praise the Lord we thank God that
we have freedom in this country to
meet together and
preach his word
we must never take that for granted
our dear brothers and sisters in some
countries
are not able to meet so freely like this
I every week I
received
an email to
that gives information about the latest
state of
persecution in different countries and
it’s very very challenging
it makes me deeply grateful that we
still have freedom
in this land to meet
and we praise the Lord for that freedom
we pray that doors will continue to
remain open
for the preaching of the Gospel
so today
we want to continue our series on the
marks of true faith
you remember the last two Sundays we
talked about
two of them
one was
a good conscience
one mark of a true person who is true
faith is that he always keeps a good
conscience
victory over sin may take time to come
but he’s quick to confess a Christian is
not one who never Falls
but one who gets up when he falls
and is quick to acknowledge his mistake
to God
and what is more difficult to man as
well
a person who’s got faith will do that if
you don’t do that there’s something
lacking in your faith
if you
don’t keep a good conscience before God
and man the Bible says you make
shipwreck of your faith
there’s a lot of counterfeit faith in
the world
true faith is that which is found in the
scriptures
and when a person has that he’s quick to
acknowledge his mistake he doesn’t try
to cover it up like Adam
so which means that if you find it
difficult to apologize to your wife you
need to seek God for Faith you don’t
have the real Faith a person whose real
faith has got no problem apologizing
even to a child
and that is where I believe a lot of
Christians deceive themselves with their
God faith 1 Timothy 1 is very clear
verse 19 if a person does not keep a
good conscience he makes shipwreck of
his faith and I believe a lot of
Christians have made shipwreck of their
faith the second thing we saw was
Faith brings The Obedience of Faith
which is different from The Obedience in
the Old Testament
Disobedience that comes out of trusting
that God
is
God every God every command of God is
for our good
and we obey him
now today I want to speak
on faith one Mark of Faith is
total dependence upon God
when I say I have faith in God it means
I’m totally dependent on God not
partially dependent on God and more
dependent on myself
or somewhat dependent on God and on
myself I mean take this matter of
forgiveness of sins first of all
because that’ll make it very clear
do you think a person’s sins are
forgiven who believes
that
they are partially forgiven because
Jesus died on the cross
and partially forgiven because he’s also
done a lot of good things
how many of you believe that
isn’t it a total dependence on
Christ Alone
his work on the cross
is the only basis on which our sins can
be forgiven that’s what I mean by total
dependence with zero works of mine
now in the same way
the rest of our Christian Life the Bible
says that righteous will live by faith
now many of us start the Christian Life
right
but we don’t continue along the right
way
we start by recognizing that our
forgiveness is entirely dependent on
Christ’s death on the cross
but we don’t believe that the rest of
our Christian Life we need to entirely
depend on the power of the Holy Spirit
to live
the way God wants us to live
and that’s why Christians live a
substandard life most of the Christians
I’d say more than 95 percent of
Believers I have met
live far far below the standard God
wants them to live and they are quite
content with it
I mean it’s something like you’re being
content that your child child is failing
in second standard
for 25 years
it’s amazing none of you you’ll be
terribly Disturbed if your child is 27
years old and sitting in second standard
why are we not Disturbed
when we’re not making progress and we
try to find out the reason
if you find your child is weak and
Mathematics you send him for special
classes for tuition in mathematics so
that he can pass and move on for the
third standard we need to find out what
is the reason why we never seem to
progress in our personal life or in our
family life or in our ministry or in
Effectiveness a lot of preachers in the
world never seem to seek God why there
is not a greater anointing upon their
Ministry they seem to be content with
the level they
their level of anointing they had 20
years ago when they preached God’s word
it’s pathetic and some of them are sink
even lower
there is a reason
the reason is a lack of total dependence
upon God exactly like we would tell
a person who’s not really born again
with the trouble with you your sins are
not forgiven because you don’t trust
fully in Christ you’re trusting
partially in him and partially you think
that all your sacrifices and pilgrimages
will add to that and somehow forgive
your sins and then you’ll never be
forgiven
we understand that clearly but that’s
the same answer I’d give to a lot of
believers who are perpetually defeated
or why there’s a greater not and not a
greater anointing an Effectiveness in
your life do you know that all of us are
supposed to have a Ministry in the body
of Christ not preaching not standing in
the pulpit
but every single member of the body of
Christ has to have some Ministry
there is no part not even the nails no
part of this human body that God made
without a function
every single part has a function
but every single part down to the Little
Nail functions
because it is 100
dependent on the head
on the brain
you remove the brain and nothing in your
body can function
it’s dependent on the brain you can cut
off your left hand the rest of your body
