So the sum and substance of all that
we've been saying in these days is that
God is not looking for a large testimony
on the earth, but a pure testimony.
Not for a large city like Babylon, but
a pure city like Jerusalem.
And if that grips us, really grips us,
we will see how terribly disappointed God is
with the condition of most groups that call
themselves churches because they have not kept the
standards of purity.
And purity means basically not our idea of
purity, but God's idea of purity.
And God has shown us His standard in
His word.
When it says that the church is built,
I ask people sometimes, do you know what
is the foundation of the Christian life?
That's Jesus Christ.
How the foundation can no man lay, 1
Corinthians chapter 3, than what is already laid,
verse 10, Jesus Christ.
But what about the foundation of the church?
Yeah, in one sense Christ is the foundation
of the church, but I want to show
you a verse which sometimes many of you
may not think of.
Ephesians chapter 2, and verse 19 onwards.
You are no longer strangers, foreigners, but you
are fellow citizens with the saints of God's
family.
And you are built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets.
Are you built on the foundation of the
apostles and the prophets?
You say no, I am built on the
foundation of Jesus Christ.
Do you believe that is inspired by the
Holy Spirit in your Bible or it's a
mistake?
If it is a mistake, scratch it out.
I don't believe it's a mistake.
It's the Holy Spirit who said, you are
built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets.
And you say, where does Christ come in
then?
Christ Jesus being the cornerstone.
You know what a cornerstone is?
In the olden days when they constructed buildings,
they didn't have all the fancy equipment that
we have today.
They would first lay a cornerstone.
And that cornerstone had to be perfectly 90
degrees in all three directions.
This way, this way, and this way, this
way, this way, this way.
It had to be perfect.
It could not be 89 degrees or 91
degrees.
Because everything was going to be aligned.
You know, think of a building where in
one corner you put a big cornerstone.
And then you align all the stones in
that line there.
All the stones in that line here.
And all the stones vertically over here.
And all the stones vertically there.
Boy, if there is a slight error in
that cornerstone, the building will grow crooked.
If there is only one degree error in
the cornerstone, the whole building will go crooked.
And the building will not be rectangular or
square.
The cornerstone was the most important.
Jesus was perfect.
In all directions, towards God, towards men, towards
the devil.
His attitude was absolutely perfect.
Towards God, towards human beings, towards the devil.
We have three directions, three dimensions.
Towards God, towards human beings, towards the devil.
Jesus' attitude was perfect in all three areas.
He was a perfect cornerstone.
The apostles, what they did, they were next
to that.
They were closest to the cornerstone.
And they aligned themselves to have the same
attitude towards God, towards human beings, towards the
devil.
And on the foundation of those early apostles
and prophets, the church was built.
That is why the epistles are as important
as the words of Jesus in the Gospels.
You know, many people say, I only care
for the words of Jesus.
But do you know, one of the last
things that Jesus told his disciples before he
went to the cross, the last supper was,
I've got many more things to say to
you.
Have you read that verse in John's Gospel?
I don't have time to show you all
those references, but please look it up.
I have many more things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now means
you cannot understand them now.
But when the spirit of truth has come,
he will lead you into all the truth.
And he will glorify me.
And he will take from me and give
to you.
It's all in John 14, 15, 16.
Read it.
And you can't bear them now means you
can't understand them now.
It's like telling a kindergarten student, you know
my little boy, my little girl, there are
things in mathematics called trigonometry, geometry, calculus.
The child is confused.
It's not just 2 plus 2 is 4
and 3 plus 3 is 6.
That's okay in this class.
There are so many wonderful things in mathematics,
which can help you in your life.
And the child will say, that's great.
When can I learn all that?
You can't understand them now.
As you grow, you will understand it.
So Jesus was saying to them, you can't
understand that now.
When the spirit has come, he will gradually
lead you into all the truth.
Now the question is, brothers and sisters, are
you going to build a church with kindergarten
knowledge?
Then you have a bunch of kindergarten babies
in your church.
You have to go to see the further
revelation that God gave through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles and prophets that you read
in the New Testament.
Jesus spoke very little about the church.
But he said some important thing.
One of the first things he said about
the church was, I will build my church.
The first time the word church comes in
the New Testament.
And the word is a called out people.
Church is a called out people.
We are not to make the nations into
disciples, but we are to make disciples in
the nations.
You cannot make any nation in a disciple.
No.
In the nations, you got to go and
let the Lord lead you to people who
want to become disciples.
So, with those disciples, you can build a
church.
If you don't make them disciples, you will
never build a church.
So, if we were to say, you know,
we finally want to conclude with thinking about
the church in this session.
We talked a lot about our personal life.
And that's very important.
The household of God is those who judge
themselves first.
1 Peter 4, 17.
And they don't judge others.
And then we spoke about the home life.
Noah's home life.
Abraham's home life.
The home life of elders.
That has to be a certain standard.
Now, this was not a law in the
Old Testament.
In the Old Covenant, home life was not
important.
We read of Moses fighting with his wife.
And his wife yelling at Moses about the
matter of circumcising their child.
And finally, his wife yielded.
You know, Moses was an Israelite.
He should have circumcised his child.
And the child grew up and he never
circumcised because his father-in-law never believed
in circumcision.
His wife never believed in circumcision.
Because she was not a daughter of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob.
And he, like many husbands, yielded to his
wife in the matter of home matters.
Even if it meant disobedience to God.
But now he was growing as the leader
of God's people.
And it says in Exodus 4, God tried
to kill him.
Imagine the one man on earth who was
the only one who was ready to fulfill
God's purpose.
And God tries to kill him.
