======================================================================== REJOICE IN WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of humility and focusing on what God has done for us rather than what we do for Him. It highlights the danger of pride, the need to constantly grow spiritually by going lower in humility, and the significance of God's authority over us. The speaker encourages rejoicing in God's work in our lives and being quick to obey His promptings. Topics: "Humility", "God's Authority" Scripture References: Galatians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 15:9, Ephesians 3:8, 1 Timothy 1:15, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Philippians 2:5, James 4:10, Luke 10:17, Galatians 6:3, 1 Peter 5:6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of humility and focusing on what God has done for us rather than what we do for Him. It highlights the danger of pride, the need to constantly grow spiritually by going lower in humility, and the significance of God's authority over us. The speaker encourages rejoicing in God's work in our lives and being quick to obey His promptings. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters. Like we say, this is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. We always open our message by turning to the Bible, because that is the only book in the world that is God's communication to man without error. Godly men have written many books, but if they are godly, they are based on the Bible. So I want to say a few words about Bible translations in English, because some people are confused about it. Let me give you a little history. About 420 years ago or so, there were translations even before that, but 420 years ago, the King in England, King James, decided to have a good translation of the Bible. I mean, not because he was born again, but because a lot of people in England were Christians by name. So he collected a lot of scholars, fortunately many of those scholars were God-fearing people, and asked them to translate the Bible, but he gave them one instruction. Don't let your translation disturb any existing traditions in the Church of England. That condition, you know, that means the Church traditions became more important than the translations. So if they found something in the translation that was going against the Church traditions, they could not translate it like that, because otherwise he'd cut off their heads. The King had an authority like that those days. You need to know how it was. Anyway, because they were God-fearing people, the King James translation is a very good translation, but it is in the language of the English of 1600s, and some of those things, some of those words mean different today. For example, the word prevent, you know what prevent means, it means to stop someone. But in 1600, it means to go ahead of someone. In 1 Thessalonians 4, it says when Christ comes again, we who are alive will not prevent those who have already died, they will rise up first. So it's not that we're going to sit on their graves and prevent them from rising up, it's a crazy idea, but it means we won't go ahead of them. So therefore, sometimes we read, for example, charity. Charity means today giving money to the poor. In 1600, it meant love. So that's the reason why people who, like in India, where English is a second language for most people, they can get a wrong understanding, because it says in 1 Corinthians 13, charity is the greatest. So people think giving money to the poor is the greatest thing in the world. It's not what it means. So there are some limitations when you use King James Version, I say that because if you're reading one, you'll probably get some wrong understandings of some of those things. But when I was converted, that was the only good English translation available, and that's what I read in 1959. But because I knew a little bit of English, I could understand that charity meant love. But then later on, about 10-12 years later, the New American Standard Bible came out, and that's what I've been using for 50 years. And the more I've read that, I feel that is the most accurate translation in English available today. But even there, they compromised a little bit, maybe, to New American means to please some of the American people. And I'll give you one example where they said, you know, in 1 Peter 3, it says a woman must adorn herself not with gold jewelry or expensive dresses. But they translated it in 1 Peter 3, verse 3, as not merely with gold jewelry, which means something completely different. And not with gold jewelry, and not only with gold jewelry, two different meanings. But they added that word merely, but they put it in italics to show it is not in the original, that is, R added. Why did they add it? So you see, even in translation, people sometimes bring their own thoughts into it. For example, in the King James Version, Acts chapter 12, the word Passover is translated as Easter. There was no Easter in Jesus' time. So we have to be careful in these things. The main message of the Bible is to teach us to love God with all our heart, and to love others as ourselves. But some of these things are, for example, one of the things that those King James Version translators did was, they came in Matthew chapter 3 to John the Baptist. He immersed people in water, and the New Testament was written in the Greek language. And the Greek word for immersed or dipped is baptizo. That's a Greek word, and that's how it was written there, immersed, dipped. In Greece, if anybody said, I dip my hand in a bucket of water, he'd say, I baptizo my hand in the bucket of water. That's the meaning of it. But if they translated the word baptizo as immerse, and that