Seeing the Real Jesus

In most of our conferences, we speak more or less the same thing. Different aspects of the New Covenant. And there are people who feel that we always need to hear something new.

I want you to look at a verse in Acts 17. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17, verse 21. It says about the people in Athens, you know the unconverted philosophers, Athens was the center of philosophy and a lot of education in Greece.

It says all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new. And that's how a lot of worldly people are, because they want their intellect to be stimulated by something new. But God hasn't written the Bible like that.

You know the amount of repetition there is in the Bible? If you compare Kings and Chronicles, you wonder why so many things are repeated. Why four Gospels? For example, the feeding of the 5,000 mentioned four times. And even in the Epistles, there's so much of repetition.

And I believe that is God's way. The great man of God, Charles Finney, after many years of preaching experience here in the US in the 19th century, he said that he believed people don't understand something unless they hear it 10 times. And I've come to see that's true.

The important thing is not whether we hear a truth five or six times. The important thing is whether we have experienced it. I remember the story of D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, when he went to England once and he had a week of meetings.

And every day he was preaching on, you must be born again. And there was a man there who was nominal Christian. He got fed up of, you know, clever intellectual guy got fed up of listening to the same thing.

And he went up to Moody and said, why do you speak every day about being born again? He says, because you must be born again. That's why I speak. So people ask me, why do you keep speaking about victory over sin? Well, till you get victory over sin, we got to keep speaking about it.

Because God's ultimate aim is not to get us to have more knowledge. That is part of the world. You know, when God sent Adam into the garden, there were two trees in front of him.

One was knowledge, the other was life. And you know how Adam went towards knowledge because the devil knew if he goes there, I can trap him and lead him astray. If he goes towards the tree of life, I won't be able to get him.

And I want to say to you, this book, the Bible, can be to you a tree of knowledge of good and evil. It will tell you what is good and what's evil. And you can die, spiritually die.

Because it says that in 2 Corinthians 3, the letter kills. And in Jesus' time, you have the example of the Pharisees who were killed by the letter. There was nobody in the world who knew the Bible, the 39 books of the Bible of those days, like the Pharisees.

And they were so dead that the Bible which spoke from Genesis to Malachi about Jesus, you know, in Genesis you read about the seed of the woman, in Malachi you read about the son of righteousness, and every book speaks about Jesus. We read that when Jesus went to Emmaus, he talked to the two disciples from the entire Old Testament, showing how every book spoke about him. Every book spoke about Jesus in some way.

And yet, when the person about whom the Old Testament spoke came into the synagogue, the Pharisees who had studied the Bible called him Beelzebul, prince of devils. Now, that's a very serious warning for those who pursue Bible knowledge. That you can be so completely blind to the real Jesus, that you can go astray.

And I see multitudes of people today, Christians, who are going astray, with preachers who are preaching another Jesus, and you say, how can you know who the other Jesus is? Well, compare him with the real Jesus. When you hear somebody speaking, and if you have read the Gospels, compare him with Paul, you read the Epistles, and see. Can I imagine, can I imagine if Jesus or Paul were there, standing there or sitting there, speaking like that? You have to compare every preacher you hear with the Jesus you've seen in the Scriptures or the Apostle Paul, the example the Holy Spirit has given us.

And if you find it doesn't fit, you've got to be careful. I don't care what fantastic teaching they are teaching. You've got to see whether what they're saying and their life is backing up what they're saying.

I'll give you one simple example. Jesus, never once in any of his sermons, asked people to give money, never. Paul in all his sermons, never asked people to give money for himself or his ministry.

With that one test, you can rule out 90% of today's preachers. Just that one single test. But do you think Christians see that? No.

How is it so many, even born again Christians are taken up with these people who claim to be apostles and healers and it's amazing. I mean, you go into Christian TV, almost everybody's asking you for money. Every single one of them.

And they're asking huge amounts to buy aeroplanes and things like that. It doesn't, I mean, they're asking me doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is how millions of Christians are so dumb to accept this and so foolish to send these people the money.

That's what surprises me. To tell you honestly, these guys haven't read the Bible. They haven't read the Bible.

The average born again Christian today spends more time watching television than reading the Bible. I hope that is not true of anybody sitting here. If it is, I can tell you, you are a prime candidate for deception.

You can wake up in eternity and find you're in hell and not in heaven because you followed another Jesus. Why is there so much, why are there four Gospels? Isn't one biography enough about Jesus Christ? Why four to show you what the real Jesus is like? I hope you will see that. That the tree of knowledge of good and evil can lead you to death.

So what is the purpose of our coming together in a meeting? Not like the Athenians, always to hear something new. Let me show you a passage in 1 Corinthians in chapter 14. For many, many years, I was trying to understand what is the mark of a new covenant church? I mean, there are many marks, like we heard today already.

But I have come to this conclusion, that a new covenant church meeting should lead to this conclusion. 1 Corinthians 14, it says about the whole church assembling together, verse 23. And if everybody speaks in tongues, they'll say you're mad.

I mean, there are churches like that today where the whole church comes together and everybody speaks in tongues and there's no interpretation. You have to really say, according to 1 Corinthians 14, 23, you guys are mad. That's scripture.

But a lot of those people who are going around speaking, now I'm not against speaking in tongues. I have the gift myself, but it's always, I use it always in private. But when people use it like this in public, you have to say, brother, this is madness, according to 1 Corinthians 14, 23.

That's not the mark of a new covenant church at all. Yet the millions of Christians who think, wow, that's the Holy Spirit. That's not the Holy Spirit at all.

That's madness. How is it they don't see it? Because they haven't read the Bible. Okay.

But if on the other hand, we prophesy, that means prophesying is defined in verse three as speaking to people for edification, exhortation, and consolation. That's the definition of prophecy before you understand, before you explain verse 24. Remember what it refers to, edification, exhortation, consolation.

And if there's a spirit of prophecy, one or more than one, and then what is the end result? People who don't believe or anyone who sits there, they fall on their face, verse 25, and worship God saying, God is certainly among you. I have come to see through many years of studying the scriptures. That is the real mark of a New Testament church meeting.

The mark of a New Testament church meeting is you go away with the secrets of your heart, verse 25, disclosed. Not that you wonder at some healer, who's like some modern day magician, trying to do some tricks on the stage, and you say, wow, what a miracle that is. Not that.

But you go away feeling, boy, there were things in my life I never knew that were wrong. God disclosed them to me. Not in a public way to humiliate me, but in a quiet way that the person sitting next to me did not hear what God was speaking to me.

That's how God does. God doesn't humiliate us by exposing our sin publicly. Never.

Human beings do that. God never does it. He speaks secretly so that even the person sitting next to you, your husband or wife, doesn't know what God is saying to you.

The secrets of your heart are made manifest. That is true prophecy, where you feel convicted, but not discouraged. Discouragement is never the end result of the Holy Spirit's ministry.

It's conviction that leads to deliverance. So the secret of your heart is disclosed and you don't go away discouraged. No.

You say, boy, God is here. So how do you know whether God is in a meeting or not? According to this verse, it's not by speaking in tongues. That's madness.

It's by recognizing that God, God's light was so bright in that meeting that I saw something of the darkness within my heart and I met with God and I believe that every church meeting must be like that. That to me is the clearest definition of a new covenant church meeting where people feel I met with Jesus today and He spoke to my heart and He showed me what was inside, which I didn't know. And it's the presence of the Lord there, you know, God is certainly among you.

