You know, when the Apostle Paul was talking
about his co-workers, Paul was a man
with a very high standard and he did
not take on to his team anyone who
was half-hearted.
And if you and I were living in
Paul's time and if we got selected to
work on Paul's team, boy, that would be
a tremendous honor.
Because Paul was a very discerning man.
He wouldn't take people who were half-hearted.
In fact, once he turned away John Mark
saying, I'm never going to take him again
because he turned back after beginning to serve
the Lord and found the going tough and
he turned back and he said, well, we
don't want guys like that on our team.
And in connection with that, he says in
Philippians chapter 2.
You know, Philippians chapter 2 is a great
chapter.
And if I were to sum up the
title of that chapter, it would be in
these words.
Philippians 2 verse 5.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also
in Christ Jesus.
Once you're born again and you have found
salvation in Christ and you have been baptized
in the Holy Spirit, there's really only one
verse that you need for the rest of
your life.
And that's this verse.
Have this attitude in you which was in
Christ Jesus.
If you don't have the Bible and you
only have that one verse and you keep
that one verse before you every day of
your life, examine everything you do, everything you
say, everything you think, your attitude towards others,
your attitude towards the world, towards sinners, towards
the church, towards money, towards material things.
Everything you evaluate by this one verse.
Have the same attitude that Jesus had.
Your attitude towards the opposite sex.
Have the same attitude that Jesus had.
I tell you, in one year you'll be
a holy man.
You'll be a saint.
We read so much of the Bible.
We get so much information.
We sing well.
Why are we not more like Jesus?
Because we have not kept that verse in
front of us as much as we should
have.
I'm not preaching what I have not practiced.
I have tried to keep that verse before
me for 45 years at least.
I haven't always succeeded.
Periods in those 45 years when I backslid
or was not as wholehearted as I should
be.
I repent of those times, but basically that
has been my guideline.
I have never made any man my example
because I hardly found anybody whom I could
follow in my younger days.
If there was somebody like Paul, I would
have followed him.
Because he said, follow me as I follow
Christ.
But most of the people I knew when
I was young were not wholehearted disciples of
Christ.
So I looked at Jesus alone.
If you find a good example to follow,
that's great, you're lucky.
But if you don't, you can still follow
Jesus.
And you can measure how spiritual you are
by that verse.
How much of the attitude of Christ do
you have in different areas of life?
Don't go by any other standard.
Don't go by what any church teaches or
even what you may hear in this church.
That is the standard.
You will never go astray.
If you want to know what attitude Jesus
had, you just got to read the Gospels.
And the Epistles.
You read the New Testament, you'll understand it.
Because if you don't read the New Testament,
you're too lazy to read the New Testament,
you'll never understand it.
If you are living by being spoon-fed
every Sunday here in the church, I can
guarantee you won't grow spiritually.
Because the Lord is a very jealous God.
And when He sees that you are more
interested in listening to a man than listening
to Him, He will make sure that you
don't grow spiritually.
I guarantee that.
He wants you to have a connection with
Him.
He may use a man, He uses different
men.
But when He sees anyone more dependent on
a man than on Him, more eager to
hear a man than on Him, He is
a jealous God and you will miss some
of His blessings.
There's no doubt about it.
I have been blessed through listening to many
godly men through my life, reading many wonderful
books.
But they have never taken precedence over listening
to Jesus Himself.
Our God is a God who speaks.
He is not a dead idol.
If the God you worship does not speak
to you, you're an idol worshiper.
Idols don't speak.
But the God we worship speaks.
In fact, in the very first page of
the Bible, we read, six days of the
week, God spoke every day.
That's what you read in the first page
of the Bible.
And when the earth responded to what God
said, something happened.
Something wonderful happened.
Something wonderful happens in our lives when we
listen to God.
Jesus Himself said the first words that came
out of Jesus' mouth, that's recorded in scripture,
after His baptism.
Do you know what they are?
Man shall live by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of God.
Those are His words, very first words, recorded
in scripture after His baptism.
Man shall live by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God.
So I want to encourage you, brothers and
sisters, please develop the habit of reading, especially
the New Testament, and hearing what God has
to say to you every day of the
week.
It will make all the difference in your
life.
But here is the heading of this chapter.
Have this attitude which is in you, which
is in Christ.
And He speaks about Jesus Himself.
And then He speaks about a young man
who followed Jesus in this area.
And that is Timothy, in verse 19.
He is saying, I want to send Timothy
to you, so that I can be encouraged
when I learn of your condition there in
Philippi.
And listen to this.
Among all my co-workers who are with
me at present, that probably doesn't include all
his co-workers, he had some excellent co
-workers like Titus and others.
They were not probably with him at that
time.
But among all those who are with me
at present, my co-workers, I don't have
a single one.
Whom I can send to you.
Imagine.
People who joined Paul's team, were very wonderful
brothers when they started.
But now they are backslidden so much, that
none of them is fit to be sent
as a messenger to the church in Philippi,
because...
