I want to turn to a verse in
the Old Testament, in the book of Micah.
If you don't know where that is, it's
towards the end of the Old Testament.
It's about seven or eight books from the
end.
The book of Micah and chapter six.
Here is a question telling people to ask.
With what shall I come to the Lord
and bow myself before the God?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
with yearling calves?
Does the Lord take delight in thousands of
rams and ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious
acts, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul?
He has told you, O man, what is
good.
What does the Lord require of you?
But to do justice, to love kindness and
to walk humbly with your God.
Different religions have taught different things than God
requires from man.
Things like sacrifice, pilgrimage.
And it's possible that even the Christian Christianity,
as we see it in the world today,
is sometimes not balanced in presenting what God
requires.
I'll tell you something.
Man is a religious creature, just like man
is a sexual creature.
Man is a religious creature.
And as much as he's got a lust
for sex, he's got a lust for religion.
And it's because of that, I mean, we
won't ever mistake sex for Christianity, but we
can very easily mistake religion for Christianity.
And we think just because a man is
religious, he is spiritual.
Lest we think that religion is spirituality, God
has given us some practical tests to find
out whether we are really spiritual or not.
See, our Christian, I mean, our tendency as
human beings is to choose a religion or
a faith that will not cause us any
inconvenience.
A religion or a faith that will benefit
us in some way, where we can get
some gain, because man is basically selfish.
You see that with children, it doesn't matter
what religion they are.
All children, whatever religion they are born into,
are selfish.
And Jesus came to deliver us from selfishness.
And if religion, if Christianity has not delivered
you from self-centeredness and selfishness, you are
religious.
You are not at all spiritual.
Don't ever imagine your religion, I want to
tell you, even if you call yourself Christian
or Evangelical or Pentecostal or Charismatic, your religion
is no better than any other religion or
animism or evil spirit worship in the world.
If your religion has not delivered you from
self-centeredness and selfishness and seeking your own
gain and seeking a religion that is comfortable
and easy and that does not cause you
any inconvenience and does not cause you any
sacrifice and brings you a lot of gain,
maybe an honor or money.
You know, it speaks here, I want to
come back to Micah, this is what we
are going to think about today, but I
want to show you a verse before we
proceed in 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Please keep a finger here and turn to
1 Timothy chapter 6.
It speaks here about people who advocate a
different doctrine.
Verse 3.
And don't agree with sound words.
With the doctrine that relates to godliness.
The doctrine that leads to godliness.
And then he says about people, in verse
5, who got a depraved mind.
That means their minds are warped by sin.
Deprived of the truth.
That means they don't know the truth at
all.
And how do you detect people who got
a depraved mind?
You know, when you think people got depraved
mind, you think a fellow who is always
a drunkard or always living in adultery.
People who don't have any love for the
truth.
Now all of us think that we don't
have a depraved mind.
We are good people.
Here is the mark of a man with
depraved mind according to scripture.
A man who thinks that godliness is a
means of gain.
Whether good news is just a means of
making money.
What should we do with such people?
It says, keep away from them.
Keep away from them.
Avoid them.
That's what we should do.
And what does it mean for godliness to
be a means of gain?
Where?
See, true godliness always brings sacrifice.
I have to give up something I love.
That's how it was for Jesus.
And Jesus is the greatest example of godliness.
And for him, his life involves sacrifice.
It involves giving up something which he enjoys.
Something comfortable in order to suffer for the
benefit of others.
Not for himself.
Now many people are willing to suffer for
their own profit.
I mean all the businessmen in the world
spend sleepless nights to make money and go
to difficult places to make money and take
a lot of risks to make money.
That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about taking risks and suffering to
benefit other people and nothing for yourself.
That's how Jesus came.
That's the difference between true Christianity and false
Christianity.
Between the true faith and the false.
That in this faith, there is no gain
for myself.
There is no profit for myself.
See, this is why we have stood against
a lot of Christian work in this country.
Where people do Christian work and have made
a lot of money.
They had nothing when they came into Christian
work.
They were poor people when they came into
Christian work.
But they have made such fantastic amount of
money today in Christian work.
They built houses for themselves with money earned
out of Christian work.
They say, I'm serving the Lord.
And these are the type of people we
always stand against.
It never goes well with them.
They can have a lot of Bible knowledge.
Some of them can preach wonderful messages.
But they have got a godliness which is
a means of gain.
Gain, something for themselves.
They are men with a depraved mind.
Avoid them, it says.
Avoid them.
Avoid anyone who is trying to make any
profit for himself out of godliness.
Now we may say, I don't make money
out of godliness.
It doesn't have to be money.
You can get up here and preach.
Whether two minutes or one hour.
And when you seek honor for yourself, you
are just as filthy with a depraved mind
as any person who is making money in
the name of Christianity.
Absolutely no difference.
In fact, you could be worse.
Because that fellow is obviously making money in
the name of Christianity.
And you can be doing it for honor.
Anything that we do for gain, you can
pray.
You can pray in a meeting and have
a depraved mind.
Because you are praying not to God.
You are praying to impress people.
What a wonderful prayer you are.
You got a depraved mind.
Seeking gain.
Please remember this all your life, my brothers
and sisters.
If your Christianity brings you some gain, and
it may not be money.
Could be money.
But honor.
You are of a depraved mind.
Anything where you seek a reputation for yourself,
for your spirituality.
You are gaining something.