Do you believe that God is so strict
that he will even kill the only man
on the earth who is going to fulfill
his purpose?
Yes.
I don't know what you learned from that.
I learned from that, that God will never
compromise his principles even if he loses a
good man.
For me, the application is this.
Here is a wonderful, gifted, godly elder brother
of a church.
Extremely valuable to me.
But he compromises.
I say, brother, step down.
Don't ever speak in that church.
People may say, brother Zach, you are losing
such a good brother.
You are willing to lose him.
God was ready to kill Moses.
For a small matter like circumcision, yes.
You know what Moses did?
He sent his wife home.
You will be a pain in the neck
for me if I go to Israel and
you are always fighting with me.
Home life was not important in the Old
Testament.
Moses could be the leader irrespective of how
his relationship with his wife was or how
his children grew up.
But when you come to the New Covenant,
it's different.
A man must build his home before he
can build a church.
So the burning bush is first of all
our personal life and our walk with God.
Secondly, it's our home.
Our home must be like a burning bush.
Then, the church.
And that's where we finally end.
Because that's how the book of Revelation ends.
I saw the church coming lying down from
heaven like the holy city Jerusalem like a
bride adorned for her husband.
That's how the book of Revelation ends.
God's ultimate goal is not saving souls.
This whole business of believers going around saving
souls, I challenge anyone to find out such
a verse in the New Testament.
The apostles did not go around saving souls.
They went around building churches.
Just by the way, for those who don't
read the Bible carefully, there is a verse
in the Old Testament called he who wins
souls is wise.
It has got nothing to do with bringing
people to salvation.
People quote that verse.
We've got the bad habit, many Christians, of
reading a verse completely out of context just
because it suits some particular theology I've already
framed in my mind.
There is no such thing as saving souls
in the New Testament.
It's building the church.
There's a lot about building the church.
Jesus said, he didn't say I'm going to
save souls, he said I'll build my church.
But today, evangelist goes and saves souls.
You ask this evangelist, he's there for three
days, he stays in some five-star hotel,
comes and saves souls, gets everybody to sign
a decision card, and he disappears back to
America or wherever he comes from.
And then you come back one month later
and say where are these souls?
I don't know, that's other people's job.
What type of mother are you?
What type of mother are you giving birth
to babies and throwing them on the road
and saying let somebody take care of them?
Even the dogs and the cats do better
than that.
They take care of their children until they're
able to feed themselves.
You don't find little kittens and dogs dead
on the street because their mothers neglected them.
No.
But a lot of Christian evangelists do.
There was no evangelist like that in the
New Testament.
The greatest evangelist of all, when he brought
people to Christ, he built them into a
local church.
God, Christ, he doesn't say Christ gave himself
for individuals, he gave Christ love the church
and gave himself for it.
God so loved the world, gave his son,
but Christ loved the church and gave himself
for it.
His goal is to build a church and
an evangelist has a very important part in
it.
To bring people into the church and make
them part of the local church like the
body.
I often think of the picture of the
hand as like an evangelist.
What is evangelism?
In one sentence evangelism is to make someone
who is not a member of the body
a member of the body of Christ.
Simple definition of evangelism.
A man who is not a member of
Christ's body, make him a member of Christ's
body.
Not get somebody to go to heaven.
Those things are never found in the New
Testament.
So much of phraseology that Christians use, I
challenge them.
Show it to me in the Bible.
No, it's not there.
Where did it come from?
It came from some wretched Bible school you
went to.
Get to the Bible brother.
There's no such thing as saving souls and
getting people to heaven.
Building the church, that's what the Bible is
full of.
Ephesians is full of it.
So what does the evangelist do?
Take the human body as an example.
Here is a hand, evangelist, going and taking
that potato, which is an unbeliever, not a
member of my body.
I want to make that potato a member
of my body.
So the hand goes out, this is the
evangelist, takes that unbeliever, that potato, puts it
into the mouth.
That's evangelism.
Does it become a member of my body
by getting into my mouth?
The evangelist goes and brings one more potato.
Puts it in the mouth.
This is what's happening.
I've got a hundred potatoes in my mouth
and after some time the whole thing becomes
rotten and I spit it out.
This is exactly what's happening in Christendom.
You know what's got to happen?
Once it gets into the mouth, it's got
to be chewed.
All its pride has to be broken down,
it's got to be made small, it's got
to be made like mashed potatoes.
And then it comes into the stomach and
the prophetic ministry takes over.
Pour acids on it.
Acids on a new believer.
Yeah, that's right.
He's a proud person.
All that pride has to be broken down.
And if some potato says, no I don't
want to be mashed, I want to remain
as a whole potato, then you'll be eliminated.
God has put an elimination process also.
Either one way or the other way you
vomit it out or the other way you
eliminate it.
But you can't remain a special potato, you've
got to be mashed.
And once you become mashed, that's prophetic ministry.
But if a potato submits to it, accepts
this grinding in the teeth and the mashing
and the acids poured on it finally, with
all the impurities eliminated, lo and behold, after
a few weeks, it's no longer a potato.
It has become flesh and blood in my
body.
It has become a member of my body.
So, this is the way God builds the
church.
If you keep on even stuffing the stomach
with potatoes, you'll vomit it out.
And you'll vomit it out.
Yeah, it has to be built into the
body.
Or to use an illustration, the Bible uses
an illustration of a building.
In India we build with bricks.
And this building is built with say 10
,000 bricks.
Now you know how the lorries and the
trucks bring the bricks and dump it there?
One brick, 100 bricks, 10,000 bricks.
Now 10,000 bricks is not a building.
That's like saving souls.
We got all the bricks here, needed.
