(A Heavenly Church) 7. a Helpmeet for Christ

Love the church and gave himself up for her. And if I am in fellowship with Christ, I will also love his church and be willing to give myself up for the church. That's one of the tests of our love for Christ, whether we are in fellowship.

You know, a wife, God created Eve to be a helpmate for Adam. That means whatever Adam was supposed to do, she was to help him in that. And we know that that verse is quoted here from Genesis 2 here in verse 31.

Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife? The two shall become one flesh. But this mystery is great when I'm speaking with reference to Christ and the church. I want you to consider if you are the bride of Christ, whether you are cooperating with your whether you're a helpmate to your bridegroom in the work that he's doing on earth today.

There's one task that God is doing. He is building his church. And I don't believe that we can have a neutral attitude to that.

I think of the time way back in the Old Testament when God was going to destroy the world and he told Noah to build the ark. And that was the most important thing happening in the world at that time. There were so many other constructions going on and many other projects that people had.

But God had only one project on earth at that time, and that was the building of the ark. And it's a pity that nobody understood that except Noah's family and Noah's family. They gave everything to build that ark, and I'm sure they'll have a reward in eternity for that, because you and I are alive today because they did their job faithfully.

It's one of the people I want to go and really thank in heaven is Noah, because if it were not for him, you and I wouldn't be alive. And he gave everything. He committed himself.

He was a man who was working and he was a farmer. He had to support his family. But he took time off from his work, probably cut down on his work to support the family and or got up earlier and worked harder and got his sons to work with him and totally committed to build the ark.

And to me, Noah is a great example. He was also a preacher. The Bible calls him a preacher of righteousness.

Righteousness. He would go out and stand in the streets and preach. The judgment was coming.

And even though people laughed at him and mocked at him and mocked him, and he and his sons went out and for 120 years they kept at it, even though nobody responded. He was faithful and he knew he was in touch with God. He walked with God and he knew that God had only one project on Earth at that time.

In the midst of everything else, and that was the building of the ark, Jesus said, I will build my church. And I wonder whether you realize that Jesus Christ has got only one project on Earth at this time, and that's building his church. It's not saving the lost, like a lot of preachers say.

I don't know whether that expression is even found in scripture, saving the lost, building the churches, because a lot of these people who go around trying to save the lost, I've seen a lot of it in India, evangelistic work that's going out to what they call saving the lost. They're not being saved. It's like Jesus said to the Pharisees, you cross land and sea to make one proselyte and you end up making him twofold the child of hell than you are yourselves.

Because first of all, the message of repentance is not being preached. And the message of discipleship is not being preached. And if the message of repentance from sin is not being preached, the message of discipleship is not being preached.

I don't know what type of saving the lost is going on. It's just somebody who nominally claims to say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. It's like some magic formula that almost guarantees that they go to heaven.

No matter, it doesn't matter how they live. That's not what the Lord is doing. I, before we started building the church in our home way back in 1975, I traveled the length and breadth of India for nine years and I saw the shallowness of a lot of Christianity.

They were obeying the command, which said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But the other side of the Great Commission, which said, go into every nation and make disciples. These people who believe in me must become disciples and not only disciples after baptizing them.

He said, teach them to do all that I commanded you. That's not easy. That means when we build a church.

We've got to teach everybody there. This is the commission. This is the Great Commission, very much misunderstood.

A lot of people talk about the Great Commission, the Great Commission, the Great Commission. Let's read it carefully. We got to read the Bible slowly.

Go into all the world. We read it, Matthew 28, verse 19, go and make disciples of all nations. In every nation, God wants disciples and disciples are those who love Jesus supremely.

Who take up the cross every day and who love Jesus more than every material thing in their life. And Jesus said, go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And then this is the most important and the most difficult part.

Teach them to do every single thing I commanded you. Now, how many people are doing that? How many churches have you found? Many of you have been Christians for many years and gone here and there. How many churches have you found that are teaching, though, first of all, making disciples and then teaching them to do every single thing that Jesus commanded? Was that a mistake? Was it something that Jesus just said and said, well, it's you can do it, do it.

No, that's the great commission. Till Jesus comes and speaks here till the end of the age in verse 20, he's talking about right up to the time when he comes back, he's I'm going to be with you. And I'll tell you this.

Many people like to take that promise, lo, I'm with you always. But do you know that that's not given for everyone? Read it in its context. It is for those who will go and make disciples and baptize them and teach them to do every single thing that I commanded.

