In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of taking action in one's faith rather than being solely moved by emotions. He warns against being deceived by the devil through superficial displays of revival and encourages believers to demonstrate their commitment by actively surrendering all areas of their lives to God. The preacher also highlights the significance of fulfilling the specific purpose that God has for each individual in the body of Christ, urging listeners to trust in God's plan and make the most of their lives. He concludes by emphasizing the need for encouragement and appreciation within families and encourages believers to open every area of their lives to God's transformation.

That's the power of his voice, where he could speak to 5,000 people without all these gadgets. But we weak people of the 21st century have to use all this. I was speaking about power, another type of power. But it's very similar to the power of electricity. In Ephesians 1, we were looking at the prayer of the Apostle Paul for revelation. The Holy Spirit brings revelation. And if you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you will see things in Scripture that nobody can teach you. Many Christians, when they come for a service or a conference, it's like getting a pep talk. Like in these games, football, baseball games, they have a coach who gives them a pep talk. And it lasts only as long as the game. The next game comes, you've got to give them another pep talk. And many Christians live from service to service, Sunday to Sunday, conference to conference, and in between they backslide. So the messages they hear are like pep talks. Or they've got to keep on listening to the internet. It's good. Thank God for all the provisions God has given. And I'm not telling you to stop listening to messages that challenge us, because we need to hear. In fact, the Bible says we should be listening to them daily, by the way. Hebrews 3, verse 12 and 13 says, Exhort and encourage one another daily, lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. I seek to receive encouragement every day. And if I can't get it, it's very rare to hear nowadays a powerful anointed speaker that leads me to a godly life. Very rare. Most people are just stirring people in other ways. But to be stirred to live a godly life is so rare that I have to go back to Paul and Peter to encourage me and exhort me. And James and John in the scripture. So if you can't find an earthly preacher to stir you to a godly life, well, there are lots of them here who will stir you to a godly life in this book. But we need that. But we also need revelation from the Holy Spirit to show us the hope of our calling, the tremendous inheritance that Almighty God has got in you and me. And we shouldn't, you know, demean ourselves. There's a difference between humility and low self-esteem. Some people have asked me, Brother Zach, when you preach on humility, aren't you producing people with low self-esteem? I said, absolute rubbish. Then they got it wrong. I don't have any low self-esteem about myself. I believe the devil himself is under my feet. I believe Jesus Christ is my head. That my father owns the universe. Is that low self-esteem? Far from it. But because of all that, I realize that I have to humble myself down to the ground and always recognize that I am a nobody before God. And that I am less than the least of all the saints. And that I must esteem others always as more important than myself. Not more spiritual than myself. The Bible never asks you to esteem others as more spiritual than yourself because that would be self-deception. I can't imagine that other people are all more spiritual than me when they're not. Paul did not imagine the Corinthians were more spiritual. Jesus did not imagine that Peter was more spiritual than him. But he did consider even Judas Iscariot as more important than him. Proof, he washed Judas Iscariot's feet. You read in John chapter 13 that Judas Iscariot left that table only after Jesus had washed his feet. And Jesus said, I'm a slave. A slave washes the feet of the visitors and the guests. And I'm a slave here. I wash everybody's feet. And he washed Judas Iscariot's feet. It's perfectly right for a godly Christian to consider every human being as more important than himself. That's one mark of godliness. If you're really godly, you will consider everybody as more important than yourself. You will never make anybody feel small. People who come to speak to you, if you make them feel small, you're not a godly person. If you over all them with the sense of your holiness and your Bible knowledge, oh brother, you're not fit to serve God. You need to recognize what a tremendous inheritance you have in Christ. But the more you understand that, the more you will humble yourself. I've often asked people, supposing you were living in Nazareth in the days when Jesus was a carpenter there at 25 years of age, the most godly man on earth, the son of God, and nobody knew him or recognized him. They just knew him as a good carpenter who was very honest. And supposing you decided to go and visit this 25 year old carpenter called Jesus, and you spent half an hour with him. Have you ever thought, what would be the impression with which you come away from him? And if I were to ask you, how was your visit with this man? Would you think he would have overawed you with his holiness and his Bible knowledge? Not at all. You would come away saying, boy, what a humble man. What a humble man he is. That is the mark of a truly godly person. People meet with you, and they go away and say, boy, what a humble man. Then you're in the footsteps of Jesus. But if you have to impress them with your holiness and your Bible knowledge, and what miracles you did there, and what you did for the Lord over here and