Discipleship and Faith - Part 2 (Video)

Jesus said in Matthew 28, Matthew 28 and verse 18, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Now, we all know that verse and that has never changed. I mean, Jesus said that nearly 2,000 years ago. And that's the first thing we must remember because that's connected with discipleship. That's why I'm saying it. And I'll show you in a moment. I want to ask all of you, do you really believe at a time like this when there's so much confusion and sickness and people dying all over the world and a pandemic and we don't know when it'll end, do you really believe that all authority right now in heaven and on earth is in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, our loving Savior, our elder brother? Do you really believe that our Father in heaven rules the universe even now? That's very, very important. Because if you don't get that right, we're going to get everything else wrong. It has to begin there. Because you see the next verse, therefore, go and make disciples. I told you it has got reference to discipleship. Why do I go and make disciples in different places? Why have I tried to do that the last 45 years? It's not because, oh, there's a great need and the people all over the world are dying without Christ. We thank God for the thousands of people who have come to the Lord in India who would have gone to hell if they hadn't heard the truth. And we thank God for the numerous people who have come to a life of victory over sin who would not have understood that if they had not heard. But that's not the reason why I go. I don't go to any place because there's a need. I don't go to make disciples because there's a need. Jesus said, all authority in heaven and earth is given to me. Will you come under my authority? I say, yes, Lord, completely. Then go and make disciples. The difference is when I come under the authority of the Lord Jesus, I can't go where I like. I can't go where people invite me. I can't do what I like. I can't speak what I like. I have to be under the authority of Jesus Christ, my Lord. 24 hours, not just when I'm speaking or when I'm going somewhere to preach. 24 hours when I'm living at home with my wife, when I'm eating my food and with my children or grandchildren or anything, I have to be under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you that can be true for you. It's not because I'm in full-time Christian ministry that applies to me. It applies to all of us. Every one of us must seek to make disciples, even your children can be witnesses in your school as you get opportunity or college. But remember this. It has to begin. Discipleship and making disciples must begin with recognizing the total authority of Jesus Christ in heaven and on earth. There's nothing that he cannot do. There's nothing outside his control. I feel that a lot, and faith also is based on that. You have to believe that our Father controls this universe, that Jesus Christ, our Lord, has got all authority. It's a matter of faith. So discipleship and faith are very closely connected with this verse, all authority in heaven and earth is given to the Lord Jesus. And I feel that many people do not become disciples and do not have faith because they haven't started with that verse. So let's begin there. What does it mean when it says Jesus Christ is sovereign ruler over the whole universe and everything in it? All our anxiety and fear, which is the opposite of faith, disappears when we recognize the authority of the Lord. And I tell you, you don't have to know a lot of the Bible to know that. You have to be humble to know it. A lot of the truths in scripture are not revealed to the clever and intelligent. A lot of people try to understand the Bible with their cleverness, and that's why they go astray. Let me show you another verse in Matthew chapter 11. In Matthew 11, he says in verse 25, not says, Jesus was praying and praising the Father. You know, Jesus had times of praise to his Father. He lived on earth as a man. And he says here in Matthew 11, verse 25, Jesus said, you know, he was, it says at that time, he was in verse 20, Matthew 11, 20, denouncing certain cities where his miracles had been done. Now you would think, or we would all think like this, that, oh, Jesus was living right here today in our midst, and we saw him with our eyes, and we saw him raise a dead man, or make a lame man walk, or open the blind eyes of a man. Our faith would increase like anything. No. The people who saw the maximum miracles in Israel, they saw with their own eyes, many of them, Jesus feeding 10,000 people, 5,000 men, plus women and children, with five loaves of bread, and two fish. He saw them, Jesus raising the dead, many people saw that. Lazarus coming out of the tomb. They saw Jesus opening the eyes of a man born blind, whom they had seen sitting on that street for years. They saw amazing miracles. At the end of it, all those people in Jerusalem, did they believe in him? No. They said crucify him. It's unbelievable. You see, how can anybody who saw such evident proof of the fact that he was the son of God, in fact, in Acts chapter 2, when Peter preaches the gospel, he says, the reason why God did these miracles through him was to attest the fact that he was the son of God. It was to attest it through those, God attested it in Acts 2, 22, with signs and miracles. It was God, the miracles were God's way of showing the world, this is my son, this is the son of God, believe in him. And yet, what did they do? They crucified him. And here we read that with all these miracles in Matthew 11, 20, that he did in Chorazin and Capernaum and Bethsaida, they didn't believe in him. He said the heathen in Tyre and Sidon are not Jewish people, they would have believed, but you haven't believed. Even Sodom and Gomorrah would have believed, he says in verse 23, but you haven't believed. How is it that Sodom and Gomorrah didn't have a Bible, and these Jewish people who had a Bible could not believe, and Jesus says Sodom would have believed. Very often, you know, we Christians think that God's got, that we have a hold on God that others don't have. I tell you, there are many God-fearing people among non-Christians who probably will come closer to him. Think of Cornelius, for example, in Acts chapter 10. That guy never had a Bible, but he knew God, and God sent an angel to talk to him and bring him to Christ. It's an amazing thing. What is it that these people had that other people didn't have? The Jews, I'll tell you, they did not have humility. Cornelius was a humble man. You remember the Roman centurion who came to Jesus and said, please come and heal my, in one place it says servant, in another place it says my child is sick, please come and heal him. And Jesus said, okay, I'll come to your house and heal him. You read that in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 7. Jesus said, I'll come and heal him. He had said in verse 6, my