All That God Has Given Us New Year 2012

Well, brothers and sisters, and all of you who are listening around the world, may the Lord make this a good year for you as we begin. It was God who determined many years ago, thousands of years ago, that the earth should rotate around the sun in 365 and a quarter days. That wasn't our plan.

That it would come back to the same spot after that time. And it's good for us to see where we are at the end of one rotation of the earth around the sun. You know, just like we want our children at the end of one year in school to go to the next higher class.

All over the world, that's how it is. Children go to a higher class not after six months, not after two years, but after one year. All promotions in every school around the world is at the end of one year, at the end of one rotation of the earth around the sun.

There's something about that. And it's good for us also, spiritually, to have a check-up once a year. It doesn't have to be on December 31st or January 1st.

It can be on your birthday, if you prefer that. But at least once a year, it's good to ask ourselves, what have we learned? Are we ready to be promoted? You know, in our schools here in India, many schools, they have what's called a final examination at the end of the year. And I remember in my days, now they have assessed on the basis of monthly or quarterly exams, but in my days, everything depended on that final examination.

When I was in school, if you passed, you went to the next class. If you failed, you sat in the same class. It was an examination of all that you studied during the year to see whether you learned it.

Our life on earth is like an education. You know that Jesus' life on earth was an education, too, as a man. It says in Hebrews in chapter 5, concerning Jesus Christ, our forerunner, the book of Hebrews presents Christ as our forerunner, one who's gone ahead of us.

And that's the title given to him in chapter 6 and verse 20. But before that, in Hebrews 5, it says he learned something when he was on earth. What did he learn? What was his education? What was the school he went through? Hebrews 5 and verse 8, although he was a son, that means although he was the eternal second person of the Trinity, when he came to earth as a man, he had to learn something that he could never learn as God.

God never has to obey anyone. There are many things God knows, but obedience? Whom does God obey? When Jesus came to earth as a man, he had to learn obedience. He went through the school of obedience for 33 1⁄2 years.

He passed not only every year but every day. At the end of 33 1⁄2 years, when he cried on the cross, that was the last, the highest examination of all, going to the cross. That was the greatest struggle in Gethsemane.

That was a really tough examination. You know how much he struggled. None of us have struggled in an examination where we sweat blood.

That examination was so tough that he sweat blood, and he died, and he said, at last, it's finished. That meant many things. The price for our sins was finished.

His education and obedience was finished. He had finished with the entire range of temptations that any human being can ever face. It's all finished.

There's a lot in those three words. It is finished. He learned obedience from the things which he suffered, or even when obedience meant suffering.

There are some things which we obey which are where there's no suffering. There are some things which we obey which involve self-denial. Suffering means self-denial.

He learned obedience, and thus he became perfect, or perfect means completed his education, and now he has become the author, source of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. Let me paraphrase those words, Hebrews 5, 8, and 9. When our Lord Jesus came to earth as a man, he had to learn what he never had to learn in heaven as eternal God. He had to learn, he had to go through the school of obedience all the way from kindergarten, which was honor your father and mother, honor your imperfect Joseph and imperfect Mary, even if there are things they tell you to do which you know better, but which are not sinful, suffer and obey.

He passed the test. We've got to teach our children that. How to pass the test when they are children.

Jesus learned obedience when obedience meant self-denial. And all the way in every step, when he was tempted as a young boy, when he was tempted as a teenager, in sexual matters, when he was tempted, when he started earning money as a carpenter, people cheated him perhaps, or people broke something that he had worked hard on, many things. He learned obedience all the way, and then he learned obedience as a full-time worker, never to make his needs known to any human being, never to ask for money, and never to depend on man, and to be humble enough, that requires humility, to receive money when people gave him a gift, which he never asked for, to meet his need.

That requires humility. He learned obedience, and he completed his education. So, as a man, he completed his entire course of education, and passed out and got his degree, and now he has become a professor, I'm paraphrasing those words, in the same school of obedience, to teach all those who will enroll, in this school of obedience, and to teach them from kindergarten.

We can enroll our children in the kindergarten, teach them to honor their father and mother, and he will lead us all the way, in obedience to God, so that we can also, complete the earthly education, God has planned for us. And that's why it's the good, like in our earthly schools, to check up at the end of every year, to say, am I going to a higher class? Am I still, I mean, think of a child, who's been sitting 10 years, struggling with addition, or multiplication. 15 years, and he still doesn't know, how to find the square root of a number.

How about someone, who after 15 years of being a believer, still gets offended, offended, because somebody said something to him or her, or gets offended, because somebody didn't wish them, or treat them right, or didn't smile at them. And those are lessons, we should have learned in the kindergarten. 15 years, in kindergarten, still getting offended, when shall we overcome? There are some things, which are tough lessons, you know, like calculus and all, and mathematics.

