A Godly Attitude Towards Money and Sex

Can you hear us from different places? I want to greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have one head, that's Christ. If you have made him Lord of your life, many accept Christ only to go to heaven. That is part of the selfishness that came into the race of man when Adam sinned, to think only of what I will get. God so loved the world that he gave his son, not to think of what he would get, but what we would get. And that's one of the primary characteristics of God that we need to partake of, not what I will get. The Bible says, whatever you do, do for the glory of God. That is the most satisfying Christian life that you can ever have. So I want to give this as an introduction to our subject today, just a brief testimony about my own life. I'm nearly 81 years old now. I was born again 61 years ago when I was 19 and a half, when I was an officer in the Indian Navy. And seven years later, the Lord called me to leave my job. And in 1966, God took me out of the Navy and I've been serving the Lord in India and different places for the last 54 years. It's been the greatest joy of my life. We work on different principles in our churches. We don't have any paid workers. I've never received a salary from our church in all these years. I trust God to take care of my needs, just like the Apostle Paul took care of his own needs. That's how all of us 150 elders work in our churches, just to give you an introduction of how we work. We don't judge others. We're not here to criticize anybody. We live before God's face, but that's how Jesus lived. And that's how we have sought to live. So coming to our subject today, a godly attitude to money and sex. These are two of the biggest problems that human beings have everywhere around the world, money and sex. And so does the Bible have something to say about it? The Bible has plenty to say about it. To begin with, what was God's original plan for man? You remember once when the Pharisees came and asked Jesus in Matthew 19, why did Moses command divorce? And Jesus said, he never commanded divorce. He permitted it. And even today, Jesus has not commanded divorce. So in the same way, sometimes people take scripture and misquote it. But God said to the Pharisees, how was it originally? God did not make two women for Adam, only one. So Jesus always took people back to the beginning. So in this subject also, I want to take you back to the beginning. What was God's original plan for man? Turn with me to Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. Let us make man in our image. Verse 27, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. That's three times the word image of God. Image of God comes in there. Very, very important when we realize that God did not make the angels in his image. He made man in his image. And then he blessed them, verse 28. Today, he's blessed us with the Holy Spirit. And then we read in Genesis 3 that Adam disobeyed this wonderful, loving God, and then began all the chaos there is in the world today. So what happened actually there was Adam thought, Adam and Eve, both of them, they thought they knew better than God. And instead of humbly submitting to what God had told them, don't touch, don't eat, sorry, from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But the tree of life was there, they could partake of that. So there are things God has forbidden, even today. And when we think we know better than God, or we can come close to those forbidden things and test it out and try it, the same problem arises that came to Adam. So that is how sin originated and God had a great desire to save man from this calamity. And that's why he sent his son, you know the story. But I want to tell you a few verses before I go on. And first of all, is John 14 and verse 21. Here it says, Jesus said in the middle, he who loves me will be loved by my father. The Christian life is not just about going to heaven. In fact, to tell you honestly, I have no interest in going to heaven, zero. And God is my witness when I say that. I want to be with Jesus, wherever he is. That is my heaven. And that is why for me, heaven has already begun. Because I live with Jesus now every day. And the Christian life is not about just believing in Jesus. He who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will reveal myself to him. I thank God the way Jesus has revealed himself to me in these past years. But it begins with loving the father, loving God. And if you love money or sex more than God, well, then this verse is not for you. He who loves me will be loved by my father. If you love Jesus more than everything else in the world, that's one of the primary conditions of discipleship. And if you do that, you have this wonderful promise. If you do that, there's a big if. If I love Jesus more than everything and everyone else in this world, here is the promise in John 17, 23, that the father will love me as he loved Jesus. That's the most wonderful truth I've discovered in the whole Bible, that if I love Jesus more than everything else, more than myself, more than my parents, more than my wife, more than my children, Luke 14, 26, more than money, property, and more than my self-life, and the honor and appreciation of men, more than any pleasure this world can offer. If I love Jesus more than anything else, I can live the most wonderful life that any human being can live on this earth. The father will love me exactly like he loved Jesus when Jesus walked on this earth. Can you imagine a greater privilege than that? And that's for every one of you. There's no partiality with God. We begin with loving Jesus more than everything and everyone on this earth. And the father will love me. That means as he cared for Jesus, he would care for me. What a wonderful thing that is, this most wonderful truth I discovered in the Bible, John 17, 23. You have to begin there. And I want to show you one more verse, one of the most important laws of God, which many Christians have not understood. If you understand this, it'll solve many problems in your life. The law of God described in James 4 and in 1 Peter 5 is like this. 1 Peter 5 and verse 5, the last part. God is opposed to the proud and he gives grace to the humble. Let me repeat that. Very important for you to remember all your life. God opposes the proud and he gives grace to the humble. And it's not a question of what other people think we are humble. We can fool the whole world that we are humble, but if we have high thoughts about ourselves and we think we are very important people, then God is opposed to us. And there's something else. Psalm 138, verse 6, it says, God knows proud people far away. He keeps proud people far away. Anyone who is proud of anything, spiritually proud, proud of material things, proud of his education, proud of his good looks, proud of anything, God keeps him far away. Psalm 138, it says, I don't want to be far away from God. I want to be very close to him. And there's one secret. God gives grace to the humble. And Romans 6, 14 says that sin will not have dominion over you when you're under grace. So if you want to overcome sin, we have to receive grace and God gives his grace only to the humble. One more verse. God dwells in two places, Isaiah 66 and verse 2. He dwells in the high and holy place. And he dwells with him who is humble. Isaiah 66, verse 2, he looks upon those who are humble and contrite in spirit. This is the person upon whom God looks. If you want God to look at you, be humble and contrite in spirit. So having said those words as an introduction, let's move into our subject. The purpose with which God saved us is to bring us back to his original purpose. What was that? That we might reflect his image. And when Jesus was on earth, he reflected the image of the father perfectly. And that is why he has called us to reflect that image more and more. You know, when we first come to Christ, we are so corrupted by sin. But the grace of God, which he gives to the humble, can change us little by little by little by little, that more and more we can become like Christ. The purpose of salvation is to make us like Christ. Romans chapter 8 and verse 29. Those whom God knew beforehand, he predestined. That means he had a destination for them. Just like when you buy a train ticket, destination is written on that ticket. When God saved you, he had a destination for you. And that destination is not heaven. Predestined, Romans 8, 29, is to become like his son, Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ might be the elder brother among many brothers and sisters. That is God's purpose. Never forget that. Don't think of salvation as God's purpose is to take you to heaven. No, it's to make you like Jesus. And if you're not fulfilling that more and more, you are frustrating God's plan. Just like if you get a train ticket to go from one place to another, and if you are in the right train, every hour, you'll get closer and closer to your destination. And if you are on the right path, every day, every year, you become more and more like Christ. Otherwise, you're going in the wrong direction. Examine your life. How was it compared to last year? What does your wife think about you? What does your husband think about you? Have you become more like Jesus? If not, you're going in the wrong direction, my brother, sister. So please keep that in mind. Let's turn to 1 John 2, verse 6. It's an amazing calling. Everyone who says that he abides in Christ must walk as he walked. Is that possible? God will never give us a command, which is not possible. What should your attitude to money be? The same attitude Jesus had towards money. That's our goal. You won't reach there in one day, but if you work towards it every year, listen carefully, every year, your attitude to money will become more and more like the attitude of Jesus to money. Sex. Your attitude to sex will be the attitude Jesus had. Jesus was never married, but he was tempted in all points, the Bible says, exactly like us. Hebrews 4.15. Are you tempted in some area? Hebrews 4.15 says Jesus was tempted exactly like us, but he never sinned. He was with money, he was tempted with sex, but he never sinned. And our calling is to walk as he walked. We don't become like him overnight. 1 John chapter 3, verse 2. When Christ comes again, the last part, we will be like him. We will never be completely like him until he comes again. Our attitude to money and to sex will not be 100% like Jesus' attitude until he comes again, but it should be better every year. If it is 1% like his attitude today, it should be at least 1.1% by next year and 1.2% and 1.5% and 2% and 5% and 10% year by year by year that we become more and more like him and his attitude to people, his attitude to things, his attitude to his temptation. We will be like him more and more. And that doesn't happen automatically. 1 John chapter 3, verse 3 says, if you have this hope in you, very important verse. If you have this hope of becoming like Christ when he comes again, what is the proof of it? What is the evidence of it? You will purify yourself. Now the Bible speaks about the blood of Jesus cleansing us. That's what God does if we confess our sins and we turn from our sin. God is faithful to cleanse us in his blood and wipe us clean from all unrighteousness. But that is God's work dealing with our past. We can never cleanse our past no matter 10,000 good works or a million good works will not erase one sin from our life. Only the blood of Jesus Christ will be shed on the cross. The judgment he took on Calvary's cross, the hell that he experienced on the cross for our sake is what forgives us. Now we are talking beyond forgiveness. Forgiveness is just cleaning the cup. You know, when you drink a cup of milk or a cup of water, the first thing is to clean the cup. And the first thing God does is clean up our heart. And then he wants to fill us with the life of Christ. He doesn't want to leave that cup empty. And that can happen only as we cooperate with him. Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, Matthew 11, 29. We have to work together with him. The Bible says that God wants to work within us. It says in Philippians 2, it's God who works within us, Philippians 2, 13, to desire his will in the areas of money and sex, and then to do his will in the areas of money and sex, Philippians 2, 13. But Philippians 2, 12 says we have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. In other words, we have got to cooperate with God because otherwise we'll become robots. You know, there are certain objects that God has created that don't have a will of their own. It's the stars, the planets. They have obeyed God for thousands of years without any disobedience, but they don't have a will of their own. Stars and planets can never become sinners. They can never become sons of God. The same way the trees and the flowers, they obey God's laws. They can't become sinners and they can't become children of God. But it's only when God gives us a free will to choose that we can become children of God or sinners. So because God's given us a free will, he wants us to exercise that free will in his direction always, not once for all, but every day. You know, a good marriage does not begin with a good wedding. It's good to have a good wedding. You love each other fervently that day you get married, but a good marriage is a day-by-day affair. Every day as each husband and wife deny themselves they can have a good marriage. What if they don't? Just because we had a good wedding doesn't mean you have a good marriage. The same way you may have accepted Christ in your life once, but that doesn't mean you're growing spiritually. Most Christians are backslidden terribly. They loved Jesus more on the first day they were converted than they do today. We have to purify ourselves, cleanse ourselves through the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why it's very important to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So let's talk a little bit about our attitude to money, having heard those words of introduction. Let me show you a verse which many people don't take seriously. Luke 16 and verse 13. Luke, please turn with me. This is a very important verse. If you don't know it, please look at it. Luke 16 and verse 13. Jesus said, no servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be devoted to one and despise the other. And who are the two masters he's talking about? Not God and Satan, but God and money. You know, if you were to ask Jesus, who are the two masters trying to rule man? You ask the average Christian, they'll say God and Satan. Jesus says, no, the two masters that are trying to rule you are God and money. And some of you who can sit back and say, I don't serve Satan. Good. But if you're serving money, you can't serve God. It's very important to understand that. I hardly heard a message in my life from anyone on this verse, because it says here, you've got to hate the one and love the other. And you've got to hold on to one devoted to be devoted to one and despise the other. Apply those verses to God and money. How can I love God? According to Luke 16, 13, face it, however difficult it may be, face it. And it'll work for you. Sometimes you have to go through a difficult surgery for a cancer to be removed from our body. And people are so willing, even to let some organ of theirs be removed from their body, if they can be free from cancer. I tell you, the love of money is one of the biggest cancers that's found in all human beings and even among believers. And they don't want God, the Holy Spirit, to do any surgery to remove the love of money from them. And that's why they never love God. They think they do, because they're active in Christian work and doing so many things they preach and do all that. But I want to say to you in the name of If you love money, you do not love God. I remember when I preached this somewhere, somebody said, oh, is there anybody who doesn't love money? Uh-huh. There are lots of people. Maybe you don't. You're not one of them. But there are many people in the world who love Jesus more than anything else. See, what does it mean to hate money? Luke 16, 13. In another passage, two chapters earlier, Luke 14, 26, Jesus said, if you want to be my disciple, you've got to hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and your own life. So what did he mean there by hate? Because in other places, he tells us to honor father and mother. It says you've got to love your wife like Christ loved the church. So this is not contradicting that. The meaning of hate, father, mother, wife, children, et cetera, is that the love for Christ must be so great that all other loves sort of disappear in the darkness. Something like when the sun rises, the light of the stars disappears. There is light in the stars. Stars are very bright, but they disappear when the sun rises. So that's an example of what he meant by hate. When you compare scripture with scripture, you understand that in Matthew 10, 37, what Jesus meant was he who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. Put that together with here. You've got to hate money to love God means I have to love God more than I love money. Just like I got to love God more than I love my father and mother more than I love my wife and children. You cannot be a disciple if you don't love Jesus supremely. He must have number one place in your life. Otherwise he'll have no place in your life. And money very often takes the place that Christ should have in our life. You must put money below. It's not that you can't use it. Do you know that in the first chapter of the Bible, in the beginning of the Bible and at the end of the Bible, it speaks about gold. In the garden of Eden, there was gold. Did you know that? Galatians, sorry, Genesis 2, 11. It says there is gold. Genesis 2, 11 in Eden. And it says in verse 12, Genesis 2, 12, that gold of that land is good. Gold is good only when it is in God's presence. Genesis 2, 12. And the other place we read about gold is in Revelation and chapter 21. And it says here in verse 21, Revelation 21 and 21. At the beginning of the Bible, you read about gold. At the end of the Bible, you read about gold. And here it says the streets of the city, the streets of heaven are of pure gold. So in heaven, people walk on gold. Gold is under their feet. Here on earth, people put gold on their head, around their neck, their ears, but in heaven, they put it under their feet. In other words, the picture there is that gold does not have any power over me. Money doesn't have any power over me. It's there. It's good. You read that in Genesis 2 and Revelation 21, but it has to be under my feet if it is to be good. If it's filling my mind, it's not good. Money must be under my feet. I must be the master of money, not money be the master of me. That's the point. Money is a good servant, but a terrible master. Can you have plenty of money and be a disciple of Jesus? Well, it depends whether they're all your servants. Abraham, we read, had 318 servants. Ooh, what a large number of servants, but Abraham was the master. Every one of those servants obeyed Abraham. You can be a very rich man, but if money is under your feet, you can be a disciple of Jesus. Or you can have very little money, one servant, and if that servant takes over your house, then you're not the master anymore. It's not a question of how much money you have. It's a question of whether money is under your feet or on top of your head. Some people think that you have to be very poor in order to be a disciple of Jesus. Job was one of the richest people in the world, and God said there was nobody on earth like him. Abraham was another very rich person. In the New Covenant also, there are rich people, and there are poor. These things are unimportant. It's like, are you good-looking or not so good-looking? It doesn't make a difference. If your looks mean a lot to you, then you can't be a disciple of Jesus. But if your looks don't mean anything to you, your discipleship of Jesus does not depend on how handsome you are, how tall you are, how good-looking you are, what's the color of your skin. It doesn't depend on that at all. It's a question of whether all these things are subservient underneath your feet, and Christ alone is your Lord. So that's the most important thing in relation to money, where I can't be, as it says in Luke 16, 13, I can't be devoted to Jesus Christ unless I say, money, you have no power over me. You're my servant. I won't kick you out of the house. I need you. We all need money on this earth, but it's a question of putting it in the proper place. You know, in the Old Testament, if you read the Old Testament prophets, the main thing they condemned Israel for was for idolatry. It was because of idolatry that Israel was punished and sent into captivity many times. And if you look at the idolatry of Israel in the old covenant, they made idols of gold, and many of their worship places, they had sexual sin. Just like today, there's a lot of sexual sin in religious places. Yeah, wherever sex and money come together, that's idolatry in the Old Testament. In the high places, we read about Israel worshiping in the high places. It was gold, and there were sexual sin, religious prostitutes that was there in the old covenant, and is there today in many heathen religions, and even a lot of pastors who sin with women. Sex and money are a very important part of false religion in the old covenant, and even today. So we must remember that these are the two things that we have to really fight and be free from. So coming back to this, let me turn to 1 Timothy in chapter 6 and verse 3, 1 Timothy 6. It says here, it's talking about people who preach a different doctrine, and it goes on to talk about godliness. What is this different doctrine? If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with the sound words, healthy words of Jesus Christ, and he's talking about money, a wrong attitude to money, people who preach a different doctrine where your attitude to money is unimportant. It is very, very important, and he goes on to say that these are people who think of verse 5 of godliness, 1 Timothy 6, 5, as a means of making profit for themselves. You know the number of Christian preachers who have used their gift to make money for themselves. I remember when God called me to his service, and when I left my job 54 years ago, and I sought the Lord for some guidance. I took all my life savings, which I earned in the Navy for many years, and I gave it away for God's work, and I came out with an empty bank account to serve the Lord, and I said, Lord, I'm going to trust you for all my need. Now I'm not saying others should do it. God called me to do it, and that's why I do it, and not everyone is called to full-time Christian work like me. So I'm not saying that is something we have to do, but I'm just telling you what the Lord tried to teach me then, and I came to the scriptures, and I read the first temptation of Jesus, where the devil told him, you're hungry now. 40 days you have not been eating. You've got the power. Turn these stones into bread and satisfy your hunger, and Jesus said, no. I don't live by food. I live by every word that proceeds from the Father, and I have not received a word from the Father to turn stones into bread, so I won't do it. He had the power to turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. He would not have been cheating anybody. That's not stealing to turn stones into bread. If God has given you power, what's wrong in turning stones into bread to satisfy your hunger? But Jesus said, no, but he did use his power to multiply bread once for 5,000 men and many women and children. He took five loaves and multiplied it, so what I learned from that was he did not use his power to make bread for