Preserving Our Families - Questions & Answers

As we go into this Q&A time, I want to first mention a couple of things. I'll share the screen again here really quickly so that you see it. First of all, the YouTube playlist for all our global online meetings is here. It's easy to remember, rlcf.us slash gomzp. That stands for Global Online Meeting, Zach Poonen playlist. There's also a Hindi playlist that they've created. We'll post this in the chat if you'd like it. I also wanted to mention this, show this slide again. For those of you that don't know, we're based in Loveland, Colorado, and there's a calendar link that you can see if you want to know more about our meetings, join us on Sunday or midweek. If you'd like to receive announcements, if you didn't get an announcement about this meeting, you can sign up for our announcements. We only send one every few months or so, so there's not a lot of email traffic. Also, if you'd like to write to us with questions or for information about like-minded churches in your area, please do write to us. We'd be happy to connect you with those that we know of. There was somebody who wrote at the beginning of the meeting, they didn't mention their name but said that their mother passed away just a few hours ago and asked us to pray for them. I don't know if it's a man or a woman, but I did pray for you, whoever you are, and I'm sure that must be a difficult thing, but praise the Lord that you were still able to join us and I hope you are encouraged, whoever you are. Dear friends, if you think about it, please pray for this person. There was a question that was asked and it's not necessarily related to this person who mentioned that their mother passed away. How do we properly grieve and find comfort after the death of a close loved one, especially if that person was not born again? Yeah, first of all, I want all of us to understand one thing, that God is the only judge of all men and we are not called, many times Jesus said that, you read that in John chapter 8, he says, I do not judge, even when he was on earth, he said, I will not judge. I'm here to be a witness to the truth and Jesus told us we have to be witnesses. Think of a court scene, in a court scene, there's one judge, there's an advocate and there are witnesses, which of these three are you and me? We are not advocates, we're not lawyers, we're not attorneys, that's Jesus, he's the attorney, the lawyer, the advocate, Satan is the accuser, God is the judge and we are witnesses. We're not called to be judges, we're not to judge people when they're alive, we're not to judge people when they die, that saved me, I say, Lord, I don't know. So, where a person has definitely known the Lord and we are sure of that, then we can quote 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 13 onwards where it says, we don't want you to be ignorant brothers concerning those, we never, in the Bible, New Testament never speaks about people that, believers having died, it always says they're asleep, because they're going to be raised up in the resurrection day, their bodies are asleep, but they themselves are in the presence of Jesus, Philippians 1 teaches us that, depart and be with the Lord, but we can be sure, in the case of a person who's born again, we can assure that, that person who's grieving, your loved one is right now in the presence of Jesus, free from pain, free from sickness, rejoice in that, but in the case of someone who we don't know or we knew the person was an unbeliever, I'll tell you, I think of the story of the thief on the cross, now if someone who knew that person, that thief very well, but was not there at the cross in his last moments, he would have said, yeah, I know what type of life that guy lived for 30, 40 years, that guy's definitely in hell today, burning in hell because he killed so many people, he stole so much money, he did so much evil in his life, I'm sure where he's gone, but if he had been there at the cross, when that man was being hanged and being killed for his crimes, and he heard how Jesus, how he repented in the last minute, and how Jesus told him, today, you and I will be in paradise walking together, that's how we know when a person dies, he goes straight to be with Jesus, today, you'll be in paradise with me, that man went to paradise and all these people who were thinking that he had gone to hell, he had not gone to hell, that warns me, I don't know what happened in the last moments of that man's life, I know he lived a very evil life alright, like the thief on the cross, but I don't know what happened in the last moments of his life before he died, so I don't want to say anything, I don't want to say that he's in heaven or hell, but in the case of Jesus, he can say definitely, Jesus told a true story in Luke 16 of a rich man and Lazarus, his beggar, a beggar who was on earth, and when they died, Jesus said the rich man went to hell, and he was burning, and Lazarus went to heaven, but Jesus being from heaven, he could see heaven and hell, and he could tell clearly who is there and who is here, we don't know that, let's leave that for God to judge, and let's not try to judge people, so that's the position I take, when we try to comfort someone who we know is an unbeliever, you don't have to say, oh no, no, no, he's gone to heaven, you know, he may not have gone, but we comfort the person by saying, may God encourage you and comfort you at this time, it's a loss they have suffered, and if they ask you, where has this father of mine gone, has he gone to heaven or hell, I say, let's leave that with God, he's a fair judge, we don't know what happened in the last moments of his life between him and God, so let's leave it with God, let's not live in remorse, thinking he's gone to hell, let's be careful how we live on earth, that we ourselves will go into God's presence, otherwise I will tell them, listen, you think because he lived a bad life, like the thief on the cross, he has gone to hell, and actually he has gone to heaven, and you keep on grieving, grieving, grieving, grieving, that brother of mine or that father of mine, he was a thief, a thief, a thief, a thief, he's burning in hell, burning in hell, burning in hell, burning in hell, and one day when Christ comes back, you see that guy is in heaven, you say, why in the world did I grieve so much, he was all along in heaven, so that is why I say, let's not be judged, let's not judge anyone, let's maybe assure, we comfort them with one Thessalonians, four, but we are not sure, we say we leave it in the Lord's hands. Okay. Thank you. Here's somebody who's written sincerely, saying that they tend to shout at their children out of frustration, and then they find that the children take advantage of that and complain to the spouse and turn them against the parents against each other, and has asked, did you and sister Annie have quarrels, disagreements, strong debates in your early married life, how did you resolve them? Well, I did not have victory over sin when I was born again, I'll be honest, it took many years before I came to victory over sin. So, I was a good husband in every way, I think we were humble, we didn't have much money, we struggled together financially, and I have to say, I lost my temper often, I was defeated by anger, it took me many years after marriage before I really overcame that, it's about seven years at least after I got married that I finally began to overcome my anger, struggled to it till it is gone completely now, but I had to fight it. So, we did not start life as perfect, I failed, I acknowledged my failure, I lost forgiveness, and if I slipped up, I would be quick to say now I'm very quick, I'm not saying I never slip up, supposing I misunderstand something or say something, not deliberately, I think deliberate hurting people has gone out of my life completely. But sometimes, you know, we say something which can be misunderstood, it can happen to any of us till the day Christ comes, and immediately, you know, say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. And so that makes our life more like heaven on earth, immediate. See, it's like, to me, it's like the difference between a child, in the early days, the child does not know how to walk, it's eight months, nine months, it's