servant is sick, please. Some things I see here about this centurion. First of all, he traveled all the way to Capernaum from wherever he was living to ask Jesus to heal his slave. These Roman soldiers, they were like big kings. They didn't care for slaves. What type of military man is this who will care so much for his sick slave that he'll walk all the way, some miles to ask Jesus to heal him. That shows his humility and compassion for the poor. Such people have faith. And when he came and he said, Lord, please heal him. And Jesus said, yeah, I will come to your house and heal him. And look at his humility. Lord, verse 8, what would you have said if Jesus had said, I'll come to your house? You'd say, yeah, Lord, please come. I think all of us would say that. I see what the centurion says. Lord, I'm not worthy that a holy person like you should come to the house of a sinner like me. Do you have that sense of sin, my dear brothers and sisters, that you feel unworthy to come anywhere near Jesus Christ? Those are the people who have faith. And I've seen so many Christians, particularly when they have a little bit of Bible knowledge or they come to CFC and understand a little bit of victory over sin and they get so puffed up, they think they are better than others, they are better than all the heathen and better than people in other denominations. Well, no wonder you don't have faith because you don't have humility. You're moving closer and closer to becoming a Pharisee. Now, this man never knew the Bible. He didn't know anything about the Trinity or about God or anything. He was a heathen. But he heard about Jesus and he had some faith in him when he heard about what Jesus was doing. And he had such a compassion for his slave that he went to Jesus and he says, Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come to my house. No. You're too big a man, too holy a man. I'm such a sinner. But, you know, if you stand here, Lord, and just speak the word and 35 miles away, my servant will be healed. You don't have to come there. Because he says, you know, when I tell a soldier of mine, go, they go immediately. They don't wait. Or I tell him to come, he comes immediately. And I know you have authority over sickness like that. That sickness will hear you 35 miles away. Boy, Jesus said, turned around to all the people following him, including his own disciples, and he said, I have never seen such faith, Matthew 8, 10, anywhere in Israel. We're talking about discipleship and faith. How did this guy have faith? It was because he was a very humble man. He was very compassionate to others who were far beneath him in society. Yeah, God cares for such people who have compassion, who don't think that they're so high that they're bigger than others. And humility. And who feel that they're so unworthy to have Jesus even come to their house. You know, we, many Christians act so familiar with Jesus Christ as though he's some buddy of theirs. They can put their arm around him and hug him and say hi. And oh yeah, sure. Come to my house, Lord. I'm sure my house is worthy for you to come. Well, no wonder you don't have any faith. And Jesus respected this man so much. It's the only case where Jesus said, most of the, where he said, I've never seen a man with such faith with his own disciples. Most of the time you find him saying, oh, you have little faith, little faith. Those are the people who walked with them, who saw the miracles, who knew the Bible more than this Roman man. They didn't have faith. You think knowledge of the Bible brings faith. I've seen so many people have got such a tremendous knowledge of the Bible who have zero faith. They have Bible knowledge. The Pharisees and Sadducees had a lot of Bible knowledge. They didn't have faith. That's why they didn't enter the kingdom. There's so many Christians today. There's so many believers in CFC who know so much of the Bible, they can explain it to others. But when it comes to a tough situation, they don't have faith. They're full of anxiety and fear and so many other things. They don't, the reason they don't obey certain scriptures is because they don't have faith. When the Bible says, give up all murmuring and complaining, Philippians 2, 14 and 15. They say, no, that's impossible. Yeah. Well, that's because they don't have faith. They're so proud and arrogant. So we can understand all the theory of faith. You can listen to the message on faith yesterday and today and say, oh, I understood something. Understood what? Enough to preach to somebody else. That's not faith. It's in the tough situations of life. When others are anxious and fearful, that's where your faith is tested. When there's a storm in the lake, that's where the faith is tested. Not when we are sitting comfortably in an easy chair at home and everything's going well. So here we read. Jesus also said many will come Matthew eight and verse 11 from east and west. And they'll sit with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom. But those who think they are the sons of the kingdom. In those days, it was the Jewish people. Today's Christians will be cast out. I believe that so many, probably 95% of people who call themselves Christians will not be in God's kingdom. That's my conviction. You can agree or disagree with me. It doesn't matter. But that's what I believe because they're not become disciples of Jesus Christ. They're not interested. And don't think everybody who comes to CFC churches is going to be in God's kingdom. I don't think so. I know people in CFC churches well enough to say many of them are not serious disciples. They're coming along because it's a nice church to go to. They, they bring their families. They say, because, oh, there are nice children here. I'd like my children to grow up with these children. And they're nice people here. I'm in some difficulty. They'll come and help me. That's a club. Christian club. Believers club. It's not a church. They're not disciples. Dear brothers. Don't worry about others. Don't judge the others. Make sure you're a disciple. Make sure you have faith. That's all. I mean, because I'm an elder in a church, I need to have discernment about the people around me. And that's why I say what I say, but you don't have to go around saying that. You just make sure about your own life. Take heed to your own life and forget about all the others. But it's very, very important to recognize this. And so Jesus said to the centurion, verse 13, Go. It will be done for you exactly as you have believed. And the servant was healed that very moment. I'll show you something very interesting about this person's faith. It's a similar situation. I don't know whether it's the same or another situation, but I think it's the same one. In John chapter four, we read about this thing. Please turn with me to John chapter four. And we read here about Jesus in John chapter four, verse 46 onwards. There was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. And