======================================================================== EXHORTATION TO CANADA CFC CHURCHES by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God, building a foundation on God's love, and maintaining a personal walk with God. It highlights the need for clear consciences, seeking forgiveness, and living in obedience to God's word. The speaker stresses the significance of making disciples, teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught, and the assurance of God's presence for those who follow Him wholeheartedly. Duration: 1:12:21 Topics: "Surrender to God", "Discipleship and Obedience" Scripture References: Matthew 11:28, Psalm 139:23, Mark 9:24, John 14:1, Hebrews 13:13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God, building a foundation on God's love, and maintaining a personal walk with God. It highlights the need for clear consciences, seeking forgiveness, and living in obedience to God's word. The speaker stresses the significance of making disciples, teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught, and the assurance of God's presence for those who follow Him wholeheartedly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ And before that, many times I'd asked Christ to come into my heart. I was never sure. But 64 years ago, I came to an assurance, which I never doubted that Christ had accepted me. In all these years, I never doubted. But there was a lot of ups and downs and periods of backsliding and, you know, sin, repent and come back. Not serious sins, but in the thoughts and in anger and things like that. And I never took those seriously. And like most Christians, we don't take, for example, I'll tell you, most Christians do not take some of the first sins that Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount seriously. I'll tell you why the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew five, six and seven are very important for building a church or building a family or building your personal life. Let me begin by saying the Church of Jesus Christ is a three story building. The foundation is God's perfect love for us and knowing God as our personal father. You don't know him as a father. You're back in the old covenant. You call him God, Lord. In fact, most people, when they pray, they say, oh, God, oh, Lord, they don't know him as a father, even though Jesus clearly said, when you pray, say our father who art in heaven. And I never knew that for so many years of my Christian life. I knew it in theory. And so if somebody told me, is God your father? I'd say, yes. But there's a lot of difference between, you know, if you have a father who's living in a far country, whom you have not seen at all, but who just sends you letters. You can say you have a father, but you don't even know him. That's how a lot of people know God. Yeah. Is God your father? Yes. Where is he? He's way back, miles away. Once in a while, he speaks to us through his word, the Bible, but they don't know him personally. They're not intimate with him. That's the foundation. And on top of that, the first floor is our personal walk with God. Each individual in a church must have a personal walk with God, which means keeping our conscience clear all the time, 24 hours, seven days a week. That is the first floor. If you don't have the first floor, you can't build a church. Just forget about it. Many people, they're building the churches, come on Sunday and have a meeting, sing a few songs, pray and listen to a message and go away. No, it is 24 hours a day keeping a clear conscience. And that includes immediately confessing to God. And if I've hurt somebody, immediately asking forgiveness from that person. You know, Jesus said that God will not listen to your prayer if you hurt somebody and you're not settled the matter with him. Well, then you hurt somebody and something you said or did, you have not asked his forgiveness, or you cheated somebody, believer or unbeliever, and you're not settled it, you're not repaid your debt. And you come to pray, let me tell you in Jesus name, God does not listen to your prayer. Is the one place in the Bible where Jesus said, don't pray. Imagine Jesus once said, pray always in Luke 18 verse one says here, don't pray. Have you seen the place where Jesus said, don't pray? Many people haven't seen it. I want to show it to you. Matthew chapter five, it's in the Sermon on the Mount. He's talking about communicating with God and he says in Matthew five and verse 23, if you're presenting your offering at the altar and for us, it is prayer. That's the offering we are presenting to God in the name of Jesus Christ. And there, while I'm praying, I remember that my brother has got something against me because, or my sister, I hurt him in some way. I cheated in some way or injured him in some way, verbally or some other way. Leave your offering there. Verse 24, this is where it says, stop praying. Leave your offering there means stop praying because God's not listening and go first, be reconciled to your brother or sister, then come and pray. Then come and present your offering. Remember this. I was once speaking in a all night prayer meeting of a Pentecostal church many years ago. They had invited me to speak. I'm not a part of any Pentecostal church, but I told them once he was having an all night prayer meeting, God's not even listening. I see it's only children who pick up a phone and start speaking into it without even finding out whether somebody's at the other end. But all sensible adults, when they pick up a phone, they dial a number, make sure the other person has picked it up and is listening. Then only we begin to speak. But most Christians begin to speak to God in prayer without even finding out whether he's listening. I'll tell you straight that he's not listening. If you've got something against your brother and you have not settled it, here he says, settle it. Otherwise you're speaking like these children speak into a phone. Nobody's at the other end. And you keep on praying, praying. And I told them, you guys are going to pray all night at that meeting. You're wasting your time. You might as well go to sleep. Settle matters first. Psalm 66, 18 is another very important verse. If I regard sin in my heart, in the heart, I haven't committed any sin. I'm just regarding sin in my heart, thinking of sin in my heart. Psalm 66, 18, the Lord will not hear me. He will not pick up the phone. You can speak as much as you like, but there's nobody at the other end. I tell you, a lot of Christian prayers are like this. They pray so much, but there's nobody at the other end. They're like children speaking into a phone with not even finding out whether somebody's picked up the phone. So one reason why people, why God doesn't, another reason why God doesn't pick up the phone. Why? I told you, you haven't settled matters with somebody. You need to ask that person's forgiveness and set it right. The other reason is in Matthew chapter six, verse 14 and 15. If you forgive others, your heavenly father will forgive you. If you don't forgive others, Matthew 6, 15, your father will not forgive you. So that's the other thing. First I was talking about asking forgiveness. Now is the other aspect of it, the other side of the point, to forgive others who have hurt you. See, if you have lived even on the earth, even for three or four years, just three or four years, somebody has hurt you. And imagine those of us who have grown up to adult age, how many people have hurt us in our life? Many. You can think of them, relatives, people who were your friends, in your place of work, all over. We've had experience of numerous people hurting us, in-laws, mother-in- law, father-in-law, and brothers-in-law, people who cheated you of your inheritance, and all types of people. Now my question