======================================================================== AN ELDER MUST BE A DISCIPLE AND NOT A SCRIBE by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of being a disciple of Jesus, surpassing the righteousness of scribes by focusing on the heart rather than external actions. It challenges elders to carry a burden for the church like carrying a baby in the womb, urging them to seek a New Testament church experience. The speaker highlights the need for humility, love for enemies, and genuine prayer to God, not for the approval of men. Topics: "Discipleship", "Heart Transformation" Scripture References: Matthew 5:20, Matthew 5:44, Acts 6:3, 1 Corinthians 11:31, Jeremiah 1:5, Jeremiah 13:17, Luke 6:66, Philippians 2:12, Matthew 13:52, Matthew 6:1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of being a disciple of Jesus, surpassing the righteousness of scribes by focusing on the heart rather than external actions. It challenges elders to carry a burden for the church like carrying a baby in the womb, urging them to seek a New Testament church experience. The speaker highlights the need for humility, love for enemies, and genuine prayer to God, not for the approval of men. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear brothers, it's a real privilege and honor to be able to speak to you. Many of us are preachers of the word of God. And it's very easy to forget that this is an honor that God gives you. Because so many people listen to us patiently, it can go to our head, make us think that we are somebody very important. That is how through the years, hundreds and thousands of preachers have backslidden and gone to hell. I've discovered one thing. One of the things I've discovered is that all interruptions in life are to teach us patience. Not only in situations like this, but in different things that happen in our home. We all want to have our hearts filled with the love of God. And 1 Corinthians 13 says that the number one quality of love is patience. And I've seen through all my Christian life that that's one of the greatest things the Lord wants to teach me. Never to be even slightly disturbed if something we plan goes wrong. Not even slightly disturbed if somebody does not do things exactly as we want them to do it. And in a meeting, if the lights go off or something else goes wrong and the mic stops working. Or in our home, maybe the wife makes a mistake or there's too much salt in the food. Or something she is very important, message comes to her for us and she doesn't tell us. The Bible says God works in us to will and to do his good pleasure. But we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And that by the way is in Philippians chapter 2 verse 12 and 13. But do you know what it says after that, that we have to work out our salvation from? Work out our salvation from all murmuring and complaining. The first step is to eliminate murmuring and complaining with our tongue. But if you're satisfied with that you'll never progress. But to eliminate murmuring and complaining in our heart. We have to work out our salvation till we are 100% free from this. So thank God for all the things that go wrong that helps us to come to a life of perfect victory. I was thinking of Jeremiah. Turn to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a very young man when God called him to be a prophet. Jeremiah chapter 1. The Lord says in verse 4, before you were born I appointed you a prophet. Do you know that whatever ministry God has given you is something he chose for you before you were born? I'm not talking about a ministry to which some man has appointed you. There are two types of elders. Those appointed by some man. Even by Paul. But some of them may fall away like Demas. They go to hell. Even though they are appointed by Paul. Judas was appointed by Jesus. And if you read in Luke chapter 6 it says there he became a traitor. He was not a traitor when he was chosen. If he was a crooked man from the beginning Jesus would not have chosen him. But Jesus chose him because he was a sincere wholehearted person. But I think because of his ministry in Matthew chapter 10 it says he healed the sick and raised the dead. The Lord gave him that ministry. How much he did that I don't know but that is the ministry God gave him. But that went to his head. He became proud. And he fell away. So bad that Jesus said it is better he was not even born. To become an elder is to rise very high. You are the highest person in your church. If you are really a servant of the Lord You will seek to go down to the feet like Jesus was at the last supper. To wash their feet. That is what I pray for myself all the time. Lord never take me away from the place where I am washing people's feet. I mean that is a very spiritual thing to say. You can also say that. It is very easy for anyone to say. And you can repeat it and get honor for what a humble elder our brother is. That seeking honor for your humanity itself shows that you are so high. The flesh is so corrupt. You have to live before God's face 24 hours a day. But I am just telling you how people may ask why did God allow Jesus to choose Judas if he knew he was going to betray him. He must not have such a foolish thought that somebody had to betray Jesus so Jesus chose Judas. Jesus could have been caught and captured and crucified even without somebody betraying him. And we can say why did God allow Paul to choose Demas if Demas was going to fall away and become a backstabber. God deals with us as we are now not as we are going to be 10 years from now. When we were unbelievers God