will function you cut off your legs the
by your many parts of your body will
function but you cut off your brain
that’s the end
so it’s total dependence why is it for
example Believers can’t work together
why is it husband and wife can’t get
along with each other
how many Believers seem to accept it as
normal
that my wife and I will fight every day
or at least once a month that’s normal
how many Believers accept that as normal
that is not the will of God that’s the
will of the devil and if you are living
like that you are accepting the will of
the devil in your life
now you say what can I do my partner is
like that let your partner be like that
why should you be like that
you can’t make a noise without both
hands cooperating to clap if one hand
refuses there’s no sound
there will be no fight that one person
and one partner refuses to fight
they say it’s not only in home it’s in
the church in the office or in you see
how people fight in the buses and trains
and on the roads and everywhere there
cannot be a fight if one person refuses
to fight
the reason for all this is how is it on
the other hand in our human body every
part cooperates so well have you ever
tried doing things with two hands
together so easy
you don’t find one hand refusing to
cooperate unless it’s paralyzed
paralyzed means it’s not listening to
the head it’s not connected to the head
it’s not dependent on the head anymore
that’s the reason not only for failure
in our individual life but also the
reason why we can’t get along with each
other
is because of a lack of total dependence
upon God
so the one mark of true faith is total
dependence upon God
let me repeat just like we totally
depend on Christ’s sacrifice on the
cross for the Forgiveness of our sins
plus zero
plus zero
so you say brother Zach does that mean
that I have to do nothing for victory
over sin let me ask you did you do
nothing
to get forgiveness of sins
you didn’t do anything to earn it
but you certainly had to repent and say
and to come to the Lord and say Lord I
believe and I receive you didn’t you
have to do that
I people didn’t have to do anything then
the whole world would be saved and yet
only one percent or less of the world is
saved why is that
the work is entirely what Christ has
done he said he’s finished you can’t add
to it
faith is to depend on that
is to receive what God is giving
I don’t have to produce anything but I
have to receive if you don’t receive
you don’t get the benefit
forgiveness of sins is offered if I
don’t receive it I don’t get the
Forgiveness of sins the power of the
holy spirit is offered if I don’t
receive it and I think I can manage on
my own I won’t get it
so if you go back to the beginning of
the Bible in Genesis chapter 3
many people have a question why did God
punish Adam and Eve for such a small
little thing
like
eating a fruit from a tree
I mean supposing you told your little
child
don’t
open the fridge
and take any of that food inside
till I come back
when you have come back you find your
little child has opened the fridge eaten
up some of the
sweets or something you kept there
what do you do
you send the child out of your house and
say I never want to see you again
I mean
even a cruel father and mother wouldn’t
do that
you say why did God send Adam and Eve
just for eating a fruit from a tree
yeah there’s more to it than that
you see the tree was not just a mango
tree or an orange tree God wouldn’t have
minded if it was that
those two trees symbolize something
there is no tree in the world today
called the tree of knowledge of Good and
Evil
there is no tree in the world today
where which is called the Tree of Life
which God said if they eat if they live
forever
it’s obvious there was more to it than
just a tree
so let me explain to you
these two trees
symbolize two ways man could live
let’s take the knowledge of Good and
Evil
Adam was created
without the knowledge of Good and Evil
he didn’t have it
and
he could have it
in two ways
one was by
going to God
being dependent on God to say God show
me what is good and evil
because I could be wrong
and the other is where you get
information stored in yourself
and I decide from then on on my own what
is good and evil that was the choice of
these two trees
the knowledge of Good and Evil the devil
says let me expand on what the devil is
saying
Adam take this into yourself
and you will be like God
isn’t that what he said Genesis 3
let me say see what he said to Eve
the mom
um
God verse five Genesis 3 5.
when you eat this tree
your eyes will be opened
and you will be like God
in other words
you will not be dependent on God anymore
you will know good and evil yourself did
you get it
you missed that verse right that is
what
the Temptation was to be like God so
that we don’t have to depend on God to
know good and evil we can no good and
evil ourselves
that’s what Adam was he was tempted
and
she said hey that’s great I don’t have
to keep going to God every time in
future to know what’s good and evil I
can have that thing resident in myself
it’s like a battery that’s all charged
up I don’t have to plug in to the socket
anymore
everything in myself I don’t need God
anymore I can live on my own
and
what happened she died
so the lesson there is if you depend
upon yourself
we are gonna die
if you depend upon God you will live the
other tree was the Tree of Life where
you
depend on God where every time you go to
God God go to God and ask him
please tell me what is right what is
wrong tell me what’s right now what
shall I do here what shall I do there
now that’s not the way we want to live
right
now let me show you in the New Testament
how Jesus explained that
in John’s gospel chapter 15.