there, you're an insecure, proud, disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ. And that's how a lot of Christians are. They're insecure. They're trying to prove themselves because they feel, I'm not what I should be. You need to have revelation on the glory of his inheritance and the saints. And the third thing is, the surpassing greatness of his power, Ephesians 119, which is available not for everybody, sorry, it's only for those who believe. And I have through the years developed my own definition of faith based on Scripture, but I can't find a verse which expresses it exactly like this, but I believe it's in the spirit of Scripture. My definition of faith is this, first of all, I can't have faith for something God has not promised. I mean, that's a fundamental condition. Abraham didn't suddenly just decide to believe, I'm going to believe that I'm going to have a son. I'm going to believe that Sarah is going to have a baby. I'm going to work myself up and believe somehow she'll have a baby. He didn't get a baby like that. That's how a lot of people are trying to work up faith today. I'm going to work up faith that I'll get this. I'll get a better house. I'll get a better job. I'll get a promotion. I'll win that lottery or some stupid thing like that. God hasn't promised these things. Abraham, who's called the father of faith, he got faith when God told him something. God said, Come here, Abraham. Look at the stars. You're going to have children like that. He said, Amen. That's what he said, by the way. The Hebrew word, Abraham believed is, Abraham amend God. You know, when you say Amen at the end of your prayer, you're saying, God, I believe what I've just said. I believe what that brother just prayed for. It's an expression of faith because God has said something and I'm saying Amen. It's like you get a check signed for a million dollars by a billionaire and you put your signature at the back. That's what it says in 2 Corinthians 1.20. All the promises of God, if you don't know that verse, look it up, 2 Corinthians 1.20. All the promises of God are yes in Christ. That means every promise in Scripture has got Jesus Christ's signature on it. Every promise. But it won't become yours until you endorse it at the back and your endorsement, 2 Corinthians 1.20 says, we add our Amen. That means you endorse the check at the back. You say, yes. You take it to the bank of heaven, I've endorsed it, God, signed by Jesus Christ, I've added my Amen. Maybe you didn't add your Amen. That's why you didn't get it. It's signed by Christ. There are so many, there are about 7,000 promises in Scripture. Have you added your Amen to them? There's a little prayer that I've been praying for some time now. I said, Lord, I don't want to leave this world before I have claimed every promise that I'm supposed to claim as a new covenant Christian. I don't want to leave before claiming them all. And I don't want to leave this earth before I have obeyed every commandment that a new covenant Christian is supposed to obey in the Scripture. I would encourage you to pray those two prayers. Seriously. It'll drive you to Scripture to find out what are the other promises I have to claim. What are the other commands I have to obey? And then you'll begin to give thanks for everything. You'll give thanks for your enemies because how could you obey the command love your enemies if you don't have any enemies? I feel sorry for those poor Christians who have no enemies. There's one command in the Bible they'll never be able to obey. But God has given me plenty of opportunity to obey that command. How will you obey the command which says bless those who curse you if nobody ever curses you? Thank God for those who curse you. How will you obey the command which says pray for those who persecute you if nobody persecutes you? You know your whole approach to Scripture changes when you say Lord I want to obey every command in Scripture and I want to claim every promise in Scripture. Okay, coming to my definition of faith. Ephesians chapter 1. My understanding of faith is to believe that God is more eager to give me what He has promised than I am eager to receive it. And remember it's limited to what God has promised. It's not a better house or a better car or a better I don't ask for this silly trivial things that little children play with. I'm asking for things that will have eternal results and consequences. The mighty power of the Holy Spirit. Number one. To believe that God my Father is more eager to give me that than I am eager to receive it. Then I have faith. I believe that many of you who are seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit you don't have that type of faith. Then you don't receive because it's according to your faith be it unto you. You feel that you are so eager God is not so eager to give you the power of the Holy Spirit. Well brother you got to wait till you get rid of your unbelief and think that you are better than God and think that God is you got the idea that God is worse than a heavenly than an earthly mother or father. You tell me do you think an earthly mother is not eager to give her little baby take care of her baby when she's sick when the child is sick take care of that feed that baby the mother is planning all the time. The baby doesn't plan its diet. The mother and we accuse God indirectly of being less interested in us than earthly mothers and fathers are in their children and because we insult God like that we don't get. Stop insulting God. I believe unbelief is an insult to God. I never knew that for so many years. I thought unbelief was a weakness. You know my hand is weak I can't lift so much weight that's not a sin and as long as you think of unbelief as a weakness you'll never hate it. Do you know what the Bible calls a heart of unbelief? Let me show you. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12 A heart of unbelief is an evil heart what we would call an adulterer you got an adulterous heart full of dirty lustful thoughts that's what God says about unbelief your heart is evil Hebrews 3.12 because of unbelief and that unbelief even if you claim to be a believer will make you depart from the living God that's all in Hebrews 3.12 you'll fall away from the living God what does that mean fall away? fall away means once you are with Him how can you fall away from a position you are not in? I can't fall from the 10th floor of a building if I didn't reach the 10th floor of the building what does it mean to fall away from the living God? it's plain as scripture whatever the Calvinist may say you fall away from the living God and it comes through not adultery it doesn't come through murder or stealing or telling lies or cheating on your taxes it comes through unbelief because unbelief is a slap in the face of God it's an insult to God to say I don't believe it He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire no I don't believe it well God says according to your faith be it unto you you'll never get it the exceeding greatness of His power available to those who believe Ephesians 1.19 I grew up in an assembly in my younger days that never emphasized faith never emphasized the power of the Holy Spirit emphasized study of the scriptures and a certain degree of external holiness we didn't go to movies we didn't do things that were externally wrong no gambling, no drinking, no dancing, no smoking and externally our life was right we studied the scriptures but we didn't have inner power we were not encouraged to have faith in God's promises we were not encouraged to thirst for the power of the Holy Spirit and I grew up as a person under law we were proud Pharisees looking down on other people who didn't know the scriptures like we knew it I thank God that I didn't stay there I said Lord there's something terribly lacking in my life and I remember when I began to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit always this block was this intellectual block I had in my mind of unbelief because I'd been taught for years when you were born again you got it all when you were born again you got it all I mean when that's been drilled into your head for 5-6 years it's very difficult to get rid of it that's why I find that when I speak to people from non-Christian backgrounds in the villages I remember one brother in one of our churches who was from a non-Christian background and he accepted Christ and he came to our church, one of our churches and the elder brother said you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit he didn't have a clue what that meant he wasn't a Bible scholar thankfully and he went to his room and he knelt down by his bed and he said Lord I don't know what this means but this elder brother said I need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit I trust him so please baptize me in the Holy Spirit whatever it is he had far less understanding than you but he didn't have this mental block that a lot of Christians have they've been brainwashed for so many years saying you got it all when you were born again thankfully so he prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and nothing happened I don't know how many hours he prayed he knelt down you see God is seeing whether a person is earnest Jesus did not invite anybody to come to him it's very important to know that if any man thirsts let him come to me come to me those who are weary and heavy laden those who are sick and tired of their defeated lives that's my paraphrase of that come to me those who are sick and tired of your defeated lives I will give you rest the rest from the Holy Spirit if any man thirsts desperately come to me rivers of living water will come out from you so he didn't invite everybody he invited those who are sick and tired of their defeated lives people here are not sick and tired of your defeated lives I'm sorry to say Jesus is not inviting you people who are not thirsting for the power of the Holy Spirit you're just thirsting to make more money to get a promotion in your job sorry Jesus is not inviting you just pursue those earthly ambitions that you have and I hope God will bless you if he can but I doubt it but if those of you who are thirsting for God blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness they shall be satisfied so this brother prayed and prayed nothing happened he said well what more can I do he got up from his knees and lay down on his bed and as soon as he lay down on his bed God filled him with the Holy Spirit what theology did he have much less than almost everybody sitting here but he had a hungry heart and he didn't have all these prejudices because of false theology so that's why I know in my case unbelief blocked me for so long because I grew up with a Christian background and with the traditions of unbelief that I got from a good denomination that taught me Bible study and external holiness without inward power but I'm so thankful that I was not satisfied with that inner defeated life in Ephesians 3 Paul's second prayer what is his second prayer first prayer was for revelation the second prayer is in Ephesians 3 he says now remember this is for the finest church that was existing in the first century and if you think you're the finest Christian and you belong to the finest church this is what Paul would pray for you I pray that you will get revelation of the Holy Spirit and I pray Ephesians 3 verse 16 that God will grant you he says in verse 14 I'm bowing my knees to the Father and my prayer is that God will grant you according to the riches of His glory to get power through His Holy Spirit in the inner man the first prayer in Ephesians 1 was for