Last Sunday, we were looking at the fact
that God has a destination for us and
we saw that destination from Romans 8.29.
That destination was that we might become like
Jesus Christ.
So, there we saw the Father's purpose for
our lives and that's very important.
It's like when you get on the train,
you know what your destination is going to
be and that's what you're aiming for and
you don't get down any wayside station.
Now, I want to turn to a verse
which we are very familiar with in 2
Corinthians 3.18 to show us that God's
purpose in sending the Holy Spirit was to
enable us to reach this destination.
He knew that we could never reach this
destination no matter how hard we try without
the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is like the engine of the train.
You can sit in the train for ages
and you'll never get to your destination if
the engine doesn't pull it.
And it's as simple as that.
And one day if you decide to be
disconnected from that engine, well, then you're going
to be stationary again.
And this is why there's a need to
be continuously led and filled by the Holy
Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3.18, it speaks here about
the Lord the Spirit in the last phrase,
the Lord the Spirit.
And in the mirror, which is God's Word,
we see the glory of Jesus and are
transformed into that same image from one degree
of glory to another.
From one degree of glory to another just
means that we get closer and closer to
our destination.
It's like when you get into a train,
every minute you should be getting closer to
your destination.
So that's all it means, that when you
allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and
guide you, He's first of all going to
show you the glory of Jesus.
And that's why I say it's so important
for us, when we read God's Word, to
see the glory of Jesus Christ and seek
to allow the Holy Spirit to make us
pattern our lives exactly according to that likeness
in every area.
Now there are hundreds and hundreds of areas
that the Holy Spirit can show us in
our life, but I want to mention just
three this morning.
What were the things that were, we could
say, the secret of why Jesus' life was
so effective, so perfect?
It's the only life worth following completely.
And I'm sure all of us agree there.
But if we don't focus on what the
Holy Spirit, like it says here, shows us
of the glory of Jesus in His Word,
what's going to happen is that we can
very subtly be led astray from that destination,
from that glory, by many other voices that
sound very similar and that sound right to
us.
When we come to God's Word, we must
come like little children.
Jesus said that, not only children, He said
babes.
Matthew 11.25, He said, I thank you,
Father, that you have hidden these things from
the clever and the intelligent, and revealed them
to babes.
Now, what is the difference between babes and
intelligent people?
It's just this.
Babes know nothing.
What does a little baby know?
Nothing.
What do intelligent people know?
They think they know everything.
So you come to the Scriptures, thinking you
know a lot, and thinking that you're very
spiritual, you'll get zero from God.
You'll get nothing from the Holy Spirit.
He just won't tell you anything.
But you come to the Scriptures like a
little baby and say, God, it doesn't matter
how long I've been a believer, I really
don't know.
I need to see the glory of Jesus
in my life.
You'll see a great deal, even in one
reading.
So, the first characteristic, I would say, of
Jesus' life was that He lived in a
relationship with His Father.
He had a wonderful relationship with His Heavenly
Father.
And you see that many times in Scripture,
in the Gospels.
You need to let the Holy Spirit show
you that, that the first secret of Jesus'
life was His relationship with His Heavenly Father.
He was so secure in that relationship.
I just want to show you one verse
which teaches that.
Because that's what the Holy Spirit seeks to
do in our life too.
It's in John's Gospel, chapter 16.
John's Gospel, chapter 16, we read in verse
32.
He was talking to His disciples after the
Last Supper.
They all had said that they would never
leave Him, etc., etc., they would never deny
Him and all that.
But He said, an hour is coming, and
it has already come, for you to be
scattered, everyone will go to his own home,
and you will leave Me alone.
Now these were people, remember, these 11 people
were people who stuck with Jesus through all
types of situations.
There was a time when many other disciples
left and went, when they got offended with
the words of Jesus, but these 11 stuck,
and He said to them, do you also
want to go?
And they said, no, to whom shall we
go?
You got the words of eternal life.
But, now, a particular trial would come where
they would all leave Him.
There are a lot of believers who will
stick with us in different situations, but sometimes
it can get so intense that they will
leave.
Paul experienced that.
A lot of believers stuck with him through
many times, but finally, he said in 2
Timothy 4 when it came to the last
trial, all men left him.
He stood alone in court without a single
person, not a single believer wanted to identify
with him.
But he said, the Lord stood with me.
Paul was not insecure because he had seen
Jesus.
And Jesus says here, you leave me alone,
and yet I am not alone, because the
Father is with me.
That was the security of his life.
He did not find his security in 11
good disciples who would stick by him.
He found his security in the Father.
He thanked God for those 11.
You'll read that in the next chapter.
It's full of thanksgiving for those 11 whom
the Father had given him.
But his security was not found in those
11.
His security was found in the Father.
He says, oh, time will come, and in
a few minutes, all of you will go
away.
Okay, so what?
I'm not alone.
And the more I have seen believers, the
more I'm convinced that a lot of us
find our security in a group.
And you can be in a group and
have no relationship with the Father.
And what happens is, if the group collapses,
you're finished.