He says, except Timothy, I don't have anyone
else.
Because, none of them will be genuinely concerned
for your welfare.
They all seek their own welfare.
They all seek after their own interests, not
those of Christ Jesus.
Now when you put those two verses together,
you see the outstanding feature of a man
like Timothy was, he did not seek his
own interests.
And that is the attitude of Jesus.
If Jesus sought his own interests, he would
never have come from heaven to this earth.
He would have stayed there.
He never came to this earth to get
anything for himself.
He came here with a pure desire to
fulfill the will of his father, to please
his father, and to seek our good.
Did you get that?
To do the will of his father, to
please his father, and to seek our good.
That is the attitude of Jesus Christ.
When it says, have the same attitude that
was in Christ Jesus.
That is to please the father, and seek
the good of others.
That's why he came from heaven.
That's what it says earlier.
He didn't lay hold of what he could
have, equality with God, but gave it up.
And a true disciple of Jesus is one
who is increasingly seeking to please the father
more and more.
None of us can do it perfectly.
I don't believe I'm doing it perfectly.
But I certainly see in my own life
that I have a sense that I'm pleasing
the father more this year than ever in
my life.
And I think I can say that I'm
seeking the good of others more this year
than ever in my life.
It's progression.
The mountaintop may still be a long way
away to be perfectly like Jesus where I
only seek to please the father and only
seek the good of others.
But I'm climbing.
I hope you're climbing too.
I hope you're seeking to please the father
more now than you were last year.
I hope you're seeking to the good of
others and not seeking your own interest more
this year than last year.
If not, I want to say you are
going in the wrong direction.
Many of us may think a backslider is
someone who started going to the movies and
started drinking and gambling, etc.
Well, that's sort of the end of the
pit when you hit rock bottom.
But backsliding starts, it's a slippery slide and
backsliding starts very much earlier.
All backsliding is when I stop seeking to
please the father and want to please myself.
When I seek my own good, not the
good of others, I'm already a backslider.
And if you keep that as a standard,
you may discover, if you're honest, that a
number of you are backsliders.
Well, if you face up to it, if
you go to God and say, I remember
the times when God's given me light and
I said, Lord, I'm a backslider.
And God loves honest people.
And that's what's made me slide forward.
But if you keep on pretending that you're
not a backslider, God sees you're dishonest and
he lets you slip down further.
One of the concerns I've had, as I've
observed our own church here for many years,
is the lack of spiritual growth and maturity
and spirituality in many, many people who've been
here for 10, 15, 20 years.
I want to be honest.
I'm not saying that to criticize anybody, but
I'm saying I've been concerned about it and
I said, Lord, what is the reason?
Why is it that people who should by
now have been reaching out and blessing others
in India and setting others in India on
fire are sitting here cold, needing to be
set on fire themselves.
All they can do is sing well.
New songs, new choruses.
It's not spirituality, I'll tell you that.
That is not spirituality.
Don't ever be deceived by that.
You can be enthusiastic about many things and
it's not spirituality.
You can help in the renovation of this
building and you may be even unconverted.
That's not spirituality.
Spirituality is a fervent devotion to Jesus Christ.
Nothing less than that.
Even if we meet in a hut, it's
fervent devotion to Jesus.
Whether we don't sing in tune, it doesn't
make a difference to God if we are
fervently devoted to Jesus Christ.
So, why is it that we are not
all that we should be?
And that's something, you know, it's like when
you go to a doctor for a checkup
and he compares your physical health, your blood
pressure, your blood sugar and various other things
in your blood and your physical condition, your
weight and general physical tone of your body
and compares it with the way he checked
you up if you go for an annual
checkup with last year and the previous year.
I mean, if he's a good doctor who
loves you and is not just interested in
your money, he'll say, hey, my friend, I'm
a bit concerned about you.
Your health is not as good as it
was last year.
Would that be a good doctor?
Or would you rather go to the doctor
who bluffs you and says, you're okay, man,
you're doing fine.
You may be overweight and you may be
sick and he just collects his fees and
sends you home to die soon.
I don't want to go to a doctor
like that.
I'd rather go to a doctor who tells
me the truth about myself, even if it's
hard to bear, so that I can do
something about it.
That's exactly the way I'm trying to speak
to you this morning.
I don't have a grudge against any of
you.
I'm not here to criticize.
I remember the Lord told me that when
I get up to speak, not only here,
but anywhere, if I have an atom, an
atom of a critical attitude towards people, I
will be in fellowship with the accuser of
the brothers and whatever I speak, the channel
will be polluted and the river of life
flowing through me will be polluted by my
filthy, accusative, critical spirit.
I know, I've been foolish in my younger
days and I used to speak like that
and I know it was polluted.
The truth may have been right, but the
truth was polluted.
But I've determined it's not going to be
like that.
I never want to stand up and have
a critical attitude towards a single human being.
But I want to speak the truth.
I believe Jesus didn't have any fellowship with
the accuser of the brethren.