Jesus came to Cana. And now Cana and Capernaum, there's quite a distance, some miles away. And he says here in verse 46, clearly, Jesus came to Cana and the royal official, his home was in Capernaum. And when he heard that Jesus had come to Cana, he went to him. I don't know how many miles it is. So many miles he walked there. You can look at a map and see that it wasn't very far. He could easily do it in a couple of hours, perhaps, or even less than that. And he implored him to come and heal him. And Jesus said to him, go your way, your son lives. And he believed. And it says here in verse 50, he started off. He just believed it. The man, John chapter four, verse 50, he believed it. And he said, thank you, Lord. And he went off. And now this is the interesting part. When you read the scripture carefully, you'll see that as he was going, where was he going? From Cana to Capernaum, just a few miles away. And as he was going, he met his slaves coming and saying, hey, your son is healed. And now listen to this. Verse 52, very interesting. He inquired him, when did he get better? And the servant said, yesterday at the seventh hour. Seventh hour is one o'clock in the afternoon. Yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon. Then the father knew, verse 53, that it was yesterday at one o'clock in the afternoon that Jesus said, your son lives. It's not the same story as the other one, but see something here. Now, my question is, if your son is sick, and you go to Jesus, say 10, 15 miles away, and he says your son lives, and your son is seriously sick, won't you rush home? This man came to meet these servants the next day. From one o'clock on the previous day till the next day, where was he? He probably stayed somewhere and said, in Cana itself, and said, well, I don't want to go today. I'll do something else. And hey, you don't want to rush home? Find out if your son is, well, no, I'm sure he's all right. Jesus said he's okay. And he goes to sleep, takes a hotel or something, and stays in Cana, and the next day, he goes to his home. Would you do that? Well, you went to Jesus today and asked him to heal you at one o'clock in the afternoon. You met him, and your home is only 15 miles away. And you say, well, I can go. I can go tomorrow. There's no need to go and see immediately whether my son is okay. I'm sure he's okay because Jesus healed him. Did you notice that? It struck me. I said, Lord, do I have faith like that? If my son is seriously sick, and I ask you to pray for him, I can go to sleep and be sure that he's healed because I asked you and you said he's healed. And wait 24 hours. I tell you, this man was a Roman. Sometimes those who are, we think, are Babylonian Christians or unbelievers, they may have more faith than you and me because they don't boast. Oh, we know the Bible. We know about victory over sin. My dear brothers and sisters, I believe one of the biggest hindrances to being a disciple is pride and arrogance, looking down on others. If you want to lose faith and become an unbeliever, just look down on others. That's all. You despise others, you pretty soon become an unbeliever. A true servant of God, a true disciple of Jesus does not despise anyone. He recognizes that he is what he is by the grace of God, that if it were not for the grace of God upon him, he would be just like the others, lost for eternity. So that's one of the very first things I want to say that the reason a lot of people don't have faith is because of their pride. And I want to show you that from scripture. You know, the very well-known verse, and it's quoted three times in the New Testament, I don't know whether you know that, but an Old Testament verse is quoted three times in the New Testament. You better take heed to it. In Romans, in chapter one and verse 17, we read Romans 117, the righteous will live by faith. That is Romans 117. And if you want to look it up, it's also mentioned in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. Three places. Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38, in addition to Romans 117. One verse of scripture. The righteous person will live by faith, not just be saved by faith. That is Ephesians 2, verse eight. By grace are you saved through faith and not of works by him. But here it is not talking about just being saved, will live. That means he begins his life by faith and he lives all his life by faith, by dependence upon God. Like I said yesterday, like the branch in the tree, in utter dependence upon Jesus Christ, lives every day. That's how we're supposed to live. That's what faith is. It's not that, oh, 25 years ago, I asked Jesus to come to my heart, I believed. Those type of believers, I wonder whether they'll ever get into God's kingdom. It's like a person who's said, well, 25 years ago, I got married, but now I'm living with somebody else. What type of marriage is that? Not loyal to your wife? So a lot of people say, yeah, 25 years ago, I accepted Christ. But are you walking with him every day now? That's the important thing. What's your marriage with Christ like today? Very important to be up to date. The righteous person will live by faith. Now, when you go and look to the Old Testament, you know, whenever I see a verse in the New Testament, which is quoted from the Old Testament, I always go back to the Old Testament. I say, let me see what it says there. And that's, you know, giving me light on so many things. And the NASB, the New American Science Bible, is very, very useful in that because every Old Testament quotation in the New Testament is written in capital letters. So it's very easy to find out. It's not like that in some other versions. So all I need to find out, you know, if I want to take a Bible study of, for just myself, of Old Testament quotations found in the New Testament, all I got to do is turn the page and look for things in capital letters. I find it immediately, very quickly. And I've always gone back to the Old Testament to see where does it come. And this verse comes in Habakkuk. I hope all of you know how to find Habakkuk quickly. We must know the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament. Habakkuk chapter two and Habakkuk verse four, the last part. The righteous person will live by his faith. Habakkuk chapter two, verse four. See Habakkuk is, by the way, towards the end of the Bible. It's on the fourth book from the end of the Bible just before Zephaniah. Fourth book from the end of the Bible, of the Old Testament rather. Habakkuk two, four is the last part. The righteous will live by his faith. But it begins with the word but. But means is a contrast. So what is the, who is the person who is opposite to the righteous person who lives by faith? Who is the person who is opposite to the person who has faith? Not the person with unbelief. That's easy to say. The unbelieving person is like this and the man with faith is like this. But here it says here in verse