You read that, particularly in cults.
You know, people who join certain cults.
They find such a security in that cult
group.
There's so much love, affection, care, and all
that.
You know, we are the only people on
earth whom God loves, and we are the
only body of Christ, and all that wonderful
thing.
They hear that, and one day it splits.
And some people are left alone.
And do you know what happens to them?
Some of them go right out into the
world.
Why?
Their only security was in the group.
They never had a relationship with the Father.
You know, that danger can happen to all
of us, particularly, listen, particularly if you have,
what shall I call it, misfortune or good
fortune of belonging to a good church.
If you were in a bad church where
nobody was born again, oh, then it would
be different.
You would know the Lord.
Or you were in some lonely jungle or
forest where you didn't have any believers around
you.
Boy, that would have been different.
You would lean on the Lord.
But when you're in a very good church,
you don't need the Father.
It's a great danger.
You can get so involved in the activities
of the church and the meetings and the
choir practice and the young people's meetings and
so many things that you really don't need
God.
You don't need to have a personal relationship
with the Father.
You don't need to read the Bible, because
you hear so much every week.
And gradually the habit of Bible reading disappears
from your life, which will not disappear from
the life of a man who's living in
a jungle, because he doesn't have anyone to
teach him.
So many other things disappear from your life.
Your faith disappears because this corporate faith.
You know, if you have sudden financial need,
you don't have to worry.
This wonderful church takes care of your financial
need.
But if you're out in the middle of
the jungle, you can only trust God.
You don't have a wonderful church.
And do you know how much that has
robbed you of miraculous experiences with the Father?
You have a need and you very subtly,
cleverly make it known to people in the
church and the need is met.
What have you missed?
You have missed a miraculous experience with God.
That's happened to so many people.
That's why I decided many, many years ago
that if I had a need, I wouldn't
tell a soul, because I wanted to experience
God in that situation.
And that's what I've experienced so many years.
Security in the Father.
Some of you find your security in a
job.
You don't realize it.
Your security is in a job and you
don't need much faith when you have a
secure job.
If you had an insecure job, you'd probably
get to know God a little better.
Do you feel sorry for the people who
have insecure jobs?
No.
I feel sorry for the people who have
secure jobs.
They don't need God.
It's like a good church.
Your life can be so independent of God
because you've got a good church, you've got
a secure job, you've got a good family.
You don't need God, do you?
It's a very tragic situation to be in.
Jesus, his whole life was found in his
security with the Father.
All the religious people in Israel opposed him.
It didn't make a difference.
He wasn't seeking for popularity with the religious
crowd.
We live in a day and age where
a lot of Christians try to be popular,
they don't want to offend anybody, they don't
want to say anything that will hurt anyone.
Can you imagine Jesus living a life like
this, always careful, I must not say anything
that will hurt anybody?
What would the Gospel records have been like?
Do you find Jesus like that in the
Gospels, always saying, I shouldn't offend the Pharisees
because they also have the right doctrines and
why should we talk about them?
Can you imagine what his life would have
been like?
The Father would have to say, this is
my son with whom I'm thoroughly displeased.
That's what he says about a lot of
Christians today.
These are my children, alright, but I'm thoroughly
displeased with them because they're diplomats, they're compromisers.
Jesus was not like that.
He wanted to please the Father.
He had a relationship with the Father of
security.
And that's the first thing I want to
encourage all of you, my dear brothers and
sisters, to have in your life, a relationship
with the Father.
In my travels in different places, I try
to listen to how people pray publicly.
Not to judge them.
No, it's not my business to judge.
I believe that even a child prays in
stumbling words, God hears.
But we need to grow up to maturity.
And I've discovered one thing.
All over the world, including our churches, very
few people pray to the Father.
Most people pray to Jesus.
They don't know the Father.
They're orphans.
They're like people who've got an elder brother
but they have no father.
They're orphans.
If you don't believe me, test it out.
Have you heard me pray?
I always pray to the Father.
If you've heard me, you've noticed that.
Because I know the Father.
Not only that, because Jesus said, when you
pray, don't say Lord Jesus, say Our Father.
I'm just obeying Jesus' command, that's all.
I take every word of God seriously.
Now, I'm not saying that if you pray
to Jesus, God won't hear you.
Don't misunderstand me.
We teach our children to pray to Jesus.
I believe with all my heart that when
you pray to Jesus, he hears you.
All I'm saying is, when I became a
man, I put away childish things.
That's all I'm saying.
If you're a child, spiritually, please go ahead.
Continue to pray to Jesus.
But Jesus told his disciples, when you pray,
say Our Father.
You read in Romans chapter 8, we're talking
about the Holy Spirit.
Now, you see, there is a teaching among
some Roman Catholics that Mary loves you.
If you want to get anything through Jesus,
you better go to Mary.
You know how mothers are more tender, they
say.
So, if you want to go to Jesus,
don't go to him directly, because he's pretty
strict and he may not give you what
you want.
But you go through his mother.
And a lot of people believe that.