See though we can listen to a message like this on the internet, for those who are viewing it or on a DVD, there's something a DVD and an internet can never do. And that is bring the presence of God. No DVD or internet can ever bring that.

The presence of God is where two or three are gathered together in Jesus name and they come together and there the Lord is in their midst. That's the difference between listening to a message on the internet or listening to a message on a DVD. It is second best if you're not able to go for a conference.

But when we go for a conference, we are mingling with people who love the Lord and their presence there combined with the word of God that is proclaimed brings the presence of God and we're able to sense God's presence and meet with Jesus going away. Otherwise we could all in this day of the internet, we don't have to come for any more conference. We just sit at home and listen to a message.

You don't even have to come on Sunday morning. Why do we come on Sunday morning? Is it only to listen to a message? No. If it's only to listen to a message, there are probably hundreds of interesting messages on the internet.

You can sit at home and listen to them. But it's the presence of God. And if you are part of a local church or you're meeting together, this must be your goal.

Lord, I want the presence of God. I want every meet, not just once in a while, no, but in every single meeting that we meet with God and God speaks to us, the secrets of our heart are made manifest. Why not? Does God turn up only once in a while? No.

He wants to turn up in every meeting. And if your church is not like that, I want to say to you, you're missing something. You are missing something.

You may say it's a good church. There are good people. They care for us when we are in need.

That's a club. You know, people care for one another and help one another. I mean, the Freemasons are like that.

They care for one another. They don't believe in Jesus. So we need to understand what is the purpose of our coming together like this.

So I want to share something with you today about three types of Christians to begin with. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 to chapter 3 verse 3, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 to chapter 3 verse 3, you see here the Holy Spirit mentioning three types of, we'd say believers in one sense. In chapter 3 verse 1, Paul says, I could not speak to you as to spiritual men.

That's one type of Christian, a spiritual Christian. They're very rare. Paul says to the Corinthians, he doesn't say you're not born again.

No, they're born again, okay. They love Jesus. But he says, they're not spiritual.

And he says, because of that, I can't speak to you like I speak to spiritual men. With certain other Christians who are spiritual, I can speak as I speak to spiritual men. But to you, chapter 2 verse 2, I only know Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Now some people think that's a great thing to say, I don't know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But remember, that is for those who are not spiritual. For those who are not spiritual, you say, in your midst, I determined not to know anything except Christ died for your sins, and your sins are all forgiven and on your way to heaven.

That's not something to boast about, that I determined to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified. He says, but we do speak wisdom, chapter 2 verse 6, among those who are mature. When we go to mature people, we don't just speak about Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

We go on to other things, how you are crucified with Christ, which is a deeper truth than Christ being crucified for us. So he says, I can't speak to you as unto spiritual men. So that's one category, that's the highest, spiritual men.

The lowest category is chapter 3 verse 1, men of flesh, or as King James says, carnal men. So there are carnal Christians. He says, you Corinthian Christians, you're born again, okay, but you're not spiritual, you're carnal.

Now between, carnal means men of flesh, that means they live according to the lusts of their body. Now these are Christians, they've accepted the Lord, but they are constantly defeated by sins of the flesh. And they live in an endless cycle of getting angry, lusting after women, watching pornography and repenting, and asking God to forgive them, and again getting angry, and again lusting after women, and again watching pornography, again asking God to forgive them, and the occasional cheating in their offices, and they ask God to forgive them.

It's an endless cycle. You know, the Bible speaks in Hebrews 12 of a besetting sin. The besetting sin is different for each person.

You know what your besetting sin is. But if it's an endless cycle, and if it's a sin of the flesh, you keep on doing it, and then you ask God to forgive you, and the devil has convinced you that this is how life is going to be till you die. And like a fool, you believe the devil.

That's not true. It's because you haven't understood the full riches of God's grace. You haven't understood what your father in heaven has written in his will for you.

This cheating devil has robbed you of your inheritance, of a major portion of your inheritance. He allowed you to get a little bit of that inheritance. It's like a billionaire father who's left a huge inheritance in a will for his children, or say one child if you're the only child, with bank accounts here and there, and different places and property here and there, and some cheating lawyer robs you of most of it and gives you 10% of it, and you live on $10,000 a year, when your father was a billionaire.

I don't think any of you would allow a cheating lawyer to do that for you. You know why? Because when it comes to money, we are all sharp. But we allow the devil to do that to us in spiritual things because we don't value spiritual riches as much as money.

Would any of you allow a cheating lawyer to rob you of your billionaire father's inheritance which he's written to you? No. No. Why do you allow the devil to cheat you of the inheritance that God has given? By the way, his will is written here in this book.

Would you read it carefully? Would you read your billionaire father's will carefully to see which old banks has he put his money? Where all is their property? Carefully read it again and again and again and again. I don't want to miss out one of those banks where my dad's put money for me. I don't want to miss one of those properties that's now my inheritance.

Why don't we read the scriptures like that? I'll tell you why. Jesus said there are only two gods, God and money. And it's because most people do not worship the true God that they are cheated of their inheritance because money is more important for them.

So this is carnal people and the spiritual people and in between there's another category which many people don't recognize. It's called soulish. There's a spiritual Christian, there's a soulish Christian and a carnal Christian.

Now the soulish Christian doesn't look so dirty and living in obvious sin like the carnal Christian. So he himself thinks he's spiritual but he's not spiritual. The word here used in chapter 2 verse 14, the natural man is a Greek word which could probably be translated as soulish.

It's from the word psyche which we use in English. It's a soulish man cannot accept the things of the Holy Spirit. They're foolishness to him because he lives in his mind.

He's not the carnal person who does dirty things. He's very upright in many of these external things but he lives in his mind. He's an intellectual Christian and he's soulish.

He doesn't overcome inward sins of the spirit. So this is what I want to share with you about today. So I want to show you a few screens up there.

Can we go to the next one? 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 23. This is the clearest verse in the Bible which says that man is made of three parts, spirit, soul and body. That's the order.

It's not body, soul and spirit. Spirit, soul and body. The one who's governed by spirit is a spiritual Christian.

The one who's governed by his soul primarily is a soulish Christian. The one who's governed by his bodily desires is a carnal Christian. So these are the three categories of Christians.

Even God is a trinity, three separate persons, father, son and Holy Spirit. God made man in his image also a trinity, not as three persons but as having three parts. And if you don't understand that, you won't be able to know fully what it is to be a spiritual Christian.

You can overcome a lot of sins of the flesh and get a good testimony in church, but you will never be a spiritual Christian if you don't understand the difference between being spirit, soulish and spiritual. Okay. The next one, Hebrews 4 and verse 12.

Here we read in Hebrews 4, 12. I think I've got those things here, all those PowerPoints. Yeah, Hebrews 4, 12.

The word of God pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit. So there's a division of soul and spirit. Soul and spirit are not one.

The word of God, if you value it, will divide and show you what is soulish and what is spiritual. And not just the written word, but the Holy Spirit taking that word and showing it to us. That's why Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

See, this is just printer's ink and paper. You can read this and believe that Jesus is Beelzebul. But when the Holy Spirit takes this and speaks it to your heart, then it becomes a lie.

There are multitudes of people. Why is it there are so many hundreds of denominations in Christianity, all holding the same book and saying, we've got the truth. It's not a different book.

They've got the same book and they say, we've got the truth. There are people who take this book and believe in child baptism. How's that? And there are others who believe in believers baptism after they're born again.

There are people who believe, read this book and say, speaking in tongues is of the devil. And there are others who go to the other extreme and say, that's the only sign of being filled with the spirit. All with the same book.

