In the last two evenings, we were considering
two characteristics that qualify us to be servants
of the Lord.
One is being gripped by the fact that
God has a specific task for us and
our life's ambition being to fulfil that appointed
task.
And then we saw, secondly, the necessity of
being a servant in the power of God.
And today I want to say one more
thing, and that is not seeking our own
interests.
In Philippians 2.19, Paul, writing to the
Philippian Christians, says, I hope in the Lord
Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so
that I also may be encouraged when I
learn of your condition.
For I have no one else of kindred
spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your
welfare.
For they all seek after their own interests,
not those of Christ Jesus.
So we find here, that when Paul wanted
to send someone to Philippi to encourage the
Christians there and to build them up and
to lead them on, and he was trying
to make a selection among his co-workers,
he didn't have many people.
He couldn't say, ah, well, I can send
any one of these ten.
No.
He says, I have no one else.
Verse 20.
That is quite an amazing thing, that when
Paul looked around, he could not find anyone
else.
Does it mean that the others were not
filled with the spirit or not gifted?
He wasn't looking for that.
There were people who were gifted, there were
people who knew the scriptures, there were people
who had many qualifications, but Paul knew those
things are not really what I'm looking for.
To build up the church in Philippi, I'm
looking for a man with another type of
qualification.
Then he considered Timothy.
I can imagine Paul considering the different ones
in his mind and writing off each one
as not fit.
Then he comes to Timothy, and Timothy was
a man who had many disqualifications.
He was young, first of all, and the
people in Philippi and Ephesus, wherever he went,
were usually much older than him.
Not only he was young, from the writings
of Paul to Timothy, we discover that Timothy
probably had a spirit of timidity.
He was a timid type of person, withdrawn,
a bit reserved, not this aggressive type like
Paul.
Quiet, reserved, and we also read from 1
Timothy 5 that he had frequent stomachs infirmities.
He was a sick person, frequently in pain,
sickness.
It's not a very good type of person,
humanly speaking, to send.
One who is frequently sick, can't stir the
other people for faith, for healing, if you
yourself are bound by stomachs infirmities, and one
who, though he was gifted, tended to not
exercise his gift.
Humanly speaking, and even spiritually speaking, we could
say, from a gift standpoint and personality standpoint,
Timothy is the last type of person you
should send.
Timothy should be hanging around Paul all the
time, you know, washing his clothes perhaps, and
doing odd jobs, going to the market, that
type of thing, because he's a shy, timid
type, would be alright along with Paul, but
on his own, and we wonder how he'd
act.
But yet, Paul, out of all the people,
he selected Timothy.
He said, that's the man I'm going to
send, because all these disqualifications count for nothing.
I'm not bothered if Timothy cannot stir faith
in you for healing, just because he's stomachs
infirmities.
That's not the main thing.
I'm not interested in that.
I'm not bothered if he's timid and withdrawn
and all that.
But he has one outstanding qualification in which
he excels way above all the others, and
that is this.
He does not seek his own interests.
Verse 21, they all seek their own interests.
Were they believers?
Yes.
Were they full-time workers?
Yes.
And pretty good full-time workers to manage
to get into Paul's team.
But Paul was a discerning type of person.
All the believers, co-workers of his, to
see where they stood.
How much responsibility can I commit to this
person?
He loved all of them.
He respected all of them.
But he also discerned all of them to
see who was so free from seeking his
own interests.
And he found one like Timothy.
It's an outstanding example to follow.
I just want to hold him up before
you because I want to say, brothers, we
can have stomach infirmities or any other type
of physical infirmities.
That's no disqualification to serve the Lord.
We may be timid, shy, withdrawn, all these
things.
But if we have this, it makes up
for all our other lacks.
And if you have all the others qualifications
and you don't have this, Paul would not
have sent you or me on some important
task.
He knew that the believers in Philippi, what
they needed was not powerful messages or wonderful
gigs, demonstrations of all that.
What they needed was somebody who could lead
them on to a life where they are
centered in God.
And Timothy was centered in the Lord and
could lead them on into that type of
life.
I want to turn to Matthew chapter 6
and look at the prayer that Jesus taught
his disciples to pray.
Matthew 6, he said in verse 9, Pray
then in this way.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be
thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts as we also have
forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but
deliver us from evil.
Notice here the requests in this prayer.
A concern for God's name.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
Now the opposite of all this is, my
name, my kingdom, my will.
And every one of us when we are
born again, our life centers around my name,
my kingdom, my will.
What does that mean?
That means, my name means my honor, my
reputation.
And I am very careful to safeguard my
reputation.
People must not think less of me.
They must have a high opinion about me.
