Knowing Jesus Christ Personally More and More

Praise the Lord, brothers and sisters, I'm happy to be able to share God's word with all of you. When I was singing, when we were singing here, I was thinking how Jesus said, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst. So, do you believe that? I think you do.

That right from the beginning when we started the meeting, Jesus was here. So when we sang, were you conscious that you were talking to him or were you just going along with the music and enjoying the song? I'm not trying to condemn anybody, please remember, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. And if you hear anything here that you feel condemned by, it's not because I'm condemning you, it's the devil is twisting it before it reaches your heart and trying to condemn you.

Don't listen to him. There is no condemnation this weekend for anybody. Please remember that from the very first moment.

We're only trying to lead people higher. You know, when you read this beautiful verse in Revelation 4, where John says, he heard the voice of the Lord saying, come up higher. And I've often felt in every conference, that's what the Lord is speaking to every person.

Don't be satisfied with the level at which you're living. Come up higher. He's inviting us and he'll help us and the purpose of the Holy Spirit coming down is to lift us higher.

So that's all I'm trying to say. Come up to a higher level when you sing. It won't come in a day, it may take months perhaps for you to gradually come to the place where every time you sing, you're conscious you're singing to Jesus himself.

For example, if I'm talking or if you're talking to me and or I'm talking to you, I'm talking to you and I look here and there, not even bothered that you're there. You'd wonder whether I'm really talking to you, right? If I'm talking to you, I will be conscious that you're there. Now apply that to Jesus in our midst.

Do you really feel you were talking to him during this singing time? That's something we can develop. Everything comes by constant practice, freedom in prayer, freedom in praising the Lord, regular reading of the scriptures. Everything comes by persistent practice, never giving up.

So after some time, if you keep doing it, it will become a habit. There's a saying in English, you sow an act, you'll reap a habit, and you sow a habit, you reap a character. But it begins with an action.

So in the beginning, you say, Lord, supposing you say today to the Lord Jesus, Lord, most of the time I'm singing, I'm not even conscious that you're here. I'm just enjoying the song and probably following the words sometimes, not even following the words because I know it so well. And I'm sorry, Lord, that I was not aware of your presence.

Try saying that. Not right now, but when you go home, say, Lord, I'm sorry that I wasn't aware of your presence. But I want to be, please help me.

And if you try it from tomorrow onwards, when you sing, I tell you, it won't happen overnight. It'll take time. I've had to remind myself so many times for months on end, before I now begin to think more and more and I sing, I'm speaking to Jesus who is here.

It will make a difference in your life, I tell you. Because when we sense the presence of the Lord, it does make a difference in our life. Sometimes we read the Bible so many times, and then all of a sudden, a verse hits you.

So here's something that I've read many times, I believed in, but it hit me. In Acts of the Apostles, chapter two, the very first sermon preached on the day of Pentecost. And Peter was preaching, and first he, in a nutshell, in a few sentences, he gave the gospel.

Acts 2, verse 22 to 24, the whole gospel is there. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God, that means the Son of God came to earth as a man. That's one of the first truths of the gospel.

He came to earth as a man. And then, attested by miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him, that was to prove that he was the Son of God. So here's, then here's the rest of the gospel.

This man delivered, not accidentally, but according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men, but God raised him up from the dead and put an end to the agony of death, because it's impossible for him to, the death and resurrection of Christ, that's the central message of the gospel. And then he tells us something about the way Jesus lived on the earth. You know, our theme for this conference is, all shall know me, says the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

So here, it says about Jesus, David says about Christ, this is how Christ lived on the earth. I saw the Lord always in my presence, he's talking about the Father. But when Jesus lived, he saw the Father always in his presence.

Just like we say, we want to live in the presence of the Lord all the time. You practice it when you're singing and gradually you come to the place where you recognize his presence everywhere you go. I saw the Lord, now say that to yourself, Lord, I want this in my life.

It's been a tremendous blessing in my life. This quotation from Psalm 16, I saw the Lord always in my presence, and he's at my right hand. That is Psalm 16, verses 8 to 11.

