revelation on the word of God. What's 1:04:37 the difference between revelation and information? Information is only goes to your head. You can preach to others. Revelation is what changes your life. You read a scripture and if it is just something you can think, ah, that's a 1:04:48 good thing I can preach next Sunday. You're not fit to be a servant of God. Completely unfit because you're seeking honor. But if you read something and say, "Boy, that's something I need to experience in my life." That's revelation. 1:05:03 Seek for revelation in scripture. One day God will use you to share that with others. But many people don't begin with revelation. They don't say that's something to change my life. If you're in a church where you have an 1:05:15 opportunity to share God's word, you say, "Ah, that's a clever thought for me to preach next Sunday." Get rid of that. You'll seek honor and you'll destroy yourself. Don't think of scripture as something that gives you ideas to 1:05:27 preach. Lord, how can that change my life? That's what the Lord taught me. Let it change your life first and then speak about it. You know this wonderful verse Luke wrote this gospel by the way. And Luke's if you ask would Luke can you 1:05:44 give me a title for your gospel. Yeah he gave it here it is in Acts 1 vers1 the first account I composed theophilles of all that Jesus began to do and teach. Theophilles was the person to whom Luke wrote the gospel of Luke. You read that 1:06:01 in Luke chapter 1. And Luke also wrote the acts of the apostles. And in the first verse of the acts of the apostles, he talks about the gospel he wrote. And how does he describe the gospel? How does Luke describe the gospel he wrote? 1:06:15 All that Jesus began to do and teach. I often quote that verse. You probably heard me before saying it. What Jesus did and taught. Did taught. Did and taught. He never taught what he didn't do. He never taught what he didn't do. 1:06:34 Please remember this. The title for Luke's gospel is what Jesus did and taught. And Acts the Apostles, what's the title for that? And I'll tell you, Luke's gospel is what Jesus did and taught through his 1:06:52 physical body. Acts of the apostles it was is what Jesus did and taught through his spiritual body the church. It's the same thing and that is what he wants to do today. What Jesus did and taught through you were a part of his body. So 1:07:09 do it first then teach it. Don't teach what you haven't done. Follow Jesus' example who did and taught. So many people are preaching fantastic things that they haven't done. I remember a person now I personally don't believe in tithing. Tithing is an 1:07:27 old testament law. I have never preached it in my life. I don't preach old testament. I preach the new covenant. Now I know there are many churches that preach you must pay your tithe. Okay, they can go back to the old covenant if 1:07:42 they want. But uh there was a time when America was under the British. You know that in the 1700s, America was ruled by the British and in 1776 they got free. [clears throat] Do you want to go back under the British? 1:08:00 That's up to you. Most people don't want to go back under the British. They say we are free. You want to go back to the old covenant which is abolished on the day of Pentecost where they go back to 10% this and you better start offering 1:08:13 sacrifices also lambs and goats and all that. Why only the 10%. Why pick up one thing from the old testament? Why not take the whole thing? If you're an old covenant Christian, go back to the old covenant fully. I got rid of the old 1:08:28 covenant. I'm in a new covenant. What do I do with money today? How am I supposed to? I must not possess anything. The new covenant is 100% not 10%. When you open your palm, God will tell you how much to give. In our churches, and we have about a 1:08:47 hundred of them now in 16 countries. And in every one of those churches, we don't have any paid leader. We don't call them pastors. It's an unscriptural title for leaders. We call them elders because that's what we read in Acts 14. 1:09:03 That's what we read in Timothy and Titus. Elders who oversee the church. And not one of those, we have 300 of them and deacons. Not one of them is paid. We don't believe in paid service for the Lord. Paid service is out in the 1:09:19 world. In God's work, there is no paid service. So, in all these 51 years that we've had churches, we've never paid a single person. I've never taken a salary for 60 years. I trust the Lord and say how well like Paul did. Do something 1:09:35 with your own hands and that's what I've done and support myself. Paul had stitched tents and I do something else and I supported myself and my family for 60 years. So that's what So we also don't pass an offering bag around. 