0:18 I told you that um we have to be careful with our money and with our mouth. If you want to receive you want to be God's mouth and you want to receive heavenly riches. 0:36 Who will give you the true riches if you are not faithful with money? What are the true riches? The true riches are number one partaking of God's nature. 0:53 There's nothing greater than that. See, there are many reasons why we can avoid sin. I can avoid sin because I don't want to go to hell. It's the lowest reason. Or I can avoid sin because 1:12 it'll spoil my testimony before others if I lose my temper. It's also a good reason, but that is not the best. Or better than that, I want to avoid sin because I want God to use me. Or there could be other reasons like that. 1:31 I want to avoid sin because it's good to be a holy man. My testimony before people will be good. That's also not the highest. The highest is why did Jesus avoid sin? Not because I want my father to use me. No. 1:50 It is displeasing to God. God hates it. That's why I want to avoid it. You can avoid sin because it's harmful for me. Sin is like poison. I want to avoid it. 2:09 It's harmful for me. I don't drink whiskey because it's harmful for me. I don't sin because it's harmful for me. That's not the reason. It displeases God. But the highest reason is that 2:27 it's not my nature. Do you know the difference between a worm and a snake? You stamp on a snake, you know what it will do. Sting you immediately. You stamp on a worm, 2:46 it'll just curl up. Why? It's not because it's trying to be spiritual and say, "I must not sting. I must just humble myself." No. It is nature. It's automatic. 3:02 And that is the highest level. But it has become my nature. I just don't sting. If somebody stamps on me, I just curl up. Now, it doesn't begin like that because in the beginning we are used to stinging 3:22 back. And we gradually progress in different stages. Ultimate is we partake of God's nature. There is nothing higher than that. God does not sin because that's his nature. It's not because he's afraid of going to hell or because of some punishment or 3:37 some sickness. Nothing. It is his nature. Holiness is his nature. And that is the ultimate goal we want to come to where holiness becomes my nature. It's not because I want a testimony in the church or I want to be God to use me 3:51 or anything. All that is stages. But we come to say, "Lord, I want to partake of your nature." It says in 2 Peter in chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. That the divine power of God, verse 3, 4:10 has granted us, verse 4, precious and magnificent promises. The whole Bible full of God's wonderful promises. And that's not just victory over sin, but that you might become partakers of the divine nature. And that will help you escape the 4:29 corruption in the world by lust. This is more than victory over sin. This is where nature you know, which just rejects sin. Just flicks it off. flicks it off. That should be our goal. Lord, I want to 4:47 come to that place where just flick it off. There's an expression in English called water off a duck's back. I don't know how if it's really true that if you pour water, the water will not stick on a duck. Or the wings will not get wet. I don't know. I 5:02 never tried it. But there's an expression water off a duck's back means you pour the water and it doesn't it doesn't stick. Water on a You pour water on me, it'll be there on my skin, but not on a duck. Nature. I say, "What wonderful thing if 5:14 I can have my reaction to sin is like that. Temptation comes and it just falls off." That is what That is God's goal. So, in the same way I can come to the place where little by little by little I come to the place where 5:33 money doesn't have any hold on me. And I'm not thinking about it. If I lost something, I'm not going to be worried about it. And if I gain something, I'm not going to be excited about it. In the beginning, you know, particularly 5:50 if you are in need and you get some money or a promotion anything, you're excited. It's all right, good. I had a need and God met with me. But you gradually come to the place where you say Jesus was never excited when he got 6:04 money. That's why he let Judas Iscariot handle it and if Judas Iscariot stole it, he was not disappointed. He had come so much above that that he knew that my father will provide my need however much Judas steals or whatever happens. 6:22 He was free from it completely. And when we say we want to be like Jesus, it is in this area to be completely free partaking of God's nature. God has zero love for money. I say, "Lord, I want to be like that. 6:41 I'm supposed to partake of your nature, my nature which is just like Adam's nature did such a perfect job in us, right? What a perfect job Adam's nature has done in us. Makes us get angry, makes us selfish, make us murmur, complain, love money. 6:58 It's a perfect job. In every area. In the same way, the Holy Spirit can do a perfect job of giving me God's nature. If Adam's nature can come so perfectly in me from childhood 7:16 that it is no effort to tell lies, is no effort to be selfish. It's no effort to think only of myself. It's not at all It's not a straight strain to think of myself. It's natural. It's natural to gossip, and natural to criticize, and natural to find fault, 7:31 natural to defend myself. Adam has done such a fantastic job in perfectly giving me his nature. Can't the Holy Spirit do a perfect job in giving me Christ's nature. As when I had Adam's nature, I was not struggling to tell a lie or struggling 7:49 to be selfish. You know, I'm so battling unselfishness. No, selfishness comes naturally. Pride, anger, everything comes naturally. That is the work that God can do in us through the Holy Spirit where it comes naturally over a period 8:06 of time, but it is a stage. You'll get there only if you're faithful in the lower stages. So, that is God's desire and that nature God gives us is love. But, in in leadership, I want to tell you something about this love 8:25 which is God's nature. It says in Philippians in chapter 1. Philippians 1, Paul prays for the Philippians and says, "I pray that your love will increase." A good prayer to pray that our love will increase. But, 8:43 it must abound more and more in real knowledge and discernment. Discernment is more than knowledge. Discernment is where you love people. You don't There's no hatred in your heart against anybody. 