I saw the Lord always in my presence, and he's my right hand, I shall not be shaken. If that verse can be true of your life, it can radically transform your life and change it. It's a verse that I've sought to experience for quite some years now.

I saw the Lord always in my presence, and he's at my right hand as well, so that I won't be shaken, I won't fall into sin. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue exalts, my flesh will also live in hope. And the last part of that Psalm, in verse 28, you will make me full of gladness with your presence.

In Psalm 16, it says in verse 11, in your presence is fullness of joy. If you're not familiar with that verse, please turn back. This quotation is from Psalm 16, and what we read in Acts chapter 2 shows us that that is how Jesus lived on this earth.

Psalm 16, verse 8, this is what Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and this is a prophetic reference to Jesus Christ. I set the Father always before me, and he's also at my right hand, that I will not be shaken means I will not even be shaken by sin, leave alone fall into it. And therefore, my heart is glad and my heart glory rejoices.

And he goes on to say in verse 11, the middle, in your presence, and I live in God's presence, there is fullness of joy. The way that has come to me is, anytime my life, when I don't have joy in my heart, I have to say, according to that verse, I am not in the presence of the Lord, because it says in his presence, there is fullness of joy. Why am I not having fullness of joy at this particular time, I say to myself, I'm not in the Lord's presence.

I've said that to myself again and again and again and again, many times in different situations, I said, Lord, I don't simply rejoice in the Bible says, Philippians 4,4, rejoice in the Lord always, but it doesn't tell us in Philippians how to, how to experience that. But that tells us here, that can only come if we dwell in the presence of the Lord, because in his presence, there is no gloom. There is no condemnation.

That is fullness of joy, not just joy, but fullness of joy. And if you work on it, ask the Holy Spirit to make it real in your life. You will experience this, what I call the normal Christian life, where most Christians are living a subnormal Christian life.

The normal Christian life is to have fullness of joy all the time. We have pressures, we have temptations, many things to make us anxious and worried. And I faced as much as you and more than you, considering that I'm 85 years old now.

But in God's presence, there's fullness of joy. There's absolutely no doubt about it. And more than any other doctrine, this is what I've sought for in my life now from the recent past few years, Lord, I want to dwell in your presence.

The answer to everything is there. If I have a doubt and the Lord is there, I can ask him straight away. So now coming to Hebrews chapter 8. This is our theme verse for this conference, it's found here.

In Hebrews chapter 8, we have the theme verse for our conference. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 11, the last part of it. All will know me from the least to the greatest of them.

In the world, let's see little, little things we notice here. In the world, they talk about from the greatest to the least. We talk of the president and then all the way down to the little child.

It's not like that in God's kingdom. Notice what it says here. Notice little things in the scriptures.

God's way is from the least to the greatest. That means God goes to the person who is smallest. That's why he said that the kingdom of heaven is like a little child.

Because a little child is in every way the smallest on earth. And God says that kingdom of heaven is like that. And the more, Jesus said, he told his disciples to become like little children in their spirit.

So from the least to the greatest, everyone can know me. Now that itself teaches me that it's not by intellectual study or research that we come to know Jesus. Because a little child can't do intellectual study and research.

It's by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. That's why he says even the least person. Some of you sitting here may think that, well, I'm not such a spiritual person.

I'm just newly born again, perhaps. Or you feel that I'm not able to do great things for the Lord. You feel very small in your own eyes.

Wonderful. This promise is for you. From the least to the greatest.

You can know the Lord personally. You can know the Lord's presence so that you can live in that fullness of joy that I just spoke about. Everyone here.

No exception. Start with that faith and pray that the Lord will make it more real to you during this weekend before you go home. All shall know me from the least to the greatest.

So let me mention another thing in this connection. We all know the very well-known verse. Probably the most well-known verse among Christians.

John 3.16. You turn for a moment there. John 3.16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is a verse taught to many, many Christians as the essence of the Gospel.

