Love Your Enemies And Do Good To Them

Now let's continue where we were in Matthew chapter 5. The standard we preach in the church is very high, but I'm not saying that only if you get 100% you will get into God's kingdom. I want to show you a verse which is good for us to understand. It's written in the context of giving money for the poor people.

And Paul writes to the Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians 8, in verse 1, he's saying that the churches in Macedonia, 2nd Corinthians 8, 1, in the midst of all that affliction, that means they were very poor, that deep poverty, the churches in Macedonia were very poor brothers and sisters. But even though they were very poor, it's called deep poverty. From that deep poverty, verse 2, they became liberal, that means they gave generously and according to their ability, this is the phrase I want you to notice, according to their ability and some beyond their ability, gave of their own accord, begging us to please help us to have a share in supporting people who are poorer than us.

In Jerusalem. And so they gave. And then it says in verse 12, when it comes to giving, this is the verse I wanted you to point out to you, 2nd Corinthians 8 verse 12, and the principle applies to many other areas also.

If the readiness is present, that means if the willingness is there, the person is willing, then God accepts you according to what you have and not what you don't have. So if a widow has only got two cents and she gives that two cents, it is like a millionaire giving his entire million dollars into the offering box, because she gave everything. It is percentage, not amount.

The widow had only two cents, she gave two cents, she gave 100%. How many believers are there who gave 100%? She was better than that millionaire who puts $10 into the offering box. Now, I'm not talking about giving here.

I'm talking about obedience. Same principle applies in our obeying this high standard that we preach. We preach 100%.

But if the willingness is there, that means verse 12, if you are ready to obey God in your heart, then you are accepted according to what you're able to do and not what you're not able to do. Isn't that a great comfort? Please remember this verse always, that if you can't attain to the high standard that is proclaimed in Matthew chapter 5, you say, Lord, my willingness is there. I really want to obey exactly like it says in Matthew chapter 5, all that we have studied yesterday and all that you have studied today.

And according to my ability, I want to do it. My heart is to obey everything. But I don't have the strength.

I want you to fill me with the Holy Spirit. So take a great example from these poor believers in Macedonia, who according to their ability, they gave obedience also. I'm not talking here about money.

I'm talking about obedience to God's word. According to your ability, if the desire is there, that is the meaning here in 2 Corinthians 8, 12. If the desire is there, do you have a desire? I want to ask you that.

All that you heard, for example, yesterday and today, do you have a desire to obey it completely? Do you have a desire to obey God 100%? And God sees your heart that you really want to obey God 100%. Then you are accepted according to whatever obedience you offer. It may not be complete, but God sees your heart, that you really want to obey.

For example, this matter of forgiveness. Forgiveness. There are some people who have hurt us perhaps and some people hurt your children.

It becomes more difficult to forgive. But if God sees in your heart, Lord, I don't want to have any bitterness against anybody. Those who have harmed me or my family, it's painful when I think of, not that they hurt me, but if they hurt my children, small children, and your teacher is rude to the children or unfair in the way they treat my children in school, I don't want to have any bitterness against them.

It's difficult, but I will forgive them. So God sees your willingness. Please remember that so that we don't get condemned saying, oh, I have not reached up to the high standard that we have heard in the church.

Please remember this. I thought I should share this with you so that the solution is not to lower the standard and say, okay, we can never reach the standard, so let us lower the standard so that everybody can achieve. No.

When my children were studying for math exam and all, I say always aim for 100%. Don't aim for past marks. In India, past marks is 40%.

I said, please don't aim for 40%. Aim for 100%. And then if you get 70, praise God, I'm happy.

But don't aim for 70. Aim for 100%. Isn't that what we teach our children? And we don't punish them because they got 70%.

They passed. They've gone to the next class. We encourage them, okay, do better next time.

It's exactly like that in the Christian life. There's a growth in the Christian life. So I want to show you something before I continue in Matthew 5 and that is in 1 John and chapter 3. This is to encourage you so you don't get discouraged.