1:09:55 Never done it in any of our churches in 60 years, 50 years because that's you forcing people to give. Some guy who doesn't feel like giving anything. Why put a bag in front of him and force him to give? He'll give out of 1:10:12 embarrassment. Oh, people are watching me. I better put something in. I'm so thankful that my children never saw a bag being passed on. I'll tell you one of the results of that. I was one day preaching in a big service, not a big service, a big public 1:10:28 meeting that somebody else had organized. Some other Christian group had organized a big public meeting for people in Bangalore with hundreds of people there and they wanted me to be the preacher. I said okay, I'll come and 1:10:39 preach. So I went and sat as usual. I don't go and sat on I don't go and sit on a platform. I sat at the congregation. When I have to go to speak, I go up top to the front. So I was sitting in the in the congregation with all my family and lo and behold 1:10:53 they pass a bag around even in a place to preach the gospel. That's the last place to pass a bag around to these unbelievers. But these people who organized the meeting were so covetous. They passed a bag around. And when it 1:11:05 came to my little one of my sons sitting there who was very young and he asked me, "Daddy, are they passing some sweets around for everybody?" He'd never seen an offering bag in his life. I was so excited. Thank God I have 1:11:18 a son who's never seen an offering bag in his life. I said, "Please don't put your hand into that bag. [laughter] Just let it pass it." I'll never forget that my children were so ignorant of what an offering bag is. I praise God for such churches where 1:11:34 children are ignorant of what an offering bag is being passed around. If anything is passed around in a bag in our church, it's always sweets that you can put your hand in and take. So I don't believe that we should pass back 1:11:47 the route. We say how do we and we keep a box. Why do we keep a box? Because we read once that Jesus sat next to an offering box and a widow came and put some money there and Jesus told his disciples that widow has put more than all the others. 1:12:03 So I see that offering box is okay because Jesus sits next to it and watches and it's enough if Jesus sees who puts how much. And we've never had a lack. We've never we've built a numerous church buildings in India because in the 1:12:18 poor villages where most people are Hindus, they don't have money to build themselves. So we from the richer churches like Bangalore, we send money and we've built numerous buildings for the poor churches in India from our 1:12:34 offering box where people put voluntarily. Millions of rupees have come through there and we've had millions of rupees to help poor widows. It's one of our major ministries to help poor widows or husbands who have forsaken them because 1:12:51 they became Christians. And to help children of very poor people who can't afford to send their children to college but who've done well in school. We paid we've spent millions of rupees never taking an offering with no 1:13:09 paid workers. I believe that's how it was in the first century and we wanted to come back to New Testament Christianity and people can't I say if you don't have faith for that don't do it. We had faith for that and it's brought such a 1:13:26 fantastic experience. I'll tell you how it affected some families. So some families were struggling financially. They saw the church with all its needs are operating without ever expressing their need. They said, "Oh, we can trust 1:13:39 God for our needs also." And they stopped borrowing and they started trusting God. And they found their needs were met. So you see what happens when the church sets an example. The people in the church who always think of 1:13:53 borrowing money to meet their needs begin to trust God. their their life gets transformed because the church has set an example. But if they see a church where everybody's making announcement now we need so much money for this and 1:14:05 we're having this project and we need money for this keep on like that then they will also go around borrowing from other people. So the pastors or the preachers are responsible for making the people into debt. We taught in our 1:14:15 church you must never be in debt. Okay. Question. If a person has a debt, should he put money in the offering box or not? Say God must be first. Everybody says, "Hang on, hang on." Do you remember once 1:14:35 uh somebody came to Jesus and said, "Should we pay taxes to Caesar?" What happened then? Do you remember? First of all, imagine Jesus was so poor he didn't even have a coin in his pocket. He said, "Can somebody lend me a coin?" Do you 1:14:52 meditate on that? Said Jesus didn't even have a coin in his pocket. Please lend me a coin. He gets a coin. Whose image is here? They said Caesars's. What did he say after that? Give to Caesar. What is Caesar's? Go back to that verse. And give to God what 1:15:11 is God. God is second. Did you read that? Jesus putting Caesar first. When it comes to debt, give back your debt first, then give God. Render to Caesar what is Caesars's and then render to God what is God's. That's 1:15:31 what we put in our offering box. If you're in debt, don't put one cent here. God doesn't want your money because you're putting Caesar's money in here. You're putting that brother's money. You borrowed money from him and you're 1:15:45 putting his money in here. God doesn't want his money. give that money back to him. Isn't that righteous that if I borrow money from you and I put it in the offering box, God says, "You're giving me somebody else's money. I don't 1:15:54 want it. If you put money here, it must be your own." It's sensible. So these are the things which we teach in our church. Don't give money if you're not giving it cheerfully. That's is written in Corinthians. The Lord loves a cheerful 1:16:09 giver. If you can't give cheerfully, don't give. If you come here, oh, reluctantly, no, no, no. Keep it. Keep it for yourself. What about if you're in need in your own home? Okay, there are people who say, "No, no, no. Forget about your home need. Put God 1:16:24 first." I don't teach that. I say, "If you got a need in your home, don't put a scent in the box. Meet your home need first." I'll tell you why. I teach it also. God is a father. He's not a tyrant. He's not a king or a dictator 1:16:42 collecting income tax. This is