And lo, I'm with you always. How can we just take the last part of that and say, oh, well, the Lord's with me always. I'll tell you a lot of people who say the Lord's with them always.

The Lord is not with them. So if you're in fellowship with your bridegroom and you believe that like God made Eve as a help me for Adam, he's made you to be a help me for Jesus Christ. That's what it means to be his bride.

I want to invite you in this meeting to commit yourself to be his help me. To join with him in doing the work, the only project that he's involved in on earth at this time, and that is building the church, which means making disciples, baptizing them and teaching people to do every single thing that he commanded. That means when you gather a few disciples, we have to teach them to hunger and thirst after righteousness.

We've got to teach them to be pure in heart. We've got to teach them to mourn for their sins. We've got to teach them to overcome anger.

We've got to teach them to stop lusting with their eyes. We've got to teach them to finish with Internet pornography. We've got to teach them to speak the truth.

We've got to teach them to pray and fast and treat other people the way God has treated them and overcome bitterness and forgive everyone who's hurt them and be free from the love of money and be free from anxiety. Things that Jesus taught. But I tell you, I've hardly ever found churches like that in India, I haven't traveled this country so much, but I think that's true pretty much all over the world.

It's very rare to find a church that's just keeping the simple great commission. But everybody goes around saying Jesus is with us always till the end of the age. He isn't.

But I'll tell you this, if you commit yourself to do this, and this is not just for some full time workers or every member in the body of Christ has got a part in this. And whatever you're if you're born again, you're a member of the body of Christ, you must commit yourself to say, Lord, I want to do my little part in this project that you are engaged in around the world to fulfill the great commission, to prepare a people for the second coming of Jesus Christ. That's the ministry of the church today.

The spirit of Elijah, as I mentioned earlier, is like the spirit of John the Baptist. I believe that the calling of the church, if you will understand this in our day, I've taken this very seriously. The calling of the church in our day is very similar to the calling of John the Baptist to prepare a people for the coming of Christ and increasingly of late in India.

The Lord's burdened my heart to speak more about the coming of the Lord. I mean, in previous 25 years and all, I've very rarely spoken about it, but very much in recent times. And when the Holy Spirit lays a burden on our heart, it means that it's a word that God wants his church to hear.

And I believe that our calling is to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord. You know, to make the crooked path straight and to raise up all the depressed valleys and to bring down all the mountains of pride and to let all flesh see the salvation of the Lord. And that comes through the message of repentance that John the Baptist preached.

He prepared people for the first coming of Christ and he came in the spirit of Elijah and the Jewish people didn't accept it. And now the church in the last days is to carry on that same ministry in the spirit of Elijah and the spirit of John the Baptist to prepare people for the coming of the Lord. You got to prepare your children to be ready for Jesus return.

Somebody wrote to me the other day, you know, I had written an article for a Christian magazine in India and one of the readers wrote in and said to the editor, could you ask Brother Zach this question? He said in his article that if you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you. I quoted that from Matthew 6, verse 15. If you don't forgive others, God will not forgive you.

Your heavenly father, I'm sorry, not God, your heavenly father will not forgive your transgressions. So his question was, does that mean if a person dies without forgiving others, he'll go to hell? He won't go to heaven. So I replied to it and I said, first of all, I want to point out these are the words of Jesus.

These are not my words. It's not Zach Poonen who said it is the Lord Jesus Christ who said in Matthew 6, 15, if you don't forgive men, then your father will not forgive your transgressions. And I pointed out Jesus did not say that if you don't forgive men, God will not forgive your transgressions.

Because if he used the word God there, then he's speaking to unbelievers. He didn't say that. You must read the Bible carefully and slowly.

Your father, your father means who? We all have enough knowledge of the scriptures to know that that doesn't refer to any unbeliever in the world. Who is God the father of? It's not the Jews, the Old Testament is the born again children of God, to whom Jesus says, if you who've got a heavenly father, don't forgive someone, whatever the crime that man may have committed, I don't care who it is, a human being, you don't forgive that person, that person may not be a believer, doesn't make a difference. You don't forgive men.

You got to read carefully, he didn't speak about believers, you don't forgive a human being. Your father, he is your father, I know he's your father. But he will not forgive your transgressions.

And I replied in that letter saying, now you tell me. If your sins are not forgiven on Earth, is there some second chance after you die for it to be forgiven and you die like that without having forgiven somebody and your heavenly father doesn't forgive your transgressions? And then the next question is, are there going to be people in heaven whose some of whose sins were not forgiven? Is there going to be one person in heaven who has even one sin unforgiven? How did he get there? No sin can enter God's presence. It's appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment.