is, I want to ask you in Jesus' name, have you forgiven every one of them? Not 99% of them. If one of them, one of them, your mother-in-law or somebody who cheated you of your property, you have not forgiven, I want to tell you today in Jesus' name, and I hope you'll never forget it, that God is not listening to your prayer. Don't waste your time praying. He's not listening. Because it says he won't forgive you if you don't forgive others. We pray in the Lord's Prayer earlier on, he said in verse Matthew 6 and verse 12, forgive us our sins as we forgive others. In other words, exactly like I have forgiven others, I want to ask God to forgive me. So supposing you forgive others in such a way like saying, yeah, I forgive you, but I'll never forget what you did to me, you wretched fellow. You're asking God to forgive you like that. God forgive me, but never forget what I did to you. You want God to forgive you like that? You're praying, forgive me as I forgive others? That's part of the Lord's Prayer. Forgive us our sins as we forgive our debtors. Exactly as we forgive others, Lord forgive me. Please don't pray that if you don't really forgive others from your heart. So I'm just trying to clear the ground to make sure God listens to our prayer. This is the reason why there's so much of shallowness when people come together and they talk about mega churches. What's the use of having 10,000 people in a church if 99.99% of them are not right with God? Waste of time. The Lord is not there in that church. How can the Lord be in a church where 99.99% of people have not forgiven others, and where they're never taught to forgive others, and where they have never taught that God will not even listen to you if you don't forgive others? What's the use of having people gathering together who have not settled matters themselves, who have cheated somebody and not repaid the money, who cheated the government of taxes and never repaid their taxes? You think God is going to listen to them? Never. I say, what's the use having a prayer meeting with such people? Waste of time. So it's very important. That's the first story of the church, a clear conscience. Then we go to the second story of the church. Remember, the foundation is God is our loving father and firmly founded in the fact that my heavenly father loves me. The first story is walking with a clear conscience, and I just explained what that is. The second story is our family life. You know, in 1 Timothy 3, it says, if a man cannot bring up his children properly, he's not fit to be an elder in a church. Think of the number of leaders and pastors today whose children are wayward, right out in the world. How did the pastors get up on Sunday morning and preach away to the church? Well, the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3, such a person is not qualified to lead a church. Our family life is very important. In the Old Testament, family life was not important because they didn't have the Holy Spirit within. God taught them, you must bring up your children properly. Children must be taught to honor the Lord and honor their parents. But a lot of Old Testament people, their family life was pretty bad. You think of Moses, for example, great man of God. But what we read about his family life is we see him fighting with his wife in Exodus, the early chapters, and we don't read anything about his children. He had not even circumcised one of them, even though that boy was a grown-up adult. So here was a leader who was not in proper relationship with his wife. Children were disobedient to the Word of God, but he was the greatest leader in Israel. Or think of Samuel, another great leader. The Old Testament speaks about Moses and Samuel in the book of Ezekiel as great leaders. They were great leaders. But what about Samuel's children? We read in 1 Samuel in chapter 7 that they were taking bribes. Samuel's children, he appointed them as judges. He shouldn't have appointed them as judges. That's just because he was favoring his own children. And they were taking bribes and the people had to complain to Samuel, look at your children, what they're doing. Moses, Samuel, what about David? This man was called a man after God's own heart. What were his children like? Absolutely wayward. One killed another, one raped another, all types of things. So here I've talked about Moses, Samuel, David, their family lives were a mess, but they were leaders and God supported them. But if Moses and Samuel and David were living today and they had any connection with CFC churches, I would never appoint them as elders. I'll tell dear brother Moses, dear brother Samuel, brother David, you are unfit to be an elder in a CFC church because your children are wayward. Imagine telling the great prophet Moses and Samuel and David they're unfit to be an elder in a CFC church. I say because God's word says in 1 Timothy 3, if you can't bring up three or four children properly, how are you going to take care of the whole church? So that's the second story of the church, our family life. Very important. In the Old Testament, there's hardly any instruction on husbands, wives, and bringing up children, etc. But in the New Testament, in fact, in Ephesians chapter 5, where it's the only place in the New Testament where we have a command to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The great gift of the New Testament is the Holy Spirit. And there's one command, only once in the episode, Ephesians 5.18, be filled with the Holy Spirit. And what is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit? You read this next 25 verses. It's about family life. Give thanks and everything. When we stop, verse 19, 20, stop complaining with each other and stop yelling and screaming at each other. Learn to give thanks. Wives, be subject to your husband. Husbands, love your wives and bring up your children in the instruction of the Lord and treat your servants at home properly. This is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. See what follows on from Ephesians 5.18. Family life. But there's no such teaching in the Old Testament because the Holy Spirit never dwelt inside people there. He dwelt upon people. Even John the Baptist did not have the Holy Spirit within. One of the wonderful things in the New Testament is the Holy Spirit can dwell within us and change us from within. So good conscience, first story, personal life. Then second story is a family life. On top of that comes building the church, gathering such people. Which type of people? Those who value keeping their conscience right. Those who want to bring up their children and live with their wives in an understanding way as fellow heirs of the grace of life. And on top of that, he built the church. And the tragedy today is a lot of people are trying to build the third story with no first story or second story. No wonder it's collapsing everywhere. You can have 10,000 people, 10,000 bricks on the top floor, but there's no first story and second story so it collapses. People don't see it. People think there's a great crowd there singing and everybody's excited. I wonder if the angels are excited. I don't think so. The Lord's not excited with good music and strobe lights on the platform and all this type of stuff which impresses people. He's impressed by godliness. That's what he looks for everywhere. And so dear brothers and sisters, if you want to build a church, remember this. First of all, seek to have the foundation. Knowing God as a father, the Holy Spirit has to show you clearly that God is your father. And then keep your conscience clear and build your family properly. Then you can be a useful member in the church of Jesus Christ. In other words, in the New Testament, your private life is most important. Not your public life. Public life, you know, we