four, see the contrast. The person with faith is like this and the opposite of that, the first part of verse four, the proud person, his soul is not right. So the contrast here is not between an unbelieving person and a believing person. The contrast is between a proud person and a believing person. So I get from there one thing, the opposite of faith is pride. And I get this, that the reason why people don't have more faith is because they are proud. It's up to it. And we saw that in the case of, the two cases of the Roman centurions. In both cases, we see faith. He says, Lord, speak the word here. 35 miles away or wherever that is, my son will be healed. I know that. The other chap, he says, I don't have to go and see my son today. I'll sleep today and go tomorrow. He's got faith. I'm sure he's healed. What did they have? Humility. So I don't know whether you have considered this possibility that in difficult situations where you find you don't have faith, it's not because, oh, why don't I have faith? Ask yourself, why are you so proud? Why are you such a proud person? No wonder you don't have faith. Habakkuk 2:4 is very clear on that. Proud people are not disciples. A disciple is a humble person who acknowledges someone else can lead me and guide me. You know, Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. He said that twice. First in 1 Corinthians 11 verse one and also in Philippians 3:17. Follow me. Follow me as I follow Christ. He didn't just say follow me. Follow me. I'm following Christ. Christ has gone ahead of me. I'm walking or running after him and you can look at my example and follow after me. If you can't see Christ himself, look at me. And I've always said that every true servant of God who's proclaiming the truth should be able to say follow me as I follow Christ. I've got no hesitation in saying that myself. Follow me as I follow Paul and he follows Christ. I believe if you can't say that, you shouldn't preach. Keep your mouth shut because we're not to just speak what we know in our head. We're to speak what we have done in our life. You know the verse I often quote, Acts 1 verse one. Luke is writing about the gospel of Luke which he wrote first. He says the first account that is the gospel of Luke which I composed of Theophilus is about what Jesus first did and then taught. He did and taught. He did not teach what he had not done. There's a saying in English practice what you preach. No, Jesus preached what he had already practiced. So practice first do it and then teach it and let me never never teach what I have not done or at least what I'm not trying to do. Very important. The Christian world is full of people who are preaching what they have not done. They're talking about building churches when they have never built one. I found people criticizing me about some way of building the church and I asked them have you built even one church? No. So what are you talking about? You're talking theory. The Christian world is full of people who are talking theories and you cannot understand the Christian life by theory. You have to do it and in order to do it you've got to be a humble person and the humble person will God will give him faith. Faith is a gift of God. Do you know faith is a gift of God? Turn with me to Ephesians in chapter 2. He offers it to everybody but not everybody gets it. Ephesians chapter 2 it says verse 8 By grace you have been saved through faith and that not in yourselves it is the gift of God. The salvation is not of yourselves it is the gift of God and even that faith think of that word faith. You're saved through faith. Ephesians 2 that faith is not something you produced. It is a gift of God. God gives me faith. You say then why doesn't he give it to me? I'll tell you. How about Cook 2.4 you're proud. He doesn't give faith to people who are proud he doesn't give grace to people who are proud. You know the well-known verse in 1 Peter 5 God gives grace to the humble and here God gives faith to the humble. Grace and faith are both God's gifts. You can't sort of work it out. Why did the Roman centurion get it who has never read the Bible? He had humility. Grace came only on the day of Pentecost so nobody could get grace before that but faith could come even before and it comes to humble people. So when we talk about discipleship and faith both are very dependent on humility. I've often said the three secrets of the Christian life are humility, humility, humility. Now I'll tell you where I get that from. Philippians chapter 2 turn with me. Philippians chapter 2 it says in verse 5 Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourself which was in Christ Jesus. What particular attitude was there in Christ? There were so many things in Christ. There was patience. There was goodness. There was love. There was holiness. Oh we could make a list of things. Long suffering. But what particular attitude is he emphasizing here? He's emphasizing humility. And he says that here in 3 Philippians 2:3 With humility of mind, regard others as more important than yourself. Not more spiritual than yourself. That's impossible. But more important than yourself. Jesus did not consider others more spiritual than himself but he did consider others more important. He even washed the feet of Judas Iscariot. That's meaning of that verse. Now see, have the same attitude in you which was in Christ Jesus. Who? Now listen to this. His first step was six. Though he was God he did not hang on to that position but became a man. Emptied himself. Step one. As a man he came to earth as a king. That itself would have been humility. God becoming a king on earth. But from there he went further down and when he came to earth he chose to become a bondservant. A slave. So first is God becoming man and coming then second step of humility is choosing to be a slave and you say oh that's about the limit because there's nobody on earth lower than a slave. No. He went even further down to the death on a cross like the only people crucified in those days were criminals. Jesus was no criminal but he took the place of a criminal on the cross. Willing to be thought of as a criminal. So humility to become a man. Humility to be a slave of others and humility to be even willing to be considered a criminal. Humility, humility, humility. Have this attitude in yourself which is in Christ Jesus. Those are the three secrets of the Christian life. It's there in the Bible. Have you seen it? And when we are like that we see amazing things of the sovereignty of God. All authority in heaven and earth is given to me. Go and make a disciple. Be a disciple and make a disciple. But sometimes God has to take us through some deep humbling process. When we are not humbling ourselves God has to humble us and if he loves you and you don't humble yourself he will humble you. If he doesn't, if God doesn't care for you then of course he won't humble you but I tell you one mark of God's love is when