You see how easy it is to be deceived. If you live in your intellect and seek to understand the Bible with your intellect, you can get hundreds of denominations and all holding the same Bible. It's very, very important to distinguish between a spiritual Christian and a soulish Christian.

I think a spiritual Christian and a carnal Christian who lives according to flesh, you'll easily be able to distinguish. The person who's living with the sins of the flesh in your church, you'll never think he's spiritual. But you can very easily be deceived by a soulish Christian, a soulish preacher.

You can easily be deceived thinking he's a spiritual person and you keep following him, you'll be soulish yourself. That's the danger. Okay.

The next verse is from John chapter one and verse 14. The actual translation of this, and if you have a margin in your NASB, it's written there in the margin. The word became flesh and tabernacled in our midst.

That's the word used, tabernacled. That refers back to the Old Testament tabernacle. That means Jesus.

He was the first really spiritual man that walked on the earth. The Old Testament people were wonderful people, godly people, but they could not come into the spiritual life. You know, many people ask, what happened on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came? Why does it say in John chapter seven and verse 39, the Holy Spirit was not yet given? Have you ever thought of that verse? John 7, 39, the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Many people have that question. You mean the Holy Spirit was not given to David and Gideon and all these people? It says the Spirit came upon them, Spirit came upon them, Spirit came upon them. What is the difference on the day of Pentecost? I use the example of a glass of water to illustrate that.

If you have a lid on top of this glass of water, this glass is empty and there's a lid on top and you keep pouring water on it, it'll flow over it, it will not flow inside it. It will flow over and flow out to probably blessed millions, rivers of living water like the great prophets in the Old Testament blessed people, but their inside could still be dirty. Like Samson, Samson was a great man of God on the outside, but his inside was dirty.

David was anointed, but he fell into adultery and murdered people in order to marry the man's wife. There was a lid on top and the Holy Spirit could really be upon, upon, upon, upon. And that's why even Moses, when God told him to speak to the rock, he hit the rock, but the water still flowed because God blessed the people.

Millions of people got the river of water, but Moses was disobedient. It's very important to understand this is the old covenant ministry of the Holy Spirit. But what happened in the day of Pentecost, that lid was removed, and I'll explain to you in a moment what that lid is, and the Holy Spirit could come in and dwell within.

In this way, John 7, 39, the Holy Spirit was not given because Jesus was not glorified. Until Jesus was glorified, the Holy Spirit could not come and dwell in anybody's heart because our hearts were dirty with sin. The blood of bulls and lambs could not cleanse anybody's heart from sin.

It could cover it. That's why the Old Testament says, blessed is man whose sin is covered. You know, if you've got sin written out here and you cover it, now you can't see it.

That was Old Testament, but it's still underneath. That's all David experienced. Psalm 32, blessed is the man whose sin is covered.

But the blood of Jesus does not cover us. You know, there are people who sing the song saying, I'm under the blood. I'm not under any blood.

That's why the Israelites in Egypt, they stood under the blood. I'm cleansed by the blood of Jesus. That means it's not covered.

It's wiped out, unjustified. My past is as if I've never sinned in my life. That's what the blood of Jesus does to me.

And many Christians haven't understood that. That's why they live so often in condemnation over some terrible sin they committed in the past, which they keep on confessing hundreds and hundreds of times and never seem to be free from the guilt of it. That's exactly what the devil wants you to do.

Live in the constant guilt of some sin that you've confessed a hundred times to the Lord because you don't believe in the power of the blood. You glorify your sin more than the blood of Jesus. Do you know the number of Christians who do that? I did it in foolishness for years till God showed me from scripture, your sins and iniquities I don't remember anymore.

You're justified by the blood of Jesus. It's wonderful to come into the new covenant. So when the heart was cleansed, then the Holy Spirit could come in and then it's as the glass is filled and overflows, that's the rivers of living water.

So there's a lot of difference between rivers of living water flowing in the old covenant, which is over upon a person and flowing from within. Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink from his innermost being. Rivers of living water will flow, John 7, 38.

The important thing is not the rivers of living water. Moses blessed millions of people with that water, but it didn't flow from his innermost being. The difference in the new covenant is it will flow from our innermost being.

In other words, ministry will not be just ministry. It will flow from our life. And the first person who lived on earth, who lived like this, a spiritual life was Jesus Christ.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit within. Nobody before him was, not even John the Baptist. When it talks about those people being filled with the Spirit, it was upon, upon, upon.

The Spirit was not given until Jesus was glorified. But when Jesus came, He inaugurated a new way of life in the Spirit from within, from within flowing out. That is the life that He offered the disciples and they were introduced to on the day of Pentecost.

The Spirit came within. I'll show you one more verse, John chapter 14. In John 14, where Jesus is speaking for the first time about the Holy Spirit, He says, I'm going to pray to the Father to give you a helper.

Whenever you read a scripture, try and read it in this context, a helper for what? Just go to the previous verse. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And His commandments are so impossible to keep.

Never to get angry, never to lust after a woman, never to love money, to do everything for the glory of God, even your eating and drinking, to love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you, never to give money without, I mean, in order for people to be seen, never to let your praying or fasting be known to anyone, never to judge people. What a high standard. You say, Lord, I love you, but I can't keep those commandments.

So He says, don't worry. I'm going to ask the Father to give you a helper, a helper for what? To keep my commandments. These very commandments which you're trying to keep and you're not able to keep because you're under the law.

I will give you the spirit of grace. Like it says in Zechariah 12, 10, I will pour out the spirit of grace upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost.

The spirit of grace was poured out, grace that would give them power to overcome sin. And this spirit, now listen to this last part of verse 17. At the moment, He's only with you, but in that day, He will be in you.

It couldn't be clearer than that. Right now He's with you, Old Covenant. In that day, He'll be in you.

Have you experienced that? And if you allow that Holy Spirit to lead you from within, this living water will overflow and you can be a channel of blessing to hundreds and thousands of people. That is God's will for every one of His children. He who believes in me, out of His innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.

My brothers and sisters, that is your birthright. If the devil's cheated you of it, don't let him cheat you anymore. So that's what I want to explain to you.

So we'll be looking at John 1, 14. The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. So I want to give you a few lessons from the tabernacle.

Let's move to the next lessons from the tabernacle in the next slide. So here is a picture of the tabernacle. This is what the Old Testament tabernacle was like.

So when it says Jesus' tabernacle, that means He lived among us and Jesus is our example. So this tabernacle was a picture of Christ and of us. And just like we read in 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, man is what? Spirit, soul, and body.

The tabernacle had three parts. The tabernacle had a most holy place, a holy place, and an outer court. It was an exact picture of man.

The outer court is the part that everybody could see, corresponding to our body, which everybody can see. And the covered parts, there were two covered parts, symbolizing soul and spirit. God's word is very exact.

And you may not have seen this before, but that's exactly a perfect picture of what man is. Spirit, soul, and body. The body visible to everyone.

The spirit and soul hidden, covered. So you've got to go inside to see that. From the outside you won't understand the soul and spirit.

You've got to go inside. Now when you go inside, you go to the next slide. Here you see the outer court corresponds to the body.

The holy place corresponds to the soul. And the most holy place corresponds to the spirit. And between the soul and the spirit is this thick veil marked there in black.

That was closed off in the old covenant times. And the high priest could go in just once, which is a picture of one day Jesus would go in. But nobody else could go in.