And I do everything possible to build up
the opinion that other people have about me.
Now such a person cannot be like Timothy.
He is concerned about his name.
And he is disturbed when he hears that
someone has dragged his name in the dust.
His reputation.
The opinion that other people have about him.
I want to serve your brothers.
We cannot serve God if I am thinking
about the opinion that other people have about
me.
My name.
What people think about Zak Poonen, or put
your name there.
What difference in the world does it make
to the kingdom of God what people think
about Zak Poonen?
Absolutely no difference.
Then why am I so bothered about it?
Because I am concerned about my name.
I may be acting spiritual about so many
things, but deep down I am concerned about
my name.
And that's what puts me in a category
quite different from Timothy's.
If I can rejoice when I see my
name being dragged in the dust.
If I can rejoice when I am dishonored.
When people think less of me and drag
me down.
Yeah Lord, that's fine.
It's only your name that I am concerned
about.
It's a very very important thing.
This is the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem.
You see in Genesis chapter 11, the origin
of Babylon.
We read there that when they built this
tower of Babel, they said, Come, verse 4,
let us build for ourselves a city.
A tower whose top will reach into heaven.
And thereby let us make for ourselves a
name.
This is the origin of Babylon.
Let us make a name for ourselves.
Maybe through building a pure testimony in my
locality.
Isn't that a good thing?
I may not get name in the evangelical
world, but at least the few brothers whom
I come together with now and then.
They will see, oh, this brother has also
raised up something there in that locality.
So he must be one of the elder
brothers now.
Woe unto us, woe unto us, if we
allow such thoughts.
We can't prevent ourselves from being tempted by
such thoughts.
We will all be tempted by such thoughts.
But woe unto us if we allow such
thoughts to linger in our heart and mind
and we don't drive them away.
In Daniel chapter 4 we read, Daniel chapter
4, that Nebuchadnezzar one day stood on top
of the palace in Babylon.
And it says in verse 29, 12 months
later he was walking on the roof of
the royal palace of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.
And the king reflected.
He looked out over this wonderful church that
he had built.
And he said, is this not Babylon, the
great, which I myself have built for the
glory of my majesty.
You see the spirit of Babylon, which I
have built.
I am the man God used in this
locality to do this work.
That is of the essence of Babylon.
Hallowed be my name, is my prayer.
And it is quite a job to be
converted from that to pray, hallowed be thy
name.
Let me disappear Lord.
Let me hide myself.
Let my name not be known.
In Isaiah 45, there is a very beautiful
description, a title of God.
It is not a title that many people
know God by.
Because if we are to partake of God's
nature, we must have this characteristic that God
himself has.
Isaiah 45 verse 15.
He is called a God who hides himself.
What a title.
A God who hides himself.
We see that in creation.
God has created the universe.
And he has hidden himself to such an
extent that there are atheists in the world
who say that God does not exist.
Look at the extent to which God has
hidden himself.
That people think he doesn't even exist.
What a wonderful God he is.
What an example.
He has so hidden himself.
And sometimes, you know, we ask God to
answer some prayer of ours.
Some really tight spot we are in.
Very awkward situation.
And it looks as if there is no
way out.
And we pray.
And a series of circumstances happen.
Some person comes along there or something happens.
And our problem is solved.
Usually through some apparently natural events that took
place.
And certain person landed up.
It is like a coincidence.
And so much so that if we testify
to that answer to prayer to a skeptic.
The skeptic will say no.
And nothing happened.
And that person happened to come along there
at the right time.
And what do you mean prayer?
How wonderfully God has hidden himself.
Think if God had come there with pomp
and show and trumpet and angels and this
that and the other.
And the skeptics could not say that it
was not an answer to prayer.
But God has hidden himself.
So much so that we who pray sometimes
doubt whether it was an answer to prayer
ourselves.
Or whether it was merely a natural coincidence.
Wonderful.
The way God has hidden himself.
I tell you brothers, this is an example
for us.
You see the human personality particularly where soul
power has been developed to such an extent.
A person can, he does not have to
do anything.
The very way he comes into a room
can be in a very pompous type of
way.
He does not know how to come quietly
even into a room.
It is a very pompous type of way.
I remember once many many years ago when
I was, when I went for a meeting
in a CSI church where one particular well
known evangelical Anglican man was speaking.
And it was quite interesting to see the
way this man walked up to the pulpit.
It was a show all by itself.
It was worth going there.
I forget all about his message.
But I remember the way he walked up
to the pulpit.
It was a majestic slow and everybody was
watching in awe as this man of God
slowly moved up and climbed up to this
pulpit up on top.
I don't regret going there because it was
quite a thing to see, you know.