He could say the prince of the world
comes and he's got nothing in me.
He's the accuser of the brothers.
But there was nothing of him in Jesus.
And yet Jesus could turn around to people
and say, get behind me, Satan.
He told Peter, you serpents, you generation of
vipers.
He told the Pharisees because he loved them.
I've never called anybody a generation of vipers
because I don't love them enough.
I don't love them like Jesus did.
If I could love people enough to die
for them, then I'd be qualified to call
them generation of vipers.
But because I don't love them that much,
I have to use less strong language.
I'll tell you, Jesus was very strong in
His language because He loved people so much.
He was a doctor who was so interested
in people's health that He didn't want their
money.
He didn't want their good approval.
He wanted them to be healthy.
That's why He came to earth.
That's why He died.
That we might not ruin the one life
we have.
When God sent Jesus to earth, He sent
Him to demonstrate to this world how He
originally wanted Adam to live.
That's how I see the life of Jesus.
When God created Adam, there was a particular
way in which He wanted Adam to live.
And for 4,000 years, nobody ever lived
like that.
Nobody.
Starting from Adam, even the best of men
like Enoch who walked with God did not
live the way God wanted.
They were pretty good.
But they still did not live the way
God wanted man to live.
Finally, He sent His own Son in human
flesh and watching His life for 30 years.
He never allowed Him to preach a message
for 30 years.
So many young people have a great lust
to get up and preach.
Jesus wasn't like that.
He was not interested in preaching.
He was interested in living first.
But 30 years, He never preached.
And He wasn't interested in just cramming up
Bible knowledge.
He knew enough of the Bible at the
age of 12 more than all the Bible
school PhDs.
He used to discuss with them and they
didn't understand where He got this knowledge from.
At the age of 12, He could have
preached anything but He didn't.
He lived.
And at the end of 30 years, God
said, I'm so well pleased with him.
Now I'm going to give him a ministry.
That's the basis of Jesus' ministry.
It came out of His life.
And there I see the way God wanted
Adam to live.
That's the way God wants every human being
to live.
That's the way He wanted Eve to live
and Adam to live.
And I see that that is the way
God wants me to live.
And the more my life patterns after the
life of Jesus, not after the lives of
Christians around me, and certainly not like the
preachers of today.
Oh no!
I want to be a million miles away
from all that.
But the more I pattern my life after
the life of Jesus, the more I know
that I will live the way God wants
me to live.
The way God expects man to live.
And I know that the more I live
like that, when I come to the end
of my life and stand before the Lord
one day, I will have very little regret
over my life.
We all have some regret over our lives
because we messed up our lives in our
younger days and did so many wrong things
when we were unconverted.
We got regret for all that.
But at least after we are converted, I
want to lessen the regret I have over
how I lived on this earth.
I'm serious about it.
I don't know if you are.
I'm very serious about it.
Because I know I have only one life.
And every year that goes by, life slips
away and I can never get that bad
time back again.
I don't have time to play the fool
like so many people around me.
I don't have time to waste in watching
useless television programs and watching useless movies because
life is so short.
Yeah, we need some relaxation, some entertainment.
I agree.
And I'm all for it.
And I'm open to that whenever I need
it.
But I keep everything in balance because life
was not meant.
Life was not given for entertainment.
Life was given to please God.
And if a Christian recognizes that, he'll live
for that and he will seek to please
God and he'll really look at Jesus as
his example.
Because it's the only example that God gave,
first of all, as an example how God
wants man to live.
And people like Paul patterned themselves after Jesus.
So, Paul is a good example for me
too.
And Paul said in Philippians 3.17 that
other people who follow this example, look at
them.
And through the years, I have tried to
look and they are very rare and very
few that you can find in the world
to obey that command in Philippians 3.17
and 18 where it says, look at those
who follow our example.
I tried to obey that exhortation and I
looked around and I find very, very few.
So I, when I find someone, I'm tremendously
challenged.
And people like Sadhu Sundar Singh have been
a tremendous challenge to me when I read
the way he lived.
But there are so few and so rare.
And Jesus and Paul and Sadhu Sundar Singh
and a few others here and there, you
read, I praise God for those men and
I seek to learn from them.
People like Watchman Nee.
Few others like that, you know.
The way they lived on earth.
They have the same life I have.
They have the same passions I have.
But they did something with their life before
they left.
You know you have the same life.
You have the same passions.
You have the same opportunity.
You have the same 24 hours everyday.
But what you do with your life is
up to you.
We can't do anything about the past.
We can do something about the future.
To seek to please God.
The things that are Christ's and the good
of others.
And when we do that, will God take
care of us?
He certainly will.
Jesus never starved at any time.
If he did, God would have permitted it
with a good purpose.
He fasted a number of times.
Sometimes God may permit us to go without
food.
Even when we don't want to fast.
So that we learn how other people in
our country who are without food feel.
One of the benefits that I have got
from fasting besides physical health is that I
have learned how these hungry boys who pick
food from the garbage bin feel like.