And the interesting thing in the old covenant is, the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud, which symbolize God's presence, dwelt over the most holy place. Not over the outer court. Not over the holy place.

Teaching us, God does not dwell in our body, does not dwell in our soul, but dwells in our spirit. It's very exact, the Old Testament picture. You need to understand that.

If the body is called the temple of the Holy Spirit, it's because right in the deepest part of me, in the spirit, the Holy Spirit wants to dwell. But it's very important to understand this. The Holy Spirit does not dwell in our body.

Not in our soul. But in our spirit. Symbolized by the old covenant, pillar of cloud and fire, always on top of the most holy place.

You know, everything in the tabernacle could be copied. If the Philistines have got a copy of Exodus chapter 25 to 40, they could have made a tabernacle exactly like the one Moses made. You know, the same structure, the same size, the same color of curtains and everything else.

But there's one thing the Philistines could not duplicate. That's the pillar of fire. And that was the most important thing that marked that tabernacle as being God's dwelling place.

There are many things in the New Testament church pattern that you can see a wonderful church being built somewhere. And you can say, boy, I'm going to copy that. When I go back to my hometown, I'm going to sing the same songs.

And I'm going to say the same pattern of meetings. And I'm going to preach the same message. I can listen to a lot of Brother Zach's messages on YouTube and preach it all.

It will be a very exact copy of the tabernacle. I'll tell you what will be missing. The fire.

The Holy Spirit. The Philistines couldn't produce that. That had to come from God.

You can duplicate everything that is human. And the most important thing will be missing. And you can fool yourself all your life thinking that you got a new covenant church.

It's not. The Philistines could say, we made a tabernacle too. But where's the presence of God? Do people come there and fall on their face and say, God was here.

He spoke to me. No. That is the mark of a new covenant church.

And if you go into a meeting, whatever church it is. And you didn't meet with God. You didn't disclose the secrets of your heart.

You got to go in and say, God wasn't there. The tabernacle is the right pattern. Everything.

Everything was right. But the fire was missing. That happened to Israel very often.

You read in Ezekiel's time how the glory just departed. So, it's very important for us to understand this. This veil was symbolizing there's something in you, God was telling people in the Old Testament times, that prevents you from coming into my presence.

And there's something in you that prevents me from coming and dwelling in your spirit. There's this thick veil. What was that? Nobody in the Old Testament understood.

Until Jesus came. And we read, when he died on the cross, the veil was rent from top to bottom. Opening up that most holy place.

Showing us two things. That one, now you can go into the immediate presence of God. And secondly, showing that God can now come and dwell in your spirit.

Which he could not do until now. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost. That's the significance of the rent veil.

We go to the next slide. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 20. Here's a verse that many, many people haven't understood.

One, they read it, they skip over it. I'll tell you something, when you read a verse in the New Testament and you don't understand, don't skip over it. Say, Lord, I'm determined to understand that.

That's how I studied the Bible. I started studying the Bible 57 years ago. And there are many, many things I didn't understand then.

But little by little by little, when I come to a verse I didn't understand, I say, Lord, I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I'm not just going to leave that, you know, I want to plow through this. I don't want to leave that thing untouched, ununderstood.

I want to compare Scripture with Scripture and seek God for light in my spirit. Have you ever understood this verse, Hebrews 10, 20? That Jesus inaugurated a new and living way for us through the veil. That is His flesh.

What is His flesh? I put there self-will. There's one thing that Jesus had, which you and I have. There are many things we have when we are born, which Jesus didn't have.

You know, the angel told Mary, that holy thing that shall be born of you will be called the Son of God. He wasn't born in sin, like we were. Because He didn't have a human father.

He was not born of a human sperm. That was supernaturally created by God. When the Holy Spirit came on Mary, Mary provided the egg, but the Holy Spirit provided supernaturally, supernaturally created sperm that produced the body of Jesus, into which the Son of God could come.

That is only the human body I'm talking about. But in that body, there was no sin. And throughout His life, there was no unconscious sin.

But He had something that we have, called a self-will. He struggled with it in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is one of the clearest proofs that He had a will. What was His will? Father, I don't want to drink this cup.

One hour He struggled. I don't want to drink this cup. I don't want to drink this cup, but I will not do my will.

That's how He overcame temptation throughout His life. He was tempted to do something, which was not God's will. But He refused it.

You see some final evidences of that, in the three final temptations in Matthew chapter 4. Are you the Son of God? Turn these stones into bread. Now, we wouldn't see that as a temptation when you're hungry. And if you stole bread from somewhere when you're hungry, that's sin, we can understand that.

But if you have the ability, God has given you the ability, to turn stones into bread, and you're really hungry, you haven't eaten for 40 days, and you're hungry because you were fasting, seeking God. I think most of us would say, that's right, God's given me the power, I might as well use it. But Jesus lived at the post-graduate level of temptation.

These are not kindergarten temptations. He had been tempted already for 30 years, and there was something subtle in this, which is, use the power God has given you, to get something for yourself. Is that right or wrong? The answer is always no.

I remember when I came out of my job in the Navy, to serve the Lord full-time, and I knew that a lot of Christian workers in India were people who used their gifts, preaching gifts, and God had given me a preaching gift when I was 23, who used their preaching gifts to gain money for themselves, or to gain honor for themselves, and they could use their gift to be invited here and there, to big conferences and places like that, and you could make a lot of money. Look at all these people who make millions, preaching, or they write books. What's wrong in writing a book, a Christian book, and you give it to a publisher and he gives you a royalty, you're not asking for it, he gives you a royalty and you take it.

And there are people who become millionaires, Christian authors, become millionaires writing books. There are Christian musicians, who become millionaires writing songs, usually about three or four lines, which you keep repeating again and again, and they get millions of dollars for it. It's amazing, how money has come into Christian work.

So this is what the Lord showed me then. Never, never use the power I have given you, to get something for yourself. Not honor, not money, nothing.

The Lord says, I'll take care of your needs. You don't have to use my gift. That's what I learned from that first temptation.

If you are anointed, use this power to satisfy your need, or your family's need. Jesus said no, and I say no. Lord, I'll never do that.

I'll trust you to provide my needs. I will not use my gift, to earn my living. No.

I will not use my power to get honor for myself. Some people don't want money because they already have enough. You may be doing it for honor.

That's why you know, personally, I mean, just ask yourself this question. If you saw a man, who you knew was preaching to get money, would you listen to him? Or would you listen to another man, who you knew was preaching with no interest in money? Which person's ministry do you think would bless you more? I'm sure you know the answer. The one who is preaching not for money.

Okay, let me ask you another question. Supposing there are a whole lot of hymns, written by people who wrote it not for money, like Charles Wesley, Fanny Crosby. They never got a cent from writing the thousands of hymns they wrote.

And then you have these hymns, written by people who do it for money, like today's songwriters. Which, I'm not saying you shouldn't sing them. Which song will really bless you spiritually? I know the answer.

The man who did not write it for money. Who wrote a song and never earned a cent out of it. I'd like to sing those songs myself.

And I'll tell you honestly, those are the songs that bless me the most. Those are the preachers who bless me the most. The ones who are not preaching for money.

See, there's something subtle in this temptation. But Jesus was tempted. But he said no.

He was tempted to commit suicide. Was he? What does it mean to jump off from the roof of a temple that's so many feet high, like a skyscraper? That's a temptation to suicide. The angels will take care of you.

You know, the devil can quote scripture by the way. If the devil could quote scripture to Jesus, why can't he quote it to you? Don't think that if somebody quotes a scripture, it must be from God. No.