Everything is there. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son identifying Jesus as the Son of God and He gave Him to die on the cross that if we believe in Him we will not perish in hell but have eternal life. It looks as if the whole Gospel is right in that little verse.

But the one thing which I never understood for many, many, many years. I sat in a good Christian church as a young Christian for 16 years and I never once heard anyone leader, elder, pastor, preacher, nobody explain to me what eternal life was. I had to discover it myself.

Until then I believed it's in this verse. You'll have eternal life. And I understood it.

I'll live forever. Eternal life. But then when I studied the scripture I found people who go to hell also live forever.

Jesus told a story of a rich man who didn't care for the poor beggar outside his gate and the rich man died and Jesus said he went to hell. And I don't know, it was a true story it's not a parable. I'll tell you why it's not a parable because Jesus mentioned that the rich man saw Abraham in that parable.

It's in the end of Luke 16. And in no parable did Jesus mention names. Here he mentions a name Abraham, a living person.

So that's not a parable then. So that was a true story of a rich man who did not care for that poor beggar Lazarus. It probably happened a few years before Jesus mentioned that story.

And Jesus did not mention the name of the rich man because he did not want to embarrass the rich man's relatives. But he mentioned Lazarus' name so that Lazarus' relatives will know that he's in heaven. But the point is the rich man had been in hell for quite some time and then Jesus is talking about it the guy's still in hell.

And he's asking Abraham send Lazarus to give me a bit of water. So people who go to hell are also going to live forever. So if eternal life means living forever then people who go to hell has got eternal life as well.

Now that's so simple when you hear me say that but I never thought of it when I read this. So eternal life must mean something other than living forever. And how to find out what it is? It took me 16 years to find out even though I've read the Bible so many times in those 16 years.

It shows how you can read the scriptures and it doesn't hit you. Now I'll show you the verse and I'm sure almost everybody here has read it because all of you would have read at least the Gospel of John. So here's the definition of eternal life given by Jesus himself.

It is not living forever. For one reason eternity does not mean without an end. Eternity means without a beginning and without an end.

That's the correct definition of eternity. So eternal life does not mean living forever. It means a life that had no beginning and no end.

Who's got that life? Only God. No angel. Eternal life is only with God.

He's the only one who had no beginning and no end. So now you've understood eternal life. Now let me turn you to John chapter 17.

Now we're not just studying theorism we're studying something very practical. John 17 verse 3. Here is Jesus himself defines eternal life. He says this is eternal life.

What is it? Father. He's praying to the father in verse 1. Father that they may know you. Eternal life is to know the father and to know Jesus Christ.

To know the father as the only true God. That's the first thing. To know the father as the only true God.

There is no other God. There is no other religion that teaches any way to come to God except through Christ. And eternal life is also to know Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

So eternal life has nothing to do with length of life. It's got to do with the quality of life. A life that knows God the father personally and knows Jesus Christ more and more intimately as savior and friend.

So therefore eternal life is something we have to grow in. You know when you get married let's take the example of a young girl who is married. She doesn't know her husband much in the very first day but if they live happily together in love they get to know more and more each other as the years go by.

This is how we are supposed to know Jesus. I received Christ into my heart and I was sure of his presence 65 years ago when I was 19 years old. But boy I know Jesus so intimately today after 65 years.

I did not know him like it's then. He's an intimate friend of mine. Everywhere I go if I have a problem I can tell him immediately.

And I hear him speaking to me more clearly now than I did way back then more clearly than even 10 years ago. Eternal life is something we grow in knowing Christ more and more and more and more. So turn with me now to 1 Timothy chapter 6. I love to turn to many passages of scripture because this is the only book in the whole world that shows us what God is like.

1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 12 Paul is writing to Timothy and this is written at a time when Paul was probably about 60 years old 62 or 63 and Timothy had already been with Paul about 20-25 years. Timothy was a born again spirit filled Christian when Paul took him as his co-worker as a young 20 year old boy and now after 25 years maybe Timothy is around 45 years old Paul is writing a letter to Timothy Do you know what Paul tells Timothy? 1 Timothy 6 verse 12 Fight the good fight of faith and take hold of eternal life. Have you read that verse? Anyone who has read the New Testament has read that verse.