It sounds a very good argument, you know.
You want to get something done through a
very powerful government official, if you know his
mother.
Boy, that's a help, isn't it?
So, you go to his mother and say,
can you tell your son to do this
for me?
And that's Roman Catholic teaching.
Now, a lot of Protestants, it's just one
step further.
Don't go to the Father.
He's very strict.
No, don't go to him.
Just go to Jesus and perhaps he'll put
a word in to the Father and maybe
you'll get it.
I want you to turn to John 16,
what we read there.
Verse 26 and 27.
John 16, verse 26 and 27.
In that day you will ask in my
name.
And I don't say to you that I
will request the Father on your behalf.
No.
For the Father himself loves you.
That's what he was trying to tell them.
He said, I don't have to pray to
the Father.
You fellas can go directly.
Go in my name.
Of course, Jesus is the mediator between God
the Father and us because we can't come
to him without being clothed in the righteousness
of Christ.
I want to encourage all of you, my
brothers and sisters, to know the love of
your Heavenly Father for you.
It can change your life.
It's not a new message.
I preached it here for 28 years.
The thing that changed my life was when
I discovered that the Father loved me as
he loved Jesus.
And that the Holy Spirit has come into
my heart to assure me of that.
He loved me.
Why?
It says here, verse 27.
For the Father himself loves you, not because
you're good, but because you love me and
you believe that I came forth from the
Father.
I want to ask you, my brothers and
sisters, do you love Jesus to the best
of your knowledge and ability?
Maybe a little bit.
Maybe a drop.
Not an ocean.
Doesn't matter.
At least a drop.
Do you believe that he came from the
Father?
According to this verse, the Father loves you.
We may think that it can't be because
I'm so bad.
God's not like earthly fathers.
You've heard me say that many times.
If you're being evil, the best earthly father
is evil.
But God is a good father.
Jesus lived in that security.
It didn't matter if everybody left him.
He was secure.
And therefore, his life was centered in the
Father.
Listen to this.
Because Jesus knew that the Father loved him
so much, he knew that it's only by
doing everything that the Father said that he
could have a wonderful life on earth.
I mean, think of your children.
You who are fathers and mothers.
If they could only believe that everything you
tell them is for their good.
Can you imagine how protected those children will
be from dangers and many things that you
seek to protect them from?
But how are a lot of teenagers today?
They think their dads and moms don't know.
They're old fashioned.
They don't understand us.
And so they go and do all types
of stupid things and they mess up their
life.
Which they would not have messed up if
they would only have listened to their father.
Now Jesus had no such problem with his
father.
He was absolutely secure.
I know my father loves me.
So if my life is centered in the
Father, that'll be the best life I can
live on this earth.
That is the result of knowing that the
Father loves me.
Now there's a need for me to say
that.
Because a lot of television evangelism today stops
with telling us that the Father loves us.
The most favorite message of American charismatic TV
evangelist today is that God loves you tremendously.
Full stop.
It doesn't stop there.
If that is true, like it was for
Jesus, then you would center your life in
God.
And the end result is a lot of
the television evangelists go on from there and
preach a man-centered gospel.
Because God loves you, he wants to give
you houses and cars and lands and the
whole thing is man-centered.
But a lot of people can't see it.
They can't see through it.
If you don't believe me, if you have
a habit of watching these television evangelists, just
concentrate on that and see if you ever
hear a message where they tell you to
be centered in God.
Think of his glory, his name.
No, it's not.
Everything is, you are so important and you
are so precious and you are so valuable
and God will do this for you and
God will do that for you and God
will do the other thing.
God is like this Aladdin's lamp.
Have you read the story of Aladdin's lamp?
You rub it, the genie comes and says,
what do you want?
Anything.
You want a palace, you want a...
And it's the same old story.
It's just you replace the genie with God
or Jesus and he's there.
And it's this man-centered gospel is the
reason why, despite all the messages you hear,
you're still defeated by sin.
You can't get victory over anger, you can't
get victory over bitterness.
You know, that's one of the things that
grieves me.
As I see so many believers who have
been here, believers for so many years, so
many, many, many years, and they've got long
faces, they're sour, got grudges against people.
They should have been some of the sweetest
saints in India, but they're not.
They've got grudges, they've got bitterness and it's
written all over their face.
I mean, they think they can hide it
in their heart, you cannot.
I want to tell you a little secret.
What's in your heart is written all over
your face, other people can see.
It's, you know, if you're the angry type
of person, it's written on your face.
If you're a proud type of person, it's
even written in your eyes.
The Bible says that about haughty eyes and
haughty look.
I'm sorry to say that we have a
younger generation growing up like that and it's
a great grief to my heart to see
that.
It's very sad because their life is not
centered in God.
It's this man-centered gospel they're listening to
from American evangelists, TV evangelists.
All wonderful messages, they like the way all
those people are so dressed up in such
posh dresses and they want to dress like
them and they see all these grand church
buildings where they meet and it's all so
wonderful to the eyes.
What's the result?