It was a, there was no hiding himself
there.
It was a show from the time he
left his seat till he reached the pulpit.
So much so that I don't remember anything
else in that meeting except this one, his
movement from his seat to the pulpit.
It was fantastic.
My brothers, we are to be far from
all that.
We are followers of a God who hides
himself.
And the more we partake of that nature,
the more we seek to hide ourselves.
That is not to seek my name.
Let them think that somebody else did it.
You see, God has answered our prayer.
But people are saying that somebody else did
it.
And God's not worked up over there that
people are not giving Him the credit for
what He did.
He is at rest.
Let people say whoever did it.
Think that we can partake of this nature,
that we have done something at great sacrifice
and then at the end of it all,
somebody else gets the credit and name for
it.
Wonderful!
Leap for joy in that day.
Because there we have the privilege of following
in the footsteps of a God who hides
himself.
We are not praying, Hallowed be my name.
We are praying, Hallowed be thy name, Lord.
Let somebody else get the credit gladly.
I want to withdraw.
I don't want to present myself.
I was speaking about soul power yesterday and
I want to show you this verse.
I don't know how many of you have
seen it.
It's an amazing verse in Job 33, which
Elihu says to Job.
He says in verse 7, Behold, no fear
of me should terrify you, nor should my
pressure weigh heavily on you.
When I do not seek my own name
or my own influence on other people, then
I don't seek to terrify them through fear
of me.
You see, there is a holiness that can
come in people through the fear of the
servant of God, through the fear of the
preacher, through the fear of the man of
God, that when he is there, they are
a bit scared to do certain things.
But Elihu says no fear of me should
terrify you.
And that's a good thing for us to
say to all to whom we minister.
There's a sense in which if you understand
what I mean correctly and don't misunderstand me,
I'm not afraid of that.
Many people misunderstand me, but I don't want
you brothers to misunderstand me.
There's a sense in which we should make
it easy for other people to sin if
they want to.
You understand what I'm saying?
That they should not keep away from sin
because I am there, or because I may
know about it.
Do it, brother.
God makes it easy for people to go
to hell, leave alone sin.
He does not frighten people and threaten people
and open up the earth in front of
them when they do something wrong.
He lets them go.
And we also in that sense must let
people go.
Go, brother.
You can go the way you like.
He who is filthy, let him be filthy.
He who will live in sin, let him
live in sin.
No fear of me should terrify them into
a holiness which is merely pharisaical and outward.
If they have a holiness, according to 2nd
Corinthians 7.1, it must be in the
fear of God.
It must be before God.
It must not be before me.
They can do what they like.
No fear of me should terrify them.
It's the fear of God alone which should
make them perfect holiness.
That's what I mean.
As far as I am concerned, I must
make it easy for them to just live
as they like.
I must not make the atmosphere around me
such, by my soul power or my gifts
or anything, that people have to act spiritual
when they are in my presence.
No.
They can be themselves.
And my pressure should not weigh heavily on
them.
This is the definition of soul power.
A man's pressure weighing heavily on me and
I have to always think, what will he
think if I do this?
What will he say if I do this?
No.
I am to withdraw.
I am to withdraw because I don't want
my pressure to be on another person so
that that person is free of me.
So that I want them to be holy.
I want them to flee from sin.
But God sent Adam and Eve into the
garden and He, we can say, He made
it possible for them to sin freely if
they wanted to.
He didn't have an angel appointed around every
tree and about ten or twelve fiery angels
with a sword near the tree of knowledge
of good and evil.
There would be no sin in the garden
of Eden then.
Why didn't God do it that way?
Have you asked yourself?
If God's only intention was that Adam and
Eve should not sin, that could have easily
been done.
That cherubim whom He placed finally in front
of the tree of life, He could have
put that cherubim, all of them, in front
of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.
Adam and Eve wouldn't have gone anywhere near
it.
And if that was the only aim, that
they should not eat of that tree, God
could have accomplished it easily.
No.
God's aim was that they must independently choose
when there are no angels around, when there's
no pressure on them, and when it is
easy to sin, and the way is made
easy to sin, then they don't sin.
That's what God is looking for.
And that's why, in a sense, He makes
it easy for you to sin in your
office and no believer in the assembly will
ever know about it during your entire life.
It's possible for you and me to be
unfaithful in money matters and no believer in
the assembly will have a clue.
He has made it easy for us.
Because He does not want a holiness that
comes out of cherubim standing in front of
us with flaming swords of fire.
And we also must not be like that,
terrifying people and thereby bringing them to holiness.
It's a holiness which is worth nothing.
When you disappear, their holiness will also disappear.
So, we are not seeking our name.