We want those trucks to bring the bricks,
otherwise we can't build a house.
But if you leave those bricks there, I'll
tell you what will happen in India.
In a week it will become 9,900.
Another week it will become 9,800.
And then it will become 9,700.
After a few weeks there's nothing left there.
That's exactly what happens with a lot of
evangelists.
They have to be built and there's labor
there.
But people say, no, no, no, we've got
to get more bricks, more bricks, more bricks.
What's the use of piling all these bricks
if you don't even build one house?
How many of you will be happy with
a contractor?
You give him a contract to build a
house and he just piles up 100,000
bricks and says there's your house.
You say, how can I live inside this
100,000 bricks piled up here?
We are so careful about earthly things, but
we don't care about God's house.
We need to have the spirit of David
who said, is it Psalm 132 or something?
I said, I will not give sleep to
my eyes till I find a place to
build God's house.
I tell you, we need a passion like
that.
Brothers and sisters who say, Lord, I want
your house to be built.
You know, when the little church started in
our home with seven or eight people 35
years ago, it was a burden that I
had carried like a mother in mine to
be in the womb for 10 years.
From 1965 to 1975, I carried a burden
in my heart.
Lord, I want to see a local church
built like a body.
I want to see a church built according
to the way we see it in the
Acts of the Apostles, not these pyramid structures
with some CEO or Pope on top or
general superintendent elected by others.
No, the way they did it in the
Acts of the Apostles.
I want to see an evangelist in our
church who brings people to Christ but build
them up into the body of Christ.
Yeah.
People say, Brother Zach is against evangelism.
No.
One of the finest personal evangelists I have
met in this whole country and in the
whole world is in one of our churches.
I challenge you to find a better man
than him.
Unfortunately, he's not here right now because he's
being beaten up by non-Christians somewhere because
he's bringing people to Christ.
We're not against evangelism because it doesn't build
a house.
That's it.
We believe 100% in using the bricks.
I don't have the ability, I don't have
the trucks to go and build the bricks
but I thank God for other brothers who
go and build the bricks, who bring the
bricks and then we have to work together.
The mason doesn't go and bring the bricks,
he builds it.
There's no competition there.
The mason is not against the truck driver
who brings the bricks.
And the truck driver can't build the house.
And we have amazing examples that we've seen
in the last 30 years particularly in Tamil
Nadu and all over where one brother could
bring the bricks in but he didn't know
how to build the house.
And another brother couldn't bring the bricks in
but he knew how to build the house.
And we have some wonderful examples now.
So this is God's purpose.
Local churches everywhere.
The ultimate burning bush that God wants is
a body, that functions as a body.
We're working together.
You're stealing our sheep.
Well you try and steal a brick from
this building.
Try it.
Come sleekily at night and try and steal
one of these bricks.
You won't be able to do it.
But if you have a pile of 10
,000 bricks you can steal as many bricks
as you want.
I have never in my life said that
anybody has stolen one of my flock.
You can't steal them if they are built
into a house.
And when a man says somebody stole my
sheep that means you never built a house.
You had a pile of bricks then they
deserve to be stolen and built somewhere.
I remember one place they asked me Brother
Zack have you come here to steal the
sheep?
No I said most of the ones we
get are goats.
First of all in any case they are
not sheep at all.
We have to convert them to sheep after
they come into our church.
Because they never taught about repentance and sin
and all that.
Then we make them part of a flock.
If you want to use that illustration.
Or if you want to use another illustration.
Maybe they are born again but they are
like children in kindergarten.
You go to a village and there are
100 kindergarten schools.
Only kindergarten.
No other school.
Not even primary.
No 1st standard, 2nd standard.
There is a 3 year old sitting in
the kindergarten and there is a 55 year
old man also sitting in the kindergarten.
Still trying to learn ABC, CAT, BAT.
And so we go to that village and
say listen we would like to start a
school here for 1st standard and 2nd standard
and 3rd standard.
People want to go a little higher than
kindergarten.
No, no, no, no, no.
You are stealing our students.
This 55 year old student has been so
happy to sit here in the kindergarten forever.
I know but that is because there is
nothing better for him here.
He would be very happy if he goes
to 1st standard and studies some multiplication and
division.
It will help him in his life.
Are we competing with somebody?
No.
We are just trying to lead people higher.
And we don't even charge any school fees
for them.
Isn't that the best part of it?
All the teaching is free.
We even give them food free.
What more do you want?
What are we trying to get for ourselves?
We only want them to be educated for
the glory of God.
So whichever example you take, building a house,
building a family, we have children, we don't
throw them on the street.
Do you know how long, all of you,
many of you are fathers and mothers.
How long does it take to make a
child stand on his own legs?
In India it is about 25 years.
I don't know if it is 20 years,
but in India it is about 25 years
before a child can stand on its own
feet and go on on his own.
Till then the father and mother have to
take care of them in many ways, in
their little, many ways, less and less and
then later educate them and spend money on
them and so many things.
Finally it stands on its own feet.
What do you do?
You say, no, no, we want more children.
We just want to have children, children and
put them on the street.
Then we are worse than the dogs and
the cats and everybody imprisons them today.
People are not being built into a family,
the house is not being built, the flock
is not being put together, but people say,
Oh, Jesus said, if a man had a
hundred sheep and one sheep is lost, he
goes after that one sheep and brings him
back.
Then I say, hang on, hang on, read
the Bible slowly.
Let me read to you the rest of
that verse in Luke 15.
So I say to you, Luke 15, 7,
there is more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents, not who signed a decision
card, not who raised his hand in a
meeting, who repents.
Which gospel meeting have you heard about repentance?
Tell me, there is a number of gospel
meetings.
