======================================================================== WHY GOD CHOSE MEN TO BE LEADERS by Zac Poonen ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding God's design for leadership in the church, particularly focusing on the role of men as leaders. It highlights the need for men to act courageously, seek God's will, and fulfill their ordained days according to God's plan. The speaker encourages repentance, reliance on God's mercy, and the pursuit of wisdom and joy over material possessions. Duration: 48:56 Topics: "God's Design for Leadership", "Courageous Leadership in the Church" Scripture References: 1 Timothy 2:11, Psalms 139:13, Acts 17:30, Lamentations 3:22, Romans 5:9, Ecclesiastes 2:26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding God's design for leadership in the church, particularly focusing on the role of men as leaders. It highlights the need for men to act courageously, seek God's will, and fulfill their ordained days according to God's plan. The speaker encourages repentance, reliance on God's mercy, and the pursuit of wisdom and joy over material possessions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Why do we have a conference exclusively for men? There is a need for women's meetings as well, exclusively for women, but the reason primarily is because God has entrusted the leadership of the church in the hands of men and not of women. It's very important to understand that. Turn with me to 1 Timothy in Chapter 2. And it's not because we are against women. I highly appreciate godly sisters. I have a great regard for my own wife who has been my helpmate for 50 years. And I think my ministry would have been very different if I were not married or if I had married an ungodly woman. But the fact remains that God created the man first, and the woman was to be a helper to the man. It says that in 1 Timothy Chapter 2, Verse 11, a woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. If you believe the Holy Spirit wrote that, unlike some people who think only Paul wrote it, there are many Christian women who would accept the entire Bible as inspired by the Holy Spirit, accept certain sections like this. The moment you become selective in what you think is from God and what you think is not from God, you are on very dangerous ground. Then you have become a law unto yourself. There is a lovely verse in Isaiah 55 which says, God says, My ways are not your ways. Verse 8 and 9, My thoughts are not your thoughts. It's very, very important if you want to serve the Lord to understand one simple principle. God's ways are not our ways. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. If you want to know the difference between the two, in that same passage it says, As high as the heaven is above the earth, so different are my thoughts than your thoughts. So what we think about man's ministry and women's ministry, as far as I'm concerned, is totally unimportant. What God says is important. Of course, if you don't accept the Bible as God's word, then I've got nothing to say to you. But I have accepted the Bible as God's word for 60 years, and I know it has changed my life, it's changed my family life, it's taught me how to bring up my children, it taught me how to relate to my wife, and taught me how to plant churches and 101 things, and taught me how to handle money, how to handle trials and difficult situations. I've never found a situation in my entire life in these 60 years for which there was no answer in scripture. Not even one. That's my testimony. That's why I believe the Bible is God's word. It's very important. If you have a slight doubt about that in your mind, better forget about serving God. And then people ask me, Zach, how did you know the Bible was God's word when you started out your Christian life? Now you know from years of experience. Well, in those early days, I found that there were very few men whom I met in those days, in the early years of my Christian life, whom I really admired as godly men. And I would get close to some of them. They were very rare. One in a thousand almost. But when I met such a man, I would go up to him and ask him something about his life. I found two things common about all such men. They all believed that the Bible was the word of God. And they all had an experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And that gave me assurance. That's what I need. I need to believe the Bible is God's word. I was a young Christian, and I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Okay. 1 Timothy 2. 