9:00 You love people. That's why you help them. You love people. That's why you correct them. Just like you love your children, you discipline them because you love them. The Bible says if you don't discipline your children, you don't 9:12 really love them. And if I'm a good elder, I will have to discipline people in the church. It's a part of my love to protect them, preserve them. So, but that love must abound in discernment. And that means as we grow, as we walk 9:32 with the Lord, God It's one of the very important requirements for elders. That God should be able to make me discerning. That people can't fool me with their language. Somebody comes and talks spiritual 9:52 language and I'm not fooled. You can come to the place where some new person comes to your church in 5 minutes of conversation with him, you know where he stands. You don't know anything about his private life. But you talk to him for 5 minutes and 10:08 you know where he stands, discernment. Sometimes you just look into his eyes. I remember one person came here from Tamil Nadu once, a new person to a CFC. I looked into his eyes and I knew he was a crook. Not a crook in terms of cheating money 10:24 or something. He was a wealthy businessman. But something like for straight lacking straightforwardness in his life, which became evident later on. If you don't have discernment and you don't seek for it, you will end up 10:43 giving responsibility in your church to the wrong people. That has also happened. I must give responsibility to this person because otherwise he'll get offended. I gave responsibility to this person but not to that person. So, in order to not 10:59 to offend him, I'll give him also responsibility. If you do that, I would say to your face, you're totally unfit to be an elder. CFC, go and join the Catholic Church or something like that. To give a responsibility to a person 11:15 because you're afraid he'll get offended. Are you a disciple of Jesus or what? Are you building the kingdom of God or some private club? You cannot be an elder if you're You're willing to offend people. Just forget it. Resign. 11:37 We must be willing to offend people. Discernment, that you discern that this person is speaking the right language, but I don't feel is right. Something wrong there. It's very important for us that beyond the language 11:56 you must be able to discern. That is how Peter detected Ananias. Ananias never said anything. But the way Ananias came and kept the money there and his look Peter said, "Come here. 12:13 Something not right in you." Discernment. Very, very important requirement for an elder. And there's no course you can take for discernment. There's no Bible study you can take 12:31 about to get discernment. It only comes through faithfulness in your personal life. If you are faithful in judging sin in your own flesh God will give you discernment. Otherwise, you'll remain a blind elder. 12:55 Able to see things only when everything happens. When calamity happens, uh then your eyes are open. "Oh, ho. I didn't realize this man was like that." Okay, at least you woke up then. But if you had discernment, you'd have 13:07 known that long ago. So, it's very important that you don't swallow everything that people say. I have to be careful when I say that also because you can take that and make a law about that and you look at everybody with 13:23 suspicion. Everybody who comes you're is till you drive everybody out of the church with your suspicious looks. That is the other extreme. And always remember that the narrow way has got two extremes. One cliff is this side, one 13:38 cliff is this side. I know I can warn you so much against this cliff that you fall over that side and you say uh yeah, I'm not going to be fooled by anybody. But you fall over the other side. The narrow way is between these two extremes. 13:53 It's not that you're looking suspiciously at everybody. At the same time, you're not swallowing everything that people say. Find that narrow way, and who will show to you what the narrow way is? I'll tell you. Turn to Isaiah chapter 13. 14:10 How to have discernment? This verse has many applications. It has an application for personal life, but also for discernment. Isaiah chapter 30, and the last part of verse 20 and 21. 14:37 Number one, verse 20, last part. Your eyes will see your teacher. That's where you have to begin. You have to see Jesus Christ in your spirit. Look at his example, seek to follow him. 14:59 And as you see him in your spirit's eyes, you will hear a voice in your spirit saying, "This is the way." When you're going too much to the right or too much to the left, when you're in danger of falling over this side 15:18 or falling over that side, the The will say, no. You're going too far. You're becoming too suspicious. Or you don't have any discernment there. Be careful. And he will keep you on that narrow 15:36 path. You're becoming too legalistic there. And you back away from that and the Holy Spirit say, "Now you're becoming too worldly." The Christian life is a walking a very narrow path with steep cliffs on either side. 15:55 So, you see a particular danger and you back away and back away and back away from it. Remember there's a cliff behind you. So, you can hear certain things and get so taken up with something. Ah, I'm going to do that. Remember there's a cliff behind you. 16:11 So, I pray that you will love and your love will grow in discernment. That's what you read in Philippians. Not just discernment. You start with love. And you can't have spiritual discernment 16:28 if you don't begin with love. You begin with You go home now and say, "Okay, I'm going to discern everybody." You'll You'll destroy your church. Begin with love. But say, "Lord, don't let my love be foolish. I want to be discerning. 