Controlling Our Tongue and Being Patient

Praise the Lord and let's bow before the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we know that all good gifts only come from you. We want to humble ourselves before you and not take anything for granted.

And we don't want this, even this prayer to be a ritual, but rather a real expression of our dependence upon you and our need of you every moment of the day. Help our lives to be a testimony for your name and one that glorifies you throughout our life. Bless every family here and those who are attending online and pray that everyone's need will be met in some supernatural way by you.

We are incapable of doing that. So we trust you, Heavenly Father, be glorified in our midst and be present in our midst, Lord Jesus, as a risen Lord and head of our church. Thank you, Father, for hearing us in Jesus name, Amen.

There's a great expression in Isaiah chapter 55, which we must always bear in mind and never forget. And more and more as we walk with the Lord, we realize the truth of that statement that the Lord makes here in Isaiah 55 and verse 8. The Lord says, my way of thinking is not your way of thinking. It's very important to understand that if we want to walk with the Lord, because sometimes we can think that God responds just the way human beings do.

And we can treat him like we treat some elder brother with respect, of course. But he's not an elder brother. He's Almighty God.

And he says, my way of thinking is not your way of thinking. And my way of doing things is not your way of doing things. So once we understand that, we'll be very careful anytime we witness for the Lord or try to share something with others or what we feel that the Lord is speaking to us.

We'll be very careful to say, this is what the Lord said to me. I find so many believers who so likely say the Lord said this to me, or the Lord said that to me, or the Lord said the other thing. Most of the time, I don't feel it was the Lord at all.

It was just their imagination. And so I am very hesitant to use that expression. In my younger days, when I was a little more stupid, I used it.

The Lord said this to me, and the Lord said that to me. I'm not saying God doesn't speak. He does.

He wants us to hear his voice. But you know, it's only the prophets in the Old Testament who could dare to say, thus said the Lord. So, but I believe God can speak to us and even speak through us, provided we understand his ways and his way of thinking.

And in order to do that, we must first of all understand this verse, that my way of thinking concerning any subject, the Lord says, is totally different from your way of thinking. Have you understood that? And my way of doing things is also totally different from your way of doing things. And if you think it's just a slight difference, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, not even 90 degrees.

It's 180 degrees different. The Lord says as high as the heaven of the above the earth. Or we could also say 180 degrees different from the way you think.

So, it's completely different. And I've discovered that more and more, and that's humbled me. And I'm not so quick now to say, this is what the Lord spoke to me.

And so many Christians likely say, the Lord said this to me, and the Lord said that to me. But I don't see much spirituality in their life. If the Lord really speaks to you, I mean, God's word is such a powerful thing that if a man is hearing God's speaking to him regularly, his life will be completely transformed.

And so, when I hear people saying that the Lord is saying this to me, and the Lord saying that to me, I have a big question because I don't see much progress in their spiritual life. So, please keep this in mind, dear brothers, all your life that God loves us immensely. And he wants to make us like him.

He wants to make us like Christ. And the way he makes us like Christ is by changing our way of thinking, so that it aligns more and more with his way of thinking. In everything, in every area, you know, our way of thinking, as I said here, is as different from the heaven and is from the earth.

One classic example is in the area of money. All human beings have a particular way of looking at money and thinking about money, including most believers. And God says, my ways are completely different from yours.

God knows that money is useful on the earth, but he doesn't make it important. So, there's a difference between using money and making it important. That's one area where God says, my way of thinking is very different from yours.

In other words, the way God looks at money, for example, is very different from the way human beings look at it. So, if I'm being conformed more and more into the likeness of Christ, I will find myself more and more looking at money the way God looks at it, as something useful to do a certain amount of work on this earth, you know, to take care of our families and things like that, but not something to be made so important in our life that we get very disturbed if we lose something or even if you lose your job. The Lord said, if you seek his kingdom first, every believer, that's a promise, if you seek God's kingdom first, he will definitely add everything to you.

