======================================================================== GOD WANTS TO BLESS US AND MAKE US A BLESSING by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of recognizing that God sees every aspect of our lives, including our thoughts, attitudes, and motives. It challenges believers to live with the awareness that they have to do with only one person in the universe, Almighty God, and not be swayed by the opinions or approval of others. The message stresses the need to come to a zero point of complete surrender to God, where all personal ambitions, desires, and efforts are laid down, allowing God to work mightily through individuals to bless every family they encounter. Topics: "God's Omniscience", "Complete Surrender to God" Scripture References: Hebrews 4:13, Matthew 5:6, Galatians 3:13, John 2:4, Zechariah 8:13, Acts 7:22, Philippians 3:10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of recognizing that God sees every aspect of our lives, including our thoughts, attitudes, and motives. It challenges believers to live with the awareness that they have to do with only one person in the universe, Almighty God, and not be swayed by the opinions or approval of others. The message stresses the need to come to a zero point of complete surrender to God, where all personal ambitions, desires, and efforts are laid down, allowing God to work mightily through individuals to bless every family they encounter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'd like to start with Hebrews and chapter 4. Please turn with me to a small part of a verse. It's a little expression which, if you take it seriously, can make a lot of difference in your life. Small little expression, I often thought about it myself. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 13. It says, There is no creature hidden from God's sight. We know that. All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Well, I'm sure we all believe in our hearts that everything on Earth, everything about our lives, everything about our thoughts, our attitudes, our hidden desires are all laid bare before God. We must never forget that, that there's not a single part of our personality or our inner life. I'm thinking particularly about attitudes we have towards other people, which we are very careful to conceal when we know it's not good. And we are very careful to pretend that everything is good in our attitude when it is not good. Well, that doesn't help, because it says here everything is laid bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. So that's the first point I want to mention. Even though it's so obvious, yet I find that it'll make a lot of difference in our lives if we live recognizing that all the time, that there's not a single part of our being which God does not see all the time. Our thoughts, attitudes, and motives, particularly, every moment, in every single thing we do, big or small. But then we come to this little expression, which is him with whom we have to do. And that's the expression which I would like to emphasize. We must recognize there's only one person in the entire universe with whom we have to do. That's all. Only one person. And that's Almighty God. Now, I'm sure theoretically you all agree with me. Nobody would question that. But in daily life, I find that we're not always living in the awareness of the fact that he is the only one with whom we have to do. Because so many of our actions and our behavior is sometimes catering for some others around us. It says, no, we have to do with them as well. As if their opinion about us matters one bit. And I'll tell you, it's not an easy thing to be free from that. It's a battle. But I would encourage all of you to fight that battle. To fight the battle, till you come to the place where it's not going to happen overnight. It may take a few years. But if you work on it, you'll get there. It's like getting a college degree. When you join a college, you don't expect to get a finish it in a year. If you're going to do a postgraduate degree, it takes many, many years. But you know, you'll get there. If you work at it, you'll get there. And many of you have worked hard to get to that point of getting a degree or a qualification. I want to encourage you to pursue this in the same way. Lord, bring me to the place where I'm perfectly aware, not just theoretically. But all the time in my behavior, my actions, there is only one person with whom I have to do, and that's you. Ultimately, it's only your opinion about me that is going to count for eternity. And even on Earth, it's only his opinion that finally matters. The opinions of others are fit for the trash can. The only man whose opinion I would value would be someone who's really godly. I mean, if there was somebody like the Apostle Paul living on Earth, who didn't care for anybody's opinion, and you knew God so well, and who loved me enough to tell me the truth about myself, I would value his opinion, sure. But all the others, I wouldn't value it at all, because there's only one with whom you have to do. I would encourage you to seek to come to that type of life. It'll free you from a lot of hypocrisy. It'll free you, and by hypocrisy, I mean acting. The word hypocrite is a Greek word. It just means actor. Two thousand years ago in Greece, if you talked about a hypocrite, you were talking about an actor. The actor on the stage is called a hypocrite. And Jesus used that word, the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn't speak Greek, but