TXT. Zac Poonen Sermon Notes – (Free PDF Download) – 2021

okay i’d like to

begin with the verse in romans in

chapter 15.

romans chapter 15 and verse

4

whatever was written

in earlier times

was written for our instruction

so that through perseverance or patience

and the encouragement of the scriptures

we might have

hope

and when paul wrote that

what he’s referring to of what was

written in an earlier time scripture is

the old testament

so here the holy spirit is saying

that we should read the old testament

which will give you hope and

understanding of god’s ways

i’ve learned a lot of things we’re not

under the old covenant

we teach in all of our churches we are

under a new covenant

and the blessings of the new covenant

are ours

but there are many lessons we can learn

from the old testament scriptures

of the mistakes people make

because human nature is basically the

same

you read about genesis 3 the way adam

and eve went for knowledge more than

life

they had an option to choose knowledge

or life and they chose knowledge

what do i learn from that i have learned

that

most believers

go for knowledge more than life even

today

and that knowledge brought depth to adam

and it brings death to believers today

what do i mean by knowledge

you know studying the scriptures

watching a lot of youtube messages

understanding them understanding them so

well

that we can even preach it to others

that’s real knowledge but it brought

death to adam and it’s a knowledge of

good and evil

so we discern our minds to know good and

evil by studying the scriptures

and the knowledge of good and evil

brought death

we must never forget that and i have

seen numerous people

even in our cfc churches who have an

accurate knowledge of what we teach

about the new

covenant so well that they can speak it

themselves

but their own spiritual lives are dead

and that becomes evident after some time

you know

when a person dies he doesn’t begin to

stink immediately

but after a while it begins to stink

and it’s like that when a person is

careless in his personal life

after a while maybe after a few years

the stink comes forth spiritually

and we can learn things from the old

testament what i gave you from genesis 3

is just one example

i want you to turn with me to another

passage of scripture

which is in joshua sorry judges

the book of judges chapter 2 which is

after joshua

and

we read there

about joshua chapter 2 verse 8 joshua

the son of land the servant of the lord

died and they buried him joshua 2 9.

sorry judges 2 9

and that generation

of joshua’s also died

and then after them verse 10

arose another generation

who did not know the lord

nor the work that the lord had done

and then the sons of israel did evil

so what do we read what do we learn from

there

that as long as there was a man of god

leading that group they followed the

lord

and when the man of god had died

and some others took over there was

there were leaders sure

but they were not at the same caliber

and the people drifted away

you see another example of that these

are the things we have to learn from the

scriptures

see another example of that in exodus

and chapter

32.