Jesus taught we must immerse people after they are believers, it would have disrupted and broken up the whole Church of England, because they were sprinkling babies. They were not immersing people. The Church of England, Anglican Church, is not immersing people even today. And because they were sprinkling babies, so these translators, they had some respect for God. They said, we can't translate that as sprinkle, because that's not the meaning of the word. So what to do? We can't translate it as immerse, because that will disrupt the entire Church of England, and the king will cut off our heads. So to save their heads, they had to think what to do, and they were clever. They invented a word in the English language which nobody knew the meaning of in 1600, baptism. Today we know it, we speak about it as an English word, but it is not an English word. If you go to the English dictionary, you'll find a word called dobi. Dobi is a Hindi word, washerman. But because the English folk lived here, they learned the word dobi and sahib. Those are all words you find in the English dictionary, but they're not English words. They are Hindi words, which are imported in the English language, like that baptizo was a Greek word imported into the English language in 1611 by the translators, because they didn't want to lose their heads and disturb Church traditions. So what happened? People got the book, the Bible, and they read the word baptism, and never heard that word before. They said, what does that mean? Everybody's wondering, what is this new word? We've never heard it before. And they said, ah, that must be what they do to the children in the church. And they say, when the children are born into a Christian family, they say, oh, it's a child of God automatically, because, you know, in the Old Testament, if you're born of the seed of Abraham, you are a Jew. You didn't have to take a decision to become a Jew. You're a child of Abraham, you are a Jew. So they imported that, they were all old covenant Christians, really, like today, also a lot of old covenant Christians. They imported that into Christianity and said, if you're born into a Christian family, you are a Christian, like the children of Abraham are Jews. And so, if they're a Christian, the next thing, they must be baptized. So they sprinkle on the head. So the people read the word baptism, and they said, that must be meaning what they do in the church. And so the word came, child baptism, but they don't immerse the child. So I'm just telling you how the devil has corrupted truth. But in spite of that, people came through to understand, and over a period of time, so they understood. For example, even the New American Standard Bible doesn't translate baptism as immersion, because that word got adopted into the English language, the word baptism. I wish they had translated it as immersion, but you know what will happen? All the Christians who believe in sprinkling won't buy the New American Standard Bible. And when people publish a Bible, they think of business concerns are important. People must buy this Bible we translate. But that's also in the mind of the translators. So there are so many things like this. And then, because some words are difficult to understand, and some expressions in the Greek are difficult to understand, people thought of paraphrasing. Paraphrasing means not translating, but taking a full sentence and putting it in more easy to understand words or expressive words. And one of the first paraphrases was by a man called J.B. Phillips in England. I don't know whether he was a God-fearing man, because at the back of the first publication of that book, J.B. Phillips, there's a picture of him smoking a cigar. That's his picture. Anyway, but then, in the 1970 or so, a God-fearing man translated the Living Bible. Now, he was a very godly man who translated that. A very godly man, because I have met him, and he started a publishing house called Tyndale House. They even published one of my books. But Ken Taylor, he was a very humble, God-fearing man. He's dead now, gone to be with the Lord. And I found the Living Bible paraphrase excellent in many places, but remember, it's not a translation. It's a paraphrase. So it's good sometimes to read it, but if you want the accurate word, go to the NASB. I say this because many people are confused. So I found great help in, the Living Bible is perhaps the best paraphrase of the Bible there is in the English language. But there's another one that's come much later called the message paraphrase. That is good in some places, but not as good as the Living Bible overall. The reason I come to that is because there's one paraphrase in the message Bible which is perhaps the best I have ever read about that verse, and that's what I want to speak about today, and that's why this introduction. Luke chapter 10. I have never read a paraphrase as good as the message paraphrase for this verse, but I want to tell you that the message paraphrase is not very accurate in many, many places. So I would not recommend, if you want to read a paraphrase, read Living Bible. But message paraphrase in Luke chapter 10, the reason is because you should not try to claim something written in a paraphrase and expect God to keep it because it's not perhaps his word. It may be a man's interpretation of God's word, and then you try to claim that and it doesn't work because that's not what God said. That's why you've got to be careful about paraphrases. So whenever you think of promises and commands, go to the NASB. But for general reading, to understand a little more, what I do is I get the meaning from the NASB, and then to see some other aspect of it, you know, the Greek language has got many cited