Are you getting victory over your anger, your
lust, your bitterness, your love of money, all
the things the New Testament speaks about?
No.
I have one bit of warning to you
if you take it.
Don't be deceived.
You can take it or leave it.
He was yours to hear, let him hear.
But if you want to make use of
it, you've got to live one life.
You can't afford to make a mistake with
this one life.
You can't afford to make a mistake.
You've got to recognize the secret of Jesus'
life was.
He wasn't asking the Father for cars and
houses and land.
He was asking the Father how to please
Him.
He struggled in Gethsemane for what?
What did he fast and pray for 40
days for?
Nothing earthly.
His life was not centered in Himself.
He wanted to know how he could do
the Father's will.
He prayed a whole night once.
For what?
To find out who could carry on the
leadership of his work after he left.
Where are the people nowadays who pray like
that?
They've been taught by all the TV programs
they see and the videos they see to
pray for themselves and to think invariably material
things.
And what's the result?
The worldly people get material things.
You think worldly people don't get married?
They get married.
You think they don't have houses, lands, cars?
They've got a lot more than the best
Christians I've ever known.
When God loves us, if I really believe
it, and I believe it with all my
heart, and therefore I know, that no matter
how hard I try, I cannot make a
more perfect plan for my life than the
one my Father in Heaven has already made
for me.
That is the very best.
And I have no complaints.
And if I ask Him for something and
He doesn't give it to me immediately, I
say, My Father, I'm willing to wait.
Can you wait?
Supposing you have a physical infirmity.
You have a back problem or arm problem
or some other problem and you prayed and
prayed and God never answered you.
Can you still find a security in your
Father and say, That's okay, Father.
The greatest thing in life is not to
be free from back problems and arm problems.
The greatest thing in life is to do
the will of God.
And nothing on earth can stop me from
doing the will of God.
Not even ill health.
That's security.
Jesus' life was so centered in the Father
because He was secure in that love.
He knew that never, never, never would the
Father forsake Him.
And it's wonderful.
I thank God for that security that's grown
in my own life and I wish that
for all of you.
That you would know that in no circumstance
would the Father ever forsake you.
Dear brothers and sisters, live in the center
of His will.
Live in the center of His will.
You have often heard me say, What is
the safest place on all the earth in
these days of terrorism and anti-Christian activities?
Where some missionaries in North India are threatened
that by setting such a date, if you
don't leave this village, we'll burn up your
family.
That actually happens in our country.
You can't come here and preach the gospel.
Just put yourself in the place of that
missionary.
Supposing you were there living with your family
and your little children and you know how
much these missionaries get.
They don't get the fancy salaries that many
of you get.
But they're godly people.
They're living out there seeking to serve Jesus.
They had good salaries once upon a time
but they gave it up to serve Jesus
with not a much.
10% of that salary somewhere else.
And they're struggling there and they get this
threat.
Supposing you were there, what would you do?
That's the question.
Is that a safe place?
Is Bangalore a safer place?
You can get killed crossing the road here.
Every day people get killed.
The safest place is the center of God's
will for your life.
The center of God's will for your life
is the safest place of all.
And if you can say, Father, I only
want to do your will in my life.
I have no ambition for wealth or comfort
or ease or anything.
If I can be in the center of
your will for my life, I'll ask for
nothing else.
Jesus never asked in Nazareth for a better
house.
He could have.
He never asked for anything earthly.
He knew that if he sought the Father's
will, the Father would give him exactly everything
required of earth.
I have proved that in more than 40
years of my Christian life.
I can't remember consciously that I've asked anything
earthly for my life till today.
He's provided me many things I never asked
for.
I want to encourage you, my brothers.
It's not only Jesus.
There are many other godly people who have
experienced in their life.
Seek the kingdom of God first.
And the other things that you need of
earth will be added to you.
God knows that you need a job.
God knows that you, if it's His plan
for you to be married, that you need
a husband or a wife.
God knew that in my case.
I didn't go hunting.
God provided me one.
And God knows that you need a place
to live in.
God knows everything.
But He waits to see whether you'll seek
Him.
Or like all the other people in the
world, seek after those other things.
Let your life be centered in Him.
I'm not talking about going into full-time
Christian work.
I have seen that the people who work
in Christian organizations are some of the biggest
backsliders I have met in my whole life.
Because they have such a comfortable life with
so much money, funded from the United States
or whatever it is.
They don't need to trust God at all.
They go to Bible schools, establish Bible schools,
orphanages and all this type of stuff.
It's a racket.
Don't get into that.
But Jesus never got into all that.
He wasn't running organizations.
He was never part of an organization.
It was a personal relationship with the Father.
And that's the best type of life you
can have.
He was a carpenter.
Whatever job you have, you do that, whatever
God has given you.
But that relationship with the Father, that's what
you need, more than anything else.
Otherwise, I tell you, you'll be a backslider.
You'll sit here and you'll be a backslider.
Every week you sit here, you'll be a
backslider.
You've got to cultivate that relationship with the
Father.
And that's why Jesus' life was so pure.