here we read of a time when

moses had gone up to the mountain to

meet with the lord for 40 days

i mean he had already led the israelites

through the red sea they had seen

miracles manna coming from heaven

and this wonderful man of god moses

who would split the red sea by lifting

up his rod and

pray and manna would come from heaven he

would hit a rock and the water would

come out of the rock

a man who got endorsed in such a

wonderful way

and the people respected him he was a

man of god

now he didn’t die he just went up to the

mountain

for 40 days

they didn’t know it was going to be 40

days

they didn’t know he had gone and he

hasn’t come back they waited one month

one month is a long time to wait and

exodus 32 1 says moses delayed

in coming down and the people said to

aaron now there was another leader

downstairs

i mean below not downstairs but in the

foot of the mountain

aaron he was the second in command

and they came to aaron and said make us

a

god for this one moses they don’t know

what happened to him whether he’s dead

or not

and aaron he was such a seeker

after popularity like many preachers and

leaders

and he said okay if that’s what you want

we’ll do it give me all your gold rings

and from that it says he made a molten

calf in verse 4

and aaron this is the man who was with

moses and saw the miracles got it done

now says this is your god of israel

who brought you up from the land of

egypt

and when moses came down from the

mountain

and we read further down in that chapter

verse 19 as moses came

near the camp and he saw the cop and the

dancing and

the he got so angry he threw the tablets

which he had the

ten commandments he threw it down

shattered them

and he took that cough remember there

was 600 000 men

and moses defied all of them

moses was an old man

80 years old and he

said bring that calf here and he burnt

it and ground it to powder

verse 20 and threw it in the water

and said use 600 000 men go and drink

that water now

and aaron

he said why have you done this aaron

why have you brought such a great sin

verse 21

and aaron was caught and he tells a lie

this is a mark of weak

leadership when they are caught in a

difficult situation

they’ll tell some light to get out of

that

because he’s afraid of moses and he says

oh

don’t get angry with me moses these

people said make us a god

and so i asked them for that gold and

listen to this fantastic lie

in verse 24. i don’t know how aaron

thought anybody would believe that

i threw all this all their gold into the

fire and out of the fire came a golden

cough

wow even a child wouldn’t believe that

you know when a man of god because aaron

was a man of god at one time

he was anointed to be the high priest

but when he drifts away

and he doesn’t live before god’s face

he can tell lies without any conscience

so we see in the history of the old

testament that

as long as there was a man of god

leading them

they followed the lord it was one man

that preserved six hundred thousand

people

then when they went into canaan there

was one man joshua

and he died that was the end of it

you turn to the new testament you read

in acts of the apostles

in chapter

20 paul had been in

the city of ephesus for three years

he never stayed that long in any other

place

and at the end of this he’s going away

and he calls all the elders of ephesus

together i don’t know how many there

were maybe four or five to the pretty

big church

and it says in acts chapter 20 verse 17

he called all the elders of ephesus

and he gives a long message to them all

the way from verse 18

down to verse 35 and

he says now i’m going away

and i may not see you again

but remember this

you’ve seen me how i live acts 20 verse

31

be on the alert

remembering that night and day

for a period of three years

i did not stop preaching to you

with tears three years

night and day

paul preached 2000 sermons in ephesus

to these people can you imagine

listening to paul for 2000

sermons

i would have loved to hear even one

sermon by paul i’d been listening to

paul for 2000

sermons for a period of three years but

when he’s leaving them

in verse 18 earlier

he does not say remember my 2000

servants

because that’s his knowledge that’s only

information

it’s only doctrine

many preachers say remember that sermon

i preached to you on this subject or

remember this sermon i preached you on

that subject

they glory in their sermons

but not paul

he says you know verse 18 and 19 how i

lived all these three years in your

midst

with humility with tears

i proclaim to you the full counsel of

god

even though

i knew that once i go to jerusalem i’ll

be persecuted

and even in ephesus they persecuted him

but he says here did you see my humility

verse 19.

what does he draw attention to as a

leader

not his eloquent sermons i’m sure he

must have been very powerful

not even the people he raised from the

dead or healed

no mention of all that the things that

most preachers glory in today

he says do you see how i lived with you

for three years in humility

i considered all of you as more

important than myself

and you saw my attitude to money

verse 33 i never desired

anyone’s money i didn’t even decide that

you should buy me a set of clothes

i bought my own clothes verse 33

i worked with my hands and took care of

my needs verse 34.