are very careful how we behave when we come to a church meeting or when we work in the office. But in the New Testament, the important thing is our personal life. How is your personal life? That's the most important thing. So if we are not proper, all of you meeting together in church regularly, if your personal walk with God is not correct and right, then I want to say to you, it's like coming to a club. In a club, they go to play tennis or play billiards or table tennis or something like that. And they come just to drink and chat together. But you may come together to pray and sing some songs. What is another club? But to be a living church of Jesus Christ, it has to be built on this first story and the second story and then the third story. You cannot build a third story without the first and second story. So when I say that, you need to sit and examine yourself. And see, how is it with you? How is your personal walk with God? Are you living with a clear conscience? How is it with your family life? Are you seeking and not asking for perfection? Nobody's perfect. You'll be perfect only when Christ comes. But are we walking in the light? God doesn't ask us to be perfect on this earth. That will come when Christ comes again. But he asks us to walk in the light. What does walking in the light mean? In simple terms, be honest. Be honest about your conscience. Be honest in your family life. When you've done something wrong, acknowledge it. Bring up your children in the fear of God. Then we can build a church. So our private life is the important thing. So I want to say in the Sermon on the Mount, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 7, Jesus gives a very important parable. Matthew 7 and verse 24 to 27. Have a look at that. You know, this is the conclusion. Those are the last words of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. He's given this fantastic teaching in Matthew 5 and 6, and then in 7, and then ends it with this parable. He says, now listen, it's not, it's more than a parable. Now you've heard all that I have said, and that's referring to Matthew 5, 6, and 7. He says, if you hear these words and you do them, then you are building on a rock, unshakable. Storms and floods and everything can come, you will stand true to the Lord. But if you listen to these words, verse 26, and don't do them, that is a condition of most Christians. They hear, but they don't do it. Then you might as well not listen to the words at all, because you're building on sand, deceiving yourself. You've built a huge structure, but it's going to collapse, because it's built on sand. So it's very, very important that we remember those words, the concluding words of the Sermon on the Mount, when you read the Sermon on the Mount. And then, if you take time to read Matthew 5, 6, and 7, you'll find an almost impossible standard. It says, for example, if you get angry, Matthew 5, 21 to 22, if you keep getting angry, you're on your way to hell. How many of you have heard anybody tell you that anger is the first step to the road to hell? If you don't believe me, please turn to Matthew 5, 22. I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother is guilty already. And if he continues in his anger with his brother, saying more things against him, he's guilty before the Supreme Court. And if he still continues and go on saying even more angry things to his brother, he's ready to go to hell. Hell. Jesus spoke about hell in the Sermon on the Mount. Who is he talking to? You read in Matthew 5, verse 2 and 3, he's talking to disciples. He's not talking to the unbelievers. Sometimes he was talking to the crowd. But here, Matthew 5, verse 2 and 3, it says his disciples came to him and he began, opened his mouth and taught them. Taught whom? The disciples. And what did he tell them? If you keep, if you have uncontrolled anger in your life, you're going to hell. I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, have you ever heard that any preacher tell you that? That you have uncontrolled anger in your life, you go to hell? You won't build a mega church if you preach that. They'll get offended and go to some other church where people tickle them and that tickle their conscience instead of convicting it. And comfort them even when they're living in sin. And such people, the blood of all those people is in the hands of such pastors. You know, Paul once said to the people in Ephesus in Acts 20, I'm free from the blood of all men because I proclaim the whole truth of God to you. Read that in Acts chapter 20. That's what we need to hear in our churches. And when we, the first CFC church started in my home in August 1975, 48 years ago. And the reason we started a church was not because there were not enough churches in India. There were hundreds and thousands of churches in India, like in every country. But who was preaching the Sermon on the Mount? Who was preaching that anger is the first step to hell? Who was preaching what it says further in Matthew 5, that lusting after a woman, verse 28, can lead you to hell. Have you heard anybody preach that lusting after a woman can lead you to hell? But that Jesus said in Matthew 5, 28 and 29. These are the teachings that are not taught. So if you listen to that, anybody who's read the Bible would have read Matthew chapter 5. I'm sure you read those verses, but what do most Christians do? They ignore it. You don't forget about other Christians. Ask yourself, you ask yourself, you men, all of you men who are listening to me, how seriously have you taken lusting with the eyes? You really believe it is the first step to hell? As Matthew 5, verse 29 says, what type of church are you going to build? If you have not taken that seriously, if your leaders haven't taken that seriously, and you who brothers, who I think your senior brothers who have got a word to share with others, if you don't take that seriously, what type of church will it be? Jesus said, if you listen to these words of mine and don't do them, your house is on sand. Your house means your personal life is on sand. It means your family you're building on sand and your church you're building on sand. It'll collapse. I don't want to do that. I'd rather have a small building built on the rock than a huge structure built on sand. Definitely. I don't, you know, what is the minimum number of people to start a church? What do you think? 100? 30? 40? Well, Jesus explained it to us. He said in Matthew 18, in verse 20, where two or three are gathered together by the Holy Spirit in my name. Not two or three who gather together themselves. A lot of people who gather together themselves, they don't read scripture carefully. He does not say where two or three people gather together in my name. No. It says where two or three people are gathered together by somebody else, by the Holy Spirit in my name. I'm in the midst. That's the church. Where Christ is in the midst, that's the church. And you can have a church with three people or two people. God is, the Lord is there. And then you can have a mega church with 30,000. The Lord is not there. Where do you want to be? I'd rather be with two or three people where the Lord is there. The important thing is not the size of the people, not how many seats are filled, but is the Lord present there or not? The mark of a New Testament church is that Jesus Christ is present there. And he will not be present if the bunch of people there don't forgive others. And he will not be present if a bunch of people have not asked forgiveness from those they have hurt. See, when people come to a church meeting and they go away from the church meeting, what is your feeling when you go away from the church meeting? Most people say, oh, we had wonderful singing in the church today. Or the singing was not too good today. Boy, they dragged some songs. Or some people say the pre-sermon was boring. Or some people say, boy, that was a powerful sermon. These are the things we normally talk about at the end of a church meeting, Sunday meeting. But let me tell you what the New Testament says should be the end, what the mark of a real spiritual Sunday meeting. I'll tell you the word of God says in Matthew 14, sorry, 1 Corinthians 14, sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter 14. It says here, when the whole church is assembled together, verse 23, Matthew, sorry, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 Corinthians 14, verse 23, the whole church is assembled together, talking about a church meeting. And somebody comes in and sitting there and listens. What is the result? Verse 25, he falls on his face, worships God and declares, listen to this, God is certainly in your midst. That is the mark of a New Testament church meeting. That we go away feeling God was in our midst this morning. 