There are some tough lessons, like overcoming sexual temptation, in our mind for men. Overcoming anger, for men and women. Overcoming the love of money.

Overcoming seeking the honor of men, instead of seeking the honor of God alone. Those are little tougher lessons, not kindergarten lessons. They take a while.

So don't get discouraged, if you didn't overcome them, in the kindergarten. But getting offended, that's kindergarten. Because some of those other things, are very rooted in our flesh.

Love of money, material things, sexual desire, anger, they're all very rooted in our flesh. It takes a while to battle them, and get out. We can overcome, but it may take a little while.

But getting offended, is only a result of pride. Pride that makes me think I'm somebody. How can somebody talk to me like that? How can somebody treat me like that? How can somebody not respect me? How can somebody not wish me, or smile at me? Because I'm somebody important.

Those are lessons we should get rid of. Learn, pass, in kindergarten. So if you've been failing in that subject, it's about time we wonder, why we're sitting in the same class, year after year.

How many times does the earth, have to revolve around the sun, before we move on, to a higher class. Jesus is the professor, in the school of obedience. He learned obedience, and he became the author of obedience, to those, the author of eternal salvation.

Eternal salvation, to those who obey him. We have a Christian world, that speaks a lot about faith. I believe in faith.

I'll come to that in a moment. But, and so they never read verses like this, that salvation is for those who obey. I mean, if somebody comes to you for counseling, and says, how can I get salvation, eternal salvation? How many of you have ever in your life, pointed them to this verse? No.

Most Christians will not. They'll go to some other verse, that emphasizes faith, to believe, and you'll have eternal salvation. That's right.

But what about balancing truth, and pointing them to this verse as well, and saying, you get eternal salvation, if you obey him. Is there a contradiction? Is salvation by works? Not at all. Salvation is entirely by faith.

But James says, chapter two, there's a living faith, and a dead faith. Make sure yours is living. And the way to know, that our faith is living, is by obedience.

Faith without works, is dead. It's like a body. It's got all the members of the body, but no breath.

And so, let's enroll ourselves, if you haven't enrolled yourself, in the school of obedience, and press on to perfection this year. I want to give you a promise. I believe that's what the Lord's laid on my heart, from John 17.

And it's a promise dependent on a condition, like all promises in the New Testament are. You can't even get forgiveness from God, without fulfilling a condition, of repent and believe. The many gifts of God, which are given freely, and unconditionally, are material gifts.

He makes the sun to rise, on the good and the evil. He sends the rain, on the righteous and the unrighteous. They don't have to obey.

They don't have to believe. They don't have to fulfill any condition. They can violate all the ten commandments.

They can violate every single commandment, and still the sun will rise on them, tomorrow morning. They can be terrorists, who are planning suicide bombings. The sun will rise on them, tomorrow morning.

The rain will fall on them, tomorrow morning, because God is a good God. Not because He approves of their evil actions. So there are certain things, which are totally unconditional.

Sun, rain, material blessings, earning a lot of money. God allows a lot of people on earth, to earn a lot of money, who are godless, atheists, crooked, businessmen, cheating politicians. They all earn a lot of money.

Those who cheat others, swindle others, crooked pastors, the whole lot of them. God allows them all, to earn a lot of money. One day He will judge those who cheat, but that's a different thing.

Health. Health is another thing, which crooked people, terrorists, atheists, all people of all religions have. It's not a special blessing, that only Christians have, or that only Jesus gives.

There are Christians, who die of cancer. And there are atheists, and terrorists, who live long lives. There are many blessings, God gives to people, all over the world.

They are unconditional. But when it comes to freedom from sin, terrorists and others don't have that. Atheists don't have that.

When it comes to living a life, pleasing to God, that only the Holy Spirit can help us. So we need to understand, what is the mark? How do we know whether God's blessed us, in this past year? Is it because you got a promotion in your job? I can show you a hundred atheists, who got a better hike in pay than you got, in this year. It proves nothing.

It doesn't prove that Jesus is the real God. Did you live a healthy life this year, without getting sick? I can show you thousands of people, who live healthy lives without getting sick, from every religion. And atheists, terrorists, that doesn't prove that Jesus is the true God.

We need to be sober. We shouldn't be fooled, by what we hear from television evangelists. We must read the word of God, and look around us, and see, do atheists get the same thing as this? Do godless terrorists get the same thing? Then that cannot be from Christ.

Money, health, all these things, so many people get. Freedom from sin. That's the thing nobody else gets.