I mean it's alright to sympathize with them
and give them some money.
But I never felt hunger like them till
I fasted.
And you'll never feel hunger like them till
you fast.
Of course, if you are not interested in
that, that's another thing.
I am interested.
I am interested in my countrymen.
I am interested.
I can't minister to them when I go
to the villages in Tamil Nadu.
I can't minister to these people if I
don't know what they are going through.
If you haven't learned to live simply, live
with necessities, minimize your luxuries, you won't be
able to minister to most people in this
country.
That I'll tell you.
You'll be able to minister to the rich
elite and preach the prosperity gospel to them
like many preachers do.
But I am not interested in that.
Many years ago I told the Lord that
I wanted to go to the poor.
And He took me at my word because
Jesus said in the first sermon He preached,
Luke 4.18, He said, The Spirit of
the Lord has anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor.
Luke 4.18. That's the first sermon Jesus
preached.
Luke 4.18, The Spirit of the Lord
has anointed me to preach the gospel to
the poor.
And I said, Lord, I want to be
like You.
I don't want to be like today's preachers.
I want to preach the gospel to the
poor.
And it's most amazing, even when I've gone
to a country like the United States, God's
taken me to some very poor people to
preach there.
I didn't believe there were poor people there.
I've been so encouraged to see that.
If you are wholehearted and you have a
burning desire, God will grant you what you
desire.
But if you seek your own, well, I
want to say to you, my brothers, you
may enjoy yourself here on the earth, but
mark my words.
Please remember them when you and I meet
at the judgment seat of Christ.
You will regret throughout eternity.
Please take seriously what I'm telling you right
now.
I'm seeking your good.
I'm not seeking my own.
I'm seeking your welfare.
I'm seeking what will make life good for
you on earth and in eternity.
That's what Christianity is all about.
That's what the Bible is all about.
We've been fooled by a generation of preachers
today who tell us that the most important
thing in life is to...
God's interested in your having fun and living
a comfortable life and making a lot of
money.
that may be true for the few elite
people who live in the cities and in
wealthy countries, but the vast majority of people
in this world don't live like that.
And Jesus didn't live like that.
And Paul didn't live like that.
And Peter didn't live like that.
None of the apostles lived like that.
But yet we have a generation of millions
of Christians who believe this deception.
Who believe that the most important thing God
wants you to be is rich and healthy
and happy with the things of this world.
It's a deception.
What I see in the life of Jesus
Christ is a life of sacrifice.
It's not just when he died on the
cross, his whole life was a life of
sacrifice.
The cross to me, what is the meaning
of the cross?
What is the meaning of take up your
cross and follow me?
If anyone wants to be my disciple, Luke
9, 23, verses that you don't hear preached
nowadays.
When was the last time you heard a
sermon on television on you cannot be my
disciple unless you take up the cross every
day and follow me?
And when was the last time you heard
a preacher explain what it means to take
up the cross?
What it means to sacrifice?
The cross symbolizes sacrifice.
And sacrifice not to gain anything for oneself.
Jesus didn't die to gain anything for himself.
Sacrifice for the good, for God's glory and
the good of others.
That's what I learned from Jesus' life.
He lived a life of sacrifice for the
glory of God and the good of others.
In one sentence I could say that.
And that cross symbolizes for me an entire
life of sacrifice for the glory of God
and the good of others.
He never wasted money.
I want to just look at Jesus' attitude
towards money, you know.
For 30 years he worked as a carpenter
to teach us how to work and earn
our own living.
And he had a much bigger family to
support than most of us.
He had four brothers and at least two
sisters, maybe more.
I don't know.
Which means there are four plus two plus
himself and his mother.
Eight people at least in his family that
he had to look after.
And he had to take care of them
and he was a very lived as a
simple carpenter.
There were rich businessmen in Jerusalem but God
did not allow his son to be a
rich businessman and taught his son allowed his
son to grow up as a carpenter earn
his living in a very simple way and
through that pleased God and that's the first
part of his education, the use of money.
Most of us we earn our living remember
that Jesus also earned his living to take
care of his family with a much greater
struggle than most of us have faced.
If you think you are facing a struggle
to take care of your family, Jesus faced
it much more.
He is your example.
Follow him.
I remember the years when my wife and
I were also struggling financially when we were
first married and Jesus was our example.
That's why we never discouraged and we decided
even if he had very, very, very little
and we did have very little I'll tell
you honestly that I earned less than anybody
sitting here earned any month.
It's a fact.
And I decided at that time that I
would never borrow money.
I would never get into debt because I
saw that in Jesus that he never got
into debt.
You know the word for debt in the
Hebrew I looked up a concordance I don't
know Hebrew but I've got a Young's concordance
with which I can look up Hebrew words
and I discovered that it's the same word
as the bite of a serpent.
It's the same word.
Something like that.
The bite of a serpent.
You read about the bite of a serpent
in Ecclesiastes 10 it's a similar word.