I believe this is one of the clearest
definitions of faith in the New
Testament
John 15 and verse
five
I’m the mind and you’re the branches
he who abides in me and I in him
he has fruit for apart from me you can
do nothing
you see that how does a branch depend
upon the tree
it’s helpless
he doesn’t say to the tree
I’ll produce some of the fruit myself
and you produce most of it okay you
produce 99 of it I’ll produce one person
on my own the branch can produce zero
without the dream
this is one of the most beautiful
pictures of faith in the New Testament
total dependence
without me
you can do zero
I believe this needs to sink into our
mind if you want to understand Faith try
and understand this without me you can
do zero
do you really believe that you can do
zero
without Christ I mean of Eternal value
in terms of the world you can accomplish
a lot
without Christ look at all the Godless
unbelievers and atheists who
accomplish so many things in the world
without Christ a great scientists great
athletes and great everything
but in terms of Eternal value it’s going
to be zero
do you know that everything you have
done in your life everything you’ve done
in your life
apart from dependence on Christ you’ll
find when you get into eternity is wiped
out there’s nothing left of it
and you may have even a lot of things
which you think are Christian things
with zero
it’s good to realize that at least now
the righteous will live by faith
lived by faith means Live In Perpetual
dependence upon God
you see that requires a lot of humility
that’s why faith and humility are very
closely linked
Pride
and goes with unbelief
I don’t know whether you see that
connection it’s important to see it
let me show you this great verse in
habakkuk
you know this is the verse that’s quoted
three times in the New Testament
um hardly any verses that are coded
three times in the New Testament the
righteous will live by faith
how about cooked and chapter 2
and verse 4.