Now what did you do when you came to that verse? The tragedy with me was in the early days I did not have anyone to teach me how to read the Bible. I had to learn by myself. The preachers in my church did not know the Lord very much to be able to teach me.

I discovered that we have to meditate on the word of God. Psalm 1 says Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. That doesn't mean he's reading the Bible day and night.

No. He may have read the Bible only 15 minutes in the morning. That's it.

But he meditates on it not 24 hours but throughout the day whenever he gets an opportunity. That's the meaning of he meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. Meditates means he thinks about it.

What does that mean? Holy Spirit of God show me what it means. So when you read a verse like this is Paul telling Timothy to be born again? You must get eternal life. He's already received Christ into his heart.

What does it mean by take hold of eternal life? All of you who read 1 Timothy 6 did you ask the Lord to explain that phrase to you? I'm almost sure you did not ask the Lord. You did not meditate on it. I'm not trying to condemn you.

Remember what I said at the beginning. There's no condemnation this weekend on anybody. I'm just trying to challenge you.

There's a difference between challenging you and condemning you. I want to challenge you so that when you go back from here you'll be a different person because you're going to take every verse seriously. I'll tell you what take hold of eternal life means.

We first of all saw eternal life is not length of life. It's knowing eternal life is to know God the Father and to know Jesus Christ. Never forget that definition.

John 17 3 Knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ is eternal life. And Paul is telling Timothy, lay hold of that. Get to know God better.

Get to know Jesus Christ better. Get to know Him personally. Paul is saying that to a man who was his co-worker for 25 years.

I would say that to all of you. I think Timothy was probably far ahead of most of us here, spiritually. So I would say to all of you brothers, take a hold of eternal life.

Get to know the Father and Jesus personally, intimately, more and more and more. It's the most wonderful thing of all. You know how people in the world like to know great people in the world.

They like to know the president or some important person in the world. They like to know him. And they'd be pretty proud that I know the president as a personal friend.

I can call him anytime and pick up the phone. Boy, that's really intimate. If you can call up the president of a country and he picks up the phone immediately and he knows it's you.

But it's far greater to know Jesus Christ ruler of heaven and earth that when I call up Christ he picks up the phone immediately and says, yes what do you want? This is how we must know Him. I wish everyone here will go away from this weekend being gripped by taking hold of eternal life. Lord, I want to know you.

I want to know you like brother Zach knows you and even better than that pursue it. In this connection I would like to show you another verse. Hebrews chapter 11 Remember, we're going along the theme of the conference.

All shall know me from the least to the greatest. So it applies to everybody here. So in Hebrews 11 we read this wonderful truth.

Hebrews 11 6 Without faith it is impossible to please God. So I'm sure everybody sitting here would like to please God. I don't think there's a single person sitting here who does not want to please God.

I really believe you want to please God. But let me tell you the first ABC of it. You cannot please God if you don't trust him.

If you come to him and say well Lord I'm not too sure whether you're going to answer me. Why? Oh because I'm so small and insignificant. The Lord says it's from the least.

The promise is to the least person first. So don't ever let the devil condemning you saying I was born again only yesterday. So what? Even if you were born again only this morning.

You can know the Lord. And you could have made a lot of progress in your life by now if you had understood these things more seriously from the time you were converted. I took about 16 years after I was born again even to understand what it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to know God personally, intimately.

And I've shared these truths with young 17, 18 year old born again people and as I'm discovering these truths I discovered these truths when I'm 35 and you guys are 16, 17 and think that in your lifetime you can go far ahead of me spiritually but I said I don't think you will because I'm going to run faster than you. Because I feel Lord I wasted so many years of my life. I can't afford to lose anymore so I'm going to run fast.

You guys get the truth and you say well that's great truth and you keep it in your head and you don't pursue the Lord. So here's a verse for you, Hebrews 11, 6 the last part. You must come with faith but you must believe that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him and the King James Version says diligently seek Him.