meanings to words. Okay, Luke chapter 10, we read that Jesus sent out 70 disciples, verse 1, to go ahead of him and preach. And then they came back. This is Luke 10, verse 17. They came back with great joy and said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in the name. Imagine if you went out somewhere in your entire life, you are always scared of demons. And here you go out, Jesus told you to cast out demons. And you go out and say in the name of Jesus, get out of this man. And the demon goes, boy, you'll be excited. You'll be excited that Satan was listening to you. And wherever you went, those demons were just scared of the name of Jesus. They were really excited and said, Lord, Luke 10, 17, even the demons are subject to us in your name. It's a natural excitement that you and I would have also had if nobody had ever done it before. And now they were doing it. Then he said to them, I want to tell you something about Satan. I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. You know, that's when Satan fell, the first sin in the universe. You know what it was? When a created being, his name is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. He was the head of the angels. They call him Lucifer, but that is the Latin name, Latin translation of morning star. So he was known as the morning star, Isaiah 14, and Latin, it was called Lucifer. So they call it Lucifer, but that was not his name. Nobody knows his name. He was just known as the morning star. And he was made by God as a head of the angels, but he was not happy with that. You know how people love position and titles, even today among Christians, love to be pastor, bishop, reverend, right reverend, and all types of things. Well, it began there. All those love for titles and all in position began with the head of the angels. God appointed him to be the head of all the millions of angels, millions and millions of angels. God created them with a word. And this morning star was the head of all the angels, but he was unhappy. Imagine being unhappy when you're the most important person in the world, in the universe, but he was unhappy because there was one person above him, and that was God. It's terrible when you are unhappy that even God is above you. You know, very subtly sometimes. So he, anyway, let me come to this. So this morning star said, I want to be like God. I want to go above him. I want him also to be my authority. He created him. God is the one who created him and he wanted to be above him. This is the stupidity of the devil. And he wanted to be like God. There are human beings who want to be like God. You know, there's a verse in the Psalms which says about God, holy, I don't remember the Psalm 130 something, holy and reverent is his name, referring to God. Whose name is reverent? God. Holy and reverent is his name. But do you know the number of people in the world who take that title reverent so and so, reverent so and so, reverent so and so? It's the same old desire that the devil had. I want to be like God. Is God's name reverent? I will take reverent so and so, or more than that, right reverent so and so. That is even higher than reverent. That same spirit has come down all the way through millions of years. Very subtle, the desire to be above somebody. Even if you don't take a title, it can be in us. Wanting to boss over people, even in the church, to rule people, to tell people what to do. I'm the boss here. Listen to me. I've seen that in cleaning teams sometimes in the church where somebody says, no, go and clean this. The way they speak, it's like I'm the reverent here, even if they don't use that title. And in the midst of such a world where all man was corrupted, Jesus came and became a servant. Never forget that. And if you want to be like Jesus, begin by being a servant of others. And never taking titles and position to rule over others. Anyway, they came and said, Lord, this is amazing. And Jesus said, I've seen Satan fall like lightning from heaven. And then he told these people, not only over demons, I give you authority over serpents, scorpions, over all the power of Satan. And that's given to us. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you have authority over all the power of Satan. That's why it's so important to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I was born again and baptized way back in 5961 baptism. But I could never cast out a demon until I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and anointed in the Holy Spirit. I don't know whether I could. I never tried. But I was scared if I saw a demon-possessed person. I wouldn't know what to do. But once I was anointed with the Holy Spirit, I had authority. I could tell a demon to go and it would go immediately. One sentence. So he said, I have given you authority and over all the power of the enemy, nothing that the enemy does will hurt you. That applies to us. If you are submitted to God, there is a promise that nothing that Satan does will hurt you. Hurt you means in terms of eternity. I mean, Satan succeeded in killing Paul and Peter and John and all these people, all the different James and everybody else. But he didn't hurt them for eternity. No, it's only temporary. Nothing can hurt you. No one can, like one paraphrase, no one can lay a hand on you. They can't hurt you eternally. Now, here is where the message Bible paraphrase comes in verse 20. Don't rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are in heaven. And the message paraphrase goes something like this. Don't rejoice in the authority you have over spirits. That last part, not what you do for God, but what God does for you. That should be your agenda for rejoicing. Think of that. Not what I do for