All I hear is God loves you, brother
come to Jesus, some fellow emotionally sings a
song, just as I am, and without one
plea the fellows all get moved.
They don't repent, they don't know what repentance
is, they don't know what sin is.
They accept Christ.
Do they become disciples?
There is no joy in heaven over a
man who signs a decision card.
There is no joy in heaven over a
man who comes up to the front in
an altar call, over one sinner who repents,
who turns from sin.
He cannot turn from sin unless he is
told what sin is, and he is told
to repent.
Than over 99 righteous persons who need no
repentance.
Do you want Jesus' definition of a church?
Listen to this, Jesus' definition of a church,
here it is, 99 righteous persons who need
no repentance.
Get me 99 righteous persons who need no
repentance.
That's the church of Jesus Christ.
That's in Jesus' own words.
Bring that lost fellow into such a group.
But if you've got 99 people who are
fighting and quarreling and backbiting and lusting after
women and doing internet pornography, I say brother,
please don't bring that lost sheep here.
You'll pick up these bad habits.
He's safer out there in the wilderness if
you get 99 people okay.
Then we will bring him into a safe
flock.
I don't want to bring him into a
diseased flock and get all types of diseases
like some of these government hospitals you get
admitted there, you get diseases that you never
had when you went in.
A lot of our churches are like that.
I don't want it.
A lot of our churches, we have a
pretty good standard, but many other churches.
It's very interesting that all these people who
accuse us of false doctrine can never accuse
us of a bad life.
What they say is these people, their doctrine
is wrong, but their life is good.
That's as crazy as saying to a farmer,
you've got a good crop, but your seed
was bad.
Seed is like doctrine.
When people analyze our doctrine, it's like putting
a seed under a microscope.
I say don't put it under a microscope,
sow it, and 10 years later you'll see
whether it's good seed or bad.
And all the people who have accused us
are like them.
These people, their life is good, but their
doctrine is bad.
The crop is good, the harvest is good,
but the seed is very bad.
What about you?
Our seed is perfect, only the harvest is
bad, that's all.
Dear brothers, do you see the deception going
on in Christendom?
What is the proof of a good doctrine?
A good life.
People are righteous.
Secondly, they need no repentance.
You mean to say there are people who
need no repentance?
I'll raise my hand.
I need no repentance.
Because I've already repented about something even today.
Every day I'm repenting.
That's why I don't need repentance.
How can I say that a person is
never hungry?
Because he's eating every day, he's not hungry.
He goes by day after day without being
hungry because he's eating every day.
That's the meaning of he doesn't need repentance
because he's repenting every day.
He's the guy who does not repent, who
needs repentance.
Such a fellow is not fit to be
in our church.
I want to say to all of you
in Jesus' name, you have no business being
in our church if you don't repent every
day.
Go and find some other dead third-rate
church and go and live there and dishonor
God's name as much as you like.
But don't come to a church that's seeking
to glorify God and live here without repentance
every day.
If there's something wrong, that's okay, you're forgiven.
But repent!
Say, Lord, help me.
Maybe you'll fall again.
But repent!
Maybe you'll fall a tenth time.
Repent!
Maybe you'll fall a hundred times in the
same area.
But repent!
You can be with us forever.
And who needs to repent the most?
The elders.
Because they are judged by a higher standard.
I teach you, I will be judged by
the highest standard of all.
I realize that.
And I fear it.
I know that if there's one day that
goes by in my life without my seeing
something unchrist-like in me, it's like the
day when you're stinking with perspiration and dirt
and you didn't take a shower that day.
You didn't take a bath.
Oh, we are so careful when we stink
with sweat and perspiration.
I want to have a shower.
But there are many important things to do
that can wait.
I've got to get my bath first.
You know, I really believe after many years
of observing Christians, that the reason why there
are not more wholehearted people, listen to this,
is they love their body more than their
soul.
I'm absolutely convinced about it.
They love their body more than their soul.
They hate sickness more than sin.
They are more afraid of sickness than of
sin.
They take so much care of their body
when they are sick.
So little care about sin.
No wonder we don't have so many wholehearted
people.
And God is searching for those who will
say, how many of you will value your
soul more than your body?
How many of you will hate sin more
than you hate sickness?
You want to build my house?
Turn to Isaiah 66.
I believe many of us want to build
God's house.
And every one of you can build it
even if you don't have the gift of
preaching like me.
You can build God's house.
Yesterday I was asking the elder brothers when
I was speaking to them.
Can you tell me some of the important
parts of the human body?
Of course they said important parts, heart, liver,
kidney, eyes, ears and all.
I said, it's all right.
I said, you know, if I were to
ask you to mention the important parts of
the body, you'll say that also.
Will any of you mention the little finger?
Maybe about hundredth down the list you'll come
to the little finger.
But even then, you may not mention the
nails.
The nails are the most insignificant part of
our human body.
But when you feel scratchy somewhere, your heart
and liver and kidney and eyes and ears
cannot help you.
Even your little finger cannot help you.
It's these teeny weeny nails that really bless
you.
And you feel so relieved.
Some people feel so much, they ask other
people, will you scratch my back?
And after they scratch it, shall I stop?
No, no, no.
Scratch some more.
You know what that ministry is?
It's called in the New Testament the ministry
of encouragement.
Encouragement.
Scratch my back.
You can't do it?
If somebody asks you to scratch his back,
can you do it?
Oh brother, I don't have a gift of
scratching people's backs.
What do you mean you don't have a
gift of scratching people's backs?
It's the easiest thing in the world to
do.
He's not even asking you to cook a
meal or something.
Just scratch my back.