When we study on the Sermon on the Mount, there are two attitudes Christians take. Many Christians, most Christians, 99% of Christians say this is impossible. So God is not asking us to obey it.

He's telling you this is a standard and saying you'll never be able to reach it. So just trust me, I'll forgive your sin. That is a wrong way to take God's word because at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he said if you don't obey this, if you don't have a desire to obey, you're like the man who built his house on the sand.

So 1 John chapter 3, it says in verse 2, what are we looking forward to in the future? Are you waiting for the coming of Christ? You and I are all waiting for the return of Christ. But more than that, what is more than that? 1 John, 1 John chapter 3, verse 2, the last part, we have a double hope. When he appears, number one, we will be like him.

Number two, we will see him. So there are two things. We will see him and we will be like him.

We will be like him because we see him. So the first thing is we see him and because we see him, we'll be like him, number two. So our hope is a double hope.

Remember that. Don't just say my hope is that I'm going to see Jesus one day. No, because I see him, it says here I'll be like him.

So my hope is a double hope. Your hope is a double hope that Christ will come and we'll see him and we will be like him. Now, if you have this double hope, what should you be doing? To be like Christ means absolute perfection.

Not a single bad thought, word, deed, attitude, motive, nothing. See, there are five areas in which we sin. We sin in our actions.

We sin in our words. We sin in our thoughts. That's all that people think of.

Fourthly, we sin in our attitudes to people, proud attitude or some bad attitude. And fifthly, we sin when we do even a good thing with a bad motive. That's also a sin.

The action was good, but the motive was bad. So in actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and motives, in all of these, we must be perfect and we must desire to be perfect. And we will be perfect when Christ comes again.

So until then, what do we do? Do we sit back and say, well, I'm not perfect, so why should I bother? Such a person will never enter God's kingdom. We press towards the mark, and when God sees our desire is that, He accepts according to what we have. That's what you read in 2 Corinthians 8. If the desire is there, then it is accepted according to what you have.

And each of us have got a different level of ability. So remember that, that God is not saying you must be perfect, but He is saying you must aim for perfection. Just like you tell your children to aim for 100% in their examination.

So in everything I read in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, I say, Lord, I want to aim for this. But if I don't achieve it, okay, I'll acknowledge my shortcoming. I'll confess it and I'll press on.

And if I keep doing that, I'll tell you what's been my experience. Little by little by little, in area by area by area, it improves. For example, I start out life getting angry frequently, and I come to a place where I never get angry.

Isn't that a wonderful thing to come to? But I would never have come here if I had said, no, it's impossible to overcome all these things completely. Then there are other areas like be anxious for nothing. There's a word like that in Philippians, be anxious for nothing.

Now, I can't say that I have reached there, but I say, Lord, what is my goal? Be anxious for nothing. And my life is much more free from anxiety today than it was 50 years ago. Much more free.

But I would not be where I am today if I sat back and said, oh, well, I'm always going to be anxious about something or the other. Then I would have been in the same low level I was 50 years ago. But I made a lot of progress because I pressed on.

So supposing you see a big race in front of you. I remember the other day, my children and I, we went mountain climbing somewhere. Now, I said, okay, I'm going to come along with you and climb, climb, climb, climb, climb, climb, up.

And after some time, I said, well, I'm 84. I can't go any further than this. So I'm going to stop here.

I'll sit here and you guys go to the top and come back. So I didn't sit at the foot of the mountain and say, no, no, no, this is too high. I knew I could not reach the top.

This is too high. It was a hill, not a mountain, sorry, a hill. And so I said, okay, I'll go as far as I can and have fellowship with my children and then sit down when I stop, when I can't go any further.

So that's the principle in the Christian life. Go as far as you can and press on and press on. And some people may be able to go.