And my brothers and sisters, we must be a living demonstration of that to an unbelieving world around us, that we have a father in heaven who cares for us. That has been my goal, you know, I've been 60 years now in full-time Christian work, never taking a salary from anyone, never depending on anyone, just like Jesus and Paul, they never took a salary, people gave them some gifts occasionally, but they didn't expect anything from anyone, and they didn't think that this person or that person would give anything. They trusted in their father completely, and I believe both of them had to live a very simple life, both Jesus and Paul, because they would not go out of the way to try and get money for themselves like lots and lots of preachers today.

So, that's just one area where if we align our mind to God's way of thinking, we will not be in a panic when money runs short or even if you lose a job. God will definitely provide for you. If you seek his kingdom first, all the other things will be added to you.

We must keep these promises in our mind all the time. You've often heard me quote 1 Samuel 2 30, which is one of my favorite verses. Those who honor me, I will honor, says the Lord.

And you've heard me, so most of you heard me, but I'll repeat it again. What the way I say to the Lord is, Lord, your word says, and that's from 1 Samuel 2 verse 30, those who honor me, I will honor. Well, to the best of my knowledge, Lord, I'm trying to honor you.

If I'm not honoring you in some way, show me. I will definitely give up my own way and seek to honor you in every area. I want to honor you in the way I speak to people.

I want to honor you in the way I use my money. I want to honor you in the ways I use my time. And I want to honor you in every area of my life.

And when I'm trying to do that to the best of my ability, and Lord, if you don't honor me, that will be the first time in 6,000 years that you broke your promise. I say like that to my Heavenly Father. You know why? Just to assure myself that it won't happen, that he will not break his promise.

I say that more for my own, to strengthen my own faith. That I say it, and I really tell the Lord that, Lord, if I honor you and you don't honor me in that situation, it'll be the first time in 6,000 years that you broke your promise. And when I say it like that, my faith is strengthened.

How can he break his promise to me? If he said, those who honor me, I will honor. There are little things like this, my brothers. I wish somebody had told me this, what I'm telling you right now, when I was converted at the age of 19 and a half.

If somebody had told me this, wow, how different my life would have been, instead of my life was so up and down and up and down, because I never had a spiritual father to tell me these things straight. Trust God and honor him, and he will never let you down. So, I want to say that what I missed out in my life, I want to encourage all of you, lay hold of God.

He will not let you down. I'll tell you to every single one of you, and I want to say this. I don't know what most of you, I don't know, who are listening to me.

I don't know anything about your past life, even the ones I know. I don't know anything about your past life. I don't know how you have lived.

I don't know whether you have vaccinated a lot, or I don't know where you are today spiritually. I don't know how responsive you are to the word of God regularly. I don't know whether you all listen to God speaking to you every day at all.

I don't know. Even if you read the Bible every day, I don't know whether you listen to God. A lot of people who read the Bible every day, don't listen to God.

So, I really don't know anything about you. But I can say this, if you develop the habit of taking these little promises, I promise you, you don't have to know the whole Bible, but if you can know some of these promises God has given, and lay hold of them, your life can change completely. God's will is, and let me tell you this, I've been saying this repeatedly as this new year has begun.

Everywhere I encourage people to remember this verse. Please turn to 1 John and chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. And I've been emphasizing that many people, if you ask them, what is the hope you're looking forward to? And almost every believer will say, I'm looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ when I'll Him face to face. And I say, what else? Yeah, well, I'll go to heaven and I'll be with Him forever.

Well, I say, you've got half of it right, that you're waiting for the coming of Christ and to see Him face to face. But the second half is wrong. He's not coming here just to take us to heaven.

So, that's why I want you to turn to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. The Bible speaks about a hope. And to most Christians, the hope is to see the Lord when He comes back to earth. And I'll tell you, that was my hope too, for a long time till I began to study the scriptures.

And I discovered that is only half of the hope of the Christian, that when Christ comes again, I'll see Him face to face. There's a second part of that hope, which I've kept on emphasizing, maybe some of you have already heard me say it, but it is in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2, the last part. We know that when He appears, two things will happen, not one.