1 Corinthians 14, 25 is the mark of a New Testament church that we go away from a meeting saying we met with the Lord. The Lord was there. Not the singing was good or bad is not the point. The preaching was good or bad is not the point. Was the, did we meet with the Lord? My longing is that in every single meeting I speak at, people must go away having met with the Lord, not just having heard Zach Poonen. It's useless if you just go away and got some points from Zach Poonen's sermon. If you're not met with the Lord, I have to say, Lord, I've been a failure. Because the purpose of a meeting is not that people listen to me. The purpose of a New Testament church meeting is that they go away saying the Lord was there. You thank God for the different groups that have come up in Canada. I praise the Lord for every one of them. It doesn't matter if you can look at your church and say we're very small. If you're more than two or three, that's the church. Don't think of the size of your church. Ask yourself whether Jesus is there when you meet together on Sundays. Then it's a New Testament church. Otherwise, it's not. Otherwise, whatever you may teach, even if it is the purest teaching in the world, if people have come to your meeting on Sunday and they haven't met with the Lord, you have to say, our meeting was a failure today. Have you looked at your past meetings like that? I want to look at every meeting I go to. Is the Lord there? Not how long I spoke or how cleverly I spoke or how many people came up to me and say, oh, Brother Zach, that was a great message. I don't care two hoots for all that. I say, did they meet with the Lord? Not did they meet with me? Not did they listen to me? Did they meet with Jesus Christ, our Lord? He is the head of the church. And if you didn't meet with him, Brother, something was wrong for you for your Sunday meeting. So in future, those who are coming to a church meeting say, Lord, I'm coming there not primarily to meet with other brothers and sisters, which I will do. I'm happy for that. But primarily to meet with you. And secondarily, with the brothers and sisters. And those of you who have responsibility as elders leading a church, pray not that the singing will go well. I tell you, I couldn't care less if the singing is out of tune. It's good if it's in tune, but that depends on ability. And sometimes a lot of spiritually minded people are not good at music. So what to do? God is not checking for the tunes up in heaven. No, he's not bothered if the tunes are not, the tune is wrong. He's checking whether you mean it from your heart, what you sing. For example, there's a song called All to Jesus I Surrender. Oh, what a lovely song that is. It's got many wonderful words. Or in other words, like, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to the take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold. Beautiful song. But if people don't mean it, once you're singing it, take my silver and my gold, not a mite will I withhold. Oh, how many people mean it when they sing it? You think God is excited listening to that song? When he sees in their heart, they love money like anything. They're not at all yielding their life and money to God. God is not deceived. So this is the reason why we decided that, Lord, we want to start a church where we emphasize these things with the New Testament emphasizes, then it can be called a New Testament church. And I'll tell you after having started that 48 years ago, it's been a battle. It has been a constant battle for me all these 48 years, as God has raised churches in so many villages and cities throughout the world in many countries. The greatest battle is not to spread the word. The greatest battle is to keep each church in purity. One church purity can accomplish more in a country than 100 mega churches. You see, India's got the largest population in the whole world. It's some billions in the world. Population is about 7 billion and India is about 1.3 or 1.5 billion. And I remember when we started our work and the Lord said, we must preach the gospel to the outermost parts of the earth. I said, okay, Lord, before the outermost parts of the earth, let me think of the outermost parts of India. How can I reach 1.3 billion people with the gospel and go here or there? I'm willing to travel. I've traveled all across India, north to south, east to west. And the Lord said to me, you will not be able to speak the gospel to every single one of these 1.3 billion people. That is physically impossible. Even if you have public meetings everywhere, it's like looking for a, you know, the English expression, finding a needle in a haystack. A haystack is a huge pile of hay. And in that hay, there's a needle or maybe five or 10 needles. How in the world can you find it? You push the hay down and here's a haystack of 3 billion people, that is 3,000 million people or 300 million people. How in the world are you going to find these few 10, 15 or 100 needles in the midst of 3,000 million people or even 30 million people? And the Lord said, you don't have to go into the haystack to find the needles. If you can have a very, very powerful magnets outside the haystack, those needles will be, those steel needles, they'll be pulled out. Those iron needles will be pulled out, pulled out and will come to you. And the meaning that came to me was, if you build a strong, spiritually minded, powerful church, even if it's a small one, but spiritually powerful like a magnet, it will draw from many parts of this haystack, the needles. Those who sincerely want to follow Jesus Christ, it will draw them. And in the last 48 years, we've found that. We did not go to every corner of India. We have certainly not gone to every corner of the world. We have not even gone to every corner of Bengal or wherever I live. But we sought to build a church that emphasized all that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount and in other chapters. If you go to the CFC website, which is cfcindia.com, very easy to go to cfcindia.com. At the bottom of the first page, you'll see a series of studies on foundational Christian truths through the Bible, which covers every book of the Bible. And another one called All That Jesus Taught. All That Jesus Taught is a series of 80 studies. Each of them is about less than half an hour in length that goes through what Jesus taught in the Gospel of Matthew. I encourage everybody, first of all, to listen to the foundational Christian truths, which is a series of, I think, 28 studies, half an hour each on basic teachings, and then go to All That Jesus Taught if you want a good foundation in your Christian life. So if you have a church that's teaching All That Jesus Taught, it's like it can be like a strong magnet. I tell you, we were very few, but gradually God opened doors for us. He