God. Have you done this for God? Have you done that for God? Particularly those who are in Christian work, they can think, I've done this for God. I haven't wasted my life. I've done this. I've done this. Some of you sitting here who've been here for some years, you can also feel, I've done this in this church. I've done that in the church. I've done this for God. I've done that for God. I'm not one of those people who just sit here and just listen to the messages. I've done so many things. And Jesus says to you particularly, don't rejoice in what you have done for God. Can you take that word today, all of you, all the way from the elders, from me downwards to anybody? Think of yourself, my brother, sister. Don't some of you who have worked hard and done something for the Lord in this church, don't you feel like congratulating yourself that you've done something for God? You're not like one of these people who just come and warm the chairs and sit here and go away. I have done something for God. And that word is for you then. Don't rejoice in what you have done for God, but in what God has done for you. I'll tell you, it's a very blessed thought for me because that puts me at the same level as the rest of you. If you think of what I have done for God, what you have done for God, I may be above you because I may have done more for God than you. But when I think of what God has done for me, that puts me at the same level as you. And that's what a lot of people don't like. They don't like to be at the same level as other believers. They want to be a little above them. How can I be above them? If I'm always talking about what God has done for us, I can be above them if I talk about what I have done for God and what you have done for God. Let's compare it. Oh, brother, I've done a lot more. And the Lord says, don't rejoice in what you have done for God or what you're doing for God, whether it's preaching or some of you, music, for example. Music is one of the greatest snares in Christendom, particularly musical instruments. Have you noticed that in the Old Testament Psalms, they talk about so many musical instruments, but in the New Testament, there's not a single word about instruments that the early Christians used. They could not afford to buy any instruments. But the Old Testament, the Psalms just bang this and play this and play that. So those of you who play instruments, praise God for that. Don't glory in it. Don't glory in what you can do for God. Make this a rule in your life. I will rejoice in what God has done for me, because that puts me in the same level as other people. And the first part of that sentence, verse 20, first part, don't rejoice in your authority over evil, this is message paraphrase, but in God's authority over you. See the difference? My authority over evil. I tell a demon to go, and in the name of Jesus, he goes. And I begin to think I'm somebody. That's how a lot of preachers have ruined themselves. Not in your authority over evil, or you can even rejoice in the fact that you overcome sin. I have finally overcome anger. Praise the Lord. But the Lord says don't rejoice in it. I have overcome watching pornography. Wonderful. But don't rejoice in it, because you are glorying over other people who have not overcome it. It's a good thing to overcome evil. But not in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you. Rejoice in that. It's one of the most finest paraphrases of that verse I've ever read in any translation. In fact, I wrote it in the front of one of my Bibles. Don't rejoice in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you. And I said, Lord, please help me never, never to rejoice in my power over sin, or my power over demons, or my power over anything. But how much authority do I allow you to have over me? That's the most important thing. And I want to ask every one of you sitting here, how much does God have authority over you to tell you what to do and what to keep your mouth shut when somebody abuses you, and to immediately confess your sin, to ask forgiveness immediately? That's God's authority over you. God tells you, ask forgiveness from him, and you go immediately and do it. You don't think about it for one week and then decide. Then God has no authority over you. There are so many things that God says to you in a meeting, but you've forgotten it before the day is over. But you rejoice in your authority over sin or over the demons. Listen to this word today, not in your authority over evil, but rejoice in God's authority over you, which means that you're the type of person who, as soon as God says something, you run. As soon as he tells you, go and ask forgiveness, you ask forgiveness. As soon as God says to you, go and pay back that debt, you got the money with you, why don't you pay back that debt? Do it immediately. That is the type of Christian who's going to be most useful for God on earth. So remember these two things there, not in your authority over evil, but in God's authority over you. And the second thing is, not what you do for God, but what God does for you. That should be your agenda for rejoicing. If you keep those two sentences in your mind, I believe it'll make a tremendous difference in your Christian life. I've sort of reminded myself of it. So let me just say a few words about the second sentence. Not what I do for God, but what God has done for me. That makes me equal with everybody sitting here. I love that. Do you love to be equal with all the brothers and sisters here? Be honest. Or do you like to be just a little bit above? Are some of you sitting waiting to become an elder or something? You're going the way of Satan. Not by becoming an elder, but wanting to be an elder. That's the way