Godliness was never meant to be a means
of gain.
What did Jesus get?
Look what he had in heaven.
And look what he got on earth.
If you want to understand what Christianity is.
Look at the honor he had here.
And look at the shame he got here
on earth.
Look at the comfort he had in heaven.
And look at the discomfort he had on
earth.
If you want to understand what true Christianity
is.
But for many Christians today, let me tell
you this.
Many Christians today, their Christianity comprises only of
attending meetings on Sunday.
Perhaps one more day a week.
And to ease their conscience, putting a little
money in the box.
Singing, they really enjoy singing.
Which worldly person doesn't enjoy singing?
Good music.
The world is full of people who love
good music.
And all the worldly musicians become millionaires through
selling their CDs.
And Christian musicians become millionaires too through selling
their CDs.
It's all profit, profit, profit, profit.
If you want, you know, we have spoken
in the church about Babylon and Jerusalem.
The false church and the true church.
And it's very easy.
Sometime when you get time.
It's very easy.
Just read Revelation 17 and 18.
Just two chapters.
And there it speaks about the beast, which
is the political kingdoms.
And the harlot, which is Babylon.
And in chapter 18 you read about business.
Wherever religion is mixed up with politics and
business, you got Babylon.
Wherever God and money, people try to mix.
You can't mix it.
It's like oil and water.
You can't mix oil and water.
You cannot mix God and money.
And wherever people mix God and money, that
is Babylon.
Wherever it is.
That is why I always say, don't go
and join a Christian organization and get a
salary.
People are trying to mix God and money.
Doesn't the Bible say, the Lord has ordained
those who preach the gospel should live of
the gospel?
Sure.
Peter received gifts.
Jesus received gifts.
You read in Luke chapter 8 verses 1
to 3.
Jesus received gifts.
He didn't get a salary.
There is a lot of difference.
Salaried Christianity is Babylon.
I don't care who is involved in it.
That's how they make all their pots of
money and build huge houses and think they
are serving God.
They will discover in eternity they were serving
themselves.
Don't be fooled by that.
Because it's gain.
It's gain.
There are a lot of people today in
Christian work who are earning 10 times what
they would have got if they were doing
a secular job.
They don't have to struggle.
People in a secular job are struggling, struggling,
struggling to make ends meet, to somehow meet
their ends.
They have got to travel long distance.
They have got to be yelled at by
difficult bosses.
But people in Christian work, they have got
everything.
Is this Christianity?
Not the Christianity of Jesus Christ.
It's a counterfeit.
I have proclaimed that all my life until
my dying day I will proclaim it's a
counterfeit.
And we will stand against it.
Godliness which is a means of gain.
And so people choose a Christianity which is
comfortable, which doesn't cause any much problems.
They will pray loudly in the meeting.
How much do you think they pray in
private?
Zero.
But in the meeting, boy!
They are the first to pray loud and
impress everybody with their prayer.
Go and see how much they pray at
home.
Hypocrites and frauds.
They talk about self-denial.
How much will they fast in their life?
Pretty close to zero.
What are they interested in?
They are not interested in God.
If they were interested in God, they would
be doing a lot of things in secret
that nobody knows about for God.
They are interested in honor.
The honor of praying and saying good things
and clever things.
It's all a fraud.
It's hypocrisy.
God hates it.
But a lot of people choose that type
of Christianity because it doesn't cost anything.
It's a sort of a dignified version of
the Christianity that Jesus brought.
So let's turn back to Micah.
So what shall I come before the Lord
with?
Shall I come with all my burnt offerings
and impress everybody with my calves that I'm
bringing and 10,000 rivers of oil?
Verse 7.
You know, sometimes people say, Brother Zac, you
say some extreme things.
Exaggerate.
Do you know that all the prophets exaggerated?
10,000 rivers of oil.
Verse 7.
What's that?
Who brings 10,000 rivers of oil?
Have you ever seen one river of oil?
Do you know Jesus exaggerated?
You see, you swallow a camel and you
strain out a mosquito.
Who swallows camels?
Have you ever seen anybody who swallowed a
camel?
You got a beam in your eye.
Try putting a beam inside your eye.
It's people who don't read the scriptures, who
don't want their sin to be pointed out.
That's how they hated the prophets in the
Old Testament.
Oh, you exaggerate.
That's the only way people will wake up.
Cut off your right hand.
Who said that?
Not me.
Jesus.
Pull out your right eye.
The trouble is today a lot of people,
they haven't read the Bible.
Or if they've read it, they've forgotten it.
That's why they don't know what true Christianity
is.
And they think today's preachers are hard.
I'll tell you, in my lifetime, 43 years
as a Christian, I have never heard a
preacher, in my life, preach as hard as
Jesus.
Not even one.
They are all pretty wishy-washy compromisers.
Every one of them buttering people and seeking
honor for themselves.
That's how most preachers are because they want
a religion that makes them popular.
They want a Christianity that makes them popular.
That's why you have a bunch of preachers
today who've got nothing to say.
The word of the Lord is rare.
Because nobody wants to hear it.
Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, he
says, be careful in the last days.
There are going to be preachers who just
tickle people's ears.
That's what they are.
And here it says, okay, verse 8.
That's what I want to look at.
God has told you, O man, what is
good?
What does the Lord require of you?
Please remember these three things all your life.
To do justice, to love kindness, and to
walk humbly with your God.