started a small, initially in 1976, we started printing a small monthly paper, just about two A4 sheet size, two A4 size pages, that's all. And we sent it out to different people. There may be 500, 600 people who subscribed for it. They were only paying for the postage. And we sent it out to all of them. Then we reached some people like that, got a few contacts like that. But how are we going to reach the whole world? Jesus said, you shall be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. But we tried to be, we changed that to India. We start with the part of Bangalore where we lived in, and then the city of Bangalore, then the state around Bangalore, state of Karnataka, and then the whole of India, and then some of the surrounding countries in Dubai and Sri Lanka and Singapore. And then he said, but Lord, the uttermost parts of the earth, how in the world are we going to reach that? We don't have ability to, we don't have the money to finance missionaries going to the other parts of the world. But you know what God did? Amazingly. He opened up the YouTube, where we have 2000 sermons, preaching the whole counsel of God, reaching the Sermon on the Mount, all that Jesus taught, 80 messages is on YouTube. And through the Bible, 70 hours of study from Genesis to Revelation is there on YouTube. And that's going out to, we've checked up the more than 180 countries. I said, wow, amazing. Just a small group of people like us can reach the whole world with the whole counsel of God, teaching people to build on the rock, that they cannot be shaken. I want to encourage you all my dear brothers and sisters, God can use you a small church to reach many, many, many people in Canada with a pure gospel, the whole truth of God. And I believe that should be your burden. You know, God always begins His work with a burden. I had a burden in my heart when I was still working in the Navy. In 1964, I said, Lord, I see in the New Testament of a New Testament church, and I want to see a New Testament church built like the body of Christ here on earth. Please help me. I never saw it come to fruition, become a reality for 10 years. And long after I left the Navy, I had this burden in 1964, and I tried one or two times to start something and they were all Ishmaels. You know what that means? Abraham produced a son called Ishmael, his own efforts. God said, I won't accept him. And I also produced one or two groups like that, which I tried to say it was a church failure. Ishmaels, God said, rejected. I said, fine. I said, okay, I'm never going to start a church again, because I tried once or twice, it was a total failure. And then, miraculously, God did something. He sort of pushed me out of some dead church and started something new with just two people. He started with two. And little by little, some people came and went and came and went and went. And like that, God raised up a number of testimonies here and there that are proclaiming. We don't say everybody is perfect, but at least trying to proclaim the whole truth of God, which is in the Bible. And when no leader, we have 200 elders leading all these churches, not one of them gets a salary. I've never taken a salary from any church in my whole life. I'm free from that. I support myself like the Apostle Paul. Our example was Jesus and Paul, both of them never received a salary for their services. So in all our churches, we don't receive a salary. Nobody receives a salary for serving the Lord. And we never take an offering. Have you ever heard of a church where you never take an offering? You just keep a box there. Anybody wants to put that, we don't go around with a bag in front of everybody. Because, unfortunately, money has become the important thing in many churches. And Jesus said in Luke chapter 16 and verse 13 onwards, you cannot serve God in money. There are only two masters. Luke 16, verse 13, 14. There are only two masters, God and money. The two masters are not God and Satan. Jesus said, God and money. And so we decided that if you want to serve God, you got to stop serving money. So we de-emphasize money. Because every church there's an emphasis on money. We're having this project, a new building project, and all types of projects. Give us money, give us money. Some young people want to go to Mexico for serving the Lord. Give them some money. We've said nothing of that. We will not serve money. We'll serve God. And if you seek the kingdom of God first, he will add all that is needed. And he has added all that is needed. So that must be our testimony. Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. And we take that exhortation seriously. That's the type of church we want to build. A church that influences people, even if you're a very small church, that influences people all around with the gospel, where we seek ways and means to reach out. Maybe just by putting out a printed paper that we sent just to a few people, challenging them. But if you don't have a burden, you'll not build anything. You see, a burden in the heart is like a baby in a mother's womb. No baby is born without being in the womb for a number of months. Then it comes forth. And you can't have a baby. Otherwise, you have an adopted child. A lot of people want to say, I don't want to have the burden of carrying a baby in my womb. Some women say, let's adopt a child. But you can't adopt the churches. I'll tell you that. When it comes to a church, it has to be born. You can't adopt it. You can't say, oh, we've seen the CFC pattern and we read the CFC message. We're going to start a church here. You won't be able to start there because you never had a burden for it. There's nothing in your womb. The most important thing to have a baby, it must be born in your womb first. And the womb is the heart. And to have a burden in the heart, Lord, I want to see a New Testament church, a church that glorifies you. I don't care if it's only two or three people, but it must be a church that glorifies you. And from where the influence spreads and spreads to many other people and draws like a magnet, draws others who want to be wholehearted disciples of Jesus. If you have a burden and a real burden like that, and if you have that burden, not put a name for yourself. You know, sometimes a leader or a person who thinks he's a leader starts a church and he says, yeah, I want to have a burden so that everybody will know that I'm the great man of God here. Shame on you if you have such a desire. Resign from eldership if you have a desire to get a name for yourself. You're a hindrance to the body of Christ. If you have become an elder and you want a name for yourself or your church, that you want people to think that you are the great leader who drew others to Christ, you're not fit to be an elder in the church. You must have a desire to disappear so that Christ alone is glorified. You know, when you get to heaven, you look around. I picture this sometimes in my mind. Millions of people in heaven. I stand there and I see all the heads of so many people and I say, where's Paul? I can't see where Paul is. Where's Peter? I don't know where he is. And I don't know where John and James, all these wonderful godly men and through the years, many godly men, where are they? I don't know. They are somewhere here in this big crowd, but I see Jesus. Every eye is focused on Jesus and they sing about him. They don't sing about Peter or Paul. The lamb that was slain for our sins is exalted. That's heaven. And I want to have that spirit of heaven now where people are not thinking of this person or that person or me or anybody else. Brother, if that's your desire, that Jesus Christ must be exalted, and that's your burden, and you want a church where people be disciples, I tell you God will use you even if you're the weakest person, even if you don't know much