This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering all aspects of our lives to God, focusing on the need to shift our priorities from earthly possessions and recognition to serving God wholeheartedly. It highlights the significance of fighting spiritual battles against the devil and establishing the victory of Christ in every area of our lives. The speaker encourages humility, faithfulness, and a deep trust in God's perfect ways, even when faced with challenges, misunderstandings, or suffering.

The difference between a spirit-filled Christian and every other person, including those who say they are born again but not spirit-filled and unbelievers, is the difference between a human being and a pile of dust. Just look at your own children. Supposing your wife gave birth to a bag full of dust and a baby, you see the difference? That's the difference between a spirit-filled Christian and every other person on earth. The reason why many Christians never, never, never come into the fullness of God's purpose for their life is, they are satisfied with the things of dust. Gold is dust. Silver is dust. That pretty face that you see in a girl, it's dust. Just let God take away that breath from that pretty girl, give her a few years and you'll see it's dust. There's nothing left there. That's what the people of the world can't see. We long for the things of dust, gold and silver and houses and pretty faces and all that, and we wonder, why is my spiritual life like this? It'll always be like this, brother, sister. It'll be like this till you die, till you value the breath of God more than dust. When you say, breathe on me breath of God, fill me with life in you, everything in me is worthless apart from your breath and what you accomplish through your breath. Let me recognize that without you, I can do nothing. Let me recognize that I'm a nobody until you breathe and fill me with the Holy Spirit and then I become a son of God, a daughter of God, a very important person in God's eyes. Even though I may still be a nobody in the world, maybe a nobody in the church, so what does it matter? Do you think it's only elder brothers who can accomplish something in a church? Let me give you an example. Supposing you have one of those good elder brothers who allow other people to share for a few minutes in the meeting and not one of these proud, selfish elder brothers who occupy the whole meeting with their own long preaching. But supposing you have a humble elder brother who feels that there are other brothers and sisters also here who can share something that will bless the church. There are few elders like that, not many, but there are a few, thank God. So if you have one of those elder brothers, and of course he may take a long time in the beginning, maybe even takes 20 minutes, half an hour, and everybody's bored listening to him, but he doesn't realize that himself. Then somebody else shares and somebody else shares, then you are the young brother who gets up maybe towards the end, but you're anointed, you're filled with the Holy Spirit, and you speak only for 2-3 minutes because you're not given a chance for more than that. But what you have to say in 2-3 minutes is so powerful and anointed, it reaches people's hearts. The next Sunday, again your elder brother gets up and bores everybody for half an hour and down the list, and finally you get up at the end, speak for 2-3 minutes. Let that happen for 4 or 5 Sundays. Every Sunday, people will be waiting for you to get up. They say, we're waiting for the end of the meeting. Some people will even come late so that they can listen to you at the end of the meeting. That is the result of the anointing. Why do you have to be an elder brother? Okay, let's say you're in a church where the elder brother takes the whole time and doesn't give any time to anybody else because he's so self-important. Maybe you're one of those brothers who meets with others once in a while, with other young brothers or visits a home once in a while and shares 2-3 minutes. They will long for your next visit. They will long for the next time when you can meet with them and share something 2-3 minutes which God spoke to you. That is the result of the anointing. Nobody can suppress an anointed man. It's like trying to push wood under the water. The moment you release your hand, it will come up. Don't ever think that any man can suppress you. It is impossible. It is impossible. I was in 2 churches in my younger days, believers churches, where those who were much older than me were jealous of my gift and ministry. They would suppress me. They would never let me speak. Well, I don't blame them. I was only 23, 24. So what did I do? I couldn't speak in the church because older people spoke there. I went to the streets. Nobody can stop you from preaching on the streets. I mean now it's a little difficult. Those days it was a little easier. I would take a brother to translate for me and I would stand there and preach in the streets. Just 3-4 minutes, sing a chorus and everybody hangs around wondering what this madman is standing on the street corner and singing and I would tell them about Jesus, how he saved my life. I would give out a few tracts, get on my scooter with this other brother behind me, go to the next street corner and wait for all the people to gather around the madman who was singing and give the gospel again. And in two years, I covered that whole city. I learned to preach on the streets. Then sometimes I would visit a home far away. Some family would come to the church, they were living so far away, nobody wanted to visit that home. So I'd go there and I would sit with just 2-3 people, share the word. I didn't know much. I knew that 2 plus 2 was 4. They didn't even know that so I taught them 2 plus 2 is 4. You know, when we know little, we can at least teach that little. If you go to