the Holy Spirit uses that word to express what Jesus said in the Aramaic language to condemn the Pharisees. It's the number one sin that he condemned. We must never forget that. It was not murder or adultery or anything that he condemned most of all, though he did speak against them. But it was hypocrisy that he condemned more than anything else. It was hypocrisy which made a person a Pharisee. A great Bible scholar becomes a Pharisee the moment he's an actor, a hypocrite. And people were righteous externally in all areas. Like Jesus said to the Pharisees, your cup is clean on the outside. But they were hypocrites. So those are warnings to us because the greatest danger that evangelical Christians, and especially those pursuing holiness, we're not in danger of becoming outright sinners. We're in danger of becoming hypocrites, actors, acting apart, particularly when we are before others. I don't think any of us will act at home because our marriage partners know us too well. We can't fool them. They know us exactly what we are. So we don't waste our time acting at home. But it's mostly outside the home, in the office, and in the church, when we are with other people, this tremendous temptation to act, to act apart, to act spiritual, to try and convince people that I'm a serious wholehearted Christian, and forget there's only one with whom I have to do. So please keep this little expression, him with whom we have to do, always in our minds. It's helped me a great deal to recognize he's the only one with whom I have to do and to work towards that place where I'm really concerned only about his opinion about me. I think it's one of the things that Jesus sought to lead his people into. He could not lead them to it before the day of Pentecost. The opinions of men mattered tremendously to the disciples as long as they were on earth. It mattered greatly to people in the Old Testament. That's another thing I want to mention. I think most of us will be free from it because we have heard so much in the church about the new covenant. But I find so many Christians excusing an action by saying, well, that happened to David, or that happened to Moses, or some godly man who Elijah was discouraged. So where am I compared to Elijah? I'll tell you where you are. You're living post the day of Pentecost. Elijah was living pre the day of Pentecost. And that makes all the difference between heaven and earth. Elijah did not know anything about dying with Christ, being buried with him, and raised up with him to be seated in the heavenly places. Not even John the Baptist knew that. So I want to say to all of you, my dear brothers, even though you know it already perhaps, I don't mind repeating it, that never, never, never find an excuse for what you have done or treat lightly something wrong that you have done by finding an example in the Old Testament. I know many pastors who fall into adultery here in the United States and who continue in the pulpit in their ministry saying, David fell and he continued to be a king. These are people who don't have a clue that the Holy Spirit was brought out on the day of Pentecost to establish a new covenant. But it may not be adultery. It may be something else where we can find an excuse from someone in the Old Testament. It's true Elijah got discouraged. There's no room for that for a new covenant believer. No, it's true that David fell into adultery. There's no room for that in the new covenant. And if a leader falls into adultery, he must never be become a leader again. I would never dream of appointing as an elder, someone who as an elder fell into adultery. If it was before he became an elder, okay, the times of ignorance God overlooks. But once a person is in leadership, if he falls into theft or adultery, he can never be a leader again. But the prison world is full of such people. Look at all the multitude of people who have divorced. And their example is again in the Old Testament. So it's not a small thing. We need to keep this in our mind at all times. There's one person with whom I have to do. And what is his standard? His standard is what I've read in Matthew 5, 6 and 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. It's him with whom I have to do. So don't think I'm repeating it too much. I feel we'll never get to hear it enough. We need to hear it again and again. The other thought that's come to my mind is, which I wanted to share. You see, going back to what I said earlier, in a church which does not have standards, like most worldly churches where yelling at each other, getting angry, upset at home is all accepted behavior. In such a church, people don't worry if others see them getting angry or upset or doing something wrong. They accept it. But when you belong to a church like RLCF, which has such a high standard and proclaims the new covenant and the standards of the New Testament, the temptation for folks here is far greater than in any of those other churches to act. I don't think most other churches, they have any temptation to act. They just behave like they are and it's accepted behavior for people to sin and get upset and get discouraged and all types of things. The danger is far, far more in your church than in other places because we have such a high standard. So as I said, the other thing I want to mention is that in God's dealings with us, it's something I've repeated many times over the years and I never get tired of repeating it. One of God's great desires, not God's great desires, but the way of