My wife was able to go all the way to the top. So you press on, press on in every area that you hear, that you've heard yesterday and today. Say, Lord, I am determined to press on to perfection.

In our CFC in Bangalore, we have a pulpit and in front of the pulpit, we have these words written, let us press on to perfection. That is our goal, to press on to perfection. We're not saying we reached it.

We're not saying we will reach it when on this earth. But when he comes, we will be like him. That we know.

When Jesus comes, I'll be perfect. What will I do till then? Please turn with me to Philippians and chapter three. It's a very good verse.

Philippians 3, verse 13 and 14. First of all, verse 12. Philippians 3, verse 12 to 14.

I have not yet obtained. I have not become perfect. See the honesty of the Apostle Paul.

I have not become perfect. I have not attained what I want to attain, but I'm pressing on. I'm pressing on so that I can lay hold of what Christ laid hold of me for.

Christ laid hold of me, not just to take me to heaven. The entire Christian world, what they say, that Jesus saved us so that we can go to heaven when we die. I say no.

Jesus saved us so that we can become like him, not to go to heaven, to become like him. And Paul says, I'm not laid hold of that yet. But what do I do? Just sit back and say, I will never be like Christ till he comes.

Agreed. But until that day, I will press on. I keep pressing on so that I can get as far as possible.

And so I, he says in verse 13, I have not laid hold of this yet. He's honest. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind.

That means I don't look back and say, oh, how much have I progressed? No, that'll make me proud. Or it'll make me compare myself with others. Am I better than them? I don't compare myself with others.

I don't even look back and see how much have I progressed. I look forward to see how much more there is to go to become like Christ. And so I forget the things that are behind, verse 13.

And I'm reaching forward to the things that are ahead. Have you seen in a 100 meters race? Nobody, none of them, none of the runners look back. 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters.

Nobody looks back. If they look back, they'll never win. They're not comparing themselves with the others.

Am I ahead of that fellow? They look to the finishing line and say, I've got to get there. That is an example for us. So I press, verse 14, towards the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

So those of us who want to be perfect, let us have this attitude. And if you don't have this attitude, God will show it to you. You pray that God will show it to you, like it says in verse 15.

If you don't have this attitude, which attitude is this? The attitude is, I want to press on to perfection. I want to press on to get 100% in every subject. Verse 17, join in following my example, he says.

Because most people, he says in verse 18, are not walking like that. Most Christians are not walking like that. Even in Paul's time, very few were wanting to press on to become more and more Christlike.

Even today, there are very, very few Christians in the world who are pressing on to become Christlike. In CFC, there are many I have met. I praise God for them.

But that's because they have heard, and heard, and heard, and challenged, and challenged, and challenged. And you know, if you've heard me, that I never lower the standard. I don't lower the standard for myself, and I don't lower the standard for other people when I preach.

But I don't want anybody to feel condemned. I don't want anybody sitting here to feel condemned. I say, if you made even a slight progress in your life since yesterday, I say, praise the Lord.

Keep at it. Keep at it. Look at the finishing line and press towards the mark.

Don't sit back and say, oh, when Christ comes, I'll be like him. If you sit down with that attitude, let me warn you, when Christ comes, you may even be left behind. Because that attitude will make you lazy, and it'll make you a backslider.

The only way to avoid backsliding is to keep pressing forward. I use the example of swimming. If somebody throws you into the sea, and if you know swimming, if you don't do anything, you'll drown.

But if you keep splashing around, even if you don't know swimming much, you'll somehow stay afloat till somebody comes and picks you up. You have to make some effort. You don't have to say, oh, well, nobody's around.

I don't know whether I'll drown here. Okay. I may drown here, but I'm not going to drown.

I'm going to keep fighting, fighting, fighting. That's what you would do if you're thrown into the sea, or you accidentally fall into the sea. It's that desire to survive.

It's the same we must have in desiring to press on to perfection. Lord, I'm going to keep on pressing on, pressing on, like that man in the sea is struggling, struggling, struggling. At last, somebody comes to save him.