16:45 Not suspicious. Who will show you the difference between suspicion and discernment? Holy you'll hear a voice saying, "This is the way. This is too much to the right or too much to the left." And look at your teacher. That's how 16:58 that word began. Your eyes will see your teacher. Look at Jesus how it was. He knew the right answer always. There were times when he would answer a person. There are other times when he'd say, "No, I will not answer you." 17:13 Or I'll ask you another question. They say, "We can't answer that." Then I also won't answer you. So, Jesus did not have a standard reply for everyone. So, in our dealing with people, uh turn to Proverbs 26. 17:37 Here's a great two verses. Tell me how you interpret it. Proverbs 26 verse 4 and 5. What is the right answer? What should you do when you meet a fool? What should you do when you meet a fool? Do not answer a fool according to his 17:56 folly, otherwise you'll be like him. Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he be not wise in his own eyes. Wonderful. Are you confused? No, you need to be confused so that you 18:14 don't depend on your intellect, but on the Holy Spirit will tell you this is fool A and this is fool B. This is fool according to 26 verse 4 and this is fool according to 26 verse Who can tell you that? 18:32 Only the Holy Spirit. Answer this fellow. Don't answer this fellow. Jesus lived by that. That's why sometimes he would answer, sometimes he wouldn't. We have to follow him. And it's not a technique. Nobody can 18:50 train you in this. You have to walk with God. Secret of discernment is to walk with God with a clear conscience all the time. And then God sees that you're taking your responsibility in the church seriously, he will give you discernment. And I 19:09 believe one of the great lacks in Christian leadership today is discernment. They get taken up with all types of things. Some film star You've seen that in India also. Some film star says I've accepted Jesus. Ah, 19:27 finished. Every church wants that film star to come to that church and give a testimony. That brother, the film star accepted Jesus Christ. Oh, ho. So, Christianity must be the true religion because that film star also accepted Jesus Christ. 19:45 What a level our Christianity has come to in India. If a film star comes to CFC, they'll be made to sit at the back. And I'll get some brother to examine that film star whether he's born again. No, we have We don't show any preference to anybody. 20:02 We have people come from the Gulf. You know, these Indians who go to the Gulf after some time, they suddenly begin to think they are somebody important. Just because they have a lot of money, they built their own house and all that type of stuff. 20:16 And they come to CFC and they expect to be given some special place. There's no special place. I always make them sit at the back. And after some time, they get offended. They're never asked to share. They're never asked given any responsibility. 20:33 They get offended and they'll join some Pentecostal church. They suddenly become elders there. Ah, that's where you're supposed to be, brother. You came to the wrong church. You're supposed to be over there. Discern. Discern. Discern. If you want 20:46 to build your church in purity, you need discernment. And you must have absolutely no partiality for a rich person or your relative or your friend or your father, mother, uncle, anybody. No partiality. Don't give your wife 21:09 in the church because she's your wife. I have been so blessed, I'll tell you, beyond measure by having a wife who had no desire for any prominence in CFC. In the early days, 21:30 people would come for our conferences and they'd say, "Who is Zac Poonen's wife?" And I told her, "That is a good testimony that people come there, they don't know who you are. You're just like the other sisters in the crowd somewhere." 21:45 Have you seen Pentecostal pastors' wives? Very different. They are assistant pastors. Don't let your wife be like that. I'm sorry to say there are some 22:02 elders who are slaves to their wives. And I've seen it when I go to the conferences and all in the past, I've seen how they try to give their wives some prominence. They don't say anything. They think brother let's say Zac is a dumb person, 22:18 he doesn't know what's happening. I know everything what's happening. And I can make out and immediately makes me lose my confidence in that elder down to zero. I've seen it. I remember in one conference 22:35 where my wife was you know, some they wanted to take some video of the conferences, how the message and the crowd and the and my wife was uh you know, she usually has a clinic for the 22:53 poor women and children giving out medicines and this elder wanted to bring his wife to sit there next to to help give the medicines. And the video person is focusing on his wife. My res- respect for that elder went down 23:10 to zero and it has been at zero since then. What is this? Promoting your wife? You want her to be in the video? He who has ears to hear, let him hear. You need discernment, brother. Don't be 23:28 fooled by such people. You will not build the church of Jesus Christ if you are fooled by people who are trying to promote their wives or promote their children or promote something else like that. Many few years ago 23:46 I had a tremendous battle in should I ask one of my sons to speak in the conference or not? I never thought of it until all by themselves, without my help, they had a church on their own in the United States and they were invited in 24:04 different places to speak. I remember when going to one meeting where one of my Sandeep was speaking and I was introduced, by the way, this is Sa- brother Sandeep's father who has come here. I was so thrilled to be They didn't know who I was. I said, 24:20 "Great." It is after I saw such things that I said, "Okay, I feel they've got a ministry there. I might as well ask them to speak here also." But I was so hesitant. I said, "Lord, will this cause misunderstanding? I don't want to 24:35 stumble anybody." And then I saw that Jesus, when he selected his disciples, he selected two of his cousins. James and John were the children of Mary's sister. His mother Mary had a sister called Salome and her sons were James and John. 24:52 And when Jesus selects the three close to him, he takes James and John. And the are people say, "Aha, this he's just using his cousins." That's not why he chose them, because they were spiritually minded. And the And the Lord spoke to me that time, 25:07 "I was not disturbed what people said about my choosing James and John. Don't be disturbed." But I said, "Lord, I still want some confirmation. I want to be very careful." And I sat as I sat there, Brother Ian Robson came up to me and said, 25:23 "Jack, I think you should get your sons to speak." Uh, thank you, Lord. I got that confirmation. I'm very careful, very careful, because I've seen the calamity that has come. All over India, you see preachers promoting their children. 