The fact that the devil tempted him proves
that the devil knew Jesus could be tempted.
Now a lot of people today have a
lot of arguments whether Jesus could be tempted.
The devil knew that much better than anybody
else.
He's cleverer than any human being that says
he tempted him.
He wasn't a fool.
And the Bible says Jesus was tempted, like
us.
How is it he never sinned?
Because he knew that whatever the Father had
said was the best.
And he would always choose, what's going to
please the Father here?
I want to choose that.
Gradually, it became a way of life with
him, which he never forgot, just like you
never forget to brush your teeth every morning.
I hope so.
It's a habit.
I mean, when you were a little child,
you had to learn it, but it's become
a habit now.
Just like that with Jesus.
In the beginning, you had to struggle to
learn something, and after a while, you enjoy
it.
You enjoy overcoming temptation.
It's like children are being forced when they're
a child to go to school.
After some time, you see the same child
enjoying his studies, or being forced to learn
an instrument, and after some time, he enjoys
playing it.
It's like that with temptation.
It's a struggle in the beginning.
Don't give up during those days of struggle.
You'll really enjoy being an overcomer.
You'll enjoy the fact that the devil can't
knock you down.
But you can stand.
Find your security in the Father.
This is the whole secret of Jesus' life.
And I believe if we can say, Lord,
I want to learn what it is, to
have my life centred in you.
In other words, every decision, in practical terms,
it meant this, that every major decision that
Jesus took, he always would think, now, will
this glorify the Father or not?
That's where temptation comes in.
All of us take decisions, but we don't
necessarily ask that question.
In everything, I believe if you're really a
godly person, you would seek to say, now,
how would this glorify the Father?
I mean, the type of dress your sisters
are going to wear.
You think, now, is this something that will
glorify the Father?
Is this something I can go into Jesus'
presence with, the way I dress right now?
Can I walk hand in hand with Jesus
with this dress, or would he be a
bit ashamed of me?
Think of that.
Think if you walk like the people in
the world, with your head cocked in the
air.
Is that the way you'd walk with Jesus?
Little things like this, you know, can change
your whole way of life.
The devil can't knock you down.
That's why the devil could never knock Jesus
down.
His life was so secure in the Father,
he knew that everything the Father said was
absolutely the best, and he wanted to do
that.
He wanted to please the Father at any
cost.
He lived his life only for the Father,
and God created us, allowed us to come
to the earth, allowed us to hear the
gospel, so that we can see in Jesus'
life the way we are supposed to live,
not just as a theory, but in practice.
And the second thing I want to say
about Jesus' life was, first, his relationship with
the Father, and second was, he had a
tremendous concern for other people, which was given
by the Holy Spirit also.
This is the secret of Jesus' life.
His mind was always thinking of others.
Somebody in need, he'd be alert.
I mean, the clearest example of that is
washing the disciples' feet.
See, in those days, as you've heard me
say this before, they used to wear sandals,
like some of us wear, and they didn't
have tarred roads, all their roads were just
mud roads, dusty, and you walk down a
dusty road, even a hundred yards, your feet
are dirty.
And you know how refreshing it is to
wash our feet, and that's what was provided
in every Jewish home.
Near the entrance, there was a basin of
water and a towel, and the rich Jewish
homes would have slaves, and as soon as
the guests came in, they would sit down,
and the first thing the slaves did was
wash their feet, and then they would go
to the dining room or whatever it was.
That was the standard procedure.
So when Jesus and his disciples came for
the Last Supper, that was obviously a well
-to-do person's home, but Jesus had said,
we want the room empty, so there were
no slaves.
There was a basin of water and a
towel.
Jesus said, I want a private meeting with
my disciples, so nobody was there, the room
was available.
They came there, the food was laid on
the table, they didn't cook it, it was
there on the table, everything was laid out,
but no servants, no slaves.
Everybody's feet were dirty.
And Jesus was the one who noticed that.
Do you want to be like Jesus?
You all say in the meeting, oh, I
want to be like you, and oh Lord,
transform me little by little, I'm becoming like
you.
Well, here's a little bit, we can be
like him.
To be a little alert to the needs
of people around us, to see a little
thing like dust on the feet.
And there's the basin of water, it doesn't
cost me anything.
It costs me my pride, that's all, it
doesn't cost me anything else, to take the
basin of water, wash their feet, and wipe
it with a towel.
There were no slaves there, so Jesus said,
okay, then I'm the slave here.
And that was the last day of his
life on earth.
The last day of his life on earth,
he was not the director of an organization,
he was a slave.
Where do we find Christians like this today?
Who have no titles when they come to
the end of their life.
Every Christian is in this rat race, particularly
in Christian work, for some better title and
higher title, and the terrible demonic thing is
their glory in it.
Their glory in their titles.
Where do you find that in Jesus?
I mean, a lot of people want to
be like Jesus in certain areas, but not
in certain other areas.
If you want to be like Jesus, you
have to be like him totally.
He lived without a title all through his
life.
And in the last day of his life,
he was not a director of anything.