notice here what it says the proud
person
his soul is not right in him
so what is the opposite of proud
humble but the humble person
but that’s not what it says
it’s not contrasting the proud person
with a humble person
is contrasting a proud person with a
person who’s got faith
you see the difference
the opposite of pride in this verse is
faith
the proud
the soul is not right
but the one who lives by faith
he’ll be righteous
so there you see the connection between
faith and humility so clearly
back there in the
Old Testament
and that’s quoted three times in the New
Testament to show us
that the the true faith is always goes
with humility
and what what does humility mean
humility doesn’t mean you know hanging
our head down and walking in a
stooping way or wearing simple clothes
or
living very simple simply or riding a
bicycle or
you know saying I’m good for nothing I’m
useless I’m nobody
you know the greatest example of
humility was Jesus Christ
and he always walked with his head held
upright
and he never hung his head down in shame
and or and he never walked around with
dirty ragged clothes and he never gave
people the impression that he’s very
poor and he never that’s all nonsense
there are a lot of poor people are the
most proudest the proudest people I met
on Earth
and there’s some rich people have men
who are very humble he’s got nothing to
do with wealth
it’s got to do with something else
Jesus was not the poorest person in
Israel there were a lot of beggars in
all on the street and they were much
poorer than him
but Jesus was the humblest
and Jesus was not humility was not
manifested in saying oh I’m useless I’m
good for nothing he never said that not
even once
so don’t these wrong understandings of
humility
have made a lot of Christians act humble
and acting humble is worse than anything
real humility if you want to know
whether you’re humble here’s the test
are you totally dependent upon God for
everything
then
you’re humble if you’re not even if the
whole world thinks you’re humble you’re
just a plain old hypocrite
getting a reputation for humility which
you don’t deserve
and the proof of that is God doesn’t
give you Grace to overcome sin God gives
Grace to every humble person why didn’t
he give it to you because even though
the world thought you were humble God
didn’t think so ultimately it’s only
God’s opinion that matters for myself
I’ve discovered one thing some years ago
in my life that there’s only one person
who knows whether I’m humble and that’s
not me it’s not you it’s God
he alone I can fool myself and I can
fool you but I can’t fool God
and the proof
that God believes I’m humble is that he
gives me Grace
because he gives Grace to every humble
person
and if he gives me Grace the Bible says
sin cannot rule over you when you’re
under grace
that’s the proof
that I’ve got Grace
so I remember times in my life where I
fell for me I lost my temper a little
bit or had a bitter thought against
someone
for some time and I woke up and I said
Lord
why did I fall
why is that bitter thought come into my
mind why did I speak that rude word
I don’t want to know
why because I know it’s because I didn’t
get Grace
if I had Grace I would never have had
one bit of thought
person who’s getting Grace never has a
single lustful thought a person who’s
getting Grace never gets angry
he could say his anger about the glory
of God but never concerning himself
he doesn’t get impatient
when these things happen just honestly
acknowledge you are not getting Grace
I’ve learned to say that
and then so I say Lord I know I didn’t
get Grace there that’s why I slipped up
why didn’t I get Grace please show me
where I was proud and then the Lord
shows me somewhere in the last week some
situation where I thought too much of
myself ah
thank you Lord
I can cleanse myself from that
filthiness of the spirit filthiness of
the flesh is easy to cleanse ourselves
from but filthiness of the spirit
so that next time
I can go down a little bit and
be a little more empty of myself
so that I can depend completely on God
so dear brothers and sisters remember
this the mark of true faith is not that
your sicknesses get healed
the mark of true faith is that you
overcome sin which is a billion times
worse than any sickness
and if you don’t overcome sin
you don’t have Grace and if you don’t
get Grace it’s because you’re not humble
that proves you don’t have faith because
I just showed you from habakkuk the
opposite of faith is pride
so we need to understand that
humility is not all these external
giving people Impressions it’s in my
private life I’m totally dependent upon
God
I’m just completely open you know like
the branch is completely open to the
tree to let all the sap come in no
resistance at all no constricting of the
channel through which the sap comes in
completely open
and it bears fruit effortlessly you go
to a branch that’s producing so much
fruit
boy how do you manage to get so much
fruit when I see that other Branch
completely dry
the branch will say I don’t do anything
I just stopped giving any resistance to
the tree when it tries to put sap into
me that’s all
do you know the Christian Life is
supposed to be that simple
it’s when we think that it’s by our
effort that we’re going to serve God and
do something for God that we’re mistaken
so the choice that Adam and Eve had in
the Garden of Eden was
either I live with all the knowledge of
Good and Evil Within Myself like God has
like the devil told see the devil didn’t
tell Eve you will be like God with
Almighty power and great uh strength and
all that and you’ll be able to run the
universe no no no no he said you’ll be
like God in one area
I mean if if the devil had told you
you’re going to be like God and fill the
universe
said you’re a liar
but when he told her there’s one aspect
of God’s nature that you’ll get
you’ll be able to no good and evil on
your own you won’t need God’s help after
that
he fell for it and a lot of Christians
fall for it today
the other tree the Tree of Life
symbolized a life of total dependence on
God where I’m dependent on God for
knowing what is good and he
now
today the equivalent of that is to be
filled with the Holy Spirit
when I’m filled with the Holy Spirit the
Holy Spirit from within tells me
that’s wrong
that’s evil
a television program that looks quite
innocent to most
uh human beings the holy spirit will
tell you as a Christian not for you
it’s evil for you
I turn it off I don’t watch it
a Christian TV program
which a lot of dumb blind ignorant
Christians even Believers sit with their
mouths open and watch and watch and
watch and watch the holy spirit says to
a spiritual Christian
that’s not for you