the revelation of the Holy Spirit which nobody could have in the Old Testament remember I showed you that empty glass that empty cup where the water is poured out on top that was Old Testament ministry now it's in the inner man power in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith you say Christ is already dwelling in my heart has Paul got his theology wrong he's praying that these wonderful Ephesian Christians who got faith in the Lord Jesus love for all the saints do you ever stop at these verses like this and say why is Paul saying that or do you just read on you go past the red light and move on you should never go past a red light when you come to a verse like that and you don't understand it it means there's a red light there stop what does it mean that Paul is praying that Christians born again Christians may have Christ dwelling in their heart well I said I got to read this in other translations one of the things that liberated me was not being enslaved to one translation I don't know Greek or Hebrew and I don't think I'll ever know Greek and Hebrew better than these great scholars who translated the Bible into so many English translations so I said I can get the benefit of other people's work why should I reinvent the wheel why should I go and study Greek when there are other people who know it better than me who have already translated so I look at this, look at this, look at this and at last I understood it aha it means that Christ may feel at home in your heart oh ho now I understand it Christ may live in my heart but he may not feel at home you know how you can live in some houses and they're waiting for you to leave and you don't feel exactly at home and you say that I mean I've never been like that wherever I've been God's people have been so good to me they make me feel at home right from the moment I step in but I'm sure we've all experienced some places where you know you visit a home and they're you know you're not so welcome I remember visiting a home once where they were watching some television program they were just waiting for me to leave so I realized that and quietly left because they wanted to continue watching that whatever they were watching so Christ may be in your heart but he may not feel at home you know what it means for Christ to feel at home in your heart that is the power of the spirit so that Christ may feel at home in your heart that means he can walk into every area of your life and he's perfectly happy many people do not allow Christ to come into certain areas of their life this is very closely connected to being filled with the Holy Spirit being baptized means immersed or filled with the Holy Spirit and we need it not just once again and again because you put something on the altar and the fire falls and one day you take away something from the altar and say I'm going to take that back for myself the fire departs from your life it's happened in so many cases supposing you see to supposing your heart is like a house with 10 rooms remember every illustration is limited so don't make this the sum total of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit it's just one illustration if it helps you well and good your heart is like a house with 10 rooms and you got one room which is called your guilt room you feel terribly guilty about all the sins you've committed in your life and you come to Christ say Lord Jesus please come and bring the light into this guilt room get rid of my guilt free me from the guilt of my sins I've committed so many years come into my heart and he comes in and I'll tell you he comes in through the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit comes in as soon as you're born again Romans 8, 9 is very clear Romans 8, 9, 11 if your man does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him so the Spirit of God comes in but he's come into one room the guilt room all your guilt is gone there is no condemnation now you're justified in Christ but now the Lord says I'm standing at the door and knocking, Revelation 3.20 by the way, Revelation 3.20 was not spoken to unbelievers I hope you know that it was spoken to the elder brother of a church read it, read the context we quote it to unbelievers but I tell you, if you read scripture more carefully you'll find it is to elder brothers there could be elder brothers sitting here to whom the Lord is saying I'm knocking at the door of one room in your heart he says can I come into your television room to see what all you watch and you say Lord, well not right now ok he's a gentleman he won't bang the door and come in he won't break the door and come in you sit there by yourself and watch whatever program you want the Lord will not be there one room in your life will be dark that room will not have the Holy Spirit you can do what you like can I look through your DVD collection any R rated movies there say Lord, please don't look through that I often think of that place where it says in Ephesus they brought all those things that were sinful and made a bonfire and burned it all up do you have Christians like that? that's revival it's not just a little weeping in the altar at a meeting it's much more than that it's action if you only are moved in your emotions you're still building on sand it's when you take action that you dig through the sand and hit rock and you planted your house in the rock and I tell you the devil fools so many people with emotion a little bit of tears a little bit of emotion ah we got revival you haven't got anything brother let me see you burn up those things in a bonfire then I'll believe this revival has begun can I come into that room the Lord says can I come into another room your finances room check through how you're what you're earning whether you've earned it all righteously have you cheated on your taxes