======================================================================== GOD HAS SOMETHING BETTER FOR YOU (VIDEO) by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking to hear God say, 'This is my beloved son/daughter in whom I am well pleased,' highlighting the need for believers to diligently seek God and have faith that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. It contrasts 'minimum Christians' who calculate the minimum to give to God with 'maximum Christians' who seek to give their best to God, illustrating the principle of God rewarding those who diligently seek Him. The sermon encourages believers to seek God wholeheartedly, study the Bible to understand God's thoughts, and live a life of sacrificial love and obedience. Topics: "Diligent Seeking", "Sacrificial Love" Scripture References: Hebrews 11:6, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Mark 12:30, James 5:16, Jeremiah 29:13, Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 2:11, Luke 19:17, Romans 8:28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking to hear God say, 'This is my beloved son/daughter in whom I am well pleased,' highlighting the need for believers to diligently seek God and have faith that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. It contrasts 'minimum Christians' who calculate the minimum to give to God with 'maximum Christians' who seek to give their best to God, illustrating the principle of God rewarding those who diligently seek Him. The sermon encourages believers to seek God wholeheartedly, study the Bible to understand God's thoughts, and live a life of sacrificial love and obedience. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'd like to begin in Hebrews chapter 11. We were thinking this morning how the father said about Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Do you have a longing that the Lord should say that about you? That God can look at your life and say this is my son, this is my daughter in whom I am well pleased. I can honestly say that is my greatest desire. Because I believe there is absolutely nothing greater than that. All the honor in the world you can get, all the money you can make, however big a job you have in the world, it's worth nothing compared to God saying I am well pleased with you. That should be the greatest longing of every believer. And that's possible for us. Because it says God has provided that better thing that we can walk like Jesus. And if that is the better thing we saw this morning, God has provided that we can walk like Jesus. Then we should be able to hear the same thing that he heard, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. But there was a reason. What is it that pleases the father? Let me show you, Hebrews 11 verse 6. Without faith it is impossible to please him. So you want to please him, you must have faith. Not just faith Jesus died for my sins. So many people believe that who are not pleasing the father. It's another level of faith. There is a level of faith spoken here which the Lord is calling us to. And it's explained in the same verse. It is faith that believes that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. That is faith. That if I seek God diligently He will reward me. And the more earnestly somebody seeks, the more God will reward him. That's not just the faith that Jesus died for my sins. This is beyond that. That God will reward me with His voice of approval if I seek Him diligently. I think every day of his life Jesus must have had this attitude. Father are you happy with my life? Do we have that attitude every single day? Father are you happy with the way I live today? And the Lord may show us things that we have to get rid from our life, get rid of from our life. Sometimes small small things and if we get rid of them we are eager to please Him. It's amazing how He will reward us. But you know basically human beings are all businessmen. What is the principle of business? Spend as little as you can and earn as much as you can. Every business, that is the principle. How can I get maximum profit with least expenditure? And so many businesses they spend little and make great profit. It's a good business. But you can't come to God like that. But there are people who come to God like that. In fact I think most Christians are like that. I call them minimum Christians. That means their attitude is, what is the minimum I have to give to God to be accepted? They are always calculating. Even these churches that preach give 10%. That is never found in the New Testament. We have never preached it. But even there the people think 10% means 10% after tax or before tax. They are always calculating what is the minimum I have to give. God will never reward you. Even if you give 20% He won't reward you. Because the attitude is what is the minimum I have to do. Jesus never came to earth thinking what is the minimum I have to do to please my father. The other type of Christian is what I call the maximum Christian. What is the maximum I can give to God in this one life I have? When I go to heaven I won't be able to sacrifice anything. The word sacrifice is never found in heaven. Because there is nothing to sacrifice in heaven. The only place you can sacrifice is here on earth. If you don't sacrifice anything for God on this earth, always thinking what is the minimum I have