Except the disciple of Jesus Christ. Inward freedom from sin. So here's a promise, John 17, dependent on a condition.

It's the words of Jesus, to his heavenly father, as he was praying as a man, at the end of his life, just after the last supper. Verse 10, all things that are mine, are yours, and yours are mine. All that is mine, is yours, and all that is yours, is mine.

That's what he said to the father, and as the father sent him, he has sent us. We can say the same thing to our Lord Jesus. Our relationship with Jesus is to be the same as his relationship with the father when he was on earth.

That we can look at the Lord, and say, Lord Jesus, all that is mine, is yours, and all that is yours, is mine. This is how I'm going to live the year 2012. Every day.

I'll never claim anything as mine. It's yours. All.

All. You probably need to give a little thought about to that when you go home. What that word, A-L-L, A-L-L, involves in your life.

Areas in your life that you have not really said are the Lord's. You may be a very religious person going to church every Sunday. That's not the test.

There are people, Christians living in prisons who never go to church on Sunday because imprisoned for the Gospel's sake. Who have given all. All that is mine, is yours, Lord.

And all that is yours, is mine. I can guarantee that by the time the Earth completes another revolution around the Sun in 365 days or 366 days this year, you will be a different person. You may even get a double promotion.

That happens in some schools where you're good enough to go to the next class. The higher class, the second class higher. You just sincerely say these words to the Lord every day.

Even if you don't say it with your mouth, say it in your heart. Lord Jesus, all that is mine is yours. And show me if there's anything which I'm holding back.

Do you think that God is asking too much? When God loved us, He gave us all. When He gave us His Son, He gave us all. He gave us Heaven's best.

He gave us everything. And He demands our all. Love so amazing, so divine, demands myself my all.

So we say, let me repeat that. And if you mean it, you can say it to the Lord right now in your mind. Lord, I give you my all.

All that is mine is yours, to the best of my knowledge. We have to say to the best of our knowledge because there may be areas in our life that I don't know. As I've walked with the Lord in these 52 years, I've discovered year by year that God shows me areas that I didn't know.

But because I started with the principle that all that is mine is yours, when God shows me something, I say, yeah, that's yours. I didn't know it. I didn't know that I was unconsciously holding it back.

You know, it's like you decide to deposit all your money in your bank and then one day you open a cupboard and you discover in one drawer, oh, there's 5,000 rupees lying here. I didn't know that. You take it and put it in the bank again.

Something like that. You didn't deliberately keep it there, or you didn't realize there was 5,000 rupees lying in a drawer. Oh, you're going to take it and put it in the bank again.

So something like that. Say, oh, Lord, I didn't realize this area was withheld from you. Thank you for showing me.

It's yours. When I start with the fundamental principle that all that is mine is the Lord's, and that's not a great thing because he gave everything for me. When Jesus walked on earth, he gave everything for me.

It's like a husband who says to his bride, all that is mine is yours. And the bride responds saying, my beloved Lord, all that is mine is yours too. So this is the way we are to live.

And when we have done our part, not only you can decide, here's a wonderful promise. All that is the Lord's is mine. I'll tell you, it'll even change your mind.

It'll give you a better sleep, make you healthier, and many things that bother your mind and body may disappear. I'm not saying this is the solution to all sickness and all problems, but it's certainly the solution to all problems. As long as we live in the world which is sin-cursed, we may get sick.

But many sicknesses will be freed from if you really give all to the Lord. Let me turn you now to 2 Timothy 1, and think of what the Lord gives us when we give our all to him. 2 Timothy 1, verse 7. Now Paul says something to Timothy, even though Timothy has been a faithful co-worker of Paul's for maybe 25 years by now, at least.

And he tells Timothy, you know that I need to remind you, Timothy, God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but God has given us a spirit of power and love and discipline. Now I want you to think of that in relation to as we face the new year. In the King James Version it says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.

Those differences in translating those words means that in the original Greek, in which the New Testament is written, there were more than one meaning to that word, and one translator picked one meaning, another translator picked another meaning, but we're going to pick both meanings. We're not going to get all of Scripture. Why should we miss out on anything? God has not given us a spirit of fear.

He's not given us a spirit of timidity. So let's look at that first. We must face this new year and say, I'm not going to have the spirit of fear anymore in my life, because that is not from God.

It's either from the devil or from my flesh. It is not from God. Be convinced of that.

Every type of fear, fear of the dark, fear of death, fear of the future, fear of sickness, fear of harm that other people can do to me, fear of losing my job, whatever fear it is, God has not given it. If God hasn't given it, it's come from some evil source, the devil or the flesh. Why in the world do I open the door to that snake when it wants to come in to my house? I don't want it.