of the Bible, and if you can't preach for nuts. It doesn't matter. God will fill you with the spirit and use you. But if you've got even a little bit of selfish ambition, aha, this is a good place for me to get a name for myself. Let me get linked up with Zach Poonen and try and build a church here and get a name. I can prophesy now itself. It will never go well with you. Never, never, never. Because God says, my glory I will never give to another. When you touch the glory of God, it's dangerous. It can harm you. It's very dangerous to touch the glory of God. So we need to humble ourselves and say, Lord, we want to see pure churches built for your glory, and we don't want any credit, we don't want any name, but we want to emphasize all that Jesus taught. Let me turn now to Matthew chapter 28. In Matthew 28, Jesus gave the Great Commission. You know, there are two places where the Great Commission is given. One is Mark 16, where he said, go and preach the gospel to all creation, all over the world. People have done that. Many missionaries have sacrificed, and many others have gone at public meetings, and thousands and thousands have been, the gospel has been proclaimed, Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again. Repent and believe, and you can be forgiven. And many people have accepted Christ, but that's not the only commission. There's another commission that the Lord gave, which adds to that, and you can't separate these two. What God has joined together, let no man separate. The commission in Mark 16 and the commission in Matthew 28 are joined together by God, and you cannot separate it. The commission in Matthew 28 is, after you preach the gospel to everyone, Matthew 28 verse 19, make disciples in every nation. And I don't have time to go there now, but the conditions of discipleship are mentioned in Luke 14, verse 26 to 33. There's three conditions, Luke 14, 26 to 33. Number one, love Jesus more than father, mother, brother, sister, all your relatives. Number two, take up your cross, deny yourself, die to yourself every day. And number three, be detached from possessing things. You can have money, but don't possess it. In other words, don't love it. Use money, but don't love it. Those are the conditions of discipleship. And Jesus said, go and make disciples, verse 19, in every country, and then baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the name of the Trinity. And after that, that's not the end. Then teach them to obey everything that I've commanded you, all that Jesus taught. That's the subject of those 80 messages you find in cfcindia.com. All that Jesus, that's right from here. Teach them all that I have taught you, and then I'll be with you always to the end of the age. Now, I've seen in many houses this verse hung up on the wall, Matthew 28, 20. Lo, I'm with you always to the end of the age. I want to tell you something. Every promise in the Bible has got a condition attached to it. You know, you can't go to the bank and draw money which is not in your account. It has to be in your account, then only you can draw it. So here is a promise. Promise is like a money in your account. I will be with you always, Matthew 28, 20. To whom is the promise given? It is given to those who make disciples in all nations. That means if you're a disciple and you want to make other people disciples, that promise is for you. The Lord says I'll be with you always. But if you're not a disciple and you have no desire to make other people disciples, how can you claim that promise? There are some conditions here. Go make disciples of all nations, teach them to obey everything I have taught you, and then I'll be with you always. Are you trying to teach at least your children in your home all that Jesus taught? Are you sharing with other believers all that Jesus taught? Are you obeying that yourself in your home? Then you can claim the promise, Lord, you got to be with me. To the best of my knowledge, I try to do that. And so I say, Lord, you have to be with me always. It's a promise. To the best of my knowledge, I'm fulfilling the condition. You have to be with me wherever I go. If I stand up to speak and I say you have to be with me, for example, now I'm speaking, I'll be wasting my time if the Lord is not with me. I say, Lord, I want to honor you. I want to teach people everything that you've taught. And you said you'll be with me always to the end of the age. I believe you'll be with me. I believe you keep your word. What a wonderful thing it is, my brothers and sisters, to have Jesus with you all the time. I pray that'll be true in your life. Now, the early disciples preached this, but by 30, 40 years, most of the early disciples had died. And by the end of the first century, only John was alive. All the other 11 apostles had died. Paul had died. And then the time of John, that is about 65 years after the Day of Pentecost. The Day of Pentecost is such a revival, and you read in Acts chapter 2. 65 years later, you read in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. Take some time to read it. Out of the seven churches mentioned there, five are backslidden. Imagine five out of the seven churches are backslidden, including the church at Ephesus, where Paul had spent three years preaching 2,000 sermons. A church where he preached 2,000 sermons, you read that in Acts 20, how three years he preached night and day. That's what he said, two sermons a day. Over three years means 2,000 sermons. That's where I get that number. Read it in Acts 20. Even that church, church in Ephesus, backslidden. And the elder, backslidden. And the Lord says, I'm going to not be in your church anymore. I will not, I'll remove the lampstand from your midst means I will not be present in your church in future. You can have 500 people meeting there on Sundays, but Jesus is not there. Then it's not a New Testament church. But he said there are some overcomers in that church. So what do the overcomers do when the elder does not repent? I'm talking about just the church in Ephesus, Revelation 2, verse one to seven. The Lord warned the elder, if you don't repent, I'm going to go away from here. 500 people sitting there and the elder does not repent. Five or 10 people discover the Lord has fulfilled that threat and left the church. What are the five or 10 overcomers among that group of 500 do? What does a bride do when the bridegroom has left the wedding hall? She won't hang around there anymore. My bridegroom is gone. I'm going to go with him. So when Jesus left the church in Ephesus, as warned in Revelation chapter two and verse five, the overcomers, five or 10 of them left. They said, Lord, we're going to be with you. They started meeting separately in a house and the big 500 member church still continued and called these 10 people, you know, rebels and heretics. They are trying to rebel against the church and go out and start a meeting on their own. But the Lord was with those 10 people. He had left this group of 500. That's why they had to meet outside. Like it says in Hebrews 13, let us go outside the camp bearing his reproach. And you read that verse in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 13. Let us go to him outside the camp of this established church where Christ has left many so-called churches. Christ is not there. They are now same sex marriages and all types of things going on. And church is completely contrary to the word of God. You think Christ will stay in such a church? He left long ago. He's outside. And Hebrews 13, 13 says, let us go forth to him because the church is where two or three are gathered around Christ, not where some people call themselves church in some big building and sing songs. So those 10 people in Ephesus would have left and started meeting with them. And the entire big first church in Ephesus would have condemned them as hypocrites and traitors and rebels, whatever they may call them. The Lord was there. And there the Lord recognized that those 10 people as the true church. But give them 50 years and that 10 people become 500. And the same thing happens all over again. They backslide and the Lord has to pull out another church. So in these 2000 years of church history, the Lord's been always pulling out the overcomers from a church that started well, became dead, became huge in number, and the elder lost the vision and God pulled out some overcomers, started a new church that went on 50, 70 years, that backslid. Christian history is full of such stories. That's why we have to preserve our life in such a way that the Lord himself is present in our church. I don't care one bit if the numbers decrease. In fact, in some places I preach in such a way so the numbers do decrease. In John chapter 6, we read there were 10,000 people at the beginning of that chapter where he fed 5,000 men and many women and children. 