One, we will see Him as He is and everybody acknowledges. The second is more important really, we will be like Him, just as He is. So, in future, dear brothers, don't just make that a thing you get cupped in your head so that you give the right answer, because I'll just come to the implication of that in a moment.

But be gripped by the fact that our hope is twofold. One, that Christ will come back and I'll see Him and the second that at that time I will be like Him. Now, how do you know whether you have this hope? You heard me say this and say, yeah, I got it.

I can now tell everybody that my hope is twofold, that I will see Him and I'll be like Him. But it could be just a something in your head. There's only one way to find out whether you really have this hope, this double hope of seeing Him and being like Him.

And I'll tell you how to find out. The next verse, it says here, if you really have this hope, everyone without exception, if they have this hope, this is what they'll do. They'll keep on purifying themselves till they reach Christ's standard of purity.

Everyone who has this hope will keep on purifying himself until he reaches Christ's standard of purity. So my question is, are you purifying yourself? Every day of your life, are you seeking to judge yourself wherever you find yourself behaving in an un-Christlike way or speaking to somebody in an un-Christlike way? Maybe speaking to your wife or your husband in an un-Christlike way, in a way Jesus would never speak. Or usually we take advantage of those who are very close to us, our family members.

We tend to take more liberties with them by being un-Christlike in our conversation with them, where we are very courteous and more Christ-like in our conversation to other people in the church. You examine yourself and see if that is not true. You know why? Because we want to have a reputation in the church as being wonderful Christians.

But you have no desire to have a reputation with your wife. You couldn't care less whether your wife or your husband, things like that. You say, well, we are married forever.

It doesn't matter what she thinks of me, what he thinks of me. But that's pathetic if that is your attitude. Our aim should be to be Christ-like.

And let me say this, it must begin in your home. It must begin with your marriage partner. And if you're not married, it must begin with the way you behave towards your parents and your relatives in your home.

Because those are the ones you see every day. The people in the church you see once or twice a week. And then also for just a couple of hours in a whole week, you see the people in the church.

I mean, you're sitting with the people in the church maybe for one and a half hours, one and a half hours, two meetings, three hours. And out of those three hours, you may meet most of them for maybe five minutes. That's it.

You evaluate, for example, in the last one week, how many believers have you spent more than five minutes with one-on-one? Even if you go to church regularly, very few, very little. But think of the number of hours we spend with our loved ones at home. That is where we have to purify ourselves.

Like it says here, I have a hope that I'm going to become like Jesus one day. And the proof of that is I'm purifying myself every day. If I slip up in one word that was not wise in the way I spoke to somebody, I want to judge myself.

And if I hurt somebody, I want to immediately ask forgiveness because I want to make my life absolutely clean. In every area, this is the mark of a person who is serious about his Christianity. So as I said, the hope is twofold.

One is that I shall see him face to face. And second, that I shall be like him. And let's not assume.

That's another thing I warn people, you know. Many people say we are preaching a principle of selection, that the Lord will not accept all his children equally. I'm not here to decide that because I'm not the Lord.

My duty is only to proclaim God's word. And I'll tell you what God's word says, and I'll tell you it straight. When the Lord comes, not every believer is going to be ready to meet him.

Please take that personally. Take it to yourself. You may be one of those who's not ready to meet the Lord when he comes.

And other preachers may not tell you straight like this because they don't love you enough. I love you enough to tell you the truth. And I'll tell you where I get it from.

That when Christ comes, there'll be two types of believers, one who are ready to meet him, one who are not ready to meet him. Not unbelievers. That's what I understand.

Believers and unbelievers will be separated. But I'm talking about born-again believers. Born-again believers who are not ready to meet him.

Maybe some of you are listening to me right now. And some who are ready to meet him. See that in 1 John chapter 2. Just the five verses before what we read.

Same few verses before in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 28. You've heard me this before. Then please listen to it again.

Little children. He's speaking to believers, not unbelievers. Abide in him.

That means stay in him. And when I read the word abide, I remember what Jesus said. Like the branch abides in the tree all the time.

The branch doesn't take a holiday once in a while. He doesn't break off from the tree even for one minute. It's all the time ensuring that it is in the tree.

