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  USING OUR TIME WISELY AND DENYING OUR SELF WILL
  by Zac Poonen
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Summary: This sermon delves into the importance of understanding the
parables Jesus spoke, emphasizing the need for divine revelation to
grasp the mysteries of the kingdom of God. It highlights the
significance of surrendering our will to God, using the analogy of the
minas to illustrate how we must trade our self-will for obedience to the
Father. The message stresses the need to prioritize pleasing Jesus above
all else, as our ultimate ambition, in preparation for the judgment seat
of Christ.

Topics: "Understanding Parables", "Surrendering to God's Will"
Scripture References: Luke 19:12, Matthew 13:10, Psalms 25:14, Matthew 25:14, John 14:15, Revelation 22:12, Acts 17:30

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon delves into the importance of understanding the parables
Jesus spoke, emphasizing the need for divine revelation to grasp the
mysteries of the kingdom of God. It highlights the significance of
surrendering our will to God, using the analogy of the minas to
illustrate how we must trade our self-will for obedience to the Father.
The message stresses the need to prioritize pleasing Jesus above all
else, as our ultimate ambition, in preparation for the judgment seat of
Christ.

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CONTENT
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I'd like to turn to Luke's Gospel, chapter 19. Luke chapter 19, the
number of parables that Jesus spoke was amazing. No prophet in the Old
Testament ever spoke in parables.

We must meditate on each of these parables because there's a lot of
truth in it. Jesus said once to his disciples that when they asked, why
are you speaking in parables? That's in Matthew 13. He told them because
it is given to you to understand the truths of the kingdom of God.

But it is not given to these Pharisees. So I speak in parables, he said,
so that they won't understand. You know, it's quite an amazing verse
that Jesus spoke there.

Maybe I should show you that before we go to Luke 19. Matthew 13, where
when Jesus, the disciples asked him in Matthew 13, 10, why do you speak
in parables? The disciples asked him and he said, this is why I speak in
parables. You know why Jesus spoke in parables? Here's the answer.

Now we may think it is to illustrate certain truths and make it simple,
but it's much more than that. We know an illustration always makes truth
clearer. But if you read Jesus' words, it's the exact opposite.

We would say a parable is spoken so that people understand the truth. He
said no. It says here, I speak in parables, verse 13, Matthew 13, 13, so
that these people will not see and these people will not understand.

It's the exact opposite of what we think. We think Jesus spoke in
parables so that things become clearer, but it's only clearer to certain
people. But he said these people will, I speak in parables because these
people will hear what I say and they won't understand.

They'll see what I'm saying, they won't understand. But to you, verse
11, it has been granted to know the mystery. Mystery means a secret
which can be understood only by divine revelation.

The word mystery is never found in the Old Testament. The secret of the
Lord, we read in Psalm 25, is with those who fear him. And to understand
the secrets of the Lord, we must have a reverence for God in our heart.

It's one of the most important things we have to teach our children.
Reverence for God because the secrets of the Lord are revealed, Psalm
25, 14, to those who reverence him and fear him. Like I've often said,
not the fear that God will hurt me.

See, we must teach our children, don't be afraid that God will hurt you.
But you must have a fear that you may hurt God. That's what we need to
have.

Lord, I don't want to hurt you. You can only hurt somebody who loves
you. You can't hurt an enemy.

An enemy doesn't care for you. You can only hurt the heart of someone
who loves you. So the fear of God is not the fear that God will hurt me.

He will never hurt me. But the fear that I may hurt God by something I
say, or something I do, or by my attitude to someone, I may hurt God.
And that, if I fear God like that, Psalm 25, 14 says, he will reveal his
secrets to me.

Anyone can read the Bible. Anyone who understands English or the local
language can read the Bible and understand in their mind. But the
Pharisees understood much better than Peter and John and James, but they
never came into God's kingdom.

So we have to be careful that when we read the scripture, it's not just
with our clever mind that we understand, or a clever mind we try to
explain it to others. But say, Lord, give me revelation. How do I
distinguish between revelation and understanding? Revelation will change
my life.