not income tax that you're putting in the box. You're giving a gift to your heavenly father. And I said, I am a father and supposing I am a millionaire father, a multi-billionaire father. I'm not, but 1:16:59 supposing I were. And if one of my children is needy and he he wants to show his love for his father by giving some money for my needs and supposing my I'm a millionaire father, a billionaire or a trillionaire and one of my sons loves me so much and 1:17:18 he wants to he's struggling financially himself in his own family but out of love for me he wants to sacrifice something in his home and give it to me. Do you think I would take it? Would you take it? If you were a multi-millionaire 1:17:31 father and your poor son is struggling in his family and wants to come and give you something, what would you say as a father? You'd say, "Son, I have plenty. Please use it for yourself." Our heavenly father is a trillionaire or 1:17:45 whatever bigger name than that is. And a one of his sons comes to give money in the box when he's struggling at home. You know what the heavenly father will say? No preacher will tell you this. I'll tell you that. Keep that money yourself. Take care of 1:17:59 your family needs first. Have you ever heard any preacher tell you that? That is because I know what my heavenly father is like. Many people don't know him as a father. They know him as a tyrant who says give your 10%. And they have threats otherwise you'll 1:18:16 suffer rubbish. You will not suffer. Let me tell you that God is a loving father. He's not interested in your money. He's interested in your love. If you love him, that's what he wants. So that's the second thing that 1:18:35 uh money is belongs is first of all it's a very little thing. Secondly, it's not the true riches. And third one, the third point is in Luke 16:12 in that which is anothers. So money, 1:18:53 your money belongs to God. That's the third thing you need to realize. Three things about money in verses 10 to 12. First of all, it's a very little thing. Secondly, it is not the true riches. It is false riches. Verse 11. And thirdly, 1:19:07 it belongs to God. It doesn't belong to you. Then he talks about money in verse 13. So when you meditate on scripture, everything I told you today, you could see yourself. If you meditated, the thing is you don't meditate. You read 1:19:21 and you go on meditate. Supposing you one day your meditation is just verse 10 to13. Yeah, it's all talking about money in verse 13. So perhaps verse 10 and 10 to 12 is also talking about money. And you would have what I told you just now, you 1:19:34 would have seen verse 10, money is a very little thing. Verse 11, money is not true riches. It is false riches. And verse 12, money belongs to another. It belongs to God. So it's not so difficult to interpret scripture. You just got to 1:19:50 spend a little time meditating on it. I want to encourage you to meditate on scripture, not just read it and move on. My life has been transformed by meditating on scripture. And don't use scripture to do something. You know, people take a 1:20:09 verse of scripture and use it to say, "God told me to do this." You can be you got to be very careful because you can be deceived in that way. Scripture is telling you how to live your life and not to make you do what you want to 1:20:29 do. So be be very careful in that area. You know there's this case of somebody who wanted to marry a girl girl called grace and he reads one day in scripture my grace is sufficient for you and he says dad god's told me this 1:20:46 grace is his grace and he isn't there that's enough this girl is enough for me another fellow who who's asked to marry a girl called grace and doesn't like her reads the same verse and tells his dad no god's grace is enough for me I don't 1:20:59 want this girl called grace see how from the same verse they got two different interpretations I'm just throwing you how you can go to scripture and take a verse and make it apply to your life and you do what you want and say scripture 1:21:10 said it rubbish. Scripture is telling you how to live a godly life. And if if you want a godly wife is he's not telling you words to use. He's telling you choose a person who will be an equal 2 Corinthians 6:14. Don't be unequally 1:21:30 yolked. That is the verse for marriage. 2 Corinthians 6:14. I say to all of you young people, 2 Corinthians 6:14. When you consider marriage, here is the verse. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 1:21:50 and verse 14. Don't be bound together with unbelievers. Number one. First thing you need to consider when you he's talking yoke that marriage is being bound together. He's talking about marriage. 1:22:07 Don't get married to an unbeliever. I have told people this. The Bible says there are children of God and children of Satan. An unbeliever, whether you like it or not, is called a child of the devil. He's not yet become a child of 1:22:23 God. He's got to be born again to become a child of God. So if you marry an unbeliever, the child of the devil, who's your father-in-law, you know, and you can't stop your father-in-law from visiting you? That's the devil. So when your 1:22:41 father-in-law comes visiting your home, he says the devil's coming to your home. He's got every right to come into your home because you married one of his children. How can you stop the father-in-law coming and visiting your 1:22:52 home? Don't be unequally yolked with unbelievers. The yoke [clears throat] is what they put on top of two bulocks. And it's very unequal. You don't have a yoke like this. That's unequal yoke. You're a believer up