he sees you don't humble yourself he humbles you. Yes, I praise God for that. God loves us so much that when he sees you don't humble yourself he will humble you. But if he sees you as such an arrogant person defying him he may leave you alone and I'll allow you to remain in pride and go to hell. So I want to give you an example of that. There was a king in the time of Daniel. Turn with me to Daniel in chapter 4. Daniel chapter 4 verse 28. That was this king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon who was he built this massive city of Babylon with a wall that was so broad I've heard that a chariot could ride on top of that wall. The walls of Babylon and they had hanging gardens that are considered one of the wonders of the world in those days and you know he was probably the proudest man on earth at that time and boy the way God humbled him. I think God saw in him a little desire for the truth. That's why God humbled him because there are many other proud emperors whom God never humbled. But this man, you know he looked at Babylon and he said in verse 30 Daniel 4 30 this is Babylon the great which I have built by the might of my power for the glory of my majesty from man, through man's power, for man's glory. That's the mark of the Tower of Babel was like that. Built by man's plan, by man's power, for man's glory. And Babylon which is a continuation of the Tower of Babel, same thing. By my plans for my power, for my glory. That's how man lives. Human beings make their own plans do things with their own energy and strength and money and power and they do it for their own glory. My plans with my money for my glory. Everybody in the world is like that. Nebuchadnezzar was an expansion of that. And then as soon as he said that God spoke to him from heaven in love humbled him. I tell you if God humbles you it's one of the greatest proofs of his love. I believe that. Because you don't humble yourself and he wants to bless you. God wanted to bless this man so he humbled him and he said all this that you boast about is taken away from you. And you'll be driven away from mankind and you'll become like an animal in the field and you'll start eating grass, verse 32 until a certain seven periods of time are over, until you come to the place where you recognize that you're not the ruler but almighty God is the ruler verse 32 and he is the one who gives authority to whomever he decides Nebuchadnezzar you didn't decide to be this king and become it with your power. Almighty God from heaven allowed you to be the ruler in Babylon and as soon as the word was spoken immediately he had just finished boasting about great Babylon that he had built and he suddenly lost his mind and he ran away and started eating grass in his garden and he wouldn't sleep on his bed, he would sleep out in the open and be drenched and for years because it says his hair grew like the feathers of eagles how long does it take for your hair to grow like the feathers of eagles? He must have been, I don't know like that for seven years perhaps and then his nails became like birds claws he lived like that for seven years like a mad man eating grass living like an animal claws and long hair and and finally it says in verse 34 his reason returned to him God gave him back his reason and then now see what he says this is the most complete statement of the authority of God that I found in the whole Bible made by a man there's no statement that equals this anywhere in scripture about the almighty power and authority of God listen to this the most high God verse 34 and 35 has a dominion which is an everlasting dominion he's going to last forever and ever and ever and ever he says and his kingdom is going to go from generation to generation to generation to generation it'll never end and all the inhabitants of the earth every human being on this earth is like zero including himself including me the book of Nezer says I'm a zero in God's eyes you know to know the authority of God in your life you must first recognize you're a zero I remember some years ago I demonstrated this in CFC Bangalore by calling a number of brothers and asking all of them to hold a board which says zero and I wrote there great scholar, great sportsman and handsome guy and rich guy and all the qualities that people admire they were all 0 0 0 0 0 I said whatever you are famous, clever, intelligent, strong, powerful, handsome, 0 and I made them all stand I said put them all together you have all these qualities you're still 0 and then I said Jesus is 1 and then I took a board with 1 and I held it on the right side and I said see how when 1 is added to the 0 he suddenly becomes 10 and if he has fellowship with one more brother who's a 0 it becomes 100 not 11 but 100 and if he has fellowship with one more fellow who's a 0 it becomes 1000 and I demonstrated there the important thing is to be a 0 because God will not put Christ in front of you until you're a 0 if you're 7, 8, 9 or something sorry Christ doesn't come in front you're worth nothing so this is the reason why many people do not have Christ as Lord in their life to Christ have Christ as Lord in your life you must recognize in the book of Nizar I am a 0 that's what he said in verse 35 I am a 0 I'm the greatest king on earth but I'm a 0 and my dear brother sister no matter how clever you think you are you look at other people in the church you think you're more spiritual than them you think you're better than them you think you're a leader you think your gifts your job is better you're smarter you've earned more and you started out poor in the Gulf and now you've earned so much money and all that has gone to your head and I'll tell you something I've seen this happen to many many people in Gulf countries it has not only ruined them it has ruined their children I've seen it even believers children because they give their children so much money and those children ruin themselves they come to India to study in colleges with so much money and they destroy themselves who destroyed them their parents they never taught their children but their children were 0's teach your children humility not just mathematics and science 0 most important lesson to learn if you want you to live by faith and you want your children to live by faith learn what Nebuchadnezzar learned that every human being on earth is a 0 and also Daniel 4:35 I haven't finished Daniel 4:35 not only he counts God counts everybody on earth as 0 but he does whatever he wants do you hear that he does whatever he wants not only in the heavens among the angels and the demons and everyone else but also among all the inhabitants of the earth he does what he wants he allows a pandemic to go across the earth to humble man to teach man that this small teeny weeny virus which you can't even see under a microscope is enough to humble this whole world of people who think they are so capable and so smart and so strong it's not because God hates us no