trying to walk, but it cannot walk. And the early years of our married life can be like that, we are trying to learn how to live together, we fall, we get up, but a day must come when the child walks, if the child is 10 years old, and still not walking, something is seriously wrong with that child. If the child is five years old, and not walking, something is seriously wrong with that child. By the time a child is two years old, most children are walking. And in a few years, they're running. And that's the way our marriage should also develop. In the beginning, I mean, there can be falls, getting up, fall, getting up, you don't lie down. No, we don't give up completely. We get up, get up. But I believe in God's economy. By the time your first child comes to understand, by the time your first child is one or two years old, which means the earliest about three years after you're married, you should have come to some level of at least apologize. Quick to apologize. That's easier than getting victory. Victory is the second stage. First, get into the habit of apologizing immediately. Don't aim for victory first, aim for being humble enough to apologize. Then victory will come, if you earnestly seek for it. And don't give up. There's nobody, no marriage starts off perfectly. We are imperfect people. And we work towards perfection, but we must have a longing. The Bible says, Hebrews 6, 1, let us press on to perfection. And don't give others the impression, a false impression. I'm not saying you must confess your sins to others. No. If you have a differential opinion, you don't have to express that to others. Within yourself, discuss it. I want to say one more thing. We will never come to a perfect unity of opinion in everything on this earth. Imperfect. And I've never expected, even in the church, and I work with fellow elders, I don't say you must agree with me 100%. I don't tell my wife, you must agree with me 100%. We have got our own minds and a husband who says my wife agrees with me 100% is a dictator. And I never want to be a dictator. She must be given freedom to have our own opinion. But we are united. I work with elders with whom we disagree, but we are united. That's even more wonderful, where we can disagree and be united, never have a conflict, even though some areas we disagree. Because we are imperfect. If I were perfect, my wife were perfect, we disagree in nothing. But neither of us are perfect. So there may be disagreements, but disagreement does not mean disunity. Remember, disagreement and disunity are two completely different things. You can disagree on many, many things, which are unimportant. We agree on the Bible, we agree on God, we agree on Jesus Christ, we agree on salvation. We agree that our children must be following the Lord. The most important thing we agree on, but other things like who's going to win the cricket match or who is a better batsman or a bowler, these things are unimportant. I'm talking about trivial things like that. There could be many, many areas on earth. Which food do you like? Which food do I like? What does it matter? Unimportant. In the essentials, we're going to be united. So if you follow that rule, I believe that you can have a wonderful married life. In other areas, we must give freedom to one another to disagree agreeably. That's the way. And then we preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. That's true in the church. It's true in the home. Don't be a dictator, forcing the other person to agree with you and everything, but preserve the unity of the spirit at any cost. Because a lot of things we disagree on are unimportant in terms of eternity. Always ask yourself, what will this matter 2,000 years from now? What will matter 2,000 years from now is your unity and what your children saw for unity in your home. God bless. Thank you. Somebody's written, I'm a husband and father and sometimes fall into repeated sin. At those moments, a great fear comes upon me that God is going to allow Satan to do something bad to my children because of that. Is that possible? One of the great examples I would say is Peter. What is the greatest sin a man can commit? I don't have time to show you all the verses, but you know, Jesus once said, if anyone denies me before men, I will deny him before my father. To me, that is the greatest sin. He never said, if you murder somebody, I'll deny you before my father. If you commit adultery, I'll deny you before my father. If you tell a lie, I'll deny you before my father. He said, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father. What sin did Peter commit? It was not murder. It was not adultery. It was denying Jesus Christ, the greatest sin of all. All your sins are less than that. Did Jesus forgive him? Not only forgive him, filled him with the Holy Spirit and made him an apostle. But you know why? Because he wept, repented. We read in Luke chapter 22 that when he denied the Lord, the Lord from the very standing in the court turned and looked at Peter and says, what was there in the Lord's eyes at that time? What do you think? It was not like we sometimes look at somebody who did something wrong. Not the look that says, I told you he would do that. No, it was a look which said, don't worry, Peter. You're forgiven. Remember what I told you? You will turn again. And when you turn again, strengthen your brothers. That was what the look of, it was a look of forgiveness. When you look at people who have denied you, hurt you, give them a look of forgiveness. So don't ever give up even if you've committed some terrible sin. I want to say to you, the Lord turned and looked at Peter and the Lord turns and looks at you. You've committed some terrible sin. He says, I forgive you, my child. Come back to me. Your life can be different from today. And was he just forgiven? No, he became the leading apostle on the day of Pentecost. But because of his failure, he could never be proud. That's what failure accomplishes. On the day of Pentecost, with a 15 minute sermon, he brought 3000 Jews to Christ. How many Jews have you and I brought to Christ? It's difficult to bring one Jew to Christ. 3000 Jews in 15 minute sermon under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And some of the other apostles came to Peter and slapped him on the back and said, Hey, Peter, great work, man. Imagine so many people. He said, No, no, no, no, I did. I know what I did six weeks ago. I denied my Lord. I'm nothing. I'm a failure. But the Lord has had mercy on me. That failure in his entire life, he never forgot. That's kept him humble. God allows failure to come to keep us humble for the rest of our life. That we don't lift up our heads thinking we are somebody that we don't exalt ourselves over others, but never get discouraged. Okay. Yeah, somebody's written. I seem to have been a very joyful Christian devoted to the Lord prior to marriage. But after marriage, my life's become very dysfunctional. And I seem to cry constantly to the point where I feel like the only option would be to leave or separate. Can you guide me? I don't believe you should ever think of separation. If your partner is physically harming you, and there's danger to your life or threat of physical injury, even then never divorce. Never, never, never. God hates divorce. You read that. We read that in Malachi chapter two. You can live separately. Go and live with your parents or something like that, but never even think of divorce. But otherwise, I think we can ask ourselves whether we had certain expectations in marriage. What were you expecting when you got married? Maybe you were not born again. So you just married whoever you liked. You were born again later. Okay. It doesn't matter. Wherever you started from, from the time you were saved, say, Lord, I want to try and live for your glory. I want to live an overcoming life. And God does not hold you responsible for your partner's failures. Please remember, if you are seeking to live a godly life, and your wife or your husband is not interested in that, pray for them. Don't judge them. Pray for them. God has had mercy on you. Be merciful to them. You know, the Bible says, blessed are, Jesus said, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. I'm absolutely convinced that many people don't get