because i have learned from jesus verse

35

and it is more blessed to give than to

receive

now when this man of god he spent three

years there and he was going away he

calls all these elders

and he said i want to tell you something

verse 29

after i leave you know this is remember

how what happened when moses left

you remember what happened when joshua

left we saw that now paul is saying

what’s going to happen when i leave

ephesus

after i leave savage wolves

will come in and destroy this church

and not only people from outside

compromisers and false teachers will

come in

and you guys who listen to me for three

years will forget everything i said

you’ll forget my life and you’ll be

impressed by these eloquent

people who have no life and not only

that

among you elders i don’t know whether

three of them are five of them

some of you will also

twist some things that you heard speak

perverse things and you’ll

draw away disciples after yourself

you split this church into many groups

different different followers even if

you sit in the same building you’ll have

your own following

and he wasn’t prophesying this will

happen

he was warning them be careful

and when you go to the second letter

to the ephesians you know where that is

that’s in revelation chapter two

paul’s letter what we know is ephesians

is the first letter

from the lord through paul the second

letter to the ephesians was written by

john

from the lord again in revelation

chapter 2

verse 1. to the elder

in the church in ephesus the word there

is actually messenger

and we translated messenger or angel

it’s messenger

i know all your good works first two

your hard work your perseverance

revelation two verse two

you don’t tolerate evil people you

expose false apostles

you have perseverance you have endured

for my name’s sake you’ve not grown

weary

but i’ve got something against you

you don’t love me the lord said as you

did

at the beginning

that’s a good question to all of us to

ask ourselves

do you remember when you first came to

the lord

look back to that time how you love the

lord and you’re willing to give up

everything

and you stopped watching the type of

movies you were watching then

but as time has gone on

you begin to bring back into your life

some of the things you give up

you have left your first love for the

lord you’re taken up with other things

now

and the end result is you don’t love one

another like you did before

and is this a big thing when you’re so

zealous

so many good things mentioned in verse

two and three one small thing you don’t

love the lord it’s not a small thing

verse five it’s a height from which you

have fallen

now usually we say that somebody’s

fallen when they fall into adultery or

stealing money from the church no no

here it is

you loved me fervently first maybe you

didn’t know so much of the bible but you

loved me with all your heart

now you’re falling from there now all

you know is the bible

you know the doctrines but you don’t

love me permanently like you did when

you first came to me

i want to ask those of you who have been

believers for some years

does the lord have to say that to you

if so

respond to him because the lord says to

repent

because if you don’t repent verse 5 i’ll

take away

the anointing of the spirit the spirit

will not be here anymore

the holy spirit will leave you the lamb

stand is a picture of

the oil there is a picture of the holy

spirit and that light

which he wants to manifest in our life

he says i’ll take it away

and you’ll be left with an empty shell a

lamp stand without the light

there are millions of christians and

churches like that today

they call themselves churches they’ve

got to write doctrine

but the fire of god is not there

that fervency of spirit to follow the

lord is not there

purity of heart is not there fervent

love for the lord is not there

little little grudges have erupted

towards each other

they’ve fallen but they don’t realize

they’ve fallen they think these are all

small things

we still have our meetings we still have

our conferences we still have our

weekly get-togethers where we eat food

together and

yeah yeah it’s like a club

i’ve discovered through the years one of

the easiest things to happen

for a cfc church is for you to become a

club

a nice club of people who love one

another

you know in the world there are clubs

they go there to play tennis because

everybody is interested in tennis so

they go there to play

cards and gamble because everybody’s

interested in cards

or it could be a church a club where

they go there to sing

and produce choirs that sing

music or it could be a club where they

come to study the bible

which we call a church

but people who belong to a club they are

drawn together by some particular thing

there which they are interested in

maybe tennis it may be cards it may be

gambling it may be music

it may be studying the bible it may not

be jesus

and you can come to a church and you’re

not really interested in meeting the

lord you’re not interested in increasing

your fervent love for the lord

it’s a nice club and if you’re in need

all the other members of the club rally

to come and help you

somebody’s sick and the other members of

the club will come bring food to your

house

some sister is just delivering a baby

and the members of the club rally

to bring food what a wonderful club when

you say huh

i like to be in this club and you may

not have

any relationship with jesus christ at

all

it’s happening i’m telling you the truth

you examine your own life

and see whether the lord is safe to say

to you you’ve left your first love

