In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of having a spirit-controlled tongue, using Jesus as the perfect example. He refers to Isaiah 11:3, which describes Jesus delighting in the fear of the Lord and not judging based on what his eyes see or ears hear. The speaker contrasts the characteristics of a Satan-controlled tongue with those of a spirit-controlled tongue, emphasizing the need to follow Jesus' example. He also highlights the New Covenant, stating that what God did for Jesus, He will also do for believers, including giving them the tongue of a disciple.

We want to turn again to Isaiah 50 and verse 4. Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4. In our last two studies we were thinking about this subject, the tongue of a disciple. And we see that this was a prophetic reference to the Lord Jesus, that the Father had given him the tongue of a disciple. And what God did for Jesus, He will do for us. This is the message of the New Covenant, which very few Christians believe, that what God did for Jesus, He will do for us, because the Father loves us as He loved Jesus. John 17, 23. And because Jesus is the firstborn, and there is no partiality with God, what He did for His firstborn son, He will do for us. It's very important for us to remember that. So when we think of the Father giving Jesus His son, the tongue of a disciple, we must believe, Lord, You will give me also the tongue of a disciple. Like I said the other day, if you ask the Lord, Will you do for me, Lord, what you did for Jesus? The reply will be, Yes, if you fulfill the same conditions. That's what the Lord spoke to me. There's no partiality, but Why is it believers are different in their spiritual development and growth? Because some fulfill certain conditions and some don't. And the condition is here. He awakens me morning by morning in the same words, to listen as a disciple. We have to have the ear of a disciple, before we can have the tongue of a disciple. And Jesus, when it says the Father woke Him up every morning, it was not just to have a quiet time. Right through the day, His ear was open to hear. And through the night, His heart was open to hear. So, it's not just that for half an hour in the morning, I listen to what God has to say, and then listen to what the world has to say the rest of the day. A lot of people do that. Do you know that a lot of believers, who have a half an hour quiet time every morning with their Bible, are some of the most carnal Christians on the face of the earth. They love money. They get angry. They lust with their eyes. But they've got a half an hour quiet time in the morning. It's true. They try to listen to God reading the Bible for half an hour in the morning. The rest of the time, they're listening to the devil and the world. That's not the meaning of this verse. He awakens me morning by morning to listen. And when do I stop listening after I'm woken up to listen? After half an hour? No. Right through the day. My attitude is speak Lord, your servant is listening. Anytime. While we're doing all our work, it's like I said, these police folk who have their radio phones on all the time. Their antenna is up. It's switched on 24 hours. Once, two, three times a day, there may be a call for them. They're ready to listen. But it's on all the time. And so our ears must be open all the time. And I want to say to you in Jesus name, that if you do this, I guarantee, what God did for Jesus, he'll do for you. You'll have the tongue of a disciple too. And that's the most important thing we need under the new covenant. As I said in the first study, it's a tongue of fire that came on top of the 120 who prayed for the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It's the most important part of our body that God is going to use. And then we saw in our last study what the characteristics of a Satan-controlled tongue are. And today we want to consider the characteristics of a Spirit-controlled tongue. We saw seven characteristics of a Satan-controlled tongue and we want to see seven characteristics of a Spirit-controlled tongue. And of course the best way to see it is in the person of Jesus. Not in words of Scripture. Alone. The Word was made flesh in Jesus Christ. When He lived on earth, you could see that Word in living form. And just like we go to a dictionary to find out the meaning of words, you read a book or a newspaper and you don't know the meaning of a word, you go to a dictionary. In the same way, when you read the Scriptures and you don't understand something, go to the dictionary. The dictionary is the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ Himself, who is the perfect example of the Spirit-filled life. The perfect example of the Spirit-filled person. That's an expression that is much misused today. People talk about somebody being Spirit-filled. What they mean is, 99% of charismatic Pentecostals use that expression. What they mean is, once upon a time, way back in the ancient past, He was baptized in the Holy Spirit. That's not what the New Testament means when you say He is Spirit-filled. Supposing I talk about a sick person dying in a hospital. He's a healthy man because 70 years ago when he was born, he was healthy. It's crazy. He was healthy then, but he's not healthy right now. He was baptized in the Spirit in 1985, but he's not Spirit-filled right now. What's the meaning of Spirit-filled? Not once upon a time baptized in the Holy Spirit. Don't be confused by the language used in Christendom today, which is not Scriptural. Get saturated in the Scriptures so that your language is Scriptural. Spirit-filled means Spirit-filled right now. Healthy means healthy right now. Not when I was born 60 years ago or something. No. So Spirit-filled means I'm Spirit-filled right now. And the perfect example of a Spirit-filled man who was always Spirit-filled was Jesus Christ. So we want to look at His example and see. And one of the first things I want to say about about Jesus, you know He Himself said this, that it's