And even if some number of your nails
are missing, you can still scratch with three
nails, you know.
The gift of encouraging others, one of the
most important functions in the body of Christ,
and every one of us can have it.
In the past, we have been experts at
criticizing others, right?
Experts at finding fault.
Experts at finding little specks.
We go around with our magnifying glasses and
say, Ah, I saw a speck there.
I saw a speck there.
Let's destroy those magnifying glasses now.
And say, Lord, I've spent a lifetime criticizing,
finding fault with people.
Can I now spend the rest of my
life just encouraging?
Encouraging.
I've many times told my fellow elders, many
of them, I'm sorry to say, don't listen
to me, but I've told them, brothers, I
think you have spent enough years criticizing.
Let's encourage them.
Leave it to the prophets to do the
rebuking and correcting.
There are very few prophets.
They will do that part.
But most of us are not prophets.
And your calling is not to rebuke, correct.
One or two prophets will do that.
God gives them a calling and gives them
the ability to do that with grace.
But if you try to imitate a prophet,
you'll be a false prophet.
I believe the great need is for many
brothers to encourage.
Encourage and challenge.
Say, you can do it.
The Lord rejoices over you with shouts of
joy and singing.
Did you fail for the thousandth time?
Never mind, brother.
Try again.
You will make it.
Maybe after 10,000 tries, you'll do it.
I love the story I heard about this
great inventor who lived over 100 years ago
called Thomas Edison.
He was an American inventor.
He was not a very bright boy in
school.
They chucked him out of school because he
wasn't very clever.
But he invented hundreds of inventions.
One of them is the light bulb.
And he experimented with various things to find
what material will keep burning for hours and
hours and hours and hours.
He was trying different materials.
They all died out in a few minutes.
Finally, he found a thing called tungsten.
And he found it burns after about thousand
experiments.
He got the right thing.
And somebody told him, Hey, listen.
You found it after one thousand experiments.
What if you had chosen tungsten the very
first time?
Then he said, I would not have discovered
truths about the other 999 wrong ways of
doing it.
What a good way to do it.
I tell you, I spent 16 years wandering
around in Babylon.
And I got a guided tour through every
nook and cranny of Babylon.
I know it thoroughly.
Was it a wasted time?
No, I got a thorough education in Babylon.
And it has helped me to see that
there is nothing good there.
So today when somebody tells me, Ah, brother,
there is something good there.
I am not deceived.
Other people can go and see.
I have seen it all.
I know that there is only one way
to build a church.
Listen to Isaiah 66.
Verse 1.
This is the Lord's word to you.
Heaven is my throne.
The whole earth is only a place where
I put my feet.
Where is the house, the church, that you
are going to build for me?
Where is this church that you think you
are going to build?
A place that I can rest.
You know what?
The church is to be a place where
God can rest.
God can rest means He is very happy.
He feels at home there.
Where can you build a church where God
Almighty can come and say, I am happy
here.
My hand has made all these things.
But, let me paraphrase.
I will use this type of person to
build my house.
First qualification, humble and contrite of spirit.
Not Bible school.
Not college educated.
Humble and contrite of spirit.
Anybody, you want to build a church, God
can use you.
Number one qualification.
Humble and contrite of spirit, broken.
You know what contrite of spirit means?
I think the best illustration is when we
break bread.
Many times I think of this when we
break bread and I take a piece of
that bread and it's not like rock.
As soon as I touch it, it comes
off.
You know, particularly the bread like we sometimes
use a bun or bread.
Just touch it and it comes off that
little bit.
And when I've done that I say, Lord,
that's how I want to be.
That's how I want to be.
As soon as you touch me, I'm broken.
Are you like that?
As soon as God touches you, that's what
brokenness means.
Broken, contrite spirit.
God doesn't have to struggle.
It's not like breaking some tough, old piece
of meat.
Cut it, cut it, cut it with a
knife it doesn't cut.
He doesn't want people like that.
Broken, humble, number one qualification.
You want to build God's house?
Number two, who trembles at my word.
Who reads, particularly something in the New Testament,
they want to build a new covenant church
and they read in the Acts of the
Apostles how they did it and he trembles
at it.
Oh God, I better do it that way.
Not the way all these modern churches try
to do it.
That's the reason why there's so much confusion.
Let me tell you an Old Testament story.
I don't have time to go to all
those passages.
There was a time in the history of
Israel, you read in 1 Samuel chapter 4
onwards, when Israel was thoroughly defeated, even though
they praised God with such a loud voice
that the earth began to shake.
That's why I don't believe in a lot
of loud praise if it doesn't come from
a holy heart.
They praised God so loudly when the earth
began to shake and then they were more
defeated after that.
And the Philistines took away the ark.
But when they took away the ark, their
idols fell down before that ark.
They got all types of sicknesses in their
body and they decided we better not keep
the ark here, we'll send it back.
How to send it back?
So one of their magicians said put it
on a cart and let some newly born
cobs take it.
Now newly born cobs will run to their
mother.
If they don't run to their mother but
run towards Israel, then you know this is
really God.
So they got some newly born cobs, tied
it to this bullock cart and they didn't
return to their mother.
They went that way and said this is
really God, thank God this ark has gone
away.
The Israelites saw this.
David, who came along many years later as
the king, about 40 years later, heard that
the Philistines, it was a story carried on
through the years, the Philistines sent the ark
back in a bullock cart.
So when God, when David wanted to transport
the ark to Jerusalem which he had captured,
he said hey, make these poor Levites carry
it on their shoulder like God said in
Leviticus.
Such a long journey of so many miles,
they'll get exhausted.
The Philistine way is better.
Put it on a bullock cart.