Understanding will only increase my knowledge and help me to preach or
teach others. And if your great desire is to just know the Bible, or to
preach something clever, you will not get revelation. But if your desire
in reading the Bible is that your life will be changed, the way you live
at home with your husband or your wife must change, the way you bring up
your children must change, the way your children respect your parents
must change, then you will get revelation.

Otherwise you will only get understanding. So he said to you, Matthew 13
and 11, is given to know the mysteries, the secrets, which are only
given in divine revelation. It has been granted.

It's not something we deserve. God granted to those disciples. That's
why those disciples could write these amazing scriptures like Peter and
John and all wrote these amazing letters in the New Testament.

And to them it has not been granted. Those Pharisees who studied the
Bible so much, who knew it better than Peter, James, and John, it was
not granted to understand the mystery, the secret. For example, a simple
verse like, in everything give thanks.

That's written in Ephesians 5. It's written in 1 Thessalonians 5. Many
clever people can explain it. But who has got revelation on it? I'll
tell you. The one who does give thanks in every situation.

If you are one who has learned to give thanks in every situation because
you believe that God is in control of it all, you've got revelation. If
you can only explain the verse, you've got a clever mind. You may be a
Pharisee.

You may be a Pharisee even if you sit in CFC. There are a number of
Pharisees sitting in CFC. I know them because I know I've seen in all
the churches.

But we have to, the difference is that some fear God. Lord, I don't want
to hurt you. And then it goes on to say in Matthew 13 12.

This is another verse you need to understand. Whoever has to him more
will be given. He'll have an abundance.

And whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
Now this looks like the opposite of communism. Communism says, if you
have more you must give it away.

And if you have less we will give you. And Jesus was not a communist.
Many people helping the poor is not the same as communism.

Jesus said in spiritual truths, whoever has to him will more be given
and he'll have abundance. Spiritually the meaning is, let me explain to
you, Matthew 13 12. If you have some truth in your mind because you read
it and you really fear God and have made that truth real in your life.

Let's take one truth, in everything give thanks. You haven't just
understood it but you fear God so much that you determine in your life
in every situation to give thanks to God because you believe that he
controls it all. You know what God will do? It says because you were
faithful that one little thing he'll give you more.

You get more revelation. But the one who has a truth like that and he
says oh well I understood it but you don't do anything about it in your
daily life. Even that truth which you have will be taken away.

So now we turn back to Luke 19. Having understood what Jesus is trying
to do when he speaks in parables. So in Luke 19 he speaks in verse 12
onwards and there's a parable.

A noble man went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself
and then return. That's referring to Jesus himself who's gone away and
one day he'll receive all the kingdoms of the earth as his one kingdom.
Then he will return and that time has not yet come it's going to come.

And when he comes comes back having possessed the kingdom before he went
before he went he called 10 of his slaves. Luke 19 13 and gave them 10
minas a certain amount of money and my margin says that is about three
months wages. He gave them each so whatever your one month's wage is
multiplied by three that's the amount he gave to each person.

And he said to them do business with this until I return. Use this and
make some profit from it by the time I return. Remember this is a
parable.

He's not telling us to make more money we need to understand what he's
saying here. And when he verse 14 is referring to unbelievers we leave
that out. Verse 15 when he returned after receiving the kingdom he
called all these slaves to him and he said I want to know what you did
with that one mina that I gave you.

And remember 10 people each had one mina each. They were absolutely
equal. There's another parable where if you turn to Matthew 25 and then
we In Matthew 25 Jesus spoke another parable which is not exactly the
same.

If you read carefully you will notice that. Here it says in Matthew 25
14 a man was about to go on a journey and he called his slaves and gave
them his possessions and now he did not give them equally. He gave one
person five talents.

He gave another person two talents. Another person one talent. And when
he came back the man who had five talents he said in verse 20 master you
gave Matthew 25 20 you gave me five talents I produce five more.

The man who had he said and the lord gave him a reward well done. I will
put you in charge of many things. The man who had two talents he came
back brought two talents and notice carefully he got exactly the same
reward as the man who brought five.

Well done good and faithful servant verse 23 because you were faithful
in a few things I'll put you in charge of many things. What is the
meaning of this parable Matthew 25 is referring to the gifts of the
spirit God gives us abilities and that we are not equal there. God has
not given the same number of gifts or abilities to serve him to all his
children.