What does God want from you?
To do justice.
To be fair.
Absolutely fair, and just, and righteous.
In all your dealings.
Number 1.
Number 2.
What does He require from you?
He requires from you to be kind to
all other human beings.
Number 3.
He wants you to walk in humility.
Humility with your God.
Walk humbly with your God.
You do these three things, and you got
a real faith.
And I'll tell you, you got to pay
a price to do these three things.
It's easy to come to meetings and pray
and sing and things like that.
But to do justice, to love kindness, and
to walk humbly with your God.
Do you know that Jesus said the same
things?
Turn to Matthew chapter 23.
I'd always known Micah chapter 6 and verse
9, but I hadn't noticed that Jesus, Micah
6 verse 8, but I hadn't noticed that
Jesus also emphasized that.
In fact, the overall ministry of Jesus, you
see that He emphasized that a lot.
Justice, kindness, and walking in humility before God.
But He brings it all together here in
Matthew 23, where He's telling the Pharisees, and
when He spoke to the Pharisees, He was
exposing false religion.
False religion, Babylon in Jesus' time was the
Pharisees.
And He said to them in verse 23,
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
He said, you've got a religion where it
doesn't cost you anything.
You tithe mint and dill and come in.
But you've neglected the weightier provisions of the
law.
And what are those weightier provisions of the
law?
Justice, and mercy, and faithfulness.
And I assume that by what Jesus was
referring to Micah chapter 6 verse 8.
What does God require you to do?
Justly.
To love mercy.
It says in the King James Version, To
do justly, to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God.
That is faithfulness.
These are the things you should have done
without neglecting the others.
That means, Jesus is saying, I'm not saying
you should stop coming to the meetings.
I'm not saying that you should stop giving
for the Lord's work.
No.
But those are secondary to loving justice.
And being absolutely fair.
And being kind to other people.
And walking humbly with your God.
If you don't do those three things, the
Lord is saying, all this other religious activity
is a lot of garbage.
All your praying and all your giving and
everything that you do for honor.
To do justly.
I want to turn to James.
James was one of those people who emphasized
practical Christianity.
Practical Christianity.
James, you know, he's the one who talks
about faith without works is dead.
Faith without works is dead.
That means, which does not produce the type
of works that Jesus wants to produce.
You know, we know that salvation is by
faith without works.
There's no works before.
All our works before we are saved are
useless.
But after we are saved, the Bible says,
we are His workmanship created unto good works.
Ephesians 2, verse 8 says, by grace are
you saved, not of works.
And the next verse, verse 9 and 10
says, but we are created unto good works.
That means, before salvation, no works.
After salvation, plenty of works.
That's what Ephesians 2, verse 8 to 10
says.
But, for a lot of Christians, there's no
works before salvation and no works after salvation
either.
It's just faith.
Faith, faith, faith, faith.
That's a deception.
And so, James is writing to such people,
he says, faith without works, James 2, verse
26, faith without works is dead.
And he says, he compares that to a
body that doesn't have any breath.
You know, a body that's got 10 fingers,
10 toes, 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 mouth,
nose, everything looking perfect except that the man
is dead.
That's all.
A body where all the doctrines are right,
and you do all the right things, you
come for all the meetings, and you do
all these right things, but there's no breath
there.
And the Lord, and the Holy Spirit is
saying here that all your so-called faith,
right doctrine, right activities, all useless if it
does not produce works.
And what type of works is he talking
about?
Justice, mercy, and walking humbly with your God.
For example, he talks about personal favoritism in
verse 1.
Or in other words, partiality, verse 9.
If you show partiality, you're committing sin, and
are convicted by the law as transgressors.
And you keep the whole law, verse 10,
and you stumble at one point, that means
you're partial.
You're as guilty, verse 11, as the fellow
who committed adultery, and the fellow who committed
murder.
How many of you sitting here believe?
I want to really ask you, please be
honest, don't answer me, answer yourself.
How many of you believed before this morning
that partiality is equal to adultery and murder?
I don't believe there's anybody here who believe
that.
Do you know the amount of partiality I
have seen in Christian circles?
It's absolutely amazing.
Everywhere I see, Christian leaders favoring their children.
It's difficult to see a man who's upright,
and who's absolutely impartial in this area.
Who says, I will treat my children just
like anybody else's children.
Everywhere I've seen it.
Where is, because why is it, why are
they partial?
Because they don't believe it's equal to adultery
and murder.
Those people would never do, commit adultery and
murder there that way, but they feel partially,
that's okay.
Look at the number of Christian organizations today
where a man builds up something and then
he hands it over to his son.
He grooms his son to get a prominent
place in the organization he has built up.
Do you want me to name them?
You just look around in Christian circles and
see if it's not true.
They groom their children to have prominence.
I saw it long before we started this
church and I said, I will never do
that in my life.
Never.
Not even my wife will have any prominence
in this church.
No relatives of mine are going to have
any prominence in this church.
The thing is, we haven't seen the rest
of Christianity and that's why you don't appreciate
it sufficiently.
I tell you it's everywhere.
It's in the flesh.
It's in the flesh to be partial to
your own children.
It's in the flesh to be merciful to
your children and be very hard on other
people's children.
That is what I mean by partiality.
It's absolutely in the flesh to be very
kind and good to our children and very
hard on other people's children.
That is partiality.
And I want to tell you God hates
it.