God's working in us is before he can, you know, we read that there's a resurrection comes after death. That's a principle taught in the New Testament. Death is like coming to a zero point. As long as there's a little life left in us, we haven't come to zero. We can breathe a little, maybe we can move a little bit, but death means absolute zero. I can't do a thing. And you remember how when Mary and Martha sent a message to Jesus saying Lazarus is sick and it says Jesus hearing that did not go. That is so contrary to what our reaction, you know, some loved one is sick, we'd rush immediately. But Jesus led by the Holy Spirit did not go because he wanted to teach them a great lesson that he can raise the dead. But what we see there is Lazarus, as long as he was alive, he could do something. Maybe he could move his fingers, maybe he could open his eyes a little bit. All that had to die. And to make sure it was dead, he had to be in the grave for four days. And then Jesus came and raised him up. This is what Paul speaks of, I want to know the power of his resurrection. That's a great expression. In Philippians 3, towards the end of his life, I mean, he wrote Philippians when he was nearly 60 years old. He'd been a believer for about 30 years. And at that time, he says in Philippians 3, I want to know Jesus and I want to know the power of his resurrection. Being made conformed to his death. So he connects death and resurrection there. He says, I know that I can know the power of his resurrection only if I'm conformed to his death. And like I said, death is a zero point where I can do nothing. I can't lift my finger, I can't open my eyelids. It's absolute, total zero. And otherwise, there's no resurrection. Otherwise, the person's not fully dead, there's no resurrection, he's in a coma. Looks as if he's dead, but it's only a coma. He's still got life in him, he breathes. But when breath is also gone, there's no hope. He's come to a zero point. And then Lazarus was raised from the dead. So it's a very simple truth, you understand that resurrection can only come when there is a death. So if we want to know the power of Christ's resurrection in our life, which is God's desire for every one of us, we have to be willing to go into the death of Christ 100%. And that has many aspects to it. But there's one particular thing I'm thinking of that is to come to the end of thinking that with a little more effort, I can make it. I can come into this life that I'm challenged to in the New Testament, this life of victory and the grace of God expects me to live by that standard. As long as I think with a little bit of effort, I can make it. And that I think my life has become a little better, and I offer that life to God. You know, it's like Abraham, when God said to him, you're going to have, through your seed, the whole earth is going to be blessed. You know how initially he felt, yeah, I believe I can make it. I mean, Sarah, my wife is barren. I can produce a child. I'm not impotent myself. I can produce a child through my servant made. And he lifts up Ishmael before God and God says no. And if you read about the history of the descendants of Ishmael, you'll find they're the ones who caused the maximum problems for the Jewish people and for Christians through the centuries. One man trying to help God by producing a child, which God never intended him to have. That was not God's perfect will for Abraham to produce Ishmael. And a lot of consequences came from that if you read the history of the descendants of Ishmael. I don't want to go into that. But what I'm trying to say is, when we do things with our own cleverness and our own ability, not coming to the place of impotence, we don't realize that our actions and our work can create a lot of complications for God's work, even for many years to come. That's what we learned from Ishmael. Abraham didn't know that. Very often when we do something, we don't realize the long-term consequences of it. What Abraham needed to learn was, I cannot do it. God has to do it completely. And that's why God waited till Abraham himself was incapable of producing a child. Sarah was already incapable, but Abraham was not. And when it says that Abraham is the father of faith, that faith is based on this coming to a zero point. If you turn with me to Romans chapter 4, there are two things mentioned that are dead here in Abraham's family. Romans 4, 19. The deadness of Sarah's womb. That was completely dead. There was zero possibility of God's promise being fulfilled through Sarah because her womb was dead. But there was some hope through Abraham because he was not, his ability to produce a child was not dead. But then he came to the point where it says his own body was also as good as dead by the time he came to a hundred years. Then he had his child. What was God waiting for? For Abraham to come to that place of death? Now, this is not as unimportant as we think. It has a real application for our life. If you turn with me to Genesis in chapter 17, sorry, chapter 18. Yeah. Chapter 16, sorry. Genesis chapter 16, verse 15. This is referring to the birth of Ishmael. Hagar bore Abraham a son and named him Ishmael. Abraham was, now read carefully here. Remember that these chapter divisions have been made by man to enable us to find a reference quickly. The original book of Genesis or any other book had no verses, no chapters. There may have been paragraphs, but no chapter division. It was just one continuous book, Genesis. So ignore the chapter division here. Verse 16, Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him. Now Abraham was 99 years old. I'm just reading the next verse. The Lord appeared to Abraham. What happened from verse 16 to 17? 