to give. One day Jesus comes back and you meet Him face to face and you discover how much He loved you. How much He gave everything up for you. People who have given the minimum will feel so ashamed. And that shame will remain for all eternity. Because there will never be another opportunity to sacrifice and show our love for the Lord. So I want to say to you, this is the only life you have in which you can show to the Lord how much you love Him and how much you are willing to sacrifice for Him. See in 2 Chronicles there is a very beautiful story. I don't know whether you all have the habit of reading these stories in the Old Testament. But sometimes in some of those stories a beautiful lesson comes out. Here is one of them. See the nation of Israel was divided into two, Israel and Judah. And Israel the northern kingdom was full of idolatry. And the southern kingdom of two tribes Judah and Benjamin, they were a little more faithful to God. So these were two separate nations after Solomon died. So the Lord always told the southern nation don't mix with the northern nation, they are all idolaters. So here we read in 2 Chronicles 25 of the king of the southern kingdom Judah a man called Amaziah. So when he wanted to gather the army for war, because very often the enemies of Israel would come fighting with him. So what he did was, he took a census and found 300,000 men who can fight. But he said I need more people. I need another 100,000 people. And we don't have them in Judah. So he went to Israel, the idolatrous kingdom and paid a huge amount of money and hired 100,000 soldiers. He sent crores of rupees or dollars to hire these people. Now we have got 4 lakhs of people. But God sent a man of God to him, verse 7. He said oh king don't let the army of Israel go with you. They are all idolaters. You may have more numbers. But the Lord will not be with you. So don't mix idolaters with your army. If you do that, God will verse 8 bring you down before the enemy. So Amaziah said, we have already given crores of rupees to these people. They won't give it back. Crores of dollars. I won't get that money back. And look at this beautiful answer. Verse 9. The Lord can give you much more than that. Are you worried about a few crores of rupees? That's a lot of money. Crores of dollars is not a small amount. But listen to the answer. The Lord can give you much more than that. When I was a young Christian and I was in the Navy, that verse came home to my heart. Whatever you give up for the Lord, the Lord is able to give you much more than that. Dear brothers and sisters, remember that all your life. Just this one verse. The Lord is able to give you much more than what you are giving up. Because you stand for righteousness in your place of work, do you lose your promotion? The Lord is able to give you more than that. Do you lose your job because you stood up for the Lord? The Lord is able to give you more than that. I know people who refuse to write false statements in their office and they lost their job. I know people who refuse to write false statements in their office and they lost their job. I said, don't worry. The Lord honors those who honor Him. Did you lose your job? The Lord is able to give you much more than that. That is faith. That God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Not just saying, I believe Jesus died for my sins. So many people believe that. They don't get God's best. No, but those who give the best, get the best. That is a story that is taught by God from the beginning of the Bible. That is a story that is taught by God from the beginning of the Bible. What is the first story written in the Bible after man was turned out of Eden? What is the first story written in the Bible after man was turned out of Eden? Cain and Abel. What is the message of that story? Remember, this is the first story written in the Bible after man was turned out of the Garden of Eden. The first message that God is giving to man after he has been put out of Eden, you got to understand this message. It says in Genesis 4 verse 3, Cain brought an offering and Abel also. It says in Genesis 4 verse 3, Cain brought an offering and Abel also. There is a difference. If you read carefully, this is where many people teach it wrong. There is a difference. If you read carefully, this is where many people teach it wrong. They say because Abel brought animal and shed blood, therefore he was accepted. They say because Abel brought animal and shed blood, therefore he was accepted. Cain brought some grain from the ground, there was no blood, so he was not accepted. That's all false teaching. That's all what they teach in Bible school. It's because they don't read the Bible properly. What does it say here? What does it say here? Does it say in verse 4, like this? Does it say in verse 4, like this? regarded Abel's offering and therefore he accepted Abel? No, no, no. Does it say the Lord accepted Abel's offering? Therefore he accepted Abel? The Lord accepted Abel's offering? He accepted Abel? No. The Lord accepted Abel, then accepted his offering. Okay. What about Cain? Does it say the Lord did not accept his offering, therefore he did not accept Cain? No. He did not accept Cain, therefore he did not accept his offering. It has nothing to do with whether there was blood in the offering or not. He was looking after