And the sap keeps on flowing and beautiful fruit comes out. You know that fruit is produced in a branch effortlessly. This is very important to understand.

It's not by the branch struggling, struggling to produce fruit. The sap, the tree takes the responsibility for that. Very important to understand this picture.

I'll tell you because it has helped me tremendously that it is not my responsibility to become Christ-like. It's not my responsibility to struggle and struggle and become behave more like Jesus. The vast majority of Christians, even in CFC, listen to the message and say, I must behave and become more Christ-like.

Brother, you can't. You first of all realize that all your struggle will never make you Christ-like. What the Lord wants you to do is abide in him like the branch in the tree and the sap from the tree.

The Holy Spirit will flow into you and it'll be effortless. Will flow into you and produce amazing fruit in your life and in your ministry. It'll be entirely his work and the branch will get no glory for it.

The glory will go entirely to the tree that produced that fruit. See, this is the true Christian life. So little children, 1 John 2, 28, abide in him, stay stuck to him.

If you do that, then you'll be ready. Otherwise, you won't be ready. So that when he appears, we may have confidence and boldness at his coming.

Oh, Lord, thank you. At last you've come. I can be like you now.

And then there'll be another group of believers, not little children, 1 John 2, 28. Another group that shrinks away in shame. What did you think when you read that verse? Did you consider that you could be in that number? You're a born-again believer and you could be one of those who shrinks away in shame.

You said that doesn't, that was not written for believers, wasn't it? Read it again. Little children don't shrink away in shame when he comes. Who are these little children? They're not unbelievers.

So that you don't shrink away in shame at his coming. I believe with all my heart that when Christ comes, among the believers, all Christendom says there'll be two groups, believers and unbelievers, and all the believers will be taken up. Fine, they can believe what they like.

I believe 1 John 2, 28. And I preach it. In fact, I preach a lot of things that other Christians don't preach because I believe it exactly as it's in the Bible.

1 John 2, 28. I say all believers, some will not be ready to meet him. Some will shrink away in shame when Christ comes.

Do you believe that you could be in that number? I want to fear because I don't want to be in that number. I want to be in those who say, Oh Lord, I'm excited that you've come and not shrink away in shame. Why do they shrink away in shame? Because there was something in their life they did not settle.

They heard it again and again. And in CFC churches, you hear it repeated again and again and again. If you've got a grudge against somebody, forgive that person.

If you have hurt somebody, go and ask forgiveness and forgive everybody on the earth. There's no, you should never not have a grudge against anybody in the world. I don't mind repeating that a thousand times because I believe some people will listen to it and become ready for the Lord's coming because of that.

So I don't want to get, I do not want to get a reputation of a preacher who preaches something new every time. No, I want to get a reputation before the Lord that I prepared God's people for his coming more than to get a reputation that I always preach something new. I'll tell you, the vast majority of preachers have got a tremendous desire to get a reputation that I preach something new in every meeting.

I was like that in my younger days too. When I was immature and I did not know the Lord, then I was more dependent on the approval of men. And I always wanted a reputation that I'm preaching something new, not the same old thing.

I've finished with that. I'm a servant of God and my calling is not to get a reputation myself of preaching something new. My calling is to prepare God's people for his coming and to prepare all of you to be ready when he comes.

And that's why I emphasize some of these things. Dear brothers and sisters, seek to purify yourself like it says in 1 John 3.3. And let me tell you one area that I've been emphasizing a lot in these days after this new year has begun. The Bible says we are to press on to perfection.

On the pulpit of our church in Bangalore, we put these words, let us press on to perfection. A lot of people accuse us saying, Brother Zach, you people think you're perfect. I say, no, just read what's on the pulpit.

When I say let's press on to perfection, we are the ones admitting we are not perfect. How can you accuse us of saying we are perfect? We are not. But we are pressing on to perfection, unlike a lot of other Christians who sit in the same class year after year after year.

Let me ask you a straight question, those of you who are parents. How happy will you be if even one of your children sat in the same class next year as in the past year? I don't think you'll be happy. You want your children to get promoted every year.