mercy from God because of one reason. They are not merciful to other people. Because the law is that only the merciful will receive mercy. If you want to mercy from God, be merciful to others. Matthew five is very clear, blessed are the merciful, they will obtain mercy. Ask yourself whether you're merciful to your partner or you're judging her constantly in your mind. Because if you keep judging him or her in your mind, one day you will express it in words, and there'll be conflict. By mercy, I don't mean that you tolerate wrong. If you're the head of the house as a husband, you must not tolerate wrong in your house because you have a responsibility for your children. And if there is to be some disagreements, let that be. But you're going to say, I'm standing up for the Lord. You have to stand up for the Lord. And sometimes you need wisdom, how you do it. Make sure you're not standing up in arrogance. And make sure the Lord is on your side to support you. Even if you feel that the devil is working through your wife or your husband, fine. If you've got the Lord on your side, you're going to win. Definitely. Win means what? Not crush your partner, but win that person over to the Lord. So make sure the Lord is on your side always, even if the devil is on the other side. It's the worst possible scenario where the devil is 100% with your partner. You make sure the Lord is 100% with you by keeping your conscience absolutely clear, by having a thirst to be filled with the Holy Spirit all the time. And the Lord is able to overcome every enemy. Not the way you expect, and not in the time frame that you have prescribed this will happen in one year. Leave it to the Lord to decide. But you say, Lord, even if it takes 50 years, I'm going to make sure all these 50 years that you are on my side, that I'm on your side. I'm with you. I'm with you all the time. More than asking the Lord to support you. You say, Lord, I want to be with you. You know, I often think of that question that I don't have time to show you. Read that in the book of Joshua, the early chapters, where he, before they went to conquer Jericho, he saw a man standing with a sword. And Joshua asked him the question, are you on the Lord's side? Are you on our side or enemy's side? Said neither side. I've come to represent the Lord. Are you on my side or not? That's the question. Not asking the Lord, are you on my side? But you ask him, are you on the Lord's side? He's the captain. You're not the captain. You make sure you're on his side. Say, Lord, I want to be on your side, wherever you are. And Jesus has taught us the way of humbling ourselves and judging ourselves. There's nothing wrong in humbling yourself before your wife or your husband, without giving up your headship. You can be humble enough to say, I was wrong. I'm sorry. Say it gently. Don't speak rudely. There are things we have to conquer in our own way of speech. And so don't ever give up hope. That's what I would say. Don't ever think of divorce. Don't ever think of breaking up. Say, Lord, I have faith that you will do a miracle in my marriage. And you'll be amazed to see what God can do. Another question, how can a wife go back to her husband and live in submission after there's been a period of separation due to unfaithfulness on his part? Are there any practical safeguards to rebuild a marriage? This is very difficult. If a husband has been unfaithful sexually and etc. It's very common nowadays, I'm sorry to say, because I get a lot of emails from unknown people who I won't even let them know who they are, of unfaithful husbands. It's the days of Noah. Unfaithfulness in marriage, very common. It's the last days, the signs of the end. I say, Lord Jesus, come soon. So I believe that the Lord's word, my grace is sufficient for you is true in every situation. In every situation, there are a couple of verses which are always true. One is the word I just quoted from 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 2nd Corinthians and chapter 12 and verse 9, my grace is sufficient for you. In every situation, say my grace, the Lord's grace is sufficient for me. And another verse I would say to you, you know, word of God has got tremendous power. And Jesus quoted the word of God even to the devil. Every time, the three temptations in the wilderness, Jesus did not argue with the devil. He just quoted scripture. Read Matthew 4. All he did was quote scripture. Quote scripture to the devil and quote scripture to yourself. The other verse is Romans chapter 8 and verse 37. In all situations, we will be more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. Jesus loves me, that's enough. Through that and through that knowledge, I will be more than a conqueror, Romans 8:37, in every situation. And if I am faithful, Romans 8:28, God will make everything work together for my good. Maybe not bring a very peaceful marriage, but Romans 8:29, make me more like Christ. So when it says in Romans 8:28, God makes everything work together for good. It's not the good we think, it's the good is that I become more like Christ. And hopefully, the partner will also become more like Christ. So you make that your goal. Lord, I want to see that I behave in a Christlike way. And as far as possible, I want my marriage to be restored. You pray like that. And if your husband has been unfaithful, you don't have to be unfaithful. And you need wisdom to whether you should live with your husband or live separately. That depends on the situation where if he's, you know, if your husband is repeatedly unfaithful, you could get sexual disease, sexually transmitted diseases through living with him, if he's fooling around with other women. So you may be wise to stay separately for the sake of your children. That depends on your circumstances also. So you must ask God for wisdom, whether you should move in with your parents or some situation like that, some act like that, where which you can avoid, I cannot give you an answer for each situation. But I'll tell you one thing. There is no situation for which God has no answer. If you're a child of God, you make sure that your relationship with Christ is right. And you're walking in the light, I guarantee in all your ways of knowledge, he has a promise for you from Proverbs and chapter three, no matter which situation it is. Proverbs chapter three, verse five and six, trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't depend on your own understanding. Verse six, in all your ways, acknowledge him, make him Lord. And he will definitely make your path straight, which way you should go. Even if he does not change the other person. That's a promise. Amen. Okay. I'll move on to some questions about parenting. And I wonder if you could answer this question two ways. This is regarding wisdom on how to guide and discipline children at different ages, say children who are 12 and younger, and teenagers. First of all, 12 and younger, as I told you earlier, one of the first words that a child should understand from you is no, or don't do that. Or they started speaking, you must never speak like that to anybody. These are words that we have to frequently use with our children, because our children have got a nature from Adam, which they got from us. You must be merciful to your children, because they've got this nature from you. Where did they get that bad nature from? From you as parents. So you must be merciful to them. But at the same time, you must be strict with them, because that nature will lead them astray into hell. So we must be merciful and strict and find a balance there. So from ages one to 12, we must speak strongly to them, correct them. And, you know, in Proverbs 22, it says, train up a child, that means you must first guide them and teach them, teach them the principles of God's word from childhood, teach them to pray and pull their hands and pray every time you eat food to recognize from a little age, that I've seen little children pray to Jesus. I know one missionary lady who was a God-fearing missionary, who's dead now, who went to many years as a missionary, who said that she was converted when she was three years old. And a calling from God to serve him when she was, I don't know, before she was 10 years old. So it's amazing how early children can come to know the Lord. And I believed it from her because she was beyond 80 when she died and she was a fantastic missionary. So I can see that God does, you know, get a hold of a person at a very young age. But here it's another verse, Proverbs 22, 15. Train up a child is one word, Proverbs 22, 6. 