Praise God, he didn't die. He was saved. In the same way, I keep pressing on, pressing on, pressing on, pressing on.

I've become perfect. One day Christ comes, and I become perfect. Those are the only people who will become perfect.

Those are the only people who will become perfect. Those who are pressing on, pressing on. Those are sitting back lazily saying, I accepted Christ 25 years ago, and I'm okay.

I tell you, I'm almost certain they'll go to hell, because they have no desire to follow the Lord. If you read the Gospels, try and find out how many times Jesus said, believe in me, believe in me. Maybe once or twice.

But see how many times he said, follow me, follow me, follow me. Which did he say more? Believe in me or follow me? Much more Jesus said, follow me. Any man wants to follow me, any man wants to follow me.

Yes, we believe in him, but the proof of my belief is that I follow him. So if you only say I believe in him and you don't follow him, your belief may be a dead belief. There is a dead faith and a living faith.

James speaks in his letter about a dead faith and a living faith. A living faith is something that is pressing on, pressing on. Even if I don't attain, I'm struggling, struggling, struggling.

A dead person is just flat, doesn't do anything. So let's turn to Matthew 5 again. We've come to a very important passage now, Matthew 5, 43 onwards.

And that is about love. Ultimately, the greatest desire God has for us is that we might learn to love one another. The greatest commandment in scripture is love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.

And for us Christians, love one another as Christ loved us. Okay. So Matthew 5, 43.

Old Testament said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. You know that Joshua went into Canaan and he was told to kill all those Canaanites. That was the Old Testament law.

Kill your enemies. But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who despitefully persecute you.

Then you will be sons of your father who's in heaven. What a wonderful word that is. If you seek to love your enemies and pray for those who are troubling you, then you will behave like a child of God.

Otherwise, you're not behaving like a child of God. You're behaving like a child of the devil. If you hate people and you don't pray for those who trouble you, you're behaving exactly like a child of the devil.

You may not be a child of the devil, but you're behaving like a child of the devil. That's sad. If you want to behave like a child of God, love your enemies.

And if you cannot love them, Lord, please help me. I often think about some of you have sent your children to college. I remember when I sent my children to college, they were not earning money.

Whatever little I had, I would send them. And when they needed some more, they would write to me. Dad, we need a little more here.

We have to pay our fees. We need a little more to buy food here. And I would send them.

So, but they would ask me and I would send them. So, it says here that if I have a need in the same way, I can go to my heavenly father. Lord, I need to love this person.

I don't have that much love money. Let's call love as an example of money. I say, Lord, I don't have that much love.

Like my children say, I don't have enough money to pay my fees. I say, Lord, I don't have enough love to love this man. What did my children do when they needed to pay their fees? They'd write to me.

Dad, can you send us some money? We don't have money here. We have to pay our fees here. Okay, here, son, here.

That's what all your parents also will do for your children when they are studying. That's exactly what we're going to go to our heavenly father. Father, I need to love this man and I don't have the, I don't have the ability to do it.

Please give me. Do you think my father will say no? There was never a time when my children said, I need money desperately. I never said, no, no, no, I can't send you.

No. And our heavenly father has got such tremendous resources. There's anything you want, just go to him and say, Dad, I don't seem to have love for my mother-in-law.

I don't seem to have love for my brother-in-law who cheated me of the property. I don't seem to have love for that man in the office who made life so miserable for me that I even lost my job. Lord, I want to forgive him.

I want to love him. And I don't have that love. Please give me love.

I tell you much more readily than I sent money to my children in college. God will give you love. So he's not asking you to produce that love because we can't do it.

I never told my children, go and work somewhere and earn that money. You parents don't tell your children in college, go and work somewhere and earn that money. You send them money.