he so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son how can he hate this world this wicked world today God sent his son to die for this world but they cannot receive that blessing if they don't have humility and God allows things to happen to humble man to humble the pride of man you think you're so smart you think you're so clever you don't need a storm to humble you you need just a teeny weeny virus to humble you yeah look at the power God has placed in a small atom look at the power we've seen that a small virus has an atom could finish off a city in Japan atom bomb but the small virus could humble the whole earth you see something of the power of man there, power of God there man is struggling to cope with it what's the solution in a storm like this faith when the storm was there in the lake and the disciples were in the boat they thought Jesus was asleep yeah he was asleep but inwardly he is never asleep so he could sleep peacefully because his father in heaven was watching over him and no storm could drown Jesus because his time had not yet come so when he got up and stilled the storm he told the disciples where is your faith you guys have been with me for so long and you can't believe that I could even still a storm and when a situation like this is happening in the world today the Lord says the same thing to his children where is your faith you talked so much in your meetings about faith and trusting God and some of you preached on it where is it now thank God for situations that show us that what we call faith is actually unbelief and thank God if we discover the reason for our unbelief is our pride and nothing else our arrogance, our looking down on other believers in our church, looking down on other believers in other denominations and say oh Lord I thank you that we are in CFC and we are not like those other people in those Babylonian denominations you have that attitude and my brother I tell you you'll be full of unbelief that Roman centurion will have more faith than you it's good to humble ourselves we are not called to compare ourselves with others Pharisees compare themselves with others we're called to compare ourselves with Jesus Christ only and then it is impossible to be proud all pride comes through comparison humility comes through comparison and I'll prove it to you I've often used this example here is a boy in school it's a poor corporation school where people don't study properly he got 10 out of 100 in mathematics 10 out of 100 but he came first in the class because all the others got 5 and 3 and 0 all the other 30 students got less than him and he got 10% and he came first in the class and he got the first prize for mathematics and he came home with his head chest held up mommy I came first in the class proud how much did he get 10% now that same child you take him next year you put him in a school where everybody is brilliant and everybody is getting 98 99 and 100 and he still gets his 10 suddenly he becomes humble how is that in the first school he was comparing himself with others and became proud in the second school he compared himself with others and became humble so what do we learn from that pride comes through comparison with others and humility compares comes with comparison with others very simple so if you're proud it's because you compare yourself with other people who you think are not so spiritual and you puff yourself up inwardly and say I'm proud husbands who think they're smarter and prouder and more spiritual than their wives and wives who think they are smarter and more spiritual than their husband it's all comparison how to be humble then compare yourself with Jesus Christ that's the secret of humility looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith you'll never be proud even for one second I guarantee you become proud when you stop looking at Jesus and start looking at people around you well then you deserve to be proud and you deserve for God resist the proud and he will resist you if you want God to support you all the time to lift you up all the time compare yourself with Christ and humility will be there let me continue Daniel 4 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are zero in God's eyes he does whatever he wants in heaven and the inhabitants of the earth and no one can stop his hand and no one can say to him what are you doing I love that that is the most complete statement of the total authority of almighty God that I found in the whole Bible and it came from the mouth of a heathen king when God humbled him let's learn it it's a very good verse for you to memorize and say to yourself my father in heaven he could not call him father he called him as almighty God my father in heaven has an everlasting dominion verse 34 his kingdom endures from generation to generation in front of my father in heaven all the inhabitants of the earth and all the worms and bacteria and viruses on earth are all as zero and my father in heaven does exactly what he wants in heaven and on all the inhabitants of the earth and no one can stop my father's hand or ask him what are you doing I praise God this is my father and I'm his child and he's given me his son Jesus as an example and I'm seeking to follow in Jesus' footsteps to be a disciple is to look at Jesus and when you look at Jesus you'll be humbled you cannot be proud you can be proud only if you stop looking at Jesus the moment you turn your eyes away from Jesus and look at something else you drown in pride just like Peter he walked on the water as long as he was looking at Jesus the moment he turned his eyes away from Jesus he sank that's exactly what happens we sink in pride when we turn our eyes away from Christ then I'm not a disciple then I don't have faith okay I've shown you one enemy of faith which is pride we saw that in the book of Nazareth and God humbled him let me show you another enemy of faith and another enemy of discipleship turn with me to Proverbs and chapter 3 the Old Testament Proverbs chapter 3 Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5 just one verse trust in the Lord that is faith have faith in the Lord trust in the Lord like the branch in the tree remain in total confidence trust in the Lord with all your heart and the opposite of that the enemy of faith your own understanding don't lean on your own understanding in Habakkuk 2:4 we saw one enemy of faith is pride this is connected with that it's pride that makes me feel I can trust myself that's what made Adam and Eve go to the tree of knowledge of good and evil what they were choosing is I want the knowledge of good and evil in my own mind I don't need to go to God for that see the choice that Adam and Eve faced in the Garden of Eden was this do you want the knowledge of good and evil to be in you you eat of this and it comes in you or do you want it to be constantly dependent on God that whenever you want to know what is good and evil you got to go to God to