you’re occupied with all these

activities

and then maybe there is no man of god to

remind you

of what is most important in the

christian life remember the first

commandment jesus said

when when a

man who was well-versed in the law

that’s called a lawyer in those days not

what we understand by a lawyer today

came to jesus once and asked him a

question in matthew 22

verse 35 matthew 22 and verse 35. one of

these

bible scholars came to jesus and

tested him and the

question was teacher what is the

great commandment in the law and he was

thinking of the ten commandments

and the fourth commandment was keep the

sabbath

the seventh day of the week holy don’t

do any work therein

that was the biggest commandment for

these

jews

and he was wondering whether jesus would

say that or what’s he going to say

and jesus didn’t mention any of the ten

commandments

he mentioned the root

that supported these ten commandments

he said here is the great commandment of

the law verse 37

matthew 22 37 love the lord your god

not first no but with all

your heart it’s not that give him first

place in your heart and you give the

other 25 places to others no

there are no 25 places love the lord

with

all your heart and all your soul

and all your mind

and the lord said i can’t leave that one

commander because this coin has got two

sides

and if nothing is printed on the other

side it’s a fake coin

the other side of the coin it says love

your neighbor as yourself

on these two commandments verse 40 hangs

all the ten commandments

and every other commandment that god

gave

it’s summed up love the lord with all

your heart soul and mind

and that’s what the lord was asking the

elder in ephesus in the church and

ephesus

have you obeyed that commandment not

just come to meetings and come for

conferences and read the bible

et cetera et cetera many people read the

bible just to ease their conscience

oh i didn’t read the bible today i

better read it i might get an accident

otherwise

it’s all superstition you won’t get an

accident if you don’t read the bible you

know the number of people who don’t read

the bible

who don’t have any accidents if you read

the bible only to avoid an accident

forget it

don’t read it you read it read it

because you love jesus and you want to

hear what he has to say to you

i’ve been reading the bible for 62 years

and even today god spoke something to me

from the scriptures

something fresh according to my need

it happens all the time

i want to hear one word from the lord

the word

jesus said to the devil man does not

live by bread alone but by

every word that proceeds from the mouth

of god

that’s not just reading the bible but

hearing what god is saying to me

when you love the lord with all your

heart

he becomes more precious to you it’s not

what you give to him

let me use the example of a young man

and a young woman who are deeply in love

with each other

it’s a good picture of the christian

life because the bible says

that jesus is our bridegroom and we are

the bride

and there’s a picture of that in the

song of solomon so when i talk about a

young man and a young woman who are

deeply in love with each other

and there are many people like that in

the world as well

and you’ve seen them maybe some of you

got married like that as well

but when two young couple are deeply in

love with each other

and you see them sitting somewhere by

themselves in a park or somewhere

they don’t want anybody to see them

they just want to hear each other

they’re not talking to each other to

tell other people i spoke to her i spoke

to him

don’t read the bible in order to have a

testimony i read the bible today

you don’t love the lord imagine that

girl saying well i spoke to my bride

room today

she doesn’t even want people to know

that it’s private

it’s a mark of love and the other thing

about if you see two young lovers

sitting together somewhere talking

they’re not always looking at the watch

they

they never look at the words

if you see two young people sitting

young boy and girls in each other then

one is always looking otherwise you know

they don’t love one another at all

they’re just trying to fill up their 10

minutes

and go away how’s your relationship with

jesus i’m not saying how long you read

the bible no no no

your relationship with jesus

you love him with all your heart soul

strength and mind

was there a time earlier in your life

but you did love him like that

you know many people say how to get rid

of this bad habit

how to get rid of pornography

how to get rid of watching i have a

great desire to watch dirty movies

i’m not against watching movies if

they’re clean movies it’s okay

we need some type of relaxation it’s

like going for a picnic or different

people relax in different ways

but if there is any sex in it or nudity

or something like that

that’s evil it’s from the heck it’s from

hell

even if there are 10 seconds of it

and a lot of western movies are like

that these days

but there was a time when you avoided it

all

as they have does it come back

and you see oh brother zach how to get

rid of it

there’s an illustration that i use

which will illustrate the answer to this

question how can i get rid of this bad

habit which i know the lord does not

approve of in my life

well here’s the illustration

here’s a god-fearing man whose daughter

is a bit wayward a little worldly

she stays at home respects her father

but she’s

very much in love with a very worldly

boy

and the father says my girl

you should give up that friendship that

will harm you

don’t have anything to do with that boy

he’s not a good boy

you know just like the lord tells us to