treated us as unbelievers. When you become a child of God he treated you as a child of God. And you became a wholehearted disciple he treated you like a wholehearted disciple. For many years you were humble he gave you grace. But then slowly you started becoming proud and God began to withdraw his grace. And I know somehow his grace has gone completely gone away. Because they have become so proud in their own eyes. The Lord says my name is I am that I am. Not I will be not I was. I am means I live in the present. Eternal present. And so that present means he treats you as you are right now. Not as you were yesterday not as you will be tomorrow. His name is I am. I live in humility every day. Jesus said learn humility from me. Matthew 11, 29 And if we are learning humility from Jesus we have to become more and more humble every day. Not in the eyes of men. In our own thoughts about ourselves. So let's turn to Jeremiah 1. The Lord chose him to be a prophet before he was born. And if you are a God- appointed elder and not a Zak-Punan appointed elder then God chose you before you were born. You seek to be an appointed elder appointed by God even if a human instrument was used. Then you were chosen before you were born. But Paul said in Philippians 2 that many of his co-workers were seeking their own. And that can happen to any of us. We are blessed in our ministry people appreciate us and it goes to our head. Or what is worse we get into a little financial difficulty and then we begin to expect money from our believers. There are so many ways to backslide. One of the things that has preserved CFC through the years is that we do not pay any of our elders. And that money from the offering box does not go to pay any elder. And in that respect we are different from every single denomination on the face of the earth. There are some individual churches who follow this principle. But as a whole group of churches I have never heard of any. God has called us to be a testimony in this area. I don't keep checking the finances of all the churches. I don't have time for that. Jesus knew that Judas Iscariot was stealing. But he did not ask Judas to give an account to him every day. And I don't do that either. We must all live before God's face. If you don't have a fear of God there is no use having a fear of Zachary. No. I am not here to check up on all those things. So we must not take it for granted that because I have a ministry it will remain like that forever. But see here Jeremiah's response in humility when God called him Jeremiah 1.6 He says Lord I don't know how to speak. I am a youth. I said that to the Lord when I was a young person I was preaching out in the streets when I was 22 years old. Lord I don't know how to speak. And I don't know whether you believe me but I say the same thing today. 60 years I have been preaching. And I still say Lord I don't know exactly what to say. God has given me intelligence I can sit down and prepare a nice message. But how do I know that is the word of the Lord for his people at this time. That is the only message worth preaching. Old Testament prophets had a burden. Some of these Old Testament prophets when you read the first verse it says the burden of the word of the Lord. We must have that burden. You know the burden that we only preach from our head it goes to people's heads it does not change them. You know the first time I took a complete Bible study in the book of Revelation was when I was still working in the Navy when I was 24 years old. I studied the book of Revelation and I preached it because I had studied other commentaries on that book. And over a period of 6 months I studied there, took a Bible study with that small group. It was all very clever. But at the end of it I found people were defeated by sin. So I said Lord what is the use of all these Bible studies. Lord what is the use of all these Bible studies. I began to seek earnestly for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You know we can preach a very clever sermon. It's like a farmer who is going around sowing seeds. But if there is no crop what is the use of that seed sowing. That's worth nothing. So the important thing that we need to ask ourselves is how is the crop coming up in our church. What is the condition of the brothers and sisters. Not how wonderful sermons you preach every Sunday. What is the crop like not what is the seed like. We must judge ourselves all the time. I preached hundreds of sermons in these last 60 years. I have a habit of judging myself every single time after I preach. Lord did I say all that I should say. Was there something I should not have said. And sometimes I go to YouTube and listen to my own message again. I listen to the whole thing to see whether I spoke as God wants me to speak. It's because of a verse the Lord gave me many years ago. One Corinthians 11 and verse 31 One Corinthians 11 31 If we judge ourselves rightly we will not be judged. I say Lord in the final day when I stand before you I don't want to be judged. I can imagine people going one by one to the judgment seat of Christ and the Lord looking at the video of their lives 50 years of their life he observed very quickly and he gives each person a judgment. What attitude they had what their motive was they are judged. I said Lord when my turn comes I don't want you to be able to point out even one thing in me that was wrong. Lord you should point out even one thing that was wrong. Not what people think of me. People think of me listening to my messages and hearing about my ministry. Lord you look at the heart. All your opinion