find out and Adam and Eve said no we want it in ourselves go ahead and that's what brought all the sin and chaos in this universe in the world so don't lean on your own understanding trust in the Lord some things don't look right to your understanding but you're mistaken consider this for today if you ask if I ask any of you does how does the sun does the sun move in the sky and go around the earth you'd say no not at all then I ask you how does it appear as if the sun is moving you say well it's because the earth rotates on its axis the sun is steady there the earth rotates on its axis and you think the sun is moving the sun is not moving at all every one of you have studied that in school but if you had gone to someone even to a clever man two thousand years ago or even a thousand years ago and ask them does the sun go around the earth they say of course can't you see it the cleverest people in the world thought the sun goes around the earth until seven eight hundred years ago somebody in Europe discovered through study that's not true what does that teach us you cannot trust your eyes clever people were wrong there are many things like that you know there's a I don't know what you heard of it there's a whistle called a dog whistle it's such a high frequency that only dogs can hear it it's beyond you know our year has got a certain range if it's below that frequency or above that frequency the year cannot pick up that sound so this is so much above the frequency of the year of the human year that you blow that whistle and you say I heard nothing there was a sound that dog picked it up that teaches us you can't even rely on your ears you can't rely on what you see the sun is not moving you can't rely on your ears there was a sound there you couldn't hear it and you can't rely on your mind there's so many things that people thought they knew if you had looked at the books of science 200 years ago just 200 years ago it would have taught you that the smallest thing in matter is the atom that can never be split that's the smallest thing in the world today nobody believes that if you're a scientist the atom can be split and they thought electrons that's the smallest now they discovered that things smaller than electrons man's always discovering because science has got to rewrite its books all the time they're discovering new things the Bible has never had to be rewritten what is written thousands of years ago by Moses we still it's still true I mean even in the book of Job you read that the earth is circular and the Lord hangs the earth or nothing in Isaiah and Job you read that so there are things written in the Bible which are true and it never had to change it in all these thousands of years but man's keeping on changing man's understanding is unreliable that's what I'm trying to say but trust in the Lord why is it there's so many religions in the world because everything has come out of man's understanding nobody has seen God they try to imagine what God is like and you have hundreds of religions it's like I use the example supposing in a classroom somewhere in some country where they have never seen an elephant and they've never seen even a picture of an elephant and you ask all the tell all the children you know in India there's an animal called an elephant have you all heard of it they say no we've never heard of it have you seen a picture of it no we've never seen a picture of it can you try and draw what an elephant will look like not one of them will draw an elephant with a big trunk because they'll draw it like a lion or a cat or a dog or something and they will not even think it's a huge animal why because they haven't seen it so there are 20 students there you get 20 different pictures of what an elephant looks like this is how we have so many religions no one has seen God it's like in that classroom nobody saw an elephant and everybody's trying to imagine oh God must be like this God must be like that and you have hundreds of religions through the years but the man comes from India who's seen an elephant and touched and walked with an elephant he says I'll tell you it's not like this he'll draw much better picture of an elephant one person came from heaven Jesus came from heaven he said I'll tell you what God is like that's why I believe Jesus Christ spoke the truth nobody else said I came from heaven they even dare not say that because it's not true they were all born through their mothers they did not exist before they were born Jesus said I've existed from all eternity I've just come from heaven that's why we believe in him trust in the Lord with all your heart don't lean on your own understanding you know all growth is by faith the righteous will live by faith and if you believe you will follow Jesus fully if you believe that the best and the most wonderful life that anybody lived on this earth was not some rich king or some muscular he-man or some very pretty woman who became Miss Universe it was Jesus Christ and if you believe that is the most wonderful life that anybody lived you'll say Lord show me the secret of that life and what is the secret of his life one thing let me show that to you this is what discipleship means in one sentence lest any of you easily think you're a disciple I want to humble your high thoughts turn with me to John chapter 6 verse 38 here is what how Jesus lived the most wonderful life that any human being ever lived on this earth John 6 38 Jesus said I came from heaven to do what never to do my own will but always to do the will of him who sent me my father that is discipleship never never to do my own will but always to do the will of God when somebody provokes me to anger my will is to get angry with him again in return but my father says keep your mouth shut and not only your mouth shut but love him in your heart and I die to myself and I say I won't do my own will I'll do the will of my father you men who are tempted to lust you see a pretty woman and lust comes up in your heart your father says no Holy Spirit says no turn your eyes away put it away and follow Jesus deny your will I'll tell you you live the most wonderful life anybody can live somebody did harm to you you have a tendency to want revenge or to have bitterness and the Holy Spirit says no forgive him release him don't try and have a grudge against him love him wish the best for him you do that you live like Jesus and you keep on saying that like that you know you have an opportunity to go after money and you got to lose something spiritually for that there are many Christians who have chosen money and lost out spiritually yes and the result is eternal loss don't go after money my brothers and sisters it's good to earn your living I'm not saying you shouldn't get a job with a good salary but the great danger I've seen with many people who go after good salary is that becomes everything to them and they lose out spiritually spirituality is secondary making money is