slums, you can even teach them ABC. So some believers are like that, they know hardly anything. Some of you are longing for big ministries, that's your problem. Be faithful in what is little and one day God will give you much. Be faithful in what is little. So God has a plan for every one of us, my brothers and sisters. But you've got to recognize that you're nothing. I told you earlier that God allows us to fail and fail and fail and fail and fail and come to rock bottom. And when you come there, you learn two lessons. One of those I already mentioned, that I can never get victory. No matter how hard I try. It's like those disciples who went fishing. I can fish left side, right side, front side, back side, I won't get fish. I try, try, try, try for six hours and I say, okay, enough, I can't get any fish. I'm going home. Then the Lord comes. Cast your net on the right side and suddenly the whole boat is full of fish. That's how we get victory. When you come to rock bottom and you say it's hopeless, there's no hope for me, I'm the worst case of all. The Lord says, now you're ready for victory because when you get the victory, you won't come to the shore with this bag full of fish and saying, see what I caught. You'll come with your head bowed and said, I could catch nothing, but the Lord gave me victory. You will say that till the end of your life. I've seen people who get victory and they get proud of it and they fall again. Why do they fall again? Have you had that experience? Where you get victory for a little while and then you fall again? I'll tell you why. There's only one reason to fall. When you got victory, you became proud of it. God has to save us from pride. It's no use God saving us from a ten foot pit called anger or lust and you fall into a thousand foot pit called pride. That's not victory. That's defeat. That's what's happened to so many people. You can get up and preach a good sermon one day and so many people are blessed and you get so puffed up that for the next one year, your sermons are all boring because God took away the anointing. It's very easy for God to bless a man. It's very difficult for God to keep him humble after he has blessed him. It happened to me. I remember in the early days, sometimes I'd experienced an anointing and then I'd get puffed up and the next time I thought of it, it was dry as a bone. And I knew why. I didn't even have to ask God. God does not give his grace to the proud. The greatest work God can accomplish in you is he can keep you humble after he has blessed you and anointed you immensely, given you victory, given you a ministry, keeps you down in the dust before his face. God's done a work. But he cannot do that until you have failed and failed and failed and failed and failed and failed and you say, Lord, it's impossible. I cannot catch fish. Then he'll fill your boat. The second lesson that we learn when we have failed so much is this, that we never despise another human being after that. I can honestly say that today before God. I do not feel that I am better than any other human being because I know how much I fell. I know God's done a tremendous work in my life. Imagine a man like me who was discouraged most of the time and now rejoicing every day of the year. What a work God itself is. Man who has defeated my thoughts, God's given me purity. God's able to control my tongue, a man who used to get angry and upset and all that. It's God. It's 100% God. I can't take any credit for it. But when I look at another person who falls into sin, I can say before God I don't despise him. Do you husbands despise your wives? I'll tell you why. You have not hit rock bottom yet. Do you wives despise your husband for something? I'll tell you why. You have not hit rock bottom yet. You have got miles to go before you come to a genuine life of victory. You know that you have come to victory when you despise nobody. You know that you are victorious when you don't despise your wife, when you don't despise your husband, when you don't despise that other brother who has fallen so much. You don't agree with them but you don't despise them. You can look at everybody and say, I was worse than that, and God did a work in me, so I have faith that God can do a work in that person too. That's the mark of a man who has hit rock bottom. I really believe, my brothers and sisters, until you hit rock bottom, whatever victory you have will only be temporary, shallow, superficial, only to impress others. It will not be genuine. Don't be satisfied that other people in your church think you are victorious. That is worthless. It's like painted gold, wood painted to look like gold, what's the use of that? It says in the days of Rehoboam, you read that in the Old Testament, when the enemy came and took away the gold shields, he put some bronze shields that look like gold to fool the people that it's still here. It wasn't there, the enemy had taken it away. Very often we do that. When the enemy has taken away our joy and our victory, we still try to pretend that it's there. It's not there. You know, a lot of people who are song leaders in a lot of charismatic churches, they are great people at smiling and laughing and cracking jokes and all, it's only for those few hours in the pulpit. Go and see how they live on Monday and Tuesday in their home. There's no joy. It's froth. A lot of these meetings where they whip people up to be emotionally excited, it's like putting soap into water and stirring it up, there's a lot of bubbles. Go back a half an hour later, there's nothing there. I don't want a joy like that, that comes like soap bubbles and disappears after a while. That's not godliness. There's a lot of this superficiality among Christians. Don't be satisfied with it. God has to allow you to become weak, weak till you come to zero and the proof of it will be you'll never be proud after preaching