So he imitated the Philistines, you read in
2 Samuel, chapter 6, 7, or 8, somewhere
there, and they went along in the bullock
cart.
But the problem with bullock carts is sometimes
the oxen stumble.
And the ark began to shake and there
was a man called Uzzah, who was not
a Levite.
He had no business to be around there.
He did not tremble at the word which
said nobody but the Levites, the sons of
Kohath or something, must touch this ark.
Ah, he says, my intention is good.
I know I'm not a Levite, but my
intention is good.
I'll steady the ark.
God doesn't care about your intentions.
You don't tremble at your word.
Uzzah died on the spot.
David stopped.
Please put the ark in somebody's house here.
God is a holy God.
These worldly methods of transporting the ark won't
work.
Even if they had to walk a hundred
miles, they walked hundreds of miles in the
wilderness carrying it on their shoulders.
The next time when he moved it, he
said, call the Levites the proper tribe and
say you carry the ark.
He learned it the hard way.
But today's church has not learned it the
hard way.
They still follow the methods of the world,
like Coca-Cola wants to get every person
on the face of the earth to get
at least one sip of Coca-Cola.
He said we will adopt the same methods
as the Coca-Cola company to spread the
gospel everywhere.
Do you know this?
That if Jesus wanted to feed the 5
,000 men plus women and children, probably 10
,000 people in the quickest way, he should
not have given the job just to 12
disciples.
Supposing there were 12,000 people there, say
5,000 men, 5,000 women and 2
,000 children.
12 people feeding 12,000 people.
Do you know one person has to distribute
to 1,000 people?
How long will that take?
You try one person going and giving food
to 1,000 people, see how many hours
it will take.
A much more efficient way that clever people
have suggested to Jesus is, Lord, let's get
some volunteers.
Get 1,000 volunteers.
Each person has to give only to 12
people.
It will be finished in no time.
And Jesus says, No.
I don't want any volunteers doing my work.
I want disciples.
It will take longer.
Let it take longer.
I want wholehearted people.
Time is not the important thing.
Has today's Christendom learned that lesson?
No.
There are American organizations that have come to
India who want to reach every home with
the gospel.
How to reach every home in India with
the gospel?
India's population has only got about two percent
Christians.
Never mind.
Let's hire people of all religions and pay
them money.
They'll do anything for money.
Give them the tracts and tell them, Make
sure you cover every home in the region.
And all types of Hindus and Muslims and
atheists are going around giving the gospel.
What for?
For money.
And then they can report to their headquarters
back there because those headquarters staffers also got
to be paid and show results.
We covered every home in India.
Was that Jesus' method?
Or finally, before he went up to heaven,
and he's got these twelve disciples, he's going
to all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature and somebody clever fellow could
have said, Lord, let's hire an advertising agency.
They'll do it much better than these guys.
Why does this fisherman know how to reach
the whole world?
He said, I don't know all your clever
methods.
I will fill them with the Holy Spirit.
You see, we've got all these, what does
Coca-Cola do?
Use an advertising agency, spread the gospel with
this, that and the other.
What type of church is being built ultimately
through that?
With these clever CEOs who get their fat
salaries?
The top pastors and apostles who collect all
their money?
Is that the way to do God's work?
Show it to me in the Bible.
Now, we have followed in India the old
-fashioned methods built on the foundation of the
apostles and the prophets because we have trembled
at God's word.
We don't just say this is the Bible
and then do what we like.
We say this is the Bible and we
tremble at God's word.
And we don't say this is only for
the first century or this is for this.
No, no, no.
We believe that the Bible, the New Testament
is given for all time.
And we didn't know thirty-five years ago
whether it would work.
Today we can say it has worked.
Many of our village churches, no Hindu school
will allow us to use their school building
to have a meeting.
The government school will not allow us to
use their auditorium.
The brothers are so poor, their houses are
so small, you cannot have a house church
if it becomes more than five or six
people.
I go to the house of an elder
brother, his whole house is one room.
And he says, he stays there with four
children.
How in the world can he have a
house church there?
He doesn't have a telephone.
How can you, what do you do?
You need to build a meeting hall.
All these guys in many countries who say,
ah, the thing is house churches.
Brother, you guys have never lived in the
villages of India.
You spin your theories in some rich country
where people have got big houses and drive
around in cars and have got telephones.
Come to one of my villages and show
me how to do it.
You guys who preach the prosperity gospel, you
go to all these rich churches where they
can give you ten thousand dollars for one
meeting.
Come to one of my village churches and
show me how to make them rich.
They need it more than those people.
Is the sick who need a physician?
No, it's all deception.
But the old fashioned methods still work.
I wanted to prove in my life in
a poor country like India, underdeveloped, poor, where
the lights go off when we don't expect
it to go off, et cetera, et cetera,
that we shall seek the kingdom of God
first and his righteousness and all the people
and all our earthly needs will be added
without our ever sending a report or photograph
of our work or asking anybody for money
or even giving a hint.
Numerous countries I go to, people ask me,
Brother Zak, do you have any needs in
India?
I say, no, we have no needs, I
say.
God has met all our needs.
Oh, that's okay, then we'll support somebody else.
Yes, please go and support somebody else.
We are okay.
I have always said that consistently.
I have gone as a representative of this
church and I want to say to you,
I have been introduced in some churches.
Here at last is a preacher from India
who never asked for money.
We ask for prayer.
If we ask for prayer, it's not a
hint for money.
It's not like saying, dear brother, will you
please pray that one church in the village
will be able to put up a roof
over their church building.
What a sneaky way of asking for money.
No.
We have built many, many meeting halls in
India.
And none of our churches have been in
debt ever.