And all our prayers and our Bible knowledge
is all garbage if you are not just.
Justice means being absolutely impartial.
And you don't have to be a Christian
leader.
You see yourself.
The way you criticize other people's children and
let me see whether you do that when
your own children come to that place.
Somebody else's child does something and boy!
You are on that person immediately to find
fault.
Maybe they have grown up and they are
doing something, they are teenagers and of course
your children are small.
Wait till your children become teenagers.
It's fine.
I'd like to see whether you are just
as strict with your own children.
That's why we see Humbug Christianity everywhere.
At least if you have brought up your
children in a proper way you have some
authority to speak to others.
But the Bible says a man who cannot
control his own children when they live in
his home.
He is absolutely unfit to open his mouth
and talk about Christianity.
Do you know that?
So the Bible says.
That's my interpretation of 1 Timothy chapter 3.
It's very clear.
If you cannot control your children when they
live in your home, my brother, shut your
mouth and don't think you know anything about
Christianity.
Just humble yourself and say, I don't know
anything.
Let me first learn to bring up my
children properly where they listen to me and
are subject to me.
Some of us haven't taken that seriously.
Children are wild, disobedient to parents, they do
what they like, go where they like and
we are trying to act as spiritual Christians.
We are not.
It's very very important to recognize these things.
To be absolutely impartial.
If your son does something wrong, it's wrong.
And I believe sometimes we have suffered because
we have spent our time criticizing other people's
children.
Now what's the result?
You want to see what's the result?
You have reaped what you have sown.
See the condition of your children today.
You were an expert to find fault with
other people's children and God says, I'll teach
you a lesson in your life that you'll
never forget.
You'll reap a hundred times what you have
sown.
And you're reaping today, right?
And when you reap, my brother, sister, just
humble yourself and say, Lord, I am reaping.
Please forgive me.
And learn a lesson from that.
You young people, learn a lesson from other
people who are reaping.
If I see a farmer's land full of
weeds, I'll try and find out, how did
that fellow get weeds?
I say, God, please save me from getting
weeds in my life.
And I believe one of the reasons is
this partiality.
There's a lot of it, my brothers and
sisters, found in your flesh.
If you think we're talking about some strangers
in some other distant place, we're not.
We're talking about us.
I'm not speaking to the walls and the
doors and the furniture here.
We're talking to human beings.
We're talking about us.
You know that we, there's partiality in us.
There's a lack of justice.
If you borrow money from someone, and he
needs it, don't you think it's unjust not
to return it?
Don't you think it's unjust?
And if one month, due to some problem,
you cannot return it, what should you do?
You should go to that person, humble yourself.
Say, I'm sorry, sir, I cannot return it
this month.
Can you please give me a little more
time?
That's what Jesus said about one man.
In the parable, he said, one man went
to his creditor and said, have mercy upon
me.
Have you ever gone to your creditor, from
whom you borrowed money and said, please have
mercy upon me?
No, that requires humility.
To be just is to be absolutely fair,
particularly in money transactions.
In our, see what it says in Micah,
further down.
I just want you to see that.
You know, if you read the Old Testament
prophets, I'm sorry that some of us don't
read the Old Testament prophets enough.
Particularly the minor prophets.
I call minor prophets, they are pretty major
in their message.
Those are the ones from Daniel onwards.
Particularly the ones after Daniel.
You read books like Micah, Nehum, Amos, read
it in the Living Bible, I would encourage
you.
It will just take you a few minutes
to read some of those.
They have written very, very brief letters.
I want you to read this, for example.
Micah chapter 6, after he says about, listen,
the Lord wants you to do justly and
walk, love, kindness, Micah 6 verse 10 he
says, your sins are very great.
I'm reading the Living Bible.
Is there to be no end of getting
rich by cheating?
Are you getting rich by cheating?
Are you cheating on your income tax?
Are you cheating?
Are you telling lies?
Do you go to your auditor and ask
him how to cheat?
Plenty of auditors will tell you how to
cheat.
Cheating on your tax.
The homes of the wicked are full of
ungodly treasures and cheating scales.
That means they try to make money by
selling something which is going to cheat
that person in some way.
You know the scales, that means you don't
give a correct, like a lot of sales
people portray an item as very wonderful when
it's not so wonderful.
Because they want the other fellow to buy
it.
Like all these Amway people.
They want people to buy it.
What is the whole purpose?
The whole purpose is profit for myself.
You are not seeing the good of the
other person.
Lying in scales means business.
And the Lord says, shall I say good
to all you businessmen trying to do business
with your bags of false deceitful weights?
How can God be just if he says
I'll say good when you do all that?
Verse 12, your rich men are wealthy through
extortion.
Taking money from others.
You are so used to telling lies that
your tongues can't even speak the truth now.
Okay, what's going to be the result?
Conscious I'll teach you a lesson.
Verse 14, you will eat, but you'll never
have enough.
All that money you got by cheating other
people, you'll spend on hospital bills and many
other expenses which you would not have had
if you were upright and honest.
God says I'll teach you a lesson.
You will eat, but you'll never have enough.
You'll still have hunger pains, you'll never be
satisfied.
And though you try, and listen to this,
though you try and try to save money,
you won't be able to do it.
Do you have that experience?
You try and try to save money, you
won't be able to do it.
And you never thought that that was a
judgment of God.
Do you know the number of Christians like
that who try and try to save money
and they can't do it?