We are not seeking our personality to be
impressed.
We withdraw, we hide ourselves.
We withdraw and let people be free.
Likewise, we do not seek, you know, thy
name be hallowed, thy kingdom.
We do not seek our kingdom.
We are not saying, my kingdom come.
And yet, in my unconverted days, that's what
I'm seeking.
I've been seeking.
My kingdom means my job, my ambitions, my
family, that must all be taken care of.
My kingdom, my conveniences, that's all very important
for me.
And I safeguard my kingdom by a high
wall around my kingdom, which I do not
allow anybody else to enter.
We all safeguard our kingdom very carefully.
And now, I'm seeking to be a servant
of God.
I have to destroy this kingdom of mine.
You know, in the olden days, these castles,
in England and all, they used to have
moats around it, a little channel of water
around it and a drawbridge, so that people
could not enter.
This is how we have built our kingdoms,
our convenience and keep a little distance.
And now, I come to the place where
I say, Lord, I'm finished with all that.
The moat is, I've dried it up, the
drawbridge is down, anybody can walk in.
And I am not seeking to preserve and
build up my kingdom.
It's Thy kingdom come.
I'm not seeking my interest here.
Lord, how will it affect You?
Not my convenience, but Lord, will it build
up Your kingdom?
I cannot be a servant of God if
I'm seeking my convenience.
How will it affect my family?
I have to sacrifice many things.
I will not be a loser.
No.
If I serve others, I will never be
a loser.
I have seen wholehearted brothers who have served
God at much sacrifice to themselves and their
family.
And God has rewarded them.
I don't mean in terms of money.
God has rewarded them that their children have
come to faith in Christ and have followed
the Lord, even though because the father was
wholeheartedly seeking to do the Lord's work, he
did not have very much time with his
own children because other people wanted his advice
and counsel and help and he was required
here, there and everywhere.
One would think, humanly speaking, according to all
the theories of upbringing of children, if a
father doesn't spend much time with his children,
it cannot go well with them and all
that.
God demolishes all those theories.
It has gone well with them because the
father sought the kingdom of God first.
How can God dishonor him for that?
Impossible.
So, if I seek to build my kingdom,
I cannot build the kingdom of God.
You remember that story in John chapter 6,
where we read that the multitude was following
Jesus for about three days.
They were all hungry and then there were
more than 5,000 men there and we
know the disciples fed the multitude.
Jesus fed the multitude through the disciples.
And it says here that Jesus took the
loaves and distributed it through the disciples.
Now, the disciples also had been hungry for
three days.
They were just as hungry as all these
5,000 men and others and they could
have very easily thought, I hope there is
something left for us after all these hungry
fellows have finished eating the loaves and fishes.
I don't know how long this miracle is
going to continue and these people seem to
be pretty hungry.
But the Lord told us not to eat
first but to serve.
This is what I mean by not seeking
our own interests.
You are hungry, the Lord says.
I know you are hungry.
I know you have been without food for
three days.
But they have been without food for three
days.
You are my servants, therefore you eat last.
Have you understood that?
You are my servants, therefore you do not
eat first.
You do not seek your own interests, you
eat last.
You have to deny yourself.
And it is more difficult to deny yourself
if you are distributing food for hungry people
who are eating and you yourself are hungry
too.
And they serve and they serve and they
serve and they serve.
And then at the end, because we were
faithful, the Lord says, here is one basket
for each of you.
You can take home.
For yourself and for your family.
That was quite a lot.
See, when it says that they gathered twelve
baskets full, it doesn't mean all the chewed
up bones of the fish and scraps of
loaves.
I don't believe that the Lord was telling
them to clean up the countryside.
That's not what He was saying.
That I have multiplied so much.
And it says they gathered up of the
fragments, filled twelve baskets with fragments from the
five barley loaves which were left over.
Left over doesn't mean the scraps.
That means what people had not eaten.
The Lord had produced so much.
And I believe that each one of those
disciples took one of those baskets home.
That's why there were exactly twelve.
If not thirteen, it was not eleven.
He gave each one of them one and
said, take it home.
And learn this lesson, that if you deny
yourself and serve me, in the end, you
will not be the loser.
I shall repay you a hundredfold.
What you have suffered loss, you will get
back.
You will not be the loser if you
serve me with self-denial because God can
never be in debt to any man.
That is impossible.
We serve an earthly organization and they pay
us.
The time when I left the Navy and
I was...
This is what I told people, the unbelieving
people around me who were wondering where my
bread and my needs would come from.
I said, well, I have served the Navy
for all these years and not a single
month did they withhold my salary.
Not one month.
Do you believe that Almighty God is more
faithful than the Indian Navy?