have you told any lies anywhere how are you spending your money see oh Lord I thought I could spend my money as I like I give 10% to you that was old covenant where a man got his harvest and he kept 90% for himself and 10% for God to feed the Levites but today we don't have any Levites so what do you do you say 100% belongs to God now that doesn't mean I've got to take 100% and put it in the offering box it means that all of my money I treat it as belonging to God and I decide how to spend it and I don't waste it on unnecessary purchases I'm wise with it and I see God whether I can spend it on this or that maybe I can give some to the poor or give it for God's work but cheerfully I mean cheerfully and secretly without people knowing about it because it's just between me and God the Lord says can I come into your finances room and check everything not only how you earn but how you spend do you want me to control that and you say no Lord that'll be too much because I like to spend on a lot of things which you may not like me to spend on ok I'll keep that room dark one more room is dark can I look through the books you read your library room oh Lord that's another room which you know I've got a few romantic novels there which stimulate me actually to tell you honestly Lord more than the Bible so I would like to read them once in a while the Bible gets boring sometimes and I go back to these romantic novels Lord says ok I won't disturb you keep them and I've got some Harry Potter books Lord you may not like my reading all that do you know how many rooms like that there could be in your life the Lord says can I go to your clothing room the type of clothes you wear let me see let me look at your locker where you keep your clothes the type of skirts you wear type of clothes Lord I don't want you to look there please just come to my guilt room and get rid of my sin Lord says ok keep your dressing room to yourself I won't come there I will not you can dress as you like but don't waste your time asking me to fill you with the Holy Spirit to be filled with the Holy Spirit is to open every room and say let the light of God come into every area the whole house is filled with light because I've thrown open the door every door to Jesus He comes in, comes in, comes in, comes whole house is full of light that's what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit now there are lots and lots of Christians who lock up 9 out of their 10 rooms and say Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit it won't happen in 50 years brother, sister you can pray as long as you like you can come for 25 conferences like this you'll go away as empty as you are right now probably more empty because the more we hear the more our heart gets hardened I remember one young sister came to me once and said brother Zach in our church and said tell me brother Zach what is the right way to dress as a young girl the Bible says be dressed modestly I said I'm not going to come with a measuring tape to see the length of your skirt or blouse or any such thing I'm not a tailor I'm a servant of God but I'll tell you and you listen to me carefully if Jesus was living in the next street of your house physically and he told you one called you up one day and say come with me I want to go in the marketplace for a walk with you how would you go? what type of dress would you wear that day when you are to walk with Jesus in the marketplace in such a way that everybody watches you walking with Jesus and they can be proud of you and say this is my sister dress like that that's all I have to say not only when you come to church what about when you go to work don't you want Jesus to be with you there? what about when you visit a home don't you want Jesus to be with you when you go visiting somebody's home? that's the way we are to dress I told her every time what laws have I given you? I've taught you the life of Jesus the law of the spirit don't do anything that you cannot do with Jesus beside you don't watch a TV program if you can't have Jesus sitting beside you watching that and even if it's a good program don't spend more time than Jesus would want you to spend watching that because that cuts out from the time you have for reading the Bible for hearing God speak to you man shall not live by bread man shall not live by television programs man shall not live by anything on earth alone these are okay in their place but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God so that's why we don't have faith faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ so when we ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit's power where do you want the Holy Spirit's power? do you want the Holy Spirit's power in your television room? in your finances room? in your library room? in your clothing room? in every single area of your life even the ones I've not mentioned you throw open all the doors and I'll tell you something you won't even have to pray to God to fill you with the Holy Spirit I can use an illustration why is it so little sunlight comes into this room? supposing I pray Oh God send the sunlight here I've got some teeny weeny windows here and there I wonder why no sunlight is flooding this room imagine if I filled up this walls with windows I won't even have to pray for the sunlight to come in that's the reason why you're not filled with the Holy Spirit you give one teeny weeny corner to Jesus here another teeny weeny corner there Oh God fill me with the Holy Spirit you won't be filled with the Spirit in a hundred years you'll just keep praying empty prayers God says I'll forget it He's not serious don't play the fool with God go on to something else say Lord I'd like to study the Bible I'm not interested in being filled with the Holy Spirit because it's too much of a price for that but to know