He was washing people's feet.
He was a slave.
He was alert.
You know, he saw things that other people
wouldn't think of.
Who do you think thought of feeding the
multitude?
It was not the multitude themselves, they were
hungry.
In one place it says they traveled with
him for three days without food, and they
didn't complain.
Even the disciples didn't think of it, but
Jesus thought of it, hey, these fellows are
hungry, let's do something for them.
He'd see lepers outside the city wall and
say, nobody touches these people, let me go
and touch them, let me just be friendly
with them.
He thought of how those people are feeling.
That is to be like Jesus.
Now we've got to translate that into our
situation.
All around us are people, wherever we go,
who are beaten and battered by society, particularly
the very poor people.
You know, to be good to them.
You don't have to be good to all
the rich.
I mean, the world is full of people
taking care of the rich people.
You can forget about them.
They've got enough people to take care of
them.
Let's concentrate on the people Jesus concentrated on,
and the people who are on the periphery,
the outskirts of society, the poor, the weak,
and the people who are rejected by everybody.
You know, you go to a shop, and
I'm not talking about the manager, I'm talking
about the lowest worker in that shop.
Everybody treats him badly.
You've got to be good to them.
If you go and eat in a hotel,
the person who serves you, that little boy
who comes and cleans the table, nobody speaks
a kind word to him.
I believe if Jesus sat at that table,
he'd speak a kind word to him, or
give him a little money when nobody's looking.
That's how Jesus was.
I tell you, lots and lots of Christians
sing forever that they want to be like
Jesus, but they really don't want to be
like him.
It's all pious words on Sunday morning.
They don't look at the scriptures and say,
how was he?
He was always alert to the needs of
others.
He had received so much himself.
He told his disciples to be like him.
He said, you fellows have received freely.
Can you learn to give freely?
You know that verse in Matthew chapter 10?
It says in Matthew chapter 10, a very
lovely verse, the last part of verse 8.
I want you to think of this, my
brothers and sisters.
Freely you received, freely give.
Don't charge for everything.
Have you ever given away anything free?
I don't mean the leftovers and the things
you don't want and don't need.
There's no great virtue instead of throwing it
in the garbage bin that you give it
to some poor person.
I'm not talking about that.
Does God give you the leftovers and the
garbage?
No.
Think of the wonderful things God has given
you.
Freely give.
God has blessed you.
Think of this, my brothers.
I'm speaking to a lot of people sitting
right here.
I know almost all of you the day
you came to this church.
I don't know the ones so much who
have come the last 2-3 years, but
in the earlier years.
And I know what many of you were
like when you came to this church first.
Some of you lived in one room apartments,
small 10 feet by 10 feet places.
There are people who helped you tremendously financially
in those days from this church.
Many.
I know that I have passed on huge
sums to many people.
Today, God has blessed you.
You don't live in a one room apartment
anymore.
You live in a big house.
What are you doing with all the money
you're earning?
Do you think of other people?
Now it is your turn to do for
somebody else exactly what somebody did for you.
When you were in need, you forget that.
God has blessed me.
Brother, I came so poor, now I'm so
rich.
Why did God make you rich?
That's why your life has been destroyed.
That's why you've become unspiritual.
That's why your children are worldly.
You know, Jesus was a generous person.
He was large hearted.
That song we used to sing, every miserly
soul is in Satan's control.
I believe you can find a miserly man
by the fact that his fists are closed
tight over the money God has blessed him
with.
I asked you a little while ago, what
is the safest place on earth?
It's the center of God's will.
Now let me ask you another question.
Do you know what is the most dangerous
place to live in?
The place where God is blessing you.
It's a dangerous place?
Exactly.
I have seen it through the years.
The most dangerous place to live in is
when God has blessed you immensely.
And you think you deserve it.
You become selfish and keep all that to
yourself.
And you were far better off spiritually when
you were in that little one room ten
foot by ten foot house than you are
today.
You don't see it.
The world thinks you are better off.
You are not.
You and your family are ruined.
It's very difficult for God to bless a
person.
And for that person, the other problem with
a lot of people when they get blessed,
I've seen this particularly with poor people who
come to CFC.
People who are extremely poor, when they come
to CFC and God blesses them, become wealthy,
they become so proud, their children become so
haughty.
It's amazing.
It doesn't seem to happen to rich people.
But it does happen to almost every poor
person who has come here.
Almost every one of them.
But they don't see it themselves.
They have fallen into that danger.
Most dangerous place of all.
The place where God blesses them and it
destroys them.
God blessed Israel tremendously in the book of
Joshua.
The forty years in the wilderness.
Do you know one thing about the forty
years in the wilderness?
Despite all the mistakes they made, they grumbled,
they complained.
Can you tell me one serious sin that
Israel never committed in the wilderness?
They never worshipped idols.
In all those forty years, they grumbled, they
complained, they did a hundred and one things,
but they never worshipped idols.
Then, it was desert, sad, no proper food,
no house, a tent, tent, tent, tent.