25:41 You know, they have contact with America, and they've built a huge organization with American money, and they go They're the ones who raised that money, and their organization's after them their name, and I they say that I've spent 20, 30, 40 years 25:55 building up this organization. Why should I give it to a stranger? This is my business. I'll hand it over to my son. And the son will be the next in charge of that Christian organization. See it all over India. Some ministry they start, connect up 26:09 with some organization abroad, and then their son or son-in-law or somebody will be in charge of this. This is the corruption that is in Christendom. I got sick and tired of it. Be careful that you don't promote your children unless you see that God has 26:27 anointed them and given them a ministry quite independent from your trying to promote them on their own. I believe God can use your children, sure, but make sure that God himself promotes them, not you. Because I tell you, God will not spare 26:45 you. He'll take away the anointing from you if you try to touch the work of God with your dirty hands. Definitely, it's touching the work of God with your dirty hands to push somebody up whom God is not pushing forward. 26:58 Don't push your wife forward in any ministry in the church as well. Always take the low seat and then encourage your family members to take the low seat. Let God exalt them. Not you. I've seen people trying to do it to 27:17 their wives and their children and I've seen it always destroys that whole family. If you want to destroy your family, you can do it. I've never done it and I'll never do it. I want to preserve my family for the kingdom of God. 27:32 This earthly honor and all means nothing. So, discernment is so important in this area. Discernment, discernment. People can come to our church who are crooks. They're coming for some benefit. Discern it. Well, we won't we won't be perfect. Once 27:49 or twice we may be fooled. And I've seen that also in the church that sometimes I've been fooled by people who I thought were really spiritual. But over a period of years it got exposed they were not spiritual. 28:07 And they got pushed out. And that's what I'm thankful for. I say if a man comes to CFC with a crooked intention seeking something for himself I know that one day or the other he'll get exposed. It may take time. 28:25 Like Judas Iscariot got exposed after 3 and 1/2 years. Jesus knew this fellow was a crook, but it was not time for him to be exposed. And some of the people sitting in your church Jesus may know right now this guy is not really fit 28:41 to He's not a spiritually minded person. He's a crook. He's seeking his own. He's just pretending to be spiritual. Okay. I say, "Lord, I don't know. All of my discernment is not perfect, but I know one thing. He'll get exposed. One day or the other, 28:56 he'll definitely get exposed. How do I know? Cuz I've seen what has happened in the last 40 years in CFC. One day or the other, these crooked people get exposed. They become elders and they get exposed and they're removed from eldership. 29:09 It has happened again and again and again. And God determines the time when it should happen. And then, as it happens, we get more and more discerning. So, don't be afraid cuz if you're honest and upright, God will back you up and even if you 29:28 slip up somewhere, he will expose it. You know, like these in the military ins- institutions, there's a check post. It's down and the car comes. It says, "Stop. I must check your identity and all." Checked, okay, go. So, like that, 29:45 somebody comes to the church. I lift up the You know, "Okay, brother, come in." But, I tell them, "Listen, there's another check post further up, which is manned by God. He will send you back." You can fool me, but then don't forget 29:58 there's another check post up there. This is not the final one. He'll chuck you out of the church. And it'll be very bad when that happens. So, that has happened to us also where sometimes in the early days, particularly, 30:13 we were deceived by some people who came with wrong intentions. They wanted money. They wanted some type of benefit. But, we grew in discernment. I We didn't start I mean, we all started in the kindergarten. I did not know multiplication when I was 30:31 3 years old. I know it now. The same way discernment, I did not know when we began, but little by little we grow. Don't be ashamed to say, "I'm growing." I'm I'm not in the PhD yet. I'm maybe going from kindergarten to first grade, 30:46 first standard. But I'm growing. But we must grow in discern. I pray that your love Philippians 1:9, what is that word we read? I pray that your love will grow more and more in real Come back to that verse and see it and don't ever forget 31:02 it. That your love will grow more and more in real or true discernment. So, growth of love is in real knowledge of God's ways 31:21 and discernment. Because when you have discernment, verse 10, then you can approve the things that are not the things that are good, but the things that are excellent. Have you heard this English proverb which says the good 31:38 is the enemy of the best. Good is here and best is here on top. I choose the good, I can miss the best. The good is the enemy of the best. So, I must sometimes reject the good because I want the best. So, it says here that you may approve, 31:58 not the things that are good, but the things that are excellent. That means you chose choose the absolute top thing. Because this is the church, this is church of God. We don't want things that are good, we want things that are excellent. 