Do you think God is worse than you? No. God is a much better father than every one of us. And if you send money to your children when they are in need in their college or school to pay their fees, I tell you, God will much more give you love when you want to obey his commandment.

How can he say no? He'll give you the part of his Holy Spirit. That's what I do. It's not only for love.

It's for any ministry, brother, anything. For example, you're called to serve somebody in some way and you don't have the ability. Ask God to help you.

See, I've been preaching now for 60 years. I started preaching when I was 23 years old and now nearly 85, 62 years nearly I've been preaching. And even today I say, Lord, I don't know very often what I should preach.

I've got things in my heart, but I don't know how to say it. I don't know whether even when I was thinking, what should I share with this Singapore church, these six sessions? And I thought about it and the Lord, I need the Lord laid on my heart to speak on Matthew 5, 6 and 7. And I said, then you've got to give me the words. So I want to say to you, but you're not called to be a preacher, so you don't have to worry about it.

But if God calls you to preach, even one sermon, I tell you, you can go to God and say, Lord, now you know I have to preach here. I want you to give me the ability. I guarantee he'll give it to you.

Think about son asking his father, please send me money to pay my fees. Use that example and go to God with faith. Lord, you're better than any earthly father.

Or the same way you mothers, when your children come to you with a problem, you may not be preaching, maybe some other situation. Your children come to you, mommy, here's a problem I'm facing in school. And you don't know what the solution is.

Maybe she's having some trouble with some other girl, or maybe some other boy is coming and troubling your daughter in school. And you don't know what to do. How should I deal with this? What advice should I give my daughter? She doesn't have the wisdom I have as a father.

What should you do? Go to your father. Ask him. Let me give you a promise.

Turn with me to James chapter 1. It's a very good promise for parents. And I want all of you parents to claim this promise. James chapter 1 and verse 5. Only one verse I want you to remember.

Remember it by heart. If any of you lack wisdom, it's like saying, I don't have money. Your son is saying, I don't have money, dad.

I need to pay the fees. Please give me money. You're going to God and saying, Lord, I don't have wisdom to help my son or daughter in this situation.

What does it say? You must ask God. He's your father. And he's not a stingy person.

The stingy person is, OK, I'll just give you that much. If my son asks for $25, I give him $25. No, God says, I'll give you $50.

He gives generously. That's the number one thing. He'll give you more than you ask.

Secondly, he will not rebuke you for asking. He'll not say, why in the world are you asking? That is like the father will say, the father will not say to his son, why are you asking me for money? I already sent you some two months ago. A good father will not say, it has already spent.

So the heavenly father will not reproach and rebuke you for asking, saying, Lord, I'm stupid. I don't have wisdom means I'm stupid. That's the meaning of no wisdom.

In this situation, Lord, I'm stupid. I don't know what to do. Go to God.

He will give you generously. He will not rebuke you. And it will be given to you.

Look at that promise. It will be given to you. Please remember this by heart and go to God.

It's like a check. Lord, here's a check. I lack wisdom.

You said you'll give generously. I'm going to fill up this check. You have signed it already in Jesus name.

I'm going to write here. I want plenty of wisdom to deal with my son, my daughter, or in this situation in the home. And it is written here.

You will give me more than I ask generously and you will not rebuke me for asking and you will give it to me. Can you remember this promise all your life? It can change your life. Okay, let's turn back to Matthew 5. Lord, I cannot love my enemies.

Okay, ask God. He'll give you love for your enemies. Lord, I don't feel like praying for those who persecute me.

Matthew 5 44. Ask God. He'll help you to pray.

And a God, it says here, God makes the sun to rise on evil people and good people. Think of that example Jesus used. God does not prevent the sun from shining on bad people.

One farmer who's an atheist, he digs up his farm and sows seed. God doesn't say, okay, I won't send any rain to that man's farm because he's an atheist. No.

Isn't it God so good that he sends rain on the farm of a field who says there is no God in heaven? God is so good, he sends rain for him also. Let him think that it comes from the sky. Let him not know that it comes from me.