So I'll tell you what I believe. If a man has been faithful to the Lord for 50 years as a believer, even serve the Lord. And towards the end of his life, he's got a bitterness against somebody who did some harm to him and he just won't forgive him and he dies.

I don't have the slightest doubt in my mind where that fellow is gone. He's gone to hell. Now, if you don't believe that, I'll tell you two things.

First of all, you don't believe Jesus Christ. You think he's a liar. Be honest and say, I believe Christ is a liar.

Don't beat around the bush and say, no, no, no, no, no. Be honest and say, I think he's a liar or say he didn't know what he was talking about. I wouldn't dare to say that.

Or say, I believe what the heathen believe that in the final day, God will take a weighing balance and weigh all our good works and balance it out with our evil works. And if the good works are heavier, this man served God for 50 years. What a lot of good works.

But he didn't forgive one person. He'll go to heaven. That's what all the heathen in the world believe.

And that's what you believe, too, in that case. See, when I put it like that, you're faced with an issue whether you really believe the words of Jesus or not. Teach them to do every single thing I commanded you.

I will tell you the story of a servant of the Lord who came to work in India when he was a young 30 year old man and worked as a missionary for 20 years in India. He was a very famous preacher and musician, well known and accepted in many circles, Pentecostal churches. When he was around 50 years old, he came in touch with us and he came to our conferences and our meetings.

And for the next two years, he was in constant association with us. He laid aside his ministry, laid aside his musical instruments, stopped producing his tapes and CDs and all that. There were tapes only those days and was with us all the time to hear and responded to the message of discipleship.

And a lot of people in India criticized me because he was a well-known person. And he says, Brother Zack, you ruined this man's ministry. He was a great musician going around singing.

And here you made him give up his musical instruments, sit around in your church and listen to how to be a disciple. Two years later, he was seriously sick and he was going to die. And he called me to his from the hospital, to his deathbed.

Why, in his sick bed, he was about to die in a few days. And he called me and he said, Brother Zack, I want to tell you something. When I came to your church two years ago, I had so much bitterness in my heart against many Pentecostal pastors and others who told lies about me, who cheated me and who spread scandals about me, were jealous of me.

I was bitter. And when I came to your church, is the first time in my life that I ever heard that if I don't forgive others, God will not forgive me, even if I've served him for many years. And I knew I hadn't forgiven others.

I hadn't forgiven. I took your word seriously, not your word, but the word of Jesus, and I'm thankful that I heard it. And I want to say to you today that I've forgiven every one of them and I'm ready to meet my savior.

A couple of days later, he died. God saw the sincerity of that man. He had labored for 20 years for Christ.

God didn't want to send him to hell. He sent him to us. To hear the word that would save him from hell.

How can anybody believe this one saved, always saved thing? That man was on his way to hell, he knew it, but he was saved. You know, God saw the sincerity of a heathen man called Cornelius. But his sincerity would not take him to heaven.

He prayed and the angel came and told Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, your prayers, God has heard your prayers. You know that God hears the prayers of unbelievers. If you don't believe it, read Acts chapter 10.

He wasn't praying in the name of Jesus. He was a total heathen. He was a military man.

I don't know what he was worshiping. He had no knowledge of God, but he prayed to this creator, whoever he was. And God heard him because the man was sincere.

He gave money to the poor and the angel came and said, you know that the money you gave to the poor, God's taken note of it. Unbeliever. I'll tell you that lots of believers whose prayers God does not hear because they regard iniquity in their heart.

Psalm 66, 18 says, if you regard sin in your heart, God will not hear your prayer. There are many believers I know got sin in their heart. They got wrong attitudes to people.

God does not hear their prayer. They haven't forgiven somebody. Not only God hasn't hear their prayer, he hasn't forgiven them.

But here was the heathen man. Whose prayer God heard, but that didn't save him. He had to hear the gospel.

Peter had to come to him. But the wonderful thing is that when God saw that sincere man, he sent Peter to him to save his soul. And I believe that's why God sent that dear brother to us, because he saw the sincerity of that brother.

And he brought him to us to hear one message that you got to forgive others if you want God to forgive you. You know that with that one verse alone, I would say many so-called believers are on their way to hell today. Many are sick.