of men is worth nothing. In that day when you judge me and the Lord gave me this verse. If you judge yourself now in that day there will be no judgment for you. 1 Corinthians 11 31 and I try to live by that. Not only in the sermons I preach the way I live with my wife at home the way I deal with my children when they are small and now when they are grown up also. I judge myself about what I read what I look at how I spend my time I am not perfect but I want to judge myself according to the light I have. I keep asking the Lord for more light and that helps me to remain humble before the Lord. Because the Lord points out little itty things which other people don't see in my life which even my wife who lives with me cannot see. No, slightly emotive it was wrong here. Or a moment of pride It wasn't for a long time just for a moment. There was no action of pride but just a little thought. I say Lord I want to eliminate that. I have taught for 45 years let us press on to perfection. And God is my witness I have tried to practice that. I seek to compare myself only with Jesus and not with any other human being. I want to encourage all of you my dear brothers to do that. And don't be just challenged to do that today make it a policy for the rest of your life. Jeremiah started off sorry Jeremiah started off as a humble person and continued as a humble person. He preached for more than 40 years. His main burden was how to deliver God's people from Babylon. That kingdom of Judah was backsliding just like the northern kingdom of Israel. was backsliding just like the northern kingdom of Israel. And God had punished the kingdom of Israel by sending the Assyrians to capture them. You read that in the book of Kings. And then the kingdom of Judah was going okay for another 100 years. And then they were also backsliding. The Lord sent Jeremiah to say see what happened to the other kingdoms. Same thing can happen to you. If you don't respond in repentance you will also go to captivity. So the Lord said to him in verse 7 Don't say I'm a youth. Wherever I send you, you must go. Whatever I command you, you must speak. Don't be afraid of them. The Lord touched my mouth verse 9 and said I put my words in your mouth. And then he said I've appointed you verse 10 last part to pluck up break down, destroy, overthrow, build and plant. So there was a double ministry. First of all to destroy all that was wrong and then to build what was good. And he did that faithfully. But people laughed at him and made fun of him. He was tempted to be discouraged. People were not listening to him. See what he said. In Jeremiah 13 This is a tremendous challenge for any true servant of God. He says in Jeremiah 13 verse 17 If you will not listen to me I won't just criticize you. My soul will weep for you in secret for your pride. My eyes will weep and flow down with tears because the flock of the Lord has been taken captive. He loved those people like he loved himself. And just like you would weep if your child is sick Every one of us will really have sorrow in our heart if our child is seriously sick. But there are very few elders who look at their people in their church like that. That is a truly godly elder. These are the Lord's children. God has appointed me to look after them. If they are spiritually sick it should concern me. I cannot have the same capacity to love the people in the church as I love my own children. That is impossible. God can do that. I cannot do it. But I don't condemn myself for that. There are different circles in which we can extend our love. Our immediate first circle is obviously our family whom we will love the most and care for the most. And then our fellow elders and some disciples who are very close to us. And then others. Jesus also had a small group of three in the inner circle. That was Peter, James and John. And then a bigger circle of twelve. And then many others. So there is nothing wrong in having circles like that where we are more committed to a smaller group. But we must have a concern for the church and not just preach and go away. In Jeremiah 20 we read that people laughed at Jeremiah's message. Jeremiah 20 verse 7 In the middle of that verse I have become a laughing stock. Everybody mocks me the whole day. I speak and I cry aloud and I proclaim that the judgment of God is coming. It has resulted in reproach and division the whole day long. People make fun of him when he preached about judgment and repentance. And he was tempted verse 9 to say I will not speak anymore. Because these people are making fun of him. But when he decided not to preach it says in verse 9 last part God's word was like a burning fire within his bones that he could not keep it inside. He had to preach. You know we read that the two disciples who walked with Jesus to Emmaus They walked that 7 miles maybe 3 hours they were listening to Jesus explaining the scriptures. And they said at the end our hearts were burning when he spoke the scriptures to us. And we must pray that when we preach it must be like that. People's hearts must burn. Not by this way politicians speak just stirring up their emotions. There are some preachers who can preach like politicians. It's a stirring up of the emotions. And you are deceiving yourself if you think that is the Holy Spirit. Hundreds of politicians in every country can do that. But if it's the anointing of the spirit it changes people's lives. But before it can burn in other people's hearts it says in verse 9 here the last part it must burn in my heart first. It was burning so much in me that I could not hold it in. The fire just