cattle, so he brought cattle. Cain was looking after the grain, so he brought grain. This is not a sacrifice of sin, this is a thanksgiving offering. Even in the book of Leviticus, thanksgiving offering does not have to have blood in it. We need to understand this principle very clearly. Because there is a tremendous deception in Christendom. You bring the blood of Jesus, you will automatically be accepted. Jesus, the blood of Jesus. The Lord had regard for Abel, then for his offering. He accepted Abel, then accepted his offering. He did not accept Cain, did not accept his offering. We have an example of that in the New Testament. Jesus said, when you bring your offering to God, and you remember that your brother has got something against you because you got angry with him. No, no, no. Your brother is angry with you. Because you got angry with him. You first leave your offering there. Go and ask forgiveness from that person. Then God will accept you, then he will accept your offering. But if you don't settle it with that man, even if you offer the blood of Jesus, God will not accept you. He said, first go and ask forgiveness from that man. If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you. And if you don't ask forgiveness, God won't forgive you. So there also Jesus is emphasizing, it is you God has to accept, then he will accept your offering. So this is a great deception in Christendom. No, I just bring the blood of Jesus. It doesn't matter how I live. I don't ask forgiveness from others. I don't forgive others. Everything is wrong in my life. I bring the blood of Jesus, and God accepts me. Absolute lie. He accepted Abel first, then his offering. So, if I have got things to settle with other people, I have to settle that first. And then you see why God accepted Abel. And then he accepted his offering. It's because of an attitude of heart that Abel had, which Cain did not have. See, it says here, Abel brought the very best of his flock, verse 4. That means he looked around his flock, which is the healthiest sheep. The fattest sheep, the best sheep. I'll give that to God. But Cain, he doesn't say he brought the best. He just went into the ground and picked up some offering and brought it to God. These are a picture of two types of believers. This is not a picture of an unbeliever and a believer. No. An unbeliever does not even bring anything to God. And this is not a picture of some people worshipping a false religion also. Cain brought an offering to Jehovah, to the true God. To the true God. But what did he bring? Not the best. We can say that sitting here, there are those like Cain, who bring an offering to God. And there are others sitting here like Abel, who bring the best to God. I'm sure all of you give something to God, otherwise you wouldn't be here in this meeting. But you know, whether you give your best, you give an offering to ease your conscience. I'm not talking about money. In the Old Testament, the emphasis was, give your tithe, give your tithe, give your tithe. That is not even mentioned once in the New Testament. You know what the New Testament says? Give your body, present your body, Romans 12.1, as a living sacrifice to God. Let me tell you something, which you'll never hear in any other church. The Old Testament lamb that was slain, is a picture of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, dying on the cross. The Old Testament fire that came from heaven on the offering, is a picture of the Holy Spirit coming and filling God's people. The Old Testament offering the tithe, is a picture of the New Testament offering our body to God. Today we don't bring lambs. We don't wait for a physical fire to fall upon us. It's the Holy Spirit. In the same way, we don't ask people to give a tithe, we say give your body. You tell me, which is easier? Think about it yourself. If you're earning a very high salary, Supposing, let's say, you're earning $100,000 a month. $100,000 10% of that every month to give $10,000 a month to God, that's a lot of money. Which is easier, to give that much or to give your body? Is it easier to give your body or to give $10,000 a month? I want to explain what it means to give your body. In the Old Testament, the Lord said, you cannot just bring a bullock and put it on the altar as a burnt offering. No. You have to cut it, cut it, cut it into pieces and put it piece by piece by piece on the altar. And then it is burnt. I say, if you're going to burn it, why should you cut it up? It's a waste of time. To teach us a lesson. That burnt offering is a picture of how we're giving our body to God. And so, how shall we give our body to God? Piece by piece, not all together. I'll explain what that means. Lord, first of all, I'm going to give my tongue. I never want to use my tongue from today onwards to say what I like. I will not speak to my wife whatever I like. Or to my husband. I will ask you, can I say this? Then I'll say it. If the Lord says, don't say that, I won't say it. I'll never tell a lie. I'll never speak anything evil. I will never use my tongue to say anything that will dishonor you. That is one piece. Now Lord, I give my eyes. I don't want to look at anything that will dishonor you. I will only look at things that will please you. Every day. Not in a magazine, not in the TV, nowhere. My eyes are yours. Then my hands, Lord. I never