Then the problem is solved.
If you feel that He might be less
faithful, and of course, there are many problems
and it is better not to serve Him
at all.
But is it possible for a person to
serve God and not seek his own interest
and be left high and dry as they
say?
His needs not met?
Impossible.
If we honor Him and seek His kingdom
first.
Lord, not my kingdom.
Not my family needs.
Your kingdom.
Your family needs.
There are times I know when I had
to go out to different places and some
of those times somebody has been sick at
home, maybe my wife or my children and
I often felt, yeah, this is the devil
trying to stop me now.
And this is what I have said as
I have left.
Lord, I am going to seek your interests
and I leave it to you to take
care of my interests.
It is a good exchange, I will tell
you.
You take care of God's family and tell
Him to take care of your family.
He will do a better job than if
you try to take care of your family
yourself.
He really will.
That is where we are to trust Him.
And invariably I have found that God has
done a better job of looking after my
family than if I had stayed and tried
to look after my family myself.
Invariably.
But what the devil wants me to do
or you to do at that time is,
yeah, now you don't be worse than an
infidel.
He who does not care.
He has got scriptures to quote for us.
He who does not care for his own
family is worse than an infidel.
That is all true.
But the point is, is that the right
verse for that particular moment?
That is another thing.
That verse is applicable for some situations but
not maybe at that particular time.
So, we seek the kingdom of God.
We seek His honour.
We don't seek our own interests and our
own convenience.
We say, Lord, I want to forget about
all that.
I want to seek Your kingdom.
And I just want to say something more
in this connection in relation to a local
church, particularly as you begin to build it
in any place, you will find that a
lot of the responsibility concerning many aspects of
that falls on you.
As it grows, many, many brothers grow up
and begin to take responsibility for many things.
But in the beginning, you will find many
things may fall upon you, yourself.
And then, can come in your heart a
spirit of complaining.
Why don't the other brothers also do something?
I will tell you why.
They are not mature enough yet.
What's the use of complaining about that?
You are father, you are mother, you are
to be everything there.
And our mind must be thinking, how can
we do it better now?
How can I do it better?
What can I do now to make it
better?
I want to say, brothers, if you have
responsibility for a meeting, to lead the meeting,
there are many things that you have to
look at.
It is not just that you must have
a message to give and get up and
sit down.
You have to see many things.
You must be alert in the meeting.
You can't afford to go to sleep like
the other brothers.
You have to be alert in the meeting
to see, now a song has been announced.
But I look around and I see some
people are gaping around, which means they have
not heard the number that was announced.
Now, the person who announces the song number
may not have that sense of responsibility to
look around.
He is not mature enough.
But you are leading the meeting.
You got to look around and you see
some people are gaping.
That means they didn't hear it.
They are not turning to the number in
the book.
Then, you have to make sure that you
call it out again so that they get
it.
It's a very small thing.
But it is just an indication of being
concerned, not just that you heard the number,
but that everybody sitting in the hall heard
that number being called out.
It's a very small thing.
But it shows an attitude of mind that
we must have to be concerned about every
single person in the meeting.
We have to look around and see is
somebody feeling a bit uncomfortable?
Is there something?
Is there some disturbance?
Something like that.
I must be alert all the time and
be thinking about everyone.
For example, when you are speaking, we have
to see if everybody is able to hear.
Or I called out a reference and I
see that most people are not looking at
their scriptures.
Maybe they didn't hear the reference clearly.
To be alert.
Not just that I have given my message
and I sat down.
That's alright for immature people.
That's alright for people who are still growing
up.
But if you have the responsibility to lead
a meeting, there are lots of things that
you have to be alert like this for.
Are the windows open there?
Are people feeling a bit stuffy?
Maybe we need to open the windows so
that they can get fresh air.
Yes, I know that it may be somebody
else's responsibility.
But the one who leads the meeting has
to look into that also.
Not just get up and give a message
and sit down.
It is alright to be a pastor in
some denominational church where they have got all
types of funny names and all these sextons
and various, I don't know what else they
have got doing all these other things.
But we are not in that category.
We are everything, ourselves only.
We have to look to see everything.
Maybe the light is not switched on in
that part.
All the other lights on and some people
they are straining their eyes.
That means the light is not on there.
We have got to put that on.
Or maybe it is getting a bit stuffy
and we need to have the fans on.
We have to be alert to down to
earth practical things.
This is what it means to train our
mind not to think just about our own
interests.
And it is amazing what a lot we
have to work on our salvation in this
area to think just in one meeting I
am talking about leave alone all the other
things to think in one meeting about all
the people and their interests.
Are they hearing it?
Are they hearing it clearly?