came out of me. It was burning so much in me that I could not hold it in. The fire just came out of me. But in spite of all his preaching for 40 years the children of Israel still backslid and went to Babylon. And turn with me to the next book in the Old Testament, Lamentations. Lamentations of Jeremiah. That comes after Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter 4. Dear brothers, please see if this verse 1 applies to your church. How dark the gold has become. How the pure gold has changed. They say that unlike iron which can rust, gold can never get corrupt. But how terrible it is when gold itself has started rusting. We have to examine ourselves whether our church is going in that direction. There will always be backslidden half-hearted people in every church. That cannot be avoided. We must ensure that in the core of the church there are strong wholehearted people. And that in a few years, maybe 5 or 10 years, we have raised up at least 1 or 2 brothers like us who can take over the ministry. I am sorry to say that in some churches nobody is raised up even after 20-30 years. In CFC churches. And the reason is the man on top. The man on top is ruling like a king. Like a dictator. Then nothing will develop there. It will be a barren church in God's eyes. But God's will is that just like Jesus raised up leaders in 3 and a half years. That's a tremendous challenge to me. Lord, in 3 and a half years you raised up people and said I can go now. You take care of the ministry and the whole world. How he poured himself out so that others could be prepared for the ministry. Not everybody was like that. We read in John's gospel. In John chapter 6, when Jesus spoke about the way of the cross. He said unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you. Verse 51 and 53. He was speaking about taking up the cross and dying. He repeated that all the way from 51 to 56. He repeated that. And it says in verse 66, as a result of this message many disciples withdrew and did not walk with him anymore. As a result of this, we read in verse 66, many disciples withdrew and did not walk with him anymore. The word of the cross of death to self will drive away many people even today. But if you don't preach that and you just have nice singing and all types of other encouraging messages, you will have a bunch of half-hearted people in your church. But if you want to test your church, preach the word of the cross. Take up your cross every day and follow Jesus. Do that yourself. And tell others to do it. And then very soon you will find how many people are serious about following the Lord. Verse 66, many of his disciples withdrew and did not walk with him anymore. They were not Pharisees. They were his disciples. They believed and respected Jesus. They wanted to be his disciples. But they heard the word of the cross and they fell away. And Jesus did not go after them. I find that many times. A rich young ruler, Jesus said you got to give up your money and come after me. He went away. Jesus didn't say, hey, come back, come back. Let's start with 10%, 20%, 30%. Let's slowly go to 100%. No, it was not like that. Cut off your love for money in one shot. Otherwise you can't follow me. You don't want it? Then goodbye. You don't want to see me again. And Jesus did not go after these people. There were 12 left, his 12 disciples. Since there were only 12, we read in verse 67, all the others went. And what did he say to them? He didn't say, please don't go away from me, at least you stay with me. Not at all. He was ready to be alone. You cannot be a servant of God unless you are willing to be alone for God. And he told them, okay, do you also want to go away? And Peter rises up and said, Lord, where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And that's not because Jesus said nice words to Peter. Jesus had turned around and told him, you are a Satan for seeking the things of man. What a strong word. He never spoke a stronger word to anybody else. In the garden of Gethsemane, he put his arm on Judas Iscariot and called him friend. But he looked at his closest disciple Peter and called him Satan in Matthew 16. Because he loved him. And when Peter was seeking his own, he had to give him strong words of rebuke. When we really love people, we will rebuke them strongly in love. Not in anger. Some people hear this and say, okay, I'm going to rebuke. But they usually rebuke in anger. Jeremiah rebuked when he wept in secret for those people. Jesus also wept over Jerusalem. He did not seek to butter people and please them in order that they will stay with them. That is politics. In the church, we speak the truth. If you get offended and go, you can go. I have followed that policy all these 45 years. If somebody has got offended and gone away, I never go after him at all. I say goodbye, I love you, but I'm not going to come after you. But if a person has gone astray by deception like a sheep that slipped over the cliff, then like Jesus, I must go after and bring that person back. But if a person has gone astray by deception like a sheep that slipped over the cliff, then like Jesus, I must go after and bring that person back. Never send him money, never send him any food package, nothing. That is the love of God. Till that person repented and came back. When he repented and came back, he made a big feast for him. There is a dignity about a true servant of God. He goes after lost sheep, but he doesn't go after rebellious sons. So that will happen in every church. We have to stand in a church like Jesus stood. But we have to make sure that God himself supports