if you keep on listening to that you’ll
get brainwashed
into having the wrong type of faith
you’ll get brainwashed into loving money
more than God
you’ll get brainwashed into thinking
that healing is more important than
victory over sin
turn it off
but
most Christians say no there’s nothing
wrong in it
I know it’s okay they are living by the
tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and
that’s why there’s so much of death in
their life
whereas a spiritual Christian for the
proof of death is this one example they
they get depressed they have bad moods
why is that because they don’t listen to
the holy spirit in these little
promptings but you look at this other
spiritual spiritual Christian who
listens to the Holy Spirit even when he
prompts him not to watch a Christian TV
program
he’s the joy of the Lord 24 hours a day
seven days a week how is that
do you have brothers and sisters the
knowledge of Good and Evil
is not a simple thing like avoiding
adultery and murder which you don’t need
the Holy Spirit to tell you that even
worldly people have got that type of
knowledge of Good and Evil it’s talking
about a much more sensitive it’s like a
weighing machine that registers
milligrams not grams or kilograms but
milligrams and decimals of milligrams
because the Holy Spirit tells you this
is good that’s evil what a wonderful way
to live
I mean think of the
uh strictness with with which in a good
Hospital the doctors will scrub their
hands in the surgery in the operating
theater to make sure that all the germs
are gone and after they’ve done that
they put on sterilized gloves on top of
that can you imagine
how careful they are would you like to
go to such a hospital
or would you like to go to a hospital
where a doctor just puts his hand inside
your stomach and pulls out things and
all that I don’t want to go to hospital
like that
we’re so careful with our body
but something a million times more
important than our body our soul in our
spirit we’re so careless you know why
the devil has blinded us about the
knowledge of Good and Evil we have
inherited this poison that
our forefather Adam and Eve parents
took into them it just come down to us I
know good and evil myself
why do I need to go to God for example
why don’t people read study the Bible
more carefully
why is it tell me honestly
do you know that there’s only one book
in the whole world written by God
all of you would agree there
but that’s the one book you read the
least
you read the newspaper more than you
read the Bible
you read other novels
you watch movies more than you read the
Bible
you know why
because you think
you can know good and evil without
studying this book
no wonder your spiritual life is in the
level it is it’ll be like that even for
the next 50 years if you live I
guarantee it won’t change it’ll probably
get worse
because this poison of
which Adam took in I don’t need God I am
clever I know what is good and what is
evil you think so
but look at the result
look at the bad moods you get into look
at the loss of temper you get into
look at the selfishness and the
miserliness there is in your life a
miser is a man who doesn’t know God
look at the stinginess with which you
are with you which you treat money when
it comes to giving to God and blessing
God’s word and the lavishness with which
you live spending it on yourself that is
the proof that you don’t know what is
good and evil
oh
dear brothers and sisters
knowledge of Good and Evil is not just
knowing the Ten Commandments
it’s a lot more than that
this is what it means to live totally
dependent on God
see now for example
the story of Abraham
in um
Romans chapter 4 we are told about
Abraham’s
getting a child
as a Mark of Faith you know Romans 4 is
the great chapter
on justification by faith and he is
trying to prove that
justification that is being declared
righteous before God Is by faith
and not by words in other words in total
dependence upon God
and it says here that God told Abraham
that he was going to be the father verse
17 Romans 4 17.
um it says those of our first of all
verse 16 the last part those of us who
are of the faith of Abraham who is the
father of us all
he’s not writing to the Israelites there
who for whom Abraham was a physical
father he’s writing to the Romans
who were not Jewish people Gentiles like
you and me and you see Abraham is the
father of us all spiritually speaking he
was an example to us of what faith
really is
and he says we are we are of the faith
of Abraham
that’s the closest to the faith of Jesus
Christ
and as it is written a father of many
nations I made you in the presence of
God
who gives life to the dead and calls
into being that which does not exist
so he believed it says in verse 18 in
hope against hope he believed that he
would become the father of many nations
in verse 19 without becoming Faith weak
in faith
look at what he contemplated he looked
at his own body
as good as dead verse 19.
because he was 100 years old he looked
at Sarah’s womb dead so you’ve been
married so many years no children
okay so what did he do you’re going to
see very carefully what faith is here
it’s a beautiful expression of faith we
saw it in first example in Adam and Eve
you know
trying to know good and evil without
God’s help without the witness of the
Holy Spirit ourselves deciding what is
good and evil that’s a mark of a man
without faith here’s another example of
faith
when God gave a promise
first of all he looked at his own body
NoHo
of having a child he looked at Sarah’s
womb no hope of having a child and third
it says in verse he looked in verse 20
he had the promise of God
ah
and he said that’s great it doesn’t
matter now whether I’m 100 years old or
Sarah’s womb is Baron makes no
difference God he said I’m gonna have a
child normally I’m gonna hurt a child
through that child Nations will be born
and he grew strong in faith verse 20
giving glory to God because he looked at
the promise of God and not at his own
body
or his own abilities
that is Faith where I don’t depend on my
own abilities but I look at the promise
of God and I depend on that God is going
to do what is it saying he was verse 21
here’s Faith one definition of faith
being fully assured
that what God has promised
he’s able to do
what a man has promised he’s able to do
may not work because the man May
sincerely be willing to help you but
he can fail
you know a surgeon may say I’ll do a
good job and cure you of this cancer he
may not succeed even though he really
wants to help you but when God says
something there’s no chance of failure
zero
so he looked at the promise of God
and he was absolutely convinced what God