But I want to tell you, God wants us to be promoted in likeness to Christ every year. In other words, we need to evaluate ourselves in relation to last year. Have I become a little more Christ-like? And those who are married have got a great advantage.

Ask your wife. She'll be honest with you. Ask your husband.

He'll be honest with you, whether you've become more Christ-like in the last one year or you're just the same or perhaps worse. Very important that somebody who's honest with us will tell us what they think of our conduct and our behavior and our attitudes, because this is very, very important. And in this pressing on to perfection, there are a couple of verses I want to point out now to you.

Which speak about how we can become perfect. One is in James chapter 3. Our goal is to press on to perfection, that is to become like Christ. And here it says in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. Please look at this verse.

We all stumble in many ways, which is true in our thoughts, attitudes, motives, words, actions. We all stumble in many ways, but it says if you can control yourself in one area, not 25 areas, one area. If you can control your tongue every day, 24 hours a day, in what you speak, you're a perfect person.

Imagine a word which says that I can be perfect. Why here on the earth? If I control my tongue, the Bible says such a man is a perfect man. You think that word is written in everybody's Bible? Sure.

And yet why is it that so many Christians don't pursue perfection in their speech? If a student was told that in the final examination, this is going to be the main subject that you're going to be examined in. There are 10 different subjects, but this particular subject will be the most important. You'll get 90% in this subject and 10% for all the other nine subjects.

Which will you concentrate on? Supposing your child is told in school, one subject gets 90% marks, all the other nine subjects get only 10% marks, 1% each. But 90% for this particular subject, say mathematics, won't you get your children to concentrate on mathematics? They say it doesn't matter if you don't get to do well in the other subjects, but concentrate on mathematics. And here's what the concentrate to make sure your tongue is under control.

You are a perfect person. Listen, those are not my words. Let me read it to you.

We all stumble in many ways, but if anyone does not stumble in what he speaks, he's a perfect person, because that means he can control the whole body. Are you having a problem controlling the lusts in your body? You know, the secret of controlling sexual passion is by controlling the tongue. Have you ever heard that? It's in this verse.

If a person can control his tongue, he'll be able to control his whole body, all the other passions. What a promise. I say, Lord, I have a lot of passions in my body I want to control.

The Lord says, okay, begin with controlling your tongue. That means every time you're prompted by your flesh or the devil to say something and you pull it back, put your foot on the brakes. You're headed for an accident.

We know how to do that in a car. We're headed for a collision. We immediately press the brakes.

We must do the same with our tongue. You're suddenly provoked to say something in a particular situation to your wife or to your husband or to somebody in your office or a place of work. Press your brake immediately.

Press the brakes and don't say it. The day will come when the Lord will say you become perfect. If a man is able to bridle his tongue, he is a perfect man and will be able to bridle his whole body.

Have you ever thought of this word seriously? Please think about it seriously today. To become more like Christ, here is one area where we can all work on. And we'll slip up.

We're not going to become perfect tomorrow. But when you slip up, immediately set it right. If, for example, you slip up and you speak a rude word to your husband or wife, let me ask you a question.

Answer to yourself. How soon after you spoke that rude word do you go and apologize, saying, darling, I'm sorry that I spoke like that? You wait three or four hours, or do you go the very next minute? That shows whether you fear God or not. That shows whether you're sitting on your pride and on your reputation.

You say, to hell with my reputation. I don't want any reputation. I want to be like Jesus.

That's my goal. Not to get any type of reputation. Not even with my wife or husband.

Say, Lord, I want to be absolute. And if you do that, I tell you in Jesus' name, I tell you, a day will come very soon when you'll be able to control your tongue. And the reason you're not being able to do it till now is because you're not so quick to set things right as soon as you're prompted by the Holy Spirit within you.

So, let's work on that. That's one area where if you work on and say, and in your place of work as well, where people are in offices nowadays, people talk all types of rubbish. They're talking filthy things, sexual things, and stay clear of that conversation.