of Satan. Becoming an elder may be the Holy Spirit's work, but wanting to be, or loving to be, that's the devil. If I love to sit here and I want people to listen to me, I've got a little bit of the spirit of Satan in me. Or if you want to come up here and want everybody to hear you, you've got a little bit of Satan in you. But if your desire is, whether I sit here or anywhere, I can meet somebody in their home, or somebody comes to my home, I can share something about God's goodness to me and bless them and encourage them. You may never sit in this pulpit, and yet you may be a greatest blessing to people in this church. Because you're always seeking to bless people with God's word. Even when you speak on the phone, or write an email, always thinking of, can I share one sentence with them to bless them? You don't have to sit here to do that, because God has done so much for you. Not what you do for God, but what God does for you. There's so much of competition in Christendom, about wanting to be prominent in the church. To be in the world, it's okay. In the world, everything is like that. You have to go higher and higher and higher. But in the church, you know what is the right way? It's the opposite of the world. It's going down. Are you a little lower than other people now than you were a year ago? I mean, in your own estimation. They may think highly of you, but in your own estimation, you're down, and you're going down and down. That shows God's authority over you. Let me give you the example of the Apostle Paul, which I've often quoted. In the year 55 AD, Paul was converted around the year 30 AD, 25 years after he became a Christian, 25 years after being born again. He wrote about himself in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians was written about 55 AD, 25 years after Paul was a Christian. So what is Paul's opinion of himself after he's been a believer for 25 years? And he was a mighty apostle. He had written scripture. He had planted churches. He had cast out demons. He had healed the sick, probably raised the dead. He says about himself, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 9, I am the least of all the apostles. I mean, he had to acknowledge that he was an apostle. There's no pride in that. If you're an engineer, and you say, I'm an engineer, you may not be proud of it. You're just stating a fact. If you say, I'm a teacher, I'm a teacher. There's no pride in that. You're just stating your profession. And he was an apostle. He's not saying that in pride. God appointed him as an apostle. You can't be an apostle unless God appoints you one. You can't say, God, I want to be an apostle. God decides that. But he says, among the apostles, I'm the least. Down in the list, Paul says, my name is the bottom. I'm the least of all the apostles on earth today. That is 25 years after he was born again. Five years later, he writes Ephesians. And what does he think in Ephesians? He's grown a little more spiritually in five years. I'm sure he was grown more spiritually in five years. So this is 60 AD. Paul has now been a believer for 30 years. And now he writes in Ephesians to Ephesians chapter 3. What was he earlier? The least of all the apostles. Now in Ephesians 3 verse 8, he says, I'm the least of all the believers in the world. Look how his opinion has gone from the least of all the apostles to the least of all the believers in the world. He's growing spiritually. Another five years, 65 AD is about two years before he died, before he was killed. He writes 1 Timothy. That is five years now, five years after he wrote Ephesians. And now he says, what is he? He was least of all the apostles and the least of all the believers. Now he comes 1 Timothy 1 verse 15. He says, I'm the number one sinner in the whole world. Wow. Now, usually among Christians, most Christians you meet, it's the other way around. They start off in saying, I was a great sinner. And now I'm one of the saints. Now I'm one of the senior saints. And now I'm one of the elders or one of the, I'm going up and up and up and up in my own estimation. Exact way the devil went. Be careful. That's the way the devil went. Paul went the other way. How did Jesus go? Jesus was God and he became a man. That itself is a big drop. And as a man, he washed people's feet, which is the job of a slave going further down. And you think slave is about the last position on earth. Is there anything lower than that? Yes, there is. Criminals who are in jail, who were crucified in those days. And Jesus went down there also, even though he's not a criminal. He took the position of God became man. Man, that's called humility. Man became like a slave. That's humility. And he took the place of a criminal. That's humility. That's why I say the three secrets of the Christian life are humility, humility, humility going down. You almost never hear that in any church. And even though we have preached that for many years in this church, I don't know how many of you are going that way in your own mind, in your own thinking. You really believe you're going down? Is your estimate of yourself in God's eyes much smaller than it was when you were here some years ago? What about you who are singing up here, playing instruments and singing? When you came into this church, you never did anything like that. But now you're up there, position of prominence. Those high places are dangerous. I'm not saying we shouldn't be there. I mean, I'm here. It's a position of importance and position. I be here, but I have to be careful what I think of myself when I'm sitting here. In my mind, if I'm not constantly going down, if my agenda for rejoicing is not what I do for God, but what God has done for me, if that is my agenda for