had promised he is able to do therefore
God said Abraham you’re righteous
why was he declared righteous just
because he said
what you said you’ll do you I believe
you can do
and that faith that was credited to this
righteousness was credited not only to
him but for our sake as well
so you see there a definition of faith
now let’s look at Abraham’s development
God told him
in Genesis 12 when he was 75 years old
we read that God told him you’re going
to be a blessing to all the nations
and he had no children
and after a while when he was about 86
years old or 85 or so
he decided he had waited 10 years
for the Fulfillment of that promise
and nothing happened
Sarah was still not having any children
so he decided to help God out a little
bit
you know how
a lot of preachers today also try to
help God a little bit
like saying
uh Lord I said the other day you know
God is going through a tough time right
now because of financial difficulties up
there in heaven
and uh you know it’s a recession time in
heaven and business is bad so all of you
people must help God out and give him
some money for his work
God’s work he will bless you in this
time of recession
God is going through a recession and if
he will help he will bless you if you
will help his work in this time of
recession
it’s not a New Concept Abraham thought
of it first
God is having a tough time
trying to produce a child through Sarah
I’m capable
I am not impotent I can have a child but
Sarah God’s having a tough time let me
help God a little bit
I’ll take Sarah’s servant woman
we’ll have a child
and they did
the preacher does succeed in collecting
a million dollars
he succeeds just like Abraham succeeded
in getting Ishmael with all those
tactics and clever words
they make people
uh
collect money I heard a joke the other
day about
a man who has wanted to collect a lot of
money from people in his church you know
he wanted to say
who all will
pay uh it’s in America somewhere usually
things like this happen there
how many of you will give a hundred
dollars stand up
each
and there was a new pianist that day
he said can you play some really moving
Melody of the piano
so while I’m giving this invitation for
people to give a hundred dollars each
Mr smart
so when the preacher was giving this
invitation
who all will give a hundred dollar stand
up he played the national anthem foreign
and of course now these guys that stood
up they had to keep their word and the
piano is not the job also
these clever tricks well Abraham also
had a clever trick up his sleeve
to
help God out
he said I’ll help God and he got Ishmael
and he took Ishmael and said you know
these words are in the Old Testament oh
that Ishmael might live before you and
God said rubbish set him away
you’ll never see him for the rest of
your life
and you take that work
that you do for God with all these
carnal tactics and say oh God bless it
and God says
throw it in the Dustbin it’s rubbish
what is work for you Lord but it was not
done Independence upon me it was done
with all your clever tactics and your
own human methods
manipulating people with psychological
tricks
a lot of Christian work today is wood
hay and straw that will be burnt up
in the day of judgment
because it’s not not because it’s not
good work it’s not the thing is what was
wrong with Ishmael years were okay his
eyes everything everything is okay what
is wrong with him he’s a healthy child
he was not born Independence upon God
that’s all
that’s all
what’s wrong with that work you’re doing
it’s not done Independence on God that’s
all
God won’t accept it
however healthy Ishmael may be you need
to understand this and so God said send
him away and you’ll never see him for
the rest of your life Abraham
how sad do you think Abraham felt very
happy that day
do you think you’re going to be happy
when all your work gets burnt up at the
Judgment seat of Christ and say God says
it is all nonsense it is not done
Independence on me it is done with the
spirit of Adam and Eve
Spirit of the tree of knowledge good and
evil I know what to do I know how to do
God’s work and I can do this and I can
do that
so
God had to wait we read another 13 14
years
I don’t know whether you’ve noticed this
very interesting Passage
how should we read the Bible
slowly
turn to Genesis
and
if I think it’s chapter
seven
no 16.
the last verse of chapter 16.
the last verse Genesis 16 last verse
Abraham was 86 years old
when Hagar
bore Ishmael
got it
now don’t stop these chapter divisions
were made by men so don’t stop at a
chapter division just move on
Abraham was 99 years old when the Lord
appeared to him what happened in these
13 years
next verses Abraham was 99 did it ever
strike you till today
that suddenly 13 years is absent
what was God waiting for
he was waiting for Abraham to become
important
[Music]
unable to produce a child
says Abraham you’re smart right you
think you can produce a child
without Sarah fine but I’ll make it such
that even you can’t produce each other
even if you want to
takes 13 years okay let’s wait 13 years
takes time for a fellow to become
important okay let’s wait
he waits
and now Abraham even if he wants to have
a child he cannot have through Hagar or
through anybody else
God says no
says no I’ll give you the child of
Promise through whom Jesus Will Come
and the next year
Sarah becomes pregnant
Ishmael is born Isaac is born when
Sarah is 100 years old
that’s the meaning of those 13 Missing
Years
you know what God is waiting for in your
life brother sister
long silent years
God saying nothing
doing nothing
and you wonder why
he’s just waiting for you to be
important spiritual
for Abraham it was sexual impotence for
you it is spiritual impotence
where you come to say Lord
I cannot do anything
without you
that’s why I need to pray
that’s why I need to be dependent on you
for everything
that’s why I need to pray about everyone
people who are spiritually who think
they can do so many things they don’t
pray I need to pray I can do a lot of
things on my own
prayer is also has weak fellas
I’m okay
look at the result of your life
faith is total dependence upon God in
helplessness like a branch in a tree
for knowing Good and Evil
or for producing
fruit like Abraham
in Adam’s case it was to no good in you
that’s where you got to begin Lord even
to know what is good and what is evil in
this world
I need the revelation of the Holy Spirit
otherwise I’ll be deceived I want to be
dependent on God it’s it’s a gift which
the New Testament calls discernment
you know what discernment is
this spiritual discernment is the Tree
of Life dependence on the Holy Spirit
showing me what’s right and wrong
let me show you 1 John chapter 2.