the Bible and to become a well known preacher I don't need to pay a price for that God says go ahead I want to be an elder in my church and preach powerful sermons interesting intellectual sermons go ahead you'll never accomplish the will of God you'll never build the body of Christ and I tell you another thing your children will grow up like you sure they're going to learn from you they're going to learn from you how to dress what all TV programs to watch and then years later when they're all wayward in the worldly and sick with sin you say Oh God please save my children it's like taking a child to a doctor and saying doctor can you do something for my child he's got some serious stomach problems he never seems to get over it and the doctor says what type of diet do you give I give him good diet but always I give him a spoonful of poison everyday just for fun you give your child a spoonful of poison everyday along with all the good food and now you're asking me to heal his stomach you're the cause of your child's sickness that's what God will say to many parents who brought up their children with all types of worldly values making them watch all those filthy television programs at home and say Oh God please save them I hope he'll save them but it's going to be a pretty tough job because the cancer has spread so much you taught your children to run after money and they pursued after money to become big in the world now say Oh God please save them they don't seem to be wholehearted they'll never be wholehearted because you've been feeding them poison, poison, poison they may be, maybe God will be merciful to you and break them wholehearted one day but it'll be a long drawn out process to deliver them from the worldliness that you injected into them for so many years I believe a lot of parents need to repent and I say this especially to young couples here and young people who want to get married don't just look at a pretty face and say I want to marry her ask whether she is God fearing is that the type of woman who you want to be the mother of your children before you marry her what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit every area of my life is yielded to him I remember when I gave my life to the Lord completely and I wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit before my marriage, I was 23 years old I said Lord I'll marry anybody you choose for me she's got to be wholehearted, godly that's primary you know there's a verse in the Old Testament which says, Proverbs is a great book a lot of wisdom for young people especially Proverbs 11.22 this is advice for young men who are considering marriage it's an important area for young men to be filled with the Holy Spirit you need to be clear in this marriage room also type of girl I am to marry it says in Proverbs 11.22 as a golden ring in a pig's nose so is beauty in a woman, let me paraphrase who's not spiritually minded a woman who doesn't have discretion spiritual wisdom who's not discreet in the way she dresses not discreet in the way she speaks and not discreet in her and not wise in her relationship with God not surrendered, not spiritually minded but she's beautiful wow! what a beautiful golden ring that pig has got and what he's saying is don't love that golden ring so much that you marry the pig that's what a lot of young people have done wow! brother Zach you should see what a pretty girl she is wow! what a beautiful golden ring and it's a thick one too real gold and I say because of that you're going to marry that pig have you got some sense in your head it's not me it's the Bible, Proverbs 11.22 it's the same advice I give to my young people in my church home don't look for the golden ring seek character 25 years from now after your marriage it's character that will keep your marriage strong and that will make your children godly not a pretty face so we need the power of the Holy Spirit sure God's more eager to fill us with the Holy Spirit than we are to receive but we must be willing to open every room everything like that man said Lord you can send me to Tibet if you like or Greenland this body is not mine do you know that many people when they give their bodies to the Holy Spirit they're like people who sell their house to somebody collect the whole money maybe they paid $200,000 they collect from that man I've sold the house to you here's the deed all certified before the authorities concerned but then afterwards say hey by the way I want to tell you there are 3 or 4 rooms in that house I'm not giving to you they're locked I'm going to keep that myself he says what? I paid you $200,000 and you say you're going to keep 4 rooms in that house for yourself well I want them are you a Christian? yeah I'm a Christian but I keep sometimes something for myself like that when I sell a house have you ever heard of anybody selling a house like that? that's how a lot of people give themselves to Jesus Christ you know how much he paid for your body? yes $200,000? you're not your own you were bought with a price 1 Corinthians 6 20 you were bought with a price the blood of Jesus Christ therefore glorify God in your body present your body this is the temple of the Holy Spirit I believe that many of us do not want to present our body completely to God but we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit you got your own ambitions and plans laid out for what you're going to do in the future but you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit you're saying Lord there's 1 room in my life I will not let you come inside I've got my own ambitions for the future by the way don't try and tell me what I should do the Lord says ok that 1 room will remain dark why are you afraid to give your future plans and ambitions to God because you feel He'll mess it up what a wrong picture we have