32:13 In order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ. And this discernment comes through the Holy Spirit. And that's why it's very, very important, dear brothers, that first of all you have a genuine 32:31 experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I remember the years when I sought for it and I said, "Lord, I know that something is missing in my life." I was I knew the Bible. I was preaching. 32:48 But, this is before CFC began. And I was praying and fasting and seeking the Lord and I said, "Something is missing." I knew I needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I know that it's a continuous thing, but I needed to have this 33:05 anointing for ministry. See, in Jesus' case, let's see the stages. He was born of the Holy Spirit. Conceived in the mother's womb, born of the Holy Spirit. We are also born of the Holy Spirit when we are born again. 33:23 The Holy Spirit comes there. The Bible says in Romans 8 and 13 that if you Romans 8:9, isn't it, which says, "If any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn't belong to him." Romans 8 and verse 33:41 9. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you don't even belong to Christ. So, that is the verse that teaches us when you're born again, you receive the Holy Spirit. When you ask Jesus to come into your heart, who comes in? Jesus is 33:55 in heaven. It's the Holy Spirit who comes in. When Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, was walking on the earth, you could invite him to your house, he would come to your house, like Mary, Martha, Lazarus invited him. Today, it 34:09 is not the second person of the Trinity, it's the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who's here. And you invite Christ to come into your heart, it's the Holy Spirit who comes in. It's the Spirit of Christ. That's why when it says in the early 34:23 Christians they received the Spirit is what we say we are they are born again. They told early Christians, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. We combine the two and say, "Receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart." 34:39 There's a reason for it. If we tell people in India, "Receive the Spirit." There are all types of people wanting to receive the Spirit. What spirit? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your 34:49 heart. The one who comes in is the Holy Spirit. So, don't have any doubt whether you have received the Spirit. You're born again. I'm trying to clarify confusion in your mind. But, you may not be filled with the Holy Spirit. 35:03 Because our heart is like a house with many rooms. And the Holy Spirit will only come into the rooms that you open up to him. The guilt room, guilty of my sins in the past. All of us want the Holy Spirit to come there. Please cleanse the guilt of 35:20 my sin. We are ready to have him come there. And so, light comes into one room. So, if you look at a a house on top of a hill, and there's light in one room of the 10 rooms of that house. And you look at it and I ask you, "Is 35:35 there light in the house?" Yes, there's light in the house. Is it filled with light? No, nine of the rooms seem to be dark. That's how many believers are. Have they received the Holy Spirit? Sure. Are they filled with the Holy Spirit? 35:48 No. Because they have not allowed the Holy Spirit to come into certain rooms. There are believers who are more interested in watching the Tamil television serials. 36:05 Some of them are not very clean. So, I've heard. There are Malayalam serials. I've never seen any of these, but I've heard there are things like this which even if there's not open sex in it, there's suggestions which 36:24 can influence your mind. I'm I'll tell you honestly, I'm not against watching clean movies, children's movies, Pilgrim's Progress, different Christian ones, or even other secular ones which are clean. 36:42 But, you have to be very careful. You must not become enslaved to it. And definitely, if it's got some dirty scenes in it, better not to watch it, and don't let your children ever see such things. 36:58 But, it's a form of education today. Movies and children can be educated in various ways. It's just like uh what they say, what you see through your eye goes more into your mind than what you hear. So, a lot of education is by visible 37:14 things on DVDs and all that. So, I'm not against that type of thing. But, we have to be very careful. The type of To me, a a television or the internet is like a library. I don't tell people you can't go into the library. 37:34 There are lots of books in the library. I say, "Listen, be careful what books you pick out of the library." So, when you go to the internet, I go to the internet, I check my email every day. I go to the internet, but I have to 37:43 see, "What am I checking here?" In the same way with movies, you can say, "What type of Is that a good book to read? You want your children to read that?" You don't say, "Don't go to the library." But, be careful what you 37:58 select. As you said, if you watch television, be careful what you watch. But, it's very important that we are discerning in all these things, because if you're careless, we can pollute ourselves and defile our children and families and everything. So, we have 38:17 to be very discerning in these days, because the devil is so subtle in everything. Make us waste our time and uh spend a lot of time in unprofitable things. So, let's seek to be discerning and saying, "Lord, and if you're in doubtful, say, 38:35 'Lord, please give me wisdom in this area.'" And if you have neglected the Bible, then definitely that's not the time to spend time watching movies. This to me watching a movie is like a It's a clean one. It's just a form of 38:50 relaxation. We need relaxation. Especially if you're