22, 15 says, foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. What is inside your child's heart? I'll tell you, foolishness. Every imaginable type of foolishness is in the heart of your lovely, sweet child. But the rod of discipline will remove it far from him. It's amazing, the rod of discipline. Now, there are many ways in which discipline must be done. We read in Hebrews chapter 12, we had fathers, Hebrews 12, 9, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. And they disciplined us for a short time. God also disciplines us, Hebrews 12, 10. Now, the way we discipline our children, it doesn't always have to be with a rod and spanking. It may need to be that. But it can be by depriving them of certain pleasures. Like my children love to play cricket. When they came back from school, and if they misbehaved badly, I would say, go and lie down in your bed. You can't play cricket today. That was such a severe punishment for them that they would almost say, Lord, give me a spanking rod and let me go and play. It was a severe punishment to lie down in bed and the others were playing cricket. I'm just saying that you don't have to use the rod. There can be other ways of withholding. But don't punish them in cruel ways saying you can't eat the ice cream today. Sorry, that's a punishment. No, in food matters, please don't punish your children by withholding enjoyable food. There are other ways. Go and sit in your room, go and sit in the corner, sit on a chair facing the wall for half an hour or one hour. There are ways of disciplining without using the rod. I would say the best way is to avoid using the rod as much as possible. Discipline in other ways. And if there's no other way, there's nothing wrong in using the rod, Proverbs 22, 15 says that. So that's up to the age of 12. Beyond the age of 12, I would say, we cannot use physical punishment. I would not do that. They become teenagers. You must plead with them. Again, once again, we can restrict certain things. We cannot, we will not allow you to do this because you need to be disciplined. But more than that, I think we also need to show our love for them. Put your arm on their shoulder, kneel down with them when they've done something wrong and say, let's ask Jesus to forgive us. What you did was wrong, my son, my girl. Let's ask Jesus to forgive us. And when you're praying for that child, you also pray for yourself. Lord, please forgive me if I failed as a father or mother and help me to be a better father or mother. That'll make a world of difference. If you mean it, don't be a hypocrite to try some technique to change a child. No, we're not teaching psychology here. Genuinely, don't ever pray to God something which is not true. You can honestly say that, Lord, I want to be a better father or mother. That'll make a world of difference to your child to recognize that you're also a failing human being trying to live a godly life like your child. Nowadays, school curriculums are starting to include many things that are unbiblical. For example, gender related issues. Do you think homeschool is a better option? And can you suggest any good Christian homeschool curriculum or other options? See, I don't know enough about Christian homeschool curriculum, but I'm sure there are, because there are many people using them in many parts of the world. So I'm sure there are, and you can make some investigation or probably write to some Christian leaders and they'll tell you. But our children grew up in India, and we did not homeschool any of them. But I suppose in a situation in many foreign countries, in other countries in Europe and America, in some situations, homeschooling becomes necessary because of various factors. Not just because of what they are teaching in school, but because of the vile, filthy atmosphere among the other children in the school from a very young age. And all that filthy pornographic pictures being shown to your children from the time they are seven or eight years old, and evil. So it's not just from the school and the teachers, it's also from children, the things they are teaching. So we need to ask God for wisdom. There's no standard answer for this. But a lot of correction can be done at home when we tell them from a very early age, we are living in an evil world, which is controlled by the devil. But we are not to fight with them. We have to be witnesses for Christ, not by going around telling other students that you belong to the devil or any such thing. No, we have to be witnesses to them. They've been led astray by the devil. Let's look at them mercifully, but don't join them in their bad activities. We must teach our children, don't indulge in just ganging up against some person. Everybody gangs up sometimes against one student, or sit and keep on speaking evil of the teacher. So don't ever get involved in all that. It may make your child a little unpopular with the others, because they don't join with all the evil conversations. But that's better. Tell them Jesus was also unpopular. He would not do certain things that other people did. And they even killed him. So we're ready for that. But these days, they may not kill you, they may just put you out of their society. So we have to teach our children to take a stand. And in each situation is different. So you must ask God for wisdom. Should I send my child to this school? Or should I try and teach the children at home? Some people don't have the ability to teach their children at home. So there's no other option. We need to give our children an education so that they can get a job. And ask God, there's one thing I'll tell you, there is no situation to which God does not have an answer. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13 is a great promise. No trial has taken me, which is not common to all people. 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13. But in every trial, God will show you a way of escape. Is that way of escape homeschooling? That way of escape strengthening your child to be more bold in school? Follow that, and you'll be able to endure it. Not enjoy it. You'll be able to endure it. That means you'll be an overcomer. That's the main thing. And so I can't give a standard answer. In particular situations, you could ask some godly person near you or some other family who's godly in your home, sorry, in your area, and they can help you. Yeah. Can you give some advice to young people who live in homes where the environment is bitter? The parents are always threatening divorce and constant fighting, even with the extended family. And they even claim to be Christians, the parents do. How would you advise a young person? Yeah. But before I get to that, just one more thing to the last question. You know, our children studied in schools where they would teach some things about Hinduism. Well, there's nothing wrong in studying about Hinduism or Islam, what other religions believe. There's nothing wrong in knowing about it. I also want to know what other religions believe. I can talk to people of those religions. But when they are teaching them, we can tell them at home, listen, that is not what we believe. If they are teaching in the school that man developed from the monkey, that's what a lot of people in the world believe. But we don't believe that. We believe God created man. So they would ask this question, how shall we answer the question? If it comes in the examination, then answer the question like this. Scientists say, and then answer what is in the book. That's not, you're not saying that. Remember, you're quoting what somebody else said. That's okay. I can even say the devil tempted Eve. We are quoting another person. So I said, that's the way to escape. There's a way out of every situation. Then the examiner knows that you know the answer. But at the same time, you're not saying that you believe that yourself. Okay. Now children who are growing up in home and the parents are in constant conflict. I'll tell you honestly, I almost feel like