They are not upright.
They are not just.
They are not righteous in their dealings with
other people.
They are not absolutely righteous.
Is there partiality in the way you deal
with matters?
He says it'll come to nothing in the
end.
And what little you succeed, verse 14, Living
Bible, in storing up, you'll lose one day.
Somebody will conquer you.
Sickness will conquer you.
Something will conquer you and it'll all go.
You'll plant crops, but you won't harvest them.
You'll press out the oil from the olives,
but you'll never get enough even to anoint
yourself.
You'll trample the grapes, but you won't get
any juice from your wine.
I will make you, the last part of
verse 16, the laughing stock of the world.
And all who see you will snicker and
sneer.
I don't believe that it is God's will
that any child of His should be in
debt.
Because I don't believe Jesus was in debt.
He is our example.
And if you see 10,000 believers around
you as in debt, don't make them your
example.
Make Jesus your example.
He was never in debt.
He was a poor man on earth, but
he was never in debt.
He lived with what little he had.
If God gave him more, he used more
than he had.
Paul said, I've learned to be content, whether
I have little or I have much.
It's when people are not content, that they
want to buy things which they cannot afford.
Credit cards.
Can you believe that I'm 63 years old
and I've never had a single credit card
in my whole life?
Can you believe it?
In this day's world?
Because I'm scared.
I'm scared to disobey God.
I'm scared to go outside my boundary.
I'm more interested in being anointed than buying
something which I can't afford.
I'll tell you any day, I'm far more
interested in the anointing of the Holy Spirit
than having something in my home which I
cannot afford.
Some of you feel anointing is secondary.
I must have this in your home.
See the result.
No wonder the church suffers.
Because we are casual with God's word.
Learn to be just, righteous and fair.
Don't cheat anyone.
Don't take advantage of anyone.
When you do business with someone, I've always
felt this.
If anyone does business with me, he must
always feel that he got a good deal
out of me.
Not that I benefited from him.
That he benefited from me.
That's the way you must do business with...
It's alright.
We have to buy and sell.
Some people are like that.
And I'll give you a simple rule.
Don't sell sheeps and doves in the temple.
Don't...
There's a market place for all that.
Don't sell sheeps and doves in the temple.
Jesus will drive you out one day or
the other.
I give you my word, Jesus will drive
you out.
I'll pray that Jesus will drive you out.
All those who sell sheeps and doves in
the temple.
Jesus is the same.
Yesterday, today and forever.
And today His temple is the church.
And people who try to make profit out
of other people in the church.
I will pray with all my heart till
my dying day that Jesus will drive them
out of the church.
Those who try to make profit from other
people in the church.
Jesus never drove people out from the market
place.
Remember that in Jerusalem?
He said, you do what you like there.
Don't you ever do it in the house
of God.
That's all I'm saying.
Don't ever do it in the house of
God.
Don't tell sheep or doves or anything where
you're going to make a profit for yourself.
Even pickle.
You can sell pickle but give it free.
Or at cost price with zero profit.
That's okay.
But not real estate and all this amway.
Do it outside.
Do it as much as you like.
Go all over Bangalore and sell it.
But not in the temple.
If you do it in the temple, do
it with zero profit.
You can do it.
With zero profit or a little loss for
you.
Even better.
That's fine.
Best is you give it free.
If you can't give it free, zero profit
or a little loss for you.
But never again and don't go pushing people
to buy what you want to sell.
If they come to you, say, brother, can
you give me this?
Or they want you to do something, go
and do it.
And you got to make your living out
of it.
You got to get your commission out of
it.
There's nothing wrong in that.
Jesus made a commission.
Do you know that?
You think he made stools and benches for
free?
How would he feed his family of eight
people at home?
Jesus bought wood, made a stool or a
bench or a table for people who ordered
it, and made a profit on it.
He didn't do business in the temple.
He made a profit on it because that's
how he had to live on that profit.
He had four brothers, two sisters and a
mother at home whom he had to feed.
There's nothing wrong in that.
But Jesus didn't go pushing people to buy
things from him like some Christians have done.
That's business.
That's Babylon.
I don't care what your doctrine is, you
belong to Babylon.
We don't want that in this church.
We don't want it.
And I pray with all my heart that
those who have not repented of doing that,
those who don't set it right, those who
don't give back money which they have cheated
other people like that, I pray that God
will drive them out one day from Jerusalem,
from his kingdom.
Because God hates it.
He hates it.
It's not fair.
It's not righteous.
Godliness is becoming a means of gain.
We want to finish with it.
We want to finish with people who are
trying to make profit out of being a
Christian and taking advantage of other people because
they are Christians and we get to know
them in the church and take advantage of
them.
And you're a bag of scales and you
make profit for yourself.
Brother, be careful.
Be righteous.
Be absolutely righteous.
Ask yourself, is that the way you would
deal with your son?
Would you sell your son a third rate
scooter which doesn't work properly?
Or a tape recorder that doesn't work?
No.
Then how do you do that to another
brother in the church?
There's a lot of partiality in us.
Far more than we think.
And I believe that's the reason why we
got a body without breath.
I believe we could have had a far
greater anointing in our lives, in our church,
in our meetings if we were more righteous
and absolutely free from partiality in our daily
lives.
In all doings.
James says another thing.
He spoke about partiality.
He says about being partial to rich people.
The Old Testament also said don't be partial
to poor people.