And be like a pure person, bringing purity into that midst so that when people are talking filthy stuff and they say, you come there, they'll stop. That's the reputation we should have. I wanted to have a reputation like that when I was in the Navy.

You know what sailors are like. Their language is filthy. And here I was in the midst of a ship with so many Naval officers and sailors around them who all they could think of was something impure.

And I said, Lord, I want to be such an influence that when I come there, they'll stop talking that. They'll say, oh, Zach has come. Let's not talk about that now.

Get a reputation like that in your office, that you're the type of person who's not interested in that type of conversation, and you'll pull away and go away. What a wonderful thing it is if the Lord can have lights like that burning for him in every single place. So that's the first area I want to emphasize in becoming like Christ in the control of our tongue and ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

I believe that's one of the significance of the gift of tongues given on the day of Pentecost. It's almost as though the Lord was saying, you know, when the Holy Spirit fell on them, we read, a tongue of fire came on top of their heads. Have you read that in Acts chapter 2? A tongue in the shape of fire, a fiery tongue sat on everybody's head.

It was not a fiery hand or a fiery leg or a fiery ear. It was a fiery tongue. God took one part of the body and made it fiery and put it on top of their heads as if to tell them from today onwards, the main part of your body that I want to control is your tongue.

That to me is one of the significance of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost. It's not just a gimmick. It's not something that will make you spiritual, and I'll tell you why.

The most spiritual man that walked on the earth, Jesus Christ, never spoke in tongues. So, you don't become spiritual by speaking in tongues, and if you're spiritual, you don't have to speak in tongues, because Jesus was the most spiritual person that walked on the earth. But it is a gift that God gives to some people.

Not everybody has it, and we leave it just like the gift of preaching. God gives it to some people, the gift of healing God gives to some people, the gift of praying. I've discovered that also.

We all pray, but some people have a special gift of praying. I've seen that with some people. I wish I could be like them, but I can't.

You know, I can be like that only if God gives me that gift. Just like somebody can preach like me only if God gives them that gift. Everything is a matter of gift.

And so, if we recognize this and say, Lord, I want to control my tongue, and I want to apologize as soon as I slip up even slightly towards anybody, I will only immediately apologize. I tell you this, if you follow this simple rule, that as soon as it happens with anyone, you will apologize. You mark my word.

Your language will become completely different in one month. In the next four weeks, your language and your speaking will become so pure because you've decided to immediately set it right. It's the same thing with lusting with the eyes.

As soon as you're tempted, you're lusting, you turn your eyes away. If there was the slightest impurity, immediately you confess it. In one month, you'll be a different person in the area of sexual purity, all men.

Believe me, it will be true. If you don't believe, just try it out for one month and see what happens. Your thought life will become so pure that you'll be able to hear God very clearly.

Okay. The second area, so perfection is 1 John 3, 2. If any man does not stumble in his speech, he is a perfect man. What an expression.

And the second thing is also in James, and that is in chapter 1. You know, it's interesting that James speaks so much about being perfect. In James chapter 1, he says in verse 4, and in the, I think it's the King James version, it says, let patience. Here it says, let endurance in the areas be.

Let patience have its perfect result in you so that you will become perfect. So one is the use of the tongue, 1 John chapter 3 verse, sorry, James chapter 3, verse 2, by which we become perfect. And the other is we become perfect by becoming patient.

And boy, all of us get plenty of opportunity to practice becoming patient, right? Especially if you're living with troublesome people. Why does a husband ever complain that my wife is such a troublesome person? He's just like, I've got wonderful opportunities to learn patience in my house. Why does a wife complain that her husband is such a troublesome person? Instead, she should be saying, I've got wonderful opportunities to become perfect in my house.

Because I'm all, my patience is being tested and tempted all the time, and I'm determined by the power of the Holy Spirit to become patient. Why do you get upset with people who provoke you? Opportunity to become patient, brother, sister. And if you, it says here, if you allow the Holy Spirit to do that work in you, you will become a perfect person.

You know, ever since I read one many years ago, in this word in Hebrews in chapter 6, in Hebrews 6, and I, you know, when I started reading the Bible, NASB was not published, which I use now. That was way back in 1959. It was only King James Version in those days.