13 years. From the age of 86 to 99. No record of what God, was God speaking to him? Was God telling him anything? No. What is happening in those years? God was waiting for Abraham's body to become dead. As you read in Romans 4. The deadness of his own body. And when Abraham's body was also dead, then God said, now I will establish my covenant with you. Chapter 17, verse 2. And now you will no longer be called, verse 5, Ibram, which means an exalted father. Very interesting. The word Ibram, the margin of my Bible says it means an exalted father, a highly respected father with a name. He had no children, but he had a name. You will be called Abraham, Genesis 17, 5, which means the father of a multitude. In other words, Ibram, you're not going to be just known as a very exalted father of a tribe. That's unimportant. You're going to be the father of many, many, many children that are going to bless the world. It's something, because I've made you the father of a multitude. It's something like that God wants to do to us. Dear brothers and sisters, please remember this. Lord had told Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 and verse 2, two things. I will bless you and you will be a blessing to all the families of the earth. Verse 3, two things. This is the blessing of Abraham, which God gave him. I will bless you, number one. And number two, you will be a blessing to all the families of the earth through your seed. But that could only come when Abraham's ability to produce his seed come to zero. If you turn to Galatians in chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3, we read in verse 13, Christ became a curse for us. Now many people know that Christ died for our sins on the cross. I hope you also know that Romans 6, that our old man was crucified with Christ on the cross. It also says that Satan was defeated on the cross. Colossians 2, verse 14, 15. And Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, that through death, he destroyed him who had the power of death. He took away the power of Satan on the cross. A number of things happened on the cross. The Christian world only knows he died for our sins. A lot more than that. Our old man was crucified with him so that we may not be slaves to sin. And Satan was defeated on the cross. And here's something else. It's the only place in the New Testament where it says this. Jesus Christ became a curse, not he took a curse. Read it. He became a curse, cursed by God, because it says cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Now we know why he died for us. He died for our sins. Why did he become a curse for you and me? If someone were to ask you that question, why did Jesus become a curse on the cross? I hope you have an answer. To most people, the only answer to any question like that is, so that I can go to heaven when I die. That is the answer of a spiritual baby. A spiritual baby can only think of one thing, like it cries for milk. I'll go to heaven when I die. My sins are all forgiven. And I'll go to heaven when I die. That is the language of a newborn baby. And we all begin there. We all began as newborn babies. The sad thing is multitudes of believers are babies. Even after 20, 30 years of having accepted Christ, they never seem to grow. Imagine if you had a baby that never grew up for 30 years. Couldn't speak, couldn't walk. It's a condition of many believers. Why did Christ become a curse for us? Here's the answer. Verse 14, Galatians 3, 14. In order that. That's the answer. Why did Christ become a curse for us? In order that. The blessing of Abraham might come to us who are not Jews, who are not his descendants. What is the blessing of Abraham? We saw that already. I will bless you. And you will be a blessing to every family that you ever encounter on the earth. Have you taken that promise to yourself? I know all of you have hopefully taken the promise of the forgiveness of sins. Thank you, Lord Jesus, you died for me. Thank you that all my sins are forgiven. Praise the Lord. Have you taken this promise? Have you ever gone to Jesus and said, Lord, thank you for being a curse on the cross for me so that I can be blessed and become a blessing to every single family that I encounter in my life? Don't you want to be that, my brother, sister? Don't you want to be like that, that every family, not just every individual, every family you encounter will be blessed because you came across their path. For eternity, they will thank God, this brother, this sister came across my path. I've been blessed for all eternity. I want to tell you that's God's purpose for you. It's called the blessing of Abraham. Two things, I will bless you and there's only one meaning of that. That is, I will empower you with my Holy Spirit. The greatest blessing God can give me is the Holy Spirit. I will bless you means he'll give me the Holy Spirit to dwell within me. That's the New Testament equivalent of Abraham's blessing. And secondly, you will be a blessing means the Holy Spirit will flow out through me like rivers of living water, blessing every family I encounter, every person in every family I encounter. Why? How will it happen? Because Jesus became a curse for me. There will never be a curse in my life. But it's not enough that there is no curse in my life. I mean, that's a negative