an anointed sermon, you will never be proud if somebody got healed when you laid hands on that person. You will not be proud when you got victory and you will not despise any other human being. You won't look down on the Roman Catholics, you will not look down on the CSI or people in other denominations. You'll disagree with them. You may not work with them, but you will not look down on anyone. You won't even look down on that Hindu idolater or Muslim or anyone. You will not look down on any other human being because you will say, I'm the chiefest of sinners and God did a work in me, why can't he do it in other people? That's the mark of a man who's got genuine victory and God wants to bring every one of us there. That's why he allows failure. That's why he makes us weak. That's why he allows so many circumstances in your life that appear to be frustrating you. You blame people. Don't blame people. It was God trying to break you and humble you and then he'll give you wisdom. He'll give you words of wisdom. He'll give you a solution to the problems that you find in your life, but it's in that low place. You've got to lie there with your dust mouth in the dust. John the apostle, when he was 95 years old and he saw Jesus, he immediately put his face in the dust. Imagine having walked with God for 65 years of spiritual life and his face in the dust. And I see brothers who haven't even walked with God for two, three years, their faces all lifted up. They haven't learned what John learned. It's in the dust, when your face is in the dust, that the Lord says, John, I'm going to give you a message to these seven churches. And he gave him. When your face is in the dust, he'll give you a message to many churches, but you lift up your head and you won't hear him. But if your face is in the dust, you'll hear his voice like a trumpet. God makes us weak with a purpose. This is the new covenant. In the old covenant, it was the mighty muscular Samson who could chase Philistines and lions and all that. In the new covenant, it is Jesus, who with one word could call 72,000 angels from heaven, but would not use that word, but would allow other people to kill him. Okay. And I love that word where it says Judas Iscariot. I mean, Jesus knew Judas Iscariot was a devil long before that. But one of the wonderful things about Jesus was he never sneaked on him. He never told everybody else in the disciple, I'll tell you who it is, it's Judas Iscariot. He kept quiet. He knew this guy's a crook, but he waited till God exposed him. Because there is a time for everything. I've seen through the years some elders in our churches whom God finally exposed and removed them. But I knew long before God removed them that there was something wrong with them. I tried to tell them, but they were too proud to listen to me. I've sometimes told brothers, I cannot stop you from backsliding, but I think I'll be able to sense at least two, three months before you fall away that you're slipping out. And I'll tell you, most likely you won't listen to me. But if you do, it may save your life. Jesus never exposed. We're not called to expose, let God expose them. If you have a problem with a brother, go and tell an elder brother, don't gossip about him to others. That elder brother may be able to help him. But Christians very often gossip. Those are people who haven't hit rock bottom themselves, they despise somebody. Whenever I see a believer despising another believer, I say to myself, brother, sister, you have not sinned enough in your life, that's your problem. You think you're a victorious Christian, you have not hit rock bottom, that's why you despise that person. That's why you despise a brother or sister. That's why you can't sit in a church and listen to a young brother speak. You feel you're the only one who can teach the church. Here in Bangalore, I have sat for many, many hours listening to young brothers, and I've been blessed. Not only here, even in other places. They are members of the body, and God blesses me through them. I don't believe that I'm the only person who can bless the body of Christ. I don't have any such conceited opinion about myself. Many years ago, we published a poem in our monthly paper, which said, if ever you think you're an indispensable, very important person in your church, and it's possible that some of you think you're a very indispensable and important person, this is what you should do. And any of you who think you're important, you can do this. It's a very simple procedure. Get a bucket of water, put your hand right inside it, and take it out, and the hole that is left there is how much you'll be missed when you're gone. Is it difficult to meditate on that? Do it sometime. Put your hand into a bucket of water, pull out your hand, and you'll see a little hole there, right? That's how much you'll be missed. God's work went on wonderfully before you were born, before I was born, and God's work will go on wonderfully long after you and I have left the earth. It's not dependent on you or me. Don't ever have such a conceited idea that you are so important for God's work. Only Jesus is important. And when you recognize that you're a nobody, then you will become very important in God's work. That's the person. God takes nobodies and makes them somebodies. But even when they have been made somebodies, they still think they are nobodies. That's how John was. That's why at 95 he was on his face in the dust. This is God's way. They couldn't understand that in the Old Testament. Elijah said, Lord, I'm the only one. There's nobody left in Israel but me. That same man says, take away my life. And the Lord says there are 7,000 people, you don't know about them, who haven't bowed their knee to Baal. He thought he was the only one who was not bowing down to Baal. He didn't know. But in the New Testament, it wasn't like that. Jesus