himself, but he used it to make bread for thousands of others, and what the Lord told me there was, when I give you a gift, it may be a gift of preaching or any other gift, you must not use it to make profit for yourself, zero, but use it to bless others. That's what I learned from the first temptation of Jesus. You cannot use the power God gives you to satisfy your own need. You cannot use the power and influence God gives you because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to become famous or to seek honor or to seek for money or to seek for any gain for yourself. But you can use it to serve others again and again and again, and I've sought to follow that principle by the grace of God. Lord, I will never use any gift you've given me to promote myself, to make gain for myself. I will not make gain for myself through my preaching gift. That's why all the books I write, the Lord said, don't ever take any royalty for it. Paul never took any royalty for his writings, and we have never done it. In the same way, don't preach to make money. Don't go somewhere to preach to make money. Very, very important. So it says here about people who've made godliness a means of gain for themselves. Well, they're not like Christ, but he says godliness can make a lot of spiritual gain in your life if it's accompanied by contentment. One of the most important lessons we need to learn is to be content with what God gives us, to be content with whatever the way God has made us. Don't look at somebody else and say, why is he more good-looking than me? Well, God made you the way you are. Be happy. I want to be happy with the way God made me. I don't want to wish I were like somebody else. I don't want to wish that I had a house like somebody else or a car like somebody else or a scooter like somebody else. Yeah, if you learn to be content with what God gives you, you'll be free from the love of money. Godliness with contentment is a great gain. In one translation, it says godliness with frugality. Frugality means living very simply. That's another thing that the Lord taught me. Don't waste money on yourself. Live simply. Don't follow the example of worldly people or even the example of other Christians or other preachers. Live simply. Jesus lived very simply. He did not waste money unnecessarily. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying you can't have an ice cream or something like that. But don't, just because God's given you money, don't think that, yeah, I can spend that lavishly on myself and waste it. Godliness, living simply with contentment will bring great profit in your life. Because it says in 1 Timothy 6, verse 7, remember one thing, when you came into the world, you brought nothing. When you leave this world, you can take out nothing. So then, if God has given us enough to take care of our earthly needs, be content. Now, listen to this. Those who want to get rich, verse 9, fall into many temptations and a snare. A snare is like a trap. You know how they catch wild animals in the jungle? They put a trap and even the tigers and elephants get caught in a trap. That's a snare. And it says here, those who want to get rich, not those who have money, not those who became rich, listen, read carefully, don't add to scripture. There are many God-fearing Christians who never pursued wealth, but God has blessed them and they become very wealthy. They become millionaires, fine. There's nothing wrong in that. But they didn't want to get rich. Their whole aim in life is not to become rich. They did not pursue after money. But those who want to get rich, their aim in life is, I want to make more and more money. Your aim in life should be, I want to be more and more like Jesus. So those who want to get rich will fall into a snare. They'll get caught like the animal in a trap by the devil. And not only that, they'll fall into many foolish desires, 1 Timothy 6, 9, many harmful desires, and it will finally ruin them and destroy them. I've seen that happen. Be very careful when God multiplies your wealth. Keep gold under your feet, walk on it. Don't let it fill your mind. Those who want to get rich, you can become rich without wanting to get rich, but you may be poor, but you want to get rich. They're in danger. The other thing it says here about money, 1 Timothy 6, 10 is the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil. When I love money more than I love Jesus Christ, when money is not under my feet, but it's in my mind all the time, how can I make more? How can I make more? I'm not talking about poor people who are struggling to survive, particularly at a time like this, when there's a plague going on all over the world, and many people have lost their jobs. They're naturally thinking, how can I earn some money to take care of my family? There's nothing wrong in that. They're thinking of necessities. I'm not talking about such people. I'm talking about people who have far more than they need, and they want to get more and more rich, and they love money. And well, it says here about verse 10 about those who are longing, longing for more and more and more and more. It leads to, it's a root, verse 10, 1 Timothy 6, 10, from which all sorts of evil come. Think of a root from which a tree comes out, all sorts of evil. What is it? What's the root there? The love of money. And those who long for it have wandered away from the faith. One of the easiest ways to wander away from the faith, from the true faith, and to lose your salvation completely, and end up in hell, is by longing for more and more and more money. Let me clarify. God gives you, and you don't seek for it, you don't run after it, you don't love it, you don't long for it. God gives you, accept it. But if you long for it, and you love it, and you're eager to become more and more rich, you can wander away from the faith one day, and you'll pierce yourself and your family with many, many sorrows. Be very careful. So Paul tells Timothy, verse 11, what should you do? Not avoid these things, but run away from these things. Run away from it. Stay completely away from this running after money, which is happening even among Christians. And fight the good fight of faith, verse 12. And think of Jesus Christ, verse 13, who made a good confession before Pontius Pilate. Why is that mentioned here, about Jesus making a good confession before Pontius Pilate? You know what was the confession Jesus made before Pontius Pilate? Let me read it to you. What Jesus said to Pontius Pilate was, in John chapter 18, and verse 36, my kingdom is not of this world. That's the good confession he made. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting me, so that I don't get captured by you people. But I did not allow Peter or anybody else to fight in the Garden of Gethsemane when they came to capture me, because my kingdom is not of this world. Applying that to money, in relation to what we read in 1 Timothy 6, and verse 13, the good confession, you have to say, my kingdom is not of this world. So I don't fight for money. Judas Iscariot stole the money which people gave for Jesus. He didn't fight with Judas Iscariot over it. His kingdom was not of this world. And when we fight for money, think of the number of Christians who fight with their relatives. Give me my share of my property, and they fight with their brothers-in-law and relatives and say, this property is, share is mine. The father wrote my name for it. Where are such people going to be disciples of Jesus? Can you imagine Jesus fighting like that with his four brothers and two sisters for any inheritance that Joseph left behind? Are you a disciple of Jesus or what? Face up to these things, my dear brothers, because remember what we read at the beginning. You cannot love God if you love money. That is impossible. You can love God if you have money. You can have 318 servants and love God. But if you have one servant and you love that money more than God, you cannot love God. It is impossible. It's not a question of how much you have. It's a question of what you love. So flee from these things, and remember the confession Jesus made before Pontius Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world. I don't live for these things. Very, very important. Then what shall rich people do? Were there rich Christians in those days? Yes. It says here in 1 Timothy 6, 17, instruct those who are rich in this present world. There were in Timothy's church believers who were rich. And what did he tell them to do? He didn't say, go and sell all that you have and become poor. No, he didn't say that. He said, don't become proud. The number one thing that the Holy Spirit says to those who have money is don't become proud. Number two, don't fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches. You can have some today and it can be lost. Don't fix your hope on that. Fix your hope on God, who will richly supply everything that you need because he's your father. And then what else should rich people do? Do good to others. If you have money, do good with it to other people and be rich in good works. That's the important thing. Be rich in good works and be generous and ready to share. Look at all these wonderful things that you can do if God has given you money. You can bless so many people. And thus, 1 Timothy 6, 19, you store up treasure in heaven. So what about saving? Can we save money for the future? Jesus said, don't lay up treasure for yourself. That's a very well known verse. Let me turn to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 19, don't store up for yourself treasure on earth. Very clear command. Let's store up treasure in heaven. And we read in 1 Timothy 6 how to do that. But the Bible does say in 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 14, you must save up for your children. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 14, parents are responsible to save up for their children. In other words, we must provide for our children. In fact, it says in 1 Timothy in chapter 5 and 1 Timothy chapter 5, and it says here, if a person does not provide for his own family, verse 1 Timothy 5, 8, he's worse than an unbeliever. So if God has given you money, you must provide for your children and take care of them. But don't store it up for yourself. Very, very important. So further, Jesus said here about anxiety in relation to money. Matthew 6 and verse 25, after saying in verse 24, no one can serve two masters. He says, don't be anxious. A lot of anxiety comes in relation to money. It's not God's will for us to be anxious. Three times in Matthew 6, Jesus says, don't be anxious. Matthew 6, 25, don't be worried. And Matthew 6, verse 31, don't be worried. Matthew 6, verse 34, don't be worried. Don't be anxious. A lot of anxiety comes because we don't trust our heavenly father to provide us with all that we need. And that's related to money. So if you are free from the love of money and we love God with all our heart, we find it's really true that God provides our need. So is it right to have a savings account? Jesus had a savings account, all the money that people gave him, different people gave him gifts. And Judas Iscariot was like a savings bank. He didn't use it all up the same day. He kept it for use maybe the next day or the next week because there were 13 people, Jesus and 12 disciples, and many of them were married. He had to take care of their families. So what did we learn there? That there's nothing wrong in having a savings account, but there's everything wrong in loving money. To be a wise, to use the wise use of money is something the Bible encourages. So when we look at Jesus' own life, let's look at his life. For 30 years, he was at home as a carpenter. He had to get an education on the use of money. He had to earn his living working hard, and that is the condition of 99% of believers. Learn from Jesus' example as a carpenter. He was from a poor home. He had four younger brothers, two younger