stay away from worldly habits

that’s the illustration stay away from

that

and he’s he she says okay dad i’ll try

but secretly when the dad without the

dad knowing

she sends messages to him and talks to

him on the phone and

meets him slyly here and there and then

acts in front of her dad as if

he’s not meeting but a dad is shrewd and

knows that

she’s meeting him and she’s deeply in

love with him

and then she comes to the dad and says

dad

i love him so much i know there are

things bad in it it’s just like people

say i know pornography is bad

but i do go to it

i know that movie is dirty but i want to

see it

or i know that habit i have is bad but

somehow i want to do it so this

girl says i know he’s a bad boy but

i just love to be with him because he’s

so pleasant and so good

and the father wants her

and after years and years and years he’s

not able to give her

she’s not able to give up and one day

that girl comes to her dad and says dad

i’ve given him up

and the dad said really how did that

happen

and she says i found somebody else far

better

that’s the way an old affection

is driven out when you find

a new affection that expels and drives

out the old affection

how shall i drive out my love for the

world a love for pornography or love for

other things

when you find a love for jesus that is

supreme

that’s the only way to drive out this

it’s not by fighting this and fighting

this and fighting this you still

love it and even when people are not

watching you’ll go for it

but when you love jesus supremely

a girl who’s deeply in love with a boy

who

is an upright godly

young man who is devoted to her will

find it

very easy to give up all other

friendships

and when we are when we see how much

jesus loves us

and we love him in response

in reply we find it very easy

to give up these other things that

hinder our christian life

so what i wanted to say is that church

in ephesus

just like paul warned them

drifted away

paul warned them and that’s because they

did not preserve their love for christ

and so what happened the lord says that

to the ephesians

but there are a few overcomers

that’s what he told them there were five

churches in revelation that were

backslidden

and to all of them he says but there are

some overcomers there

and the lord threatened the church in

ephesus that if you guys don’t repent

i would leave this church

but there were a few overcomers they

were not the elders

but wholehearted brothers and

they were concerned of the way the

church was going

and one day the lord left that church in

ephesus

maybe 30 years after paul had died

the lord left that church just like paul

warned

okay the bridegroom has left

what does the bride do now

the bride does not sit in that building

anymore

when the bridegroom is left the bride

also leads

so these few overcomers maybe 10 of them

left the so-called big church in ephesus

backslidden church and started meeting

separately

and that big church in ephesus called

these fellows hypocrites and

humbugs and church splitters and all

types of bad names

but the lord was with those 10 people

and gradually over a period of time the

godly leadership there this new second

church in ephesus

much smaller than the first one the

first big church called them all

heretics and hypocrites and all that but

the lord was with them

another 30 40 years goes by and this

little group of 10 becomes

300 400

and the old leaders who started that the

old overcomers had died and gone

and the new generation just like in

joshua’s time

it’s like aaron they could not lead

and again the lord has to say to this

new church

you guys came out 40 years ago

but you have drifted and gone the same

way as the first church

now i’m going to take away the anointing

from you unless you repent they don’t

repent

again the lord leaves the second church

but again there are some overcomers

maybe 5-10 people come out and started

the third church now there are three

churches in ephesus but the lord is only

with one of them

i want to say to you this is what has

happened in 2000 years

of church history

not only for the church in ephesus but

with numerous churches when they stop

loving the lord fervently when they

stopped walking in humility and purity

the lord left them and the empty shell

was still there

they still had their meetings and their

singing and their music and their

musical instruments and everything else

but the lord was not there

and so through the years the next church

backslides after a few years and

so usually what happens after 40 to 70

years

like the length of a man’s life a new

generation comes up and they don’t know

the lord

like it says about joshua’s time after

he died the new generation arose

they did not know the lord same thing

happened after paul and the early

apostles died

and that’s why out of the seven churches

in revelation chapter two and three

all seven planted by the apostles

only two were upright

five of them were quran and then from

there the lord has to

take some people out so when you look at

church history

the lord has always got a group of

overcomers all the time there’s never

been a time in these 2 000 and more

years of church

of since jesus went up to heaven when

there were no strong witnesses for the

lord

there have always been strong witnesses

for the lord

the lord raises up somebody here

somebody there

and there will be a generation that

follows him but that the lord needs

godly men in every generation

and that’s what i want to say to you my

dear brothers and sisters you

i’m not talking about just being elders

elder is what i tell my fellow elders