10,000 people at the beginning of John chapter 6. At the end of the chapter, there were only 11. They all left and went. Everybody left. They got offended with the message of the cross that Jesus preached in that chapter. He said, eat my flesh and drink my blood, meaning take up the cross and follow me. 12 people were left. All the 10,000 who fed, who ate the loaves and fishes left. And when there were 12 people left, Jesus said, you also want to go? You can go if you like. But Peter, wonderful man of God, said, Lord, where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. What are the words that Jesus had spoken to Simon Peter? And Simon Peter said, Lord, don't go to the cross. He said, get behind me, Satan. You read that in Matthew 16 and verse 20 downwards. Get behind me, Satan. You're telling me to avoid the cross? And Peter didn't get offended. He said, Lord, these are the words of eternal life. If you can receive rebuke from the Lord and not get offended, if you can receive rebuke in the church and not get offended, the Lord said, I'll build my church through you. And the Lord built his church through Peter. God is not looking for large numbers, but he's looking for wholehearted people. You have a passion and the Lord's name will be glorified through your life and your family and your church. May the Lord help you. Let's bow our heads in prayer. While our heads are bowed in prayer, I want to ask you to think about what God spoke to you today. Maybe one particular thing. Maybe there's somebody you've got to forgive. Do that right now. Maybe there's something you've got to set right with somebody. Decide now that you're going to set it right. Write a letter, call, make a phone call, set it right at the first opportunity. Maybe you have to ask forgiveness from someone. Maybe you have to forgive someone. Maybe you have to ask forgiveness from someone, both ways. Make it all clear so that the Lord will listen to your prayer. And if your children are wayward, boy, that's a priority. Pray that your children will come back to the Lord. Don't end up in heaven yourself with your children burning in hell for eternity. Repent, pray, fast and pray and say, Lord, bring every one of my children into the kingdom. Humble yourself. Say, Lord, forgive me for not having brought them up properly. I repent. Please bring them back to you. You taught them to earn money, but you didn't teach them to follow the Lord. Repent of that. God will forgive you. If you fervently pray, every day God can answer your prayer. And so, pray that God will establish New Testament churches in many parts of Canada. There'll be a burden in your heart. Heavenly Father, help us to remember all that we heard today. With your name be glorified, we pray. To every one of those who heard the message, in Jesus name, amen. Now, our dear brother Sunil Jacob, who organized this meeting, who lives in eastern Canada, has sent me some questions that you sent him. And I will quickly go through these questions. First of all, it'll take a few minutes to answer these. Any advice on raising children in today's generation? Very important to teach them God's word. Teach them to read the Bible. I started with my children when they were very small. I got them a picture Bible. It was a picture story Bible with the whole Bible in comic strip form. And I would get them, because they would read it. And then the way I would test them is when we sat together for dinner and sit around while we're having dinner, that's the time we are relaxed. I would ask them a question, not some complicated theological question, no. Question like, how many children did Jacob, how many boys did Jacob have? The answer is 12. Which of them was thrown into the pit and sold as a slave to Egypt? The answer is Joseph. So, simple questions to start with. And then a little more difficult ones like, who was Moses' mother? These are not very theological questions, simple facts. But I wanted them to get familiar with the Bible. And the main reason was to stimulate them to get to read what was in those comic strip Bibles. So that next time when they came for dinner, one week later or one month later, they would be able to answer the questions. And you know what they did? They would read the Bible, read that picture story Bible and come and ask me questions. And I tell you, they caught me once or twice. They asked me, did David have any sisters? What's her name? I didn't know. Do you know the name of David's sister? So I said, wow, thank you, Lord. My children are getting excited about the Bible. That's how I got them interested to read the Bible. And they read the scriptures and I gave them the living Bible to read. It's easy to read. And I remember seeing in the cover of one of those children, their Bible they wrote in the first page, completed this Bible before he left home. I hope your children, see at the age of 18, they go to college. By the time they should have read through the whole Bible at least once. That was my goal. And of course we would teach them the principles of God's word. And above all, teach them obedience, respect for parents and never to tell a lie. So teach them the scriptures, teach them obedience and respect for parents and other people and never to tell a lie. Very, very important. And God will take care of the rest. Another question is, my child is asking about being born again and he's only eight years old. How can we guide children to this age? How can we explain assurance of salvation? We have to leave the assurance of salvation to the Holy Spirit. But I'd say from the age of three, I would ask my wife and I would ask our children to ask Jesus to come into your heart. Every year, ask Jesus to come into your heart, ask Jesus to come into your heart. One of those times was real. I don't know when, I don't mind asking Jesus. I asked the Lord to come to my heart a hundred times before I was sure. So it doesn't matter if our children ask God, ask the Lord Jesus to come to their heart a hundred or two hundred or three hundred times. And one of those times will be real, but we have to emphasize, forgive others, don't fight with others and tell you whatever you've done wrong, ask forgiveness from your brother if you've hurt him and ask forgiveness from the Lord. And then leave it to God to give them assurance of salvation. I don't want to pat them on the head and say, okay, okay, you're saved now. How do I know? The Holy Spirit can give assurance even to a child that he's a child of God. I leave it to the Holy Spirit. But I'll tell them, you keep praying till you're absolutely sure. How can I know Jesus as my best friend? Well, think of an earthly friend. You can never have an earthly friend if you don't spend time with him. The more you spend time with somebody, the more