This sermon emphasizes the importance of surrendering to God, trusting in His promises, and maintaining unity in the body of Christ. It highlights the need to overcome doubt, grumbling, and complaining by believing in God's faithfulness and seeking unity in fellowship. The speaker encourages humility, love, and faith in God's ability to keep us from falling, presenting us blameless before Him.

We read in the book of Jude, in verse 24, Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ, may glory, majesty, dominion and authority for all time now and forever. The book of Revelation is a special book. So if you leave that out, this is the last verse of all the epistles. All the epistles, the last verses, Jesus can keep you from falling. And that's very interesting that the Lord has kept that as the last verse. Because he knows that however much the Bible says that sin cannot have dominion over you, believers will still think there is no possibility of victory over sin. We are such unbelieving people that even if an angel came here and said sin shall not have dominion over you, you won't believe it. We believe the devil much more than we believe God's word. That's what happened from Adam and Eve's time. You remember the first word that Eve came to Eve with was this. Satan came to Eve. Has God really said that? Those are his first words. Has God really said that you can't eat from this tree? And we can say that he has not changed his tactics in 6000 years. Look at the number of believers who doubt, even after they confess their sin, they doubt whether God has forgiven them. Has God really said that all your sins are forgiven? What about that terrible sin you did 20 years ago? Has he forgiven that also? Is it really true that he says I will not remember your sins anymore? Even that one terrible sin you did, has he really said I won't remember that? Do you think what you are suffering today is some punishment God is giving you now for what you did 20 years ago? We know all things and we believe it. And our life becomes miserable. I am not throwing stones at you. I am not qualified to throw stones. Because I myself used to believe the devil even after I became a believer. And my life was miserable. I finished with that many years ago. I said I am not going to believe the devil anymore. God is a loving father. He does not punish you for something you did long ago. Supposing when my children were small one day, I suddenly called them and said I am going to give you a spanking now. They said dad why are you spanking me? I said you remember 2 years ago, you did something on such and such a date. Is there any father or mother like that? But we believe God is like that. Am I suffering now because of something I did not 2 years ago, 20 years ago? We insult God left right and center. We almost slap him on the face and say you are not as good as an earthly father. I tell you your earthly father would have given up on you long ago if you insulted him like that. God is a good God. Even though we insult him, he still comes after us. I want to encourage you this year. Just simply believe the word of God. It will change your life completely. At the end of this year you will be a different person. Whatever God says, even if you cannot understand it, even if it does not happen immediately, say Lord if it is written here I believe it. I will tell you my testimony after 50 years. I have never found a promise in this book that does not work. It won't work if I don't fulfill the conditions. Then it is correct. If I don't fulfill the conditions, I don't get it. Even if you want to get into IIT, you have to write a written examination. There is a condition. If you fulfill the condition, you get it. So same way here, there are conditions. God is not disturbed if you have an honest doubt about something. Go to God and say, Lord I have a doubt about this. Can you please clear my doubt? If my children came to me and said, Dad we got a little doubt about this. Can you clear this doubt? I won't get angry with them. But we must have a testimony at the end of our life that we are a living proof that God's word is true. Jesus demonstrated by his earthly life that the devil is a liar. And for myself I have taken that as a challenge. I want to prove by my life that the devil is a liar. And that God is true. God's word is true. Will you take that challenge? That God's word, every promise can be fulfilled. And that every command of his can be done. You know let me, for example a verse, he can keep you from falling. It's not me, I can't keep myself from falling. But if I look to him, he can keep me from falling. It's humanly speaking impossible. I remember somebody telling me, Brother Zach, this summon on the mount is very difficult to keep. I said it's not difficult. It's impossible. As long as you think it's difficult, you'll try to keep it. And you'll fail. One day you'll realize it is impossible. It's like telling people, it's like saying, Brother Zach, it's difficult to walk on the water. It's not difficult, it's impossible. But Peter walked on the water. Because Jesus walked on the water. That is what gave Peter faith. Lord, if that is you, tell me to come. That's what we must say. Lord, if you live like that on this earth, tell me, I'll also walk like that. Let the other bishops sit in the boat, I'm not worried about them. I'm going to look at you. See, that's the type of faith that God honors. If he had continued looking at Jesus instead of looking here and there, he would not have sunk also. The impossible becomes true and fulfilled. I have read carefully through the Sermon on the Mount. And I'm convinced it is impossible. Only the Lord can keep us from falling. So I'm not surprised this is the last promise in the Ephesians. He can keep you from falling. And he can present you without any blame one day. See, he wants to present me absolutely blameless to the Father. Now if I were to ask you, if the Lord comes, how many of you are going to stand blameless before him? You say, I don't know. I say, I know. You ask me, I'm going to be presented faultless before God. You see, I'm very proud brother Jack. No, I'm not proud. I believe he is able to present me faultless. If I say, that plane can take me up into the sky, am I proud? No, I'm not proud. I'm just saying the plane has got the ability to lift me up. I can trust a little thing like a plane and I can't trust that Jesus can present me faultless before God. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask full of unbelief. Or you try to accomplish it on your own what only Jesus can accomplish. So remember this brothers and sisters. There are many things that the Lord can do for us if we trust him. That's why it says, without faith it is impossible to please God. See, all this emphasis that Charismatics and Pentecostals have about faith. Their emphasis on faith is right. Where they are wrong is they are telling you to have faith for the wrong thing. They are telling you to have faith for hair on the head and teeth that are pulled out, God will put it back and all that type of stuff. I am willing to lose all my teeth if I can live in victory over sin. I'll tell you that. Even the little hair I have, I am willing to lose it all if I can live in victory over sin. So ask God for the more important things, not teeth and hair and all that. Isn't that important? Ask him for the most important things in life. We are all so foolish, you know, it's like children coming to their parents. You know, small children play a game called marbles with each other. Supposing your child comes to you and says, Pray that tomorrow I'll win these marbles with my brother, with my classmates. I say, you are getting 15% in Mathematics and you want me to pray that you'll win in the marbles? I'm not going to pray for that. I'm praying that you'll study your Mathematics properly. That is the stupid things believers go to God and say, please give me this and please give me that. Isn't that winning in marbles? Ask for the important things in life. Overcoming anger, you are getting zero. And you are praying God, give me a better house, car. What is the use of a car and a house if you get angry? Now you are shouting at your wife in a small house, after that you shout at your wife in a big house. What is the difference? Now you shout at your wife and she is sitting behind you on the scooter. Now you should shout at her and she is sitting next to you in the car. What is the use of getting a car? Pray that you'll get victory over anger. Even if you live in a hut, even if you ride a cycle. The most important message of the New Testament is that, He can keep you from falling. He can present you faultless before his Father. Make that your goal. Lord, this year is going to be different. I want you to keep me from falling. I want you to present me faultless before the Father. And the devil will come and say, has God really said he's going to do that for you? No, no, no, I'm going to struggle. Imagine if Abraham said, I'm somehow going to have a son. He tried to do that and it was a failure, Ishmael. You know, today you read in the papers, the Jews and Arabs are always fighting. Where did it start? It started with Abraham trying to help God and producing Ishmael. And Ishmael fought with Isaac. And that is continuing till today. Through Isaac came Jesus Christ. Through Ishmael came Mohammed. We love the Muslims, we love Hindus, we love all people in the world. We don't hate anybody. But it is a fact of life that there are Muslims and Christians fighting all over the world. We don't have any enemies, we love everybody. God loves everyone. But we must recognize that when we do something wrong, the consequences go on for years. And we can't escape it. So, dear brothers and sisters. If you live a godly life, the consequences will go on to your children and grandchildren. But if you live an ungodly life, the consequences will also go on through generations. That's what we read in the scriptures. And we see it happening in front of us. So, determine that you will live a godly life. And that you will be absolutely upright. You know, I heard of a great missionary to Africa. His name was David Livingston. I think it was him or some missionary who said this. He said, my father was such an honest man in his business that he could never make money. He could never become rich. But he produced a godly son who was a missionary. So, there are many things we will lose in the terms of earth if we live according to the standards of God's word. But that's okay. So, that's the thing we lose. We get something far better spiritually. You know, sometimes when you're driving, when you're going along a road and you don't know the way. As long as it's a straight road, there's no problem. And then you come to a fork in the road. And both roads look wide and crooked. And then you're stuck. And you don't know which to take. And you take the wrong turning, you end up somewhere else. There are many situations in life where you come like that to a fork in the road. Many times. Many, many times. In your home, in your work, in advising your children. How important it is at that point to choose what is right. We wish we could fly into the future for the next five years and see where this road will lead and where this road will lead. But we can't. We can't even see what happens tomorrow. How shall we decide at such time? One simple rule. I shall seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness. I shall pursue the path of peace with all men. I shall do what is right. Even that is a very narrow road. I shall seek that which will honor God the most. And you'll find five years later that you've chosen the right path. Very few people go along that way. But you'll find later on as you look back that you're glad you chose that way. The devil will come to us and say, this trial is too much for you. Nobody is