us there. And for that Bible knowledge alone is not enough. If you turn with me to Matthew 13. In Matthew 13 Jesus said, in verse 52, in the last part of that verse he talks about the head of a household who brings out from his treasure new things and old things. We can say the elder of a church is like the head of that church. There must be a treasure, a secret treasure he has of a life of God. Not just knowledge of the Bible, but a walk with God that has come out of the knowledge of the Bible. And from that experience he brings out all those old experiences he has had that has taught him so many things. Those are the old treasures that we have accumulated through many years of walking with God. But because we are still walking with God, there are new treasures that God is giving us now also. So we are happy to bring out the old treasures and new ones. Two truths that we have preached for 25 years and new truths also. Not some truth that is not in the Bible, but something that has become a new revelation for us. If you want to be a head of a household like that, see the first part of verse 52. The scribe has to become a disciple. A scribe is a person who knows the Bible thoroughly. In my lifetime I have met many scribes who are not disciples. In my lifetime I have met many scribes who are not disciples. I have met people who know the Bible better than me. Know the head knowledge of the Bible I mean. Who can pick out a verse without a problem easily. Know many verses by heart. Better than me. They are not disciples. I have met numerous preachers like that. In the pulpit they show off their Bible knowledge. Of course that verse, the other verse and so many great truths. But when I look at his life, the way he has brought up his children or the way he lives at home or the way he relates to his junior brothers and sisters I say he is not a disciple. I don't want to follow him. I will go astray like him. My children will also go astray like him. I don't want to follow a scribe who knows the Bible. I want to follow a disciple who is following Jesus. Even if we cannot quote verses from memory, we need to ask ourselves as elders are we scribes or are we disciples? What Jesus said in Matthew 16 verse 21. Who were the people who were going to make him suffer and kill him? See here. Matthew 16 verse 21. Jesus said he will suffer many things and be killed. From whom? From the elders and the chief priests. That is understandable. They are all wanting their position. But then also by the scribes. The Bible scholars will kill Jesus. And I tell you Bible scholars are killing the Holy Spirit today. When you don't value the Holy Spirit and you only want to have knowledge of the Bible. Ask yourself my brother. You really long to be a spirit filled person everyday. In the Acts of the Apostles we read about people who are filled with the spirit. But then we read of certain other people who are not just filled with the spirit but who are full of the spirit all the time. We must not be just people who experience a full filling of the Holy Spirit. See Acts chapter 6 verse 3. They wanted to select people who will be honest and upright in distributing food without partiality to the Jews and the Greeks. Verse 1. There was a complaint that the Greek Jews were not being given as much food as the Hebrew widows. That means some of the Christians were distributing more food to the widows of their own tribe. It's like people showing partiality to some friend of theirs in a church. Either he is from my community or my caste. If you are affected by caste system I don't believe you are a disciple of Jesus at all. If you look down on somebody else who belongs to another caste you are not a disciple of Jesus. Even if you secretly look down on someone of another caste, I want to tell you that you are a disciple of Satan. Because only Satan despises people. But here it says, even for distributing food they had to select people who are full of the spirit. Because people full of the spirit will not show partiality. That's what we learn here. If you show partiality to anybody in your church, whether it is your son or your wife or your close friend or a fellow elder or someone from your own community or someone who has been with you a long time, any type of partiality, you are not a man of God. You are holding hands with Satan and you will destroy the church. That's what these people were doing. And the apostles said we got to rectify this situation. And they did not say now select some people who are good organizers or educated people. The apostles said we don't care whether they are educated or not, they must be full of the Holy Spirit. A good testimony. You have wisdom even if their Bible knowledge is not so good. Here are three things mentioned which should characterize every elder brother. A good testimony in the church and in the community. Full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom which is more than knowledge. Knowledge isn't just knowing where some verse in the Bible is. Or knowing some doctrine. Wisdom is how to live in, how to handle a difficult situation. How to love one's enemies. How to bless those who curse us. How to remain humble after preaching a powerful sermon that blessed many people. That is wisdom. And one of these men full of the Spirit was Stephen who became a very powerful prophet. He read his long sermon in Acts chapter 7 that he preached. He was originally chosen because he was an upright man to distribute food. He was humble enough to go around distributing food. I did not start my ministry by preaching. I was a very young brother