Forty years, they came into the land of
Kin, settled down comfortably, just like many of
you.
Oh, God has blessed us.
And you read the book of Judges, the
next book.
Every one of them went after idols.
It's the most dangerous place to be in.
It's the place where God has blessed you
financially, with good jobs, maybe given you gifts,
and you don't see that it has destroyed
you.
It has happened.
I can see it so clearly.
I'll tell you how clearly I see it.
I see it as clearly as black and
white in some of you sitting right here.
I'm not going to tell you.
I'll never come up to you and tell
you, brother, I think God has destroyed you.
That's the Holy Spirit.
If you listen to Him, He'll tell you.
It's not my job.
My job is to work out my salvation.
To live in fear, because God has blessed
me, He's blessed me, He's blessed my children,
and I live in fear, I judge myself.
You know what to do.
Whether you do it or not, that's between
you and God.
You can be sure, I'm not going to
come and tell you, my brother.
Listen to God.
Have you received freely?
Give freely.
I believe one of the great lacks in
our church, because we don't take an offering,
we don't teach tithing, is that people have
not learned to give.
And because of that, they become poor.
Because the law of God is, you give,
and then God will give to you.
Look at the words of Jesus in Acts
chapter 20.
Acts of the Apostles chapter 20, Paul says,
I was with you, verse 31, he tells
the elders in Ephesus, I was with you
for three years.
And in all those three years, verse 33,
I never desired anybody's money.
I never desired, if I saw somebody wearing
good clothes, I never wished for his clothes.
And if he were living today, Paul would
say, if I saw somebody having a scooter,
I wouldn't wish for his scooter.
If I saw somebody having a car, I
wouldn't wish for his car.
I coveted nothing.
And you know, verse 34, with my own
hands, I worked, took care of my own
needs.
He didn't have a family, but he took
care of the people with him, and today
we are to take care of our family.
I took care of my own needs and
my family needs.
Why did Paul do this?
Now, there are many reasons why Paul did
this.
One was to expose other Christian workers who
were saying that they also served the Lord
like Paul, but there was another reason.
He says, in this way, verse 35, I
showed you how you must help the weak,
that means the poor.
And remember the words of Jesus who said,
it is more blessed to give than to
receive.
Is there a blessing in receiving?
Sure.
But Jesus said, there is a greater blessing
when you have learned to give.
I believe that many of us sitting here
have received the blessing of receiving from God.
Many have missed the greater blessing that would
have come to your life if you had
learned to give.
That's what it says here.
It's more blessed to give than to receive.
I have proved it in 40 years of
my life, not 40, 44 years of my
life, I have proved it.
God has blessed me immensely.
My dear brothers and sisters, there is a
far greater blessing which you are missing because
all you are doing is receiving and receiving
and thanking God that you are receiving and
imagining that you are so blessed because you
got so much money and so much material
things.
You don't realize the God of the world
has blinded your eyes.
If you want greater blessing, if you want
God's best, be like Jesus.
He always thought about others.
You know there were times when he went
without food because he was serving somebody else.
Have you ever once in your life, I
am talking about once in your life, skipped
a meal because you had to counsel somebody,
you had to talk to somebody, you had
to help someone.
Once in all your life.
Imagine some of us have lived 50, 60
years and we have not even missed one
meal in our life to help another person.
Little by little he is changing me.
He is not changing you, my brother, because
you don't want to be changed.
We have got to give, not only money,
we have got to give our convenience, we
have got to give our time, we have
got to give our health.
Charles Spurgeon died when he was 58 or
something like that.
58 is a very young age to die.
But he started serving the Lord when he
was about 14.
He was getting up in the pulpit and
preaching when he was 15 years old.
And you know what he said towards the
end of his life, he suffered from gout
and pain and he was bedridden a lot
and he said one thing, he said, I
thank God that in the years God gave
me health, I served Him wholeheartedly without sparing
myself.
You never know when any of us may
be bedridden.
In those days you won't be able to
help and bless and serve other people as
you can today.
God has given you health, use that health
to serve others.
This is how the Holy Spirit seeks to
transform us into the likeness of Christ.
Has God given you much?
Use it to bless other people and not
just think of yourself.
That's God's way.
God's way.
Seek to live spending the minimum on yourself.
That's how Jesus lived.
No matter how much you earn, say Lord
on myself I want to spend the minimum.
You do that and you'll find God picks
you up.
I did that.
I mean I remember the years when I
was working in the Navy 40 years ago,
I would spend the minimum on myself.
If my pants tore, I would stitch it
up and wear it.
I mean you don't throw away pants just
because it tore somewhere.
And I say God blessed me.
He certainly has.
The greatest blessing is He called me to
serve Him.
I can't imagine a greater honor God giving
anybody.
I want to say that some of you
are missing something God has for you.
Don't discover in eternity that God had something
for you and you missed it because you
selfishly stored up all his blessings for yourself.
And the last thing I want to say
is that Jesus' life was, it follows on
from something I said earlier, was characterized by
humility and gentleness.