want to do anything with my hands that will displease you. I will not write a letter that hurts anybody. I will not type out anything on the computer that hurts anyone. I will not sign a false statement. My hands are on the altar. My feet. I never want to go any place where Jesus cannot come with me. Lord, I don't want to go any place where Jesus cannot come with me. I want to live like this for a whole month. Do you want this life or do you want to give 10% of your income per month? Many people say, Lord, you take your 10%, just let me live my life as I like. That was much easier. Even if you are earning $100,000 a month, you put $10,000, $90,000 is still yours. That's why people preach the title. That's why we never preach title. The apostles never preached title. Jesus said, present your body. That is the sacrifice. People like Cain will bring a title. Abel will bring his body. That is a sacrifice. 10% of income is not a sacrifice for almost anybody. Because 90% is his. But giving your body, that's a real sacrifice. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. They say, Lord, when you sent Jesus, you gave your best for me. I'm going to give my best for you. That's how it is in a marriage. What would you think of a marriage like this? Where the husband says at the marriage altar, when they are getting married. The bridegroom says, I give everything to you, my wife. The bridegroom says, I will give 10% to you. What type of marriage is this? The bridegroom is giving 100%, the bride gives 10%. And the wife is always calculating exactly 10% and giving it. Do you think that's going to be a happy marriage? This is the reason why so many Christians are not happy in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Because it's a 10% marriage. When Jesus didn't give 10%, he gave 100%. He gave 100% to the father and he gave 100% to us. That is the lesson from the first story in Genesis chapter 4. God has got something better for you. But who is going to get it? Not those who give 10%. No, those who give 100%. God definitely has something better for you. But I will tell you, more than 95% of Christians don't get it. Believers, they don't get it. Because God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. See what Jesus said to his father in John 17. We read what Jesus said in John 17. A beautiful verse. As we meditated in the morning, If there is something good and special, it is better than splitting the Red Sea and pulling down the walls of Jericho and shutting the marks of lions. If there is something good and special, it is better than splitting the Red Sea and pulling down the walls of Jericho and shutting the marks of lions. If there is something good and special, it is better than walking in Jesus' footsteps. Here is one of the footsteps of Jesus. When he prayed to his father in John 17.10 This is how he prayed to the father. Father, all things that are mine are yours. And therefore, all that is yours is mine. This is a real marriage where both are giving 100%. That is how we have to give to Jesus too. Why is it you don't get everything Jesus has for you? Why is it you get so little of God's blessing upon your life? Why is it you are so defeated in so many areas in your life? It is because you are very calculating in how much you give. So we don't get God's best. So what God is telling you today, he has got something better for you. But in order to get that, you have to take the attitude Jesus had. See, God treats us exactly as we respond to him. So you say, Lord, I give you 10%. God says, okay, I'll give you also 10%. Then we are spiritually so poor. Jesus said, all that I have is yours. And the Father said, all that I have is yours. Do you know this law of God we read in Psalm 18? It's a law of God. Verse 25 With the kind, you show yourself kind. With the blameless, you show yourself blameless. With the pure, you show yourself pure. With the crooked, you show yourself crooked. See, God treats us exactly as we also behave towards him and other people. For example, the Lord says, you forgive others, I'll forgive you. You don't forgive others, I won't forgive you. You don't forgive others, I won't forgive you. Jesus said that. If you don't forgive others, I will not forgive you. Do you know there are many Christians whom God has not forgiven? Because they haven't forgiven somebody. Let me tell you something, you'll never hear in another church. If there is one human being that you have not forgiven, I tell you God will not forgive any of your sins. I don't care who it is. I don't care how much evil he did to you. There is no greater evil that was done on the earth than the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And he forgave them. So whatever evil you have faced is less than that. And the Lord says, you don't forgive others, I won't forgive you. Jesus forgave. If you forgive others, God will forgive you. With the kind, you show yourself kind. But if you are crooked, it says in verse 26, God will also show himself as crooked. It's an absolute law. That's why I always say, be kind to other people. Because God will be kind to you. God is watching what your attitude is and he'll have the same attitude towards you. God saw Abel going around selecting the best sheep and putting it on the altar. And God sent the fire upon that altar. And God saw Cain just picking