you guys are

washers of the feet jesus is the main

washer of everybody’s feet

he’s a servant who washes people’s feet

i’m a servant who washes people’s feet

that’s what i’m trying to do now clean

the dirt away from your feet

i’ve never considered myself to be a

lord or a king or anything

i’ve never taken money from anybody for

serving the lord

not in all these 50 years i

and i don’t seek to lord it over

anybody’s life i don’t need to control a

single person in my life

i’m here to serve so i’m not talking

about just the elders

every one of you brothers and sisters if

you’ve given your life to christ you’re

a member of the body of christ

and i want even my little finger to be

healthy

not just my eyes and ears and tongue

that’s important but

if there’s a problem with my little

finger if there’s infection and pus in

this little finger

my whole body will suffer the pain so i

don’t want even one brother in our

church

to be spiritually sick

and to love the world and not love jesus

fervently to be healthy means to love

jesus perfectly

and so there are important members in

the body like in your churches like eyes

ears naruto and all but there are small

members

for example the nail i often think of

somebody who says you know what i say to

be like a little finger he says well

brother i’m not even like a little

finger

okay are you like a nail

very small member of the body finally

do you know that a nail is also

important

have you found use for the nails in your

body

i find when i itch or feel scratchy

somewhere my tongue and my eyes

all can’t help me not even my fingers

it’s my nails

imagine this wee tiny little thing

which comes in handy

to scratch so even if you’re a small

member of the body of christ i want to

say to you today in jesus name

if you keep healthy keep it in your love

for the lord you can be a very

useful member and what do i mean by

scratching

you know there’s one part of our body

it’s very difficult to scratch

you know what that is it’s our back

the lower part of our bag it’s very

difficult to scratch there

so you need somebody else to do it for

you so you can scratch my back

that’s what we can do for one another

spiritually

you know what scratching somebody’s back

means to

encourage them

you say i don’t have a gift of preaching

or teaching but brother sister

i’m sure you have the gift of

encouraging others scratching their back

spiritually

because that is so easy

can i give you an example

when i was a very young christian

struggling to find my way at 30 years

old

and you know when you’re 30 years old

you’re struggling and you’re defeated

and you’re discouraged and

you don’t know what your ministry is

i remember a much older brother he was

double my age

probably 60 or more

he came to me and he couldn’t even speak

english probably but he put his hands on

my shoulder and said brother

god’s got a great plan for your life

i heard that 50 years ago

i haven’t forgotten it he scratched my

back

when i needed it he didn’t preach a

great sermon to me no

in fact i don’t remember his other

preaching sermon he was not a great

preacher

but he did something for me at that time

you can do that when you’re speaking on

a phone to somebody

before you conclude the conversation

don’t you share a couple of sentences

encouraging that person

maybe with something which you got from

scripture that day i’m not talking about

a big sermon

i’m talking about less than one minute

less than one minute don’t preach a big

sermon on the on the phone

less than one minute just to say

something

you you never know it will make that

person’s day

what you said it may be the very thing

that lifts that person’s spirit oh you

write an email

and you add one little sentence at the

end that blesses that person

who’s probably going through a period of

discouragement

it doesn’t take much to build the body

of christ

if you have a heart say lord i want to

do something for you

you don’t have to be gifted like me god

has called me to be a teacher

and that’s why he’s given me that gift

if he did not give me the gift i

could not do it many people don’t

believe that but when i was a young man

i

never took part in public speaking i was

very shy i would never stand in front of

a congregation

and i i the first time i got up to share

even a small testimony for 23 minutes i

was shivering

i couldn’t do it but one day god filled

me with the holy spirit

and then everything changed but then he

gifted me but

you may not be gifted to be a teacher

but an encourager every one of you

can encourage somebody else and that’s

how we can build the body of christ

so even if you’re not like a moses or a

joshua or a paul

you can be an encourager and

20 people sitting in a church if they’re

all encouragers it’ll be a wonderful

church

even if you don’t have a great preacher

like paul in your midst you don’t have

to

you see in these days when there’s so

much of material

on the internet i mean good material

like you go to the cfc india website

or if you have the bible app on your

phone the cfc

bible app on your phone you have

resources there that can keep you going

for

three years every day listening to god’s

word

if you take it seriously i know people

outside of cfc churches are listening to

it more

than people are inside cfc churches we

take so much for granted in a cfc church

but we say oh yeah i know that no you

don’t

i would encourage you if you have a

phone install the cfc bible app go to

the csc website it’s all free

install it and listen to it spend as

much time as you can a day

if you can spend only five minutes or

ten minutes spend that every day