working very hard in offices nowadays. The work is so tense. The mind is so occupied with particularly people work on computers and 39:08 technical stuff. You can't come home and read the Bible. They need the some type of relaxation. So, there's nothing wrong in that. Just be very careful in this area. A great need for discernment. That way we can protect ourselves and 39:27 protect our children as well. And as I said, it's the Holy Spirit who gives that discernment. So, we need to really seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's what I sought for. I knew I had the Holy Spirit, but I wanted to be filled. So, 39:46 the Holy Spirit says, "Can I come into this room and decide what TV programs you watch?" And you say, "No, no. I'm a little free there." Oh, oh, okay. Holy Spirit says, "Okay, I won't come there." Let that room remain dark. 40:01 "Can I come into your finance room to see how you're handling your money? How are you earning it? Is it absolutely 100% righteous? Are you paying your taxes honestly? Are you spending your money also wisely? 40:21 And you say, "Well, Lord, you know, this wicked corrupt world, we can't always do everything honestly, so if you come here, you'll tell me to do everything righteously. Then then I won't be able to make a life is so struggle. I have to 40:37 do a few things underhand and they say in in in America, they say cook the books. That means the financial books and all. If you are worried that those things are wrong, the Holy Spirit say, "I won't disturb you. Just keep 40:55 doing what's wrong. I won't disturb you. That room remains dark." Can I come into the library and see what books you read, what magazines you read? Many rooms remain dark not because and this person may be praying all the time, 41:07 "Fill me, fill me, oh God, fill me with the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit say, "How can I come any room I knock at, you say I can't come." Are you loyal to your wife? 100%? Do you speak with other women in your office or somewhere else in a very 41:25 loose type of way or even some sister in the church? I would never speak to a sister alone. In a public place like this, yes. But alone in my house, no. I'll speak at the door. 41:43 I'll say, "Sister, my wife is not here, so maybe come some other time." If I have to speak to her, I'll I'll say, "Come I'll speak to you along with the other elders." But never alone. Never never speak to a sister alone. 42:01 Unless it's a public place like this. If it is in your home with another elder or let your wife sit there, even if the sister wants to talk to you. Let your wife sit there? Very, very important, brothers. The devil wants to pollute us 42:19 and corrupt us. And there are many sisters who are a bit loose. They're not evil. And especially sometimes I've seen some sisters are so admiring a preacher who is so powerful and anointed that they want to be a little close to them. Not for 42:38 any sex or anything. No, no, no. They're not immoral, but they like to be a little close to this elder. This anointed elder. Keep them at a distance. And that's why you need discernment. I remember in the early days when I 42:59 didn't have that discernment, the Lord would give me a dream of some face of some sister in the church. I said, "Lord, what is that?" Be careful of her. Now I don't need it because I have developed a little more in discernment. 43:16 But it's how good God is that he can warn you in a dream because he sees you're not discerning enough yet, but you want to keep yourself pure. He gives you a picture of some Avoid this person. I've had two or three names like that of 43:29 people who are in CFC. Um I think some of them have left now, but uh I said, "Okay, Lord, I'll I'll be careful." So I was very careful after that. Then over a period of time we get discernment. God wants to protect us, protect us. 43:45 Because in our unconverted days we were stupid and foolish and did so many things in ignorance, but God has overlooked the times of ignorance. Be very careful. And my dear brothers, I want to say one more thing. Sexual temptation is one of the 44:03 strongest temptations for men. And if you have access to the internet and you have a laptop or a computer, you will be strongly tempted to watch pornography, to watch sex scenes, 44:26 half-naked women on the internet. In the olden days, I think they had to pay for it, but I think nowadays they tempt you by offering it free. I don't know when I got my first laptop or first computer. 44:45 It was long after CFC started. CFC started 1975. There were no laptops and computers those days. At least I didn't have any. But all these 45 years, I've never seen any pornography. I never wanted to go there. 45:05 I've never gone to such a site. And I would not go there. Keep yourself pure. And you say, "Well, Brother Zac, you're 80 years old." Well, I was not 80 years old that 45 years ago. I was 35 then. And you can have very strong desires 45:22 when you're 35, 40 years old, all the way till you're 45, 50, 60. Desires can be strong. Be very careful. Because there's many subtle ways in which the devil pollutes you. The whole purpose is to neutralize your 45:39 ability to preach God's word. Nobody knows it. And I always teach people, always see your computer or laptop in an open room, never in a closed room. And always 45:58 keep the laptop in such a way that the door is behind you. That anybody walking by can see what you're watching. That your wife or anybody can walk into that room anytime and the laptop is in front of you and they're coming from 46:13 behind they can see what you're watching. Never turn it around the other way and expose yourself to temptation. I don't do that even now. I keep it the way I told you now because I want to be an example to others. I can keep the laptop facing any 46:32 direction. I'm not even tempted in that area now, but I still keep it like that cuz I want to be an example to others. This is the way you should watch your laptop and your computer. You may think that's very elementary, 46:43 but for some of you it may protect you from ruining your life. It is an addiction. Pornography. Just like drugs. Just like alcohol. Have you heard of people who start drinking they can't give it up? They become believers and they can't 47:02 give it up. I'm not talking about an occasional drink. The Bible says take a little wine. It's all right, but you cannot control it. Be not drunk with wine. That's an addiction. I've heard of the Salvation Army founder William Booth. 