sisters. Joseph had probably died. He had to support his mother and four brothers and two sisters, and he worked hard as a carpenter. He was absolutely upright, never cheated anyone, worked hard. People may have cheated him, but he never cheated anyone. Work hard to provide for your family. That's the first thing we learn from Jesus' example. And at the end of that period, when he was baptized, the father said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well-pleased. I've been very happy seeing his attitude to money and how he worked as a carpenter. I want to say to you, that's what God should be able to say about you. In whatever way you earn your living, that God could look at you and say, I'm very happy with the way this person's earning his money and the way he's using it. Then for three and a half years, Jesus was a full-time Christian worker. What was his attitude to money then? Never once did he tell anybody about his need. Today, we see so many Christian workers who write prayer letters here and there, everywhere. This is what we are doing for the Lord. This is what we are doing, and this is our need, and this is our need. And even if they don't say this is our need, they say, pray for us. Pray for us means, please give us some money. It's all deception. Jesus never said that. He never sent out any prayer letters asking for money. Now, I'm not here to judge all the people who do that. That's not my business. God has said to me, don't judge. All I'm saying is Jesus never did it. All I'm saying is all the apostles never did it. Jesus and the apostles never, never asked anybody for money for their ministry, never asked any money for their personal need. God provided for them, not by dropping money from heaven like manna, but prompting different people to give them gifts without their asking, without their expecting. That is the way God wants his servants to be supported. And that's how we've sought to live in our churches, following the example of Jesus and the apostles. We're not here to judge anybody else, no. But we've sought to follow Jesus and his, and if you're a Christian worker, I want to encourage you, follow Jesus' example and not the example of all these backslidden, half-hearted, so-called Christian workers that you see in the world today. The right attitude to money is very, very important if you're in Christian work. Don't ever get into Christian work looking for a salary. Jesus never offered his salaries to his disciples. If you're getting a salary, if you want a salary, go into secular work, not to Christian work. Don't seek to become a pastor and live for a salary. Trust God. If you cannot trust God for your financial needs, my advice to you is don't go into Christian work. Go and do a secular job. Say, I don't have faith for my financial needs. Let me go and do a secular job. That's the best thing you can do. Otherwise, you'll be a dishonor to the Lord Jesus Christ. So those are some important principles in the area of money. And you ask the Lord, he'll show you more and more other things that he wants to show you in your personal life. Don't long for it. Don't live for it. Keep it in its proper place. As I said, if you have plenty of monies like Abraham had 318 servants, keep them as servants. Money is a good servant, a very bad master. Keep it under your feet like the gold in the heaven. Now let me come to the area of sex. God created sex in man. And I want to see what the Lord said to Adam. It's very important to see right at the beginning. Go back to the beginning and you see the truth. When God created man, the first words, do you remember the first words that God said to man after he created him? Very important. God said to man in Genesis 128, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Or if I were to paraphrase it, Adam and Eve have children, have many children. Of course, they needed many children in those days because they were beginning to populate the earth. Be fruitful. In other words, have children. How were Adam and Eve supposed to have children? Well, they knew they had to have sex with each other. So in other words, God is saying to them, have sex with each other and have children. I've given you that as a means to have children. So that is God's attitude to sex. The very first words to Adam is, you can have sex with your wife and have children. So what is God's attitude to sex? Is he against it? These are the very first words he speaks to Adam. If it's kept in purity. Outside of your wife, it is evil, demonic, hellish. Even if you look at a woman other than your wife and you lust after her beauty, you don't want to touch her, but you admire her. You admire somebody other than your wife. You're in danger. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter six, don't even lust after a woman's beauty. Yeah, you may not lust after her body, but you can lust after her beauty. That itself is very, very dangerous. Proverbs 6.25, do not desire another woman's beauty in your heart and don't let her capture you with her eyes. This is very, very important to understand this. Sex is meant to be only between a man and his wife in marriage. Outside of that, zero. That is God's standard. And if I don't accept that standard, you're going to sink below God's standard. And then it's a matter of going down and down and down and down. Once you begin to get on to a little lower standard than God's in the area of sex, it's like a slippery slide. Like these slide in which children sometimes play in parks. They get onto it and you go all the way down to the bottom. So you're going to be very careful that you don't take one step down. The sexual relationship between men and women is reserved for marriage alone. You're not supposed to read stories about illegal sex and you're not supposed to read or look at pornography. All of that is evil. It is outside of God's will. It's a result of fallen man discovering ways in which to disobey God's standard. But God is not against it if it is in marriage. He's 100% against it outside of marriage. Let me turn now to 1 Corinthians in chapter 6. There's a beautiful verse here in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 where it speaks about two of the great desires in the human body. In our human body, there are two great desires. There's the desire for food and there's the desire for sex in the body. It's God created. You don't have to be ashamed of it. You don't have to be ashamed that you feel hungry. You don't have to be ashamed that there's an inner desire for sex. But both of them must be kept under control. I must not steal food to satisfy my need. That's wrong. And I must not steal in the sexual area. God gives me sex. Until I get married, I must be patient. Otherwise, I sin. To have sex outside of marriage is exactly the same as going and stealing foods from somewhere saying, I'm hungry, so it's all right for me to steal. No, it's not. It's better to starve and die than to steal food. So 1 Corinthians 6, verse 13, food is for the stomach. And the stomach is for food, but one day God will destroy both of them. And the next thing is sex. The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. Two strong desires in the human body for food and for sex are both mentioned here in verse 13. And it says they must be brought under subjection to the Lord. The desire for sex in our human body is absolutely legitimate if it is kept in its proper place. The desire for food in the human body is absolutely legitimate, but I must not steal. And exactly the same way, when you watch pornography, even if you're an unmarried person, you're stealing. It's like stealing food. You say, I'm hungry. What to do? I have to steal. No, you don't have to. It's better to die of starvation than to steal food to satisfy your hunger. Take that attitude towards watching pornography or seeking for any type of illegal sex or to have a desire if you're married for anyone other than your wife, even to look and admire someone other than your wife. It's very, very dangerous. You've got to be very careful. Maybe your wife is not good in some area, and you can compare your wife with somebody else. You're in great danger. Very great danger. If you despise your wife and inwardly compare herself with somebody else, oh, that woman is more neat or cooks better than my wife. You're in great danger, my brother, when you compare your wife with somebody else. Be satisfied with the wife you have. Otherwise, you're in danger of committing sin. We must be satisfied with whatever God gives us. So in this area of sexual desire, it says here in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 13, the body is not for illegal sex, for adultery, fornication, for pornography, or any such thing. It is for the Lord. And when my body is for the Lord, the Lord will be for my body. It's a wonderful word. Supposing you'd say, Lord, my body is going to be 100% for you, just like I gave my heart to you many years ago. Now, Lord, I give my body to you. It's a wonderful thing. Many Christians, they're giving their heart to the Lord. They're not giving their body. They are such gluttons to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and become overweight and sick and who have such a lust for sex they cannot control. That body is not for the Lord. They say, I've given my heart to the Lord. What about your body? The body is for the Lord. It's not for gluttony. It's not for immorality. And then the Lord is for the body. I found tremendous comfort in that word, particularly when anytime I've been sick and I say, Lord, you know that my body is for you. And according to this promise, you are for my body. My body is for you. And you are for my body. And I want to give that promise from scripture to all of you to take seriously. If you say your body is 100% for the Lord, according to 1 Timothy 6.13, the Lord would say, I'm 100% for your body. What a wonderful thing it is. Why not let your body be exclusively for the Lord? Lord, I will never pollute my body with gluttony, overeating, and indisciplined eating or coveting what I don't have. And I will not pollute my body with sex in my thoughts or any other habit. Jesus said in relation to sexual thoughts that it was as bad as adultery. Matthew chapter five and verse 27, 28. He said, you know the commandment which says you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone, it doesn't matter who it is. He calls himself a Christian or a pastor or preacher or whatever it is, who looks at a woman other than his wife, anyone with lust for her, he doesn't touch her. Maybe it's a woman walking down the other side of the street. Maybe it's a woman who is there on a billboard on the road. Or it's in some magazine, a picture of a woman, or you don't even know who that is. Or you see a woman pictured on the screen in a computer or a laptop. And you lust for that woman who's not your wife. You haven't touched her. You don't even know who she is. But in your heart, in your mind, you have a desire to touch her and possess her body. You have committed adultery. And you may say to yourself, I've never committed adultery in your life. You have done it a hundred times in your heart. What's the solution? Be radical. In fact, Jesus uses example like your right eye, if that offends you because you're lusting after a woman, pull it out. It's better to live with one eye and go to heaven than to have two eyes and go to hell. That's what he said in Matthew 5, 29. And what happens if you pull out your right eye, you can still lust with the left eye, then pull that out too. What did Jesus mean? He was not talking about literally pulling out the eyes. Sometimes he spoke about cutting out your hand. He said that later on in verse 30, you can sin sexually with your hand as well. Cut it off. What he meant was when you're tempted to look and lust with your eyes, imagine that you were blind. Just shut your eyes. That's the meaning. Cut it off. How do you pluck out your