weeping for such children. I feel sorry for them. Poor, innocent children suffering because of parents who claim to be Christians and who are an absolute disgrace to the name of Christ. I would still say to them, see the Bible says, honor your father and mother. You don't have to follow your father and mother if they're going astray. You know, we have many Christians who have come from non-Christian homes in India. How can I tell them to worship idols like their parents do? No, I say, no, we don't worship idols, but we've many graces about it. Even a wife who has to, who's told to, my husband to bow down to idols, you can say, no, I don't feel I should do that. I respect you and do other things, but I can't bow down to this idol. That's, I believe God will support such a person when you're doing something according to God's word. God hates idolatry. There's enough evidence of that in the Old Testament. So there are situations like that where you see, you must tell the children, listen, your parents fighting is completely against God's word. And if they're Christians, they are just hypocrites. They are probably not really born again. They don't seem to have a conviction about their fighting. They keep on doing it week after week, after week, after week. Don't follow them, but honor them, respect them, and don't get into conflict with them and ask God for wisdom. There's a great promise I give to such people, children or adults. James chapter one, very good verse. You know, you must know the promises of scripture. All of you who are advising others, please know the promises of scripture. You must have it at your fingertips. James one verse five. If any of you lack wisdom, you don't know what to advise a child or a child itself does not know what to do. Let him ask God, what should you do? Pray. Lord, what shall I do in this situation? Even a little child can pray. Does God answer the prayers of children? Of course he does. And God will give, look at the promise. Here's a promise. Your duty is to ask. No, your first duty is to acknowledge you lack wisdom. And that's sometimes a difficult thing for people to acknowledge. I lack wisdom. Second step is ask. And what is God's promise? He will give to everyone. You little child, you five-year-old, he'll give to you. How will he give? Not in a miserly way, generously. And he won't rebuke you saying, why don't you have wisdom? No, he will never say, why don't you have wisdom? Without rebuking you generously, he'll give to you. What a wonderful promise. James one five. Any of you lack wisdom in any situation, not just this situation. It applies to all types of situations. I've claimed that promise many times myself. I say, Lord, I'm in some situation here. I don't have wisdom. I admit I don't have wisdom. I don't know what to do. There's a great example of this in the Old Testament in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. I want you to turn to that verse a moment. 2 Chronicles chapter 20, you read of a king. Many armies came to fight with him and he didn't know what to do. So this is what he prayed. In 2 Chronicles 20 verse 12, three things in the middle of verse 12. 2 Chronicles 20 verse 12, middle of that verse. Number one, we are powerless against this great multitude. Children can say that. Lord, we don't have power. Our parents are more powerful. We are little children. We are powerless. God loves to help powerless people. Number one. Second, we have no wisdom. We don't know what to do. Confess those two things. We don't have power. We don't have wisdom. These people are mightier than us and we don't know what to do. But number three, very important. We are looking to you to give us an answer and to solve the situation. It's easy to remember. I don't have power. I don't have wisdom. But I'm looking to you, Lord. And you said anyone lacks wisdom, you generously claim the promise of God. We must teach our children the promises of God. Okay. God bless you. Are there specific verses that you could share with brothers or sisters who are single and have been waiting for a number of years to get married and uncertain if that's ever going to happen? How can they cope with loneliness? Yeah. I believe that whether you're married or not married, the Lord must be first and central in your life. Always. That must never change. And so you say, Lord, I know you said it's not good for men to be alone. And I'm struggling without getting married. For men, it's a bigger temptation because it's a tremendous sexual pressure. For women, it's a temptation because it's more insecurity. For a woman, it's insecure being alone in the world. So both men and women face that. Say, please lead me to someone, Lord. I only can say pray fervently and keep praying that the Lord will lead you. And there are many cases, usually more with women than men, who remain single. And God still takes care of them. So we must pray that Lord will in some way make your life fully satisfying without a husband, without a wife, just that you have Jesus himself. So God can make up for any earthly lack you have. Again, back to 2 Corinthians 12, 9. My grace is sufficient for you. Jesus lived a single life. Paul lived a single life. Many godly men and women have lived single lives. Some of the world's greatest missionaries were single women in India, in Africa. Read their biographies and see how God used them. Amy Carmichael, one of them, who came to India. And there were missionaries who went to Africa, to Nigeria, it's mysteries, who were single women. So, and to other parts of the world, single men, single women, God did a work for them. So that's an encouragement. He may not call you to be a missionary, but you can be a faithful witness when you are. So say, Lord, you seek your earnestly and submit to the will of the Lord, whatever it is. That's all I can say. Is it wise for a husband and father to spend long periods of time away from his family in order to provide for them? It's not the best, but in our present world, circumstances are such that it happens like that because there's no job available in the place where they are living. They have to go somewhere else where they cannot take their family. I know in India, there are many poor people who go to work in Dubai and other countries in the Arabian Gulf, where they get a job and sometimes they're away from their families for 10 months a year. It's not at all ideal, 10 months a year. But some go there out of covetousness to make more money. God doesn't bless that type of thing. But if it's unavoidable, God sees the difference between those who go to make money somewhere and sacrifice their family and those who go out of necessity. And if you've gone out of necessity, you'll find the blessing of the Lord on your family. If you're going to make money, ultimately your family will lose out. I can give that to you in writing. I've seen that with people who have even gone to the Persian Gulf Christians, whose primary goal is to make money. And I've seen their children, one after the other, go astray, even though they call themselves Christians. They could have been wholehearted Christians, but they're not. So they're happy with just a nominal type of accepting the Lord, take baptism and live as you like. But in some cases, it's out of necessity, then God will give you grace to take care of it. In the olden days, everybody had farms. They lived in the farm. The whole family grew up there. The children grew up to take care of farms. It was easy. But today, we live in a civilized society. With the industrial revolution in the last couple of hundred years, the world has changed so much. And we have to adjust to this world in which we live and pray that God will guide. So sometimes it's unavoidable, and then God will give you grace even for that situation. There is no situation that God does not plan in advance for. Here is a living example right now. Who knew that this COVID-19 pandemic would be upon us? In these last couple of years? God. Even the devil didn't know that. God. And what provision has God made for his children who cannot now come together? It says, don't forsake the assembling of yourself together. You know what happened two years ago? Not only the pandemic came, but God permitted someone to invent Zoom, which we are using