11. A woman must quietly receive instruction with the entire family. I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. This is a command that's exceptionally disobeyed all across the world today. It started out with the women's liberation movement that started after the Second World War, when women took off the veiling from their heads, and they said, we are equal to men. And look at all the confusion. And look where that descent from disobeying scripture has landed Christendom today in many, many places where they've accepted marriage between men and women, and marriage between two men and two women, and so many other things. It starts with the neglect of God's word. And if you see the depth to which Christendom has sunk today, you must ask, where did it begin? It began with not accepting the Bible as the word of God. You think of godly men in the 19th century, even here in the U.S. People who knew God, people who were filled with the Holy Spirit, and people who could serve God in a wonderful way. So here it says, the reason why, he goes on to say, a woman should not exercise authority over a man, is because of two reasons. Number one, verse 13, it was Adam who was first created. God did not make a mistake. And then he made Eve. And secondly, it was not Adam who was deceived. The devil went after Eve. The devil, it says in Genesis 3, was the serpent, was the wisest of all, the sharpest of all the creatures, and the devil got into the serpent. And he looked at the cleverest created being, Lucifer, looked at man and woman and said, yeah, I think the woman can be deceived. I mean, you've got to take the testimony of Satan there. That the cleverest created being felt it's easier to deceive the woman than the man. That's why Paul says here, through the Holy Spirit, the woman was deceived and fell into transgression. But it doesn't mean that women don't have a ministry. Women have the tremendous ministry of bearing children and bringing them up like Timothy's mother brought him up in the fear of God. I know that my own four sons were mostly brought up by my wife. So how can we say that women don't have a ministry? Of course they do. Very important ministry for the ongoing generations. That's why it says in 1 Corinthians 11, even though the first woman came out of man, it's very interesting, the first woman came out of man, but every other man has come out of a woman. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 11. So don't get too proud. You know, I sometimes like to humble men who think too much of themselves and think their wives are inferior. That happens very often in Eastern cultures. And I tell them, don't say, well, the Lord just made Eve just to be a helper. Well, look at it like this, I say. God said this man will never make it if I don't give him a helper. So he needs that helper to see him through. So look at the woman like that. So I don't despise women. I have a great respect for women, as I said, for my own wife and other godly sisters. But it is the man who has been given leadership. And it is because of the failure of men in leadership in Christendom today, that's one of the reasons, and neglect of the word of God is the other, that Christendom has sunk so low. It's men who are to be apostles. There are no women apostles in the entire Bible. Jesus never chose a woman among the twelve. And yet he was not against women. He raised the level of women in a society like Israel, where women were despised. He had compassion on the woman caught in adultery and forgave her. A five times divorced woman, the Samaritan woman, and Samaria was a despised nation by Israel. Jesus went through Samaria, sat at the well to meet that woman, five times divorced and sleeping with a man who is not even her husband, and raised her up and used her to bring many men in Samaria to Christ. So, there are women evangelists, there are women missionaries who have done a great job, but they are not called to be leaders or teachers, that's all I'm saying. Some of the greatest missionaries in India, Amy Carmichael and others, are women who looked after orphans. So I value them highly in their ministry. But in the church, the leadership has to be with men. Apostles are to be men, prophets are to be men, teachers are to be men. Evangelists, God gives the gift of evangelism even to women and men. But shepherds are men. So, when you look around, you find so few apostles and prophets. Of course, some people believe that's over. But it's not over, because the Bible says in Ephesians 4, if you turn there for a moment, that after Jesus ascended up into heaven, after Jesus ascended to heaven, Ephesians 4, verse 10, He ascended far above all the heavens, and from there, He gave some as apostles and prophets, and evangelists, pastors and teachers. So, these are apostles not appointed by Jesus when He was on earth, those were the 11, but those He appointed from heaven. One of the earliest ones being Paul, who was appointed as an apostle not on earth, but from heaven. And many others subsequently, who were appointed by the Lord throughout the centuries, people who planted churches, and prophets, not these Old Testament prophets who predicted the future, that was Old Testament prophecy. In the New Testament, prophecy is very different. It's important to understand that in 1 Corinthians 14. We are told that New Testament prophecy is defined very clearly. It is not predicting the future. It is speaking to men. In 1 Corinthians 14, verse 3, For building up, edification means building up, exhortation means challenge, and consolation means comfort. So, preaching God's Word to build up, and to challenge, and to comfort, that is prophecy. And in the Acts of the Apostles, it is not just these one sentence prophecies that you hear in some Pentecostal churches. In the Acts of the Apostles, you read Judas and Silas were prophets who encouraged the people with a lengthy message. They preached for one hour and the whole thing was prophecy. It's an amazing verse. So, that is what prophecy is. Much misunderstood. And that's what a prophet is supposed