Whenever I pray for any sick person, one of the first questions I ask them is almost the only question I ask them, have you forgiven others? There are numerous people who have sicknesses because they didn't forgive others. I remember years ago, before I got married, I had to undergo a very, very minor operation in a hospital. And after I did a very insignificant, minor little thing, but when they had to give me anesthesia for it, when I came out from there, a few days later, I found a very severe pain down my arm, nerve type of pain was just very, very bad.

So I consulted a neurosurgeon. And he said to me, he says, I mean, when did this happen? He said, I said, soon after a little operation, he said, it's possible that when you were under anesthesia, that they didn't carry you properly and your head must have fallen backward in some way and some nerve must have got pinched and there's nothing you can do about it. You just got to live with it.

And I was going to get married in a few weeks. And here was this terrible pain that I was going to live with for the rest of my life, my arm. I didn't know much about victory over sin those days.

I didn't know anything. I was just born again, like other believers. And I was so angry with this doctor who was so careless.

You know, doctors make mistakes and sometimes we suffer. And I wrote a very sharp, rude letter to him. He was a Christian, a believer.

And I said, this is terrible that you were so careless. And I don't remember all that I wrote, but I knew it was very rude. And this never got any better.

It just got worse. And the Lord spoke to him, forgive him. That's not the way to write as a Christian.

I repented. I wrote another letter. I said, brother, I'm sorry.

In a moment of weakness, I got angry and I wrote that letter to you, but I'm really sorry for what I wrote. I want to withdraw. You never did it deliberately.

We all make mistakes. So it's okay. Forgive me for the way I wrote.

It's perfectly okay. I can live with this. You know what happened? I was healed completely.

I never had a problem since that day until today. I know from experience the power of forgiveness, not only in this world, but in the world to come. You know that story with Jesus said about a king who forgave all his slaves and one man owed, what's it? Let's say a huge sum of, say, ten million dollars.

And the king forgave him because he said, please have mercy on me. I've got a wife and children. Please forgive me.

Have patience with me. The king said, OK, forgiven ten million. He goes out and he finds one of his fellow servants who owes him ten dollars, catches him by the throat and says, you better pay it up.

And that fellow says exactly the same words. Please have patience with me. Give me time.

I'll pay it back. He says, no, I've got to pay it back right now. And he went and threw him in prison.

And when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they told the king and the king called the slave and said, you wicked slave. Do you know that somebody who doesn't forgive others is called a wicked person? God calls him a wicked person. You wicked slave.

This is Matthew 18, 32. I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. Don't shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow slave as I had mercy on you? And his lord moved with anger, didn't just put him in jail.

It says he handed him over to the torturers. The torturers are the demons who are permitted to make us sick to ensure that we don't get healed from our sicknesses. And we suffer and suffer and go to doctors and get tablets and injections and x-rays and scans and spend a lot of money when all you need to do is forgive somebody.

He handed him over to the torturers. What is the meaning of this parable? Jesus explained it social. My heavenly father.

Due to you, you as a child of God. My heavenly father will do that to you. To whom was Jesus speaking this? Was he speaking to the Pharisees? No, whenever you read the gospels, always check up to whom Jesus was speaking.

It is Peter who came to Jesus in verse 21 and said, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother seven times? And then Jesus said, no, not seven times, 70 times seven. And then he said, I'll tell you the story to Peter. He tells Peter.

He's talking to Peter, don't ever forget that. Social, my heavenly father, due to you, Peter, if you don't forgive and to all those disciples standing there, I know you have forsaken everything to follow me. I know you gave up your jobs and your nets to follow me, but my heavenly father will do this to you, hand you over to the torturers.

If you do not forgive your brother, it's talking about forgiving brothers from your heart. What did that king do? He unforgave. All the debt that had been forgiven, social, my heavenly father, due to you.

Does God unforgive what he's already forgiven? It's one of the biggest contradictions of this one saved, always saved rubbish that people teach. He unforgave or I believe that all those who preach one saved, always saved must say that Jesus Christ is a liar in this parable and say that your heavenly father will never do such a thing. Lot of stupid Christians go around deceiving people, making them twofold children of hell by not teaching everything that Jesus commanded exactly as Jesus commanded.

Yeah, he unforgave every single. That means if I've committed a million sins, let's make it personal. Maybe I've committed a million sins in my life or 10 million and I go to God and say, Lord, have mercy on me.

I'm a sinner. Christ died for me. Forgive my sins.

And the Lord says, you're forgiven. You're my child. And I live like that in faithfulness for 50 years.