Jesus, because Jesus, the first time when he was tempted, Jesus said, it is written. So the devil said, aha, it is written. He said, okay, I'll get you on that one.

When Jesus said, okay, jump off the temple, because it is written, he said, you know, quoting Jesus' own words, that his angels will guard over you and keep your feet from stumbling. And you know what Jesus replied? It is also written. So remember the truth is not found in it is written.

The truth is found in it is written and it is also written. Truth has got two wings like a bird. If you fly on one wing, you'll go in circles.

So remember, there's a scripture very often that balances another scripture. And that's why you've got to know the scriptures if you want to overcome Satan. When the devil quotes a scripture to you, and you say, ah, that's in God's word.

I can take it. I've been taught to study God's word. Yeah, but you must also know what is also written.

Otherwise, even with God's word, you can go astray, just like the Pharisees. See, Jesus said to the Pharisees in John chapter 5, verse 39. It's a very interesting verse.

I don't have a slide for it, but John 5, 39. You search the scriptures because you think that eternal life is there. Do you know the number of people today? I call them bibliolators.

Bibliolators are people who made the Bible an idol. Can you make the Bible an idol? Yes. Bibliolators.

You think eternal life is in the book. It's not. You search the scriptures because you think eternal life is there.

It is not. This book is meant to lead you to me, Jesus says. You will not come to me, verse 40, that you might have life.

So the Bible, eternal life is not here. The Bible is like a pointer that leads me to Jesus. And then I get eternal life.

So if I read the scriptures and I don't see Jesus in it, I don't get eternal life. You'll be a bibliolator. You may be a great scholar from some Bible college or something.

But you won't know Jesus. Because God has hidden these things, Matthew 11, 25, from the wise and the intelligent. Do you know that to be wise and intelligent is a handicap in studying the Bible? It is.

Not because you're wise and intelligent, but because it makes you proud and you think that you know better than others who are not so wise and intelligent. That's what hinders you from knowing the truth. Whereas Jesus said, it's revealed to babes.

What do babes have which wise and intelligent people don't have? Humility. A helpless sense of dependence upon their father. If you have that, then it doesn't matter whether you're wise or intelligent or dumb or foolish.

It doesn't make a difference. But I've seen with most... Why did Jesus say it's very difficult for rich people to enter the kingdom of God? Is God against rich people? If some of you have wealth, you will acknowledge that God gave you that wealth. If some of you have intelligence, God gave you that intelligence.

I believe God's given me a certain amount of intelligence. It is not produced by me. God gave it to me.

But if a rich man can't enter the kingdom of God, what's going to happen to the rest of the people who are rich? It's because rich people are proud of their wealth. That's why they can't enter into God's kingdom. It's because intelligent people are clever.

I mean, clever intelligent people are proud of their cleverness. They think they can know the scripture better than others who are not so educated. That's what leads them astray.

So I want to just give you that warning. If you happen to be clever and intelligent, you've got a handicap when you come to scripture. In other words, you've got to lay that aside.

I do it. I use my cleverness and intelligence for all my worldly things which I have to do to live in this world. But when I come to the scriptures, I say, Lord, here I am dumb.

I can't understand a thing here with my human cleverness. I'll go astray completely. I'll tell you, that is how I've studied the scriptures for the last many decades.

And that's why I've learned a few things which a lot of clever intelligent people don't understand. It's revealed to babes. Go to it with humility.

Go to it with a helpless sense of dependence like a little baby has upon his parents. Then you'll understand the scriptures. So, this self-will, I was just trying to tell you that Jesus had this self-will which he always laid down.

John 6, 38. I mentioned that earlier. Here is the one-line autobiography of Jesus' life.

I came from heaven not to do my own will. That is symbolized by that veil, the flesh. The veil is Jesus' flesh.

What does the rending of that veil mean? His self-will was torn with the help of God. He didn't do it on his own. With the help of the Holy Spirit.

He tore that self-will down. And it says here in verse 38, that's what he came to do in his entire life on earth. I came from heaven, what for? Not to die on the cross.

That was one part of not doing his own will. Most Christians think that Jesus came just to die on the cross. No, that was just one part of this whole life of not doing his own will.

His ministry, casting out demons, healing the sick, was not doing his own will, but the will of his father. You know, that's why he never healed everybody. Can you imagine the confusion that would have been caused if Jesus went around healing everybody? I'll give you one example.

The importance of not doing your own will. In Acts of the Apostles, in chapter 3, we read of, Acts chapter 3, we read of a lame man who was healed by Peter and John. Peter and John saw this lame man and they healed him.

And it says here in chapter 4, verse 22, that the man was more than 40 years old. And he was lame from birth and he'd been placed at the beautiful gate of the temple, begging for alms. And when Peter and John came by, he asked for money and Peter said, I don't have silver and gold, verse, chapter 3, verse 6. But in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.

And he jumped up and walked immediately. And we read here, as a result of that miracle, chapter 4, verse 4, 5,000 people, men alone, came to believe in the Lord. Can you imagine what happened? With one miracle, 5,000 people came to believe in the Lord.

Now, think of this. For three years, Jesus walked in and out of that same temple. And saw this man begging for money.

As Jesus came in, he would say, give me some money. And Jesus would shoot a quick prayer up to his father. Father, should I heal him or not? Father would say, no.

Okay, Judas, give him some money. So Judas would give him some money. Next week, Jesus would come by that gate again.

Father, shall I heal him? No. Judas, give him some money. He did that for three years.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Jesus had healed him? You know, sick people need healing. I've come here to do good. Isn't that how we operate sometimes? We don't need to see God.

I know what to do. I know how to do good to people. I want to do good to this man.

Let me heal him. I've got the power of healing. Let me exercise it and heal him.

And he got healed and he went up. Who would have been sitting at that gate in that time when Peter and John came by? Nobody. And these 5,000 people would not have been converted.

You see how by doing good you can bungle up God's plan for the future? This is how Jesus lived. He never did his own will. Think if you were living next door to the prodigal son.

If you were in the next house and you saw this man, young man, eating what the pigs were doing, eating, what would you do? You would send him food every day, right? And what would you succeed thereby in accomplishing? Ensuring that he never went back to his father's house. Your kindness would serve the purpose of the devil. Who understands this? Is kindness a bad action? Carnal Christians don't do it, but soulish Christians do.

That's why it's important to distinguish between soul and spirit. Is it a good thing to help a lame man who's been lame from birth sitting here, heal him? Humanly speaking, yes. And a soulish Christian would say, God's given me the power, let me heal him.

Jesus was spiritual, he said no. What is the father's will? I'm just trying to show you the importance of the word of God dividing between soul and spirit. Okay, we go to the next slide.

The soul is made up of mind, emotions and will. And as I told you, God does not dwell in the soul. When you understand God fully in your mind, you understand the Bible in your mind, you are not spiritual.

Because God doesn't dwell in the mind. You can produce a wonderful sermon with your mind. You know that? You can listen to a lot of messages, read a lot of books, analyze scripture with your clever mind God's given you and use a concordance and all the helps and produce a wonderful sermon.

The Holy Spirit may not be in it. It's just your cleverness. How do you distinguish between a bright idea from scripture and revelation? It's very important to know that because I've heard a lot of people quote scripture and say something very clever.

It's just a bright idea, it's not a revelation. But most Christians don't know how to distinguish that. A bright idea is something that you feel like sharing with others to impress them about what a bright idea you got.