in a church. On Sunday what I did was go around distributing food as people sat for their lunch. And whatever God calls any lowly job we must always be ready to do it. That's why God anointed Stephen to be a prophet for him. The scribe must become a disciple. And if you want to be a disciple and not just a scribe, let me turn you to Matthew 5 verse 20. Again Jesus speaks about scribes here. Whenever you read scribe, remember a person filled with Bible knowledge. That is a good thing. I spent 60 years trying to study the Bible. That is a good thing. But it must work out in our practical life. Here in Matthew 5 verse 20, the Lord says the righteousness of the scribe is not enough for you. The scribe had a certain amount of righteousness. But that would not qualify them to enter God's kingdom. People with Bible knowledge have got a certain amount of righteousness but that is not enough, God says. Jesus told his disciples. If you read Matthew 5 verse 1 and 2, he is talking to his disciples primarily. He is not talking to the worldly people. He says your righteousness must be more than the righteousness of the scribes. And more than the righteousness of the Pharisees. Pharisees also were a group of people who studied the Bible. In fact in Matthew 23, Jesus says everything they teach is right. That means it is right according to the letter but not the spirit. Just because somebody agrees with you in doctrine does not mean he is a disciple. We have a doctrinal statement in our church website. We believe in a trinity. We believe Jesus became a man and repented like us. He is equal to the father. He died and rose again. You have to repent and believe in him if you want to be saved. People can agree with all that. It only proves he is a scribe. Your righteousness must be more than that. In what way? The Pharisees prayed 3 times a day. They fasted twice a week. Shall we fast 3 times a week? They accurately gave 10%. Shall we give 15%? How is our righteousness to exceed theirs? There are two things called quality and quantity. You can exceed something in quality or in quantity. If people want to buy a camera or a phone, why don't they buy one made in China? Why do they buy one made in Japan? There are millions of phones made in China. Very cheap. Japanese and Korean phones are very much more expensive. Why do people pay more for a car made by a good company? You don't see how many cars are made by this company or how many phones are made by this company. We always look for quality. Jesus looks for quality. Your righteousness must be a superior quality, not in quantity. Their gospel. What a sacrifice they made to travel here and there as missionaries. How are you to surpass their righteousness? Quality. Not more in number, but the quality of your righteousness must be superior. That's what he said in verse 20. Then he said, I'll explain what I mean. For example, verse 21-22. Their righteousness is don't kill. Yours must be higher. Don't get angry. Let's stop there. The scribe did not kill. The disciple of Jesus does not get angry. Which are you? You glory in the fact I've never killed anybody. Or can you say I was a person who always used to get angry at home and angry with my co-workers. It has disappeared from my life. It did not disappear in one day. But I repented, repented, repented and over a period of years it has gone. How many of you repent every single time you get angry with your wife? Or every time you get angry with somebody without a reason? Or even with a reason? The only place where Jesus got angry was where the glory of God was dishonored in the temple. He drove the people out. That I must be angry with when God's name is dishonored in the church. But I must never get angry if people treat me bad. But your wife doesn't listen to you. Or makes a mistake. No anger there. Your righteousness must be more than the righteousness of the scribe. And the Lord says I'll give you one more example. Verse 25 to 27. Scribe did not commit adultery. But I say if you look at a woman verse 28 to last, you've already sinned. Not just sin, you've committed adultery there. Let me ask you a straight question. Be honest with yourself. Supposing you one day fell into adultery with some other woman. Would you have some sorrow? I believe you will. I believe you are really God- caring people. You will. Now let me ask you a question. Do you believe that if you lusted after a woman, you also committed adultery? That's what Jesus said. Whether you did that on a computer or a phone or when you looked at a woman on the street, anywhere. Does that bring in your heart the same sorrow and grief as if you had actually committed adultery? You would weep if you had committed physical adultery. You would weep on your bed. What about when you committed adultery in your mind? My brothers, if you take that seriously, you will know the difference between a scribe and a disciple. Scribes will weep when they commit physical adultery with some woman. A disciple will weep when he commits adultery in his mind. When he lusts after some woman. Jesus says, I'll give you another example. The scribe will love his neighbor but hate his enemy. But with that righteousness, you won't enter the kingdom of heaven. You can love your neighbor and not go to heaven. Because you hate your enemy. But Jesus said, do you want to exceed that to get into God's kingdom? Verse 44, then love your enemy. I have many times made a list of the people who hate me or have done harm to me. I stood before God. I said, Lord, I love them. I'll pray for them right now. I pray that you will bless them. I pray that it