And then a time comes when somebody does something to me and I just won't forgive him. One man. Some one thing he did to me, and I just won't forgive him.

I said, I'm sorry, I won't forgive you. What happens in that moment? All my 10 million sins are put back into my account. I have to pay for them.

If you believe either that is true or Jesus Christ, a liar or Jesus Christ didn't know what he was talking about. Take take your choice. I tremble at God's word.

I've studied this book for 50 years and it's never let me down. I've always found that when I take God's word literally, it changes my life. God treats you just like you treat other people.

I've discovered that. If you are kind to other people, God will be kind to you. You forgive others, God will forgive you.

You are generous to others, God will be generous to you. You give to the church, God will give back to you. It's always like that.

He treats us exactly like we treat other people. And he sees how we treat other people. This is the work that God is doing, building his church.

And one of the greatest needs in the church today is to teach everything. That Jesus commanded. I never in my life want to be in a church that's not teaching everything that Jesus commanded.

Why in the world would I waste my time in such a church? Most churches just playing games, making people twofold the children of hell. I don't want to have anything to do with it. I want to have any part in it.

I'm surprised that so many people give money in such a church. What are you giving money for? You think it's going to God? The Bible says you must be a faithful and a wise steward. You may be a faithful steward, but you may not be a wise steward.

You're putting money in the wrong place. If you give money to God's work, my brother, let me advise you. Give it where it'll further the building of the true church.

Not Babylonian churches and denominations that don't proclaim the full gospel. There's not teaching everything that Jesus taught. There's a lot of Babylonian churches and denominations in Christendom today.

That it's not just these cults where people exploit others. A lot of so-called good evangelical churches that are not preaching everything that Jesus commanded. For example, this thing that I just mentioned about forgiving others.

There are so many things like this. Many years ago, the Lord told me that I must proclaim that my specific calling was to proclaim the things that other preachers were not preaching. And that's why I spent one whole year once getting cable television in my home just to listen to Christian television in India.

To listen to all the preachers who were preaching in India on Christian television. 90% of them were all Americans, the same people who preach here on television. And I heard and heard and heard and heard what Indian Christians were tuning into and listening.

Boy, I was wondering why in the world had these people come here to lead people astray? So much of the scripture what Jesus taught was not being taught. And then I knew what I had to preach. All those things that they were not preaching and there was lots and lots of it.

They never preached overcoming sin. They never preached about overcoming anger or the lust of the eyes or the love of money. People ask me, why do you preach these things brother? Why brother Zach, do you preach against lusting with the eyes and against anger so much? I say, okay, I'll tell you.

If you read the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6 and 7, can you tell me the only two sins? There are many sins mentioned in those chapters. Can you tell me the only two sins with Jesus said would send people to hell? He mentioned hell only twice in the Sermon on the Mount. I mean, that must be pretty serious.

He said, if you lust with your eyes, you'll go to hell. If you get angry, you'll go to hell. You read it in Matthew 5. It was the only two times he said about going to hell in relation to those two sins.

And I said, that's why I keep on preaching against those two sins because I want to save people from hell. I want to save so-called believers from going to hell. Why do I preach against forgiving others? That's the other thing that Jesus said.

He didn't use the word hell, but the implication is that my heavenly father will not forgive you. I have often said in my own church in Bangalore. I said, I can't keep you folks from going to hell.

But I'll tell you one thing. You won't be able to turn around to me in the day of judgment and say, Brother Zak, you never told us the truth. I told you the truth.

Whether you responded to it or not, it's up to you. I can't force you to respond to God's word. But that is the truth.

Otherwise, throw away the Bible. Say, this is not God's word. So many Christians, they say the Bible is the word of God and the glory in the King James Version.

Take any version you like. And they all say that if you lust with your eyes and you have anger, you'll go to hell. Take any version you like.

And it tells you that if you don't forgive others, your heavenly father will not forgive you. I'm surprised that so many people make a big issue of which version. You take whichever version you like.

It says you cannot be a disciple unless you take up the cross every day and follow Jesus. Don't go off on these tangents fighting on versions, brother. That's not the great need in the church today.

The great need in the church today is to teach everything that Jesus commanded. There are people who read all these different versions who believe in the Trinity. Don't waste your time comparing versions and say this verse is different, that verse is different.

And all the stupid things the devil makes Christians taken up with. I'm absolutely amazed. And they miss out on the main thing, forgiving others.