out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The mouth is the overflow valve of the heart and we can't control our tongue the way God wants us to if we don't deal with our heart. Otherwise you can control the tongue with Buddhism and Yoga and all these other, you know, soul power that people emphasize with which we can do a lot of things. But that's not what Jesus spoke about. He spoke about a heart that was clean and pure and humble and broken from which words came out through the tongue that were godly. That is a Spirit-controlled tongue and that's why we got to deal with the heart first. And a lot of our problems come because we're not dealing with the heart. We're trying to control the tongue. And we say, oh, I lost control of my tongue there. Brother, the problem is not your tongue. The problem is your heart. And a lot of people who do control their tongue they're not clean before God's eyes either. Their heart is full of rubbish and filth. A lot of people who control their anger their heart is full of anger. Well, they're no better. I mean, they're a little better than the fellow who blows up. But maybe 10% better, that's all. It's not New Covenant. It's Yoga. So, I want to show you a verse in Isaiah chapter 11 where we start with the heart in the case of Jesus. Then we can deal with the tongue. Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 3 it speaks about Jesus delighting in the fear of the Lord and that was manifested in this that he would never judge by what his eyes saw or make a decision by what his ears heard. Now the children of Adam all of us were that from the time we were born. All our judgments, assessments, discernments opinions have all come from what we have seen with our eyes read with our eyes or heard with our ears. That's all. Mainly, few things by the taste of our tongue and all that. That's not moral issues. On moral issues we don't we haven't come to our opinions on moral issues by the other senses like touching and tasting. No. On moral issues all our opinions from the day we were born has come through what we have seen with our eyes, read with our eyes heard with our ears. That's all. And we have a lot of opinions in our mind when we are converted. And 99% of those opinions are not God's opinions. Probably 99.9% or 100% in some cases. God said my ways are not your ways my thoughts are not your thoughts as the heaven is above the earth so different are my thoughts from your thoughts. So, we got to recognize that we are starting our born again life with a tremendous handicap. Every one of us. We got a heart and a mind saturated with opinions and judgments that are totally ungodly. And now we got to work out our salvation from all that. As God the Holy Spirit begins to work in us and renew our mind through Scripture and through showing us the example of Jesus that we begin to see how He looked at things how He looked at people. What was His opinion about this? What was His opinion about money? What is His opinion about the devil? What is His opinion about sinners? What is His opinion of a Samaritan woman who was divorced five times and now living with somebody who is not even her husband? What is His opinion about religious Pharisees who are always praying and fasting? I want to change my mind and my heart to think like Jesus. Then I'll be like Him. Then I'll speak like Him. So, I must allow the Holy Spirit to deal with my heart first. Otherwise, you know, I'll say things according to certain laws. You must always speak gently. Supposing you live by a law which is saying you must always speak gently. You'd never... Jesus would never have turned to the Pharisees and said, you generation of vipers, that's not a gentle word. He wouldn't have turned to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. It's not a gentle word. But there are believers who live by a law. You shall always speak gently. And there are others who are the other extreme who say you must always take the whip and chase people out. Because Jesus did it once. So, these are fanatics who are this extreme and the other extreme. The one who chases people out looks less Christ-like than the one who always speaks gently. But the one who speaks gently is a man who seeks his own honor. He's not wanting to be Christ-like. He just wants honor for always speaking gently. And he gets honor. But he doesn't please God because God may sometimes want him to speak straight, just like Jesus did. Just like Paul in Acts 13, he spoke to someone saying, you enemy of all righteousness, God will blind you for a season. And it says he was filled with the spirit when he said that. So, when we talk about a spirit-controlled tongue, let's not have concepts which have come from the world. Jesus said, learn humility and gentleness not from the dictionary, not from the world, but from me. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. Otherwise you get all these wrong ideas which have come from psychologists, Christian, Christianity today, a lot of preachers are just preaching what the psychologists say. And they can't distinguish between that and what the Holy Spirit is saying. So here, and the way is, I will not judge by what my eyes see, I will not make a decision by what my ears hear. I'm going to keep my heart open only to receive impressions from God, the Holy Spirit. Then, I will be careful when I speak. And I will speak what is necessary according to the occasion. To encourage somebody who is discouraged, perhaps. To rebuke someone who needs rebuke. Jesus said, as many as I love, I rebuke. If you don't love people, you don't rebuke them, that's all. So it's this balance between grace and truth that there must be in our words. And also, the other thing I want you to see is that Jesus knew when to shout and when not to shout. We need to learn that too. In Hebrews, in chapter 2, it says here about the Lord Jesus, verse 11 to 12, 11 and 12, He who sanctifies, and that's Jesus, and those who are sanctified are all from one Father. And for that reason, He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Though