Some have more and some have less. Some are gifted like the apostle Paul
with many many gifts and some others very little maybe some sisters they
don't have many gifts so it's five two and one. Some are very little
some have five times what others have but if you have five or you have
two the lord is looking for percentage.

Five brought five that's a hundred percent. The person who got two
brought two he also brought a hundred percent so the rewards are equal.
So a very gifted man will have to produce more for the lord.

One who's not so gifted does not have to produce so more. When you look
at another brother who's far more gifted than you and you find that he
has been able to accomplish so much more for the lord don't get
discouraged. He may be having five or he may be having 50 and you may be
having only two but your reward can be exactly the same as his even
though you don't travel as much as he does you don't have the gifts he
has because you were faithful with the gifts god gave you which is very
limited perhaps.

Please remember that so that you never get discouraged or never think
that never compare yourself let me warn you never compare yourself with
somebody who is more gifted than you because god is not going to
evaluate you on the basis of your gifts. It is he who determines whether
you should have five or two or one and if you got only one god expects
only one from you that's all you can do. So I mean if you take the
matter of children for example if god gives you one child and he's given
somebody else five children what's the difference? Mothers he'll expect
you to bring up one child in a godly way but he'll expect that other
mother to bring up all five children in a godly way.

She brought up five godly children and you brought up one godly child
because you had only one and she had five children and she brought up
five in a godly way you are equal to her the one the percentage the one
who brought two who got two and produced two got the same reward as the
one who got five. I say that for your encouragement because so often
believers compare their gift with somebody else's and sometimes get
discouraged. I can't do as much as he can or I wish some sisters also
say I wish I could travel here and there and I'm stuck at home with all
my children and the needs at home well god's not going to expect you to
go here and there like the apostle Paul no.