You see, that's another mistake people make.
There's a verse in Exodus 23 or somewhere.
He says don't show partiality to the poor.
You see, this is the fellow, the communist
who says we must be partial to the
poor.
That's equally wrong before God.
Impartiality means you don't care whether the person
is rich or poor.
But that also I've seen.
I've seen people being partial to the rich
in the church.
I've seen people being partial to the poor
and say boy, we're going to drive out
the rich.
No.
That's also partiality.
And James says be careful.
Treat everybody alike.
Don't treat people of your community in a
special way, people of other community in another
way.
That's partiality.
So, the other thing James says in James
chapter 5.
He says come now you rich people.
Now is the time to cry and groan.
He says if you cry and groan now
because of your sins, it'll be okay in
the future.
There's all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
Your wealth is even now rotting away.
Your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten
rags.
Why?
The value of your gold and silver is
dropping fast.
Why?
Because the cries, verse 4, of those who
have worked for you and have not been
paid have reached the ears of the Lord.
You have spent, verse 5, your years on
earth having fun, satisfying your every whim and
your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter.
In other words, you spend a lot of
money on luxuries for yourself and you haven't
paid the servants who work in your home
properly.
Have you ever thought of denying yourself a
few ice-creams so that you can give
a little money to that poor person who
works for you?
Have you ever thought of that?
What type of Christian are you in any
case?
If you have never thought of that.
Have you only thought of I and my
children must enjoy chocolates and ice-cream and
all that, but this servant who works for
me I'm going to make sure we give
him.
What is the minimum pay people give in
Bangalore?
Let me give that.
Are you a Christian?
Or a heathen?
Do you know the verse in the Old
Testament Proverbs which says, a righteous man is
even kind to his animals.
Have you read that verse?
A righteous, leave alone servants, he is kind
to his animals.
That means if a cruel farmer who whips
his ox gets converted, the ox will wonder
what happened when this chap gets converted.
That's how it will be.
A righteous man is kind to his animals.
Leave alone his servants.
What type of righteousness do we have?
If you haven't learned to be kind to
those who are less fortunate than we are.
To do righteously, not only to pay them,
it says to do righteously and love kindness.
To be kind to them.
To be merciful.
To do good to those who do not
have what we have.
To be righteous and kind.
Let me show you a verse in 2nd
Corinthians chapter 8.
You know the Bible has a lot to
talk about this if we read it carefully.
In 2nd Corinthians 8, he is encouraging the
Corinthian Christians who are a bit stingy.
You know there is something about the Corinthian
Christians.
They spoke in tongues and they prophesied but
they were pretty good misers.
Or pretty bad misers.
Whatever way you look at it.
They were misers.
But they spoke in tongues and yelled and
prayed in the meeting and rushed to the
front to testify and all that.
But they were misers.
And Paul had to deliver them from their
miserly...
He says, I want to give you an
example of what those fellows in Macedonia did,
he says in chapter 8.
Those fellows in Philippi.
They are not as well off as you
are.
You are in that Greek city, all posh
place and all that.
Those poor fellows in Philippi, they wanted to
help the poor saints in Jerusalem.
But what about you?
You got so much more than them.
What do you do with that?
Just satisfy yourself.
And so he tells them.
He says, learn to give.
Think of Jesus, he says in verse 9.
Though he was rich, for your sake he
became poor, that you through his poverty might
become rich.
So he says, what should you do?
He says in verse 13.
This is not for the ease of others
and for your affliction.
He says, I am not saying that you
should have a tough time and other people
have an easy time.
No.
I am talking about a little equality here.
Verse 13.
At this present time, you have plenty.
So you can help them.
At another time, maybe you have need and
they can help you.
In this way, there will be an equality.
Verse 14.
Because the Bible says, look what the Bible
says.
He who gathered much, verse 15, did not
have any lack.
He who gathered much had nothing left over.
And he who had gathered little, had enough.
What does that mean in practical terms?
Now, I don't want the wrong type of
people to feel guilty about what I say.
I am not talking now to widows or
those who are poor.
I am not talking to them.
I am not talking to those who are
struggling to make ends meet.
I am not talking to those who are
retired or pensioners or something like that.
No.
But I am talking to some other people
who have houses.
Was there a time in the past, I
am talking to people who got enough now
in savings and your savings are increasing.
I am talking about to such people.
Was there a time, I am talking about
this verse.
At one time, their abundance supplied your lack.
Now your abundance can supply their lack.
Was there a time in the past when
you were in need financially and the church,
CFC, gave you a gift.
Maybe for your wife's delivery or your child
sickness or something.
Okay.
There is nothing wrong in that.
We have to help one another.
Now, now you don't need it.
You say, okay, I don't need it now.
But, you got some savings.
Have you ever thought of repaying that to
CFC so that that money can go to
some poor believers in Tamil Nadu?
It doesn't occur to your mind?
That's what I mean by religiosity.
That's exactly what I mean by godliness being
a means of gain.
Now, if you still have lack, brother, I
am not talking to you.
I am talking about people who are well
off today and who never think of repaying
their old debt to CFC.
That is utter filthy selfish corruption.
And we've got it in our church.
You won't have anybody talking to you straight
like I do, right?
My brother, sister, let me tell you this.
It's better I talk to you now than
Jesus talks to you in the day of
judgment.
That's why I talk to you straight.
Listen to it.
Your abundance should help somebody else's lack.