We don't owe one cent to any bank
in India.
I'm not here to judge other people who
do that.
Brother, you do it the way you like.
We tremble at God's word which says, oh,
no man, anything.
Romans 13.8. If we borrow and borrow
and borrow and build our huge church, which
will take 25 years to repay, and people
say, what are you going to preach in
this church where you've got such a big
mortgage?
We are going to preach, oh, no man,
anything.
You're going to preach that, not having practiced
it?
We tremble at God's word.
You say, but it's tough.
Man, you can build only small.
It's small.
I remember when we were building, CFC building
there.
Those days, cement was not available in the
market.
You had to go to the government to
get permission for 50 bags of cement.
And I'd go to the government office and
the guy was waiting for a bribe.
I'd ask him.
He'd say, come next week.
I didn't know what he wanted.
I thought he really wanted me to come
next week.
I came next week.
He'd say, come next week.
After some time, somebody who's wiser to the
ways of government offices told me, Brother Zach,
what he says is give me some money.
I said, well, I'm not going to give
him any money.
If we never complete the building, we just
have three pillars sticking up there in Wheeler
Road.
Let's have three pillars as a monument to
righteousness on that street forever.
But we're not going to build a church
with unrighteousness and preach righteousness inside that church.
No.
I tell you, these are small things.
You see, people don't tremble at God's word.
We say the end is the important thing.
Does it mean that the end justifies the
means that whatever way we get there, it's
okay if we cheat and lie.
So long as we get there, it's okay.
Brother, then stop building the church.
Go and do some business.
The church, every step, every brick must be
planted in righteousness.
But it's because we have a lust to
build a grand building that everybody can admire,
that you get into debt.
We are not interested in that.
The people inside the building is only a
convenience for us to meet together.
That's all.
The early church didn't have it.
Unfortunately, in the circumstance in which we live,
we need it.
Many of those villages, we don't have a
hall like this.
Nobody has a hall.
They won't give it to us, even for
a conference.
What shall we do if 1,500 people
come together?
We have to build a hall there.
And we don't take a collection.
We keep a box at the back.
In 35 years, in all our 50 churches,
never once, never one Sunday, have we taken
an offering.
Never.
We keep a box.
Those who want to give, can give.
Because Jesus said, you must give secretly.
How can you give secretly when you stick
a bag under a fellow's face?
The fellow feels uncomfortable and he can't give
secretly and he's certainly not giving cheerfully.
And the Bible says, God loves a cheerful
giver.
You've made a bunch of people disobey God
by giving uncheerfully and not secretly and say,
we are serving God.
We stopped it right from day one.
We will not take an offering.
Let people give secretly and cheerfully when they
want it.
If they don't want to give, then don't
give.
Let the rich give more and the poor
take and give nothing.
It's fine.
God, and I'll tell you something, in 35
years, in a poor country with no social
security, nothing, we have never been in debt
one single day.
We're a living demonstration to this country that
God is the same in the 20th century
as in the 1st century.
And the same thing we have found in
our homes.
Honor God and he'll honor you.
We decided we will not honor our children,
we'll honor God.
We decided we will not And if we
have to live with less, we live with
less.
I practiced it first, my wife and I,
in our own life.
We proved it in our own life before
we tried it out on others.
And we found it works.
We find it works in the poorest villages.
Those who have really honored God, you go
and ask some of the brothers sitting in
Bangalore church today, who are so steeped in
debt that they were going on the verge
of suicide 30 years ago.
See what's happened to them today.
We have never preached the prosperity gospel.
We have never preached We have preached holiness.
We have preached freedom from sin.
And we have experienced in many, many, many
lives that God takes care of our earthly
needs.
He doesn't give us all that we want,
but he gives us all that we need.
Dear brothers and sisters, build a church as
a testimony.
You know, I think our churches should be
testimonies to the different verses of scripture.
That's to me like Jesus was a testimony.
He says the word proved to be true.
What was the burning bush in Jesus case?
The word was made flesh and dwelt among
us.
To me, this is the church.
I want to be like that.
That every word in scripture must be made
flesh in me.
Love your enemies.
I want that word to become flesh in
me.
So that people see me as a man
who loves all my enemies.
Forgive everyone.
I want that word to become flesh in
me.
Be anxious for nothing.
I want that word to become flesh in
me.
In everything, give thanks.
I want that word to become flesh in
me.
Do all things without murmuring and grumbling.
I want that word to become flesh in
me.
It takes time, but little by little by
little, the bush begins to burn as the
word of God, which is like a fire,
becomes flesh.
And people begin to see.
And at the end of our life, they
should be able to say, there is no
explanation for this man's life, except that God
was with him.
Emmanuel.
Dear brothers and sisters, the whole purpose of
that birthday celebration was not to glorify me.
If you thought it was that, you were
wrong.
It was to challenge you to believe that
what God did for anyone, he can do
for you.
That you can live like me without ever
being in debt all your life.
I've never been in debt for 70 years.
When I didn't have anything, I didn't buy
anything.
You ask my wife how we lived in
the early days.
She would turn the collars of my shirt
when they got frayed, inverted, and those types
of shirts we wear.
I couldn't afford to buy a shirt.
I said, I'll never get into debt.
No, we will never buy anything by borrowing,
because we tremble at the word.
You want to build God's house?
Tremble at his word.
Every word.
Love your brothers, forgive them.
God is without partiality.
That is a verse I really said, Lord,
I wanted to be flesh in my life.
I will never be partial to brother Ian.
I will never be partial to my children
or my wife or to anybody.
God is a totally impartial God.
And even if my closest co-worker, brother
Ian, gets offended with me, it hasn't happened.