He is Almighty God, from all eternity equal with the Father, He humbled Himself and became like us and calls us brothers. And what does He say? There are two things that the Lord does in the midst of the church. In the middle of the verse, it says, in the midst of the church, one is, I'll proclaim your name to my brothers. So that's one thing we have to do in the church, is to proclaim the name of the Father. Get people secure in the Father. And the other thing Jesus does in the midst of the church, I will sing your praise. Jesus is the song leader in a true spirit-filled church. And a good song leader is one who recognizes that I'm sort of a junior song leader to Jesus, who is the one who is leading the praise in the midst of the church. And it's when human Christian song leaders try to project themselves as THE song leader, that they hide Jesus. And you know that verse. Anyone who comes in front of me, before me is a thief and a robber. John chapter 10. Don't come before Jesus. Don't come in front of Him. You're a thief and a robber taking from God the glory that belongs to Him. Taking from Jesus the position He needs in the church. We must recognize that when we proclaim God's word to the brethren. It's Jesus who's proclaiming it. We are sort of, like John the Baptist said, a voice. Because Jesus needs a voice. He uses our mouth. That's why the Bible says, let everyone who speaks, speak as the oracles of God. So that's when it came to praising the Father, Jesus coming from Heaven would shout. That's why when He saw the children shouting on that day when He came to Jerusalem riding on a donkey. And the Pharisees said, hey, hey, hey. People shouldn't be shouting in the church and certainly not children. And Jesus said, what nonsense. He was so reminded of Heaven when He saw those children shouting. Because Heaven is full of people shouting the praise of God that when He saw these children shouting, this is wonderful. This reminds me of Heaven. And the Pharisees were so earthly minded. They said, no, we can't do this. There's so many wrong concepts that people have about God and Heaven which have come from heathenism and not from the Bible. From Pharisees. So, Jesus said, hey, let them shout, let them praise God. If you fellas don't do it, the stones will start praising God. I don't want to wait for the stones here to start praising God. I want to raise my voice and shout and praise God. In the church, Jesus said in the church. You do it privately too, but corporate praise is what we read of in Hebrews 2. The other thing I want you to see is Matthew 27. About Jesus' speech. See, we're talking about the spirit-controlled tongue. And here's the perfect example in the Lord Jesus. He knew, first of all, I said He started with the heart, that He didn't have opinions in His heart that came from human influences, but everything He received and then evaluated it before God. What is your opinion, Father, about this? I see something, I hear something. What's your opinion? Then He allowed that to reside in His heart and all the garbage He threw out. We got to do that too. When we get information through our eyes and ears, we got to sort out what is good and throw away the rubbish. Just like our digestive system. When we eat food, everything is not stored in our body. If everything was stored in your body, you'd die of poisoning. But, you know, God has put an elimination system in the body that eliminates things which are not good for your body. Thank God the kidneys and the colon and all fulfill their function and eliminate a lot of stuff. In fact, when doctors see that people are not eliminating stuff every day, they say they're sick. Every food, the best food you eat, there's still stuff in it that's got to be eliminated. And all the information you get, remember, you got to have a digestive system in your heart that eliminates a lot of stuff. If you just absorb everything, you'll be poisoned just like some person who is constipated or his kidneys don't function properly not eliminating anything. Many Christians are like that. So Jesus wasn't like that. He received information and threw out a lot of rubbish and kept what the Father said. That's right. That's good. That's from me. And the Father continuously spoke to him about the various things he saw and heard. And that's how we must live on this earth. We see, we hear, but then we say, Lord, what are you trying to tell me through all this? If you live like that, I tell you, your speech will be controlled by the Holy Spirit. You've got to start with the heart. And if you haven't understood that truth till now, start today. Say, Lord, I remember the day the Lord spoke to me up till now. You have been influenced more by what you saw, what you have seen and what you have heard from now on. I want you to stop allowing those things to influence you. Receive that information, but process it and see what I have to say through it all and keep only that. And throw out the rubbish. Throw out useless things like I told you. All the evil that other people have done to you. Why do you want to keep that garbage in your house stinking like anything? Throw it out. Memory of all the good things that you did for other people. Throw it out. Don't store this stuff in your mind. This is how husbands and wives quarrel. All the garbage accumulated through many years. The evil you did to me, this thing you said, that thing you said ten years ago. You should have thrown out that garbage ten years ago. Why does the garbage come out of your mouth? Because it's stored up there carefully like some precious diamonds or gold. This bad thing somebody did to me. This bad thing somebody said to me. This other thing my wife said to me fifteen years ago. This other thing my husband's parents or wife's relatives did to me ten years ago. Brother, throw out the garbage. Otherwise you'll never be able to control your tongue. For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. You can't avoid information getting into your heart through your eyes and ears, but