God didn't send that snake. Now I'm going to shut the door to fear. But it's not so easy unless we are established in certain truths.

We need to be established, first of all, in the fact that God loves us supremely. I've often told you that the greatest truth in the whole Bible that I have discovered as studying it for so many years is that God loves us as He loves Jesus Christ. John 17, 23.

If you have given your all to Him, I assure you, that condition is there. If you have given the best of your knowledge, you have given everything to God, He loves you as He loved Jesus Christ. That is the greatest truth in the whole Scripture.

I have never found a greater truth than that. From that flows His dying for me on the cross and rising up, giving me the Holy Spirit. Everything flows from that one thing God so loved that He gave.

And I must bask in that sunshine of God's love if I am to be free from fear. Perfect love casts out fear, it says in 1 John 4. When I am assured that God loves me perfectly, it will drive out fear. It's like you put on the light, the darkness goes away.

You don't have to beg the darkness to go away when you switch on the light in a dark room. It goes instantly. As soon as the light comes, the darkness disappears.

As soon as I am rooted in God's perfect love, all fear goes away. God's love comes in and drives out fear. So that's one of the things we need to be assured of every single day of this New Year.

God loves me. He doesn't agree with our sin, just like you love your child but you hate the sickness your child has. Even if it's a cough and a cold that your little child has, you hate that, but you love the child intensely.

We need to be secure in that, that God loves me. Some of us can condemn ourselves, saying, oh, but I'm like this, I'm like that. Yes, God hates that evil habit of yours, but he doesn't hate you.

You know, I was listening to a song. It's a little child song. Sometimes we can learn something from these songs.

It's a father and son singing together to his little four-year-old child who is naughty, dirty, makes mistakes, plunders. And then Daddy says, your three-year-old face is a dirty disgrace. And the child says, but you love me, Daddy.

You scatter your toys and you make too much noise, but you love me, Daddy. You wake me up in the morning when I want to sleep on, but you love me, Daddy. You eat those biscuits when I tell you not to, but you love me, Daddy.

When I dress you up, you're going to dirty your clothes, but you love me, Daddy. When I want to use the phone, you won't leave me alone, but you love me, Daddy. You irritate Mommy by pulling her hair, but you love me, Daddy.

You scratch up the floor and you're right on the door. You ask foolish questions and all that, but you love me, Daddy. And the father says, it's so hard to scold you, my dear little three-year-old.

Do you think the father wants that three-year-old to grow up with a dirty face and scratching the floor and pulling Mommy's hair? Not at all. He wants that child to grow up and give up all these things. But that child is so secure.

But you love me, Dad. Do you have that security, my brothers and sisters, that a little child has and a loving father? Jesus came to show us that God was like that. We love our little children.

We don't want them to grow up dirty and doing all types of evil things. And God doesn't want us to keep on sinning, but he loves us. And if you can find comfort in that, that like an earthly father loves his little child, God loves you.

And if you're giving your all to him, he loves you as he loved Jesus. That is what drives out fear of the future. I don't know what's going to happen to me, Lord, but, Dad, you love me.

That I know. I don't know how this particular situation in my life is going to turn out and this particular sickness I have, but you love me, Dad. I don't doubt that.

Keep saying that till the end of this year. I'm having a problem with my children, Lord. They're not all following you.

I don't know how it's going to turn out. I don't know whether they'll all get converted this year. But I know one thing.

You love me, Dad. I'll never doubt that. And you're going to help me, see, be an overcomer this year.

That's a wonderful thing. I'm not going to fear. I'm not going to live in fear.

Things are going to turn out in a terrible way. No. God has not given us this spirit of fear.

And there's another truth, which you have written on the back of this hall. If you fear God, you need fear of nothing else. So the first is to know the love of God.

And the second is to reverence God. Fear of God is reverence for God. God's a loving Father.

And I like to sit on His lap like a little three-year-old. Spiritually, in my mind, I often take that position because Jesus said, You're like a little child. It makes me feel so secure.

I don't behave like a grown-up man when I stand before God. I come as a little child. It's easier to trust Him.

Grown-up people have so many problems trusting God. I come as a little child. If I slip up somewhere, I come and say, Dad, I'm sorry I slipped up there.

I really want to take this seriously. I don't want to go that way again. But I'm not going to go away.

I cling closer to God if I've slipped up. Take that attitude, brothers and sisters. Don't let the devil put all types of hideous thoughts into you that God hates you because you slipped up.

He hates your sin, sure. He hates one rude word that you speak to your wife. He hates it.

But He doesn't hate you. And He wants you to finish with such things. Just like I don't want my children to have one teeny-weeny sickness, God doesn't want you to have even one teeny-weeny sin in your life.