47:20 He was mainly working among these alcoholics and drunkards bringing them to Christ. How many hundreds of people he brought to Christ. They were drunkards on the streets. And he scrapped breaking of bread. Salvation Army said will not have 47:36 breaking of bread. Because he said these this grape juice is tempting these alcoholics. When they get the smell of it they immediately think of alcohol again. Now whether he was right in scrapping the breaking of bread for that reason I 47:55 don't know. I'm not here to judge him. He was such a godly man. I don't know whether I have written here what I don't know. Thank God I have it. But I remember something like this he said towards the when he was 85 years old. 48:09 He'd been working among drug addicts, prostitutes, and these poor girls who were being brought at the age of 13 from some other part of England to work here in some uh hotel or something and they'd be prostitutes. And uh poor boys were made to work day 48:26 and night without being paid properly. And he said at the end of his life, "As long as there is a drunk man going down the streets of London, as long as there are little girls being exploited like this by unscrupulous people, as long as little 48:42 boys are made to work day and night in factories and troubled, I will fight. I will fight. I will fight till the end of my life to deliver such people." This was the man. So, I will not criticize him for scrapping, breaking of bread. 48:56 But you know, some people have that they they attempt it so easily. Pornography can be like that. Be very careful, my dear brothers. Once you're hooked, alcoholics, it's very difficult to break free of drugs. I've never understood drugs. 49:13 I've never even I was in the navy where alcohol was free almost and I never touched it. Smoking, I never smoked because it was such a bad taste. Some people are addicted. And so, I don't understand it myself, but I So, be very careful in these areas. 49:29 Once you get hooked, it's very difficult to break free. So, best is to avoid it. If you see some If you're on a computer and you see some site come here, don't go there. Sometimes you're watching something on YouTube and on the side of YouTube there 49:47 are a whole lot of other things. Some of those are very dangerous. Those other sites which are little little pictures down there. Be very careful. Don't click on them and get hooked. I'm saying for your own protection. 50:05 For the protection of your family life. For the protection of the church. This is one of the most serious areas. I don't think many of you or perhaps any of you will become drunkards. Drugs are not a very common thing in 50:20 India like in the West. But pornography it's very easy for you to get hooked on it. Particularly those of you who have computers. And it's very easy to cover it up and conceal it. 50:37 Who are you concealing it from? Demons are standing behind watching you. Aha. This man This man is a CFC believer. Great. We have got him. We got him. And 50:59 the angels are weeping. Lord, what a shame. That this child of God is seeing all this. Pretending to be holy and tomorrow is Sunday and he's going to get up there and share the word of God. Am I telling things which are not true? 51:26 I'll tell you honestly. I don't know anything about any of your private lives and I don't want to know. I've no interest. So, I'm not preaching at anybody here. Cuz I don't know. I don't want you to come and confess to me. When people come 51:41 and confess to me, I say, "Listen, I'm not a Roman Catholic priest. Please, don't come and confess your sins to me. God has not given me any power to forgive you. Go to Jesus. He is the one who forgives sins. I did not die for your sins. Go and tell him 51:56 your sin. Please, don't pollute my mind with all the dirty things you did. I don't want to hear it. I don't know don't even want to hear what you did or what you watched. Why should I even hear about it and pollute my mind? 52:15 Keep yourself pure. See this word in Second Timothy. Uh 1 Timothy, sorry. Verse 22. 5 5:22. 52:36 The last part it says, keep yourself pure. What a word. Keep yourself pure. Yeah. Very very important. 1 Timothy 5:22. 52:57 There's a great need for it in our time. I do not encourage the teaching of psychology which says, find a prayer partner to whom you can go and confess your sin so that you'll stop doing it. 53:19 That that is taught in psychology nowadays. I have heard about it. So, people even Christian psychologists garbage. I don't find it in the word of God, it's garbage. That's not the way to overcome sin. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 7:1, 53:36 perfect holiness in the fear of God. Perfect holiness in the fear of God. Second Corinthians 7:1. Psychologists are teaching you to perfect holiness in the fear of man. That means the principle is this. You watch some pornography. 53:56 So, you have to go and confess to your prayer partner. Brother, I'm sorry. I watched and he also has to confess to you. So, next time you are tempted to watch it, I'll have to go and tell my prayer partner I did it again. 54:08 So, I won't do it. You avoid it. Why? Out of the fear of man. That is not holiness. It is holiness in the fear of man. It is not even second best. It's a counterfeit because it will never lead you to true holiness. True holiness is in the fear of God. 54:28 I discovered once in my study of this phrase fear of God, I was studying fear of God in a concordance. And I discovered the phrase fear of God comes first time in the Bible. First time. In relation to sexual sin. 54:48 That's in Genesis in chapter 20. The first time the phrase fear of God comes in the Bible. The first time God told somebody now night knows that fear me is when Abraham offered up his son and God said, "Now I know that you fear me 55:06 because you obeyed me." But the phrase itself comes earlier in when Abraham went to town and Abimelech was the king there in Gerar. Second No, Genesis 20. And uh 55:24 he said Sarah is his sister. So, Abimelech took Sarah to be his wife. And one of his many wives. And God verse three came to Abimelech late night and said, "You're a dead man because this woman is is married to somebody. 