That's what I wanted you to know. God rewards not every Tom, Dick and Harry He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Have you discovered that knowing Jesus Christ and God is eternal life? The greatest thing you can accomplish on earth is not to get a PhD it's to know God to know Jesus Christ it's the most important thing but it's possible only if you diligently seek it wholeheartedly.

I've heard that in the United States sometime in the 1800's over 150 years ago or so they suddenly discovered discovered gold in California somebody discovered near some river and there was a mad rush of people from all over the country rushing to California to get gold they would sit there by the river and take their nets and try and get a little bit of gold so many people went there, hundreds of people that's how California developed by the way a lot of people landed up there they were looking for gold and I thought of that how many people are seeking for God like that they seek for gold where is the it's called the gold rush even today it's known as the gold rush in the 1800's where is the God rush is there any people rushing to know God better you don't have to travel anywhere you can rush to find Him in your own home He is a rewarder of those who diligently wholeheartedly seek Him and I tell you I have come to know my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ is my Savior in an intimate way let me show you another verse it's in Jeremiah the Old Testament in Jeremiah chapter 29 some of these verses are good for you to mark in your Bible or write it down somewhere my first Bible was full of red lines I mean red colored pencils I used whenever I found a verse it was really gripped because I could go back to it and open the Bible and see some verses marked in red and I could remember it and that's how I got to know the Bible the important verses in the Bible so here's one of those very important verses Jeremiah 29 verse 11 to 13 listen to it and listen as if and it's true that God is speaking to you personally and saying to you personally the Lord is saying I know the plans that I have for you and when it says you what do you think of yourself is God speaking to you personally I know I have some plans for your life maybe you did not know it till now but thank God you know it today and those plans are to give you a future and a hope and not for any calamity plans for your welfare to do good to you God's plans are always like that and how will you get to know the plans and how will you experience that in your life here's what you got to do verse 12 you will call upon me and you will come and pray to me and I will listen to you you'll come and pray Lord you said in your word that you got a plan for my life plan for my character to be changed from the wretched character I inherited from Adam that's caused so much trouble for my home people in my home and others whom I encounter you're going to change me call upon me call upon him and pray to him and he says I will listen to you isn't that a wonderful promise I'll pick up the phone as soon as you call I'll pick up the phone I like that that I call someone and as soon as he sees my name he says oh yeah I'm going to listen to him this is Zach imagine God saying that that means as soon as I pray he's going to listen but hang on there's one condition says in the next verse you got to search for me with all your heart it's not a difficult condition but it is a condition when will I listen to you and answer you you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart then you will discover verse 11 the plans I have for you the wonderful plans I have for your life when you search for me with all your heart what that means is you pray for something and you didn't get it you're going to keep praying pray tomorrow day after day I remember when I was so defeated in my life and I knew that that was not God's will for me to be constantly defeated you know most Christians they live by that one verse in 1 John 1 9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness it's a wonderful verse we'll need it till the end of our life because we will not be 100% free from all sin and thought, word, deed attitude, motive till that day you know there are different areas where we can sin, some people think only of certain actions let me tell you the 5 areas where sin can be there in our life sin in deeds things we do sin in words second, words that we speak third, sin in thoughts thoughts that we think, dirty thoughts fourthly, sin in attitudes towards people you despise certain people, you look down on certain people, that's a sin you may not say anything to that person you just look at that person and despise him maybe he's a different race or you feel he's inferior and you despise him, that's a sin and if you keep that attitude, you're living in constant sin did you know that? and fifthly is sin in motive where do you do a very good thing but the motive is bad now nobody would ever think listening to a man preach like me there can't be any sin in preaching yes if I'm preaching in order to get money or in order to get some honor as a great preacher or in order to get some respect or for somebody to come up to me and say Brother Zach, that really spoke to my heart some such commendation my motive is wrong I'll tell you why because the Bible