1 John chapter 2.
and verse 27
verse 26 first and 27.
these things I have written to you
concerning those who are trying to
deceive you and we have lots of that
today particularly on Christian
television
lots of deception
as but
listen to this
when you listen to a preacher preaching
from a platform or listen to somebody on
Christian television think of this verse
as for you
the anointing which you receive from God
that’s the Holy Spirit that’s the Tree
of Life
if you come to the Tree of Life abides
in you and you don’t need anyone to
teach you now don’t misunderstand that
don’t take a verse out of its context
if you don’t need anybody to teach you
why does it say in Ephesians 4 11 that
Christ has appointed teachers in the
church he’s not talking about teaching
the Bible or teaching the things of God
he’s talking about teaching you
concerning that deceiver notice the
context concerning those deceivers verse
26 you don’t need anybody to teach you
whether that preacher is a deceiver or
not
you don’t need brothers act to come and
sit next to you and say hey don’t listen
to him you got the holy spirit inside
you
the anointing inside you will teach you
about every preacher about all things
and that is truth and there is no lie
and as the anointing teaches you abide
in him
it is one of the greatest needs of our
day
to have to listen to the voice of the
spirit that says I know there are many
times
when I have listened to some of these
preachers who get exposed
Ten Years Later
10 years later
I hear them
I’ve heard them 10 years earlier before
they got exposed
something wrong I don’t know what is
wrong there’s something wrong with that
guy
I can think of numerous examples like
that
I I listened to him and I sense in my
spirit there’s something wrong with that
person
and it’s not because I don’t agree with
them doctrinally there’s something wrong
with the person
and later on it gets exposed the guy is
fooling around with women or something
which nobody knew for 10 years
now how is it that such people remain as
preachers in churches for
20 30 years it’s because the whole bunch
of people sitting there got no
discernment even the elders have no
discernment they accept this guy is
their pastor and then suddenly he gets
exposed that he’s a homosexual or is
adultery or something
you need discernment in these last days
my brother sister you need to get rid of
the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil
and come to the Tree of Life
discernment discernment I can’t give it
to you the Holy Spirit can give it to
you if you seek to be filled with the
Holy Spirit and abide in him
he’ll give you that discernment let me
show you in other words
it’s in Philippians in chapter one
verse 9 and 10. have you read this verse
read it slowly
false prayer for these wonderful
Philippian Christians who was one of the
best churches that Paul had
I’m praying for you wonderful Christians
Philippians 1 9.
that your love may abound more and more
in knowledge and discernment
now we think love abounding more and
more means giving money to the poor and
giving money for God’s work no no no no
he’s talking about love abounding in
discernment
to know whether that guy who’s coming to
your church is a crook
a lot of people don’t
have that discernment Jude says in his
letter there are certain people are
crept into your church unawares
the elders didn’t have discernment there
they just allowed the guy to walk in not
walk in he crept in
said the right words
I remember in
one of the
one about churches in another state
the smaller ones
I
told them about one person
when I went there I mean I go there
early maybe two three days a year but I
saw this guy and I said hey there’s
something wrong with this guy
I don’t think he’s safe
I think you better tell him
anyway the elders thought they knew more
than me I said okay fine
finally he caused some confusion and
left on his own I said great
but then there was another Elder there
after some time that fellow wanted to
come in because he couldn’t
be accepted anywhere else
and he and his wife you know buttered
the Elder and got back in I said to them
I said be careful that guy will destroy
your church
why did you let him back in maybe you
think you’re more compassionate than
brother Zach who’s so hard
what happened
sure enough because of that one person
that whole church hold it up
completely
close down
and now the Believers have to travel 30
kilometers to go to another church
what is the reason
human compassion
I pray that your love will grow in
discernment
Paul says I pray that your love will
abound more and more in real discernment
so that you may approve the things that
are excellent not just the things that
are good did you read that slowly so
that you may approve the things that are
excellent
the good is the enemy of the excellent
when you choose the good you may be
missing the excellent the best
I want the best
you young fellas who want the best when
you want to get married you young girls
who want the best when you want to get
married why not also choose the best in
spiritual life you who want the best
when you choose a house and the best
when you choose a job what about
something more important than that the
best spiritually I don’t want what is
good will you say to God I don’t want
what is good I want the best I want
discernment that’ll come through
dependence upon God give me discernment
give me discernment
how important young people when they
consider marriage
to have discernment discernment
like you don’t have the discernment go
and ask some Godly older brother for
some wisdom
look at the mess so many young people
have made of their lives by getting
married without
discernment
human oh I fell in love well first of
all you shouldn’t fall that’s what the
Bible says Jesus can keep you from
falling
you must rise up in love not fall in
love
that’s a spiritual way where I choose
because God
shows that is the person
of course we can love the person all our
heart you love the person much better
in all areas faith is total dependence
on God
you know when Paul was in danger of
becoming proud once because God was
using him mightily
and
he was doing fantastic things and God
said ah
there is a danger that my servant may
now
think that he knows Good and Evil on his
own he may think that he can do because
he’s done so much
and God gave him a sickness
we read about it in second Corinthians
12.