looked at his disciples at the Last Supper, and he said, who is greater, the one who is sitting at the table or the one who serves the food? You know, the one sitting at the table is greater. He says, you are the great people. I'm serving. You read that in Luke 22. Oh, Lord, give us elder brothers like that, who will look at the people and say, you are the great ones. I'm here, your servant, to serve you. You know, in many of our Indian homes, we have servants, maidservants, who work, who scrub the floor, maybe wash the dishes, wash the clothes. And I have meditated on the attitude of these servants in a home. I've learned more by watching them than by watching great preachers and elder brothers. Because I know that my Savior was a servant. Now, we don't see many servants among today's preachers or elders. I hardly find preachers and elders who have the spirit of a servant. So what to do when I don't find examples among elders and preachers? I look at real servants who are unconverted, how they work in the home. You never see them. When the visitors and guests come around, the food is on the table, but nobody knows who cooked it. The floor is clean, but nobody knows who cleaned it. And the clothes are all washed and ironed, but nobody knows who did it. That's a servant. Sometimes it's a wife who does that with the spirit of a servant. But that I have learned from. The greatest servant is the one who does something and disappears. And you don't know who did it. And if God wants to really bless you, make you great, He will make you do something and let somebody else get the credit for it. You did that difficult job, and everybody thought it was Brother X or Sister Y did that. And they say, they even announce it, Brother X and Sister Y did a great job. They didn't do it. You did it. And you sit there and say, Hallelujah. They didn't even know that I did that. Can you say that? Or will you get up and say, Hang on, it wasn't Brother X, it was me. You may not say that, but you got that feeling. Why in the world don't they appreciate me? You know, we haven't understood God's ways. I've meditated on God and atheists. Have you ever meditated on God and atheists? Very good subject to meditate on. There is a God who has created this universe. How is it there are so many thousands of atheists, real atheists, who say there is no God? Because God has hidden Himself so wonderfully that the atheists think there is no God. There's a verse in Isaiah 45, it says, Oh God, truly you are a God who hides yourself. I think it's verse 15 or something. You're a God who hides yourself. And I said, Lord, that's your way, the ways of God, to hide yourself. He creates a universe, such a beautiful universe. Look at the sunset, for example. Look at these beautiful flowers. God made it. But you don't find Him every morning shouting at sunrise, Hey fellas, it's me. You atheists, it's me. I mean, if God had done that every morning, there'd be no atheists anywhere in the world. So when I meditate on God and atheists, I learn something, that God is not interested in the opinion of atheists, whether He exists or not. Supposing somebody says, Brother Zakunin does not exist, will that make me stop existing? And so some stupid atheist says, God doesn't exist. That doesn't make a difference. God is still there. But what I learned from it is, God's nature is to do something and not blow a trumpet and say, Hey, I did this. Have you learned God's ways? Have you learned from the servant to do a work and hide yourself and let other people get the credit for it? That's a man of God who doesn't question God about anything. Lord, that's fine. Let other people have it better and let me not have it like that. That's fine. You know, once the Lord told Peter in John chapter 21, that when you're old, John 21 verse 18, 19, you'll be led away. He was talking about the way he was going to be crucified. You're going to suffer. And it's not, suffering is not pleasant for anyone. And when Peter heard it and he looked at John and said, what about him? Is he going to suffer? And Jesus said, let me paraphrase his words, Peter, mind your own business. Supposing I want them to live for 2000 years till I come back again. What's that to you? You follow me. Don't worry about whether he's following me or not, or how long he's going to live or whether he has a cushy time and you have a difficult time. Do you find that problem with yourself? Lord, why is it I as a believer suffer so much, but that fellow is also a wholehearted believer, but he seems to have a cushy life. That was Peter's problem. What about this man? Do you ever ask that question? What about this brother? Do you find yourself comparing yourself with other people and saying, why is he having an easy time and me having a rough time? You have not been broken yet. And that's why your life is up and down and it'll keep on being up and down until you stop comparing yourself with other people and say, Lord, you have given me the privilege of suffering, but maybe you give him an easy life. That's fine. It's quite okay with me. The tables were reversed in Acts chapter 12. In Acts chapter 12, it was Peter who had the cushy time and somebody else who had the rough time. In John 21, it was the other way around where Peter was told he was going to suffer and die and John, the Lord said, well, that's up to me whether I give him a cushy, easy life. But in Acts chapter 12, you find a different, the opposite. It says here that James, the brother of John, wished to, Herod caught him and put him to death with a sword. That means chopped off his head. And all the Jews were delighted that Herod killed one of the apostles of Jesus. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, Acts 12, 3, he said, okay, let me arrest Peter also. But now it's the days of unleavened bread, this is not the time to kill him. I'll keep him for one or two days and then I'll kill him after that, as soon as the Passover is over. And he delivered him to four squads of soldiers. That means quite a number of soldiers, 16 soldiers, 16 Roman soldiers to guard one man. And Peter was kept in prison, locked up. But on the same night, before Herod was going to kill him the next morning, when Peter was sleeping, chained to the guards with all these 16 soldiers and doors and gates and all in front, an angel of the Lord woke him up and said, get up. And the chains fell off. Put on your shoes. He did so, verse 8. And he went out and he didn't know whether this is a vision or real. And he passed through the first guard and the second guard and came to the iron gate. And the iron gate opened by itself and he went out and went into the street and the angel departed. And Peter said, hey, now I know the Lord has rescued me. And then he walked towards the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many people were gathered and praying for him, verse 12. And now he began to think, hey, why did he kill James? Why didn't the angel come five days earlier or one week earlier and get James out of prison? Why me? Do you ever ask that question? When we suffer and other people are not suffering, somebody else's child is healed, my child is sick, you say, Lord, why me? We always tend to ask the Lord the question, why me, when we are suffering, but we never ask the question when the Lord blesses us in a way other people are not blessed, Lord, why me? Why have you blessed me? These other people are not blessed. See, that is part of our selfishness. Like someone said, don't ever ask the question, why me, when you suffer, if you don't ask the question, why me, when you are blessed. Have you ever asked yourself the question, when you've been blessed abundantly beyond other people, when you got a job and you didn't expect it, when you get a salary that you don't expect, do you ever say, Lord, why me? If you don't ask that question, don't ask it when you suffer. And Peter goes to the house of Mary and they have a prayer meeting and he goes into that prayer meeting and it says, verse 17, he told them all to be silent and he gave his testimony. This miraculous way. And sitting there in that prayer meeting is Salome, the mother of James. And she's listening, her son died just one week earlier, beheaded by Herod. And she's sitting listening to how the angel came and delivered Peter. What do you think going through her mind? What would go through your mind if you were the mother of James and your son was equally wholehearted apostle, his head was chopped off and this apostle comes out of the prison, delivered supernaturally. What will go through your mind? I know what will go through your mind. Why me, Lord? Why my son? Peter is so happy, his wife is so happy. But me, last week you could have sent an angel, Lord, and delivered James, my son. Is it because you've got thousands of apostles in the world that you did not need this one? This is one of the twelve. Dear brothers and sisters, God's ways are not our ways. You ask me, why did the angel who delivered Peter, why didn't God send that same angel one week earlier to deliver James? I can answer that very easily in three words. I don't know. There are many questions I can answer in three words. Many questions in life I can answer in three words. I don't know. But I know one thing. God is a good God. And He's all wise. He never makes a mistake. And one day when I see Him face to face, and He explains to me why James was killed and why Peter was released, I will bow before Him and say, Father, my stupid mind could not understand because I was limited. Now I see your wisdom and I agree with you a hundred percent. I could not understand why on earth that person's child got healing in answer to prayer and my child not only didn't get healing but died. I couldn't understand it on earth, Lord, and like a fool I complained. But today you explain to me why you did it. Oh, Father, forgive me for all that complaining. Now I see that your way was perfect. The man of faith will say it now. The man who lives by sight will say it when he gets to heaven. Your way is perfect. You live by sight or by faith? The man of faith will say right now, I don't know why God doesn't heal some people, some children, they die. My limited human wisdom says perhaps that child may have grown up and lived for the devil and gone to hell. Out of love for me He took away that child so that it would be in heaven, so that I could spend eternity with that child in heaven. That could be a reason, and when I get to heaven I say, thank you, Lord, for that child. Thank you for that child. I don't know why you took it away when it was so small, but now I see. I'll tell you one thing, when we get to heaven, those of us who do get there, if you are faithful to Jesus you will get there, if you play the fool you won't, but if you get there you will see one thing, that every single little, little, little thing down to the hair on your head was perfectly God's way. You know, that verse where Jesus said the hairs on your head are numbered, as you can realize has got a great value for somebody like me. I believe that every hair on my head is numbered. I started losing my hair when I was about 20 years old. And I didn't start worrying, oh, who will marry me now, my hair is all gone, what will people think of me? I said, Lord, I don't understand, but I'm not going to worry about it, I can't do anything about it. And I used to wear this naval cap all the time we had to wear, and that made me perspire on my head so much that I even lose more hair after that. And then, but I saw one advantage, even in those days when I was 23 years old, see when a young 23 year old, I mean if a young 23 year old got up here and started speaking, how much would you listen to him, ah, this 23 year old, I'm