rejoicing, what I do for God, that I can speak and I'm gifted, I'm going in the wrong direction. I warn you, my dear brothers and sisters, there are only two spirits operating in the world. One is the spirit of the devil, the devil wanting to, right from the time even though he had such a high position, wanting to go up and up and up and up, and he was cast down, finally he'll be sent to the lake of fire and to the bottomless pit before that. Bottomless pit. Have you ever thought of that expression in Revelation 20? Everything has a bottom, but this has got no bottom. No bottom means, you know what it means? If you're thrown into a bottomless, if you're thrown into a pit which has got a bottom, you finally hit bottom. What if you're thrown into a bottomless pit? You just keep going down and down and down. When are you going to stop? You're not going to stop. You're just going to keep going down and down and down and down and down, till one day God pulled him out from there and threw him into the lake of fire. That's what we read in Revelation 20. So that's one direction people are going. They want to go up and up and up, and God pushes them down. The other is the way Jesus went from the highest position, went to the lowest place, and God raised him up, gave him a name which is above every other name. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due course. And I'll tell you what I understand that exaltation to mean. That exaltation does not mean I will be made an apostle or an elder or a prophet. No, that's not what I'm looking for at all. I will be exalted over sin in my life. That's what I'm looking for. That no sin, not one bad thought, will be able to rule me. Not one comparison of myself with others and looking down on that person will be able to rule me. I will esteem every brother and sister, not as more spiritual than myself, that would be imagining a lie. Supposing you say, Brother Zak, you must esteem yourself as less spiritual than everybody sitting here. How can I do that? Because I know it's not true. You told Jesus, you please imagine that you're less spiritual than everybody else. See, how could he do that? That's not humility. That's artificial garbage. Humility is to consider yourself less important than others. Jesus was the most spiritual person on earth. He could say, follow me. And you can be very spiritual and you can know that you're more spiritual than everybody else in this church. And yet you may be the humblest person in the church, because you consider everyone is more important than you. That means you have time to speak to the lowest, lowliest person. You have time even to speak to a three-year-old child if he comes to speak to you. Pharisees were not like that. Only Jesus had time for three-year-old children. I want to ask all of you grown-up people, do you have time for children? Do you have time to smile at children and say hello to them and talk to them when you come to church? Or will you only talk to the older people? Become more like Jesus. Talk to little children. Let them see a smile on your face. Love them. Not what you do for God, but what God has done for you. Let that be your agenda for rejoicing from today onwards. So meditate on what God has done for me. So many things, beginning with sending his own son to die for us. And so many other things. He has given us health. Boy, am I thankful at the age of 84 to have the health that I have. Never having gone to a hospital with any type of sickness. It's God's mercy. I can't glory in that, but it's God's goodness. We have to be thankful for the measure of health we have. I can't do all the things I did when I was 30. That's because the outer man decays. The Bible says the outer man decays, but I want my inner man, as the outer man is decaying, I want the inner man to grow spiritually. Every one of you, the outer man decays. Once you cross 20 or 25, it's decay all the way down. But the inner man must be growing. Yet the outer decaying is automatic. The inner growth, you have to work on it. And just like the outer man is decaying, your inner man must grow. That's what it says in 2nd Corinthians 4 and verse 16 to 18. The outer man decays, but the inner man grows. So we consider everyone as more important than us. That is why Jesus washed the disciples' feet. He did not think there was any job that was too low or mean for him to do. In India, cleaning a toilet is considered to be a very mean, lowly job. I remember in the Navy, they had a special department. Those are the cleaners of the toilets. Ordinary sailors did not do that. That's Indian society. But Jesus took that job. That's why I say elders are spiritual toilet cleaners. They have to clean up the mess that other people make. There are so many believers who make a mess of their life. And who's going to clean it up? The elders in the church. They are the spiritual toilet cleaners. You don't know what a lot of toilets your elders have to clean. Respect them. Value them. Because they spend their life cleaning toilets that you never know anything about. There are struggles and problems that many brothers have. They don't come to you. They go to the elders. You never know about it. You just come and enjoy the meetings in the church. That's why I say value and respect your elders. So, our strength will come if we make what God has done for us our agenda for rejoicing. Not even that I'm a toilet cleaner. You can rejoice even in that. Oh, I'm just a toilet cleaner. You can rejoice in your humility. Have you heard that interesting Sunday school story? You've got to listen carefully to catch this. There was this Sunday school teacher who was teaching the children about the Pharisee and the publican praying in the temple. And