right eye? Close your eyelids. How do you pluck out your left eye? Close your eyelids. And say, Lord, I don't want to look there. It's tempting me. I want to turn away my, I want to shut my eyelids. Thank God he's given us eyelids to pull out our right eye and left eye. And if your right hand is tempting you to sin, imagine that both your hands are amputated. Imagine I don't have hands now. What do I do now? Jesus said that should be our attitude, that I will never use any part of my body, whether my hands or my eyes, to disobey God and to dishonor him by going into a realm which God doesn't want me to go to. To touch a woman or to look at a woman whom God has not given me as my wife and to lust after her is exactly like Eve going to the tree of knowledge of good and evil and saying what God said, don't eat from that. And you pluck it and eat it. See all the chaos and calamity that came onto this earth because of that one action of Eve. That's what will happen in your life and it'll affect your family. So be very careful. That's the, it's a radical attitude that Jesus taught. And that's the only way to be free from this. Sex is allowed only in marriage. The Lord told Adam and Eve, be fruitful. It's something very holy and godly in marriage. When a man and wife have sex together, they can ask God to come and bless it. They can ask Jesus, just like you ask Jesus to bless the food that you eat. You can ask Jesus to bless your sexual relationship with your wife. Every time you have sex with your wife, ask Jesus to come and bless it. But outside of that evil, that's the radical attitude. And for that, God gives you the power of the Holy Spirit. This is impossible. It's impossible to be free from the love of money and from the lusting after other women without the power of the Holy Spirit. So this is the answer. Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, John 7, 37. And out of his innermost being will flow rivers of life, not rivers of lust, not rivers of covetousness, covetousness for money and lust for other women, but rivers of life. What is, how does it happen? If anyone thirsts, let him come to me. Do you have a thirst to live a pure life? Are you willing to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to stay away from temptation? See, the Bible says, what should our attitude be to the devil? Let me show you a contrast. What should be your attitude to Satan? So many people are afraid of Satan. You don't have to be afraid of Satan. James chapter four, it says in verse seven, it's a great verse, James four, seven, submit to God a hundred percent in the area of money, in the area of sex and resist the devil and the devil will run away from you. The devil will be scared of you. If you submit to God and especially in the areas of money and sex, the devil won't have any power over you. Lord, I'm going to submit to you, James four, seven, and resist the devil. He will flee from you. Why doesn't the devil flee from so many Christians? Because they're not submitting to God. So the devil is supposed to be to run away from a Christian who submitted to God, but that Christian must run away from something himself. A Christian doesn't run away from the devil. I never want to run away from the devil. He's going to run away from me. I submit to God and the devil runs away from me. But what am I supposed to run away from? What are you supposed to run away from? Let me show you 1 Corinthians 6. I already showed you 1 Corinthians 6, food is for the stomach, verse 13, and body is not for immorality, the Lord is for the body. But then he says, what should you do? 1 Corinthians 6, 18, run away from immorality. Run away from anything that will tempt you to lust. Don't go to a place where you will lust. When you find that some particular woman or some young girl is tempting you to lust, avoid meeting her. Avoid going near someone who will tempt you to lust. Stay away from it. Run away from it. We can have a normal relationship with many men and women in the world, but if you find one particular person is tempting you to lust, stay away from her. Flee, flee is a very strong word. It's not walk away. It doesn't say walk away from morality, run away from it. Who is stronger, the devil or a woman who tempts you to lust? The devil you can resist, he'll flee from you. But a woman who tempts you to lust, he says you must run away from her. The devil will run away from you, but you must run away from a woman who tempts you to lust. So who's stronger? Let me ask you a question. In David's life, in David, King David's life, who was stronger, Goliath or Bathsheba? With one stone, he could knock down Goliath and that was the end of Goliath. That's a picture of the devil. But Bathsheba, with one look, she knocked down David. He who had knocked down Goliath, one woman knocked him down. That's been the condition of many, many believers. And it's not enough to say, I didn't fall into adultery. Well, you have numerous times in your thoughts. Many Bathshebas have knocked you down in your thoughts and made you useless for God. I believe it's many, many men have become useless to God because they've not been careful in the area of money and in the area of sex. God wants young men who will be wholehearted. God wants young women who will be wholehearted, who will keep themselves pure in the area of money and sex. But you have to fight a battle. Let me tell you this also, 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. God will never allow you to be tempted beyond your ability. In the area of money or in the area of sex, God measures the temptation that comes to you and says, if that's too much for you, he'll stop it. So that's a great comfort for me. That God will never allow me to be tempted beyond my ability, 1 Corinthians 10, 13. But with every temptation, he will make a way for me to get out of it by making a way of escape. And that way of escape is crying out to God for grace. Lord, give me grace because sin will not rule over me, Romans 6, 14, when I'm under grace. So I want to say to you ultimately, the Holy Spirit has come to give you grace. First, for the power of the Holy Spirit. Whenever you're tempted, Lord, cry out to the Lord. Lord, give me grace now. I'm being tempted. I want to be an overcomer. And I tell you, your life will be so useful to God if you can overcome in the areas of money and sex. I believe the reason why so many people are useless for God on this earth, Christians, is because they've been in their private life and their thought life, they've been completely unfaithful in the area of money and the area of sex. There's a lot more that we can talk about, but ask God to show you. And I believe God will show you many, many things in these two areas where the devil gets inroads into your life and ruins you. God gives grace to the humble. Don't be proud to say, no, no, no, I can overcome it. No, say I'm weak, Lord. I'm a very weak person. Money can pull me away from you. I'm a very weak person, Lord. I can be tempted by women so easily. Because I'm weak, I cling to you, Lord, and then I will not fall in these areas at all. And for sisters also, you got to be careful that you don't let your affections go after a man who God has not chosen to be your husband. Very important. It's so easy to say, I've fallen in love with somebody. There's no such thing. You have to say, I want God to lead me. And then it is proper for you to love the person who will be your husband or your wife. But don't let the devil take hold of your affections and drag you in some direction to ruin you. He's done that with thousands and millions of people through the ages. God wants to raise up in these last days a generation of young men and young women who will stand for him absolutely true. Think of the amazing work God can do through you if you will be faithful in the area of money and in the area of at least from today. So the first step is to confess your sins in the past. Lord, I have loved money tremendously. I have longed to become rich. Forgive me. I want to surrender that to you completely. I believe that you will help me to be free from the love of money. And say, Lord, I've been unfaithful in the area of lusting with my eyes or any other way. Or if you've fallen physically, ask God to forgive you, cleanse you in his blood, and say, Lord, from today onwards, I want to really take my Christian life seriously in these areas. Christ is coming back soon. I want to say to you in Jesus name, God wants to use you to fulfill his purposes on this earth. Don't frustrate his plan for your life. Don't mess up your life just to seek a little pleasure or little wealth for yourself. Say, God, I want to honor you. I want to glorify you. And I believe God will do a wonderful work through you because he takes the week to fulfill his purpose. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Please close your eyes and bow your heads with me. And whatever area God has spoken to you today, say, Lord, I want to obey you in that area. I'm weak. Say it to the Lord. I'm weak. I'm very weak. I need your help. But you promised that you will never allow me to be tempted beyond my ability. That's my strength and my comfort, Lord. But you will give me grace in every temptation to overcome. Lord, I want to be free from the love of money. I want to stop completely lusting after women in my thoughts. And when I'm alone looking at pictures on the computer or anywhere or on my smartphone, I want to be completely free. You say, Lord, I want to be 100% free from pornography. 100%. I don't want to dishonor your name. The devil's made a mockery of me when I claim to be a disciple and he sees all the sins I commit in these areas. Please help me, Lord, to be a credit to your name from now on. Please blot out my past and cleanse me in the blood of Jesus and fill me with the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, I believe there are people who are sincerely crying out to you at this time. And I pray you will meet with them and assure them that you will meet with them and meet their need. I know you'll do that. Pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Brother Zach, for those wonderful words. I believe the Lord has spoken to us. So we'll take like 15, maybe 15, 20 minutes for a few questions. If you're able to give some answers to that, that would be awesome. Okay. So the first question I have is when it comes to, I know you spoke about the love of money and getting rich and all these things. What about typing? That's just one of the areas I think many people are probably confused. We hear so much from the evangelical circles about typing. God is going to bless you. Could you give a few new covenant principles on the area of typing? Sure. First of all, I've seen that almost every Christian I've met who their knowledge of typing has come from preachers, not from the Bible. And if you get your knowledge of typing from preachers, you are definitely going to go wrong. Go to the Bible and you'll discover one thing, that there is not even one command in the entire New Testament that a New Testament Christian has to pay his tithe. Not even one. Tithe is mentioned in the Old Testament. And before the day of Pentecost, Jesus told the Pharisees that it's all right, they tithe. Before the day of Pentecost, even Jesus would have encouraged people like he told the lepers who were cleansed to go to the priest and show themselves. That was the law. So tithing was the law up to the day of Pentecost. And what was the tithe meant for? We read that in the old covenant, when the 12 tribes of Israel were given the land of Canaan, there was one tribe, the tribe of Levi, which was given no property. They were not to own any land, because they had to devote themselves to the service of God in the tabernacle and in the temple later on. Well, in those days, the way they earned their living was by farming or by having cattle or sheep. And the Levites were not supposed to