That's love. The proof of my love for my children is I don't want any sickness in them. And the proof of God's love for you and me is He doesn't want any sin to be left in me or you, in my speech or my thoughts or my attitudes to people or anything.

That's the mark of His love. And therefore I reverence Him. See, God's not some old buddy whom I put my hand around and some people, their songs they sing to Jesus which lack such reverence.

Whenever I hear a song like that, I cringe. A lot of these modern half-converted cowboys writing songs, there's no reverence in them. And I cringe whenever I hear a song like that and say, I'll never sing it in my life.

I live very intimately with the Lord Jesus as my beloved bridegroom. But I reverence Him as my Lord. If you reverence God, you need fear and nothing else.

Learn to reverence God, my brothers and sisters. It's the beginning of wisdom. It's the ABC of wisdom.

And you say, God has not given us the spirit of fear. Fear will go away from our life because if we fear God, we need fear and nothing else. No circumstance, no person, nothing, nothing at all.

Not sickness, not poverty, nothing. It's so important to see that fear is not from God. Please remember that every day of this year.

And you heard from me now how we can get rid of it. If we bask in the sunshine of God's love and reverence Him. The other word used here in the NASB is timidity.

You know, that two words obviously the meaning of that Greek word has got two English words, fear and timidity. God has not given us the spirit of timidity. Now many Christians mistake timidity for humility.

They are poles apart. Humility is given by God, timidity is given by the devil. Don't confuse the two.

Don't think if you are timid, that's godly, that's ungodly. Because that's not from God. Timidity, timidity, you know, in many, many areas.

But I think particularly of, first of all, let me think of it in our relationship to God. I must reverence God, but I must not be timid and scared, you know, and come like a beggar wondering whether He'll ever do this for me. There are some songs which, as I've got a greater understanding of my Heavenly Father, I sing a little differently.

Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by.

Don't you feel so nice when you sing that song? This is how I sing it. You won't pass me by, O gentle Savior. You'll hear my humble cry.

While on others You are calling, You will not pass me by. Do you see the difference? One is an expression of faith, and the other is an expression of a cringing beggar. Will you give me 50 paisa in my can, please, God? Imagine if my five-year-old son came to me and, Daddy, will you please give me some bread today? I'm very hungry.

I'd say, What's wrong with you, son? Do you know that many of your prayers are like that? O God, will you please heal this sickness? I don't know whether you'll do it. I'm a little beggar. Can you please put 50 paisa into my can? I don't blame you.

I'm not fit to throw stones because I used to pray like that myself. He who is without sin cast the first stone. I was ignorant because I never had a spiritual father to tell me that's not faith.

Faith is to say, Lord, in Jesus Christ, you have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. That's Ephesians 1.3. That's not pride. To confess what God has written in His Word is not pride.

I want to say to you, confess what God's written in His Word. I'm not asking you to confess stupid things like God's going to give me a big house or a big car, all those stupid things that television evangelists tell you to play. I'm asking you to confess what's written in His Word.

God has blessed me with every blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1.3. He chose me before the foundation of the world to be holy before Him. Ephesians 1.4. All things are going to work together for my good.

Romans 8.28. Instead of me going, Oh Lord, will you please make all things work together for my good. I'll say, go and read Romans 8.28. You see why so often our prayers are not answered because we come like cringing beggars and the way we say it itself shows us we are full of unbelief. We don't know whether God will ever do it.

Even when the blind men came to Jesus and said, please heal our eyes, Jesus said, do you believe I'll do that for you? And many a times in our prayers, the Lord is asking us, do you believe I'll do that for you? Oh, you're timid. God has not given us a spirit of timidity. So know the promises.

The trouble with a lot of preaching of faith today is they're asking God, claiming things that God has never promised. That's where I disagree with them. But I agree with the boldness which they emphasize we must have, but for claiming things God has promised.

I can't go and ask God for things he's not promised. No amount of faith is going to bring any hair on my head. But I will have it one day when Christ comes and it'll all be black, by the way.

You can be pretty sure of that. I've got to wait for that. I'm not foolish and stupid to say, well, I'll look nice, Lord, with hair and I'll look nice without glasses.

No. But I do say, Lord, sin will not have dominion over me. You told me to put away all anger, Ephesians 4 31, I believe you'll help me to do it.

So there's zero anger left in my life. 366 days of 2012. That I want.

And it doesn't matter if I lose all my hair. I want to lose all my anger. Dear brothers and sisters, what is it you value in your life? Do you value your hair? Do you value your appearance? More than to be godly? How much time and effort you ladies particularly try to beautify yourself.

I wish you'd spend half that time every day to seek God to be free from sin. Sin is destroying your personality. Come to God in faith, not in timidity.