Are they understanding it?
And then we look around and we see
that some of these people here sitting here
they can hardly speak English properly.
Alright, then I must take that into consideration
when I speak that I don't use some
bombastic words but I seek to speak simply
so that some of these people who don't
understand it can follow.
And if I am giving an illustration or
saying something that I make it so clear
if need be repeat some sentences so that
everybody has got it.
Oh brothers to reorient our way of thinking
so that I am thinking always in terms
of the interests of the other.
That is a very very important requirement if
we are to serve the Lord effectively.
To think and think now is there something
there?
Is there something there that will make it
a little more convenient for them?
Maybe a little more convenient for the mothers
with small children or something like that.
Whatever it is that we are to be
alert to this if God gives you any
responsibility in a local assembly.
The whole thing depends on you.
And we are to be alert to it.
And think about it.
To train our minds away from am I
comfortable?
Am I everything alright with me?
But to see everyone sitting here are they
alright?
Or am I just formally coming to a
meeting and going through the procedure and finishing
the meeting?
No.
We are to grow up from that.
To think in terms of the needs of
the others.
Not my kingdom.
Not my convenience.
But that thy kingdom Lord.
Your people.
And the third thing there was not my
will but thine.
In everything that I don't want it my
way.
I don't want to have things my way.
I may feel that a particular way is
good.
And but to discuss it with the other
brothers who have responsibility and if they do
not feel that that is the way to
give it up.
Not my will be done.
But thy will be done Lord.
Thy will may be manifested through other brothers
who also share responsibility with me.
I want to submit to them.
And if they feel that it should not
be like that give it up.
Not seeking our own interests.
Timothy was like that.
Jesus has called us into a partnership with
him when he said take my yoke upon
you.
That means one end of the yoke is
on him.
And one end of the yoke is on
my neck.
And that means I have to give up
my own will.
It's like a senior bullock teaching a junior
bullock how to plow a straight furrow.
And I am the junior bullock Jesus is
the senior bullock who has already walked this
new and living way.
Now he is teaching me how to walk
it.
I take his yoke upon me means I
can no longer go in the direction I
want to.
If I don't have the yoke I can
go where I like as a single bullock.
But now no longer my will.
And no longer at my pace.
I may like to go fast Jesus may
want me to go slow at some time.
Another time I may like to relax and
he may say you know we got to
go on not at my pace not the
direction I want to go to.
A partnership.
And it's a very wonderful thing that the
Lord calls us to a partnership in serving
him.
A tremendous honor.
He could have done a better job of
evangelizing the world without us.
His angels would have been glad.
They would have been glad to crawl on
their knees in this earth and preach the
gospel to others.
And to build the church.
We don't appreciate that privilege sufficiently.
We don't realize what a tremendous honor it
is that God gives us one small part
to do to build this church.
I tell you the Archangel Michael would be
willing to crawl on his knees if he
could get that small part that he's given
to us.
We don't appreciate it sufficiently.
It's an honor to be a partner with
Jesus.
He says I will build my church and
I'm going to be I'm going to do
it through you.
You see the miracles in John's gospel.
They're all teaching that thing basically.
When there was a lack of wine in
the wedding in Cana the Lord could have
created wine from nothing.
You think that would have been difficult?
Not at all difficult.
But he wanted to do it in partnership
with the servants there.
So he told the servants let's do this
together.
You pour the water into the water pots.
Fill it up.
And then I'll convert it into wine.
And then you draw it from the water
pots and take it to the people in
the feast.
What a partnership that was.
And the servants could go home that day
and say you know Jesus and I turned
the water into wine today.
And that was what the Lord wanted them
to have the honor of.
Yeah they were partners together fellow workers in
providing the wine when the wine lacked.
It's a tremendous thing.
He didn't want to do it all himself.
He did not want to do it all
himself.
And as far as possible that's how it
must be in the local church too.
That spirit of Christ must be in us.
We don't want to do it all ourselves
and get the honor for it.
Even if we have done the major part
of it behind the scenes let other people
also do that part and get the honor.
Sure.
That's how it is we see in John
chapter 6 Jesus could have provided the needs
of everyone without using his disciples.
But he used the disciples to multiply the
to distribute the loaves that he had multiplied.
And they could go home and say Jesus
and I fed the multitude today.
That partnership everywhere we find that that the
Lord wants to involve us in a partnership.
For example at the tomb of Lazarus we
say well there is one thing nobody can
do to raise the dead.
Okay.
But somebody can roll away the stone.
Alright.
Then you do that part.
It's amazing.
The Lord who could raise Lazarus from the
dead he would have no problem in rolling
away the stone.