To show people how spiritual you are when you're not really. A revelation is something that humbles you. You're not thinking of sharing it with others.

It changes your life. Say, Lord, thank you for showing me that. It's an area of my life that really has to be cleansed.

From that what you share blesses others. So learn to distinguish between when you read the scriptures, you get a bright idea. Ah, I can share that in the next men's meeting.

Maybe you can. You need to distinguish between soul and spirit. You need to see the rending of the veil.

Not seeking one's own honor. Okay, we're not drinking milk now, by the way. We're eating meat and I hope you can chew on it.

And you've been drinking milk long enough. So let's chew on this meat. The same way, sorry, emotions.

I want to speak about emotions. This is another great deception. You feel all excited.

You say, that's the Holy Spirit. There's so many Christians who are deceived by this. A lot of excitement.

A lot of noise. Holy Spirit. I remember one man who came to one of our meetings in Bangalore.

And it was some type of Pentecostal. And he came to me at the end of the meeting. He said, you don't have the Holy Spirit here.

He said, why do you say that? He said, well, because you don't have enough noise. I said, ah. I said, that's the difference between you and me.

Your trinity is Father, Son and noisy spirit. My trinity is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That's the difference.

That's all. The third person of the trinity makes me holy. Your third person of your trinity makes you make a lot of noise in the meeting.

I prefer the Holy Spirit to noisy spirit any day. But this is so true. Do you know the number of people who are fooled by this? They go into a meeting with a lot of emotion and all type, what do they call them, strobe lights or something like that.

Different colors and all that. And it's all moving people's emotions. Have you seen these preachers who work up people's emotions with a very emotional type of song.

It could be with a lot of noise. Or it could be very softly. Just with a whisper.

Get people all worked up emotionally. Say, now Jesus is coming to heal. It's all emotional.

It's psychological healing. That's not how Jesus. Jesus didn't get people to sing softly then come and heal people.

I'm amazed that so many believers swallow all this. It's because they haven't understood soul and spirit. The vast majority of Christians are either carnal or soulish.

Emotions, but God does not dwell there. Does He use our mind? Of course. He uses my mind.

In fact, He's using your mind to listen to it. He used my mind to preach this message. But the mind is the servant of the spirit.

Do I believe in emotions? Yes, but my emotions must be in the control of the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you why. I believe in raising my hands.

I believe in clapping my hands. I would even dance if it didn't offend people. I mean, I'd do it on my own.

It's only to avoid offending people. I'm all excited when I think of what Jesus did for me. But I must know when to clap.

Very often when people sing a song, they get all emotional and clap. For example, we were singing this song yesterday. I'm not criticizing anyone.

But I hope we get more light on these things. That's the only reason I speak. He took my sins and my sorrows.

He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. Can you imagine clapping for that? It's like seeing Jesus carrying the cross and stumbling and falling and clapping.

Ah! You took my sins and my sorrows. I'd be weeping there. But when you sing, how marvelous! How wonderful! That's the time to clap our hands.

I'm just telling you how we mechanically, without even thinking, say things. It's like being in a rock concert. We don't sense God there.

We're just... It's a nice melody. Nice to clap hands to. Are you really clapping hands when you see Jesus carrying the cross and stumbling and falling or hanging there on the cross? How many people clapped hands when they saw Jesus hanging on the cross? I wouldn't do it.

I'd clap hands at the resurrection. Sure. I'm just giving you an example of how emotions can deceive us.

We don't live in the spirit. We just get taken up with what others are doing. I'm not criticizing the others.

Please remember this. A person in the 10th grade will not criticize a student in the 3rd grade. No.

Because I was also in the 3rd grade once. He will say, yes, he's in the 3rd grade. He's acting according to the light he has.

But we hope he grows up. We don't want his 3rd grade student to live in the 3rd grade forever. That's all I'm trying to say.

I don't believe what you did was wrong. But we need to grow up and understand more of God in these things. I'm not saying we shouldn't clap.

Psalm 47 says, clap your hands and rejoice in the Lord. I'm just saying that we need to know when the Holy Spirit moves our emotions. It must be meaningful.

We're not here in a rock concert. We're not here for entertainment. We are here to worship God.

We are here to give Him glory. And we must be more aware of the presence of Jesus Christ and of God our Father here than of anything else. Even our singing.

Everything must be to glorify God. So, emotions. But the will.

That is the part of our soul that opens the way into the Spirit. Not my will. You become spiritual when your will is crucified.

Not when your mind is educated. Not when your emotions are stirred. That's the main thing I wanted to point out to you.

A soulish Christian lives in his mind and his emotions. When his mind is stimulated, but what he's heard, like for example, you can listen to a message here. Wow! That is a tremendous message.

And you understood something in your mind and you say, boy, I can preach that to somebody else now. Then you're really soulish. Or I'm so stirred in my emotions.

There are some preachers who can manufacture tears and make you cry. I can't do that even if I try. But it's emotion.

Emotion. And people can be stirred by that and say, oh God was there. Emotion.

Don't be deceived my brothers and sisters. We're moving into days of tremendous deception in the last days and God's preparing you for it. If you want to know how to be spiritual, ask if your will is crucified.

Ask of self which gets so offended easily is being put to death. Not my will. That is how Jesus rent the veil.

The veil is His flesh that was rent and as we read in Hebrews 10.20 thereby He inaugurated a new and living way for us. What is that way? The way of the rent veil. The way of crucifixion of our self.

Okay. I want to illustrate the same thing to you now in the story of the two houses. The lessons from the two houses.

You remember the story that Jesus said about the man who built on rock and the man who built on sand. The next slide. The wise man dug deep.

That's in Luke chapter 6 verse 48. Now there are two places where this parable is mentioned. One is Matthew 7 and the other is in Luke chapter 6. The sermon on the mount is condensed in Luke 6. The expanded version is in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. In Matthew 7 it says the wise man built his house and the foolish man built his house.

When I read that first I always thought they built in two different areas. One man built in a rocky area and the other man built in a sandy area and that was a foolish man who just listened but did not obey. The wise man listened and obeyed.

But when I read Luke chapter 6 I discovered they built next door to each other. The only difference was the wise man dug deep. Went all the way down.

I don't know how many feet till he hit rock. Blasted the rock and laid his foundation there. And the foolish man building next door he said I don't want to waste all that money and all that time going all the way up.

I want to build a good house. For what? To impress other people. So if both of them had the same amount of money the wise man and foolish man, who do you think would build a more impressive and bigger house? Definitely the foolish man.

Because he spent no money on the foundation. But here's the wise man who has to spend so much money digging deep and buying dynamite and whatever else they had those days to blast the rock go all the way down and half his money is already spent and he hasn't even built his house. Whereas the other man, his house is already up.

He's got two or three stories already and this chap is still digging the foundation. He really looked foolish to everybody else. Till the flood and the storm came.

Then they discovered who it really was. Now I want to tell you something. A lot of people who are building Christianity today was very impressive in the eyes of others.

They look very wise. When the flood comes and the storm comes you'll discover what happens to their houses. So let me go to the next.

Mind and emotions are the sand. The will is the rock that needs to be blasted. The question is where are you going to build your house? What does it mean to build on mind and emotions? You hear the word you've understood it so well that you can preach it to others.

You can analyze it. Emotions you not only heard it but you're stirred by it. Wow! That's wonderful.

I'm excited. It's still sand. When you blast your will and say Lord I surrender my will to you.

I'm going to obey you. And this area is where the Lord tells you to obey, where your conscience tells you you're doing wrong. Give that up and you obey.