be a little disciplined

i remember when our children were small

my wife who always had the habit of

reading the bible in the morning

could not do it in the morning because

one child would be crying in order to

tell the food had to be made for the

older children to go to school and

get no time in the morning but then when

all the children were asleep at night

she would take the bottle and read it

every day

so where does a will there’s a way

but if you want to find excuses

so i have so many children i can’t take

care of everything yeah yeah if you want

to find excuses

you can keep finding excuses till you go

to hell

yeah there’s a

expression in english called

it’s a sort of a proverb the way to hell

is paved with good intentions

but you would never do anything good

intentions

the whole way to hell is paved with good

intentions but you never escape hell

finally

don’t just have a good intention or a

good desire

don’t plan something fantastic i’m going

to read the bible for one hour from

tomorrow

no start with a few minutes

and if you can’t do it in the morning do

it anytime during the day but say lord i

want to hear you

preserve that first love for the lord

many of you were in other churches i was

in other churches

i i started as a member of the syrian

orthodox church baptized as a baby

born again when i was 19 and a half and

i took baptism when i was 21 at the

plymouth brethren assembly

then i left that like that i’ve gone

from one church to another

whenever i found something more and

something missing here i’d

look for it somewhere else and that’s

how i finally ended up with cfc

it wasn’t a straight jump in the cfc the

day i was born again there was no cfc

then

and when i gave this testimony once

somebody said to me brother zach you’re

very unstable

you leave one church and go to another

and go to that church and leave that one

and go to the another

i said i’ve been unstable all my life i

left

first centered and went to second seven

and then i left second standard and went

to the third standard

and i left the third grade and went to

the fourth grade i was not those solid

people

who stayed in kindergarten all my life

you know

that type of stability i don’t want

i wanted to learn more why did you go

from kindergarten to the first standard

of first wave whatever you call it in

your country

in india we call it standard first to

second stand third stance and then to

college

why do you keep moving why not sit in

the same class

because you’ve got a passion to learn

more i know people

who studied up the fourth standard and

said that’s enough for me i can read and

write that’s enough

and there are christians like that my

sins are forgiven i’m on my way to

heaven i don’t want anything more

how many of you would be happy with

standing up to god standing

i’m sure most of you would never have

got to australia if you had stopped

there

the passion that you’ve had

to get an education because you want to

get a job

the passion that many of you had to

apply for a visa

and repeatedly apply till you get into

australia

many of you immigrants you have

50 percent of that passion to become

more spiritual

to be a wholehearted disciple of jesus

if you had

you would have grown by leaps and bounds

today

you would not be where you are today

spiritually you would have been way

ahead

in your knowledge of the lord

i have a passion in my life even today

at the age of 81

to grow into the likeness of christ more

than i’ve

ever come so far

i don’t think it’ll ever die i’m not i

don’t think i know it’ll never die in my

life

i’ve seen my savior’s face

and i know i know him

and nothing on the world nothing in this

world is going to attract me

you know when you’re deeply in love with

someone who loves you so much like jesus

you cannot be drawn to other things

it’s not a big struggle for me to stay

away from the world i tell you not at

all

do you think a young girl was

deeply in love with a wonderful man

who’s sacrificial and kind and good and

handsome and everything else

do you think she’ll ever be interested

in another another man

no it’s like that when we love jesus

it’s like that that’s why i desire my

brothers

and sisters that will be like that for

all of you

because you also like me

your history if you look back you came

out of one church

maybe you joined another one why did you

join that

some of you if you’re a roman catholic

why did you leave the roman catholic

church

and then you came to one church and then

you left that and came here finally you

landed up in this one where you are now

he was seeking for something more than

what you got in the other place good

i tell people you know what i’ve told

people believe it or not

my loyalty is not to cfc my loyalty is

to jesus christ

so i’ve told people in bangalore

when they leave bangalore and go to

another place

and there is a cfc church there i see

brother

there’s a cfc church there please go

there

but if you find that cfc church is

worldly

because the leader is not a really godly

passionate man

and you find another baptist church

there

with a godly humble pastor and

leading people to godliness i say leave

the cfc church and go to the baptist

church

you say brother zach are you disloyal to

cfc

i see i have no loyalty to cfc

my loyalty is to jesus christ and to

those who passionately love him

wherever they are found

as of now the best church i found where

i live is cfc so i’ll be there

because i want to go to always be in a

place where jesus christ is honored the

most

where they’re a humble godly people i

don’t look for big crowds

no jesus said only 12.