In his own resurrection no man came to
roll away the stone.
The stone rolled away by the power of
God.
That could have happened at the tomb of
Lazarus too.
That would have been quite a scene.
Stone rolling away by itself over there.
But he wouldn't do it.
It had to be a partnership.
He said you do what you can.
I'll do what I can.
You can roll away the stone.
Do it.
I'll raise the dead.
Then we can go and say together we
raise Lazarus from the dead.
This is how it is with Jesus.
Right through you find that.
You see after his resurrection in John 21
you know it says he appeared to the
people there and he allowed them to cast
the net and catch the fish.
There would have been no problem for the
Lord to make those fish jump into the
boat straight away without any net or anything.
But he said let's do this together.
You cast the net.
Jesus and I caught so many fish today.
And then he says when they came home
when they came to the land and they
came out on the land with this fish
they found in John 21 9 that the
Lord had already prepared a charcoal fire there
for breakfast and there was fish placed on
it and bread.
And now the Lord could have said well
I've made breakfast for you come and eat
it.
No.
He says in verse 10 bring some of
your fish also and let's make breakfast together.
Why did he need those few fish?
He already is in the business of multiplying
fish.
It would have been no problem for him
to prepare any amount of fish on that
charcoal fire.
But he did not want them to feel
left out.
Bring some of the fish which you have
caught so that you can also have the
honor of participating in the breakfast we are
making.
Let's do it together.
My brothers there is something wonderful in this
to be involved in this partnership.
And that's why even in the ministry in
the meetings we don't I just want to
tell you something that if you are ever
leading a meeting anywhere if you are really
a wise prophet or prophet in the making
leading the meeting you will not say everything
there is to be said on the subject.
Because then you might as well close the
meeting and sit down.
That's everything that has to be said on
the subject.
You have gone through the concordance in such
detail before the meeting that there is nothing
else left to be said on it after
you sit down.
And there are the one or two fish
that other brothers have caught there is no
need for them because you have already prepared
the whole breakfast without all their fish.
No.
There we have to follow Jesus.
It can be a bit of a dangerous
thing if you go with a tooth comb
through a concordance and speak everything that needs
to be said on a particular subject.
That's alright in a teaching session but not
in a meeting of the church where we
are seeking to prophesy and encourage others.
We seek to say what the Lord reminds
us of and then sit down and then
say now bring the fish you have caught
and let's eat together.
And then you are thrilled that the Lord
made you forget so many of those verses
which you had intended to say because the
Lord had given that fish to somebody else
to come and bring to the breakfast.
That is wisdom.
We are in a partnership.
We do not seek our own.
Not our will.
Not our name.
Not our kingdom.
We are seeking to build the body of
Jesus Christ.
We are in partnership with the Lord.
We are not here to get a name
for ourselves.
You see it says in Romans 12 Romans
12 and verse 2 It
will be impossible to find such a man
anywhere in the world.
And I tell you in eternity when all
the thousands of believers stand there not one
person will be able to say to the
Lord Lord I sought your kingdom and your
honor and I sought to live for your
will and I was let down badly.
Not one human being anywhere on the face
of the earth will be able to say
that.
And that day we will feel ashamed that
we were so concerned about protecting our own
interests.
We could not trust God with it.
And thereby our hands being full of our
own burdens we could not receive the burdens
of the Lord.
Our hands being so occupied with our own
interests we could not be occupied with the
interests of the Lord.
That is a sad thing when it is
like that.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
That means you begin to think in terms
of others and their interests.
Not what you are going to get out
of the whole thing.
Forget about what you are going to get.
See it says about those to whom godliness
is a means of gain.
Can be financial gain.
I have to see not if I do
this for the Lord what will I gain
financially or what will I lose financially.
That must not enter into my thinking.
Is this something that has to be done
for the kingdom of God.
Here I am Lord I pitch in and
I do it.
My money is available to do it.
I have read in the biographies of some
great men of God how in the beginning
of their ministry God has tested them in
this area.
That some particular project needed to be started
and there was not enough resources and in
more than one case I have read this
particular servant of God this brother has got
down before the Lord and said Lord I
have so much savings here it is for
this project that needs to be done for
your kingdom it is yours and do you
think that they or their family suffered because
they gave their savings for the kingdom of
God.
Do you think that God doesn't have that
much decency as to repay a debt.
Oh what a lack of faith there is.
Is it possible that I can give something
for the kingdom of God and God remain
in debt to me.
Impossible even human beings have a sense of
decency there that if I have done something
for them and if they have some resources
they will help me in my time of
need.
How can it be possible that God almighty
can remain in debt to a man who
has given all for his kingdom.
Impossible such a human being does not exist
to whom God remains in debt.