to be. And the greatest need is of course for apostles to guide churches. The apostles were the elders to the elders of churches. But the great need in the churches for prophets means those who speak God's Word in a way that will challenge, comfort, and build up. And that responsibility is given to men. He ascended on high, and we read in Ephesians 4, He gave. You can't become an apostle of your own choice. And you can't become a prophet of your own choice. And you can't decide to be an evangelist on your own choice. You can be a witness for Christ. Every Christian is to be a witness for Christ. Men, women, even children. In school, they must witness for Christ. But when it comes to being an evangelist, which is a special gift, that's given by God from heaven. They're prophets and shepherds. Pastor means a shepherd. So, when you look around and you see, I think there are a lot of shepherds. A few good teachers. Many evangelists. There seems to be a disproportion here. When I look around the world, and I've looked around Christendom for 60 years in many, many countries. Apostles and prophets are rare, and so there are very few to guide churches, the elders and leaders of churches. And very few who speak prophetically. See, in the early church, they did not have Bible studies like it is today in many churches, verse by verse. Let's go verse by verse through Ephesians for the next six months. They never did that in the early churches. You know why? Because they never had a Bible. Printed Bibles became available only in the 1500s. Now, if a printed Bible was absolutely essential for the growth of the church, God would have allowed printing to be discovered at least 200-300 years before Christ. Not in the 1500s. So how were people dependent? How did they have a meeting? I've sometimes, I mean, I didn't actually done it, but I've sometimes wanted to experiment with this. Let's have a New Testament church meeting. Everybody comes without a Bible. The preacher has no Bible. And he's going to preach. Can you imagine what type of meeting that would be? That would be a real New Testament meeting where the preacher would be so desperately dependent on the Holy Spirit and would have had to memorize a few verses of Scripture. He would be more dependent on the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, today's preachers are more dependent on commentaries and messages they've heard from there and the Bible in front of them. It's good. I've studied the Bible thoroughly for 60 years. But I want to be dependent on the Holy Spirit. I'm just giving you these introductory remarks as the importance of ministry in the church. And one of the things, you see, think of my own country. A country with 1,200 million people. 98% of them non-Christians. 1% Catholic and 1% Protestant. And among that 1% Protestant, perhaps 10% of that 1%, which is 0.1%, would be born again or less. Can you imagine the infinitesimally small number of people there are in a country like India who are born again? And we are to be a light to that country. And it's even worse in countries like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and all that. And the light has to be very powerful. That's the only way. So the important thing I see is to be filled with the Holy Spirit so powerfully that we're not like these 5 watt bulbs, but like powerful halogen lamps that light up. One lamp is more powerful than a thousand lights. And the other thing I asked the Lord was, I said, Lord, in a country like India with such a great need, and even there are a number of churches, why is it there are so few prophets who speak God's word prophetically? Prophetic teachers. And the answer I got from the Lord was, there are many young men I called in your country to be my prophets. But somewhere along the way, they fell away from their calling. I mean, they didn't know when they were young they were called to be prophets. Because God doesn't puff them up as soon as they're converted and say, hey, you're going to be a prophet. No, they wouldn't be able to bear it. God may reveal it to them 20 years later. But there's a 20 year preparation. And during that period, I said, many of them fell away, marrying the wrong person, going after money, joining some western organization to get a regular salary, so they wouldn't have to trust me for their financial needs. And so, there are hardly any prophets. And I think that applies to other countries too. Where are the apostles planting churches like Paul did in America, which is supposed to be, has been for many years, more Christian percentage-wise than other countries. Where are they? Where are the prophets who speak fearlessly, don't seek to please any man? Where are the leaders in Christendom who are not interested in numbers? Where are the preachers today and teachers who teach the entire Sermon on the Mount verse by verse without leaving out any verse which is important? Where are they? I mean, if you know of them, please tell me. I'd like to listen to them on YouTube. I've searched YouTube for them. They're rare. Hardly to be found in any nation. That's why we have men's meetings. Because God needs men. You know, Paul writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians in chapter 16. Here's a great verse for men. 1 Corinthians 16, 13. Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith and act like men, not like women. Why do you need a word saying act like men? Is this a macho type of thing? Act like men. It's a spiritual requirement to be a leader. Act like men. Don't be effeminate. Be bold. Jesus is the greatest example of what a man was supposed to be. He was not effeminate. He could weep over Jerusalem when it was not listening to him. He was a man who wept. But you read there, there was a balance in his life. Turn with me to Luke chapter 19. Verse 41. He had spoken some very strong words to the Pharisees. And over Jerusalem, he rebuked them strongly. And yet in Luke 19, 41, when he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it. He wept at the tomb of Lazarus when he saw the havoc that Satan had caused by bringing death and grief into the world. And he wept here when he saw Jerusalem. He denounced them, you hypocrites, how will you escape the damnation of hell? And then wept. You're qualified to be a prophet if you can tell people how will you escape the damnation of hell and then weep for them. If you're not willing to weep for them, don't tell them how will you escape the damnation of hell. And don't just weep for them. Tell them also, you hypocrites, how will you escape the damnation of hell? I see a balance in the life of Jesus. His glory was full of grace and truth. Truth and grace. And only God can make you like that. You can try to use your mind and try to be balanced. You cannot be. The Holy Spirit has to give you the life of Jesus. It's the life of Jesus that makes it like that. It's not like taking all these different pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and putting it together and trying to become full of grace and truth. No. It's not like that. It would be impossible. You know, I was a little overboard on grace there. Now I've got to do a little truth. Now I denounce these people. Now I've got to weep a little. That's artificial. That's acting. That's fit for Hollywood. But the genuine thing where the Holy Spirit makes us like Christ, He'll give us compassion and yet a prophet will denounce strongly. Who has to do that? Men. Men like Jesus. He wept and what is the next thing He did in Jerusalem? He wept over it and then verse 45 He entered the temple and took a whip and drove out the money changers. This is the balance. This is the type of man who can weep and whip. Grace and truth. That's a true prophet. That's a true apostle. Jesus is the example in all these things. And the Holy Spirit has come to make us not only like Jesus in character, in love, in humility, in goodness and so many other things but in a ministry. In the Old Testament, you know this is why Jesus never chose a woman as an apostle because they are not qualified for that. They are qualified to bring forth children. And just like a man cannot bear children no matter how hard he tries. A woman is not meant to be a leader. And all this business of men being changed into women and their organs being changed and uteruses being planted inside women to make them bear it's all crazy. And men are to act like men. And here is an example where the Lord says to the people in Isaiah's time, Isaiah chapter 3, He says, listen to this. Isaiah chapter 3 verse 12 Oh my people, God's grief, their oppressors are children and women rule over them. Shameful. It happened in Israel that women were their pastors and leaders. And God says, you people have sunk so low that your leaders are like little babies and you men are so hopeless not acting like men that women have taken the lead. Shame on you. Oh my people, those who guide you are leading you astray and confusing the direction of your path. There's somebody who needs to say that to the churches in the world today. There's so much of a desire for popularity among Christian preachers that there are very few who will speak the truth. God needs to raise up an army of men who are fearless, who fear no one but God, who hate nothing but sin and they will love Jesus fervently. Act like men. Let me give you another Old Testament example as a warning. In the book of Judges, these Old Testament histories have got a lot of things to teach us. Turn with me to Judges and Chapter 4. Judges Chapter 4. The sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord after He had died and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan. And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord because He had 900 chariots and He oppressed Israel for 20 years. And when they cried to the Lord for deliverance, God raised up a woman. She is the only woman judge in the book of Judges. Deborah, not only a judge but a prophetess. In the Old Testament there were prophetesses. There is not a single prophetess in the New Testament. The last Old Testament prophetess was Anna. You read of in Luke Chapter 2 who came at the birth of Jesus to the temple. After that, the only prophetess you read in the Bible is Jezebel, the false prophetess in Revelation Chapter 2. There is no woman prophetess. Men are to be prophets. But here was, in the Old Testament, why did God raise up Deborah? Why not a man? When He can't find a man, He will, has to use a woman to lead His people. Otherwise, they'd have been kept on getting oppressed by this man. And the bravest man in Israel was a man called