he calls it a thorn in the flesh you
read the first nine verses
and he prays oh God he’ll be in Jesus
name heal me in Jesus name I claim this
healing I claim the promise to the Lord
is my healer nothing happens
you’re not the first person who had that
experience by the way don’t get
discouraged Paul had it before you
nothing happened
it didn’t mean Jesus is no power it just
means that that sickness was necessary
to teach Paul a lesson and probably
necessary for you to learn a lesson too
and he never got rid of it till the end
of his life he had that thorn in the
flesh he called it a messenger of Satan
sickness is a messenger of Satan it
buffeted and buffeted him and he just
couldn’t get rid of it
and
finally he says
the Lord told him verse 9.
my grace is sufficient for you because
my power is made perfect in weakness or
as the living Bible says my power shows
up best in Weak people
how do we get the power that comes
through faith we got to become weak we
got to be reduced to zero we got to be
helpless like the branch in the tree and
God is using so many circumstances to
break us if you resist that breaking
you’re delaying you’re coming down to
zero
why do you think he has given you that
difficult neighbor difficult boss
difficult wife difficult children to
break you brother sister why is he
giving you those difficult circumstances
to break you to Humble you why is he put
you into tight circumstances where you
can’t you don’t have freedom to move
like you could in the old days to Humble
you to break you learn to give thanks
there and say Lord look what Paul said
verse 10 I’m content with weaknesses
with insults why does he allow people to
insult you
with distresses with persecutions with
difficulties I’m content I can imagine a
man saying I am perfectly content with
all my difficulties with all my
distresses with all the insults people
give me praise the Lord because these
things make me weak
these things make me small and when I’m
weak then I’m strong verse 10 and last
part of verse 9 the power of Christ
dwells in me why do you think Paul was
such a Mighty Man
because he was weak he allowed God to
make him weak whereas when God has tried
to make you weak perhaps you’re resisted
and say why does that guy treat me like
that and you remain strong
there is a reason why God has allowed
your circumstances your peculiar
circumstances your financial
difficulties
the difficult people you have to live
with in your home in your office in your
neighborhood God has allowed it to break
you there’s nothing impossible with God
he can remove people overnight why
doesn’t he do it because he’s doing your
work in you to break you if you
understand that
you will say I rejoice in it
in conclusion chapter 13.
verse you’re seeking verse 3 13 second
Corinthians 13 verse 3 you’re seeking
for a proof that Christ speaks in me
who’s not weak toward you but Mighty he
was crucified because of weakness
Jesus became weak on the cross
weak means he chose to be weak I can
call 72 000 Angels but I will not call
them that’s weakness
we also are weak in him because we want
to live by the power of God
the secret of the Christian Life is
total weakness total dependence upon God
so that we live only by God’s power and
not by our own
this is the fundamental reason why many
people do not live the Christian life
the way they should the righteous will
live by faith by total dependence on God
like someone has said in Abraham’s case
at 86 it was difficult to have a child
by 100 it was impossible then it was
done so if there are three stages in
God’s work
difficult
impossible done
where are you
have you got to the place where
something is impossible
then you go to the place where you’re
zero you can’t do it then God will do it
but as long as you think it’s a little
difficult you’re still struggling to
produce one more Ishmael maybe the last
one didn’t work but the next one God
will accept you can produce a hundred
ishmaels God will accept nothing
he’s trying to reduce you to zero
God wants to bring us down to zero so
that all the glory will be his
I’ve seen that in preaching God’s word a
lot of people think oh brother Zach is
so gifted
it’s not brother you don’t know me
if I don’t remain plugged in
I’ll be as dry and boring and worse than
the most boring preacher you’ve ever
heard you remove the plug it doesn’t
matter the plugs mean there 50 years
current is gone
this is what faith is keep plugged in
all the time
and recognize you have no electricity
within yourself look at this lamps and
all they are humble today we don’t have
any electricity
plug in plug Us in we’ll shine
even after 50 years we have no
electricity
that is
and imagine anybody can do it you can
live like that that socket is there go
and plug in
humble yourself
it’s powerful for God In Prayer
Lord
in this confused deceived World confused
deceived Christendom
teach us to live
Independence upon you so that we shall
have discernment
and we shall have power
to live the way you want us to live
make us weak
that’s our prayer
because we know how to pray now make us
weak
we pray in Jesus name amen