right now. Why did that happen now? You see the connection between the two? And God allowed it for the sake of his children. I personally believe every single invention is for the sake of the gospel. The airplanes. What is that for? It's so that people can travel around the world and preach the gospel. I've used the airplane many times to go to places I could not have gone otherwise to preach the gospel. Computers. They're using it right now for the sake of the spread of the gospel. I believe every invention, God has allowed so that as the world increases and then you need to reach far and wide, YouTube, even though it's used for many bad things, you're using it to spread the gospel. I mean, I, you know, we were a little group meeting in our house in 1975 and CFG started with two people first. Gradually became four or five, six people. That's how we started in 1975. But we had a goal. We must make disciples all over the world. But we start with our little circle. We prayed for Bangalore first and for India and for other countries. And we said, Lord, how to reach the world? So we first started distributing cassettes of our messages. Then when CDs came, we started distributing CDs. Then from CDs, we moved to DVDs. DVDs, we started distributing DVDs. And then lo and behold, YouTube came along and we could put 2000 messages of ours on YouTube and it's going to 180 countries. We get responses. We get responses from Greenland. Can you believe that? We are reaching the world with the gospel. And right now, I don't know how many countries that we reach right now, but God has made amazing with every technologies for the spread of the gospel and we must use it. So we live in a world where these things are there. So I agree that as far as possible, we should stay together as a family, but if it's not possible, God will give grace. Yeah. I'll move on to some questions about personal discipline in the church. Can you explain how Jesus was equally tempted in all points as we are, even though he didn't have some of the temptations that we have now with technology? And how was he able to overcome if he was baptized in the Holy Spirit only at the age of 30? Yeah. The word baptized in the Holy Spirit is not used about Jesus. It's used for he will baptize us in the Holy Spirit. In the case of Jesus, it says he was anointed. Luke chapter four, Jesus says the spirit of the Lord has anointed me. So it was for ministry, but Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit. So he was filled with the Holy Spirit from childhood inwardly, but the anointing for service came when he was 30. So before the anointing came, he never preached sermons. He never cast out a demon. He never healed a sick person, but the Holy Spirit within filled him. We need two things. We need the fullness of the spirit inside, which is for everyone, for our life. We need the anointing for a particular ministry. If I'm filled with the Holy Spirit within and I walk in the fullness of the spirit, I'll overcome sin. But if I'm not anointed, my ministry will be very shallow. It will not have the fire of God in it. If you want the fire of God in whatever ministry you do, evangelism, teaching anything, you need the anointing and you must remain under the anointing. So Jesus was anointed, but he was filled with the spirit from childhood and he overcame through the power of the Holy Spirit within. And that's how we overcome too. The Holy Spirit within resists the flesh. We read that in Galatians chapter five, that the flesh fights against the spirit and the spirit fights against the flesh, Galatians 5, I think it's verse 17. And these are against each other. So we don't do the things we want to do because the Holy Spirit within is fighting. So Jesus had that. The other thing we read is that Jesus prayed a lot. We read in Hebrews chapter five and verse seven, he prayed with loud crying and tears. I think that's one reason he went to the wilderness. He didn't want to shout out and cry in his house. So he'd go out into the wilderness and says in Hebrews 5, 7, with loud crying and tears, he prayed, father, save me from spiritual death. What is his prayer? He never prayed to be saved from physical death. Never, never, never, never. He'd be willing to go through a thousand physical deaths for my sins, but he did pray to be saved from spiritual death. Spiritual death is the result of sin. James 1 says that lust when it is conceived produces sin and sin when it is finished, James 1, 15 brings death. That is the death we read in Hebrews 5, 7, Jesus prayed he should never, there should be no smell of death in my life. Not even a smell of sin. It's not that I should not speak an angry word or do something or lust for a second. No, not even a smell of it in my heart. Leave alone the tongue and the eyes and the heart itself, absolute, total purity. He cried out. See, we don't cry out like that because we're not so keen on having purity in our heart. If we control our tongue and control our eyes, we think we are great. We're not. Sin is not in our eyes or in our tongue, it's in the heart. And a lot of people who don't sin with their eyes and the tongue, there's a lot of sin in their heart. Jesus was determined there should be zero in the heart. Not even 0.001, 000. And that's why he prayed with loud crying and tears. And the more fervent you are to live an overcoming life, I tell you, you will also cry out with loud crying and tears. I remember seeking the Lord about this. And I say, Lord, how in the world can I do that? I don't want to disturb my wife when she's leaving. I don't want to make a noise in the house when I'm shouting, crying out. And the Lord said, I'll teach you to cry in your heart without opening your mouth. And I learned it. The cry is in the heart, no noise coming out of the mouth because we are living with so many around us. The cry in the heart to God, Oh God, keep me from sin. Please keep my heart pure. Don't let me speak a rude word to anyone. Don't let me speak a lie to anyone. And don't let me hurt anyone knowingly, unknowingly, unconsciously we'll do it. But knowingly, Lord, don't let me ever, ever, ever do something wrong that will hurt you. Something that made you to be crucified on the cross. It's all begins in the heart. I don't want my thoughts. I don't want it to come from the heart to the thoughts or the words or actions. It starts in the heart, in my attitude to people, in the motive with which I'm doing things, Lord. And you know, for example, if God blesses you in some work that you do and a little pride comes, it happens. You'll get a little puffed up, repent immediately. Nobody ever heard or saw anything, but you felt in your heart. One second of feeling a little elated that you did something wonderful for God. Oh God, it's happened to me. And I wept in my heart, Lord, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I got the glory to myself for that one second. No, the glory belongs to you, belongs to you, Lord. I will not touch it. If you're like that, I tell you, your life will be so free from sin. You won't be perfect. But you will press on. You climb that mountain towards perfection. And Jesus was not tempted in every circumstance. That's important to remember. The Bible says in Hebrews 4:15, he was tempted in every point as we are. He did not have a drunken father. He did not have the temptation of computer pornography. He did not have many, many temptations. He did not have the drive beyond the speed limit. He never drove a car. He never had the temptation of getting irritated with a man in front of you on the road who's not following the rules. There's temptations. He never faced our circumstances. He never had an evil mother who harassed him, but he faced every single temptation that you face in different circumstances. So read the scripture carefully. Every single Hebrews 4:15 is very clear. This is what helped me to come to a life of victory in my life. I'll tell you my testimony. As a born again Christian, I was defeated, defeated, defeated for 16 years after I was born again. Words, thoughts, deeds, so many things. I mean, God kept me from gross sin, but in God's eyes, I failed in so many areas. And I was a preacher. And I was defeated. I got so fed up that I said, Lord, I'll quit preaching and just be an