He will repay it.
But God has tested them to see whether
they will give everything for his worth.
And those are the ones who will accomplish
something for the Lord.
But those who carefully like Shylock draw a
line between this is mine and this is
the Lord's God will also be calculating with
them.
To the calculating he shows himself calculating.
To the shrewd business like person he don't
realise how shrewd and business like God can
be also towards you.
He is exactly as we are he will
be also.
If we are liberal, open handed and generous
he will be liberal, open handed and generous
towards us.
We cannot lose.
I don't think in terms of my gain.
Even it can be something more spiritual than
that.
It can be thinking in terms of my
growth.
My spiritual growth.
I am concerned about that.
And that looks like a spiritual thing.
What about the growth of the others?
The prayer is not deliver me from evil.
It is deliver us.
Material needs.
What about the material needs of others?
If you are a leader in an assembly
give us our day our daily bread not
give me.
If you have a responsibility in an assembly
my brothers you have to allow your mind
to think about every single individual family and
every single brother in that assembly and see
is there anyone who is likely to be
in any type of financial need.
Is there anyone who is in maybe at
the present time in some type of special
need that has come up and then you
have to plan to do something about it.
That is a responsibility that comes upon us
if we have a responsibility for leadership to
renew our mind to think about every single
person there.
Never mind if they don't think about me
that's not my business.
God thinks about me.
My business is to think about them.
God takes care of my needs in abundance
but our business as fathers and mothers is
to think about them.
We do not seek our own interests but
we are genuinely concerned about the welfare of
others and we have to train our mind
to think.
Now what does he need there?
Lord give me and give him daily bread.
Maybe someone who is weighed down with need
for assurance of forgiveness.
Forgive us our sins Lord.
Forgive that brother.
Forgive him releasing people.
To train our minds not to think of
ourselves.
Be renewed in your mind and do not
be conformed to this world.
One more thing I want to say Romans
15 1.
We who are strong are to bear the
weaknesses of those who are without strength.
Do not seek our own interests means I
do not think as to how that brother
has taken advantage of me.
That thought does not exist in my mind.
I eliminate it from my mind.
I am here for him to take advantage
of me.
That is why God has placed me here.
That is the way we must look at
it.
Why do you think God has placed you
there brother?
So that somebody can take advantage of you.
That is our calling.
And I must not think that is some
great sacrifice I am making.
That is your calling.
When you a father walks with his little
son and the little boy says daddy my
legs are tired you got to carry me
now.
Daddy has to carry him.
What is daddy's there for them?
They are there only to carry their little
babies when the children's legs are tired.
That is to bear the weaknesses of others.
Oh what a need there is for fathers
for those who can bear.
And somebody says something foolish or some people
don't have understanding of submission to authority and
they speak in a rude way to you.
Forget it.
Don't take it so seriously and keep that
in mind and he doesn't understand submission and
all that.
Take it like a little six month old
baby slapping his father.
What is it?
Forget it.
He doesn't have light.
It's not a question of submission or authority
there.
If a father gets so disturbed when a
six month old child slaps him, he is
not fit to be a father.
I'll tell you that.
There is a great need that we don't
take so many things seriously which people say
and do.
Forget it.
The Lord's servant must have a very bad
memory on such matters.
He must be deaf on many matters, blind
on many matters and a very bad memory
on many matters because he is concerned about
the interest.
Are they growing?
Not just am I growing and is it
growing well with me brother?
How is it going?
It says about those who have to give
an account for you.
It says in Hebrews 13.17. Do you
know that one who is a leader has
to give an account for every person whom
he has a responsibility for in the assembly?
Then I cannot do that unless my whole
mind is renewed to think in terms of
the interest of others, the interest of God
in the church.
Blessed are those who take this word seriously,
that God can use many of you dear
brothers.
I believe it is a tremendous privilege that
God has given many of us to hear
the truth of the new and living way
in this land.
And my sincere prayer is that God will
use many of us and raise up many
fathers, not those who want to be known
as fathers, far from it, who want to
serve as fathers and who want to be
like the God who hides himself, who want
to be unknown, who want to disappear, who
would be very delighted if somebody else gets
the credit for it and who are sort
of waiting, hoping that somebody else will get
the credit and that nobody will know that
I did it.
Think to have such a spirit, brothers.
I believe that God will take note of
that and that is how the Lord will
note of it.
And that is Lord will take note of
it.
So may the Lord find satisfaction in our
midst.
May he find his heart's desire and the
glory of God in all things, his kingdom,
his name, his will and the welfare of
others.
So the Church of Jesus Christ can be
built in this land and the gates of
hell will not prevail against it.