about God did your earthly father if he loved you try to mess up your life how many have the boldness to say Lord all my future plans and ambitions are yours I said that to God when I was 21 years old and I say to God today 51 years later exactly the same I say Lord I have no ambition on earth to live anywhere or if you send me to Timbuktu I'll go live there I have no ambition to live a comfortable life or to earn a lot of money or any such thing only 1 ambition to do the will of God before I leave this earth I want to be able to say like Jesus said in John 17 4 Father I have finished the work you gave me to do like Paul said at the end of his life I have finished my course 2 Timothy 4 7 you and I should be able to say at the end of our life not I did a lot of good things I went to a lot of meetings I did something here and there for God I don't want to say that I did the will of God why didn't Jesus take a trip to Rome is there anything wrong in that capital of the world in those days you think Jesus would have sinned if he had gone to Rome with all the temptations in Rome no he would not have sinned in any place of the earth but if he had gone there he would have missed the will of his father because that was not in God's plan for him I don't find many Christians who are so committed so committed that they don't want to be a single day outside the will of God for their life they seek their own interests they live for themselves they plan for themselves they make their own ambitions and they say oh God please fill me with the Holy Spirit the Lord says let me enter into that room no no no don't you come into that room why are you praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit I'll tell you what you should pray Lord please take me to heaven when I die I want to enjoy myself on this earth no that's the reason why most Christians I have met in my life are not spirit filled and even some who were genuinely baptized in the Holy Spirit once they do not have that power today because at that time they surrendered all but after that time many other opportunities arose to make money to do something else to marry a pretty girl which they didn't think of when they first thought to be filled with the Holy Spirit so gradually they began to take back from the altar certain things they had surrendered initially and they are no longer full of the Holy Spirit today you know the Bible speaks about certain people full of the Holy Spirit there's a difference between being filled with the Holy Spirit and being full of the Holy Spirit being filled maybe in a moment full of the Holy Spirit means you are continuously full of the Holy Spirit I mean if you say I was very healthy 35 years ago maybe you were but you're pretty sick today you understand that? I was baptized in the Holy Spirit 35 years ago maybe you were but you're not full of the Spirit today so I pray that you will realize what you're missing before Jesus comes back I'll tell you this if you don't believe me today when Christ comes back and you stand before Him you will discover the hollowness and emptiness of all those things that you lived for and today God wants you so that you won't have any regret at the judgment seat of Christ for 35 years I have preached in my church in Bangalore brothers and sisters I'll guarantee you one thing I can't guarantee that you'll all be filled with the Holy Spirit I can't even guarantee that you'll all go to heaven some of you may develop an evil unbelieving heart and fall away from the living God but I can guarantee one thing that if you listen to everything I say and respond to it totally you will have zero regret when you stand at the judgment seat of Christ that I can guarantee do you want that? do you want to be able to stand at the judgment seat of Christ with zero regret about the way you lived your earthly life that I can guarantee if you listen to me and respond to what I say I can guarantee it on my life I can guarantee it I remember one brother in our church I told someone in our church oh brother Zach he's so hard he preaches so hard so strict about certain things I said brother I met him afterwards and I said yeah I heard you said this I love you and I'm not disturbed that you said it maybe you don't understand why I speak like this but I said I'm not expecting you to understand but I'll tell you one thing I told him at the judgment seat of Christ you will thank me for what I said you may not appreciate it till then but that day you will thank me and if you didn't respond that day you'll say I wish I had taken what brother Zach said more seriously I said I don't want your money I don't preach for money I said I'm not interested in your honor some people who don't want money want honor I don't even want that it's enough if at the judgment seat of Christ you thank me because you responded now without understanding never mind if you don't understand respond you know little children don't understand why their father tells them not to put all that mud and all those nails and screws in their mouth but it's good for them if they will only listen and babies don't understand why a spiritual father tells them to avoid certain things to dress in a certain way to behave in a certain way they don't understand listen to me it'll help you in the long run you'll be thankful at the judgment seat of Christ you'll be thankful that you didn't listen to all those worldly friends that you didn't dress like all those models and film actresses like the servants of the devil you decided to be a godly brother, godly sister you'll be thankful at the judgment seat of Christ and he's coming soon we don't have much longer to wait Jerusalem is in the hands of Israel Iraq mentioned in Revelation 9 and Revelation 16 the demons have been released near the river Euphrates that you read of in Revelation 