Even though he says I don't exist, God says I'll still give him rain. That is how good God is. And he says, if you love only those who love you, you're not, it's not a great thing.

Supposing you say, I love all the brothers and sisters in the church. That is not a great thing because they love you also. But if you can love those who don't love you, aha, that is a great thing.

If you greet, verse 747, only those who greet you, that's not a great thing. Even the heathen people do that. But if you can be kind and good to people who are not, don't even bother to say hello to you, what a wonderful thing that is.

Supposing you live in a neighborhood where you have some neighbors in your apartment block who are very rude and unkind and evil. Be good to them. Be kind to them.

And if they don't smile at you, you can smile at them. I'll tell you a true story that happened in Bangalore. There's a brother from our church who lived, he had a house, he built his house and lived in one place.

And next door to him was another family. They were nominal Christians and not interested in spiritual things. And they were very evil.

They would take the garbage in their house and throw it over the compound into this brother's house just to irritate him. They could have thrown it outside in the garbage bin. Instead of doing that, they'll throw it into this.

Every day, they'll throw it into this brother's house. So he would take that garbage and throw it in the garbage bin. He didn't go and fight with them.

And he, you know, he didn't, he didn't try to get into any quarrel with them. He just behaved well. And he prayed for them, Lord, please bless them and help them to come to Christ.

And you know what happened? One day, there was an old mother living there. And the parents were both going to work, children in school. The old mother was alone at home.

And she suddenly became very seriously sick. And she came and called his neighbor saying, I'm sick. What should I do? He said, don't worry, I'll get a taxi and I'll take you to the hospital.

And he took that old lady to the hospital, admitted her there, and then called up her son and family and saying, your mother is sick. So I took her to the hospital. And do you think they ever threw garbage into his compound after that? Never.

Their life was changed. Now, I'm not sure whether they accepted Christ after that. But they saw a Christian testimony from a man whom they troubled and troubled and troubled for so many times.

And he was praying, Lord, give me an opportunity to serve them. Give me an opportunity to serve them. Give me an opportunity to serve them.

And God gave him an opportunity to serve them and show them the love of Christ. If you are eager to draw people to Christ, God will give you an opportunity also. But if you're not eager to draw people to Christ, of course, God won't give you.

You know, God gives you according to your burden. I had a great burden as a young man when I was 23 years old. I said, Lord, I see so much corruption in Christianity.

Everywhere, all denominations, people are running after money and sending reports to America and asking for money and telling lies about number of people converted and all that. Can't we have some good church where people don't tell lies, where people will love one another and speak the truth, even if it's a small church, 10 people, enough. Lord Jesus, you only had 11 people in your church.

Why should I look for more than that? But it must be a good church where people love one another. I had that burden for years and years and years and years in my heart. I saw it only 10 years later.

10 years later, I saw a church family coming up in my house where people love one another. But it was like I carried in my heart for 10 years, just like a mother carries a baby in the womb for nine months. I carried something in my heart for 10 years.

Finally, I was born. A church where people love one another. And not only in Bangalore, but in 100 places now, in so many countries around the world.

I said, it's a lot of work. And not only among rich people, most of our churches are among poor people, among the poorest villages in Tamil Nadu, where my wife and I have gone. We have conducted three medical clinics there.

My wife has conducted there for 25 years. Every year. I've gone to Tuticorin every year for 40 years, every year.

And travel to Tuticorin in the early days from Bangalore was not at all comfortable. And buses through rough roads and all that. But when I see the result today of the wonderful brothers and sisters that have come up in Tamil Nadu, it excites my heart.

Lord, I'd do it all over again. I'd do it anywhere. If I were as healthy as I was in those days, I was only 35 years old.