suffering like you, with the type of wife you have. There are many husbands who feel like that. Nobody has got a wife like me. You know what will happen to you one day? With all the years you've complained against your difficult wife or difficult husband. One day when you stand before the Lord, He will say to you, you thought you had a very difficult wife. The Lord will call somebody who lived in the last 20th century somewhere. Okay, come here. Now I will show you the videotape of this fellow's life. And he shows you the video of what a wicked wife he had. And you discover she was ten times worse than yours. And the Lord said, you see how godly he lived in spite of that. He had the same flesh as you. How is it he could live like that? Because he didn't spend his life complaining against his wife. He believed the word of God which says, God will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability. Or it could be a husband. Or it could be a boss. I've had people tell me, Oh brother, it's so difficult to be a Christian in my office. You keep on confessing that lie. It will become true in your life. God will allow you to believe what is false. That it will really be too much for you. But another brother whose boss is 100 times worse than yours. He says, God, you will never allow me to be tested beyond my ability. He walks in triumph. What is the difference? It's not the trial. It's a question of who trusts God's promise. Every promise of God is true. Joshua, you know, before he died, he called the people of Israel. He said, I want to tell you something. Not one promise that God has made has failed you. Know that. That's my testimony. What a wonderful testimony that is. Have you read that in the book of Joshua? Chapter 21, and verse 45. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed. All of them came to pass. And Joshua knew that. So, just before he died, chapter 23. It says here, Joshua was an old man. Verse 1. He called all the elders. Said in verse 2, I'm old now. You see now the Lord has been fighting for you. Now here is my testimony. Verse 14. Last part. Not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed. All has been fulfilled. Verse 9. As for you, last part, no man has stood before you till this day. So he says, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. I don't know about you. As for me and my house, verse 24, 15, last part. As for me and my house, we will serve this Lord. That was his testimony on his deathbed. Not one word has failed. And when we become old, we should be able to tell our children and tell other believers. I'm an old man today. But not one promise God has given has failed. So you must have that testimony. It's good to have that testimony from a young age. And one of the great desires God has, I believe that's the longing of his heart, is that God can have a group of people who will live together in unity. See Psalm 133. This is a desire of God's heart. Psalm 133 we read, verse 1, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. The last part of verse 3, there the Lord commanded the blessing. First of all, we must believe that God will fulfill his promises in our personal life. And then we must believe that God will do the same thing in our fellowship together as a church. That God is going to do such a fantastic work in our midst. That there will be no strife or quarreling or any such thing. We may have different opinions on so many things. All around us, people are falling. Unity is not seen among Christian workers. See, one of the things that we have stood for in CFC from the beginning, not only victory over sin, but we can build a fellowship where we don't fight with each other. We can testify that CFC Bangalore is the best. Those of us who are in leadership work together, we have never had a fight. We have never had a competition with each other. We have disagreed on different things. I may say, we got to do it this way. Another brother may say, we got to do it this way. That, as long as we are on earth, our minds are different, so we cannot expect that type of unity. But fellowship, that has never been broken. It's like, you know, our fingers, they are all different sizes. Here the thumb is on the left and here the thumb is on the right. But that doesn't matter. We are in fellowship. These are all different. Opposite. But we have fellowship. So don't say you can't have fellowship with somebody because he thinks differently. I want to tell you, he'll think differently till Jesus comes. I remember once I asked the Lord about this. I said, Lord, why didn't you make all these things so clear that everybody has the same opinion? For example, should all believers speak in tongues? One sentence would have been enough. All believers will not speak in tongues. Water baptism must be by immersion in water. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There would have been no child baptism in the world with one verse. You must not have any pastors. You must have only elders. So many problems can be solved with one verse. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is essential for all born again believers. But you see, all believers are in conflict about this and that. Church will go through seven years of tribulation before Jesus comes. One sentence. I said, Lord, you've got 31,175 verses in the Bible. If you had added five more verses, many problems would have been solved in Christianity. And the Lord said to me, it is easy to love people when you see eye to eye with them. When you agree 100%. I have deliberately made these things a little vague to see whether my children will be able to love one another even when they don't agree on some of these doctrines. See the wisdom of God. I said, Lord, I'm a stupid man. Your wisdom is better. You want us to love one another when we don't agree with each other. That's why even husband and wife don't agree. So that they can love one another deeper than if they agree. See, that