thing. Oh, thank God there's no curse in my life. But I'm to be a blessing. Have you ever come across this verse? You remember this verse in the book of Zechariah? It's a great promise. Zechariah chapter 8. You turn with me to Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 13. Claim this promise to yourself. It'll come about that just as once upon a time you were a curse, wherever you went. That means you were a nuisance. You caused problems wherever you went. You sinned wherever you went. You hurt people. Now you will become a blessing. Don't be afraid. Let your hands be strong. As just as you were a curse, you will be a blessing. It's a tremendous promises in scripture. It means like there are many checks written in our name within the Bible which remain uncashed. If you find another man or woman who is truly spiritual and far more spiritual than you, it's only because he has cashed some of those checks in the Bible which you have not cashed. They are for you also, those promises. He's gone and taken them and uncashed them in the bank of heaven and said, Lord, I'm sorry I've been a curse to so many people. I've been such a nuisance to people, but it's going to change. I'm going to be a blessing from now on. Bank of heaven will always uncash that check because it is signed in Jesus' name. He became a curse that I might be a blessing. So why doesn't it happen? As I said, between Genesis 16 and 17, there were 13 years where God did nothing. And that happens in the lives of many believers too. For many years, God does nothing. Only for one reason, they haven't come to a zero point. They're still full of themselves. They think that with a little more effort, I'll make it. Throughout scripture, I find this principle. You know the story in the marriage in Cana where Mary came to Jesus and said, they have no wine. And Jesus said, you can read it sometime in John chapter two. What have I got to do with you? My hour has not yet come. What is the meaning of my hour has not yet come? I interpret that as saying, well, if I were to paraphrase it, well, Mary, there's still a little bit of wine left there. Maybe 99% of it is over, but there's still one or two glasses of wine still left. Of course, you're coming and warning me in advance so that they don't completely run out, but my hour will come only when it has run out to zero. When there's not a drop of wine left, then I will act. As long as there's even half a cup of wine left. I mean, I know you need jars of wine in a wedding, but if there's a half a cup of wine left, my hour has not yet come. And then a time came when even that half cup has run dry. There was nothing left. Then Jesus said to the servants, fill the water pots with water. And what a lot of wine he gave them. Six water pots full of water. And it says here, each of those water pots contained about 20, 25, 30 gallons, 30 gallons. And one water pot, imagine about 180 gallons of wine. Can you imagine how much that is? When God does something, it is in abundance, but he had to wait until it came to zero. They have no wine. It has to really get to zero. Then the Lord says, my hour has come. And my brother, sister, if those 180 gallons of wine are not spiritual wine, I mean, are not being produced in your life, I'll tell you, there must be one reason. The Lord's hour has not yet come because you have not come to zero. You still got a few of your own resources, a few Ishmaels. I'll tell you, I never knew this. I never had a spiritual father to teach me these things. I did a lot of good things after I was born again for 15, 16 years. They were not bad. Ishmael was a pretty healthy child. And I produced a few Ishmaels. They were not evil, but they were not in God's plan and purpose for my life. But I know when God met with me and filled me with the spirit and changed the direction of my life and opened up a door of ministry for me was when I came to zero. And until that time, God waited. That period between Genesis 16 and Genesis 17, I went through that for a long time. And one day God met with me. And if you find the frustration in your life, my brother, you don't seem to see the power and the rivers of living water flowing through you as you anticipated. Consider this possibility that you are in that Genesis 16 last verse situation. God is waiting and you become completely dead, dead to the opinions of men, dead to the applause and praise of men, dead to the desire to impress people, dead to the desire to impress RLCF, dead to the desire to get a name. When I, in my first Bible, I wrote this verse down, it challenged me and I used to sing it to myself many, many times. Dead to the world and its applause, to all the customs, fashions, laws of those who hate the humbling cross, so dead that no desire may rise to appear good or great or wise in any but my savior's eyes. Let's just sing that. Dead to the world and its applause, to all the customs, fashions, laws of those who hate the humbling cross, so dead that no desire may rise to appear good or great or wise in any but my savior's eyes. I kept on at it because the Lord showed me, I remember when I was seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit in those days. He said, when did the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus? That's what the Lord spoke to me. I was a young 23-year-old. I didn't still understand it for another 10, 13 years but the Lord pointed me to the example of Jesus. When did the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus in the river Jordan? When