says we must do everything for the glory of God 1 Corinthians chapter 10 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 31 the thing that we do everyday is eating and drinking many things we don't do everyday but eating and drinking we do everyday so it takes the most common thing we do in verse 31 whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do that's the most elementary thing from death to all the more other things you may do in your life whatever you do do all to the glory of God if I preach and I don't preach for the glory of God I'm committing a sin if I preach to get glory for myself for people to respect me appreciate me congratulate me, thank me I am sinning even if it may be the most powerful message I preached motive you do good to somebody and you want people to know know that you did it you want recognition sin, what you did was a wonderful thing but it was a sinful thing in God's eyes in the eyes of man they appreciate other Christians may appreciate, boy what a wonderful thing you did God says no sin because motive was wrong so please remember these 5 areas where we sin actions or deeds words thoughts attitudes to people and motives and the promise of the Lord is that He can cleanse us so thoroughly if we confess them first of all, Lord I had a wrong attitude to this person, I'm sorry you had a wrong attitude towards your mother-in-law you didn't slap her or insult her but you had just a wrong attitude, it's a sin because you're not seeking the glory of God in your life, maybe she treated you very badly or some person in the office, some boss treated you very badly in the office and you got a bad attitude towards him, it's a sin it doesn't matter how the other person treated you some of you may think you've been treated very badly, let me ask you a very simple question, very easy to get the answer what is the worst sin that was ever committed on this earth it was not Adam's sin it was the worst sin ever committed on this earth was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ okay, let me ask you another question what is the best thing that ever happened on this earth the crucifixion of Jesus Christ where do you learn from that that our God is so almighty, my Father in heaven is so powerful that He can take the worst thing and turn it into the best thing, I know it is there cannot be a greater sin than crucifying the Son of God, any sin whatever people may do to you in your life or to your family or to your children it's not worse than crucifying Jesus Christ, somebody goes and rapes someone, that's not as bad as crucifying Jesus Christ, it's a terrible sin but crucifixion of Jesus and that God turned into the best so I have faith that any sin that people do against me God can turn it into the best and I have many examples in my life where I've actually experienced that because I believed it you will not experience it if you don't believe it next time somebody does harm to you or hurts you in some way or spreads a false story about you or does any evil go to the Lord and say Lord I believe you can turn that for good in some way, I don't know how but it's going to do something good in me it's probably going to make me a strong Christian in some way the very fact that you forgive somebody makes you a little more like God you know that we all want to be like God here's one way you can be like God I was once meditating on what does God do all the time in heaven all the time I'll tell you what He forgives people because every moment somebody on the earth is committing a sin and here somebody says Lord forgive me and God says forgiven next moment someone over there in the other end of the town says forgive me and God says forgiven the other side of the earth somebody is sinning and God says forgiven and before he finishes saying someone in some other corner says Lord I've sinned, forgiven so I pictured in my mind God in heaven is saying forgiven, forgiven, forgiven, forgiven He's perpetually forgiving people now let me ask you I'm sure many of you have prayed Lord I want to be like you why not begin here you want to be like God are you serious then begin right here do what He does all the time He does not delay He forgives, forgives, forgives as long as we live on the earth people will hurt us even a 5 year old child will have a history of somebody having hurt him think of all of us who have grown up much older than that I want to ask you a simple question have you forgiven every person that you know of who has hurt you harmed you spoken evil of you or is there some person you say oh brother Zach you don't know what that guy did to me it's unbearable well brother sister I'm sorry to say God will not forgive you your sin no matter how much you pray because there is one person you have not forgiven you'll hear some things from me which you'll never hear from anybody else and I'll tell you why because they don't love you enough they want your money I don't want your money they want your honor, I don't want your honor I want you to become Christ like, that's what I want and that's why I tell you the truth and I'll tell you I'll give you a verse for everything I teach what I taught just now is a pretty strong thing that if you haven't forgiven one person, God will not forgive you I'll show you from scripture turn to Matthew chapter 6 and verse 15 and