But my attitude, what is if he gets
offended with me, so be it.
I would rather displease him than displease God.
I will not displease God.
I'm happy to displease everybody else.
Because of one reason, the word will not
God is not partial.
Elders.
1 Timothy 5.
Elders, do everything without partiality.
Do nothing with partiality, Paul told Timothy.
I said, Lord, I tremble at that word.
How many of you tremble at that word?
How many of you can say, I have
never shown partiality to my children or to
anybody in my church?
Nobody is my special friend.
Do you tremble at that word which says
do nothing with partiality?
Do you tremble at that I believe any
of us can be used to build God's
house.
God says, just tremble at my word.
Be broken.
Be humble.
Dear brothers and sisters, as we look into
the future, let's be like that burning bush
where the words, these words of scripture, I
take it seriously and I say, Lord, it's
not yet become flesh in me, but I
want it to become flesh.
And little by little, God sees you are
serious about it and one by one by
one, the words of scripture become flesh.
Do you think I got victory over anger
overnight?
No.
I used to lose my temper at my
wife.
Are you surprised?
You think I was not born in the
same pit that every child of Adam was
born in?
But I determined to get out of that
pit by the grace of God.
I believed that Jesus could give me grace,
that sin will not have dominion over me.
Today, it has gone.
100%.
I believe that I can rejoice in the
Lord always.
I wasn't like that.
I was one of the most discouraged, depressed
people.
Even after I got married, go and ask
my wife.
I used to sit like this most of
the time.
But it's gone.
It will never come back.
I will never have a bad mood no
matter who says what or who does what.
Not because of me.
I said, Jesus can keep me from falling.
Jude verse 24.
It's one of the last promises in the
New Testament before the book of Revelation.
Jesus can keep you from falling.
I said, Lord, let that word be flesh
in me.
Let people see, not what I am, but
let them see that I am so mighty.
He can keep me from falling.
Let them not have a poor impression of
Jesus.
What type of Jesus do you have?
He cannot even keep you from falling in
anger.
That Hindu fellow who does yoga, he can
control his anger.
But you Christians talk about, oh, Jesus and
all that.
That fellow controls his anger with yoga and
your Jesus cannot control your anger.
What type of Jesus is this?
I don't want it.
I say, Lord, that type of shame has
been found in this country for many years,
but it won't be like that in my
life.
That Buddha was free from the love of
money.
Look at the way you Christian pastors and
preachers love money.
I'd rather follow Buddha than your Christian pastor.
I say, I agree.
Don't follow that Christian pastor, but Jesus.
But he says, I can't see Jesus.
Right.
Who is to represent Jesus today?
Is it just preaching great truths, getting advertising
agencies to spread the gospel?
No.
The word must become flesh.
You must be like a burning bush.
You must build a church like a burning
bush of people who will volunteer and sacrifice
and serve.
You should see the way some of these
brothers have served to make this conference and
all the arrangements for everything that went on
in the last one month.
They're not paid for it.
Even the brothers who work in our office,
we we are obligated to give them a
salary, but they don't work hours.
They work day and night, be long beyond
what they're supposed to do because they love
Jesus.
I say, Lord, I don't know what to
do.
You know, when I saw these things happening
around me in Bangalore and the different churches,
I felt like Simeon.
Lord, now I can depart in peace for
mine eyes have seen your salvation.
Mine eyes have seen your church.
I don't mean I'm departing tomorrow or any
such thing.
What I mean is that I have seen
something.
God has given me the desire of my
heart.
Delight yourself in the Lord.
He'll give you the desire of your heart.
I wanted to see a church in my
lifetime, which is like a body.
I wanted to see elders who were shepherds
after God's own heart.
And I've seen them.
I've seen them.
I've seen a number of number of them
are sitting here.
They don't look any different, but you should
see the way they serve.
I thank God for you, my dear brothers,
my co-workers.
I thank God for precious brothers and sisters
here who are not elders, who do so
many things in secret.
You'll get your reward when Christ comes.
I thank God for brothers and sisters who
pray for me faithfully.
If the devil has not been able to
knock me down, part of the reason is
many people pray for me.
I thank God for all of them.
Let's go forth into this land and be
like a burning bush in many places.
Let's bow before God.
So while our heads are bowed in prayer,
there are many, many things God has spoken
to us in these days.
And you can be overwhelmed.
You don't have to remember everything that you've
heard.
The Holy Spirit will bring the appropriate thing
to your mind at the right time.
If you have a longing to honor God
and glorify Him, that is enough.
Say to Him, Lord, I'm willing to pay
any price.
Send me the bill.
I will pay the price.
I want to see a New Testament church
like a burning bush in the town in
which I'm living, even if I've never seen
it till today.
I'm nobody, Lord, but I want to tremble
at your word and I want to be
humble and contrite.
And you said you will build your house
through such people.
I'm not saying it has to be done
through me.
Do it through anybody in my locality, but
I'm willing to make my small contribution, physical
contribution, spiritual contribution to that work of building
local churches in India and other countries.
Say, Lord, I will honor you.
Please honor me.
Teach me to tremble at your word.
And let every word in the New Testament
become flesh in me before I leave this
earth.
And let me tremble whenever some word has
not yet become flesh, until it becomes flesh.
Heavenly Father, I pray you will help us.
Thank you for all that you have spoken
to us.
We want to glorify you.
We want to thank you.
It's your goodness.
You've given us your word from heaven.
You've opened prison doors, we believe.
You've opened blind eyes.
Thank you.
Help us to keep those eyes open.
Help us never to go back into those
prisons we came out of, but to glorify
you till the end of our lives.
We pray in Jesus' name.