she said, children, you know what the Pharisee said? I thank God I'm not like that publican. And the publican could not say anything. So, children, thank God we are not like the Pharisees. Did you catch it? That's how it can be. Pride is so subtle. Thank God I'm not like the Pharisee. When you read that story, even though you may not say it, do you think like that? Thank God I'm not like the Pharisee. Do you see something there? If you don't see the pride in your humility, have you discovered the pride in your humility? The pride in not a humble person you are. The pride in the fact that others know you're such a humble brother. Be very careful that you got a reputation for humility and your glory in that. God have mercy on you. That's why you're not growing spiritually. You could have been way ahead of where you are today if only you had stopped glorying in your humility. Jesus, Paul said, God forbid that I should glory in anything except the cross. Galatians 6.14 of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whereby the whole world and its opinions are dead to me. And I am dead to the opinions of the whole world. That is the verse the Lord's kept before me all the time. Don't glory in anything except the cross on which you die. A dead man is not proud of his humility. He's not proud of anything. He's dead. He's not thinking of himself at all. Dead people have moved on into the presence of God and they're thinking of God there. Supposing a person dies and he's gone up into the presence of Christ. He's not sitting there and say, oh, what a humble person I was. Rubbish. He's so taken up with Jesus. That's the mark of a really humble brother or sister. He's already in heaven. You know, heaven came down and glory filled my soul. The spirit of heaven means I have glory only in Jesus. I'm often, you know, I use my imagination to think of the final day when we stand before the Lord. And I used to see myself standing before the Lord with thousands and thousands of people in my imagination. Christ has come. We're all standing before him. And as I look around, all I can see is millions of heads. I can't see the faces because there are so many of us standing there. Crowds, crowds, everywhere. Heads, heads, heads. Where's Paul? I don't know where Paul is. Where's Peter? I don't know where Peter is. There's somewhere there. Some ordinary brother. He's there. And they're all, they're all in the same level. Where's Zakkunen? Can't find him. They're all in the same level. They're all concentrating on Jesus. That is the spirit of heaven. And if that is how you think in your mind, not what I am and where I am and other people looking at me, garbage. Jesus, you're a really spiritual person. And you know what will happen to you? You will grow by leaps and bounds. You won't be growing by walking and crawling. You'll be jumping and growing spiritually. And one year from now, people, you won't even realize what a fantastic work God has done in you. You'll have victory over so many sins, sins that have plagued you. Your anger and your unforgiving spirit will all evaporate. They won't even be there. God can do it. If you will stop rejoicing in what you're doing for God and let your agenda from now on be. You know what the word agenda means? That's the translation of that verse in the Message paraphrase. Your agenda for rejoicing is agenda means I have a program. When people have a business meeting, they have an agenda. One, two, three, four, five, six. So here is my agenda for my life. Rejoicing not in what I do for God, but what God has done for me. How he picked me up from the gutter 64 years ago. How he sent Jesus to die for me. Whenever I never asked God to send Jesus, God decided. Zach Bunen needs a savior. Otherwise, he'll be lost and go to hell. I'll send a savior. Put your name there. He did that without consulting you, without asking you. He was concerned about you. You know, just like a mother doesn't consult a little baby what all it wants. A mother knows what the baby wants and works. That's how God cared for us. It's wonderful to rejoice in that what God has done for me. And then whatever I do for God is not something I think about. Because what we do for God is not even one billionth of what he's done for us. It's foolish to even think about it. It's like if God has given you a billion rupees and you've given one rupee back to God. Can you think about that? You meditate on how much offering you put one day. Today I put a little more in the offering box. What all things we glory in. Or I did this. Or today I brought one person to Christ. Believe it or not. I've got to tell everybody in the world about that now. It's amazing how that spirit of Satan comes in so easily. Brothers and sisters. In two words. Humble yourself. Always. It will go exceptionally well with you. Let your agenda for rejoicing. Your daily program for rejoicing. Not what I'm doing for God. But what God has done for me. Not in your authority. Don't rejoice in your authority over evil. Not even in your overcoming sin. But for God's authority over you. How much does God have authority over you? When he tells you something. Do you do it immediately? When he tells you in your conscience. Go and settle that matter. Do you do it immediately? Then you're on the right path. Amen. Let's pray. Please think for a brief moment about what you've heard. Some particular thing that God spoke to you. One particular thing. Especially for you. Lord, help me to remember that. In Jesus name. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/AwG1ZqLLN58.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/rejoice-in-what-god-has-done-for-you/ ========================================================================