To get into debt means the serpent has
bit you and the serpent is the devil
of course.
Jesus never allowed the serpent to bite him.
I decided I'm never going to allow the
serpent to bite me.
If I don't have, I'll live with less.
And I'll tell you this after living on
earth for 66 years without being in debt
I'm a very happy man.
When I decided to buy something only when
I had the money.
It's true.
The first washing machine I ever bought new
one I mean was after my children started
working.
Well that's fine.
If I could afford it earlier I would
have bought it.
If you fellas can afford it earlier there's
nothing wrong in buying it.
I couldn't afford it earlier.
That's why I didn't buy it.
What do you do?
Well we wash hands the way Jesus washed
his clothes.
What else?
Can you do it better than that?
Wash our clothes the way Jesus washed his
clothes.
You know we have been fooled by the
advertising world that you can't live without this,
you can't live without that.
I'll tell you what you can't live without.
You can't live without the blessing of God.
And I know the blessing of God does
not come on people who don't know how
to live within their income.
And I decided I wanted the blessing of
God more than anything else.
Jesus never got into debt.
Can you imagine Jesus going to somebody and
saying can you please lend me some money?
I'm a bit hard up.
My heavenly father sort of let me down
the last month and didn't give me what
I needed.
Can you imagine that?
Somebody would say are you suppose really the
son of God?
You really say you're a father in heaven?
Well that's exactly what people should say to
us.
You really say you're a father in heaven?
And not only debt.
Jesus didn't live on a perpetual handout from
other people.
See one of the things I find in
India is we like to receive anything free.
Anything free we go for it.
Anything you have to pay we think twice
about it.
We got to pray and even fast perhaps
before you decide.
But if it's free, you don't have to
pray, you don't have to fast.
It's for me.
Now you know that sounds okay.
But it's not a good lifestyle.
And if you are living from you know
good brothers around you, always give you some
money, always give you some money, always give
you some because you always appear so needy.
I want to tell you, you are a
million miles away from being like Jesus.
No.
Not at all.
You're not like Jesus.
You're more like Belam.
Not like Jesus Christ.
Not at all.
Jesus didn't go around even when he was
poor, he didn't go around giving other people
impression, oh I need some money, I need
some money.
Not even so.
I won't tell anybody what I need.
I'll just look so pathetic that people will
come and give me something.
No, there was a dignity about Jesus.
And there must be a dignity about you
if you're a child of God.
If you're in debt, if you're in need.
I'm not saying you should not borrow in
an emergency.
Okay.
But ask yourself why did that happen?
It's like saying if you slip up and
fall, okay, you slipped up and fell, but
you need to ask why did that happen?
Why did you suddenly get into debt?
There could be a number of reasons.
Perhaps you were not wise enough to save
for the future.
You know, there's a verse in Proverbs chapter
6 which says, go to the ant, you
lazy man.
Go to the ant who does not have
any overseer, does not have any preacher, doesn't
have any conference, doesn't have any Bible, but
it has got enough sense.
Can you imagine the size of the brain
of a little ant?
I mean, the ant itself is so small.
Can you imagine the size of its brain?
But inside that little brain, Proverbs 6 says,
it realizes that in winter there won't be
so much food in places where it's very
cold.
So it says, I better store up something.
Imagine it's planning for six months ahead, in
summer and storing up some food so that
later on it'll have enough for itself and
its family.
And the Bible says in Proverbs 6, you
go to the ant, you lazy man.
Be wise from that ant.
That's in the Bible.
And learn from it that it stores up
for the future so that when the need
comes, you have something saved up for the
rainy day.
You have something saved up there.
I've seen people even in our church say,
oh, I trust the Lord.
I trust the Lord.
They think they are George Muller or something.
And they trust the Lord and I have
seen what they do when they are in
need.
They're waiting for handouts from other good believers.
Hypocrites of the first order who are bitten
by the serpent thinking they are like George
Muller.
Why not humble yourself and say, I was
stupid.
I was foolish.
I don't have faith.
You could be in debt because you're wasteful.
When you have plenty, you waste it on
all types of things.
Unnecessary things.
Waste money in buying all types of foodstuffs
for the home and you can't afford it.
And then get into debt.
You don't have money to give for God
or his work because you eat it all
up.
A lot of us think we belong to
CFC.
Oh, it's a spiritual church.
I'm in a good spiritual church.
That may be true.
Judas was in the most spiritual church in
the whole world in his time.
And Jesus said about him, it is better
for you if you are not even born.
Can you imagine being in the most spiritual
church and for God to say it's better
for you if you were not even born.
It's possible.
You can listen to the most powerful sermons.
Can you imagine Judas Iscariot?
Whoever heard more powerful sermons than him, it
never changed him.
He was a lover of money till the
end.
And it destroyed him.
He thought of what he could gain out
of being along with Jesus.
Don't ever have that attitude, brother or sister.
I have the authority to speak that.