up some offering and giving it. No fire came. And Cain saw the fire falling on my brother's offering and not on mine. Why do you find, as you look around, that God blesses some people amazingly spiritually? And he keeps on blessing them. He does not seem to bless you like that. Is it because God has got certain favorites that he blesses? No. That person gave everything to God, so God gave everything to him. You give like Cain in a very calculating way, God also gives you like that. So when we say God has something better for you, It doesn't come automatically. It follows according to laws. With the kind, he shows himself kind. Those who forgive others will be forgiven. With the pure, he shows himself pure. With the crooked, he shows himself like that. So now you know, why God is treating you in a particular way. Now you know why God answers some people's prayers and he doesn't seem to answer your prayers. See for example, in James chapter 5, God is an amazing answerer of prayer. But it says in James chapter 5, That he doesn't answer everybody's prayers in the same way. In James 5, it says, The last part of verse 16, The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. What if the man is not a righteous man? He is not fervent in prayer. Nothing much is going to happen. You wonder why God is answering that person's prayer but not my prayer. Maybe because he is more righteous than you are. Maybe he is a maximum type of Christian who is giving everything to God. He says to God, all that I have is yours. And God says, okay, then all that I have is yours. And God says, everything I have is yours. And so he gets much more from God. You say, Lord, 10% is yours. God says, okay, here are a few drops of blessing for you. He is getting rivers and you are getting a few drops. Why is that? God works according to laws. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. See, it says here in verse 17, Elijah was a man just like us. And he prayed earnestly that it won't rain. And he prayed again fervently and it rained. You know, if you remember, in the Old Testament, God told Elijah, you read this in 1 Kings chapter 19, Elijah said, Lord, what to do? I am the only man standing up for you in this land. God said, no, there are 7000 others in this land. You know, you read that in 1 Kings chapter 19. That was the reply God gave to Elijah. 1 Kings 19, and Elijah said, Lord, I am the only one left standing for you. Verse 10, last part, I alone am left. I am the only one standing up for you. And the Lord said, no, verse 18, there are 7000 people who have not yet bowed the knee to Beal. We read in verse 18, No, there are 7000 people who have not yet bowed the knee to Beal. I am the only one left. Good. But none of those 7000 people could bring fire down from heaven. There was only one man in Israel who could bring fire down from heaven. So there was a difference between Elijah and those 7000. Yeah, the 7000 had a testimony. What is that? We have not bowed down to this idol. It's a good testimony. It's like many believers today. It's all negative. No, their testimony is negative. I don't smoke. I don't get drunk. I don't see any dirty movies. I don't tell lies. It's all, I don't do this, I don't do this, I don't do that, I don't do the other thing. But what was Elijah's testimony? His was not, I don't do this and I don't bow down to Beal. His testimony in chapter 17 verse 1 was, I stand before the Lord God of Israel. It was not, I don't bow down to idols. Every day of my life, I stand before the Lord God of Israel. That is the man who brought fire down from heaven. All these Christians who say, I don't do this and I don't do that and I don't have these bad habits. They cannot bring any fire on their life or on anybody else. Even Elijah is better than 7000 of these. Those 7000 people could do nothing for God. There are lot of Christians like that. They don't have any bad habits. You don't accomplish anything for God either. You go to some church to ease your conscience. God can't do anything for you or through you. Because you don't give your best to God. You don't stand before God every day and say, Lord all that I have is yours. Lord, I stand before God and all that I have is for you. One believer like that can accomplish more than 7000 believers who just don't smoke, don't drink and don't gamble. It's no use. Numbers are no use. It's a question of how diligently they seek God. See this law of God in Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah 29. The Lord says verse 11 I've got a wonderful plan for you. To give you a future and a hope. God's got wonderful plans for us. But if you want it to be fulfilled in your life, He says you have to call upon me and come and pray to me, verse 12. And verse 13, you have to search for me with all your heart. Then you will find me, verse 14. Not everybody. You know just like people work so hard to get a college degree. What a lot of money they spend to get a college degree. To get a job. And many of you who have come to Singapore, what a lot of effort you've made to get a visa to come here. Imagine if you began to seek God like that. Wonderful things could have happened in your life. But the thing is many Christians they seek after earthly things with great earnestness. They spend so many lakhs and lakhs of rupees to get a good college degree. Medical college or engineering college, they must get a degree. They want that for their children. What about seeking God like that? Why is that person who has spent so much money and sought, worked hard, got a good degree. And this lazy person didn't get anything. You understand that in the world. The same thing in the Christian life. How do you find such a difference between this believer and this other believer? Tremendous difference. See Jesus told a story once in Mark chapter 4. Do you know the story? A man went sowing seed on different types of ground. How many of you know the story? Do you know the story? Yes or no? Tell me. How many types of ground was there? 