So, a lot of my language is from the King James Version. And in the King James Version, I read in Hebrews chapter 6, verse one, let us leave aside the elementary fundamental principles of Christ and let us press on to perfection. Here it says maturity.

Let us press on to perfection. That gripped me. Lord, I want to press on to perfection.

Paul said, forgetting the things that are behind, I want to press toward the mark. That mark is perfection. And in that connection, I told you two things here.

Both in the book of James, one is control your tongue, and the other is be patient in every situation and ask the Holy Spirit's help in that. You can't do it without the Holy Spirit's help. That's why there's no such command in the Old Testament, because nobody could keep it.

The Old Testament commandments were don't commit adultery, don't kill anybody, don't steal, don't tell lies, and all these external things. In the New Testament, the commandments are all inward. Control your tongue.

Be patient with people, because that's how we go into perfection. You cannot go into perfection just by not murdering and not telling lies and all that external stuff. That's being under the law.

The law could make nobody perfect. But now the Lord is doing a work through the Holy Spirit to make us perfect. And you must have a passion.

If you're a real disciple of Jesus, you must have a passion to be perfect. And to all of you, I say in Jesus' name, if you don't have a passion to be perfect, permit me to say this. Don't get insulted.

You're a disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ. You certainly are. If you don't have a passion to become perfect, even if you're a young person, I wish you'd be gripped by the fact I want to be perfect in my life.

You won't get there overnight. But if you work at it, work at it, you'll find the end of 2026 finds you way ahead. You would have made more progress in this year than all the past years.

If you say, Lord, I want to press on to perfection. I want to learn to control my tongue. I want to learn to be patient in all the situations that you're going to set up for me in this coming year to teach me that lesson.

These are the two subjects I want to get good marks in. And please help me. And I tell you, God will take you seriously.

And as a result of that, tremendous blessings will flow from you. It's the imperfection in our life that prevents the rivers of living water from flowing out. I believe that the Holy Spirit, if you've accepted Christ, Holy Spirit has come inside you, but he's not able to flow out through you because there are all these rocks and garbage, I call it, of imperfection and uncontrolled tongue, all blocking the river from flowing out.

Imagine if all that gets washed out and the rivers of living water start flowing out. You'll be a, you mark my words and you can call me up on that by the end of this year and see if it's not true, that you can be a different person by the end of this year. Take this new year very much more seriously than you took any year in the past.

Say, Lord, I'm determined. I want to be more Christ-like this year. I want to be ready for your coming.

I want to become like you and I want to purify myself more and more and more. Okay, and I want to turn to one more verse in 1 Corinthians and chapter 13. We saw, do you remember the two things we mentioned in James? If you can control your tongue, you're a perfect person.

And if you allow patience to have its work in you in the different provocative situations you face, you will become perfect. And now when it speaks about love is the greatest. Love is the greatest.

That is the last verse of 1 Corinthians 13. Love is the greatest. So I've sometimes asked people, what is the chapter on love? A lot of Christians know 1 Corinthians 13.

All the characteristics of love are mentioned there. What is the number one characteristic of love mentioned there? You know, I'll tell you. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 4. Love is patient.

Love is not just saying nice things to people or getting them gifts or anything else. Love is number one patient. That means you can bear with people who provoke you.

You can bear with people who are not efficient. Who are not as efficient as you. Who like to say, get on your nerves.

They used to get on my nerves. They don't get on my nerves anymore because I've learned to be patient. Other people who get on your nerves, work on it so that you'll be a different person by the end of this year.

That you can handle any number of people who try to get on your nerves. I tell you honestly, nobody can get on my nerves now. Let me give you a little testimony.

I had three New York conferences in the last week or two because there were New Year meetings everywhere. One was in the CFC in the state of Kerala in India. The other was CFC conference in the state of Tamil Nadu in India.

And the third was in our big church in Bangalore in India. And something very similar happened in all three meetings. Something went wrong with the internet Zoom connection.

Not for one or two minutes. In one case of 45 minutes, we were sitting there. It was struggling along.