never forget this verse in all your life Matthew 6 verse 15 if you do not forgive others your father will not forgive your transgressions did you hear it? if, there's a condition if you do not forgive others, it doesn't matter who that person is, it doesn't matter how big the crime is, your father will not forgive your transgressions, but you say that was a terrible thing that person did to me let's go back to the question we asked earlier what is the most wicked thing that happened on this earth? what is it? crucifixion of Jesus Christ and as soon as the nails were put and the cross was put up there and banged and Jesus hung there, what are the first words that came out of his mouth? Father forgive them you know the answer as soon as that cross was erected he knew that was a, they didn't know it he knew that was the most horrible sin that these people had committed that had never been committed since the time of Adam he said father they don't know what they are doing that they have committed the most terrible sin anyone has ever committed, forgive them let that be your example and don't ever say again what that person did to my family was terrible what that person did to my child was evil, terrible worse than the crucifixion of Christ dear brothers and sisters let me tell you the Lord brought you here to send you home as a changed man or woman a changed person you are not going to go home the way you came you will go home a different person that's why the Lord brought you here he says where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst Christ is here, Jesus Christ is here I sometimes think of that when I speak that Jesus Christ is right there and I ask him usually after the meeting Lord is there anything I said that I should not have said is there anything I did not say which I should have said many many times I have gone home from a meeting you know my messages are all on YouTube there are about 2000 sermons of mine on YouTube every sermon of mine gets put there but what I do is when I go home I play that YouTube message and listen to it myself almost every message I preach I listen to it again and what am I doing, I say Lord I want to see if there is anything there that I should not have said anything there that I should have said that's the way I seek to perfect my ministry I have never been to a Bible school I thank God I never went to a Bible school but this is the way I seek to perfect my ministry I say Holy Spirit of God please tell me those of you who preach God's word do you judge yourself you may not have the time to listen to it all I have been in full time Christian work I have more time, many of you are in secular job you may not have time to listen to it, forget that but you at least go to God and ask him at the end of a meeting Lord was there anything I said today, when you are by yourself can you tell me take five minutes you don't have to listen to the whole sermon you preach say Lord please tell me is there anything, search your heart is there anybody you haven't forgiven think right now anybody you haven't forgiven please do it now dear brother and keep that forgiveness don't let that come back into your mind the devil will tempt you, sure why does the devil tempt you to be unforgiving I'll tell you I'll tell you plain and straight forward the devil does not want you to forgive someone because he wants you to be with him for eternity and you will be with him for eternity why do I say that can you go to heaven without your sin forgiven impossible is there any possibility of forgiveness after death no bible says Hebrews 9.27 is appointed unto men once to die after that the judgment there is no opportunity for forgiveness after death there is no purgatory like the Roman Catholics say where afterwards you'll be purified, no if you die, the way you die, that's it there is an old testament illustration of that which says where the tree fell it'll stay there and where that man died, the way he died that's what's going to be for all eternity so if you die there and you've fallen and you haven't forgiven somebody where are you going to be for eternity Jesus said your father will not forgive you you say but I accepted Christ this is referring to unbelievers, hang on, hang on read again Matthew 6.15 your father is that an unbeliever he's talking to if he had said your God ok, that could be referring to unbelievers, you don't forgive someone, your God will not forgive you, no, no, no this is your father that means these are born again people he's not the father of everybody God is the father only of born again Christians and he's telling born again Christians your father will not forgive you whenever you read a verse it's good to check to whom was Jesus speaking I do that whenever I read a verse, I go back and say let me see whom you're speaking, so go back and you go all the way back to Matthew chapter 5 where this sermon on the mount began and it says here in Matthew 5 verse 1, read carefully Jesus saw the crowds and he went up to the mountain and after he sat down the crowds were down there at the foot of the mountain he went up to the top of the mountain and his disciples came to him there were 12 of them Judas Iscariot was also there his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and began to teach them teach who? the disciples and what did he