waiting for a 71 year old brother Zack to speak, this 23 year old guy, what's he got to say, isn't that your attitude when some young person gets up, be honest, what has he got to say? I'm double his age, what can he teach me? That shows your spiritual poverty. That shows how blind you are to the ways of God, that you think a 23 year old can teach you nothing. May God have mercy on you, and bring you to the place where you realize you're not a great somebody, you're a nobody. I'm happy to listen to young people, I learn a lot from them. I remember when I was 23 years old and I would get up in these big conventions and I thought Lord, who is going to listen to me, they see that I'm 23 years old, but they thought I was 38 because I was bald, I said great, this is wonderful, now they'll listen to me. I could see one reason. And then, later on when it came to my time of my marriage, it was even more exciting. I said this is wonderful Lord, now no girl will want to marry me, first of all I don't have much hair, and second I don't have any salary, I don't have any money. I don't have any income, I'm serving the Lord, trusting God for my needs. It's got to be a really, some girl who's only interested in spiritual things would marry somebody like me. It's good to be in that place, so that I didn't have to worry about, I didn't have people running after me wanting to marry me, like some of you have. I was very thankful, and God gave me the best. What I want to say is this, God never makes a mistake. Even the hair on your head is numbered with a purpose. Every little thing that happens along the way, I had a court case against me for 10 years, it was one of the greatest blessings that came into my life. I learned how to be free from fear, I learned how to trust God. There's absolutely nothing that anybody has ever done against me, or that's happened to me, accidents or anything, which didn't have a purpose. Everything. I remember once when I was hospitalized for a few days, with something that God could have healed in a moment, and I prayed and prayed and prayed and God didn't heal me, so I had to go to the hospital and get it treated. I was there for 10 days and I said, Lord why didn't you heal me without coming here, you're almighty. And the Lord said to me very clearly, I could have healed you, very easily, but it's not for healing that I brought you here, I want you to lie down in this bed. You've been running around so much that I hardly get any time to talk to you, now you have to lie down here and listen. So I lay down there. One advantage of lying in a hospital bed is you can only look up into heaven. That's great. I kept looking up and said, Lord, okay, tell me, if that's the case, it's fine, I'm happy to stay here 100 days. And he spoke to me and he spoke to me and spoke to me. There are only twice in my life, only twice in my life where I've heard God speaking so clearly, it was almost like dictation. Word for word, only twice. One was way back in 1975 and the other was that time in 1984. And so I decided to write down everything God was saying. I've written many books, but the closest to dictation that I ever came was when I wrote that article lying in that hospital bed, little by little every day called God Needs Men. About 50 things that God spoke to me and I wrote it down. That's a little tract and it's, it's in that book called New Wine and New Wineskins. One of the chapters and also a new covenant servant. But I saw then God's ways are not our ways. I feel it was like that with the apostle Peter, apostle Paul, he had so much God had done in him, but he wouldn't, he wouldn't have time to write anything. He was always on the go, always running or going here, there, going all the time preaching and there's some other place to go and some other church to be established, some other here, there that we would never had a single epistle from Paul. God said, this man has got so much content that I want Christians to learn from him for 2000 years. So what to do? Let the devil lock him up in prison. He won't be able to run around anywhere. So he's locked up in prison. What to do? I better write something. And that's how we got Philippians. And that's how we got some of the epistles. Think what you would have missed if Paul was not in prison. And that was another reason. You know, Paul would be tied to these Roman guards for eight hour shifts and the guard would ask you, ask Paul, hey, why are you in prison? Did you murder somebody? So you asked me the question, right? Now I'm going to tell you. And the whole gospel. And the staff can't escape. You know, in our meeting, somebody can get up and go. This fellow is chained for eight hours. He has to listen. And he goes on and he asks questions at the end of eight hours, he's accepted the Lord. He says, wonderful. He's saved. Now next fellow comes. He's chained for eight hours. And he says, shall I tell you why I'm in prison? And that God doesn't know what he's in for. Eight hours sermon. And he gets it. This is how so many people were saved. It says there in Philippians, people were saved. God doesn't make a mistake, even when he puts his children in prison. God doesn't make a mistake in anything that he does. His ways are perfect. When people misunderstand you, it is in order to help you to be free from their opinions. He sees that you're such a slave to people's opinions, that he allows people to have a wrong understanding about you, to misunderstand you, to tell lies about you, to accuse you of things which you never did. What shall you do? Defend yourself like the Pharisees and justify yourself before men? No. Be a man of God, a woman of God and say, Lord, I live before you. I bow before you and say, you're going to make me more like Jesus at the end of this. Do you know what they said about Jesus? I'll just show you one example. I don't have too much time. John