I couldn't speak a word. Another place, it was about half an hour. Another place for 15, 20 minutes.

It's significant that the New Year began like that for me in three places. And by the grace of God, it did not disturb me one bit. I said, well, praise the Lord.

There must be something God's trying to teach everybody through this. And I did not get one bit irritated with all those people controlling these things. I said, we all make mistakes.

And what can we do? I say, in the midst of such situations, you know what I said? I said, Lord, I thank God for Zoom. Why should I complain that it's held up for half an hour or so? Because five years ago, I could not have seen them even for one minute. But now that Zoom has come out 10 years ago, we never had all this.

But we have this, I'm very thankful. Sometimes when we have a privilege for a long, long time, we get upset and irritated when I don't have it every minute the way I want it. That's what happens.

I find this, you know, I spent 80 years in India, and I drove on all the roads in India. And I tell you, that's another place you can learn patience. If you drive on the roads in India, boy, you really do.

And then I come here to America, and I find everything so orderly, and everybody's in their lane, and they wait for others, and all that. There's no such thing in India. In India, it's the survival of the fittest.

Whoever is the fastest and the fittest on the roads survives. So but I tell you, I learned patience there, driving, and I drove there for so many years, and I learned some patience. But I say, God plans our lives and everything.

So I say these, when there was all these delays. And so how do you think I started my message in all these three places? I'll tell you, in all those three places, I said, dear brothers and sisters, you all know that the chapter on love is 1 Corinthians 13. What is the first characteristic of love mentioned in that chapter? And they all learned something that day.

Love is patient. So were you loving during this half an hour break or 45-minute break? Or did you get worked up and upset with the people who are organizing it or upset with the whole internet system? Or were you perfectly at rest? God is in control, and I will not let this disturb me. In the olden days, I would get disturbed, I admit.

I'd get disturbed with people saying, why aren't you more efficient and all this? I died to that completely. And I want you to come to that place where, and you know, in all three cases, they wrote letters of apology to me. Oh, brother Zach, we're so sorry that we delayed you.

I said, not at all. Don't worry. It didn't disturb me one bit.

I think we've become more spiritual through all this. Our aim in life is not to have a perfect internet connection. I said, our aim in life is to become Christ-like, to be more patient.

And if that was accomplished, I don't care whether the internet worked properly or not. Please remember that in future when you face some situation where things don't work out exactly as you anticipated in this coming year, or somebody who doesn't do things exactly the way you do it, maybe you're a very efficient person, and the other person is not. And there are a lot of people in this world who are not efficient.

We've got to bear with that. I remember when I used to sometimes in India, you know, we fix an appointment with somebody and say, okay, we'll meet with such and such a time. And, you know, because I was in the military for 11 years, I'm always on time, or at least five minutes early.

And invariably, some of these brothers would turn up late, sometimes half an hour late and say, oh, brother, I'm sorry. And I tell you, I learned some patience there. When people don't turn up to a meeting with you, fixed an appointment with somebody and they don't turn up on time.

Think of James chapter one, let patience have its perfect work in you, that you will become perfect. Don't complain against that person. God is in control.

It's a wonderful life, the Christian life. The devil can never get power over you. Your flesh can never overpower you.

If you understand the truth of God's word and say, Lord, I want to live by that. God has given us his word to live by. And I'll tell you this, he will give you the power of the Holy Spirit to do everything that I have spoken to you so far.

I think I'll stop there. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we believe with all our heart that you never give us a command which you will not give us the power of the Holy Spirit to obey.

Impossible. Heavenly Father, you will always give us the power of the Holy Spirit to do what you have commanded. I believe that with all my heart.

Our callings may be different, our function in the body is different, but every member of the body I know is called to be patient. And I believe that you will help each one of us to pursue that. Each one in the body is called to control their tongues.

So particularly these two areas, Lord, in patience in all circumstances and the control of our tongues in every situation, please help us in these two areas every day of this year so that by the time we come to the 31st of December, we become a lot more spiritual than we are today. That's your goal and we want that to be our goal too. We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.