tell his disciples Matthew 6 15, if you don't forgive others your heavenly father will not forgive you so even if you were one of the 11 disciples sitting there very privileged to be one of the disciples of Jesus, this is so serious my dear brothers and sisters I've read that for many many years but over the last couple of years the Lord has been pressing on my heart, preach this preach this, and I'll tell you this I've been preaching from the age of 23 61 years I've been preaching and I have never preached it this, as much as I have preached it in the last 2 years even though it was there, I don't know why I never preached so much, I preach whatever burden the Lord gives me, and I say Lord why are you giving me this burden continuously and people who have heard me in the last few weeks and months will say, I've heard Brother Zach emphasize this again again and again, I ask myself, why are you asking me to say this even to people who have heard me, I keep repeating it I say Lord, does it mean that your coming is very near is that why you're prophetically telling people to forgive because you don't want anybody to perish your knowledge of Christ will not progress if you keep unforgiveness in your heart against anybody all shall know me, let's turn back to the, we'll conclude here Hebrews 9 Hebrews 8 sorry this is our theme for this conference Hebrews 8 verse 11 all will know me from the least to the greatest God wants you to know Him and this is eternal life that they may know the Father and Jesus but an unforgiving spirit can block it you will not get to know Him well, you'll know facts about Him but you'll not know Him personally you can know facts about a very godly man but you may not know Him personally so a lot of people they know facts about God they know facts about Jesus Christ but they don't know Him personally we are supposed to know Jesus like a wife knows her husband it's a bridal relationship not in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament they could not even call Him Father and say Oh God, Oh Lord but today we can call Him Daddy you know that's how I seek to begin my day every day before I get out of bed I look up and say Daddy thank you I want to worship you and I want to begin the day like that spend five minutes it's not a long time as soon as you wake up before you get out of bed spend five minutes talking to your Heavenly Daddy and call Him Dad His official title is Father you can call Him Dad the Holy Spirit makes us call Him that I'll show you that as well Romans 8 see these are things I wish somebody had told me as soon as I was born again 65 years ago but nobody did I had to find these things out for myself Romans 8 the Holy Spirit when He comes into us when we are born again the Holy Spirit comes in it says that in Romans 8 if you don't have the Holy Spirit you don't belong to Him as soon as you are born again the Holy Spirit comes in you may be filled with the Holy Spirit later but the Holy Spirit comes in as soon as you are born again and then what does He do when He comes in Romans 8 15 you have received the Spirit that makes you a son of God and He cries out Abba I'm sorry to say the translators did not translate that word Abba is not English Abba is Aramaic and it means Dad it doesn't mean Father because Father is the next word so if I were to translate that into English Holy Spirit cries out Dad, Father I thank God that the Lord opened my eyes so I wake up in the morning and I call Him Dad you know Jesus used to go alone into the wilderness to pray and I remember some time ago I said Lord Bangalore is a city of 11 million people there is no wilderness anywhere nearby where can I get to spend time with you and the Lord said your early morning when you get up in the bed that's your wilderness get alone with me and when you get up when you wake up five minutes is not too long to spend with your Heavenly Father if you have more time half an hour great imagine beginning the day talking to your Father talking to your Dad casting your burden on Him say Lord Dad please be with me today help me and throughout the day and you keep doing that every morning speaking to your Dad will become the most wonderful thing in your life let's pray so before we pray we want to pray Father forgive us our sins as we have forgiven others exactly as we have forgiven others forgive us our sins so please search your heart and see if there is a single human being anywhere in the world no matter what crime he committed that you still have a grudge against you retain that memory of what evil he did you can't take away the memory but you can forgive him the evil that people have done to us will remain in our memory forever you can never change that but I can forgive every one of them so you just have to say Lord I forgive this person, this person, this person all the ones I remember and later on tonight if you go to bed you remember some others just say Lord I forgive that person too and make that a habit in your life anytime the memory of someone who hurt you comes to you say Lord I have forgiven him Heavenly Father thank you for the tremendous privilege you give us of being able to know you and to know Jesus as our personal friend and savior make it a reality for everyone here Lord let our lives be transformed this weekend we humbly ask Father in Jesus name Amen