will go well with them. That it will go well with their children. No harm will come to their family. Even though they hate me and are doing so much harm to me even now, I have to live before God's face. Because I am determined, I will not be a scribe, I will be a disciple. The Lord says, I'll give you another example. The scribe will give money to the poor. Matthew 6 or to the Lord. Or he will give to the Lord also. But verse 2, he'll want other people to somehow know about it. But a disciple, he will not even let his left hand know what his right hand is doing. The meaning is, somebody very close to him also does not know what he is giving. That's the difference between a scribe and a disciple. I'll give you another example. I'll give you another example. I'll give you another example. Matthew 6, 5. The scribe will pray. But when he prays in a church, he's always thinking, are people listening? Are they saying Hallelujah? Are they saying Amen? He's more conscious of the people around him than thinking that he's praying up to God in heaven. The disciple is not bothered what people think of his prayer. The disciple is not bothered what people think of his prayer. He's always praying to God. I'll give you my testimony. It took me many, many, many years to be free from praying before men and to pray to God. It took me many, many, many years to be free from praying before men and to pray to God. And it happened like this. I would pray in a meeting and afterwards I would judge myself. Lord, did I pray that to you? I was more conscious of who all are listening. They will respond to my prayer. I say, Lord, I'm sorry. I was concerned what people are thinking about my prayer. I was waiting for one Amen or one Hallelujah from someone else. Or when somebody did say an Amen, Lord, it excited me. Lord, I repent. Have you ever repented for something like that? Have you ever repented for something like that? I have done that hundreds of times. Repentance. Lord, that was wrong. I prayed to men. I didn't pray to God. Lord, that was wrong. I prayed to men. I didn't pray to God. Lord, that was wrong. I prayed to men. I didn't pray to God. Finally, I have come to the place today when I pray in public, I pray to God. It's time to climb this mountain. It's time to climb this mountain. But you will never reach the top if you don't work towards it and repent. You don't determine. I am determined never to be a scribe. I'm going to be a disciple. I am determined never to be a scribe. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. 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I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I'm going to be a disciple. I've done it. But I've repented. And it's gone from my life. Yeah, I don't want to say anymore. But I urge you, dear brothers, seek to be a disciple. Disciple of Jesus Christ. Your righteousness is in your heart and not just on the outside. And what you share comes from the burden in your heart. I had a burden in my heart for about 10 years. From 1966, when I left my job, till 1975. And my burden was to see a real New Testament church. Not the dead denominations I had seen plenty of them. Finally, I saw it. But it was like carrying a baby in the womb for 10 years. Imagine what a joy a mother has when after 10 years the baby comes out. Many of you have come into a church very easily. You have become elders without carrying a baby in your womb at all. That's like having an adopted child. You never brought it in your womb. You are too lazy to carry a burden in your womb. So you adopt something. You know the meaning of burden. You know what a woman goes through to give birth to a child. What a lot of things. For nine months she must not do certain things and she has to eat certain types of food and so many many rules they have for having a good baby. So many things she cannot do. Deny herself, deny herself for the sake of that baby. Then when the baby has been born, what a care she has to bring that up. If you have that attitude to your local church, you are a true elder brother. Otherwise your church is an adopted child. It's not your real child. Somebody appointed you there as a father. You're not a real father. My dear brothers, if I've spoken strongly to you, I've spoken in love. God is my witness. I thought I'd finish in one hour, but it's gone to one and a half hours. That happens sometimes when you have a burden. I love you all, dear brothers. I can't say I pray for you all regularly, but I do carry you in my heart. Where someone has a need and I hear about it, I always pray. God bless you all. Thank you for your patience and listening. I pray you will have a tremendous thirst to be filled with the Holy Spirit. To take this fuel of the word of God and set it on fire. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father, Please help every one of us. We are needy. We have a lot of knowledge. You can even explain the new covenant to people. Accurately. Help us Lord to live according to that a little more. Lord, help us to live according to that. In our thought life. In our speech. In our family life. And in our relationship with our brothers and sisters. The offices and factories we work in. That the new covenant life will come forth from us in every place. We will be known for our humility and our love more than for our sermons. Give us this grace Lord. We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/xrhDKJLu4-o.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/an-elder-must-be-a-disciple-and-not-a-scribe/ ========================================================================