If you have lack, by all means, somebody
else's abundance should help your lack.
We believe in that.
But what happens when you have abundance?
That's when you forget the time when you
had a lack.
And that's why it goes so badly with
you.
That's why you suffer shortage.
You sow but you don't reap.
And you will continue to sow.
Mark my words.
You will continue to sow.
You will not reap.
Because you are not righteous.
You haven't learned kindness.
You haven't learned to repay your debts.
You haven't thought of other people who have
a far greater need than you have.
You got large gifts in the past when
you were in need.
What are you doing today when you have
an abundance?
That's my question.
You wonder, why God is not doing?
You got the answer today?
Do you get the answer?
Sacrifice a little bit in your life and
help those who are not as well off
as you are.
I believe that's the right way.
Otherwise you know all this.
The reason why God does not bless us
with anointing and with grace and revelation on
His word and freshness.
Why do you get depressed so often?
Do you know that it's not God's will
for us to be depressed?
I believe depression is a judgment of God
on people who have done something wrong in
their life.
They are not right.
They are not fair to other people.
If you are unfair and unkind to your
servants, you deserve to be depressed.
You deserve to be depressed for the rest
of your life.
If you are unfair and unkind to other
people and if you are selfish and make
godliness a means of gain, you deserve to
be depressed.
Sure.
Till you set that right.
Till you humble yourself and say, God, I
don't want to be unrighteous anymore the rest
of my life.
There is salvation for those who repent.
But to those who think CFC is a
place of making gain, mark my words.
You will sow and you will not reap.
And your children will suffer.
What did Gehesi's children get out of the
money he made in the name of godliness?
What did they get?
Leprosy.
They got a lot of interest from their
money, I know.
But along with the interest, they got leprosy
too.
Don't let your children suffer.
I have been very careful on this.
I say, Lord, I have got four boys
and I never want any of them to
suffer.
One unrighteous thing I have done in my
life.
No.
Why should another generation suffer because of me?
They should be blessed.
Be fair.
Be righteous.
Let your abundance meet the lack of other
people.
Don't just think of the wonderful days when
their abundance met your lack.
And rejoice in that.
That's not Christianity.
That's religiosity.
And if that is your faith, your Christianity
is no better than any heathen religion in
the world.
You may come and sit in CFC and
sing the songs and break bread.
It means absolutely nothing.
The last thing, walk humbly with your God.
That means, recognize your need of God.
Recognize that there is nothing you have which
God didn't give you.
Absolutely nothing.
Don't ever look down on somebody in the
world as if you are superior to him.
You are not.
Everything you got in your life is the
gift of God.
Don't boast about your children as though they
are somebody great compared to other people's children.
It's God's mercy.
Even if your children have grown up properly
and are born again and somebody else's child
is gone astray, don't despise them.
You know, I'll give you my testimony.
I was born again before I was married.
And we tried, my wife and I tried
to bring up all our children in the
fear of God.
I was very thankful that they were in
this church.
But when I look back over thirty-three
years of being a father, I cannot count
the number of mistakes I've made.
So many mistakes I made as a father.
I punished my children when they should not
have been punished.
I was hard on them.
I lost my temper and beat them when
I shouldn't have done that.
So many, many, many things.
And I say, Lord, if they are born
again today, it's not because of me.
It's in spite of me.
Because of your mercy.
And what is the result?
Never in my life will I look down
on another brother.
Even if all his children are wayward.
Impossible.
I've never done it and I will never
do it.
Some of you, let me ask you, do
you look down on somebody's child?
Do you feel sorry what's going to happen
to your children?
Be careful.
Don't criticize somebody else's children.
Leave it to God.
He is the judge.
And don't ever, ever, ever, ever compare your
children with somebody else's.
Unless you want to spend your life sowing
and getting weeds.
Walk humbly with your God.
And say, Lord, if anything has gone well
in my life, it's only your mercy.
If I have intelligence to earn a living,
it's your mercy.
If I have health, it's your mercy.
You know, I think of the remarkable health
God's given me to travel about.
I say, it doesn't make me better than
other people.
I'm not better, one bit better than anybody
else.
It's God's remarkable mercy that's given me health,
health, intelligence, wealth.
It's all God's mercy.
Acknowledge it.
It's got nothing to do with your cleverness.
It's got nothing to do with your so
-called spirituality.
You are not getting what you deserve.
Don't ever ask God to say, Lord, give
me what I deserve.
You'll get hell.
That's what we all deserve.
We're getting what we don't deserve.
Every day of my life, I have got
from God what I don't deserve.
Even today, I have got from God what
I do not deserve.
May God help me never to forget it
all the days of my life.
That I have got in my family what
I do not deserve.
My children have received what they do not
deserve.
I have received in this church what I
do not deserve.
Walk humbly with your God.
Recognize your need of God.
The humble man will pray.
People who are proud, don't pray.
I can say that without any hesitation.
Every proud person here will not pray.
He doesn't need to pray.
Why does he need to pray when he
can handle everything himself?
I have preached for 43 years.
Even today, I cry to God and say,
God, please help me, otherwise I'll never be
able to say what you want me to
say.
You cannot depend on your experience in any
area, even in that which you have done
the most.
You are proud if you don't pray, if
you don't seek for God's help.
No wonder, things are not as good as
it should be.
Because you don't feel the need of God.
Do you feel the need of God in
your life?