there and you marry an 1:23:08 unbeliever. You can't plow the field together. You'll have constant problems. So, make sure the person you marry is a bornag again person, one who loves Jesus just like you do. And then it says here in verse 15, what is there common between Christ and the 1:23:26 devil? What has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Do you believe that things common and believer and unbeliever? Don't be unequally yolked with what what does you're the temple of God and that's person is a temple of an idol. You're 1:23:43 not born again. What agreement is there between a temple of God and idols? But verse 17, come out and be separate. Now, if you're already married to an unbeliever, you got to pay the price for it. Maybe you were ignorant. Whatever it 1:23:59 is, seek, pray for that person's salvation. I have come across numerous people in my life who were born again and prayed and prayed and prayed and their partner also got converted. Many, many cases in our churches pray and pray 1:24:14 and pray. Lord, I'm now become your child, but my partner is not your child. I'm praying that he or she will become a child of God. I tell you God, if you fervently pray, God will answer your prayer. If you got children who are not 1:24:27 converted, you got to keep praying till they get converted. If you got a marriage partner who's not converted, husband or wife, pray and God will bring them into the kingdom. I've seen so many cases, but you determined to pray. 1:24:38 Supposing your your marriage partner had a serious case of cancer, would you pray for them to be healed? Sure. In the same way, pray for something worse than cancer. He's an unbeliever on his way to hell or she's an unbeliever on her way 1:24:52 to hell. Pray fervently that they'll be saved. And then it says here, come out and be separate from that unbelieving situation and I then I will be a father to you. Verse 18. So don't get married to unbelievers. The Lord says, "If you 1:25:07 separate yourself from marrying unbelievers, I will be a father to you." Verse 2 Corinthians 6:18, "And you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." So these are little things that we must be very very careful about. 1:25:21 Our attitude to money. [clears throat] Let me just read something to you that I wrote down some time ago because [snorts] sometimes, you know, we you have so much in this country, America. You already have so much. So many people 1:25:38 come from India all the way here. Not because they like the air in this country or say they love the money in this country. I'll tell you honestly that's why they come. They can get a good job and earn much more than they 1:25:50 can get in their homeland. And they get so worked up when they lose their job. Ho ho. Now what'll happen? They don't even get so worked up and they lose their salvation or they lose their contact with God. Unfortunately, many people who come from 1:26:08 India to America begin to love money and then God may even allow them to lose their job to draw him closer to himself. Praise the Lord for that because if he draws you closer to you by enabling enabling you to lose your job, just 1:26:23 rejoice. God will never forsake his children. That is absolutely certain. I'm telling you that from 60 years of experience without any salary, without looking for anybody to support me. And I I did a little thing with with the little money 1:26:39 I had and I supported myself. My wife and I took care of ours and our children for years. And I know from experience that God will honor you if you honor him. Now, many others who have had a regular monthly job and salary may not 1:26:50 be able to give you the testimony I'm giving you. But I'm telling you this, if you honor God, he'll honor you. Don't put money above God. Put God above money. And when you come into a situation where you're going to lose 1:27:01 your money, say, "Lord, that's okay. You're above God, money for me, and I trust you and you'll be first in my life. And if your wife doesn't feel like that, you be the head of the house. And if your husband doesn't feel like that, 1:27:14 encourage him and say, "Let's put God first in our home." When God is first, everything will go right. Because sometimes, you know, we have so much and we still complain. ing gratitude, lack of I told you not giving thanks is the 1:27:28 first step towards backsliding. So let me read something to you that I read somewhere. If you have money, even a little bit of money in a bank account, 1:27:44 you are richer than 92% of people in the world who don't even have a bank account. I'm trying to teach you to be thankful. That's all through what I'm reading. 92% of people in the world, they have found out, people have done research and found 1:28:02 out 92% of the world, people in the world don't even have a bank account. I have worked with people in India who don't have a bank account. It may be surprising to you. A lot of our work in India, CFC churches are in the poor villages. Some of them don't 1:28:19 know what a bank account is. So there are 90. You're among the eight 8% of the world who has a bank account. Be thankful. Okay. Next. If you have a house and a refrigerator, a fridge in your house, you're richer 1:28:36 than 75% of people in the world who don't have a house and a refrigerator. Teach your children that. If you have a house to live in, even if it's a rented house and a refrigerator, you're richer than 75% of people in the 1:28:54 world. I'm just telling you things to be thankful for. How many of you have thought of being thankful that you have a fridge in your home when 75% of people