the most important thing I've seen that with a lot of people who have gone to the gulf who were very good believers before they went there and by the time they've been there in a few years in the gulf their interest is can I get money plus spirituality I say you leave the money part to God you concentrate on following Jesus and to be wholehearted and spiritual and leave it to God to decide how much you should earn and you don't want to do that you want to get as much as you can as much as you can as much as you can and the result is you've lost out spiritually I've seen that with so many people not only in the gulf in India too love of money is not in the gulf love of money is not in America love of money is in every human being every child of Adam even do you think the beggar who sits on the street doesn't love money of course he does nowadays you give a beggar in India 25 paisa coin you throw it away so what are you giving me he's not even happy with one rupee they love money sure you don't have to go to the gulf for America to love money every human being loves money but if you do you will not be able to follow Jesus money is meant to be used not loved it must not be on your head in your mind it must be under your feet you know in heaven they walk on gold streets are made of gold in heaven they put gold under their feet and walk on it in on earth they put it on their head that's why they don't have faith when you've learned to put gold under your feet money under your feet then you're ready for heaven you're not ready for heaven if you've learned not learned to put gold and money under your feet my brother sister learn it it's easy to say that when you're if you're a beggar it's more difficult to say that when you earned millions of rupees in the gulf countries that's the time to prove that gold is not my master and gold is my slave a beggar with only two rupees inside his tin can to say gold is my servant means nothing but many of you earn so much money when you say money means nothing to me God is everything that means something if you can say it to God not to me put money under your feet that's another reason people don't have faith they trust so much in their bank account more than in God God allows people to come into circumstances where all their money doesn't help all the money in the world will not make help you to become a spiritual father to your children no the children go astray because you've loaded them with money and not with humility and faith in Jesus Christ very important in these days because God causes so many divorces so let's learn some lessons from all this Lord I don't want to lean on my own understanding I don't want to lean on money I don't want to lean on my knowledge or what I've accomplished or any such thing let me recognize I'm a zero okay I was telling you also that we don't lean on our own understanding let me show you one more verse before I close and that's in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 14 Proverbs 14 and verse 14 there's a it says in the last part of 14 a good man will be satisfied with his life the Living Bible paraphrase is wonderful some places the Living Bible is really excellent the Living Bible paraphrase of that latter part of verse 14 Proverbs 14 14b is the godly man's life is exciting I've been a Christian for 60 years I tell you honestly I'm more excited today than I've ever been my life's been exciting I'm not bored with my Christianity I'm not bored with serving the Lord I say I've been serving the Lord for 54 years full time and nobody's paid me a salary to serve the Lord God's taking care of me and times when I had very little it was exciting times when I have more it's exciting my life's exciting it's got nothing to do with my bank account it's got to do with the fact that Jesus Christ is my Lord he's my Savior he's my sanctifier he's my leader he's my forerunner and I can and he's close to me all the time he's my bridegroom that's why my life is exciting I hope you can say that I hope you can say every day of your life is exciting I praise the Lord I found it exciting when I was a young man of 23 years old studying the Word of God in my naval base in Cochin every morning I'd get up kneel down and pray and read the Bible and my life was exciting then it was so exciting to go out into the streets and preach the gospel those days even though people would make fun of me on the streets what's this naval officer doing on the street preaching the gospel and it's exciting for me today now that I'm 80 years old just as exciting and I tell you it gets more and more exciting I'm not bored one bit I'm telling you honestly I'm not trying to impress you it's the absolute truth that verse is true that godly man's life is exciting trials come I've faced a lot of trials people have taken me to court for 10 years all the way to the Supreme Court of India it was exciting because God is in charge of everything Isaiah 54 17 God says to me you will have justice against every courtroom lie living Bible paraphrase yeah it's been exciting every experience is exciting I've been through sickness and asthma and all types of things and God heals me and it's exciting wonderful what a wonderful life it is to be a disciple of Jesus where you say Lord my only ambition is to be a disciple and to make other people disciples first of all I want to make my own children disciples that's where you must all begin and then I want to make other people around me disciples that depends on whether they'll respond to them if it's my own children I can start when they're age one month and start working on them and working on them as long as they're in their home make them disciples all my children were at home for 18 years and I tried my best to make them disciples and other people in the church who listen to me and are willing to listen I try to make them disciples it's exciting life you can have a very very useful life if you say Lord Jesus you're going to be my Lord I'm going to trust you I'm going to live by faith and dependence on you lean upon you I'm not going to lean on my own understanding and as far as I can see I'm going to be a servant of others I'm going to humble myself and consider others as more important than myself always in every situation never compare myself with others always recognize I am a sinner saved by grace till the end of my life I come to the gates of heaven and I'll say I'm a sinner but Jesus died for me that's why I have access into God's kingdom not because I did something dear brothers and sisters keep that attitude and wherever you live however much or less you earn you'll be a disciple of Jesus your life will be exciting and you'll have an abundant glorious entrance into God's kingdom one day let's pray please ask the Lord to remind you in the coming days of all that you heard today and to apply it in your life according to each situation that you face thank you Father for helping us in Jesus name Amen