6. If you have heard me somewhere in some message, you know the answer. If you have never heard me, you don't know the answer. Every bible school says four types of ground. That is the road side, rocky ground, where the thorns and good ground. I say no. It's three types of bad ground. Road side, rocky ground, and thorns. And three types of good ground. 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold. I am not inventing it. It's written there. Jesus said it. It's one of those classic examples of not reading the bible carefully. Some people are asking, brother Zack, where did you learn all this? Nothing new. I just read it carefully. So why did some people get 36 and some people get 100? What is the difference? It's exactly what I have been teaching you. What I have been saying. It's exactly like I have been saying. Those who seek him diligently get more. Those who seek him diligently get more. Let me tell you another example. Jesus was always teaching this. Luke chapter 19. There was a king who called 10 of his slaves and gave them one mina each. One mina is about three months salary. Whatever your three months salary is, that is one mina. He called 10 of them and gave one to each. When he came back, one man said in verse 16, your one mina has produced 10 minas. Another fellow said in verse 18, your one mina brought 5 minas. Why this difference? Both got one mina. One person produced 10, another person produced 5. There is a difference between believers. One person wholeheartedly used everything God gave him to produce something for God. And he produced more. The other person was lazy, he produced less. He could have produced 10. He was not as wholehearted as the other person. He spent half the time doing other things. It's exactly like it is with many believers. And then there is one person who had only one, he never produced anything at all. He just went to the church every Sunday, accomplished zero for God. Lord, here is what you gave me. I didn't produce anything with it, here it is. This is also a picture of three types of believers. It's like that 30 fold, 60 fold and 100 fold. Here one person produced nine more, another person produced four more, the other person produced zero. And we are all like that. We are all producing nine more or four more or zero more. Why this difference? See, there's some areas where God gives us equal. For example, every one of us gets 24 hours every day. Elijah got 24 hours a day. Those 7,000 people also got 24 hours a day. What you do with your 24 hours may be different from what that person does with his 24 hours. Yeah, it's a question of how you spend your time. If you are not serious about studying the scriptures, another person with the same amount of time as you, serious about studying the scriptures, he gets to know God better than you. Not because he's got 50 hours a day. No, no, no. He also has 24 hours a day. He's also working like you. He takes time to study the word. And if he doesn't understand something, if he does not understand, he digs into it and finds out. You know, people tell me, the Bible is so difficult to understand. I say, okay. I've done something to make it easy for you to understand. There's a book there called Through the Bible. I say, you read three pages every day. In one year, you will know more than most people know about from the Bible school. You know how long it takes to read three pages of that? I've tested it. 15 minutes. But, even though I have said that for years, there are many believers who never do it. I said it years ago. There are some people who have read through it twice. There are people who sit in CFC who have not even read it once. Is it because they are so busy that they don't even have 15 minutes a day? Are they so busy? How much time do they have to watch television? To search on the internet and the computer for something? To sit and gossip? You definitely have 15 minutes. It is absolutely laziness. The question is, how much money will I make if I spend this 15 minutes? You will not make any money, but you will become spiritual. But, supposing there is a scheme, you spend 15 minutes, you can get $100 a day. Do you know how many of us will run for that project? You will never read through the Bible 15 minutes, but you will go and get that $100 in 15 minutes. I want to tell you to your face, you love money more than you love God. Let me tell you, nothing good will come out of your life. You can sit in the best church in the world, you will be useless. You are not serious about knowing what God wants you to know. The reason I wrote that is to answer these people who say the Bible is difficult. I say, okay, start with that. That will lead you to the Bible. That you will discover so many things there, you say, boy, I didn't know the Bible was so interesting. One brother wrote to me, I've never read Leviticus in my life, as soon as I go to it, it's so boring, I just leave it. After I read Leviticus and through the Bible, I found wow, even in that book there are so many interesting things. Then they start studying other parts of the Bible. So I want to encourage you. You know why we should read the Bible? And tell you. Let me show you one verse. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 11. The last part. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11. The last part. The thoughts of God nobody knows except the Spirit of God. I want to know the thoughts of God. That's why I read the Bible. It's the only book in the world which has the thoughts of God. And the reason I wrote the book through the Bible is to get you to be interested in the Bible. So that you can know the thoughts of God. Imagine if your thoughts get in line with the thoughts of God, what will you do to your life? It has changed my life completely. It changed my life in the last 60 years. One of the first things I did after I was converted. I began to study the Bible to understand the thoughts of God. A lot of the problems in your life are because you don't know the thoughts of God. And you won't even spend 15 minutes a day to learn it. And God sees how lazy you are. That even 15 minutes a day you don't have to study the thoughts of God. Where is God going to bless you? You will just be the same person even after 25 years. You'll have this one Meena. Lord, you gave me one Meena, here it is. Others are producing 10, 20, 50, 100. And you keep your one. Lord, will I go to heaven when I die? That is one Meena. I say, I am not interested in going to heaven when I die. I am interested in being useful to God here on earth before I die. I want to show my gratitude to Jesus here on earth before I die. Not just say, Lord please take me to heaven when I die. Can you imagine Jesus came and gave his whole life for you and all you think is to go to heaven when you die? He gave everything for you and you give one small offering like Cain. No wonder the fire of God does not come upon your life. I have experienced the fire of God in my heart. Many years ago. It is still burning in my heart. And if I live up to 100 years of age, it will burn even more. It is the most important thing in my life. The most important thing in my life is not to make money. Because God has something better for me. Like that king Amaziah said, what shall I do about this money I have lost? The prophet said, the Lord is able to give you much more than that. I want to say to all of you. Till now. You have missed many things in your life. You have gone after little toys in the world. And you have missed the riches of heaven. You have missed the riches of heaven. From today. Please spend 15 minutes a day. Read 3 pages of that book. And get to the Bible itself. If you can get it straight from the Bible, then you don't have to read it. Go straight to the Bible itself. But get to know the thoughts of God. It will change your life. It changed my life. It taught me how to bring up four children to follow the Lord. It taught me how to trust God without ever being in debt. Even for one rupee in all my life. It's taught me how to forgive every human being in the world. Even those who took me to court for ten years. Yeah. There's nobody I hate. It is impossible to make me hate somebody. I've understood the thoughts of God. You think people have not done any harm to me? I've been a servant of God for 52 years. Full time. And I know I've been the target of Satan for 52 years. But he's never been able to touch me. Because God is with me. Many people hate me. But I love them. They've tried to harm me. But the harm works for my good according to Romans 8.28 Do you have that testimony? If you have that testimony, you cannot hate anybody in the world. 8.28 Because everybody is doing you good. What a wonderful way to live. Everybody in the world is doing me good. Those are the thoughts of God. I can honestly say I don't have a complaint against a single human being in the world because everybody is doing me good. How can I have bitterness against somebody who is doing me good? Do you believe Romans 8.28? But if you love God with all your heart, I want to fulfill your purpose for my life. I want to fulfill your purpose for my life. Everything will work for good. I want to say to you my brothers and sisters, God has something much better for you than you have experienced so far. At least by this time next year, I hope you will experience much more. Don't waste the next one year like you wasted the last one year. Or the last many years of your life. Say, Lord, I want to be a serious Christian from today. I'm going to seek you with all my heart. I'm going to search after you diligently. Heavenly Father, make these truths real in our life, Lord. Send a fire into our hearts. Help us to understand your thoughts. To see your heart beating for us. Your heart beating for us. Help us to see that, Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/9-YRH3qFBjY.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/god-has-something-better-for-you-video/ ========================================================================