I'd do it all over again anywhere. But Lord, I want you to raise up another generation now that will carry on this work of building the church, teaching people to love one another and to love their enemies and to press on to perfection. That is our goal.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I pray that you will really take seriously this calling that we have in the church to press on to perfection. And it will be accepted according to what we have. See, there are two parts to our life.

One is what we can see. The other is what we cannot see. There are many wrong things in our life which we cannot see.

If we walk more and more, we will see them. But you can see them only as you overcome more and more in your life. The more you overcome sin, God will allow you to see other things in your life which you have not seen till today.

Do you believe that there are sins in your life which you don't even see, which you don't even call sin? I discovered certain things in my life which I didn't even call sin. But I later on discovered, hey, that is also a sin. I didn't know that was a sin.

I'll give you one example. And I don't think you also have seen this as a sin. Today, when you hear me, you'll see it as a sin.

For example, let me ask you a question. When you do something kind and good to somebody, you expect them to say thank you to you. Okay, good.

But have you ever thought of that as a sin? Is that a sin to expect somebody to say thank you to you? I never felt so. I say I've done some good to them. If he's a decent chap, he should say thank you, particularly if he's a believer.

I'll give you a true example. Years ago, me in Bangalore, one young brother came who was from a Roman Catholic home. His parents were all unconverted.

He was a student. We helped him. We often stayed in our house after the meetings.

And very free with us, we helped him in every way. And he grew up to be a good believer. And he graduated and got a good job.

And he went to some northern part of India and got a very good job. But I never heard from him, not even one letter, no news at all. And I thought, what an ungrateful chap this is.

After all that we did for him for so many years in our house, he doesn't even drop us a letter saying what he's doing or what is happening to him or saying thank you, nothing. And the Lord spoke to me then. You know what the Lord said to me? If you do something to the least of these, my brothers, you've done it unto me.

You know that verse in Matthew 25, where Jesus said, if you do it to the least of these, my brothers, you're actually doing it unto me. So the Lord said, when you help that young brother, you are actually helping me. So if you help me, the Lord said, who should give thanks to you? Should I, the Lord, give you thanks or should that brother give you thanks? I learned a lesson.

When I serve somebody, the least of Jesus' brothers, I'm serving Jesus. So I must expect my thanks from Jesus, not from that brother, not from that person. I learned that day to expect thanks from somebody is a sin.

I stopped expecting thanks from that day. Did you know that expecting thanks from somebody is a sin? You probably never knew that till today. I'm giving you one example.

Like that, things that you don't know that sin had in your life are there in your life. If you walk with the Lord, he'll show you more and more and more and things which you think are perfectly all right. According to God's standard, it is sin.

It's a wonderful journey. You know, people go on vacation, tourism. They say they want to go to this country and that country and see various sites.

I tell you, the best tourism is to follow Jesus. You'll discover so many areas in your life which you did not know were wrong and Christ-like and you'll discover areas where you can become more Christ-like. It's a wonderful journey.

I've been traveling this journey for a long time and I've discovered, I've seen amazing sites more wonderful than all the people who go for tourism to different countries. It's the best tourism you can take. God bless you.

Let us pray. I bow heads about in prayer. Dear brother, sister, all these two days, don't get discouraged if you didn't understand everything.

Just take whatever you understood. That's enough. And say, Lord, the rest you will teach me later on.

I listen to these messages again on the YouTube and I'll get some more. Today I've got a little bit. Say thank you, Lord, for what you've given me.

Let me start with what I have and I believe you'll give me more as time goes on. Heavenly Father, I thank you for these dear brothers and sisters who've gathered here so faithfully eager to hear your word. I pray you'll bless every one of them.

In the name of Jesus, be glorified in CFC Singapore and we pray that everyone here will grow spiritually and get more and more light to obey you and to become wholehearted disciples of Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit so that this church can become a strong testimony for you in Singapore. Yes, Lord, let every brother and sister humble themselves, not seek any gain or honor for themselves, but seek to be a servant. I pray that everyone here will seek to be a servant of others.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen.