Sixteen Lessons I Have Learnt - Part 2

One of the things that people who know all about physical fitness say to older people like me is you must learn to get up from a chair without holding anything. So I've had a bit of a practice today and I'm thankful that God helps me. These are little things which young people can do easily, but learn to get up from a chair without holding anything as you get older.

God wants us to remain physically fit as long as possible because his church needs you. Don't ruin yourself by overeating, gluttony, putting on unnecessary weight, and eating the wrong type of stuff, eating too many sweets and chocolates. Keep yourself fit.

The Lord needs many people to serve him faithfully for many long years. I want to encourage all of you. Be faithful when you're young so that you can be physically fit brothers and sisters for a long time to serve him until he comes.

I want to continue what I started this morning and I want to title it 16 important truths that I have learned. Our subject is building the church with holiness and humility. Very, very important.

You and I are called to work together to build the church. So let me revise what I said in the morning. Number one, God loves us exactly like he loved Jesus.

If you're a disciple, if you decided to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, God loves you just as he loved Jesus. And I praise God for the tremendous comfort that has brought to me to know that what he did for Jesus he will do for me. And the second thing I shared was that God delights in honest people.

To walk in the light only means honesty. Jesus could fellowship with a woman of Samaria who was divorced five times and living sleeping with somebody who was not even her husband. How could Jesus fellowship with such a person and encourage such a person? Because she was absolutely honest.

She did not pretend when the Lord said to her, go and call your husband. She was living with one man. She could have gone home and called that man and didn't know who Jesus was.

Thought he could bluff him. But she said, I'm not married. It is true.

God loves honest people. And the third thing is God delights in cheerful givers. He doesn't want reluctant givers.

He doesn't force anybody to give. If you give, give cheerfully or give nothing. God delights in cheerful givers.

And fourth, holiness comes by looking unto Jesus. It's not by any experience. It's by constantly looking unto Jesus throughout the Christian race.

And number five, we must be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. There's a lot of counterfeits. Like everything valuable is counterfeited.

Don't be fooled by the counterfeit. If you are really filled with the Holy Spirit, you will gradually become more and more like Christ in your behavior, in your speech. Your wife will testify to it.

Your husband will testify to it. Then you won't be deceived. And then number six, the way of the cross is the way of life.

There is no way for the Christian to participate in the life of Jesus except by death to the self life, the way of the cross. So embrace the way of the cross all your life. It's changed my way of life for the last 50 years.

And number seven, man's opinions should never discourage us. Men won't understand the way we take sometimes. I've experienced that numerous times where people are criticized, find fault, and discouraged.

And I say man's opinions will never discourage me because I know the way my Savior went. And number eight, God detests what this world considers as valuable money, worldly honor. It's worth nothing.

Okay, now today I want to go on. Now I want to go on to number nine. Very important.

Nobody can harm us except we ourselves. If we are following the Lord. 1 Peter in chapter three and verse 13 says, listen to this, who can harm you? Who can harm you if you are zealous for what is good? Do you believe that? Do you believe there's no human being, no demon, nobody can harm you.

If you yourself are zealous to do what is good, to please the Lord. What a life we can live. To walk through this earth, through this world, absolutely confident that nobody can touch us or harm us if we are zealous to do what is good.

And that is why we can live without fear. The world is a place where so many people have fear. Some people even are afraid of the devil, even though they are believers.

They say the devil may hurt me here or hurt my children or I may get sick or something can happen. There's so much of sickness going around in the air. There are all types of sicknesses flourishing nowadays.

And how do I know I won't get it? And even vaccinations are not safe. People get a lot of reactions. You can live with so much fear in this uncertain world.

But here is the answer. Who can harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? Impossible. God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability.

Be confident of that. If you're zealous, Lord, I only want to please you in my life. No one can harm you.

It's a wonderful way to live. It's like we've got an invisible barrier of protection around us. I want to share these wonderful promises that have been a tremendous blessing to me in my life.

Zechariah chapter 2, Zechariah 2 verse 5. The promises of God are wonderful. The Lord says, I will be a wall of fire around you and I'll be the glory in the midst. I've used that promise many times in my life.

Lord Jesus, you are a wall of fire around me as I move through this evil world. And the other is in Zechariah 2 verse 8. In the last part, the Lord says, if anybody touches you, listen to this, if anybody touches you, the Lord says he's touching the apple of my eye. You know, the most sensitive part of your body is your eye.

You can get hurt by touching it. There's no part of your body that will hurt you by touching except one, your eye. It's the only part of your body.

You touch it, it pains. No other part of your body. And the Lord says, if anybody dares to touch you, he's like touching the apple of God's eye because he loves us as he loved Jesus.

So there's nobody who can harm us except, you know who? We ourselves. You can go and do some stupid thing. You can go and indulge in some dirty habit and ruin yourself.

Otherwise, it is impossible for anyone to harm you. What a way we live a charmed life as it were. The wall of fire all about us and God saying, anybody touches you, he's touching the apple of my eye.

These are the promises we claim and live by. Okay. Number 10.

God has got a perfect plan for each of our lives that was planned before we were born that we should walk in them. I want you to turn to Ephesians and chapter 2 and verse 10. Everybody knows Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. Well-known verse.

By grace, you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It's a wonderful verse that tells me our salvation is by grace and not of ourselves.

It is a gift, not of works. Verse 9. We are not saved by our works, lest we should boast. But don't stop there.

We are not saved by our works. But it says in verse 10, we are saved unto good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them. Do you see the balance? Many Christians just read half a verse and leave out the rest.

We're saved by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. I say, hang on. That's only part of the sentence.

It goes on to say, but we are created for good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them. So there are good works we have to walk in, which God has prepared for us. We're not saved because of that.

No, we're saved not as a result of works. So always read a paragraph instead of finding a favorite verse and trying to understand it. If you want to go astray, pick out favorite verses here and there.

When you read a verse, see the whole context, and then you'll understand not of works, verse 9, unto works, verse 10. Not of works, but for good works. That's the balance.

The problem with many, many people who read the scriptures is they don't read the full sentence. They got one favorite part, and they hang on to that. And that is how you go astray.

And a lot of Bible teachers do not teach you the full truth. They teach you what is their favorite verse. And for many people, their favorite verse is Ephesians 2, verse 8. My favorite verse is Ephesians 2, 8, plus Ephesians 2, 10.

Both go together. I believe that I'm saved not as a result of works. It is a gift of God, but I also believe that God saved me through works that He had already prepared beforehand that I should walk in them.

So God has a perfect plan for our life. And that's something we also read in one of my favorite passages is Psalm 139. I often quote it, and I don't mind quoting it again.

What does it say in Psalm 139? It applies to every child of God. Verse 13. Lord, You formed me inside my mother's womb.

We all were formed inside our mother's womb. And while I was still not formed, verse 16, in Your mind, that's God's book is His mind, all Your plan for my life was already determined. That's amazing.

The plan for my life was determined before I was born. Do you believe that? So many things that have happened in your life till today. God planned it, every detail.

You came to become aware of it only as the day came along to you. But God was aware of it before you were born. And it says here, how precious, verse 17, are Your thoughts, Lord.

If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. And when I wake up, I'm still with You, verse 18. So it's wonderful to know that God has got a perfect plan, and you cannot make a better plan than the one God made.

See, when God sees the whole future, it factors in all the circumstances that will happen in your life. And He says, I want to make a perfect plan for my child because I love him as I love my son. And I ask people this simple question.

Do you believe that God had a perfect plan for the life of Jesus, that He should be born in a particular day to the Virgin Mary, that He should grow up in Nazareth, and He should grow there for 30 years, and that He should then go and get baptized, and that at the age of 33 and a half, He should be crucified? Every day was planned, every single day. And exactly on the day, the last day, He was crucified, and He rose up from the dead the third day. And I say in exactly the same way, no difference.

Your life and mine was planned by God. Now, if you submit like Jesus did to Him, it'll be fulfilled. But if you don't submit to Him and you seek your own, then I don't know what will happen.

I don't want that to happen to me. I don't want to seek my own. I want to be gripped by the fact that before I was born, God made a plan for my life, and the passion of my life has been, Lord, I want to fulfill that.

I don't know how long I'll live on the earth, but I don't want to miss your plan for a single day in my life. And when I look back over the last 67 years, how wonderfully God planned my life. Amazing.

So many people tried to trouble me. So many people tried to imprison me. So many people tried to do all types of things to me.

God had planned it all. How to escape and save me from death so many times. Saved me from almost almost certain death during the war time when I was in the Navy.

He saved me. All planned because the day before I was supposed to go into battle on my ship, the Lord stopped the war. If the Lord had not stopped the war, I wouldn't be alive today.

God planned everything. Every little detail. The same is true in your life.

God has a perfect plan for your life. The next thing I want to say is God knows intimately, knowing God intimately is the secret of being strong. Daniel chapter 11.

This is a great verse that has helped me throughout my life. Daniel chapter 11. I hope you will remember it.

Daniel 11 verse 32. The people who know their God will be strong. The way to be strong is to know God intimately, personally.

Knowing God intimately is the secret of being strong in your life. And that is why I encourage people to meditate on scripture and to meditate especially on the life of Jesus. Because in Jesus' life, God demonstrated his love for us, his care for us, and what he is like.

If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. And I say, Lord, the more I know you, the more I'll be strong. The people who know their God will be strong.

And how can I know God? I can look at Jesus' life on earth. I can see his compassion towards sinners. I can see his strictness with Pharisees.

I can see his tremendous hatred for people who try to make money in the church by collecting money from others. He took a whip. The only time in his life, the meek and lowly Jesus.

Can you picture this in your mind? Jesus said, I am meek and lowly in heart. The meek and lowly Jesus takes a whip. You see, what does a meek and lowly Jesus do with a whip? Chasing out people who try to make money from poor people in the temple.

Turning their tables and letting the coins fly all over. I can imagine all the children laughing and smiling at that. And Jesus saying, don't come here to the church to make money.

That is the stand I have taken for 51 years in all our CFC churches. It has made many people offended. It has made people leave our church.

That's fine. Anybody can leave, but we're not going to lower God's standards. You cannot come to the church and ask people to give you money for your wedding or for your baby or for anything.

This is not the place to make money from rich people or poor people. This is the place where we come to serve and sacrifice. So, when you know God, you will be strong.

You got to know what God is like and you got to look at the life of Jesus to see what God is like. And I'll tell you this, after so many years of preaching and serving God like this, I've discovered that still there are people who say, oh brother, we must not offend people. Uh-huh.

Go and sit with the Pharisees if you don't want to offend anybody. Go and sit with the dead denominations if you don't want to offend anybody. Don't think you can follow Jesus without offending everybody, anybody.

You'll offend a lot of people. Jesus offended people left, right, and center. And all these diplomatic people who don't want to hurt this person, don't want to hurt that person, they cannot be disciples of Jesus.

No disciple, no apostle was a diplomatic person. So, I want to tell you about that. If you know God, you will be strong.

You will not be weak. And the opinions of men will not make any difference to you. Number 12.

The new covenant is far better than the old covenant. We read in Hebrews 8.6 that Jesus is the mediator of a better covenant. Better than what? Better than the covenant that Moses gave the Israelites.

The Moses told the Israelites, I'll make you rich. I'll make you the most powerful nation. You will lack in nothing.

You'll be healed of all your sicknesses. What is better than being healed of your sicknesses and becoming rich? Most people in the world say, absolutely nothing. That's exactly what I want.

The Lord says, no. I'll make you spiritually rich even if you're physically sick. I'll make you spiritually wealthy even if you're financially poor.

It's a different. The new covenant is very different. But people still hanker for the old covenant.

Lord, give me health. Give me money. Give me a comfortable life.

Brother, sister, go back to the old covenant. Then go and follow Moses. You follow Jesus.

That's not the way for you. It's a better covenant. And the better covenant is not more money.

It's not more health. It is becoming more like Christ. It's partaking of God's nature.

Are you interested in that? That is the covenant Jesus brought. It's a far better covenant than the old covenant. The new covenant is far better because it says, I will not remember your sins anymore.

In the old covenant, there was a constant remembering memory of sin. You don't realize it. Every year they would come to the altar with the offerings.

They'd say, I remember I'm a sinner. I'm free from that. I'm not living into guilt.

Do you realize what a tremendous blessing that is? And the Lord says, you will know me as a father. Not a single person in the old covenant could look up to God and say, Dad, have you taken that lightly? It's one of the greatest blessings. Even the John the Baptist could not look up to heaven and call God, Dad.

Jesus was the first person who could look up to heaven and say, Father. And I can say that today. I can call him Dad.

Do you realize what a tremendous privilege that is to be in the new covenant? To free from the guilt and burden, all the wretched sins we have committed in the past, gone. It's like in that Pilgrim's Progress story, this sinner comes with this heavy weight of sin on the back and he comes to the cross and the burden drops off and he's free. What a tremendous blessing it is.

The new covenant is far better than the old covenant. And number 13, if we live godly lives, we will be persecuted. Did you hear that? If you live a godly life, you will be persecuted.

Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12. Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 12. Every single person, second Timothy 3 12, every single person who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

You want to avoid persecution? Go back to the old covenant. Follow Moses. You can't follow Jesus and avoid persecution.

It comes in the same packet. Overcoming sin, partaking of God's nature, knowing God as Father, being free from the guilt of the past, blessed fellowship and persecution. Take it or leave it, but it all comes in the same packet.

So we will be persecuted if we live godly lives. If you're not being persecuted, probably you're compromising somewhere. You're not being a bold witness in your place of work.

You keep quiet about the things you should be standing up for. And so you're popular instead of being persecuted. All, all.

Second Timothy 3 12. Every single person who desires to live a godly life will be persecuted. So you have to ask yourself, why am I not being persecuted? There must be only one answer.

Somewhere along the way, you don't want to live a godly life. When it comes to the crunch, you pull back and compromise. Then you will not be persecuted.

But if you want to live a godly life, you will be persecuted. Then number 14. This is something we have to learn in CFC.

We must accept all the people whom God has accepted. I believe that. You cannot reject a single person whom God has accepted.

He may not be a part of CFC. He may not be baptized in water. He may not believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but he's born again and God has accepted him and he's, according to the light he has, he's seeking to live a good life, but he belongs in some other church, which holds slightly different doctrines from what CFC holds.

What shall be our attitude to him? We must accept everyone whom God has accepted. I may not be able to work together with him because he compromises in certain areas, but I see that the man has really turned to the Lord and he's accepted the Lord and he's born again. I must receive him as my brother.

I'm going to spend eternity with him in heaven. Why can't I fellowship with him here? I may not be able to work with him. I may not have much time with him because he goes to some other church and I hardly ever see him.

But I will not treat him as someone to be kept at a distance. My heart will be warm towards him whenever I see him. I can embrace him because he loves Jesus Christ.

He loves my Savior. So he's my brother. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 18 and 25.

God has placed the members in Christ's body as he desired. I am one member in one place. He's another member in another place.

But God has done it, it says in verse 25, so that there should be no divisions in the body. So I'm not going to create a division in the body. I disagree with him, so we cannot work together with him.

But that doesn't mean I will treat him like an enemy. No. If Christ has accepted him and he's redeemed by the blood of Christ, he's my brother.

It doesn't matter if he never comes to our church in his whole life. I love him and I may not have much maybe in my lifetime. I may spend two days with him in my entire life.

That's okay. But I will love him and be open to him. I will not treat him as an enemy or a stranger.

We must accept all whom God has accepted. Who am I to reject one whom God has accepted? If you can say God has not accepted that man, ah, then I don't have to accept him. But if God has accepted him and somebody like me to say I won't accept you, who do I think I am? It's very important to have this balance, brother.

This balance that is lacking in so much of Christianity. We need truth. But the glory of God is seen full of truth and grace.

It's not all grace. You go grace to such an extent that you ignore truth, you're wrong. John 1 14 says the glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ full of grace and truth.

Both together, not just grace and not just truth. So that's what the next thing I want to say. And then number 15, we must treat every human being with dignity.

James chapter 3 verse 9 and 10. Every human being, any religion, beggar, wealthy man, doesn't matter. James 3 verse 9 and 10.

James accuses certain believers. He's writing to believers. He says some of you believers with your mouth you bless the Lord and with the same mouth you curse some men.

With the tongue we bless the Lord and we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be like this.

So I believe we must treat every human being with dignity. I remember in India we have homeless beggars, many of them. They live on the streets and sometimes they come to the gate of your house and knock asking for some money.

And many homes they say get away, don't come and disturb us, get away. I remember telling children in my home, I said never, never talk to a beggar like that. Never talk to any human being rudely, even if he's a beggar.

And I used to tell them if you did speak rudely like that to a beggar and he walked away, go after him and apologize to him and call him uncle. Say uncle I'm sorry that I spoke to you like that. That's what I teach my children.

Don't ever speak rudely to a human being because the Bible says every human being, James 3 verse 9, has been created in the image of God. That image is terribly defaced by sin, I know. It's like a picture of a person's face on the wall and it's been torn and torn and all you see is nose or ear, but it was the image of a good human being, perfect human being.

A man made in the image of God being defaced by the devil. But I must recognize that underneath it all, there was someone whom God had created in his image. That teaches me to respect every human being, whatever his religion, I don't agree with him.

I may not be able to appreciate him, but I will respect him as a human being. That is the balance we need in the Christian life, especially in CFC churches where we take such a strong stand against unrighteousness and compromise In the midst of all that unrighteousness and compromise, we must have the balance of respecting every human being and of not accepting those whom God has accepted. So if you keep that balance in your life, you'll live a godly life.

Otherwise, we'll become prejudiced and sour and bitter and we won't be able to reflect the love and goodness of Christ. At the same time, don't go to the other extreme and become a compromiser. It's this balance.

The beautiful thing about Jesus' life, there was a balance, grace and truth. He never compromised on truth, but he never compromised on grace. We see how to maintain that balance by the Holy Spirit.

If you listen to the Holy Spirit, he'll prompt you when you're going slightly off track here or slightly off track there. We are constantly tempted in this world to go slightly off track here or slightly off track there, and many other areas do compromise a little here or there. I must listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and keep the balance.

Finally, number 16. We must trust in God for all our needs. Philippians 4.19. My God will supply all your need, A-L-L, all your need, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

And I have proved that all my life, financially, physically, for health and for all my needs, for everything, for travel and food and clothing and everything to educate my children, everything, without ever asking any human being for money, without ever depending on any human being, just trusting the Lord. Now, not everybody's called to full-time Christian work like me, but I'm just telling you for your encouragement that even though I've been in full-time Christian work for 60 years, I've never had to ask anybody for money. I've never taken a salary, never taken a cent for all the books I wrote, and God has provided my needs one way or the other, just like Jesus was provided, just like Paul was provided.

And we have to prove that in our generation, the same God who lived in Paul's time is the same God who helps us today. And you must be a living testimony to that, even if you're not in full-time Christian work, that in your situation, God provides. Philippians 4.19 is for you also.

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. And that is our calling to have that testimony. As a Christian worker, I've also had to follow certain principles in my own life concerning finances, which I can briefly share with you before I close.

For anyone who is in full-time Christian work, and this is where I disagree with so many people who are in Christian work—pastors, preachers—I don't judge them, I don't despise them, but I say that is not what I see in Scripture. In Scripture, I see two examples of full-time workers whom we are called to follow. One is Jesus, and the other is Paul.

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. And when I look around at the financial attitudes of so many people in Christian work, I don't despise them, but I say I disagree with them. I believe they've lowered the standards which God teaches in His Word.

And that is why I disagree with almost all of the financial policy of most churches, and that's why we have steered clear of that in CFC churches, and it's good for you to know this. We don't despise them, we disagree with them. This is what I believe should be 10 things that—10 nevers.

Full-time workers must never do these 10 things. Number one, never make your financial needs known to anyone but God. I have followed that for 60 years, both my wife and I. Never make your financial needs known to anyone but God.

And if you believe there's a God in heaven who hears you, He will take care of your need. Number two, never—that's Philippians 4.19, my God will supply all your need. Number two, never accept any money from unbelievers.

Third episode of John, verse 7, taking nothing from an unbeliever. That's what the Bible says. Third John 7. I've had to return money orders that came from unbelievers.

Sir, I'm sorry, we cannot accept this money. Please take it back. Please don't get offended, but we cannot take it if you're not a born-again Christian.

People have sent money to our church, CFC. We have graciously returned it. We cannot take—we tell people when they put—there's an offering box, if you're not born again, please don't put one cent into that box.

Number three, never expect any gifts from anyone. That is another thing that can happen even to those who are not full-time workers. Psalm 62 and verse 5, my soul wait in silence for God alone.

My hope is only from Him. There are people who are in a secular job, who are earning money, but are always expecting a handout from somebody else. Are you one of them like that? You expect somebody—people come to a church, there are some rich people here.

I think—I hope one of them will help me. I hope one of them will give me a gift. I hope one of them will do something—visit me and see the struggle I have in my home and give me some money or give me some gift.

Dear brother, sister, don't ruin your life. Don't come to this church for that purpose. You'll destroy yourself and you'll ruin your children as they grow up.

Yes, because your bad example will lead your children astray. You'll be just a dignified beggar sitting inside the church pretending that you're interested in the things of the Lord when you're always hoping for somebody to give you a handout. Never expect any gifts from anyone.

My soul wait only upon God for my hope is from Him. I would not preach this if I have not practiced it for 60 years. Number four, never allow anyone—I'm full-time Christian workers now—never allow anyone to control your ministry or influence your ministry by giving you money.

There are people who have offered me money and I've said, no, I won't take it. I don't want it. Never allow anyone to control or influence you by giving you money.

Number five, never accept money from anyone who does not accept your ministry. And number six, never accept money for your personal or family needs. Listen carefully.

Never accept money for your personal or family needs from anyone who is poorer than you. I have worked 50 years among very, very poor people in India. Most of our churches are there.

I would never take money from them. But I have to be wise and careful. I'll tell you what I've done.

I remember and give you one example. There was this very poor lady from one of our poor churches. At the end of a conference, she came and gave me a 50 rupee note.

And today's currency, that's about 50 cents. But that was quite a lot of money for her in those days in that village. And the Lord said to me, take it, take it.

I said, okay. She's so poor. And she was so happy.

And as soon as she's gone away, I went and put it in the offering box. I can't touch it because she's a poor lady. But the Lord told me, if you had not taken it, she would have felt, oh, Brother Zach is a great servant of God.

I must give him something like 1000 rupees or something, then only he'll accept it. 50 rupees is too small a gift. I'm so thankful that I took it.

And I'm so thankful I didn't keep it, but put it in the offering box. Be wise. Never accept money from someone for your personal needs from anyone who's poorer than you.

Number seven, never be dependent on any man for your financial needs. Never. Number eight, never handle money in such a way that will cause other people to suspect mishandling.

That is why I decided I would never be the treasurer in any church. People who are in a secular job can be a treasurer. And usually people with a good salary, we would make them treasurers in a church.

But I would never allow a full time Christian worker to be a treasurer in a church, because it can cause people to suspect mishandling. So I never did that myself. Never handle money in a way that would cause people to suspect mishandling.

Number nine, never be, this applies to all of us, never be excited when you get some money which you didn't expect. Some money you didn't expect, and it came all of a sudden. You could be a rich man.

You're excited. I remember once, I suddenly got somehow a certain amount of money, which came in from, I don't know, some investment I made or something. And as soon as I got it, I felt the Lord asking me, are you excited? I said, Lord, forgive me, I am.

I don't want to be. Please save me from this excitement that comes by my getting a little money. I don't want it, Lord.

I don't want that excitement. I want to be excited when I overcome sin. That's all.

I never want to be excited when I suddenly got some unexpected money from somewhere. Now you say this is all a very high standard. It is lower than the standard Jesus lived by.

I'm trying to reach up to that standard. That's all. And the last one, never be depressed when you lose money.

That also happened to me once. I had to travel somewhere for ministry many years ago in India. And because I traveled there, I missed the opportunity to make an investment where I would have got a lot of money.

I lost the opportunity. By the time I came back after those three days of meetings, this opportunity was gone. And I lost about 80,000 rupees, an opportunity to make 80,000 rupees.

And the Lord asked me, how do you feel about it? I said, Lord, I praise you that I could go there and preach the gospel over there. I don't care what I lost here. I had a wonderful opportunity to share the word over there, those people.

That's all. Praise the Lord. There was no great revival or anything there, but got an opportunity to share the truth with some people I'd never met before.

Okay, that's not the end of the story. One year later, I went to a conference, and one brother said, one year ago, Brother Zach came to speak to us in a particular place. That is this place where I went to, and I got converted.

Ah, I said, Lord, what I would have missed if I had sat here and earned that 80,000 rupees. Now the Lord asks me, are you happy you got one soul? I said, sure, I'd give a million rupees if I could get a person converted. But I knew that God hid it from me to test me to see whether 80,000 rupees would excite me.

I said, no, it won't. Dear brothers and sisters, why does God test us? Always because He wants us to go higher. I will close with one verse.

It's one of my favorite verses. Revelation chapter 4. It's a voice I always hear the Lord speaking to me, and I want to respond to it every time. Revelation 4, where the Lord said to John, Revelation 4, 1. Come up higher.

I heard the voice of one from heaven saying, come up here from heaven's door. Come up here. Come up higher.

Come up here. And I hear that voice all the time. Come up here and look at that situation from here.

Don't stand on earth and look at that difficult situation. Come up here and look down at that situation. And I say, Lord, I want to do that all the time.

I want to hear the voice of the Lord calling me from heaven saying, come up here and look, and I will show you how these things look from here. The trouble with us is we sit down here at this low level and look at it and get discouraged and depressed and seek after this thing and that thing, grab this and grab that. And the Lord says, drop it.

Open your palm. Come up here and look at everything, and things will look very different from that perspective. You know, it's even like if you go up in an aircraft.

You go up 10,000 feet and look down at the ground, and all those big, big buildings look so small. All those fancy cars look like dots in the road. It's wonderful to be look up from heaven at all these things which look so big to us, but are so small from that standpoint.

Why do the things of earth become so big in our eyes? Because we are looking at it from this level. The Lord says to us, come up here and look at those same things from here. That fellow who's troubling you and irritating you, that boss of yours who's making life miserable for you, come up here and look at him and see what authority I have over all things in heaven and earth.

The Lord says, dear brothers and sisters, we are called to a wonderful, fantastic overcoming life. And God wants us to be a living demonstration to people and to the devil that I'm going to be one of those who walks hand in hand with Jesus through this world. And He'll make me an overcomer too.

And the Lord says, to him who overcomes, as I overcame, the Lord says, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. That is the invitation that is coming to everybody here. Let us respond.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to build the church here the way You want it built. We want individuals in this church who have learned to see things from heaven's standpoint, who've been lifted up by the Holy Spirit.

Everyone here, Lord, do a mighty work, we pray, and make us a heavenly church, a heavenly people. Lead us, we pray. Help us to be open to Your Holy Spirit.

Lord Jesus, You're here, right here in our midst right now. And we are talking to You. Thank You.

Thank You for this weekend. Thank You for speaking to our hearts. We bow before You, our Lord and our Savior.

Be exalted in our lives and in our homes and in our church. Heavenly Father, Dad, we thank You for the opportunity to belong to Your family, along with these dear brothers and sisters. Thank You.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.