So that's just in passing but I want to come back to Luke 19 which is
what I want to speak on and that is in Luke 19 everybody was given
equally one one talent one talent one talent equally. What is the area
in which all of us are equal? Well I'll just mention that but the point
here is one man who got only one verse Luke 19 verse 16 brought 10 minas
he made 10 out of one and he got a much higher reward well done you will
have authority over 10 cities the other man who had one mina brought
five minas verse 18 he did not get the same reward he said you will have
authority over five cities and let's go down the line if somebody had
brought only two he'd have got authority over two so that there is I
told you in the area of gifts god has given some more than you and if
you produce a hundred percent result with your limited gifts you get the
same reward as the apostle Paul who probably had a hundred gifts and
produced much with that but in this area you can do all are equal what
is the area where we all get exactly the same not bible knowledge not
intelligence not even length of life some people live 80 90 years some
people live only 30 years not length of life not um not even privileges
you know some people that have more money it's like a lot of you have
earned a lot more money than some poor brother in kerala those are not
the things that make the difference but there's one area in which we are
all equal i would say two that i can think of every one of us has
exactly 24 hours a day nobody gets 25 nobody gets 15 you have 24 hours a
day i have 24 hours a day everybody in the world every christian has 24
hours a day but what you do with those 24 hours may be very different
from what another brother does with his 24 hours you may be wasting a
lot of that time that person may not be wasting that much time he may be
redeeming the time and so he's able to accomplish much more with his
life because he has redeemed the time he doesn't waste his time watching
movies he reads the bible so he accomplishes much more whereas you fool
around and waste the time with all types of useless things you can spend
your time on the internet with all the interesting things there are
there and be completely ignorant of the bible but you had the same 24
hours as that brother who really got to know the scriptures and as a
result was a greater blessing to other people your reward will not be
like his this will be far more not because he's more gifted but because
he used his 24 hours in a 10 times better way than you did or i did so
that's a challenge that we must bear in mind one talent to every single
person 24 hours absolutely equal when you look at another brother or
sister ask yourself does he have more time in a day than you have
exactly the same there's another area where all of us are exactly the
same the bible speaks about the lusts of the flesh self-will if we were
to break down self-will into many many lusts the lust to make more money
the lust to lust after women who you're not married to the lust to take
revenge on someone who hurt you so many lusts in the flesh come out of
our own self-will every human being has the same self-will there is no
difference between your self-will and another person's self-will exactly
the same all children are born with a self-will all of you know that and
pretty early in life you discover it how stubborn they are how strong
they are when they are one year old to disobey you and that is why the
bible says we must discipline our children at a very young age because
the greatest gift you can give to your children is not education like a
lot of parents think not good food and plenty of clothes and plenty of
money and a rich inheritance the greatest gift let me tell you this my
brothers and sisters the greatest gift you can give to your children is
to break their self-will and humble them otherwise your child will grow
up to be a proud person even if he knows the bible and even if he can
preach or anything he'll be useless to god i've seen people like that in
cfc who know the bible who are proud because the parents never broke
this broke the self-will of that child when the child was small they
pampered them and made them feel they're very great and maybe they were
clever and did well in their studies they never broke their self-will
very very important there are i told you this everybody has got 24 hours
they're all equal one mina each everybody's got the same self-will and
when the bible speaks of the word flesh one use of the flesh is this
physical flesh our meat in our body but the more the spiritual meaning
of the word flesh is self-will it says in galatians 5 the spirit lusting
or fights against the flesh and the flesh flying pricing is a spirit
it's not my body that's fighting against the holy spirit it's my self-
will so whenever you read flesh in the new testament this holy spirit
fights against the flesh it's your self-will and and it says your flesh
fights against the holy spirit it's your self-will and we're all the
same there one mina each exactly equal somebody else's self-will is we
speak of some people as being strong-willed or weak-willed but self-will
is the same i mean some people express it in a different way and some
people keep it inside like um you know the bible speaks about not the
bible society speaks about extroverts and introverts but basically self-
will is the same and the interesting thing is that jesus when he came to
earth the thing that made him a man like us was he also had only 24
hours a day he did not have more than 24 hours in a day he also had the
same self-will that we have a self-will that would like to do something
which is not the will of god then what is the difference the difference
was he never did his self-will and that's why with that one mina he
produced not 10 minas but millions of minas spiritually speaking some
people produce some people produce five some people produce a hundred it
depends on how much you crucify your self-will in your daily life that's
why i said we must the greatest thing you can do with your children is
to break their self-will at an early age then you give them a good start
in life you know i notice indian parents particularly are very eager to
send their children to kindergarten at a very early age send them to
kindergarten when they're three years old most schools they accept them
they're four or five years old let's send them to three years old so
that they can become graduates by the time they're 19 years old or
something and so they get a good start in life boy if you could have the
same passion to let me break the self-will of my child at a very early
age and get them really spiritual so that they can make a lot of
progress in their life you'll be a wonderful father and mother but you
just buff them up saying you're a wonderful child and you're so good-
looking and you're so smart and keep on saying that and you don't break
their self-will you're going to ruin them please remember that there are
i remember in the in the way i brought up my own sons i'm not the
perfect father i've made a lot of mistakes and i've repented of them but
i had a great desire i must say which i used to keep praying lord i want
these children of mine one day to become my spiritual brothers and i
want to do i'm completely available to you and there are two things i
emphasized i say i don't care what rank you've come in your class i
don't care whether you get 100 you must work hard working hard is more
important than what percentage you get but the two things i emphasize is
you must honor your father and mother and all people who are older than
you even if we had a servant maid in our house i taught my children to
respect that person who's older than you even a beggar comes to the gate
he's older than you respect him don't speak rudely ever to someone older
than you even if he's lower in society i tell you this i'm sorry to say
that i've seen a lot of cfc people who do not respect people of some
lower caste or who are lower in society or who are you know from a lower
level of education or something like that we must teach our children to
respect anyone who's older than them always speak respectfully to
parents and to others and if you start by the time they are two years
old you've done a great job the second thing it's only basically two
things the second thing i emphasize very strongly with my own children
was never tell a lie i don't care what you lose what you break in my
house the most valuable thing you break in my house i'm not bothered
unless you do it with anger that's bad but if you accidentally break
something there's nothing in my house that is valuable to me i told them
nothing i don't have any valuable things in my house you are the
valuable one you children so you can break anything accidentally it will
not disturb me i will never ask why did you break it but don't ever tell
me a lie and if you tell me a lie you'll get the most severe punishment
from me teach your children to speak the truth very important when they
grow up in life they will speak the truth even if they have to lose
their job they will speak the truth we have so many people who tell lies
in order to keep their job you know the number of people who tell lies
to get a visa to come to the gulf or to go to the united states false
certificates and false so many things i know people believers who have
done that okay i'm not here to judge them but you can see in their life
with the total lack of spiritual development that something in their
life was wrong something wrong they told a lie and got a job they told a
lie and got admission in a college we're getting false marks or false
certificates we all have one me now one life it's very very important to
make sure that we use that one life for the glory of god we have only
one sadhu sundar singh who i believe is the greatest christian india has
ever seen said this you know in the world many believers tell others
listen this is the only life you have an opportunity to accept christ
once you die you do not have an opportunity to accept christ you must
receive christ now yeah that's correct absolutely correct sadhu sundar
singh used to say this is the only life you believers have the
opportunity to take up the cross every day you do not have another
opportunity to take up the cross when you leave this earth don't miss
the opportunities you're getting every day take up the cross think if
you had an opportunity every day to make some money every day i don't
think you would waste one day oh boy i wasted one day i lost some money
every day an opportunity to make some money that's how sadhu sundar
singh said every day on this earth you have an opportunity to take up
the cross and follow jesus once you leave this earth you will not get
that opportunity even for a single day there are many people who feel
that once we get to heaven after christ comes we're all going to be
supremely happy the tears are all white from our eyes and we'll have no
regret as to how we live well i don't believe that do you think a
selfish christian who never denied himself but lived to enjoy life and
make a little money and go to heaven when they die is going to be just
as happy as the apostle paul or peter when they get to heaven you really
think so i don't believe that those who have denied themselves and
sacrificed so much for the lord when they see jesus face to face boy
what a reward they'll get in heaven and some other person who just his
only desire was to go to heaven when he dies lived for himself lived to
make money lived for comfort and ease and never thought of sacrificing
anything for the sake of god's kingdom you think he's going to get the
same reward as this other person you think he won't have any regret in
his life i believe there will be regret in heaven because that one i
mean i won't have regret if somebody had more gifts than me and
accomplish more he had five gifts i had only one gift okay he that
actually accomplished more the area where he was equal to me he had 24
hours i had 24 hours and i see in heaven boy what a lot he accomplished
with 24 hours a day he didn't waste it and play the fool with it like i
did don't you think i'll have a regret not regret you know jesus said