The main thing, stopping with internet pornography and stopping with lusting with the eyes and finishing with anger completely. See, God is merciful. In the Old Testament.

You know, let me first read Ephesians 4. In Ephesians 4 it says, in verse 26. Be angry, but don't sin. And don't let the sun go down on your anger.

See, God is very merciful. That is a quotation from the Old Testament, by the way. I want to turn first to the Old Testament verse which is quoted here in Ephesians 4, 26, in case you didn't know it.

Whenever you see a verse in the New Testament quoted in the Old Testament. In the NASV it's very easy to find it. Because in the NASV all Old Testament quotations are in capitals.

So whenever you see a capital, that's why I like the NASV. Because I see it in capitals, I say hey, that's an Old Testament quotation, let me look back into the Old Testament. And when I look back in the Old Testament I learn something.

I've learned many things like that when I look back into the Old Testament. I could take a whole study on just that subject. But this one is in Psalm 4 and verse 4. This is quotation from Psalm 4 verse 4. It says, there it says tremble.

And in the margin of my Bible it says, tremble with anger, but don't sin. And then it gives you a very practical suggestion. Because they didn't have the ability to overcome anger in the Old Testament with the power of the Holy Spirit.

So the next best thing he said, when you get angry, go and lie down on your bed. Very practical suggestion. It says there, I'm not joking, it says go and lie down on your bed and meditate and be quiet for a little while.

Very good. Like they say, when you, before you, when you see somebody's false, count ten of your own. And then you won't be so quick to find fault with him.

Go and lie down on your bed and meditate and be still. In the New Testament, that's quoted. And then he says, okay you're angry, I know you haven't got victory over it.

But make sure before the sun sets, that you're finished with it. Now that's not the best. The best is if you finish, confess it immediately and finish with it.

And even better than that is if you've overcome it altogether. That you don't get angry. That you don't have sinful anger.

But God makes an allowance. He realizes that some people have a bit of a struggle with this anger. So he says, okay, if you got angry at ten o'clock in the morning, at least by six o'clock in the evening, confess it and forsake it.

I give this advice to almost all married couples whenever I conduct a marriage, a wedding. And I remember telling one married couple at their wedding. I give you a bit of advice, brother, sister.

Be quick to ask forgiveness. And be quick to forgive one another. And never go to sleep at night without asking forgiveness from one another if you've hurt one another.

Yeah, you're married today and you think everything will be perfect. It won't be that easy. Struggles will come.

Tensions will come in every marriage. But forgive one another before you go to sleep. What a joy I had when that brother came to me twenty years later.

Twenty years later. And said, brother Zach, I've kept that exhortation you gave me for twenty years. I said, that's a greater miracle than raising the dead.

I mean, every night for twenty years, you never went to sleep without settling everything with your wife. Boy, that's a wonderful. Imagine if every Christian were like that.

Okay, he hadn't got victory over anger, but before the sunset, he settled it. But you don't have to stop there. You can go higher.

That's sort of God's provision for those who are not really radical and wholehearted. But for those who are radical and wholehearted, the same chapter, Ephesians 4, goes on to say in verse 30. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

But let all wrath and all anger be put away from you completely. That's the best. But until you get there, at least settle it by sunset.

That's scripture. And when you do get angry, make sure you go and lie down on a bed for a little while before you proceed. It's all scripture.

Scripture is very practical. And seek for the fullness of the Holy Spirit so that you can finish with it completely. So that you have so much control, so that you can love that person.

Whenever I see a person who is angry with me or with anybody, I look at that person. I've learned to look at that person like I look at people who got leprosy or cancer. We in India, we see a lot of people with leprosy.

Nose is eaten away, fingers all like stubs. And all hideous appearance. You never get angry with a leper.

You feel sorry for the poor man. His face is all eaten up. When I see this person getting angry, it's exactly like that.

He's a leper. I can look inside his soul and see it's all eaten up. It's not his face.

His face looks beautiful but his soul is all eaten up with anger and bitterness. Do you get angry at a leper? You feel sorry for the poor man. I feel sorry for this poor man.

He's angry. I don't want to be like him. I don't want to say if you're going to have leprosy, I'm going to have it too.

Are you going to serve the devil? I'll serve the devil too. No. If you want to serve the devil, go ahead.

I'm not going to serve the devil. I'm going to serve God. So, when we take the words of Jesus seriously, things really change in our life.

This is how we can build the church and I believe every one of you. You don't have to be a great preacher to share with other people. You can tell a brother who is bitter.