is why we give freedom in the church for people to have a different view from us. I don't try to change my wife to think like me or Brother Ian Robson or anybody else to think like me. No. Or anybody. Or even the elders in different churches and I don't tell them to think like me. Let me tell you. Supposing one elder in Tamil Nadu tells me, Brother Zach, I believe the church will be taken up before the tribulation. I'm not going to tell him you can't be an elder anymore. If he's a godly man, Brother, I respect you. Just make sure that people are ready for the tribulation when it comes. Don't make them suffer because you told them Jesus will come first. I'm not here that you should agree with me on these things. I say, we must believe that with our differences we can love one another. And we can show that we love each other even though there are so many differences. How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. See Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 it says we read in 2nd chapter Verse 3 Preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Peace is what binds us together. If you don't have peace that bond is gone. You know that when you don't have peace with your wife or husband there is no bond. You can eat together, pray together, do everything together but there is no peace, there is no bond. It says the bond of peace. Whenever Jesus came and met people after his resurrection he would say peace be unto you. In our relationship with each other we must always be at peace. That's a bond. It really holds us together. If you find in your heart you are not at peace with somebody from your side you must do everything. The Bible says as much as lies in you live at peace with all. Thus it says here we preserve the unity of the spirit. But many years later when Christ comes back then it says here in verse 13 we will attain to the unity of the faith. See the unity of the faith is still in the future. That we have to attain to we have to reach there. But until we reach there we have to preserve the unity of the spirit. What does it mean? I keep the unity of the spirit till I attain to the unity of the faith. That means until we come to that place when Jesus comes and we discuss we understand everything correctly. You know some of you may say I am sure this is absolutely right. But it is good to be humble and to say like Paul 1 Corinthians 13 verse 12 This is talking about love. This chapter is about love. And if you really love somebody if you really love somebody you will have the humility to say I see through a glass dark. Brother you may be right I don't see everything very clearly. But one day I will see. But till then what shall I do? Till I see clearly what shall I do? I shall remain in love because love is the greatest verse 13 The greatest is not understanding everything. The greatest is to remain in love even when I don't understand. if you don't say I am seeing through a glass dark then you are convinced he is wrong and you are right. I am talking about a whole lot of unimportant doctrines. I don't have any doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ is God and he became a man. That I am not seeing through a glass dark or that he died for my sins and rose from the dead and is living today and he is coming back I don't see these things darkly. There are so many things in the Christian life like the gift of healing and the purpose of tongues There are so many areas where it is not so clear. What is the right balance between evangelistic activity and making disciples? I have a certain understanding. I say okay I may not be 100% right in it and where is the balance I don't know but I will remain in love that is for sure and I will keep the bond of peace and I will preserve the unity of the spirit all the time humbly acknowledging there are many things I still don't see clearly then we can still remain one body even husband and wife don't be so sure you are right you could be wrong sometimes we think we are right and after we discover we are not right this is one of the main reasons why this unity comes we are so proud to think that we are right that everybody else is wrong particularly in areas which are not so clearly written in scriptures and sometimes I have seen young people who think they know much more than older people yes you know you shouldn't build a church like this this is not the way to do it in a church then I ask them brother how many churches have you built zero what are you talking about it's like a bachelor telling married people you should not bring up your children like this how many children have you brought up I am not married but I have got lot of theories on how to bring up children I say brother you get married have 7 or 8 children then please give me all your theories see most people like to give their opinions on matters which they have no experience about at all and that is how the devil puffs them up to destroy them I have seen numerous young people like that just because they have got some zeal somewhere in one area they are very gifted but remember Jesus came here to build the church and if you have not even built one church your experience is zero whatever area you may be an expert in what Jesus wanted to do you have not even done once then please humble yourself and say there are many things you don't know main in humility you know when God blesses us it is very difficult to remain humble God can bless people very easily but to keep a man humble after blessing him very easy see he could make the universe like that in one word but to humble a man he sometimes takes years he took 40 years to break Moses 20 years to break Jacob one second to create the universe what does that teach us it is more difficult for God to break a man than to create the universe so remember for God to break you is a more difficult task than creating the universe but if God can succeed in breaking you there will be such a mighty