that uh there are many mansions in heaven you get a crown in heaven this
is all picture language remember jesus used pictures you are the light
of the world i'm not a i'm not a candle life is a picture you are the
salt of the earth i'm not salt but it's a picture so when jesus spoke
about mansions we're not going to have oh you are so faithful i give you
14 bedroom mansion what will i do with a 14 bedroom mansion in heaven
i'm not interested i say you can take it i want to be with jesus all the
time i'm not going to sit in a 14 bedroom mansion when jesus said
mansions he was using an illustration when he said crowns i get five
crowns you think i'm going to walk around heaven with five crowns on my
head it says they throw their crowns at the feet of jesus it's an
illustration of a reward and he uses the word crowns and mansions
because on earth we value crowns and mansions but i believe i've asked
myself what is the greatest reward i would want in heaven if god were to
say to me i'll give you any reward you want i know what i'll say lord i
want to be close to jesus all the time throughout my stay in heaven the
closest possible and i believe that is the reward that people are going
to get you can get to heaven all right but it's my conviction that not
everybody will be as close to jesus as others and that's determined here
on earth it's determined how close you want to be to jesus here on earth
if i want to be close to jesus i have to be far away from sin i have to
be far away from the love of money i have to be far away from bitterness
and anger and so many things and if i don't want to be far away from
that if i want the love of money and i want to allow certain bit of
anger and bitterness and unforgiving spirit in my life i'm saying by my
life i don't want to be so close to jesus i want to go to heaven but i
don't want to be so close to jesus and when i get to heaven the lord
will say you never wanted to be very close to jesus on earth okay you're
not going to be close to jesus here either don't fool yourself my
brother i know other preachers won't tell you the truth like i do the
reason i'm not a very popular preacher in many circles because i tell
them the truth jesus was not popular he was so unpopular they killed him
they didn't like the truth but that is the truth otherwise what is going
to be difference you mean the person who's lived a careless life here on
earth even if he gets to heaven he's going to get the same reward as the
person who is absolutely faithful throughout his life i say if that
happens i have to say god is thoroughly unjust he's not unjust he's a
righteous god i'm not saying that we want to be faithful to get a reward
no that would be wrong that's wrong completely jesus said if you love me
keep my commandments not if you want a reward keep my commandment i
don't keep any commandments because i want a reward in heaven no that
would be selfish then i'd be lost in the line out of love if you love me
keep my commandments this is the most important thing i have one life
one mina i won't get another maybe we have wasted a lot of our life so
far my carelessness and so many things that one mina god gave us so many
a part of whatever it is wasted i cannot do anything about my past life
but i can do a lot about today and tomorrow so i need to think of like
paul said forgetting the things that are behind and pressing for towards
what is ahead i i press towards the mark for the prize of the high
calling of god in christ jesus that's how we can be faithful with the
one life god has given us i told you that jesus had the same self-will
that we have but what did he do with it that's my question see john
chapter 6 you know this is the area where many people accuse me of
preaching that jesus was like us i say what he was unlike us i say he
was tempted like us okay here is the answer john 6 verse 38 i came down
from heaven to do what you ask that question to the average christian
some of you don't read the rest of the verse tell me what is your answer
why did jesus come from heaven most christians will say to die for my
sins that's right but it's partially right you got one out of ten one
answer is right what is the full answer here it is i came from heaven
never to do my own will in my entire life but always to do the will of
the father from day one in the last day of his life every day he said no
to his own will and yes to the will of the father that is the meaning of
taking up the cross he had one mina 24 hours he had one self-will like
you and me you all have one self-will he denied it next day he had that
same self-will he denied it he denied it every day for 33 and a half
years and he chose the will of the father that's what he did with that
one mina and we all are equal you and i same 24 hours same self-will but
jesus was determined i have come on earth never to do my own will never
to yield to self-will but always the will of the father look at his last
day on earth you know that i don't have to turn to that passage in
gethsemane he says oh father in great agony what is my will let this cup
pass from me that's my will but lord my father i don't want that i don't
want my will if it is your will that i should drink this cup my will is
i don't want to drink this cup but i will not do my will let this cup
pass from me that's his will nevertheless not as i will but as thou wilt
from day one to the last day of his life he used that one mina the glory
of his father we so glibly sing follow follow i will follow anywhere
everywhere i will follow him it's easy to sing it but my brother sister
do you know what that means in daily life it's not just a question of
singing a song it's many times a day not just once a day many times in a
day we get the opportunity to say no to our own will then we are using
that money properly then we are doing business with that one mina and
getting some profit from it if any of you are doing business don't you
think a businessman will feel oh i missed that wonderful opportunity to
make some profit there if i had done this i could have made some profit
you know people do business to get profit there's nothing wrong in that