he becomes your friend. And so if you spend time with Jesus, reading God's word, talking to him, when you're traveling in the bus or walking down the road or especially lying in bed at night or early morning, talk to Jesus. Develop the habit of talking to Jesus many times a day. That's how you'll become your friend. Okay, another question is, these are all from young people. Some other questions now, how do I know if my eyes are lustful towards the other gender? Oh boy, you definitely know. Ask any man, he'll tell you. If you have the slightest impure thought with your eyes, like, you know, you look at a poster of a modestly dressed woman or a half naked woman, most of these posters that come on the television screen or the news programs, there'll be some immodestly dressed woman, they try to put that to attract men. And like somebody said, the first look is temptation. The second look is sin. Okay. Why do you look a second time? The first look you cannot avoid. You were just going through the screen or looking through a book and suddenly this picture was there. The first look is temptation. But when you stop and look at it a second time, or you go back to that site again, that is sin. That's how you know. Avoid it. You can't avoid the first look. We're going through the world with a lot of girls dressed immodestly. And a lot of things wherever you go, there are all types of these pictures put here and there. You can't avoid the first look. But you can definitely avoid the second look. Turn your head away and say, if you don't have the strength to turn your head away, you say, Lord, give me the power to turn my eyes away. He will help you to overcome. Don't we pray, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And we go on to pray, forgive us our sins and lead us not into temptation that is too strong for us, but deliver us from evil. That is the Lord's prayer. Lord, deliver me from evil. I cannot deliver myself. Please deliver me. Pray that prayer every day. Keep me, Lord, when the temptation is strong, deliver me. And if you find that you've been lusting determined from now on, you're going to kill it. You're going to kill it. I think of there are many temptations in our flesh and I look at them like snakes, many types of snakes in a box. And through the years, they put their head out. In the past years, I used to feed them with milk. Every time they come up, I give them milk. It means I yield to the temptation. Now, when they put their head out, I give them a whack on the head. They don't die immediately. They put their head up again. They get whacked. They get whacked about 20, 30 times and they die. One snake dies. There are a hundred other snakes. But temptation is each snake putting up their head, give it a whack on the head. Keep on giving it a whack on the head. They will die one by one. That's how we overcome temptation through the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay. What do you think of a single brother moving out of his house before he's married? Is it wrong to move out and live on your own because it's very hard living with some family members? Well, I'm not here to tell you because each family is different. You know, in India, it is normal for children to live with the family until they get married because it's a financial issue. Indian people are not all that rich to establish two homes when they can live together in one home. Or if a person is single, he'll have to cook for himself and all types of things. I would say I cannot make a rule for anybody because there's no such rule in the Bible. But I would say don't avoid living in a house just because it is difficult. If you have a habit of avoiding difficulty all your life, you'll never grow spiritually. We grow spiritually by facing difficulties and overcoming them, not by running away from them. So if you're running away from a home because it's difficult, you'll never be an overcomer in your life. Face it and overcome and be gracious and be patient in that difficult situation. But I agree that some situations may be so bad that you have to move out. Ask God to guide you and ask the advice of some older godly brother to advise you. Don't act on your own. That'll help you. Read my book called Finding God's Will, where I have one of the things that seek the advice of godly older people. Okay, the next question is, when the verse says those who are holy will see God, blessed are the pure in heart who are there to see God. That's what it says. If I'm holy now, will I see God right now? Well, the promise is not that you'll see God right now. Blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God one day. And we read in Revelation 22, they see God face to face. But it's only those who are pure in heart. But right now, if you're pure in heart, you'll have a fellowship with God in your heart, which is the nearest equivalent to seeing him face to face. But one day you'll see him face to face as well. So keep purity of heart because then God will answer your prayers and make you a blessing and pure water will flow out from your life to others. So to keep our heart pure is to keep a conscience clear. As soon as you're aware of something wrong, confess it, forsake it, ask God for the power of his Holy Spirit every day. Okay, the last question, how should we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted in other countries? We can say very lightly, it's a privilege to be persecuted. Should we just feel sorry for them and move on? What should be our attitude? Well, it all depends on each person, it's different. We cannot tell another person what he should do. You must ask the Lord what you should do. Some people feel we've got the ability, let me go and visit them. Some people feel let me send money to some organization that is genuinely sending money onward to them to buy something for them, et cetera, like for the poor children in Ukraine and the war going on or China. But you've got to be very careful because there are so many organizations now that collect money and you don't even know where it's going. I know from India, there are so many organizations that have collected money to buy blankets for the poor people in India, but the blankets never reach the poor people. The blankets are sold in the market, it's a racket. So there's so much of corruption in Christian organizations when it comes to money that I can hardly trust any of them. There are orphanages that are making money in the name of Christ, Christian orphanages, it's a racket. So I would say you've got to be very careful as to how you seek to help them, pray for them. And if you're able to help them in some physical way, God leads you and do it, but don't be deceived by any group. That's the last of the questions. Thank you, brothers and sisters for listening. cfcindia.com is our website. And the email id is cfc at cfcindia.com. That's the email ID, you can send any email there with any question, any question, somebody will answer your question. If you go to the CFC website, there are at least 600 questions and answers there. You search for a question, you may find that answer there already. There are many books there, you can download all those books freely and read them. God bless you all. Thank you all, all your brothers and all your churches that organize this. God bless you all. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time. And I thank you for all these dear brothers and sisters who listen so patiently. I pray the blessing of the Lord to be upon them and upon their home. In Jesus name, Amen. Shall I close Sunil? Is that okay? ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/OnBUdi5_Df8.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/exhortation-to-canada-cfc-churches/ ========================================================================