power released through you then the whole church will be blessed I believe God has put that parable in the world in the atom I don't know whether you have read about the atom all of you but if you have studied science you have studied the atom it is so small that you can't even see it under a microscope everything is atom this is atom this is atom we are all made of atom but they are so small you can't see them in a scientific way if you can take that small atom of one particular metal and break it not any atom it has to be some particular type of mineral or metal if you break it it releases so much power the whole of Vellore can get electricity it is unbelievable that in such a small thing there is so much power that a whole city can get electricity that is a parable God has put in nature what power is released when God can break something when he can break a person that he is not so eager to always express his opinion he is not assertive to force people to go according to his wish if you want the power of God to be released in your home be a broken husband be a broken wife and God uses so many circumstances to break us to protect you from sin I know many many years and even now God breaks me in many ways he uses different ways for different people he made people put a court case against me for 10 years bow before God and say God that is fine break me you break different people in different ways but if God can break us he breaks us sometimes by making us get sick we go to conference to get a blessing and we get sickness God breaks us he breaks you he breaks me the question is what do you do when you get it I believe there is nothing not even an ant bite in my life that can happen without God's permission because my body totally belongs to God so every little thing big thing is God knows about I don't have to ask why because everything is to make me a little more like Jesus and to humble me to make me more broken get rid of pride from my life so that I can become more integrated with other people like brothers in one body so we should not pray that God will protect us from all the problems in life I remember when I got a stomach upset after this recent conference I didn't have it during the conference if God knew I had to speak I am thankful for that but after it was over then God gave me and I know he also knew that he had to heal me before the Veluvar conference because again I have to speak so I said Lord what is this for I always ask small thing big thing God never does anything without a purpose we are foolish people we do so many things without a purpose but God never Lord said to me that you have to also go through what other people go through then only you will understand what you are going through then only you can preach with compassion oh thank you Lord good to get an answer from God for everything that brings us into unity we come into greater fellowship with one another to me fellowship with the brothers is more important than health in my body I'll tell you that if sickness will draw me closer to a brother I am ready to get sick to me my goal in life is not health my goal in life is to build the body of Christ and if your goal in life is to build the body of Christ you can never be defeated no demon no sickness nothing in heaven or earth or hell will be able to hinder you from fulfilling God's will he is able to present us faultless so as Christians we have to have a spirit of triumph many years ago I read this verse Philippians 2 like I have often said read the Bible slowly verse 14 do all things without grumbling or disputing 2.14 you have to read it slowly how many things do we have to do all things everything in life I must never grumble never complain we say Lord there are so many things that happen in one day itself that can cause us to grumble don't do it I am not saying that if something is wrong you should not correct it no correct it I mean if your child is learning how to ride a cycle teach him the right way if your child is learning mathematics and he is doing it the wrong way correct him we have to correct one another but we shouldn't grumble and complain that's not the right way brother let's do it this way but no grumbling and if we are like that then it says here we will be like lights in the world I want to be a light in the world do you want to be a light in the world ok do all things without grumbling and complaining from today and therefore from that I get a truth that when God looks at the world everywhere he looks on the earth everywhere people are grumbling and complaining and grumbling and complaining is darkness like it says in Genesis 1 darkness was upon the face of the earth the darkness is on the face of the earth today why all grumbling complaining grumbling complaining everywhere he hears grumbling and he says ok let me look at those who claim to be born again let me go into their homes they are also grumbling and complaining and grumbling and complaining but here and there God sees some people who are finished with it who take it seriously do all things without grumbling and complaining that's like in the midst of this dark earth one light another place hundreds of miles away another light don't you want to be like that I say Lord I want my life to be like that I want my home to be like that I want my church to be like that I'm not worried whether I have 25 children 2 are enough if there is no grumbling and complaining I don't want 500 people in the church 50 are enough but no grumbling and complaining that we are one in the spirit that as you look at us you can see there is a light shining for you make that your goal this year let's pray Heavenly Father it's so easy to get stirred for a short while and then it's forgotten because the devil is there to make us forget help us Lord to endure till the end of this year and then to go to a greater height next year help us to be a light for you in this place we pray in Jesus name Amen Amen