chapter 8. You'll be encouraged. Read the Bible slowly and you'll discover this yourself. But anyway, let me show it to you. John chapter 8. You know, when the Pharisees wanted to insult the Jews, the Jews, when they wanted to insult him, the Pharisees and the Jews who were upset with him, they said to him, John 8 verse 41, the middle. They said to Jesus, we were not born of fornication. Fornication is different from adultery. Fornication is when a young unmarried girl has sex with a man. And if a child is born, that's not adultery. Adultery is when you have sex with a married person who's not your wife or husband. Fornication is before marriage. So what they're saying is, let me complete the full sentence. They didn't say the full sentence. We were not born of fornication like you. Everybody knows about your mother. Nobody knows who your father is. That's the point. It was a dig. We were not born of fornication. Then they go on to say, verse 48. You're a Samaritan. That's like a high caste person in religion telling, you're a schedule caste. You're a low caste person. You're not upper caste like us. Look at the color of your skin. You're a low caste person. That's what they called him. That's the meaning of Samaritan. You have a demon. Not only Samaritan. We are sure you got a demon. You got a demon. He said, I don't have a demon. Verse 52, we know for certain now that you have a demon. Has anybody spoken to you like that? Do you know, I'll tell you something. You have never faced an insult in your life that Jesus never faced. You've never faced a temptation in your life that Jesus never faced. That's what encourages me. My savior will never ask me to take a footstep that he did not take himself. I remember the first day I had to go to court and I was all scared. I'll tell you honestly. I was scared just like you throw a man who doesn't know swimming into a river. He'll be scared. He doesn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. 59 years, I've never been to court. So when I went in there, I said, I don't know, Lord. This is like a man who's been thrown into a river. I don't know how to swim. I don't know head or tail about law or anything. And there's a lot of corruption in these lower courts. And the Lord said to me, I have been taken to court before you. Religious people took me to court. And if you look here, you will see my footsteps. I changed my whole attitude. The very first day I saw Jesus' footsteps there. And I walked into, I'll tell you honestly, there was no happier person in that court that day than me. I looked at everybody and I smiled and looked at the judge and smiled. And he was wondering who this guy is. It was a wonderful experience. And our brothers were there. We had a wonderful fellowship together and prayer meetings. Those are some of the best days of my life. I miss it now. Very honestly, you ask those brothers who come with me. We used to come with me to court. We really miss those days. See how God could turn the tables on the devil. You cannot push down a man who's walking with God. You can try your best. You kill him, God will raise him up after three days. That's it. You could not fight with Jesus Christ. And as Jesus Christ is, so are we in the world. He will only love you. You kill him, he'll say, Father, forgive them. That's what I did. I grabbed this person who took me to court and said, God bless you. May he forgive you for all that you've done. So I say, you cannot be defeated. It's like wood. You try your hardest to push wood into the water. It'll come up. You know, a child of God is like that. You know, your life can be triumphant. Why are you so gloomy and hanging down, head down like some Old Testament person? Oh, God. You know, some people read the Psalms and they say, Lord, I am so disturbed now. When you read the Psalms, I tell you, a lot of people read the Psalms because it says, Lord, smash my enemies, kill them. Don't even spare their babies and all that. What are you praying for? I look at my enemies as the lusts in my flesh. That's what I pray. Lord, kill them all, these lusts in my flesh. I don't have human enemies. No, I don't have a single enemy. Somebody once asked me, how many friends do you have in India? I said about 1.2 billion. They keep increasing every year. I don't have any enemies. I mean, somebody may treat me as an enemy, but I don't have any enemies. My only enemy is the devil because the Word of God says, we wrestle not with flesh and blood. We only wrestle with principalities and powers. I thank God for the day that came in my life many years ago when I decided I will not hate anybody. I will not have a human enemy. I will not fight with flesh and blood. Let them steal whatever they want from me. I will not fight for property. I will not fight for money. I will not fight for anything. I'm going to concentrate all my energies on fighting the devil. And the results have been fantastic. It's made me triumphant. The devil will flee. If you're like that, I'll tell you, you speak one word and the devil will flee. You say, in Jesus' name, get out. He will get out. The weakest believer sitting here, if you make one decision in your life, Lord, all of my life is God's. Everything I have belongs to you. I'm not going to clutch onto my property, my inheritance, and everything that I got from my dad. Some of you maybe got a rich inheritance from your dad, and you're so happy that you're so rich. No wonder your spiritual life is so miserable. Give it to God. Open your palm and say, Lord, you can take it away if you want. I don't want all that. I want to live for you. And decide that you will never, ever keep on thinking about your assets and your money and how it's increasing and prosperity and all that. And you'll be useless for God. Put your mind on the things above. I remember in the early days when I started doing a little business