Oh, I don't know. I tried so long to overcome this sin. It's been so many years.

This anger. My dad had it. Granddad had it.

I suppose there's no hope for me. There's plenty of hope for you if you're in Christ. But my father was a believer.

But maybe he didn't have faith that God would deliver him from it. Timidity. There's a lot of timidity in a lot of prayers.

We must come to God in faith. Are you concerned? Some of you who are growing old and a lot of complaints of old people, particularly in India, is, Brother Zach, my children don't care for me. I brought them up so carefully.

They've all left, and they're all running after their wives and children now. And we old parents, nobody cares for us. I'll give you a promise, all of you old people who have such fears.

I mean, I'm still young. I'm only 72, but people who are old. But some of you who are old here, let me give you a promise.

It's from Isaiah 46. And verse 3 and 4. I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born. This is the Lord saying.

From the day you were a little baby, I carried you in the middle of that verse 3. And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old. And I'll be there bearing you when you're old and gray. I've done it, and I'll keep on doing it, carrying you on my back and saving you.

Happy? Don't look to your children now. Look to the Lord. I tell you, there are a lot of attitudes even so-called Christians have, which are completely contrary to Scripture.

We must go to God with boldness and faith. Lord, you've written that in your word to Israel, and today I'm not under the old covenant, I'm under the new covenant. How much more you'll care for me? When you're sick, ask Jesus to heal you.

When I'm all alone, sometimes I'm sick with something, I say, Lord, I've got to get up and speak now. I lay my hands on my head and say, in Jesus' name, Lord, heal me. Do it.

When your children are sick, lay your hands on them in Jesus' name and pray for their healing. Let your children know that we believe in asking God to heal us. We trust him, that he's a loving father.

God has not given us the spirit of timidity. No more timidity in our life. You know, you've got to check some of the songs you sing.

There's another song which, where's that from? Remember not the sins of my youth. Remember not. Yeah, Psalm 25.

Remember not the sins of my youth. And verse seven. You know how I sing it? Lord, you won't remember the sins of my youth.

Is that a difference? A world of difference for me. You won't remember the sins of my youth. You can sing it the same tune.

But it's a world of difference. Remember not. Oh God, I don't know whether you might, but please don't.

Timidity. And the last line says, let not my enemies triumph over me. My enemies will not triumph over me.

That's how I sing it. See the difference between timidity and faith? Oh, don't let my enemies triumph over me. They might, Lord, I don't know.

But my enemies will not triumph over me. The lusts in my flesh, the demons, none of them. Those are my enemies.

I don't have any enemies on the earth. Somebody once asked me, how many friends do you have? I said at least seven billion. They're growing every day all over the world.

I don't have any enemies. Even the people who consider me their enemy, they're not my enemies. My enemies are in the lusts in my flesh, the devil and the demons.

They will not triumph over me because my Savior defeated them all on the cross, once and for all. There should be no timidity in your life this year. Okay, now we move forward in 2 Timothy 1, and verse 7. But God has given us the spirit of power.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. I've used that illustration before, how in the Old Testament, man was like a, the great prophets also were like an inverted cup, and the Holy Spirit was poured upon that cup, and it flowed out like rivers, blessing thousands of people. But the inside of the cup remained dirty because the cup was upside down.

On the day of Pentecost, God turned the cup up, right side up, and poured the Spirit inside the cup, cleaned up the inside, and like Jesus said, from the innermost being, the rivers of living water flow in many directions. World of difference. Moses blessed people, Jeremiah blessed people, and Paul blessed people, but there was a difference.

John the Baptist was the greatest under the Old Covenant, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven can rise greater than him, because now his inside can be clean. He doesn't have to just kill Goliath and be defeated by Bathsheba. No.

He doesn't have to just kill the Philistines and be defeated by Delilah. No. From the inside.

Power for the inside, and power to serve. Power to live like Jesus, and power to serve like Jesus. Not to have the same ministry he had.

You can't even have the same ministry I have. No. I can't have the ministry you have.

God wants only one of you in the body of Christ. God wants only one Zak Poonen in the church, in his body. He doesn't want more than one.

Don't try to imitate me and destroy your own ministry. It would be like the hand trying to imitate the eye and trying to see. Can't see.

But it can do wonderful jobs which the eye cannot do. And if you concentrate on the gift God's given you in the body of Christ, you'll be able to do things I can't do, because God's not gifted me for that. The trouble with a lot of Christians is they are trying to imitate somebody else's gift.

It's a mark of immaturity. You know how a little three-year-old tries to his father's suit and pant and all that and trips all over? That'll happen to you if you try to imitate somebody. Imitation will lead you to death.