When you have a problem in your home,
do you feel the need of going to
God and say, God, please sort out this.
I can't do it.
You got to do it.
That's walking in humility.
Why should we fast?
A humble man never asks that question.
Proud people ask that question.
Why should we fast?
I never want to go that way.
I'll tell you honestly, I don't know.
Why do you do it?
Because Jesus said it, that's all.
For a humble man, that's enough.
Jesus told me to do it.
I don't want to be so clever.
Lord, I don't exercise my heart.
It says in Psalm 131 verse 1 and
2.
I don't exercise my heart in all those
high mighty things which I can't understand.
But Jesus said it, I do it.
That's humility.
To say, Lord, I'll do it even if
I don't understand it.
I want to walk all my days in
humility.
What do I have that I have not
received?
Grace.
Have I overcome some sins in my life?
Oh, that's God's grace.
It's got nothing to do with me.
I never will look down on a man
who loses his temper because I know that
without God's grace I'll be worse than him.
I will never look down on a drunkard.
Do you look down on drug addicts?
I don't.
Do you look down on somebody who accidentally
fell into adultery?
Never in my life have I done it.
I'll tell you who I get mad with.
Those who exploit others and especially they do
in the name of Christianity.
Those who sell sheep and doves in the
temple.
Those are the ones Jesus got mad at.
But people fall into drug addiction.
I'll never despise a smoker.
I will never despise a woman who wears
lipstick and wears jeans.
You think God's bothered about these things?
I tell you God's bothered about injustice.
Not about whether a woman's hair is short
or whether she wears jeans or whether she
doesn't even cover her head.
Or whether she wears gold.
I have my convictions but I don't despise
other people who do that.
No!
I want to walk humbly with God.
Let me recommend that way to you.
God has blessed my life tremendously.
I don't deserve it.
But I've tried to do what scripture says
and I would recommend that to you.
Be fair.
Don't be partial to your own children.
They could be wrong.
Your children could be wrong.
Acknowledge that.
I remember when my children were here and
the Sunday school teacher would say something about
them.
And I'd tell my children that's right.
Listen to your Sunday school teacher.
Be submissive to authority in the church.
I would never let them feel they are
Zachary's children so they have a little freedom.
Garbage!
I would have destroyed them if I had
done that.
You're nobody.
You're just like any other child.
That's all.
I'm not going to be like those other
Christian leaders.
If you're wrong, you're wrong.
I'll agree with that Sunday school teacher.
We let our children suffer because we don't
follow the principles of scripture.
Can we repent?
At least do it right from today.
May God help us.
Let's just bow our heads before God.
God doesn't speak to us to condemn us.
Never.
God did not send his son into the
world to condemn the world.
He speaks to us that it might go
exceptionally well with us.
Not just ordinarily but exceptionally well if we
follow his laws.
You say, Lord, give me light.
One of the greatest marks of God's blessing
is that he gives you light on your
spiritual pride, arrogance, despising of others, unkindness to
others, unmerciful attitude to others, partiality, favoritism, favoritism
to your family members, comparing your family with
somebody else's and all this type of satanic
garbage that he's dumped into your life.
Throw it out today.
Throw it out and say, I'm going to
follow Jesus.
I'm going to walk recognizing I have nothing
and I am nothing apart from the grace
of God.
I believe it will go exceptionally well with
you.
I believe it will fill you with the
spirit long before you desire it even.
Before you call, he will answer.
But we got to come to him with
empty vessels.
We got to get rid of those stuff
which we saw today in our vessel.
Now we understand why he couldn't fill us.
Because our vessel was filled with other things.
If it involves a little sacrifice in the
days to come, go ahead and do it.
Do it.
It will do good to you.
Don't let your children suffer.
If you don't do it for your sake,
at least do it for your children's sake.
We're dealing with the ruler of this universe.
We're not dealing with just any Tom, Dick
and Harry.
We're dealing with almighty God who runs this
universe.
Let's humble ourselves before him.
Let's fear him, reverence him, respect him and
give him the respect and reverence for his
word and his commands that is due unto
him.
And let's get rid of this Christianity which
makes profit for ourselves.
Finish with it once and for all and
set right everything in the past and say,
Lord, I'm going to start with a clean
sheet.
I'm going to live before you.
Don't get angry at God's word.
Humble yourself.
I believe it can go exceptionally well with
every single one of us without exception.
Let's have that faith.
Lord, when I reach rock bottom, I still
know you love me and you want the
best for me.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you.
No earthly father loves like thee.
No mother ever so mild bears and forbears
as you have done with me, your sinful
child.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you for your mercy.
I want to thank you for your fantastic,
tremendous mercy upon my life through many, many
years.
I don't deserve to stand here.
I don't deserve to sit in the last
seat in this church.
But you've been merciful to me and you've
been merciful to all of us and I
want to thank you for that.
Father in heaven, be glorified in us as
a church.
Help us to bring satisfaction to your heart.
We don't care what the world thinks about
us.
We don't care what the Christian world thinks
about us.
We want to bring satisfaction to your heart.
That's all we want.
If you are satisfied, we can afford to
do without the opinion of everybody else.
Thank you, Father.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
Our mailing address is christianfellowshipcenter
.org If
you would like to receive a weekly message
by Zak Poonen by email, please send us
your email address to cfclit at touchtellindia.net
That is cfclit at touchtellindia
.net The Lord bless you richly.