people run a shop or a business to make profit otherwise how will they
live jesus worked as a carpenter to make some profit that's how he took
care of his needs and his family's needs there's nothing wrong in that
he didn't cheat anybody but if jesus did not make any profit as a
carpenter he could not have taken care of his four brothers and two
sisters and his mother at home nothing wrong in making profit but he
didn't cheat anybody he did it righteously but think if a businessman
was perfectly all right to make profit but if there was an opportunity
to make profit and he didn't make it what do you feel sad a wonderful
opportunity to make business instead of he slept through that time
instead of going to the to the place of the market at nine o'clock when
the auction was going he wasn't there and he lost a wonderful
opportunity and lost millions of rupees you feel sad well that's how it
was with jesus here's an opportunity for me to deny my will i want to
take it that's the business jesus was in and another opportunity to say
no to my own will to die to myself oh i missed it he never missed it
have you missed it sometimes somebody gets angry at you and yells at you
and you have an opportunity to die and not only keep quiet but love that
person you know in proverbs it says it doesn't say keeping quiet will
turn away anger a gentle answer will turn away anger remember that when
somebody's angry with you and you keep quiet that's not the highest it's
good but that person may think that you're just holding the anger within
you but if you give a gentle answer then you show that you're a
christian you don't have any bitterness in your heart when tension
arises between a husband and wife and one person is upset you make sure
you're not upset not by keeping quiet with a gentle answer it's okay put
your arm around your husband or wife and say i remember a brother in
another country not in our church i was in a conference and he and i
were roommates there in that conference and his wife was not a was a
believer but going to some other church wouldn't come to his church and
i asked him how is your wife and he said i love her but she doesn't
believe in victory over sin like i do and she gets angry so many times
and sometimes she gets so angry she flings plates and glasses at me in
the house and i have to duck my head to avoid it and those plates and
glasses all fall in the ground crashing and then i go to my wife and i
say but my dear you're still the queen in my heart i said brother you
deserve to be a leader among god's people it doesn't matter whether you
can preach or not if that's the way you react to your wife's anger
you're really a person worth following as an example yeah he denied
himself it didn't happen overnight i'm sure it was a result of doing it
many many times so remember this you all of you and i all everyone has
the same one mina one self-will and you can trade it it means you can
deny it and get profit for eternity when jesus comes back you can say
lord i produced 10 minas with that or i produced 100 or i produced 10
000 or you know when this one guy did you read in luke 19 that he buried
it luke 19 he said i i just kept it in an handkerchief he never denied
his own will i mean his doctrine and he was okay he believed that jesus
is the son of god and god is a trinity and uh water baptism is the right
way must be you must be mercy he believed all that but he wrapped up his
self-will and he did his own will all the time he never denied it and he
said in luke 19 21 when the master asked him he said yeah i put it in my
handkerchief i never used it was 20 i was afraid of you was 21 because i
know you're a very strict man you're going to demand so many things from
me you reap where you did not sow and the lord said to him you worthless
slave a man who did not deny his own will who wasted the 24 hours that
god gave him every day you know what jesus is going to say to such a
person in the final day you worthless person you took my name you went
around saying you're a believer you said you're not a nominal christian
you're a born-again believer but in what way was your life different
from that nominal christians in what way was your family life different
from that nominal christians in what way was it different the way you
handled money compared to that nominal christian he said you could have
at least done a little bit take it away from him verse 24 there's
something we're going to lose so these are serious things you know there
are many places where jesus speaks about rewards as i told you the
greatest reward is closeness to jesus even in the book of revelation we
read behold i'm coming quickly it's one of the last things he says in
the bible and my reward is with me to give every man as his work shall
be i'm coming quickly and i'm going to give a reward to every person
revelation 22 verse 12 it's one of the last verses in the bible it's
almost on the last page of the bible the lord is telling you hey
remember i'm coming quickly now there's a difference between coming
quickly and coming soon you know there's a difference in the english
language the word soon and quickly he didn't say i'm coming soon because
when he said that he has not come for 2 000 years he didn't come soon
but he says when i do come i'll come very quickly you'll be surprised
when i come it's going to be a moment when he didn't expect it it may
take 2 000 years but i'm going to come quickly and when i come my reward
is with me to give to every man according to what he has done does that
mean we work for reward no but i look at it like this if the reward in
eternity is closeness to jesus i want it that is one reward i certainly
want it's like a faithful wife who says to her husband on the day of her
marriage my darling husband i'm not interested whether we live in a 10
bedroom house or a little hut i'm not interested whether you get 10
million rupees a month or you get 100 rupees a month no i only want one
thing my dear husband i want to be close to you all the time what a
wonderful wife that is not interested in property or money or but
closeness to her husband that is the true disciple of jesus lord i don't