You turn your eyes away from lusting. You never go to that link on your computer again which leads to pornography. You put to death your anger then you're becoming spiritual.

Otherwise you're just excited. You're just a soulish Christian. I mean I'm just telling you the truth so that you don't waste your life as a soulish Christian.

So that you can live your life as a spiritual Christian so that from your innermost being waters can go out to bless other people. You know a river one mark of a river is there's no effort in it. And true spiritual ministry true spiritual ministry is effortless.

Jesus wasn't always struggling, struggling to preach a message. No. Messages that are from the mind and the emotions you have to struggle.

But Jesus wasn't preaching. He used his mind and he used his emotions but it is from his spirit. Let me show you this mind emotion and will in another passage in John chapter 7. Sorry Matthew chapter 7. Before he spoke about the two houses.

Have you noticed the connection here? He spoke about the two houses in Matthew 7 24 to 27. But before that he speaks about mind emotion and will. If you see carefully.

Verse 21 Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Did you see it? Did you see mind emotion and will just in that one verse? When a man says Lord his mind is right. He's understood scripture.

Jesus is Lord. When he says Lord, Lord he's excited. He's not just the person who says Lord.

He says Lord, Lord. His emotions are stirred too. He won't enter heaven.

Because it has to go deeper. His will has to be blasted. But he who does the will of my Father and in order to do the will of my Father his own will has to be blasted.

He has to go beyond Lord, beyond Lord, Lord to say not my will. Because many will come to me in that day and say Lord, Lord. We did we prophesied in your name.

We cast out demons in your name. We did miracles in your name. And I'll say depart from me.

Go to hell all of you. Now today when you see a person doing miracles in Jesus name and there are lots of them going around particularly on Christian television most of them fake miracles. And doing, casting out demons.

How many of you when you watch that ever think that man may end up in hell? I do. I don't know about you. I'll tell you why because I believe the words of Jesus.

Heaven and earth will pass away. These words will not pass away. Not one or two.

Verse 22 says many. Many means not 10 or 15. 10 or 15 are not many.

When you think of 2000 years of Christianity and all the preachers there are. Would you call 10 or 15 preachers many? No. There are a number in thousands.

Of people who say to Jesus in the last day. Picture this. In the last day Jesus is on his throne.

And all these thousands of preachers coming to Jesus and saying Lord Lord. We didn't worship some other religion. You Jesus Lord in your name.

Not in the name of some heathen God. We cast out demons. We healed the sick.

We did many miracles. Not one or two. And Jesus on the throne says get away from me all of you.

Because there was sin in your life. That's the only reason. There was sin in your private life.

You didn't care more for that. You just cared for all these external things. Now if you ask me to explain how can a man who does miracles in Jesus name go to hell.

I'll tell you. I can answer that in three words. I don't know.

But I do know that Jesus said it would happen. And I believe Jesus. I don't have to explain everything in the Bible.

It is clear to me that many who call Jesus Lord mind and Lord Lord emotions and do miracles will still go to hell. I don't have the slightest doubt about that in my mind. That's why I warn people.

I can't force people to believe me or to believe Jesus words. You can believe whatever you like. But these are the words of Jesus.

And if you want to be wise you better believe what Jesus said. He knows more about the judgment seat than you and I. He knows more about human nature and what it means to be a Christian. How can a Christian born again Christian do miracles and go to hell? I don't know.

So I'm not here to argue theology. I'm just saying Jesus said many who will come to him in the last day and say Lord Lord in your name we did miracles. And Jesus doesn't say to them hey you're telling lies.

You never did it. You don't say that. Yeah you did it.

But there was sin in your life. Therefore go to hell. So what does that teach us? What is going to be important in the last day? Not the number of miracles or your ministry but your life.

Was there sin in your life? And Jesus proved that by his own life. For 33 and a half years he lived in purity. When I say purity never doing his own will.

Blasting his will. Always doing the father's will. For 33 and a half years.

And in that 33 and a half years for how many years did he do ministry? How many? Three and a half. Ten percent. Three and a half years he cast out demons, did miracles, preached.

Teaching us what? That your life is ten times more important than your ministry. I hope you understood that. Simple mathematics.

Three and a half divided by, or 33 and a half divided by three and a half. Your life is ten times more important than your ministry. I hope you understand that.

But I'll tell you this. I have met very few preachers or pastors in my whole life who believe that their private life is ten times more important than their public ministry. Their glory in their public ministry.

How many people acclaimed them and loved them? Many, many years ago the Lord told me, don't ever evaluate your life by the sermons you preach or the countries you travel or the books you write. Evaluate yourself by how you live before my face. Do you walk in the light everyday? That saved me.

That's why I fall on my face before God all the time. Just like John in the Isle of Patmos. Dear brothers and sisters don't be deceived.

We are moving into days of tremendous deception. And the days to come and the Lord is preparing you. So here is, we go to the next slide of the foolish man's house.

Built on sand. Collapsed. Beautiful house.

It was built on mind and emotions. And we go to the wise man, the next house. Built on the rock.

Maybe not as impressive as the other one. Not as colorful. But built on the rock.

Rock built up through the mind and emotions. He doesn't ignore the mind and emotions. Through the mind and emotions, built on the rock.

So what does this mean in practical terms for us? The next slide. Now you understand what it means to take up the cross. It is to go through the veil that is rent.

If any man will come after me, anyone. And your aim in life is not to do miracles and have a ministry and get honor for your preaching or your bible knowledge or any such thing. But you want to come after Jesus.

You have to say no to yourself. There is a self sitting on the throne of every child of Adam. And that has to be dethroned.

Say no to self. Is it something I can do once for all? No. Every day.

That full verse says, he must take up his cross daily and follow me. Daily. So it is not something I can do once for all.

Say okay, it is settled for life. Every day, I have an opportunity to say no to myself. Think of areas like I call these the kindergarten giants of Canaan.

The easy ones to be killed. Getting offended. You get offended? You know that dead people never get offended? Do you know that? Dead people never get offended.

When you die with Christ, you don't get offended. When you get offended, it proves you are very much alive. Was it Jesus who was offended? By that person not talking to you? Or talking to you in a rude way? Getting offended because somebody didn't do something you expected him to do? Or didn't speak to you the way you expected him to speak? Or spoke to you in a way which was rude? Dear brothers and sisters, if you don't deal with the kindergarten giants, how will you go to the first grade giants and the second grade giants of Canaan that had to be killed? There's a lot to be killed.

Like the Lord told Joshua, there remains yet much land to be possessed. There remains a lot of land to be possessed in our lives. Many more giants to be killed, which we haven't even seen up in the north country.

You may have entered Canaan. Good. Deal with the giants you see.

You know, when they entered Canaan, there were giants they could see. That's conscious sin. And there were giants up in the north they haven't seen.

That's unconscious sin. But you never get up there to see unconscious sin until you deal with conscious sin. You've got to kill the giants you see.

So I'm telling you some of the easiest ones to kill, getting offended. It's only your pride. You know, things like anger, sexual lust, these are very powerful giants.

Very powerful. They are the Goliaths. It takes a lot of battle and strength to finish them.

Let's start with the easy ones and build up our muscles a bit. Getting offended. Another kindergarten giant is expecting respect.

Do you expect people to respect you? You know, particularly as we get older, we expect younger people to respect us, right? Well, for a worldly person, that's alright. For a Christian, no. I don't want anybody to respect me.