55:38 And said, "Lord, I did not know that she He said she's my sister." And God said to him, "Yes, I know." Verse 6, "You in integrity of your heart." You know this heathen man? I tell you I'm challenged when I read this. This heathen man 55:56 God protected him from sinning because he saw some uprightness in his heart. Heathen. Won't he protect you and me from sinning if he sees some uprightness in your heart? How is it he protected Abimelech from 56:14 adultery, but so many believers fall into adultery? How is that? He says, "I know." Verse 6, "in the integrity of your heart." Boy, what a testimony of God to give to a ungodly man. "So, I did not allow you to touch her." 56:36 Will the God do that for you and me? Sure, if he sees some integrity in your heart. And then he called Abraham Abimelech in the morning and said, "Why did you do this?" And Abraham says, here's where that phrase comes, verse 11, 56:52 "Surely I thought there is no fear of God in this place. Therefore, they will do sexual sin." The first time the word fear of God comes in the Bible is in relation to sexual sin. Never forget that. And the Lord told me, 57:10 I said, "Lord, why have you made this such a strong passion in men?" Not so much in women, but sex is such a strong force in men. It's tempted. I mean, you can just see a pretty woman and get tempted. So strong, so strong, so strong. 57:26 It draws you to look at things which are impure. And this is the reply I got from the Lord. I have made this desire a strong desire in all men to test 57:42 whether they will fear me or not. Because this is an area where they can sin without anybody knowing it. Not their wives, not their colleagues. They can retain their testimony for 50 years 57:59 and they can keep on sinning. And there I test whether these men fear me or not. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear him. And those who fear me, I will reveal to them amazing truths and make them partake of my nature. But when 58:19 I test them in this area and I see they don't fear me, I will not do anything. I will allow them to keep on going that way till one day they destroy themselves. Repent and turn around before it is too late. 58:37 You can go so far. I always say, God is very, very merciful. Tremendously way beyond There's a red line he draws in front of people. And the person sins, sins. Every time he sins, he's Nobody caught me. Nobody Nobody knows. 58:56 Nobody knows. Year after year after year. He doesn't realize he's going closer and closer and closer to the red line. Oh, I've already done it 500 times. Nothing's going to happen. Aha. Continue. And one day you cross the red line. 59:15 Then I don't know what'll happen. I don't want to predict. Some people lose their salvation. You can't save yourself. It's God who keeps you. Don't think, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it. No, no, no, no, one day 59:32 before it gets too much, I'll stop." You will not be able to stop. I'll tell you that. Dear brothers, I have opened my heart and spoken to you. The times of ignorance God overlooks. 59:51 But now he commands everybody to repent. Be very careful. Don't feel that God cannot use you because you polluted your mind so much. We have all polluted our minds. I 1:00:09 remember in my naval days, there was no pornographic movies or any such thing, but there were all types of books that I was unconverted and these people would mostly stories and all that, filth. And some of those things those other 1:00:25 colleagues introduced to me and me to in my unconverted days. I they polluted my mind. I didn't know anything. I was an innocent young man. And I got polluted. I was brought up in a very God-fearing home. And they polluted my mind with all this 1:00:41 and affected me, but I thank God that those days are gone. The blood of Jesus cleansed me. Not only cleansed me and says, "I will not remember that anymore." Yeah. So, God is very merciful to us. He's been very merciful to me, I can 1:01:00 say. Extremely merciful. But I don't want to take advantage of that mercy. I can dare say one thing, that since I've come to CFC, my life has been tremendously protected from all these things. I've taken sin seriously. 1:01:19 And I hope you will take sin seriously. It's for your own protection, my brothers, and then ministry is secondary. But ministry will also come. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we know the answer to all of these things is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 1:01:44 Continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. And I pray every one of my dear brothers here will be filled with the Holy Spirit and be a credit to your name, at least from now on. Please forgive us all our past failures. 1:02:03 We have all failed miserably, Lord. I know I have failed. I don't claim to be a saint. I've sinned and I've failed. But you've been good to me and merciful. And I thank you for the blood of Jesus that has cleansed me. I pray that everybody here will rejoice 1:02:22 in the cleansing of the blood of Jesus but will not take advantage of it in the future, but will walk in brokenness and humility. Protect us, Lord. We live in an evil generation. We live in an evil days. Please help us by the Holy Spirit that 1:02:37 we will not dishonor your name, not only by other people uh seeing us, but by the devil accusing us to you. Lord, we don't want to dishonor you when the devil accuses us to you. We're ashamed of it of our past. But we want it to be different in the 1:02:57 days to come. Help us, Lord, to be the type of servants you want us to be in the CFC churches where you've placed us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