Barak. So, verse 6, when they had to go and fight the battle, Deborah couldn't go and lead the army. It says in verse 6, She sent and summoned Barak, the son of Abinom, and said to him, The Lord God of Israel has commanded you. Go and march towards Mount Tabor and I will draw out Sisera to you. Verse 7, and his many troops, and listen to this last part of the verse, I will give him into your hand. Boy, if the Lord has said that, what more do you need? Go on, Barak. And Barak says, Sister, if you go with me, I'll go. I'm scared to go alone. This is the bravest man in Israel. Saying, Sister, please come with me. I know God has said He'll give me into your hand, but I'm scared. No wonder God had to raise Deborah. That's why the Bible says, Act like men. Be strong. Don't be effeminate. There are men in leadership in churches who are effeminate. They're not bold. They don't act like men. They are men, gender-wise, but they don't act like men. That's a great word we read in 1 Corinthians 16, act like men. It doesn't mean in arrogance. The greatest man who walked on the earth, Jesus, was the humblest of all. He could allow people to spit on him and forgive them. There's no arrogance in him. He's not the least type of wrestlers and boxers, not that type of man. But a man who was a real man in God's eyes, who was brave and fearless, who was a man of God like John the Baptist, who didn't fear any man, who was a prophet. And he was a true prophet. He never predicted the future. He was the greatest prophet. Jesus himself said John the Baptist was the greatest prophet of all. And the greatest prophet of all never predicted the future. But he did preach repentance. Every Old Testament prophet preached repentance. Some of them predicted the future as well. But the common feature of every Old Testament prophet was they preached repentance. Repentance is the greatest prophet of all up to Jesus' time, preached repentance. Then Jesus preached repentance and Peter preached repentance. And that's the great need in the church today. Men of God who live before God's face, who've been faithful, who don't go astray in marriage, who don't go astray running after money, who don't go astray running after their own honor or any such thing. I want to read a little poem I wrote many years ago, more than 50 years ago. It was very soon after I was born again, 60 years ago. I found this poem and I've never forgotten it. I want to read it to you. When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and He shows me His plan for me, the plan of my life as it might have been if He had His way in every area and I see how I blocked Him here and I checked Him there in my life, in my earthly life and I would not yield my will so many places. Will there be grief in my Savior's eyes? Grief, even though He loves me still. He wanted me to be rich but I stand there poor. I stand there poor, spiritually, stripped of everything but His grace. While my memory runs like a hunted thing down the paths that I cannot retrace. Down my past life, my memory goes. Then my desolate heart will wellnight break with the tears that I cannot shed. I shall cover my face with my empty hands. I shall bow my uncrowned head which should have been crowned for faithfulness. Lord of the years that are left to me. He's still on earth, so He says, Lord of the years that are left to me, I give them to Thy hand. Take me. Break me. Mold me to the pattern You have planned. I read that when I was 21 years old, I was baptized. I said, Lord, I want my life to count for You. I don't know what lies ahead of me. I just started studying the Bible. I never read my Bible fully till I was 19 and I was born again. I did not know anything about being filled with the Holy Spirit. I knew it was needed and I began to seek God for that. I studied the scriptures. And I laid my whole life before the Lord and I said, Lord, I don't know what Your plan for my life is, but I don't want to be like that, standing at the judgment seat of Christ and looking back at my life and saying, oh, I wish I'd chosen Your will there. I wish I had not been stubborn and said, I want to marry this girl. I wish I had not been stubborn in other areas where You wanted to break me. I wish I had not got offended when people insulted me or hurt me. I wish I had taken it the way Jesus took it. I don't want to have any regret at the judgment seat of Christ. I'm willing to humble myself to any extent. Take me, break me, mold me, do what You like with me, but fulfill the plan You have for my life at any cost. I want to ask you, my brothers and sisters, many of you have been born again long, it's time and maybe you have never said that to the Lord, but are you willing to say that today, this weekend and let God change your life permanently. Turn the entire course of your life to take the Christian life more seriously. You may not have sought God's will in the job you have or the place you have chosen to reside, those things don't matter. I joined the military academy in India, which is the equivalent of West Point here, when I was 15 years old. I was the youngest cadet there, training to be a naval officer. I never sought God's will. No. I just, my dad was my guide and thought it was a great career to have to go into the Navy those days in India and I chose it. It was 100% a selfish