Absolutely zero interest in people speaking to me respectfully or treating me with respect or calling me by respectful names. I have no interest in that. Absolutely zero.

That giant was killed years ago in my life. It's there in our life. You don't realize how much it is there.

Husbands who expect their wives to respect them. No wonder you have so many problems. Or wives who expect their husbands to respect them.

The problem is not with your husband or your wife. The problem is with that giant that's still living inside you. The day you see that, you'll have a happier marriage.

See, these things all relate to life. But you may be preaching, you may be traveling here and there, you may be doing, going to conferences. Say, Lord, we went to so many conferences.

And the Lord says, but there was sin in your life. You never dethroned self. You never walked that way of the rent veil of going into God's presence.

That's why you don't sense the presence of God with you when you move around. You know, when Adam spent one day with God, that was his first day, by the way. He was created at the end of the sixth day, and this very first day of Adam was what? God's seventh day, which is called the Sabbath.

He dwelt in God's presence, and the devil never came anywhere near him. Nowhere. The devil couldn't trouble him when he was near God.

And do you know that the Hebrews 4 says that we are to live in that perpetual Sabbath? There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. We're supposed to live every day in that Sabbath rest of God, and the devil will not be able to harm us. Like that song says, there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God.

That's where we are supposed to live, and that is in the most holy place. That's where God dwells. We have to go beyond understanding Scripture, beyond being excited about Scripture, to the immediate presence of God, and that is the place of worship.

In the outer court, it was the way of forgiveness of sins and water baptism. There were only two things there, the altar and the labor, symbolizing forgiveness of sins and water baptism. A lot of people stopped there.

But then people go further into the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the holy place where there's the lamb stand and the incense and all that, and the table of showbread, the Word of God. But beyond that is a place of worship. Worship is not singing songs of praise.

That is praise and thanksgiving. A lot of things that today's Christendom calls worship is not worship, and I can prove it to you. Take a concordance, if you're serious about understanding Scripture, and if you want to align your language along with the New Testament, and not with current Babylonian Christianity, I would recommend to you, take a concordance, look up the word worship, and study it in the New Testament, and you'll find it has got nothing to do with what people call praise and worship today.

Then you will align your language with Scripture, and not with what Babylonian Christianity has taught you. Babylonian Christianity taught me praise and worship, and I used it for a long time till I studied Scripture, and I said that's not what the Holy Spirit says. I'm going to align myself with the Holy Spirit.

I'm not going to align myself with Babylonian language. What is worship? In the New Testament, in the Old Testament and New Testament, wherever you read about worship, it was a surrender of everything. Job fell on his face before God, and said, God, you've given me ten children, and property, and you took it all away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. That is worship. He wasn't singing songs there.

He was bowing his head and saying, Lord, you gave, and you take away. I have no right to hold on to anything. You are Lord.

That's the first person. Job was the first book of the Bible, written 500 years before Genesis was written. And that's the first man you read of, worshipping, giving everything, saying, God, you've got every right to take away everything from my life.

You say that to God, you're a worshipper, even if you can't sing it all properly. Another person who worshipped is, you read in Genesis 22, I don't have time to show this all to you, Abraham went up to Mount Moriah with Isaac, and he told his young man, I'm going to go up there with my lad and worship. What was worship? Offering what was most precious to him to God and say, God, you can have all the precious things in my life, you are everything to me.

Can you say that? Nothing on earth I desire beside you. That's a worshipper. Abraham wasn't singing songs there.

He was offering to God everything, and saying, God, you are God in my life. That is a worshipper. That is what it means to worship in spirit and in truth.

I think I should conclude. Let's read John chapter 4. John chapter 4. Just by the way, John chapter 3, Jesus speaks to a bishop, what we would call a bishop, like a bishop of the Catholic Episcopal Church, Nicodemus. John chapter 4, he speaks to a woman who was divorced five times and who is now sleeping with another man who is not even her husband.

Now if you had to one day speak to a bishop and another day to a five times divorced woman, to whom would you speak about being born again? And to whom would you speak about worship? I know what you'd do. You'd speak to the bishop about worship and you'd speak to the divorced woman about being born again. Jesus was different.

Completely opposite to us. He talked about being born again to the bishop and he talked about worship to this five times divorced woman. Because he looked at the heart.

Man looks at the outward appearance. All this religious show is not impressed. Here he saw a hungry heart in a five times divorced woman and said, I can teach this woman about worship.

And he saw an empty heart in that bishop, Nicodemus. He said, you must be born again. So coming to John 4, he says to the Samaritan woman, verse 23, an hour is coming.

Read carefully. It has not yet come. It is coming.

But it now is. In one sense it has come, but it has not yet come. He is referring to the Holy Spirit.

Here is one person now filled with the Holy Spirit. That's himself. But nobody else.

But a day is coming when many others will be filled with the Spirit. That's the meaning of an hour is coming and now is. When the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit.

In the Holy Spirit. And in truth means reality. And the Father seeks for such people to be worshipers.

So how do you worship in Spirit? Remember the Tabernacle? Outer Court? Holy Place? Most Holy Place. Body, Soul and Spirit. What does it mean to worship in the body? Clapping hands, jumping, dancing.

Praise God, I believe in it. What does it mean to worship in the soul? Mind, emotions, meaningfully singing and excited and emotions. Good.

What does it mean to worship in the Spirit? It is to worship in the Most Holy Place. How do I get to the Most Holy Place? Through the Rent Veil. The only true worshipers in Spirit today are the ones who have said no to self every day of their life.

That's why when some people ask me, Brother Zach, what's the difference between your church and other churches? I say we don't, we're not bigger, better. We've got hypocrites in our church just like every other church. We don't compare ourselves with others but one thing I can say in the preaching in the pulpit in other churches, Sunday is the important day where they make so much of their Sunday worship service and their singing and whatever they call it.

For us in our church, the important day is Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and Sunday afternoon after you go home from the service. In other words, it's your life. How you live at home.

How you work in your office, in your factory. And you come with that spirit to a Sunday service and even if you can't sing two notes properly, you're out of tune all the time, Jesus will accept your worship because there were six days of a holy life backing it up. But if that six days of a holy life was not backing it up and you come here and sing like Nightingales or whatever it is, beautifully the Lord doesn't hear it.

How many people know that? You think the Lord is interested in all these strobe lights and all this type of thing that people do today, what they call worship? We're living in a day of tremendous deception, even in the area of worship. Let's learn to worship. The Father seeks, I remember when I read that verse there, the Father seeks for those who will worship Him, the Spirit and Truth.

I picture in my mind, God the Father looking down on this earth, the multitudes of Christians who claim to know so much and the Father is seeking for worshipers in Spirit and Truth. My heart cried out I said, Lord, make me one like that. Even if I can't sing properly, it doesn't matter.

Make me a worshiper in Spirit and Truth. I hope all of you will be gripped by this. It's not so much an understanding all that I said today but if you're willing to take up your cross and die to yourself everyday the Lord will reveal to you the things that are hidden from the clever and the intelligent.

Let's pray. As our heads about in prayer if the secrets of your heart was disclosed then you can know that God was here and that's why He brought you. Don't let the birds of the air take away what you heard.

Don't let the word fall into shallow ground. Let it sink deep and bring obedience. Seek for the power of the Holy Spirit.

You can never do it otherwise. Seek with all your heart to have a genuine fullness of the Holy Spirit and live in that everyday. That's the only way you'll be able to crucify self with its affections and lusts and walk the way God wants you to walk.

Heavenly Father, help us all. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.