I love that verse in Hebrews 11 which warns us about it. Please remember this word of warning in relation to imitation. Hebrews 11, verse 29.

By faith, the Israelites walked through the Red Sea as if it was dry land. The Egyptians imitated them and got drowned. What a wonderful verse.

A warning. By faith, the Israelites went through in dry land. The Egyptians imitated that and drowned.

So here's a man who's got faith to do certain things. You imitate that, you'll drown. I've even told people in our own elders, I said there are certain things God has burdened me to preach against, particularly corrupt Babylonian Christianity and corrupt Babylonian preachers.

Don't do that unless God gives you that ministry. Don't do it because you say Brother Zach does it. You try to imitate that, you'll drown.

I do it because God's called me to do it. I know my calling. You need to know your calling.

So power does not mean that you will have power to do what somebody else does. I can't do what Jesus did. That was his ministry.

Walking on water, raising the dead, and healing the lepers. But I've got a particular ministry in the body of Christ. I can't do what Mother Teresa does.

I can't do what the Apostle Paul does. But I can do what God's called me to do. And if you realize that God's given you a particular ministry in the body of Christ, you need power to do it.

See, it's like if a hand is paralyzed, is it a part of the body? Yes. Does the blood flow through it? Yes. But is it useful? No.

And you can be like that. A part of the body of Christ, cleansed in the blood of Christ, but useless. What do you need? What does this hand need? Power.

And when it gets power, it won't become a tongue and start speaking. It'll become a hand. And when you get power, you may not become a preacher like me.

You may be a good mother. You're calling in the body of Christ. Power.

Power to live. Power to overcome sin. Power to serve others, to bless others, to deliver people who are oppressed by the devil.

It says in Acts 10, 38, God anointed Jesus with power. He went around doing good. Power to do good to people who do evil to us.

Power to bless those who curse us. You really need power for that. God has given us power.

And he's also, it says here in 2 Timothy 1, 7, he's given us a spirit of love. Power without love is dangerous. It's like these electric wires.

If they were bare, open electric wires without any insulating rubber around it or plastic around it, we'd die. You'd accidentally touch it and be electrocuted. That's why all electric wires are covered with plastic or rubber covering so that it's insulated.

Power without love is dangerous. Gifts of the Holy Spirit without love, dangerous. That's why 1 Corinthians 13 comes smack in the middle of two chapters on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, chapter 12 and chapter 14.

Many people haven't understood that. Paul says, I'll tell you all about the gifts of the Spirit, but I want to show you a more excellent way to exercise those gifts, and he talks about love. God has given us a spirit of power and of love.

We need both. We need truth and we need grace. So when God, if you try to seek God for power and not for love, you will destroy people, not bless them.

We need to be anointed with the spirit of power and the spirit of love, and if you find, for example, that you can't forgive somebody. I've heard people tell me, oh, I just can't forgive that person, he's done so much evil to me. I'll tell you, brother, sister, what you need, the spirit of love.

You can't produce it, but God can give you the spirit of love. He says, God gives it. I agree.

You can't forgive that person because he did such a terrible harm to you or to your children or something like that, and you find it so difficult to forgive. You're like those disciples who have tried, tried, tried, tried. You tried to forgive.

Those disciples tried, tried, tried to catch fish, and they caught zero. And the Lord said to them in the morning, children, have you got any fish? No, Lord. And the Lord says to you, my son, my daughter, have you been able to forgive that person? You say, no, Lord.

I'll fill your boat with fish. Cast your net on the other side. Immediately, in a moment, spirit of love will make you forgive, love the most unloving person, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.

I'm not preaching what I haven't practiced. God's given me enough practice with a lot of people who have tried to harm me in many ways. But I found the spirit of love conquers.

And just the spirit of love that conquered all the hatred on the cross of Calvary. There's a great verse in Song of Solomon, which I love in this connection. God has given us the spirit of love.

What type of love is it? Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 6. Love is as strong as death. Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verse 6, in the middle. Love is as strong as death.

And the jealousy it speaks about here is that jealous love of God. God's love is a jealous love. That love is like flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.

And listen to this, verse 7. Many waters cannot quench that love, and rivers cannot overflow it. Have you seen a fire? Have you ever seen a fire where even a river cannot quench that fire? All these firefighters, they just put a hose on those buildings and the fire is quenched. Think of a fire which you send a river upon it and it is not quenched.

That's the love of God. All the hatred that people flung upon Christ on Calvary were like rivers, but the flames still burnt. Rivers could not quench it.

I want that. That's the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Jesus and said on the cross, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.

It's the same Holy Spirit whom God has given to me to fill me. And I speak with a new language. You know what it is? Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.