A lot of preachers don't have that authority
because they go around begging for money so
much.
They ask for money.
Many of you have known me here in
this church for 31 years.
You know that I've never taken one cent
from this church in 31 years.
No.
24 books of mine have been published by
this church.
I've never taken one cent of royalty for
those books, CDs, DVDs, nothing.
Because Jesus has been my example.
Paul has been my example.
I've never looked for a handout from anybody.
Paul said I deserve to be supported because
I'm serving you and one who gives you
spiritual food deserves a material blessing in return.
But Paul said I won't take it on.
I will not take that privilege.
But I have seen people who never give
anything spiritually out just waiting for a handout.
That's not Christianity.
That's all I want to say.
Something is seriously wrong with your life if
you're always going around looking for a handout.
And I've seen another thing.
That people who are once poor and received
gifts to support them in their time of
need.
That's good.
And there's nothing wrong in receiving.
If you're in need, somebody gives you a
gift.
Take it and use it.
Jesus received gifts.
But what I've seen in those same people
is that when they become rich, they never
think of giving that money back to the
church or back to the people who gave
it to them.
Saying, brother, I have enough now.
I'd like to return this 10,000, 20
,000 which I got.
Please give it to somebody poorer now.
They never think of that because they are
self-centered.
Thoroughly self-centered.
How is it such thoughts never occur to
them?
I mean, you may start doing it today
because you heard me say it.
Because you're convicted about it.
But how is it never occur to you
all these years?
Because you're self-centered.
I want to say to you, my dear
brothers and sisters, I'm a doctor.
Remember, I'm just trying to give you a
diagnosis of yourself.
You can tear up the diagnosis if you
like after you go away from here.
But if you take it seriously, it'll do
you some good.
You can be healed from this disease.
It is a disease to be bitten by
the serpent.
Why do I say I have the authority
to speak about this?
There are very few people who can speak
about the love of money today.
The devil has silenced the preachers of today
because they're always going around begging for money.
I have never, I've been a full-time
Christian worker for 40 years.
I've never asked anybody for a single cent.
I've never sent a report about my work
or about the work of this church to
anybody expecting money from anyone.
I've been in times of dire need.
Never let anybody know my need.
God has provided my need.
I worked, earned my living, done my own
business.
I didn't know head or tail about it
when I started.
I asked God to bless it.
He's blessed it beyond my expectations.
Because I decided I will not be bitten
by the serpent.
The prince of the world will have nothing
in me.
I will never borrow.
I'll never get into debt.
I will never look for a handout.
I will never make my needs known.
I will trust my heavenly father.
And God has blessed me.
I say that for your testimony.
But I have lived simply also when I
didn't have enough.
I'll tell you why I'm not in debt.
In the days when we could not afford
to buy fish, we never bought fish.
We love fish.
Like you do.
We couldn't afford to buy chicken or ice
cream.
We wouldn't afford to buy it.
When we could afford it, we'd buy it.
But when we couldn't afford it, we'd say,
I'm not going to go in debt.
We can live vegetarian.
It's better to live vegetarian, not be in
debt, than to buy fish and get into
debt.
I don't know whether you agree with me.
To me, that's the way Jesus, I cannot
believe Jesus would have borrowed money to get
better food.
Never.
And he would not have used money that
he wanted to give for God's work to
buy more food for himself.
I cannot imagine Jesus doing that.
A lot of Christians do that.
They think they're very spiritual because they've got
so much head knowledge.
They're not spiritual.
Your attitude to money shows how much you
have been saved.
Please remember that statement.
Your attitude to money shows how much you
have been saved.
How much you have progressed in your school.
Whether you're in kindergarten still, or after 20
years, or whether you've moved on to 10th
standard and a degree, etc.
It's really true.
Your attitude to wastefulness.
I have tried my best to use things.
I use the same couches and sofas I've
had in my house for 34 years.
Come and see it.
I sleep on the same mattress I've used
for 34 years.
We've taken care of it and we use
it.
If they get really bad, we'll throw it
out maybe in another 50 years or so,
but till then we'll use it.
I'm expected to live long, by the way.
I'm not boasting.
I'm just trying to tell you that you
can be free from debt if you live
a little simply.
I've had the same car for 21 years.
When I couldn't afford to put the petrol
in, I wouldn't use it.
I'd use the scooter.
Because of one reason.
I didn't want the serpent to bite me.
That's the only reason.
I will not allow the devil to touch
me because I'm a servant of God.
And Christ has put me on earth to
do a task for him and I'm not
going to let that task be corrupted by
the devil defiling me with debt or waiting
for a handout from people, expecting something.
I will never let anybody know my need
even if I'm starving.
I believe that God provides for me and
I have seen that and proved it in
40 years.
It's true and I say that for your
encouragement.
If you live simply and you decide that
you're not going to and you teach your
children to live simply and don't waste money
on unnecessary things.
I mean, I had some crazy ideas.
I would never give money to my children
as pocket money.
I'm not asking you to follow me.