Do you have to be a preacher to tell a brother who is bitter? Brother, forgive that person. Otherwise, you'll go to hell. You can save a soul by just telling him what Jesus said and telling him to read scripture.

There are many things like this I've discovered as I've studied the scriptures. Babylonian Christianity does not preach these things. That's why I say don't be a part of Babylonian Christianity.

Are there true believers in Babylonian Christianity? Andy, yes. Yes, there are. I read that in Revelation 18, 4. Come out of Babylon, my people.

That's what the Lord says. My people, come out of Babylon. What in the world are you doing there? Babylonian Christianity is occupied.

You read in chapter 17, it's a mixture of politics and religion. In chapter 18, you read it's a mixture of money and religion. Wherever you find politics mixed with religion, it's Babylon.

Where people are thinking that Christians can be political, will be involved in political leadership. I've never met or heard of a political leader in my life in any country who doesn't have to tell lies. I've never heard of anyone.

They all have to tell lies to retain their position. They have to tell lies when they want to get elected. And the Bible says the devil is the father of lies.

And whoever speaks that lie is the mother. The devil is the father. How can such a person be a Christian? All liars are going to the lake of fire, it says.

And you can't justify a lie saying whatever reason it is. Religion mixed with politics, which doesn't take lying seriously. Religion mixed with money and business.

It says here about all the businessmen in the world who make money through Christianity. Particularly in Christmas time. All over the world, I'm amazed in a country like India with all the Hindu-Muslim shopkeepers.

They all, Christmas time, they have pictures of Santa Claus and reindeer and all in India where we never see snow. They have pictures of snow and this, that and the other. Selling things to make money.

And they weep when Babylon is gone. I heard a story once of a school that opened in the New Year and the teacher asked all the children to tell what they did at Christmas day. So one little girl said, we are Roman Catholics.

Christmas day we went to the mass and came back and opened our Christmas presents. The other one said, we are Protestants and we went for a morning meeting and came back and opened our Christmas presents. The other one said, I'm a Buddhist.

My father is a shopkeeper and he took us to the shop and showed us all the empty shelves of presents bought by Christians. We just held hands and sang, what a friend we have in Jesus who helps us to sell all these things to Christians who come and buy it. This is Babylon and the merchants of the earth will weep if Christmas is stopped and people stop buying these things.

What a friend we have in Jesus. They will weep with great lament when Babylon is fallen. This is Babylonian Christianity.

It's all over the world. Do you support it or do you support the building of the church? If I were living in Noah's time, I'd support the building of the ark. It's the only project God was interested in.

If you don't have any place, you say, well where shall I give my money? Be wise in where you give. If your church is not the right place to give money, give to a church that's preaching the whole truth of God. Send money to this church here where the truth of God is proclaimed, where you get a benefit.

The Bible says if you get a benefit in some church, you must support that church. If you got spiritual fruit from somewhere, you should support it materially. The Bible says that in Galatians chapter 6. But certainly don't support Babylonian systems.

It's like putting your money down the toilet and flushing it. Love the church and give yourself for it. I decided that long ago.

I'm going to be a help me to Jesus Christ in the only work he's doing on earth today. Building the church. The gates of hell are fighting against the church.

Day and night. And I want to be a soldier for Christ to stand against it. I hope you will join in that battle, brother, sister.

And say, Lord, you open my eyes in these days. It's not just a holy life. You've called me to.

In my own little way, say this to the Lord in my own little way. Lord, the people I meet, I want to teach them all that Jesus commanded. I want to teach my children all that Jesus commanded.

With my life and my energy and my time and everything. I want to support the work of God on earth today. I want to build Jerusalem.

I want to build the true church of Christ. And I want to show you in Revelation one mark of Jerusalem. See, Revelation is full of symbols.

Picture language from beginning to end. It's all in picture language. You see Jesus with a sword coming out of his mouth.

Symbolizing the word of God that comes from him. And the church is also pictured here as a city. And I want you to notice one thing about this city.

In Revelation 21. And I saw, verse 10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem.

Coming down out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God. You know, it's described in verse 2 as a bride adorned for her husband.

It's the church, the bride of Christ. And there's one thing said about this Jerusalem. In the last part of verse 16.

It's length and width and height are equal. That means it's a cube. It's length and width.

Length and width and height. It's depth is the same as it's length and width. It's a cube.

Perfect cube. Now the meaning of it. It's spiritual meaning is this.

If I were to hold a big cube in front of you. You see the length and the height and the width of it. But you can't see it's depth.

You don't know whether it's a cube. Or just a square piece of cardboard. When I turn it sideways.

You'll know whether it's a thin cardboard sheet. Or a cube. So the lesson I've learned from this is.

There is a image I present to others about my Christianity. Can be pretty big. I show myself as a very spiritual person.

In the day of judgment. God will turn me on my side. And show people how much depth I had to my Christianity.

Whether the depth was equal to the height and width that I presented before others all my life. Or whether I was a hypocrite. Just a thin square piece of cardboard.

Fooling people that I was as spiritual as that other person. He was a real cube. I wanted to give the same image.

But I was just a cardboard piece. And I fooled everybody in the church all my life. And God turns me on my side in the day of judgment.

And says you're not fit to be in Jerusalem. Every stone in Jerusalem is a cube. That's one mark of the true church of God.

That's a mark of whether you're in the true church. You don't have to be a very spiritual person. Your cube may be one inch by one inch by one inch.

That's fine brother. That's okay. Turn it on the side.

It's one inch depth. You're alright. You fit into Jerusalem.

It's not size. The question is are you a cube? Or are you just a square? You don't have to worry if you're not so spiritual like somebody else. Don't give the impression that you're more spiritual than you really are.

That's how Babylon is built. Full of hypocrites, Pharisees. It's a challenge.

Let's cooperate with our Lord. In the one work He's doing throughout the world today. And as we approach the end of time.

To prepare people for the coming of the Lord. I've taken it very seriously. I say Lord, I want you to give me health and strength as long as possible.

So that I can challenge people everywhere I go. To be cubes. To have the same depth in their Christian life as they present before others.

Exactly the same. I don't want the depth to be one bit less. Than the image I present before others.

My inner life must be exactly according to what I preach. Down to the last letter. I never in my life want to speak something that's not true in my inner life.

And I never in my life want to present an image that's not true. That's the difference between a religious Christian. Part of Babylon.

And a spiritual Christian who's part of Jerusalem. Christ loved the church. Gave himself for it.

And he's inviting his bride. Don't seek your own life. Don't seek to spare your own life.

Brother, sister. I remember we had a couple of brothers in our church. Who ran grocery stores.

And I told them. We have four days of conference in a year. I want to encourage you to close your grocery store.

And come to the conference. I know you lose money. I prophesy in Jesus name.

God will make up to you for it. One of them listened to me. And God blessed him amazingly.

The other didn't. And I see a difference in them spiritually. When we come to the Lord.

We can come like David. And say I will never offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing. Or I can be like those pharisaical misers.

Calculating, calculating. What is the minimum I have to do for God. They are not the bride of Christ.

Christ loved the church and gave himself for it completely. And the bride of Christ has got the same spirit. Building the church's uppermost in their mind.

It's a thing that occupies their thinking all the time. The others are calculating, calculating, calculating. And that's why they never make much progress.

They are good brothers. 20 years later they were getting 100% in the kindergarten. 20 years ago they get 100% today.

Still in the kindergarten. They were good brothers 20 years ago. They are good brothers today.

But there is no progress. They have not become more like Christ. There is no greater passion.

There is no fire in their life. You meet with them and talk to them. They don't set you on fire.

They talk and discuss theological stuff. Don't be like that. Give yourself the building of the church.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, there are many things we have heard in these days. And I know your Holy Spirit will bring them all back to remembrance in the days to come.

And I pray that many here will take some life changing decisions today. Decisions that will involve sacrifice of the things of the world. In order to gain the things that have eternal value.

That we shall not talk stuff which is not true in our life. We shall not talk about taking up a cross that we have never taken up. Give us grace.

We pray. Everyone here, and I want to invite you my brother, sister. God brought you here this weekend for a purpose.

We said in the first day, pray that God will turn you around. Change your direction of your life. Take some serious decisions before God today.

Before you go home. Say, Lord, I really want to live the type of life you are calling me to live. I want to live a higher life than I have lived so far.

I want to forgive everyone who has hurt me. I want to take up the challenge. I want to open my whole being to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

I cannot live this life, Lord. But I believe that by the power of your Holy Spirit, I can live this life. And live by the principles that Jesus lived his life by.

And Lord Jesus, my Savior, I want to open myself to you. To be filled with your Holy Spirit. So that I can be a co-worker with you.

A helpmate as your bride in the days to come before you return to this earth. Help me, Lord, to take my Christian life seriously. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.