if you had gone to the israel 2000 years

ago

you have seen there were many rabbis you

know with big followings they were

having their

synagogues or in their homes got a lot

of disciples 100 people coming

to listen to this rabbi and then you’d

see this poor carpenter

who called himself a rabbi called jesus

and gathering around with 12 people

sitting on the mountainside didn’t have

big homes or halls or any such thing

but you know god was there god was that

little group

and not with these big big groups with

rabbi sitting it’s the same today

i want to be where jesus is

supposing you heard

that jesus physically was in your

hometown

but he was gathering with five people in

a heart

would you go to some of these grand

churches

i know where i go i want to be where

jesus

is and i tell you this

don’t blame your elders that’s like

blaming your father

your failure is not because of your

father your failure is because of

yourself

you can bring the presence of christ

into a meaning

even if you’re not a preacher i’ll tell

you what i have faith for

if i walk with the lord every day

with an absolutely clear conscience

that means not that i never slip up but

if i slip up i immediately confess it to

the lord

and if i’ve hurt somebody i ask

forgiveness from that person

immediately not tomorrow and not even

five minutes later immediately

i’m sorry i was a bit rude in what i

said please forgive me or take back that

or to tell your wife or husband i’m

sorry darling i got a bit

upset there i’m sorry please forgive me

immediately you live like that with a

clear conscience

the lord will be with you and the lord

will make you a blessing

and i believe this such a person i

believe that about myself supposing i go

to a church when nobody knows me

i’m going to a new place nobody’s heard

of me nobody knows me

and i’m walking with the lord and i go

and sit in that church

for the church service in the days when

we’re meeting together

and i’m sitting at the back of the

church nobody knows me

i believe this is my faith that my

presence there will make a difference to

that day of service

in that church

i believe that with all my heart because

i’m bringing the presence of christ

into that place because i’m walking with

the lord and i want to say and i’m not

opening my mouth the whole service i

don’t open my mouth

but i believe people will go away and

say hey we somehow felt the presence of

the lord in our midst today

and nobody knows me i walk away after

the service is over and only talk to me

i’m walking away

but i bless that church just by sitting

there for one hour

you don’t have to speak

walk with the lord and you can be a

blessing in your local church

and you can build your church you don’t

have to be a great preacher

don’t seek for honor so much of

preaching is for honor

i want to be known as a preacher or an

elder or

i tell people don’t try to preach like

brother zach god needs only one brother

zack in the church he doesn’t need to

he needs one of you

not one more of me i tell that to my own

sons

i said you don’t have to imitate me you

don’t have to have my ministry you be

yourself

i tell that to my fellow elders in india

don’t be like me

that may not be your calling it is not

your calling

you fulfill your calling be yourself

don’t compete with anybody

don’t try to be like somebody else

follow jesus and walk in humility in

your life be a washer

of people’s feet be one who scratches

people’s back encourage them

and you can build the body of christ

wherever you are

so dear brothers and sisters

i hope you’re all wonderful people

you’ve gathered together just for a few

years

the church is there in melbourne and

brisbane and perth

and sydney and

thank god for these little groups that

god has raised up

and i pray that the presence of the lord

will be in your churches

and i pray that each of you will

contribute even if you never

uh preach a word by the presence of

christ with you

i’ll give you another example sometimes

you know i uh

sitting in an airport in a seat

i smell a perfume there and i say hey

must have been some perfume lady who sat

here

before i came here she’s left a little

bit of that perfume in the chair

i don’t even know who it is but i get

that scent of a perfume it’s a very

pleasant

scent something like that you can bring

that spiritually the aroma of christ

in the last verses of second corinthians

2 verse 13 14 15 it says about the aroma

of christ the fragrance of christ

beautiful expression you can bring that

into your church and the lord will never

leave your church then like you told the

church in ephesus i’ll leave you

each one of you has a responsibility

that it’ll never happen in your church

like it happened in the days of joshua

after he died that was the end or like

it happened in the days of paul

after he died that was the end may never

be

in church that no matter who’s there

who’s not there

you however weak you are will bring the

presence of the lord into your meaning

god bless you let’s bow our heads in

prayer

please bow your heads dear brothers and

sisters and

think about what you have heard

and ask the lord to remind you

later on during the day and perhaps when

you go to bed at night

if you’re lying awake in your bed at

night before going to sleep

think of what the lord spoke to you

today

and say lord i want to follow it

i want to remember it not just in my

mind i want you to change my life

and my attitude to different things

thank you lord heavenly father i thank

you for these dear brothers and sisters

in all these churches

and i pray that your presence will be

with them the fragrance of christ the

aroma of christ

will be in their churches

and you’ll be glorified in every one of

those churches

and commit them all to you lord may

bless every brother and sister every

family

especially the little ones that even

there will be a blessing

we pray in jesus name amen