personal decision. I wasn't born again and for the next four and a half years as I was trained to be a naval officer, I was not born again. I was just a worldly so-called Christian. I'd go to church on Sunday. Because of the Sunday school upbringing I was kept from gross sins, fortunately. But I did not know the Lord and yet, now when I look back, I see that the Navy was my Bible school. Not to teach me the Bible, but to teach me to be tough, to stand against opposition. I'd been a ship with 200 people where I'm the only believer and they all mock me. You know, that's a far better Bible school than sitting in a Bible school studying Greek and Hebrew and all that. I see that though I did not choose my career, God knew this person is going to be my child one day. I've got a plan for his life. He doesn't know that yet. He doesn't care for me. But, I'm going to keep control over him. I'm not going to let him miss my will and I'm going to train him even though he doesn't seek my will. I'm absolutely sure because I grew spiritually in that naval base where I had to take decisions and stand up to my senior officers and say, I'm sorry sir, my conscience will not permit me to do that. I'm a Christian. Boy, the opportunities I got to get a spiritual backbone. You know, a lot of men don't have a backbone. They don't know what it is to stand up, erect for God. Those are the days the Lord taught me that and so I can see very clearly, but it wasn't I who chose it. It was not my seeking the Lord that I ended up there. So I say that for your encouragement that wherever you're living today, the place of your residence, you may not have sought God's will. You just chose it for some earthly benefit. So did I. I chose a career in the Navy. And you chose your place of residence and your job and all for earthly benefit. Okay. God has his hand on you. You don't know that. He's got a plan for your life and because he's got a plan for your life, he's guiding even those events in your life which you thought you chose yourself. I want you to turn to Psalm 139. Inspired by God, David writes verse 13. You formed my inward parts, you wove me in my mother's womb. Inside my mother's womb. I believe this applies to all of us. I believe it applies for me. I make it personal and I want you to make it personal. When I was in my mother's womb, that's what you can say, God in heaven knew me. In fact, Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, He knew me before the foundation of the world. Not just in my mother's womb. He knew my name, but I did not exist. He knew the name, Zach Poonen, which my dad would give me. He knew it. Before the foundation, that means before Genesis 1 verse 1. Ephesians 1 4 tells me that. It's not that sometime after thousands of years, God suddenly discovered that there'd be a person called Zach Poonen. You know that God knows everything right from the beginning. So, I sometimes joke with people, not joke, but say it in a humorous way. In the beginning, there was the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Zach Poonen. In his mind. And people think that's arrogant. It's not arrogance. I say, you were there too, if you're a child of God. If you believe Ephesians 1 verse 4. I believe it. According to your faith, be it unto you. You don't have that faith? Okay, then you'll miss the blessing of it. I have faith in Ephesians 1 4. That before Genesis 1 1, when God existed, tell me, you think of yourself now, if you're a born again child of God. When did God know that you would be his child? After how many years? After a thousand years? Or was it from the beginning? Is there some knowledge that God discovers sometime later on in time? No, it was at the beginning. That's an amazing truth. And that's brought such security into my life. I'm not an accident. I'm not a social security number. I'm a person chosen by God. And despite all the blunders and stupid things I've done in my life, God still chose me. Think of his love. Think of that. My brothers and sisters, all of us have done foolish, stupid things in our life. I have. And I know that and I'm ashamed of it. And you have too. I know that. We're all human. Yet the Lord chose to marry us. I sometimes ask husbands, if you knew all the stupid, foolish things your wife would do and how evil she was, would you still marry her if you knew all that beforehand? Some men would say no. But Jesus says, yes, I knew it all beforehand. I knew every stupid, foolish, arrogant, proud thing you would do, and yet I chose you to be my bride. Think of his love. How can you not respond to him? How can you live for yourself after knowing someone who loves you like that? I cannot. My heavenly bridegroom knew every foolish, stupid thing I would do, how I would rebel against him, dishonor him, and be proud and arrogant and everything, yet he chose me before the foundation of the world. And he saw me in my mother's womb. Psalm 139. And verse 15, my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret. Verse 16, your eyes saw my unformed substance in my mother's womb. And in your book, when it speaks about God's book, it is his mind. He doesn't have books like this. His mind. In his mind, read it like that. All the days that were ordained for me were written down. When as yet there was not anybody in one of them, that means before I was born, before I came out of my mother's womb, in God's mind, every day, not every year, every day of my life was written down in God's memory, in his mind. And I look at it like this. Where I am supposed to be on January 1st of some year or September 30th of some year or March the 3rd of another year. In God's mind, it's written down. Every single child of his, it's written there. My prayer has been, Lord, from the time I've got understanding, that's where I want to be. I want to be in the place where you want me to be. Acts 17 and verse 30. Great verse, I often use it to encourage people who are sad for the years of failure in their life. Acts 17 30 says, God overlooks the times of ignorance but now he commands everyone to repent. So, all that time when we were ignorant of even of the truths you are hearing today. God has ignored. He says, don't worry about it. But now, from now on, repent means turn around. Turn around and seek my will from now on for your life. Okay, you messed up in the past, forget it. Forget it. I have overlooked it. Don't mention it again. That great verse in Lamentations 3 which says, His mercies are new every morning. It's a great comfort to me. It will probably help you too to know it. Lamentations in chapter 3 verse 32 If he causes grief, then he will have compassion. Verse 23 Every morning, verse 22 and 23 together. His compassion is never failed and new every morning. Every morning his mercies are new. Do you know what that means? That means if I have repented and confessed my sin to the Lord and he says to me, I will not remember your sin anymore. Hebrews 8.12 He looks at me today as if I have never sinned till today. I have lived 79 and a half years without sin. And if I slip up today in some way and I say, Lord, I am sorry. I slipped up there. He says, that's okay. That's the first time you sinned in your life. Do you believe that? I believe it. The times of ignorance he overlooks. Our sins and iniquities he will not remember anymore. His mercies are new every morning. Now if you want, you can take advantage of that. It doesn't matter. I can live as I like and repent. Well, you will waste your life. It will be like that poem I just read. You blocked the Lord here and checked in there and you will waste your life and never be the prophet you were supposed to be. Or the apostle you were supposed to be. I don't know. Or the evangelist. Or whatever it is. But if you are gripped by this, you will not live in mourning and groaning over your past failure. See, I thank you for the blood of Jesus that has not only cleansed me but made me righteous. Romans 5.9 Justified by His blood that gives me boldness to stand before a holy God. To stand face to face before Him before whose face even angels cover their face. And I don't have to cover my face. Because I am forgiven. I am justified. I am a son of God. And He ordained every day of my life. That's why I believe that if I really seek to live in the will of God, I cannot die before God's time. Impossible. No accident. No cancer. Nothing can take my life before God's time. How God takes me is up to Him. I am not here to dictate how He should take me home. Whether it is the coming of the Lord or whatever. But it will not be before God's time if I live in God's will. And if I want only His will. If I live to make money, I don't know when you will die. If you live to please yourself, I don't know when you will die. But if you live to do the will of God, only, and you have no other passion but to do that, you can be sure the days that are ordained for you will be fulfilled. So that's why we need to have great boldness and say, Lord, what have you planned for me? What is your plan for my life? I want to fulfill that at any cost. And I'll tell you this, making money is not the greatest thing in the Christian life. That's for people in the world. God provides. Let me show you a verse in that connection as well. It's amazing how there's a verse in Scripture for almost everything, every circumstance that we find in every situation there is. Ecclesiastes in Chapter 2. It says here, God has given sinners the task of collecting money. Gathering it and collecting it. Did you know that? It says there in the middle of that verse. To the sinner he has given the task of gathering and collecting. But finally it will come to the one who is good in God's sight. And that's me. And that's you. For a person to whom, who is good in his sight, he gives the opportunity to collect wisdom and knowledge of the Lord and joy. That's what we are to collect. But the sinner, he's got to collect material things. But the child of God will also have enough for his needs. Because when he seeks God's kingdom first, the other things are added to us. How blessed are you, child of God. Do you realize that? We are the most blessed people on the face of the earth. Let's act like men. And let's lead others along this way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to be the men you want us to be. Forgive us our past failures and help us to take our life seriously from today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/_M1lpWusX24.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/zac-poonen/why-god-chose-men-to-be-leaders/ ========================================================================