want mansions or crowns in heaven i don't want you to exalt me above
others and saying he's such a great snow no i don't want any public
praise even in heaven i want to be close to you that is the greatest
reward i'll tell you something honestly everybody's not going to get it
there will be people in heaven closer to jesus than others that is the
meaning of reward my reward is with me equal for equal to everybody no
the man who brought 10 minas got more the man who got five minas got a
little less they were there in heaven all right oh yeah but it will be
according to what he has done turn to another passage in second
corinthians in chapter 5 second corinthians chapter 5 all said in verse
9 by the way in the chapter he talks about uh being at home in heaven or
being here on the earth we are away from home you know our home is not
here all of you who live in the gulf that's not your home your home is
in india or somewhere else but you're a stranger a foreigner living in
the gulf and that's what paul is saying i'm a foreigner living on this
earth my home is in heaven and he goes on to say but verse 9 second
whether i am at home in heaven or here on earth absent from heaven i
have only one ambition what is that ambition to please my savior to
please jesus i want to ask all of you my dear brothers and sisters a
straight question please answer it to yourself what is your ambition
what is your greatest ambition many years ago your ambition may have
been to get a job in the gulf okay you got it that's not going to get
get you any extra marks or reward in heaven i'll tell you that some poor
brother who gets 10 of your salary in kerala who never made it to the
gulf like you may be way ahead of you in grasping them that means
nothing my question is what is your ambition now it's not a sin to earn
one million rupees a month there's no sin in earning more or less poor
people think oh that man's earning than me more than me he's rich the
world is full of people who think anyone who earns more than them is
rich but he's okay all those who earn less are poor no the question is
what is your aim is it to please the lord every day of your life paul
says in second corinthians 5 9 our ambition children grow up to be an
ambition to have an ambition i want we have ambition for our children i
want my children to be a an engineer or a doctor or something like that
there is an ambition that all have my ambition is to please my savior
whatever my income whatever my job i want to please jesus in everything
why why first step because the word for means because we have to appear
one day at the judgment seat of christ and that day we'll be rewarded
for whatever we did in our body whether good or bad we had one mena 24
hours every day they're all equal he had the same self-will what did you
do with it our desire must be to please him in this life to please him
means i don't please myself in other words i don't do my will i want to
do god's will when i when i'm in a difficult situation i say lord what
is your will i want to do that when somebody treats me badly lord what
do what how am i supposed to react here i want to do your will and if we
live like that then we can say we have followed jesus otherwise all this
people saying follow follow i will follow anywhere it's all nonsense the
only person who's following jesus is the person who's really sincerely
seeking in the power of the holy spirit to say no to his own will in the
many situations we have in our life to do our own will and you all know
you get many opportunities every day to assert yourself to do your own
will in your office in your place of work and especially in your home
where nobody sees you that's the place where we say lord i want to be
faithful i want to use the one mina you gave me 24 hours i don't waste
the 24 hours and you cannot do anything about the past one last verse
acts of the apostles chapter 17 and verse 30 acts of the apostles
chapter 17 and verse 30 this is one of my favorite verses i quote it to
unbelievers who have messed up their life and i quote it to believers
who have wasted their life a word of encouragement perhaps until you
heard this message today you were ignorant of some of the things i said
you didn't realize how serious it is to have 24 hours a day you didn't
realize how serious it is to assert your self-will but today you learned
okay god says you were ignorant till today i'm overlooking your past
life forget it ignore it but from today you're not ignorant from now on
you know the value of 24 hours now you know how important it is to lay
down your self-will now from today repent means change your mind in
tamil it is mananthirambal it's one of the clearest translations in the
tamil language mananthirambal means mind must be turned turn your mind
around from the way you've been thinking till today wasting time keeping
on doing your own will asserting yourself give it up god is commanding
people okay till now i ignore i ignore your entire past you did not know
but today you heard the truth now onwards in our yoga redeem the time
make full use of the time because the days are evil isn't it wonderful
that god says okay you were ignorant i overlooked that never mind my son
never mind my daughter he speaks to us so tenderly my son my daughter
never mind the past take that as a personal word to you but from now
would that be a turning of your mind to take this one meaner god has
given you seriously that's great okay dear brothers and sisters please
think about maybe one or two things god has spoken to you today and say
lord i want to i don't want to forget it thank you for your mercy and
forgiving me i'm realizing life is short i'm realizing that money is not
everything even saying i've accepted christ is not everything the way
i've lived my life is important help me in the days to come to take my
life more seriously pray in jesus name amen

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/6riEsofyhwQ.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/using-our-time-wisely-and-denying-our-self-will/
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