First of all, I didn't have the money
to throw around like that.
I would not give them money to buy
food in the school.
I'd say, we'll send you something in your
lunch package.
All these rich people can do it.
They'd come with 100 rupee notes to school.
I'd say, they can do it.
We are servants of God.
We want to be faithful to God because
God's given us a ministry.
A lot of people are waiting for a
ministry.
I'll tell you what, you be faithful with
money, God will give a ministry to you.
I remember years ago, I said, Lord, how
can you be with my mouth so that
every time I open my mouth, whether it's
in a pulpit or in personal conversation, your
word will come out through me.
And you know what the Lord said to
me?
Two things.
Be faithful with money and be faithful with
your mouth.
That means, you know, both are in scripture.
It says in Luke chapter 16, Luke chapter
16, it says in verse 11,
if you have not been faithful in the
use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the
true riches to you?
You know what the true riches are?
The anointing of the Holy Spirit.
The word of God in my mouth.
Transformation into the likeness of Christ.
These are the true riches I have sought
in my life.
I've said, God, I'm willing to give up
everything on earth if you will anoint me
with the Holy Spirit always.
Make me like Jesus and put your word
in my mouth.
I'm willing to lose everything else.
Those are true riches because they last for
eternity.
And the Lord says, if you want those
true riches, be faithful in the use of
material things.
Now I know why so many people don't
have the word of God in their mouth.
Now I know why so many preachers are
boring.
Now I know why so many people are
spiritually dead.
Why they don't have a continuous anointing?
Why they're not on fire?
They were on fire once upon a time.
Now they get on fire when they are
put on fire in a meeting by somebody
else.
Why is it they are not faithful with
money?
They have not repaid people whom they have
cheated to begin with.
I repaid every single person I cheated in
my younger days.
I said, I don't want anybody in the
day of judgment to stand before me and
say, this guy cheated me.
Lord, how can you take him into your
kingdom?
Nobody will be able to say that about
me.
This guy borrowed money from me and never
returned it.
Nobody will be able to say that.
I don't want my Lord to be embarrassed
and ashamed when I stand before him and
somebody comes and points his finger at me.
Yeah, are you concerned about embarrassing the Lord
like that?
Or you're not bothered?
I hope you are, my brother sister.
It's very important to be faithful.
First of all, give back whatever you've taken
wrongfully.
Doesn't matter, sell what you have and give
it back.
And then, if you're in debt, the Bible
says in Romans 13 verse 8, Owe nobody
anything.
It's a clear word.
Don't owe anybody anything.
Deuteronomy 28, the Lord said to Israel, when
I bless you, one of the marks of
my blessing on your life will be, you
will never borrow.
You'll have plenty to give to others, but
you'll never borrow.
It's very, very important to understand these simple
principles of life.
If you want to follow Jesus, some of
these, in the world in which we live,
sometimes it becomes necessary to borrow, to build
a house perhaps, buy a scooter.
Make sure, when you do such situations, you
get money from a bank, that there's something
on the other side of the balance.
That is, if you borrow money here, that
there's a house or a scooter or something
so that it's not a debt, there's something
there.
Be careful.
And if you do business, be careful in
borrowing money for business.
Make sure you can repay it.
If you find yourself continuously in debt, something
is wrong.
You need to re-evaluate your finances.
It's important.
Jesus was a carpenter.
He was doing business.
But I don't think he lived in debt.
Because he was satisfied with little.
And if you are content with what God
has given you, you'll be perfectly okay.
It's when we are not content, and if
you unfortunately have a very covetous wife who
prods you and prods you and says, we
got to get that, we got to get
that, we got to get that.
I feel sorry for you, but no, please
resist her.
And say, I'm not going to disobey God.
That's what Adam did, you know.
He disobeyed God to please his wife.
Please don't follow Adam.
Be like Job.
And a good example in the Bible, who
did not displease God to please his wife.
You know.
But don't ever get into this because it's
a trap.
One of the first things I try to
check in all our churches is, are our
brothers free from debt?
Because I want them to be free from
the bite of the serpent.
The Bible says the borrower is servant to
the lender.
I don't want to be a servant to
anybody but Jesus Christ.
It says the borrower is servant to the
lender.
It's true.
And I don't want to be a servant
to anyone but Christ.
Are you a servant to somebody else who's
lent you money and you don't?
That's the second thing.
And the other thing is don't be wasteful.
Take care of your family's needs.
Live simply.
And like Jesus said in Luke chapter 12.
Luke chapter 12.
He used an expression which is often comes
to my mind.
Jesus spoke about this man whose farm produced
a terrific crop.
Man was a farmer.
Those days most people were farmers.
The land of a rich man, verse 16,
was producing very productive.
God was blessing him.
And when God blessed him I know many
of you brothers who were extremely poor when
you came to CFC.
Extremely poor.
Today God has blessed you.
Many of you.
Many of you are young people are earning
much more than your parents ever earned in
their lifetime.
In one sense I'm happy.