He said in Matthew 11, 29, learn from
me for I am humble and gentle in
heart.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 3, especially
to women, it says to women about something
that is very precious in God's eyes.
And whenever you read that something is very
precious in God's eyes, when I read that
in the Bible, that something is precious in
God's eyes, I say God, I want that.
I hope you have the same excitement when
you read something like that in Scripture.
It says about to women, particularly verse 3,
don't let your adornment be external.
Braiding the hair, it's unfortunate that the New
American Standard Bible puts a merely there to
satisfy American women.
But you see the merely is in italics,
meaning that in the original Greek it's not
there.
Whenever you read a word in italics in
the Bible, leave it out.
That's not in the original, it's added so
that American women won't get offended.
And let not your adornment be external.
Braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or putting
on dresses.
You know the meaning, putting on expensive dresses.
But, I mean that's just the negative.
Don't live a negative life saying I don't
do this, I don't do this, I don't
do that.
No, that's not enough.
It's not like saying I don't go to
cinemas, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I
don't dance.
What do you do then?
But, the positive, let it be the hidden
person of the heart, with the imperishable quality
of a gentle and quiet spirit.
Now you see, Peter knows that women particularly
don't like to look old.
I suppose men don't mind it so much,
but women particularly, they say in the world
never ask a woman her age, because she
doesn't want to say how old she is.
They don't want to look old.
They always want to look young.
They want to black their hair when it
gets white.
Because they want to look young.
They always want to look young.
And Peter knows that.
I mean Peter knew that 2000 years ago.
They want to look young, they want to
look nice, they want to pull up all
the wrinkles from their face.
All types of operations nowadays you do where
you look like a 25 year old even
when you're 75.
It's amazing what...
It is fundamental desire not to look old.
And Peter says, I'll give you a prescription
for that.
Here is something which is ageless.
The ageless something which will make you look
young all your life.
A gentle and a quiet spirit.
You'll never age.
You'll never become an old man or an
old woman.
Even though outside there are wrinkles and grey
hair and all that in your spirit, you
will be a young fiery brother or sister.
How?
With a gentle and quiet spirit.
That is precious in God's eyes.
Now I want to ask how many of
you sisters are really eager about it?
There are not many sisters I've met in
my life who've got a gentle and a
quiet spirit.
Most of them are so pushy and bossy
and impose their view on others.
I mean even some young people are like
that.
They are so pushy and bossy and try
to push their way around and try to
show that they are very important sisters in
the church.
And oh, I say God save us from
them.
That's all I can say.
Where can God find sisters with a gentle
and quiet spirit, who are not pushy, who
are not bossy, who don't try to run
their husbands' lives at home.
Who are gentle and quiet in their spirit.
Not just their tongue, it comes in the
tongue later, but in their spirit.
Jesus said, learn from me for I am
humble and gentle in heart.
He had a meek and a lowly spirit.
And he says you must have that meek
and lowly spirit.
It's so precious in God's eyes because he
saw it in his son first of all.
He saw it in his son and he
said I am well pleased in that.
And he wants to see it not only
in the sisters but in the brothers also.
I want to have a gentle and quiet
spirit.
More and more I want to be like
Jesus.
Because I know that in my natural temperament
I don't have a gentle and quiet spirit.
It's pretty rough.
But Jesus had a gentle and quiet spirit.
I mean he was always fiery when it
came to somebody who exploited others or made
money in the name of religion.
And I want all my life to be
fiery against people who make money in the
name of religion or somebody who tries to
do business in the church and sell land
and property and all types of things in
the church to other poor believers to make
money off them or people who try to
sell things.
The money changers back in the temple, sellers
of doves and sheep.
I'm going to be furious against them like
Jesus was.
A whip, chase them out.
But in his spirit he was always gentle
and quiet.
That's how Jesus was.
He was always gentle and quiet.
And I want to encourage you my brothers
pursue after that.
It was the secret of his life.
His life was so, it didn't matter.
I mean somebody slapped him.
He'd say if I spoke right why did
you slap me?
They slapped him again.
Okay.
I've got nothing more to say.
We can ask for our rights but we
don't fight for it.
He wouldn't fight.
He didn't threaten them.
It says when he was suffering at the
hand of the priests and Pilate he didn't
threaten them saying wait till I come back
and finish you fellas off one day.
Two thousand years from now I'm going to
catch you fellas.
No he didn't say anything like that.
It's going to happen.
He never said it.
He was gentle and quiet.
Accepting whatever the father sent into his life.
A gracious humility.
Do you sisters want to look young all
your life?
Have this gracious, gentle, quiet spirit.
It's very precious in God's eyes.
God wants us all to look young in
our spirits.
That's how Jesus was.
And when we look at these things in
Jesus' life we say Lord I know when
I see it I say Lord I want
to be like you.
The most important thing in my life is
that.
I want to spend my earthly days like
this.
I don't want material things.
You give me whatever I need that's enough
for me.
If I can be like this I spent
my life in a worthwhile way and I
pray that as we live like that our
children will also grow up with their right
values in life.
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