ordinary Christian sitting in the back of some church unless you give me victory. I can't. I've come to rock bottom. And you know what God did? I'll tell you what he should have done. He should have sent me to hell for being such a hypocrite. But instead of sending me to hell, he filled me with the Holy Spirit. I picture myself as a man working in a factory, and I mess up some machine, and the boss forgives me. And the next month I mess up and spoil another machine, and the boss forgives me. And one day I mess up and spoil the most expensive machine in the factory. And the boss says, I want to see you. I know I'm going to be dismissed. And I go up to his room, expect him to be kicked out. And the boss says, I'm promoting you to be head of the factory. Really? Can you believe that? That's what God did. Well, how grateful will I be to that such a boss? Instead of sending me to hell, he filled me with the Holy Spirit. My life went from rock bottom, started going up. I didn't become perfect overnight, but I started climbing the mountain. And it's been going up ever since, since the last 47 years, and it gets better and better and better as time goes on. And it keeps us healthy too, when you avoid sin. So, God will never let you down. Jesus was not tempted in every circumstance. The thing that helped me was, he was tempted in every temptation I faced. When I was tempted in any area, I would say, Lord, what did you do when you were a 20-year-old in Nazareth, and you were tempted in the same way? What did you do? I want to do the same. You young people, when you're tempted, young men tempted with girls, you say, Lord, were you tempted like me when you were 19, 20, 22 years old? Yes. What did you do? I want to do the same thing. The Lord will tell you what to do. He'll protect you. Not the same circumstances, but the same temptations. Every single temptation I can ever face in my life, my Savior has already faced it. And he overcame it to be a forerunner for me. I'm just looking for his footsteps. I remember once when I was taken to court by religious people for my exposing their wrong teachings. They wanted to imprison me. I was scared because I've never been to court in my life. For 58 years, I've never been to court, and they took me in there, false charges. And I'll tell you honestly, I was scared. But the Lord said to me, look for my footsteps here. Religious people took me also to court, the Lord said. Oh, religious people took my Savior to court, and I'm following. I said, what are the footsteps, Lord? Faith and love. Faith that your heavenly Father will never let you be tempted beyond your ability. He knows what's happening. Thank you. And love for your accusers. Love them and bless them. So I did that. I shook hands with my accuser on that day in court and said, God bless you. Of course, he was shocked. But anyway, I said, Lord, I'm going to find your footsteps of faith in the Lord, the Father, and love towards my accusers. I will walk in your footsteps. So every situation, he's been tempted ahead of you. Remember, one of the most important verses in my life, Hebrews 4:15. And the next verse says, therefore, let us go to the throne of grace and get the same grace that Jesus got so we can also be overcomers. Yeah. Thank you. I'll ask a couple more because we're getting close to the end of our time. Here's a question. I sometimes doubt if I am truly born again because I don't know if I came to the Lord in genuine repentance, yet I seem to see genuine transformation in my life over the past few years. How can I be certain? See, our knowledge keeps increasing. So understanding of repentance will increase. I have a much clearer understanding of sin today than I was born again 62 years ago. It's going to be nearly 63 in a few months. And at that time, my knowledge of sin was very limited. It's like getting into the kindergarten. How much does a little kid know in the kindergarten? He's working towards his PhD and post PhD. But at the kindergarten, he knows very little. But that every year, his knowledge keeps increasing. And if you walk with the Lord, your knowledge of sin will keep increasing naturally. And then you repent more and you remain humble because you know there's still knowledge of sin is a vast area that you have to discover and you haven't yet got there. So it takes time to grow. But meanwhile, we read the word of God and we ask God to guide us and help us. And little by little, He will lead us and ask God to give you an assurance. I think I asked the Lord to come into my heart first when I was 13 years old. I was never sure. I didn't get any electric shocks in my body or I never saw any visions. I've never seen a vision till today, by the way. I've never got any electric shocks. Thank God I didn't. I got some physical electric shocks, but nothing from God like people testify. All these supernatural experiences, people talk about physical experiences. I've never had any. I live by faith and I always believe faith is better than sight. And faith is better than any physical experience. I don't envy people who have physical experiences. I say faith is much superior to all that. I don't even want to see Jesus because the Lord told Thomas in John chapter 20, you have seen me and believed, but blessed are those who have not seen. I said, Lord, I'm in those blessed category of those who have never seen you and still believe. You know that it's more blessed to have not seen Jesus and believe. You read that in the last verses of John 20. So if you're not sure of your salvation, I was not sure. And I kept on saying, Lord, I must have asked the Lord to come into my heart a hundred times. But one day, I can't explain it. I read John. I was just reading my Bible regularly. Every day I had that habit. One day I have to John chapter six was my portion that day. And I read verse 37, where Jesus said, John 6, 37, the one who comes to me, I will never reject. It was like something that hit my heart. And I tell you to use naval language. I used to be in the Navy. I dropped an anchor and my ship has never drifted in 62 and a half years. Jesus did not reject me. And I said that that day, I said, Lord, I've come to you. He said, I never rejected you. I said, Lord, I came to you many, many times. I never rejected you. I was sure. So take that word. If you don't have any other word, John 6, 37, anyone who comes to me, I will never reject. Did you come in sincerity? Did you come for the forgiveness of your sins? You will not reject. So you can be sure. Ask God to give you that assurance. I never tell a person, oh, you're a child of God. You're saved. That assurance must come from God. It says in Romans 8 that the Holy Spirit comes in and assures us that we are children of God and that makes us cry out, Abba, Father, Romans 8, 15 and 16. So I leave it to the Holy Spirit to give you that assurance. I will not give it to you because I'm a man. Okay. Maybe this will be the last one. What would be reasons to retake water baptism? And if there are no like-minded churches in the area, how can somebody take water baptism? Okay. The word baptism is not an English word. First of all, it came from a Greek word. New Testament was originally written in Greek and the word used is bapto, which is a Greek word. And 2000 years ago, when people spoke about Greek bapto, it just meant dipping. You dip your hand in a bucket of water. It's bapto in water, bapto in a bucket. It only meant immersion. But people didn't have a Bible for the English Bible. Maine was printed in 1611, about 1600 years after Christ. And so what is happening meanwhile, Christianity had degenerated so much, they were sprinkling children for hundreds of years. And even the Anabaptists, when they took a person into a river, they would sprinkle water on their head. They would never immerse him. And you see pictures of that. And even they draw pictures of Jesus standing with John the Baptist in the river and he's sprinkling water on his head. Crazy. I said, why do you go inside the river if they want to just sprinkle water on your head? You can stand outside and do it. So that was what they called baptism. And then when the King James Bible was being, when King James, the first of six or whatever it was, told them they could print the Bible, he made one rule, as