have that. They were not given any land, they were not supposed to farm, they were not supposed to keep cattle or sheep. How were they to live? The other 11 tribes had to give them one tenth of their grain, one tenth of their cattle or sheep as offerings to support the Levites. That was the principle in the Old Testament. So that's what the tithe was. It was not primarily money. They could convert it into money if they wanted, but it was grain mostly. And now in the new covenant, there is no separate tribe like Levites. You say, what about those who are called to serve the Lord like Jesus and Paul and the apostles? Well, let's follow the example of Paul and the apostles. Where did they ask other people to support me? Not even one. Not even one apostle did that. How were they supposed to support themselves? By trusting God their father. That's how Jesus lived. That's how the apostles lived. So it's not by tithing. That is a completely wrong teaching. And there's hardly anybody who preaches what the word of God says on that. How are we supposed to give to God then? Very clearly, second Corinthians chapter nine. And we read here in second Corinthians chapter nine, God loves a cheerful giver. Second Corinthians nine verse seven. When you give, don't give grudgingly or under compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver. So in the new covenant, the important thing is not how much you give 10% or 1% or 20%, but how you give. Not how much you give, but how you give. If you don't give cheerfully, God doesn't even want 1%. Because the relationship with God is different today. In the old covenant, the relationship with God was like a master. Israel was a country. God was the ruler and tithe we can say was like income tax. Why do we pay income tax today in our country? Because government servants have to be paid their salaries. And where do they get their salary from? From the tax paid by people. In the old covenant, that tax was called tithe, through which the government servants, the Levites, who were the servants under God, received their income. It's exactly the same as income tax. Tithe is income tax in the old covenant. Now in the new covenant, God is not our master. He's our father. And in a home, do you pay income tax to your father? No, it's a relationship. The father provides the need of all his children. That is the relationship in the new covenant. It's because most Christians do not know God as their father. They still have a relationship with God as their master. It's an old covenant relationship. Let me tell you, my observation is 90 percent or more than that of believers are living under old covenant principles. They don't have victory over sin. They are lusting with their eyes. They love money, just like Old Testament people, and they tithe. They are 100 percent old covenant Christians. They're not coming to the new covenant. In the new covenant, they don't know God as their father. They say God, father, loving heavenly father, but they live in anxiety and fear and tension. They grumble, complain about so many things, all of which is proving that they do not know God as their father. No wonder they have to keep tithing. God is their government head. He's the head of the government. But I'll tell you, God is not the head of my government. He's my father. I've never tithed in my life. I have given freely to God, joyfully, and God has provided all my need. And that's my testimony in 61 years of being a Christian. I'm very thankful that I understood these things right from the beginning of my Christian life. Thank you, brother Zach. One of the illustrations, I don't think you used it here, but it really helped me, is the monopoly illustration that you shared one time. Would you mind taking a minute or two about explaining that illustration? Which one is that? Just remind me. The angels looking at, you know, all the money that men fight for money, right? But when the angels look at... Oh yeah, yeah. Okay. You know, there's a game in the world called monopoly, children play. It's a board game with, they throw a dice and they have paper currency. And when they play that, they go to a square and say, that's my property. And then they go somewhere else and they possess that, that's my property. And if you land up on my property, you have to pay me rent. It's a game, but I mean, when an adult, if I, as an adult, play that game with a child, I don't go fighting over him saying, no, no, no, that's my property. You've got to give me rent. You're acting like a child because you know, in one hour, you fold up the board and the game is over. So I say, when the angels from heaven look at men, men and women on earth today, it's like a big monopoly game going on on earth. People are possessing land here and land there and telling people, you've got to pay me rent. You land up on my property, give me this, give me that. It's a big monopoly game going on. And they're watching, watching. And the angels say, I wish these human beings would know one of these days, God's going to come to fold up the board and that's the end of the game. Let's remember that dear brothers and sisters, this, all that you have, you never brought anything into the world and you're not going to take anything out when you go. Let's remember this only for a short period and let's have a detached attitude towards money. God bless you. Is it sinful to look for a higher paying job so that you and your family can live a little more comfortable and have some to spare? Good question. There's nothing wrong in looking for a higher paying job because the cost of living is going up more and more. There's nothing wrong in moving to another place to find a better job. There's nothing wrong in migrating to another country. It's all a question of asking God what his will for your life is. If God has asked you to be in one country, you must never go to another. But if God has not given you a specific command saying you must be here, then you're free. In most cases, you know, we look for a job ourselves and we, God doesn't say take the job in this company or that company or go here or there. We pray and we, I believe it's like this. God says, I will open a door and no man can shut it. Or I will shut a door and no man can open it. So I say, when you're looking for a job, for example, you look for here that you tried and that door was shut. You went for an interview, you didn't get it. It's closed. You go to another place and it's open. So that's the way God shows us his will. So there's nothing wrong in finding a good job with a good salary. I always tell people, provided you don't have to do anything against your conscience, look for the best paying job there is, but look for a place where you can find some fellowship as well. Don't just go by where you can make a lot of money. Think of fellowship. Also keep that in mind. Sometimes it's not always possible, but that's a factor that you have to keep in mind and say, Lord, please open the right door for me. Cost of living is going up. That's why I even tell people there's nothing wrong in asking your boss for a raise in your salary. That's not covetousness. Say, sir, I'm doing my job faithfully. Cost of living has gone up. I've got a family to look after. Can you give me a raise in my salary? There's nothing wrong in that. That's not covetousness. The laborer is worthy of his hire. Jesus said that. So here you're laboring and you've got every right to ask for your hire. Just like you ask for your salary, you can ask for a raise. But if he says, no, I can't give it to you. Okay. Then be content with it or look for another job. There's absolutely nothing wrong in looking for a better job or a higher salary because the cost of living is going up. That is fulfilling 1 Timothy 5 verse 8, which says a man must provide for his family. And you say, I can't provide for my family in this job. So I have to look for another one. I can't provide for my family in this place I'm living. I've got to look for another place. Absolutely nothing wrong in it. You're fulfilling scripture, trying to provide for your family. Thank you. So now in the area of sex here, this is actually, it's a mixed one. How should a married couple live their lives if they have different understanding regarding money and sex as it's going to be affecting their relationship? Well, it's not always that a man and his wife have the same attitude towards, let's start with money or towards sex. Well, let me begin with sex. A man has a greater desire for sex than a woman. That's because God has made it like that. If a woman had the same passion for sex that a man has, many women would become prostitutes. And God has made it such a way that the desire is much more in man. That's absolutely normal. If you have a strong desire as a man, if you have a strong desire for sex within you, you're a normal human being, normal man. So what shall we do when it comes to marriage? The Bible says in the area of sex, first of all, in 1 Corinthians 7, that neither man nor woman have control over their own body once they get married. 1 Corinthians 7, it says here sex is a duty, just like you go to work. That's your duty. It says here in 1 Corinthians 7 that the husband must fulfill his duty to his wife and the wife must fulfill her duty to her husband. And the whole subject, you read the whole section, it is about sexual relationship and marriage. The wife, verse 4, 1 Corinthians 7, 4, does not have authority over her body, but the husband has. And the husband does not have authority over his body, his wife has. This is relating to sex. That means when a woman gets married, she is saying to her husband, now I give authority over my body to you. And the husband is saying when he gets married, I give authority over my body to you. So in relation to sex, it says here that we must recognize that each other have authority over our body. You must not prevent your husband from having sex with you, unless of course you're sick or some other inconvenience like that. And the husband must be considerate. He must recognize that my authority over my wife's body doesn't mean I treat her cruelly and I don't have appreciation for her feelings. So a woman must give her body readily to her husband whenever he desires it. If she's healthy and strong, she should never say no. That is God's will. Now many women do say no. That's because they don't fear God. They don't have any respect for scripture. I'm not talking about such evil women, even if they call themselves Christians. A God-fearing woman will give her body to her husband, but to nobody else. And unless she has some inconvenience, in which case she will tell her husband, I'm sick today or I'm not well. So I'm tired or something like that. That's understandable. Now the important question is not, every husband is delighted when they hear me say something like this. Ah, this is great what brother Zach, what you're saying, but hang on. Here's the other side of it. A husband does not have authority over his body either. You know what that means? That means when you sit in your office and your wife is not there, you have no authority over your eyes to look at another woman in your office and lust after her. You're going to recognize at that moment, my wife has got authority over my body or my eyes. I have no right to look at another woman on the street or in my office. I have no authority to fool around with another woman, even in conversation. I must be respectful in my place of work. And so many men joke and laugh with other women in their office. And if their wife were to walk in at that moment, they would stop talking like that. They are ungodly men. I'm not talking about such people, but a God-fearing man recognizes wherever he is, my wife has got authority over my body. I can't use my eyes as I like. I can't speak as I like. It's just as if my wife were sitting next to me. In the same way, a wife does not have authority over her body. That's as far as sex goes. Now coming to money. In the area of money also, many husbands and wives don't have the same attitude. One can be very covetous. I want this in my house. I want that in my house. And I want this other thing in my house. Even though they've got umpteen clothes, they want more and more clothes. Many women are like that. Some men are like that. And we have to be very careful that say, we have to help each other and say, listen, money is something God has given us. It's not for us to throw around. It's not for us to waste. And don't just buy everything that your children ask you to buy. You have to be very careful in this area of money. If you're not faithful in money, God will not give you the true riches. There's a verse which Jesus said in Luke 16. I remember years ago, the Lord showing this to me saying, if you want me to give you the anointing of the Holy Spirit, if you want me to give you revelation on God's word, be careful in your attitude to money. Luke 16 and verse 11. If you're not faithful in the use of money, who will give you the true riches? Luke 16, 11. And I asked the Lord, Lord, what are the true riches? The true riches are three things. One, becoming more and more like Jesus Christ in my life. Second, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the supernatural anointing of the Holy Spirit to equip me, in my case, to be a preacher and a teacher of God's word to pray for the sick, et cetera. Third, the revelation on God's word so that when I read God's word, it's not like another book, but the Holy Spirit reveals amazing truths in the scripture about the new covenant and amazing other truths in scripture. These are the true riches, likeness to Christ, the anointing of the Holy Spirit for supernatural gifts and the revelation on the word of God. If you want these true riches, Jesus says in Luke 16, 11, be faithful in the use of money. Now there's a difference between being righteous in the use of money and being faithful in the use of money. To be righteous means I don't cheat anyone. I pay my taxes properly. I clear all my debts. I'm not in debt to anybody. That's being righteous. Faithful is one step higher. Faithful means even after I've become righteous in all areas, I have now have to say, okay, I've cleared everything. Everybody, I have to pay back. I've paid back. I've cleared my debts. Anybody I've cheated, I've repaid. If I've cheated the taxes, I've paid it back to the government. Now, now I have to recognize that whatever I earn is not mine. It's God's and I must use it as God leads me. I'm not saying I've got to give it all in the offering box. No, keep it in your bank account. Keep it in your name. You know, Jesus said in Luke 14, 33, you cannot be my disciple if you don't forsake all that you possess. If you don't give up all your possessions, I cannot be a disciple if I don't give up all my possessions. What does that mean? Let me use an example. Supposing this is a picture, this pen is a picture of all my wealth, house, car, money, everything. Possessing means I cling onto it and say, this is mine. This house is mine. This car is mine. This money is mine. And I'm very possessive about it and nobody's going to make me give any of that up. What does it mean to give it up? I open my palm and say, father, I don't want to possess it. It's yours. I'm not going to cling onto it, but it's still in my name. The house is in my name. The car is in my name. The bank account is in my name. It's with me and it may remain with me all my life, but I don't hold any of these things in a possessive way. My house, I want to use it for you. My money, I want to use it for your glory. It's still in my name. Even if I'm a millionaire or multimillionaire, it's there in my hand, but it's not, I don't possess it. This is possessing and this is having. You can have money, you can have a house, you can have wealth, but don't possess it. And now a husband and wife may not have the same attitude there. Then whoever is most spiritual must educate this partner. Say, if you want God to bless our home, don't possess things, have things, have everything. I'm not asking you to give it out to the poor. I'm not asking you to empty your bank account. No, keep your millions, share it with your children also. That's fine, but don't have a possessive attitude towards it. And sometimes it's possible that the wife may be willing to listen to her husband or husband may be willing to listen to the wife, then there will be a spiritual, godly family. And the other thing I want to say is we must, it's wonderful if your husband and wife can learn to live simply and not waste money on unnecessary purchases, just to show off. You know, there are a lot of showing off with money in the world and you got to avoid all that. So where a husband and wife, either of them don't have the right attitude, one must seek to gradually lovingly educate and not yield. For example, the husband is the one handling the money. You just got to say to his wife, sorry, darling, I don't think we should buy that. I don't think we can afford it. I don't think it's necessary. And if there's a little bit of misunderstanding and just be loving about it and kind about it, but don't let love for your wife supersede your love for Jesus Christ. To keep that in the proper place, I believe we can have a right attitude to money and the right attitude to the sexual relationship in marriage as well. So this question is, I mean, mainly for many of us who work in the corporate field in the Western countries, some of us live and work in places where women are dressed very immodestly. What should we do to keep our eyes pure in such situations? Yeah, this is a very unfortunate thing. First of all, let me say that no Christian woman should ever dress in a way that tempts other people to sin. I want to say to every one of you sisters who are listening to me now, if you dress in a way that provokes other people, other men to lust after you because your dress is so tight, you know, showing the contours of your body, or because you expose so much of your body that men are tempted to see, I wish she would expose a little more. That thought comes into a person's mind because you have exposed so much already in above your knees or more and more in your upper part of your body or make it so tight as to tempt people or lower the neckline of your blouse or whatever it is to tempt people. I want to say to you in Jesus name and all of you sisters, please listen to me, married or unmarried, even if you're an old woman, listen to me, you will be judged by God as much, as much as that man who lusts after you in the day of judgment. Don't tell me in the day of judgment, I did not warn you. If you cause other people to lust in righteousness, God will judge you as much as other men, you know, if Bathsheba is bathing naked in a place where other people can from that terrace can look down on you, I believe she will be judged as much as David. Without a doubt, she must be a little more discreet about where she has a bath. So a woman who tempts others is going to because of the way she dresses is going to be tempted as much, is going to be judged as much by God as the man who lusts. So what should a Christian do when he's surrounded by such people? He's got to fight a battle in his mind and say, Lord, help me, help me not to turn and look in that direction. Help me not to spend too much time talking to that person. If I have to work with that person, I have to work, but I believe God will not allow me to be tempted beyond my ability. I say, Lord, give me grace. It's a battle and I'll tell you this in Jesus name. God can help you to be strong. If he sees, if you cooperate with God, it says we got to work out our salvation, Philippians 2.12 and fear and trembling. Go to your work spot with fear and trembling. Like it says in Philippians 2.12, Lord, there are people, the women, all types of dressed in all types of ways in my place of work. And I tremble when I go there that I don't want to sin. I want to keep absolutely pure. Not that I touch them or go around with them. I don't want even my mind to be impure. I tremble, Lord, but I know you will help me. I will work out my salvation, but you work inside me to give me grace. And whenever you're tempted, you say, Lord, please give me grace and help me to turn my eyes away and look down or something like that. And people may think you're odd. It's better that people think you're odd than for you to sin and dishonor God. It's a battle, but I believe one thing. If Jesus is interested in you becoming like him, you can be absolutely sure that he'll give you grace to overcome. Wherever God sees that a person is serious and wholehearted, but wanting to be pure, he will help you tremendously beyond your imagination. Thank you. I have two more questions. Brother Zach, you are one of the few preachers who speaks openly about sex and about sexual sin, things like that. In most homes, these topics are not discussed, right? What advice do you have for parents and elders to how to deal with this topic to our children and the church members? Yeah, I believe it's very important for parents to teach their children. Usually, it's by the time they come into their teenage years, when they're around 12, 13 years old, is the proper time to begin to explain to them what sex and sexual relationship in marriage, how it must be kept holy. And if you're embarrassed, it's good to get some good Christian book. There are a few good Christian books in this area of the sexual relationship in marriage, and where we can lovingly teach our children. It's very important that if parents don't take the responsibility to teach their children about God's plan for sex and marriage, those children will get their information from the gutter. From the gutter means from their school friends, and from their other friends in the world. So before they get it from the gutter, let them get it with the clean water from you. And that is, if you're embarrassed to talk about it directly, this is what I did. Give a little booklet on the subject, the Christian booklet on that subject to initiate the conversation. And then you say, read this. And then if you have any questions, talk to me. And then share from the truths in God's word. It's so important to keep our minds pure. And the way children are born and sex and marriage, it's important for children to understand that when they're 12, 13 years old. And you've got to explain to them that you've got to be very careful in your relationship with girls. Now you're growing up, you have to explain to girls also be careful that you don't get too close to boys, that you don't allow them to touch your body. And people you don't know, you've got to be very careful. And even with people you know, a lot of sexual sin with girls is committed by people that they know. A lot of cousins commit sexual sin with each other. And so you've got to be very careful once they come to a certain age and they're becoming mature, they have to be wise and a little more cautious than when they were small. And so we have to instruct our children to be careful now that they are pure and their minds are pure. We want them to be kept pure, but they're innocent. They must be pure, but they must not remain innocent. They must know what's happening in the world around and how evil the world is and how all types of bad things are there. Even in the smartphones that they have nowadays, the amount of evil that there are in all these apps that are on the cell phones nowadays, the provocative sexual scenes. Some parents don't even know what their children are looking at. We have to instruct them. That is the responsibility of parents to have a frank talk with their children. And I mentioned a little booklet or something as a introduction to that, which is to help parents who are, you know, awkward about initiating the subject themselves. But if you don't find a good booklet like that, then you've got to sort of initiate it from scripture. Here's what scripture says about people who sin and we got to be careful. I recommend that book by Zach, Brother Zach, it's called Sex, Love and Marriage. That was the first book I read from Brother Zach. Was that the first book you wrote, Brother Zach, or the second? No, it was not the first book I wrote, but it's one of the books that I wrote 51 years ago and I've never had to change my views on it. I wrote it about a couple of years after I got married. And it's been a book that's blessed many, many thousands of people. Yep. That book is available in our website, cfcindia.com. If you go to the book session, you can read it. Or if you write to Raven's Ministry or CFC, you can get a copy. Sex, Love and Marriage. That's the title. Yep. Last question, Brother Zach. So many of us who are listening here, maybe thinking in our heart, like, what about I failed miserably in this area? Like, is there any hope for me? I know this is all high standard stuff that we heard, but I'm already messed up. Is there any hope for me? What's your advice to such folks? You know, we read in the Bible about a woman called Mary Magdalene. You read about her in Luke chapter 8, verse 2. Mary, who was called Magdalene, who had seven demons, Luke 8, verse 2, cast out from her. And I'm not sure whether she was the same woman mentioned in the previous verses in Luke chapter 7, where we read about a woman who came to Jesus' feet when he was in the house of Simon the Pharisee and anointed his feet. And it says she was a prostitute, a sinner, known sinner, a known prostitute in the city. And she came and anointed the feet of Jesus. Now, immediately after that, it speaks about Mary Magdalene. Possibly it was Mary Magdalene who anointed the feet of Jesus. I can't be dogmatic about it, but it's quite likely. And so here is a woman, let's assume it was Mary Magdalene, a prostitute. And she earned her money by prostitution, by sex. And she got converted after a life of sin and with a messed up life. And she loved Jesus so much now. And the wonderful thing about her is you read in John chapter 20 that when Jesus rose up from the dead, and so many people went to the grave, Mary, Peter, and John and all, and they saw the grave was empty and they went back home to sleep because it was early in the morning. But Mary Magdalene, John 20, verse 11, it could not go home and sleep. It moves me every time I read it. How she loved Jesus. John 20, 11, she stood outside the tomb weeping, and Jesus revealed himself to her. To whom? This prostitute who got converted. I thought of it like this. If God had asked me, he didn't ask me, but if he had asked me, who's the first person that Jesus should reveal himself to after the resurrection, the new creation that's coming up? I would say his mother, Mary, pure lady who suffered so much, or one of the disciples who forsook everything. God says, no. I came to the world for sinners. So I choose Mary Magdalene. Oh, that really moves my heart. I say, Lord, how different your way of thinking is from mine that you choose this wicked prostitute who got converted to be the first human being to see this new creation body of Jesus resurrected from the dead. And you know why? Because she loved much. Jesus said that in Luke chapter 7. She's been forgiven much. She loves much. Those are forgiven little, love little. Dear brother, sister, have you sinned much in the past in your life, in the sexual area? Are you like Mary Magdalene? You can be the first whom the Lord comes and meets. Forgiven much because, and therefore you love much. If you've been forgiven much, you must love much. And it says here, she came, he came to Jesus and she, Jesus came to her and said, woman, why are you weeping? And look at her answer. This is another thing that always moves me when I read it. And she said in John 20, verse 13, because they have taken away my Lord, not the Lord, my Lord, they took him away. I don't know where he is. Please show me where he is. And I will take him, I will carry him away. If you have carried him away, verse 15, please tell me where he is. Can you imagine this weak woman saying that she lift up the body of Jesus? I tell you, I feel like weeping every time I think of it. I say, Lord Jesus, please help me to love you like that. All my knowledge of the Bible and all my service for you is worth zero if I don't love you like that. I want to love you like Mary Magdalene loved you, where she could think of impossible things like carrying the body of Jesus away because she loved him so much. There is hope for the worst. Jesus said, I did not come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners to repentance. So I don't think you messed up your life as much as she did. And she was the first person. What a place she will have in the kingdom of God in eternity. We get a lot of surprises in the day of judgment. Many who are first will be last and last will be first. One more verse, Acts 17 and verse 30. Acts of the Apostles chapter 17 verse 30. It says here, the times of ignorance in our life God overlooks, but now he tells us to repent. But you say it was not ignorance. I did it deliberately. I know. But in a sense, that was also ignorance because you did not know the consequences. You didn't know how serious those sins were. You know, I know you did it deliberately, but you did not know the seriousness of it. So in one sense, that was also ignorance. God says, I overlook it. Don't talk about it. Forget it. Hebrews eight verse 12, your sins and iniquities. I will not eat. I'll not only cleanse them. I will not remember anymore. When I look at the face of Jesus, he doesn't look at me saying, oh, I know you're the one who did this there. No, he does not remember my past. Please look at the Lord like that. If you have sincerely repented and turned to the Lord. Amplifying on what I said earlier in the area of sex and money, the importance of our mind, it's very important for Christians to understand the importance of our mind in this day and age. And I want to just say a few words from Romans chapter 12, verse one and two, which is very important in the area of money and sex. All of you should remember Romans chapter 12, verse one and two. This is related to what is the New Testament equivalent of the type? See, in you say, what is the New Testament equivalent of the lamb that was slain in the Old Testament? We know it is Jesus on the cross. What is the New Testament equivalent of the tabernacle? It is our human body or the church. What is the equivalent of the sacrifice that people gave in the Old Testament, whether it's a type or animals or anything? Here it is. Romans chapter 12, verse one, your body, present your body as a living sacrifice to God, which is your spiritual worship. The Lord told the woman of Samaria, those who worship God must worship him in spirit. What is spiritual worship? It is not singing songs on Sunday morning. No, that is praise. That is thanksgiving. Worship is different from praise and thanksgiving. Worship is Romans 12, one presenting our body as a living sacrifice to God. It's because of our body that we are tempted in the area of money and sex. And the way to overcome it is by presenting it as a living sacrifice to God. You know, in the Old Testament, the way they offered a bull or a goat as a sacrifice was there to bring it to the altar and cut it into pieces. And then it had to be burned. And I often used to think, why do they cut it up into pieces when you're going to burn it? What a waste of time cutting it up into pieces and then burning the whole thing. You might as well burn the whole bull or the goat. But I realized it had a spiritual meaning. And the meaning is that when I offer my body to God, it's very easy to say, Lord, I give my body to you. No. Put it piece by piece on the altar. What does that mean? Lord, here's my tongue. I put it on the altar. From today, I never want to use my tongue for myself. I don't want to tell a lie. I don't want to get angry with this tongue. This tongue is yours. I will not use it to hurt other people. I will not use it to tell lies. I will not use it to speak evil of others. Now, Lord, here are my eyes piece by piece. Remember, that's how the Old Testament sacrifices were laid on the altar. Lord, here are my eyes. These eyes have looked at many, many things in the past. Now I lay them on the altar. I'm just explaining Romans 12 verse 1. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. Here it is. My eyes. Lord, my hands. I've done many wrong things with my hands, but now it is yours, Lord. From now onwards, it's yours. My feet. I've gone to many, many places where I should not have gone, but now onwards, it's yours. And every part of my body, the inner desires of my body are laid on the altar. And then Romans 12 to my mind. Lord, I've used my mind for many, many things, but now I want it to be changed into the mind of Christ. And that is by meditating on scripture to think what does God, how does God view a situation? Help me to look at things from God's viewpoint. Lord, you raised me up in Christ. You want me to look at things from a heavenly standpoint. Make my mind look at things from God's viewpoint. I thought I should say that in conclusion to that study on money and sex. Romans 12, 1 and 2 is a very important concluding statement to all that I have said so far. God bless you all. So here is my better half, the one who has prayed for me for 52 years. We've been very happily married. And she's the one who's helped us to raise four sons who are living wholeheartedly for Jesus Christ. So thank you, brother Zach. And thank you, Sister Annie. I know you don't like the limelight, you know, but there's so many people all over the world are so blessed by your ministry. And it's good to have all of them to see you and feel free to say hi to them. I'm happy to see you all. Yeah, so both of you are, you know, I just thank God for the ministry, how God really blessed so many people in the world through you, both of you. Thank you, Vinay, for this time. Yeah, so it's kind of sad that we have to end, but it's so wonderful just to see, taste that little bit of heaven on this earth. Absolutely. It's a foretaste of heaven to think of people from, like it says there, there'll be people from every tribe and tongue and nation. And here we have a small foretaste of that, of people from different nations. Amen. Okay, so brother Zach, would you mind closing in prayer and then we will continue? Yeah, I'll do that. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for those whom you have gathered from different nations who have longed to know more and more of your truth, long to please you. I pray that you will bless these dear ones who are, who have taken the trouble to be along with us these past couple of hours and bless their families, help them be true witnesses for you, wherever they are, not to be discouraged, to remember that the past can be blotted out through the blood of Jesus Christ and they can be filled with the Holy Spirit, be strengthened to live a God-fearing life in the days to come. Help them also to bring up their children in the fear of God and to live for your glory. Lord, please help them, especially those who may be having difficult children, please help them and those who've got handicapped children, please help them Lord, bring comfort and healing. We pray for those who are sick that you'll bring health and healing into their lives as well and for every family that's taken the trouble to listen, we pray that your blessing will be upon them and make them a blessing to others as well and commit them each one to you. Thank you for this time. We give you all the glory. Thank you for bringing us together. Thank you for this church in Austin that has arranged this. Please bless that church and let it prosper even more in the days to come. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.