he allowed somebody to put him completely underwater, which is a picture of total death. You know that baptism is a picture of death. Jesus submitted to total death to himself. Then God raised him up and the Spirit came upon me and what the Lord said to me was, if you're willing to go that way of the cross of total death to yourself, your ambitions, plans, desires. I had many ambitions, I'll tell you. I was in the Navy and I was doing pretty well as a Naval officer and I had a great ambition to go to the right of the top to be the Admiral of the Indian Navy. Then Christ came into my life and told me to die, to die to that ambition. Lord, I only want to please you now, fulfill your will for my life. You know, I mean that didn't mean I have to leave my job. No, that was separate. My calling to serve in full time was another calling, but I continued to be a Christian in the Navy. I didn't think I would leave the Navy. I thought I'd just be a good Christian to the Lord in the Navy in my secular job. And I could have been if the Lord wanted, if that was the plan for my life, but the Lord had other plans. But it is very important that I gave up my ambitions. I said, Lord, I want to live for you. I want to fulfill your plan for my life. That's all that matters. I want to ask all of you, especially you young people, your life ahead of you. It's good to have make plans and all that is very good. But are you willing to bow before God and say, Lord, I want your plan for my life. I want to marry the person you have planned for me. Nobody else. The one you have planned. And if you're already married, Lord, I want to fulfill your plan for my life. Wherever I am. I don't want to choose where I want to go. I don't want to just go where I can make a lot of money. I want your plan for my life. I tell you, die, die, die completely. You'd be amazed to see and experience the power of his resurrection. And when Abraham got Isaac, the Lord said, this is the one to whom I'm going to bless. And I believe that every one of us need to have that type of an experience. And that will come only when we come to a zero point. You see that in many of the miracles. I told you about Cana. I told you about Lazarus. Jesus would not come when he was sick yet to come to zero, to death. You see that in the last miracle that Jesus did. You know the last miracle Jesus did? It was after his resurrection. The miraculous catch of fish. What's the lesson there? Same thing. You toil all night. Toil, toil, toil. It's exactly like the end of Genesis 16. Toil, toil, toil. God waits. God waits in Genesis 16 for Abraham to come to zero. And Jesus waited on the shore for those disciples to come to zero. They went out fishing at six o'clock. No fish. Seven o'clock, eight o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, midnight. No fish. They've never had such an experience. They're expert fishermen. They've never had such an experience in all their life. Jesus still waits. They haven't come to zero. They say, hey, maybe we'll make it by four o'clock in the morning. By the time it was five o'clock in the morning, they gave up. No hope at all. Then Jesus appears and says, who said he doesn't have a sense of humor? Well, boys, have you caught any fish? They say, no. Now you're ready. And you get such a catch as you've never had in your whole life. You fill their net with fish. All these things are a message to us. Dear brothers and sisters, choose that way. Manifested in the life of Abraham, Peter, and the disciples. It's a mean thing. Why did God put Moses in the wilderness for 40 years? It wasn't to teach him to preach. He was already a great preacher at the age of 40. To bring him to zero, where he would say, this great preacher, you read in Acts 7, he was mighty in words. Moses at the age of 40. Stephen says that in Acts 7. But when God meets with him 40 years later, he says, Lord, I cannot speak. The Lord says, no, I'm going to use you. He says, no, I cannot speak. Please ask Aaron. He had really come to zero. Throughout scripture, this is the principle. I believe that all my heart, my dear brothers and sisters, God wants to use every one of you mightily. Every one of you. I don't care how weak you are. I don't care how old you are. I don't care how much you have failed in your life. I want to tell you in Jesus' name, please believe me. God wants to fulfill a mighty purpose through you. The rivers of living water will come out of you to bless every family you encounter. Don't just look at that gifted brother who stands in the pulpit and speaks. No, no, no. Those are not the only people. Preaching in the pulpit is not the main thing. You can be a blessing to people, even if you never preach in a pulpit. God wants to make every one of you like that. But he has to bring you to zero. So remember the two things I mentioned today. There's only one person with whom you have to do work on your life till you say, Lord, I want to live recognizing you're the only one with whom I have to do. Help me to come to a zero point quickly. Let's pray. Please think about what you heard today, and if there's something God has spoken to you, please ask the Lord to remind you of it again and again until it becomes reality. Heavenly Father, apply to our hearts the truths we have heard. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/aBDAlcXxKEE.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/god-wants-to-bless-us-and-make-us-a-blessing/ ========================================================================