I've read, don't shake church traditions with your new Bible translation. And that was the Anglican church, which sprinkled children and called it baptism. So these God-fearing people who translated the New Testament came to the word bapto and they said, we dare not translate it as immersion because that will rock the entire church of England. What to do? We can't translate as sprinkling, but that's not what it means. So very cleverly, they invented a new word in English called baptize. Nobody knew what its meaning was. They cleared their conscience. They said, we put the word from the Greek and people got the Bible and they read baptize. Hey, what's that? I've never read that in English. Oh, that must be what they do in the church, sprinkle water on the head. That's how infant baptism came. But we know today, that's not, it says in many places, they baptize because there was a lot of water there. Why do you need a lot of water? The Ethiopian eunuch, when Philip baptized him, he said one day, hey, there's a lake here. Let's go down and get baptized. Otherwise he needed only a cup of water. So there are many evidences about baptism being immersion in the Bible. If you don't want to see it, it's because they're oral church traditions. But the meaning Romans chapter six makes it clear how it should be buried with him in baptism and raised up from him in newness of life. So baptism is a picture of burial. My old life is buried. How do you bury a man? Not by sprinkling sand on his head. You put him completely underground and put sand all over him. He's completely buried. That's burial. And Romans six says baptism is a burial. So I asked people, have you been buried with Christ? Have you testified to your being buried with Christ? Or you had some sprinkled water on your head and say, you're a dead man. I'll put some sand on your head. You need to be buried. So water baptism is very important because even though baptism is not necessary for salvation, like somebody who did not want to be baptized, but was born again told, when somebody was telling you should be baptized, he said the dying thief was not baptized. So the man replied saying, you're not a dying thief, you're a living thief. So you need to be baptized. And Jesus said in Mark 16, 16, he who believes and has been baptized shall be saved. So if Jesus included it there, how important is it? And in the last commission, he said, go and make disciples, Matthew 28 and verse 19, go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit. That was a trivial, unimportant thing. Why did he include it in the last great commission? Go and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the father, son, and Holy Spirit. If it was just an empty ritual, there's no need for him to emphasize in the last day. I know in my own life, I accepted Christ when I was 19 and a half years old. I'm past 82 now. And for one, I was grew up in the Syrian Orthodox church. I was sprinkled as a child. My parents took me to the Orthodox Syrian church and I was water sprinkled on me. They called it baptism. So when I began to read the Bible, I found people were baptized here. People in the Orthodox church told me, listen, these people who give water baptism are already born again. The Baptist brethren, Pentecostals, they're born again. You're not needed there. The people who are not born again are in the Orthodox church. You need to preach the gospel to them. So stay in the Orthodox church and they'll throw you out if you take water baptism. So stay here and convert those people. I thought that is a very logical argument. I must stay in the church where people are not converted and preach the gospel to them. So I did not get baptized for one and a half years. And I'll tell you my testimony. I did not have freedom in prayer for one and a half years. I was inwardly backsliding already. Till one day I got fed up. I said, Lord, I see baptism clearly in the Bible. I don't care which church throws me out. I'm going to obey you. And I did that in my life. I took baptism in January, 1961. And I'll tell you my spiritual progress really started after my baptism. Not after I was born again, but after my baptism. I know in my life it was very, very important. So I believe water baptism is very important. As I've sometimes said, I felt like once writing a book on what the Bible teaches about infant baptism. Four blank pages. That would be the book. What the Bible teaches about infant baptism. So where did you get infant baptism from? God bless you all. Thank you for listening patiently. Amen. There's mom too. Hi mom. Yeah. So this is the heart behind the tongue that pumps the blood so that the tongue can speak. So here's my pretty wife. Hmm. Thank God for wonderful words we can hear and the chance to have wonderful and glorious families. Praise God for that. Yes. And we are so thankful that God has preserved both of you in health. Never take that for granted. Thank you. I was just thinking that many sisters may think after hearing words from God, word of God. This is very difficult for a woman to follow, especially in this day and in this culture in which we are living and the way we've been brought up and the modern ideas that women hear. And we hear God's word and we think it's going to be very difficult. But I can say a word which comforted me and still gives me comfort when the angel appeared to Mary and said she's going to have a child in a miraculous way and he's going to be the son of God and Jesus is going to be formed in her. And she said, how can this be? It's almost like it's impossible. And we too can say, how can this be? And then the angel told her with God, all things are possible. So that's the comfort we sisters can take with God. All things are possible. And we lay hold of that and we live in faith. And Mary's response was also wonderful. She said, I am the servant of the Lord and the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be according to your word. If God's word says something, let it happen like that Lord. And she submitted. That's the secret of our family life, which I'm trying to follow. And the angel also said, the spirit of God will come upon you, Mary. And that is what will produce the baby Jesus in your womb. You can't do it on your own. Mary could not have produced that baby as a virgin. And it is as impossible as it is for the Virgin Mary to produce the baby Jesus in her womb is as impossible for you and me to produce the life of Christ in us. But the spirit of God comes upon us and produce Jesus inside our character. It's a wonderful thing that the first human being that could have Jesus was a woman, Mary. And the first human being who saw the new creation, Jesus risen from the dead, was not Peter. It was a woman. And it was not even Mary, the mother. It was a sinful, demon-possessed woman who had been delivered from demons, Mary Magdalene. What a hope. You know, I've often thought of that instance. If God had asked me, who should be the first person to see Jesus come out of the womb, come out of the tomb, after the resurrection? I would have said Mary, the mother, definitely. She's the one who suffered the most. Or one of the apostles, Peter, John. God says no. It'll be one who's the worst sinner, demon-possessed, delivered, Mary Magdalene, to show that Christ Jesus came into the world, not for the righteous, but for sinners. That gives hope to every one of us. All you sisters, remember this. The first human being who had Jesus come inside was a woman, Mary. And the first human being who saw the beginning of the new creation was a woman, and one who had been a sinner, who had been so cleansed in the blood of Christ that she had become a saint. That's hope for everyone. I don't know what all sins Mary Magdalene lived in, but it had all gone. She was a saint that day, and Jesus chose her. That gives hope for every woman. Jesus came to exalt women who had been suppressed in Jewish society. In many societies today, even in Indian society, women are suppressed. But Jesus has come to lift them up, and a true church will lift up women, I believe, and a true godly husband will lift up his wife. Thanks, Dad and Mom. That's a really good word to finish. It really, I thought that was off the Lord. You laid it on your heart, Mom and Dad, what you said.