That's not the language of human beings. I'll tell you that. They shall speak in new languages.

Don't be satisfied merely with the gift of unknown languages. Speak with this new language, the language of forgiveness and love. It says about Peter, when he denied the Lord three times and he was feeling so miserable because the Lord had warned him.

He thought he was so strong. And he was feeling so miserable there. And at that moment, it says in Luke 22, Jesus turned and looked at Peter.

Beautiful verse. It was a look of forgiveness. It was a look that didn't have to say any words.

It's okay, Peter. It's okay, you're forgiven. It's okay, don't worry.

Press on. Is there somebody on earth who's waiting for a look of forgiveness from you? The way you look, you know. A look which says, it's okay, it's all right, forget it.

Let's forget the past. What a wonderful day to begin the new year. What a wonderful way to look at people.

You need the spirit of love. Do you know the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Jesus in his earthly days, the ones who live, God's given to dwell in us. God's given us the spirit of love.

Otherwise, I can't do it. I can't love people who took me to court unless the spirit of love was in me. I can't love people who scandalize me and tell all types of false stories about me in Christian magazines unless the spirit of love is in me.

I can love them. I say, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.

They're ignorant. They heard stories and spread it without knowing the truth. It's all right, forgive them.

I can smile at it. Because I live before God. I don't care for the opinions of what people write about me.

God has given us the spirit of love, power, love, and the King James, it says sound mind, and here it says discipline or self-control. I think there are many things in that word, wisdom. I thank God for that.

He gives us a sound mind, a wisdom. Knowledge is different from wisdom. Knowledge is to know so many things in the Bible.

Wisdom is to know what to say, when to say it, how to say it. All that is not in knowledge. To know what to say, when to say.

If there's a storm in your house, you know what I mean. Don't try to give exhortations at that time. Whoever is causing the storm, whether your husband or your wife, that's not the time to sow the seed.

Go and ask any farmer whether he'll sow a seed when there's a storm. You say, why? Why don't you do it? I'm not a fool. It'll all be blown away.

I wait till the storm subsides, and then gently dig the ground and pour some water in, and then put the seed in, and lo and behold, wonderful plants come out of it. Let's learn from these farmers. Wisdom, self-control, it's all involved in that word.

I can hold back that word which I'm tempted to say. I don't have to say it. I can hold it back.

I can turn off the computer when I'm tempted to go to that site if there's no other way to do it. God has given me the power of self-control when I'm tempted with internet pornography. God, the same spirit that Jesus had who was tempted like you and me, spirit of self-control.

Satan, you're not going to lead me into that rubbish to put all that garbage into my mind in 2012 that you've done in past years. I've finished with you, Satan. God's given me the power of spirit of self-control and of discipline.

That's also involved in that word. I'm not going to be a glutton like I've been in past years. I'm going to be disciplined in my eating habits.

I'm going to be disciplined in my sleeping habits. When I need to get up and study the word, I'm going to get up and study the word. I'm going to be disciplined in making life easier for other people.

Don't make life difficult for your wife by throwing your clothes around and throwing your shoes here and there. I'm going to be disciplined. God's given me the spirit of discipline.

If you make an appointment with somebody, don't make that person wait endlessly because you're too lazy to start off in time to meet that person. I'm going to be disciplined this year. I'm going to be thoughtful about other people and that requires discipline on my part.

There's a lot that God can accomplish through us if we are disciplined. And if we don't have it, I go to God often and say, Lord, I don't have discipline in my life, but give me the spirit of discipline that Jesus had. Isn't it wonderful? God's not telling you, be disciplined, be powerful, be loving.

No. That's Old Testament. Don't do this, do this.

Ten commandments are full of that. Don't do this, do this, do this. New Covenant, the Lord says, I'll do it for you.

Ask me. God has given us a spirit of power and love and discipline. It's a promise, not a commandment.

You see the distinction between the two? I'm not telling you, be powerful, be loving, be disciplined. I'm saying, open yourself to God and ask him to give you the spirit of power, the spirit of love, the spirit of discipline, so the inside of the cup gets all purified and strengthened, and from there, rivers of living water flow in many directions. I wish you all a very blessed 2012.

And not only 2012, until Jesus comes, that we shall go a higher class every time this earth has revolved around the sun once. We're going to be promoted this year, right? Praise the Lord. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your encouragement. It's going to be different in this year. I know it's going to be different for me.

I confess that. And I believe many here are also going to confess that. Not because we have confidence in ourselves, we have zero confidence in ourselves, but because we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.

All that is ours is yours. And all that is yours is ours. I claim that for myself and for this church.

In Jesus' name, amen.