with investment to support myself, and I found in a little while that, hey, I was making some money to support myself, and the Lord said, don't put your mind too much on that. I'll take care of that, and I'll give you enough for your monthly needs. And I decided that day, I will not have my mind on my investments. I'll have my mind on the kingdom of God. And I'm glad I decided that more than 30 years ago, otherwise I'd have destroyed myself. And I wouldn't have built a church. And I believe there are many of you, your mind is on the wrong thing. Otherwise, God could have done mighty things through you in the last 25 years. You're satisfied with the little bit he did. Oh, thank God he did this little bit. He could have done a hundred times more if your mind was not on those things of earth. Will you learn a lesson at least now? He could have done a hundred times more if you had not been fighting with flesh and blood. If you had stopped fighting with your wife and stopped fighting with your husband and stopped fighting with other believers. If you had finished with all that and said, Lord, I'm not involved in any fight. I want to fight with the devil. Full stop. Do you know how much more? Many of us, I know God has done a little bit through you. I want to say God could have done a hundred times more. Instead of one little trickle coming out of your life, it would have been a river and many rivers in many directions. If you had given all to him and said, Lord, I will never hold on to anything. The things I have, I will hold in an open palm. If Judas Iscariot comes and steals some of it. Okay, that's up to him. Do you think somebody can steal something of mine without God's permission? The angels guard it. He's got millions of angels guarding my property, my bank account. And if a Judas Iscariot comes and takes something, it's because God has opened that door and said, Judas, go ahead and take some. You read that in the book of Job. God put a hedge around Job, a hedge around his family and a hedge around his property. And then when God opened a hedge, the devil could come in. Once you believe that, you're at rest. We are so possessive and protective of our family and our property and all that. Leave it to the angels, brother. They'll take better care of it. And say, Lord, I'm not going to be worried about all that. My job is to build the church. My job is to fight against the devil. My job is to listen to this, to establish the victory of Christ in the territory of the devil. That's my job. Wherever I go, to establish the victory of Christ in the territory of Satan. And the world is full of the territory of Satan. And God sends me one person there, not to convert the whole world, but to establish the victory of Christ, to manifest that you cannot crush me no matter what you do. I will not be your slave. I will not be the slave of any rich man. I will not be the slave of my relatives. There'll be no partiality in my life. Be like that, my brothers and sisters. God needs you. I tell you, God needs every one of you. I'm greatly encouraged by that word in the Gospels where it says when Jesus had to ride into Jerusalem and he needed a donkey and supernaturally, he was guided by a donkey. Told the disciples, go to that place and you'll find a donkey and it's cold there, bring it. And if anybody asks you, why are you taking this donkey? Just say one word. The Lord has need of him. That words encouraged me. Lord, you needed a donkey? The Lord has need of him? Well, even if I'm like a donkey, stupid, the Lord has need of him. I'm available, Lord. Ride on me. And when people throw their coats in front of me and honor me, let me remember that it's not the donkey they're honoring. They're honoring Jesus who's riding on. Are you so foolish? When people praise you and they throw their coats down before you and the donkey says, hey, I've never experienced this before. I must be a pretty important donkey. But the moment Jesus got off the donkey and the donkey walked back, nobody bothered about it. Hey, where's everybody gone? Where are all the coats on the ground? They all disappeared because Jesus is no longer on you. Don't ever get conceited in the Lord uses you or people honor you because you were a blessing to them. That's because Jesus is on you. Just remain in that humble place and say, Lord, I'm just a nobody. I feel I say that so often because I I'm so grieved when I see so many believers. God uses them and they get puffed up. I'm sorry to say some of my own fellow elders. I don't see them with the same broken, humble spirit that that was in them when I first met them. They were nobody's then. Today, many of them have got to have done something. They've got a name, but they're not with their face in the dust anymore. You sense that, you know, I'm sort of a little important. I get invited to the elders meetings. And there are others waiting, saying, I want to be invited to the elders meetings. Do you want to be a blessing to God or you want to get invited to elders meetings? You want to be a blessing to people? You don't need to get invited to elders meetings to be a blessing to people. Or to build a church. Oh, what a lot of wrong things Christians seek for. Let's bow our heads before God, brothers and sisters, and let put the devil to shame. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for teaching us something of your ways in these days. And in those areas where we cannot understand, to bow and say, God's ways are perfect. I don't understand why he did like this, but I will say by faith, his ways are perfect. And if I have to suffer, I will learn obedience in my suffering like my Savior did. Oh, Father, we pray this will not be a temporary feeling that many people have, but a permanent education that many of us have got that will change the whole course of our life from this day onwards. We pray in Jesus name.