At the same time I'm scared.
I'm scared as to how you will destroy
yourself.
I'm scared that you'll miss out on what
God has for you.
I'll tell you honestly.
Well, praise the Lord if you got a
better vehicle, a scooter, a car and all
that it's good.
You got all the gadgets you need in
your home, fine.
But I've learned through the years Christ and
money are the equivalent of Jehovah and Baal
in the Old Testament.
Elijah stood up on Mount Carmel and said,
if Jehovah is God, serve him.
If Baal is God, serve him.
And I would say to you in that
same spirit, if Christ is God, serve him.
If money is God, serve him.
But you cannot serve both.
Jesus said that in Luke 16, 13.
You cannot love God and money.
You hold one, you despise the other.
But here in Luke chapter 12, he tells
a story about this rich man who's very
productive.
Now apply this to your case.
How God has blessed you.
Think back, my brother, every one of you.
Think back to the day you first came
to CFC.
Every one of you, please do that.
Think back to the day you first came
to CFC.
What was your financial state then?
Got it in your mind now?
Okay.
You've been here some years.
You've been blessed.
This story is for you.
And he began to think, when he got
so blessed, what shall I do now?
I don't have any place to store my
crops.
I'll tear down my barns, build larger ones
and I'll store all my grain and goods.
I'll say to my soul, now I've got
plenty and I can live for many years.
Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.
Verse 19, Luke 12.
But God said to him, you fool.
This night your soul will be required for
you who will own what you have prepared.
Maybe you say, my children will own it.
That's fine, but think of how it is
today.
You fool.
Even if you store up so much and
give to your children, what are you going
to have in eternity?
And listen, this is the word I was
coming to verse 21.
So is the man who stores up treasure
for himself and is not rich towards God.
That's the expression that has come to my
mind many times.
Rich towards God.
I want to be rich towards God.
I have never preached typing because I believe
it's an Old Testament law.
I have never practiced typing because it's an
Old Testament law.
When I was working, I was a single
man.
I had no needs.
I used to give more than 50%
of my income for God's work.
When I left the Navy, I had no
savings in my bank account.
Of course, I was single.
I'm not asking you to follow me.
My calling was special.
I was called to be a full-time
worker.
God told me to give up everything.
I gave up everything, all my money, everything.
You may not be called to that.
I'm not telling you to do it.
I'm just saying I have believed in giving,
not typing.
And I believed in giving cheerfully.
That's why I've never preached on typing in
this church.
But I have seen through the years that
some of us have missed something.
And I've sought the Lord.
Lord, why is it many people in our
church have missed something?
And the word the Lord has brought to
my mind is that verse we have there
at the back.
It's more blessed to give than to receive.
Jesus' words in Acts 20 verse 35.
It is more blessed to give than to
receive.
When you receive, there is a blessing.
If you're in need, for example, somebody gives
you some money, there's a blessing because your
need is met.
Praise the Lord for that.
But do you know that you're missing a
blessing when you don't know how to give?
And I feel that many brothers and sisters
in this church have been robbed of that
blessing because they have not learned to give.
We don't type, but unfortunately, we don't even
give.
I don't know.
I don't know who gives, who doesn't.
I'm not interested in finding out.
But there will be a blessing on the
life of people.
The Bible says the father who sees in
secret will reward openly.
What does God want from our life, first
of all?
He wants our heart.
You don't give him your heart, then God
doesn't want anything else.
Then he wants our body.
Our eyes, tongue, hands.
That's what he wants.
If you don't give that, brother, God's not
interested in anything else you can give him.
But beyond that, you know, God tests us
in our attitude to money in seeing do
I recognize that it is the blessing of
God that gave me this?
Or do I recognize that I worked hard
or I was smart?
I was a smart businessman so I earned
this money.
It's all a question of how you think.
If you think you're a smart businessman who
earned all this money, better keep it.
But you say, I didn't deserve this.
God gave it to me.
Lord, how am I supposed to use it?
Can I give you something?
Little, little things my brothers.
Think of little little things.
It's all a question of attitude.
And I tell you, if you're not serious
of changing your attitude to the attitude of
Christ, in a hundred years you'll remain the
same.
God doesn't want you to be like that.
He wants us to change and you can
change today.
If you say, Lord, first of all I
want to be honest with myself and acknowledge
my need, my failure.
God loves honest people.
He came for sinners.
I remember the time when I cried out
to Jesus and said, Lord, I'm lost in
the love of money.
Will you please deliver me?
Will you say that today?
If you don't say you're lost, he won't
save you.
You say, oh, I'm okay.
And the Lord says, I didn't come for
you.
I came for sinners.
But if you say, Lord, I'm lost in
the love of money, you may find salvation.
He came for those who are honest to
acknowledge their need.
Dear brothers and sisters, I have sincerely sought
to please God in what I've said and
your good.
I've not sought my good.
I don't need anything from you.
I've not even sought the good of this
church.
I've sought your good.
God bless you.