don't have it? Teach your children to be thankful. If you can read, 1:29:09 you're better off than two billion. Two billion means 2,000 million 2,000 pe bill billion people in the world cannot read and millions are blind and cannot read and you are better off than them. Just the fact that you can read, 1:29:28 that you can see, teach your children that if you have never experienced war or prison or torture or starvation, you're better off than 500 million people in the world who have experienced 1:29:46 war, prison, torture, or starvation. Tell your children that when they complain about the food on the table. this is not good enough or I want this, I want that. Tell them that 500 million in the people in the world are 1:30:03 I know in India I've seen with my own eyes poor people who live in the slums and their children coming into the garbage bins on the streets the garbage bins and picking up some 1:30:21 old food that somebody threw into the garbage bin. I've seen it with my own eyes and I've learned to be thankful for whatever we have. Teach your children to be thankful for whatever food they get on their table. Tell them about how it 1:30:36 is in other parts of the world. If you're more healthy than sick, you're better off than 1 million people who will die this week. This week, 1 million people in the world are going to die somewhere or the other. 1:30:55 And if you're not sick and going to die, be thankful. If you can go to a Christian meeting like this without the fear of getting arrested, without police standing at the door to arrest you for going for a Christian meeting, if you can come freely, 1:31:11 you are better off than 3,000 million people in the world who will be arrested if they go to a Christian meeting. And if you're thankful to God for these blessings, you're truly a blessed man and woman because most people in the world are 1:31:31 very unthankful. And most Christians in the world are very unthankful, too. I hope we have learned some lessons today that will help you and help your family to be better disciples of Jesus Christ. Let's bow before God. 1:31:46 Heavenly Father, please help us to be true disciples of yours. Not just in word but in deed. Everyone here, I believe that they are sincere people who have come here to this conference. Help them Lord to live according to the light that you have 1:32:03 given them and each one including me pray in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, thank God uh again for the this 1:32:28 last session. We're going to have lunch shortly. The food is here now. It'll be across in the gymnasium. Uh a few more announcements uh maybe I should mention that I didn't do earlier. A few of you have asked how you can give 1:32:45 electronically. That's the only way you you're able to give. If you are such a person, just reach out to one of the elders of the church, me, Santoj Date Burch, and we'll give you specific instructions on how how to give 1:32:57 electronically. There's a box out there for those who want to write a check or cash. There's a box right behind uh the walls of this room here. So, let me let one of the elders know. If you can only give electronically, we'll give you 1:33:12 instructions as to how to do that. Now, the next session after lunch would be at 2:30 in here. It's the Q&A session for for the marriage Q&A session. Please come. Husbands, wife, and if you're 20 years and older with an ambition to get 1:33:30 married, a desire to get married also, please come. That's personally one of my probably my favorite session where my wife and I can come and hear marriages must be strong. So, uh please come uh at 2:30 uh for that session. And then while 1:33:47 that session is going on, our children will have some activities outside so they're not here disturbing or distracting us. There'll be activities for them 2 years old to 15 years old. They'll have activities outside in the 1:34:00 in the play area here. And I said earlier that if you're 16 and over, you'd like to volunteer at 1:45. Also, please meet outside. You'll have we'll give you instructions as to how you can help uh as we have activities for the 1:34:16 children. So, 16 and older 145 meet out there for instructions. And then if you have children to 15 years old, they'll be out there also uh uh for activities while we're doing the Q&A session. uh for married couples or if you're 20 1:34:35 years old and above. So, I'll go ahead and pray and we go for lunch. Please, we've heard many times to search the scriptures and we've heard a lot even in this last session. I hope you took those verses down. You could be in one of two 1:34:49 camps. One to say, I agree with what I've heard. But that's still not enough. You've got to go back and say, Lord, impress the things I've heard in my heart. You could be in another camp and say, "I don't agree." Have you taken time to go back and say, 1:35:04 'Lord, I could be wrong. The only way that can happen is if you go back and search with an honest heart to see what the Lord says about these things. The bottom line is you must go back and say, "Lord, show it to me. If it's so, he 1:35:21 will." So, let me pray and we'll go ahead and have lunch and be back by 2:30. Father, we praise you so much for your goodness to us. You're a good father and your care for every single person at this meeting today. Your word 1:35:37 gives light. It is light. Open our eyes, Jesus. We want to see you. We want to know you. We want to follow you. Please give us honest hearts as we proceed throughout the rest of this meeting. be magnified yet more in every eye, every 1:35:55 heart in this meeting. Help us Lord. Amen.