9 and 16 that never happened till 10 years ago that's mentioned in Revelation 9 and 16 only two places mentioned in relation to the last days Iraq and Jerusalem and you see everyday in the papers you read about Iraq and Jerusalem they never read about all that 10-15 years ago you know the times you're living in? there's not much more time brother one day suddenly Christ will come and you'll wake up and say hey I was waiting I thought there was plenty more time to get ready there isn't now is the time to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit say Lord every area of my life is yours I will not withhold do you think God will mess up your life? I gave my life totally to Christ 50 years ago and I said Lord I have a plan for my life I'll tell you what my plan was for my life I joined the Navy in order to be the Admiral of the Navy that was my ambition I topped my class and I was on my way going there when Christ met me changed my life and turned it around and said live for me and as I began to live for him I realized I had to give up my earthly ambition and I gave my life to Christ completely in 1963 1961 I got baptized in water and I said and God showed me I've got a plan for your life if you will listen to me day by day it will be fulfilled I won't show you what that plan is I never had a clue what that plan was I said Lord as I understand scripture I knew very little those days I'll do it I'll do it day by day by day it's like the pillar of cloud you never know where it's going to be the next day but you follow it day by day and it's been the most wonderful life I could never have planned my life better than the way I did he did it God's got a plan for your life too my brother sister from the time you were born came out of your mother's womb even before you were born God had his eye on you and he had a particular function that you were to fulfill in the body of Jesus Christ on earth during your earthly life maybe you're frustrated a lot of it by your unbelief and your worldliness and your unwillingness to surrender area of your lives to Christ but the Lord is patient he's patient he's giving you another opportunity say at least from now will you fulfill the function for which I brought you to this earth in the body of Christ will you trust me you say I don't have power you don't need power trust me I'll give you the power I'll give you the ability to fulfill that function there's a work for Jesus that no one but you can do do you hear that there's a work for Jesus that no one but you can do there's small it may be a very small work in the body of Christ you may not have a spectacular ministry like somebody else so what so what do you think only the spectacular people have a ministry you may say I'm only a little finger I'm not like the heart or the tongue or the eye never mind a little finger is a function maybe you say I'm not even a finger I'm a nail oh small little thing when you feel scratchy somewhere how do you get rid of the scratchiness is it with your nose or tongue like cows do or with or with your legs or heart or is this teeny weeny nail ah I feel relieved or you tell somebody scratch my back please you know what the ministry of scratching in the body of Christ is encouragement who do you do you need to be a great scholar to encourage somebody I'll never forget when I was around 30 years old I met a man in another country who couldn't even speak English he knew about few words of English but he was a godly man and I met him somewhere he hardly knew me he put his hands on my shoulder I was a young Christian he said God has got a plan for your life and he'll bless you I've never forgotten it I forgot everything else he said everything else a lot of other people said how long did it take for him to scratch me hardly any he wasn't a great preacher but he knew how to scratch and encourage don't any of you say that you can't say that some of your children need a word of encouragement from you you've criticized them long enough you need a word of encouragement appreciation don't ever say I'm useless say Lord I want to make the most of the rest of my life there's a very beautiful poem let me see if I can find it here it's about how it'll be when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ when I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and he shows me his plan for me the plan of my life as it might have been had he had his way and I see how I blocked him here how I blocked him there and I would not yield my will will there be grief in my Savior's eyes grief though he loves me still and he goes on to say then my desolate heart will well nigh break with the tears that I cannot shed and I'll feel sorry and I'll bow my uncrowned head Lord of the years that are left to me I give them to thy hands take me break me mold me to the pattern you have planned Almighty God there are certain things he cannot do he cannot give you back the year 2010 it's gone if you wasted it, it's gone he cannot give you back the first six months of 2011 it's gone but while there's life there's hope we can do something with the rest of our life will you say Lord I bow I want to do your will I don't want to live for myself or to please any other human being or to impress my friends you young people I want to live totally for God and I'll tell you if the Lord tarries and you live another 15-20 years you'll look back and you'll see that they were the best years of your life let's pray while I heads about in prayer you say Lord I want to be totally yielded to you show me the areas where I've locked the rooms I don't allow you to come in I want to yield it all to you thank you for hearing me Father I believe you've accepted in Jesus name Amen thank you very much there's a little card with our picture there at the back you can take a copy pray for us God bless you