be careful. So the other thing. One, Jesus knew how to shout and the other thing, Jesus knew when to keep quiet. Matthew chapter 27 we read that Jesus was being accused verse 12 while he was being accused by the chief priests and the elders he did not answer. Pilate said don't you now hear how many things they're saying against you? Are you keeping quiet because they are all right in what they're saying and you have no answer to give? Are you acknowledging that they are right by keeping quiet? In a court of law today somebody accused you of something and you kept quiet, it would prove that you're guilty. What did Jesus care about what a human court thought about whether he was guilty or not? And Pilate was amazed because he had never seen a prisoner like this in his life who wouldn't open his mouth. There was a dignity about Jesus. He was the king there not Pilate. There's a dignity about a man who can keep silence when people fling accusations at him which are false because he believes that his God will defend him. Human beings shout when they're accused or when somebody gets angry at them and they keep quiet in the church. How many of you keep quiet in the church when you should be shouting and praising God? You raise your voice at other times when somebody accuses you in your office, you got it all wrong. You got it like the children of Adam. Jesus came to turn the world right side up and say you got it all upside down. Let me turn you right side up. Learn to keep quiet when you're accused and when you come to the church raise your voice and praise the Lord. That is Jesus. Let's begin with that and then I want to say seven things in the life, seven things in the speech of Jesus. First of all his speech was humble. It's marked by humility. His speech was marked by humility. Words of humility. He never said anything that would exalt himself. He always called himself the son of man. Son of man. I don't want to show you those references, they come so many times in the Gospels. Now I have my own personal translation of son of man is, I'm an ordinary man. Son of man means I'm just like, you read it in the Old Testament in Ezekiel. Son of man. And in some translations like N.E.S.P. I think he's called son of dust. Son of dust. My body is just dust like yours. You know Jesus' body was also dust. Made of dust. Same dust that Adam's body was made of. But it never saw corruption. Because he never sinned. He showed the glory of what God wanted this body to be. That's why it was raised up. And one day because our sins are cleansed we shall also have a body like that. But he would always refer to himself as the son of man. I'm an ordinary man. Was he an ordinary man? No. He was the second person of the Trinity. Equal with the father from all eternity who existed before the worlds were created. But when he came to earth he laid aside not his deity but the power and privileges of deity. And said, I'm an ordinary man. You remember in the Pharisees he spoke against him and said in Matthew 12, you're guilty of casting out demons by the prince of demons. He said, have you spoken a word against the son of man? You're forgiven. And if you read that passage, it's not just them. It says, whoever speaks a word against the son of man is forgiven. That means for 2,000 years. Somebody calls Jesus a homosexual today. Somebody says he is married to Mary Magdalene. It doesn't matter. Throughout the century Jesus proclaimed one word of forgiveness there in Matthew 12. Whoever speaks a word against the son of man is forgiven. It's wonderful. I want to be like that. I want to be like that. Whoever speaks a word against Zach Poonen any time from now, in the past or future, forgiven. Okay, you're free now. Speak whatever you like. You know, that's what it means to be like Jesus. You hear somebody said something against you. Don't you remember? You're forgiven him already. Did you hear somebody else said something against you? Forgiven. Forgiven. I have great delight in releasing people as soon as I hear that they said something against me. Jesus said release. Don't catch the fellow by the throat. Even inwardly. Ah, that guy. Yeah. It's not like that in the old covenant. If you spoke against Moses, you got leprosy. Even his own sister. You spoke against Jesus, you got forgiveness. What about when they speak against you, a servant of God? Forgiveness. Because I'm not a servant of the old covenant, but a servant of the new. So, words of humility. The other thing I want to mention is that Jesus you know, he told his disciples, don't ever be called rabbi, father. They wanted to make him a king in John chapter 6. When he fed the 5,000. He said no, no, no. He ran away. He would not take a title or a position that exalted him over other human beings. He knew that human beings are created to be servants of others. Philippians 2. Being found in fashion as a man, he became a servant because he knew that God created man to be servants of other men. Have you recognized that? Words of humility. That's why he never called himself, he was lord. Of course he was lord. And people called him lord because he was lord. We, none of us have that authority to take that title because he's the lord of heaven and earth. But he said among you, you are brothers. That's why the apostles never took a title like reverend or pastor or right reverend or wrong reverend or any of those things. Left reverend, right reverend, I don't know, there's so many titles nowadays. They never took any of them. They were brother. You see John at the age of 95. Your brother, John. Book of Revelation. Don't be called by titles because a title exalts you above people, you know. Words of humility. I'm your brother. You know down in Kerala they have the habit of calling people Sir. But the way they pronounce it is Tsar. Like the Russian Tsar. So, that's just their pronunciation. They spell it S-I-R but they pronounce it C-Z-A-R. Tsar. So I was down in one of those churches and one brother came to me and said, Tsar. I said, hey, that's not my name. I'm brother Zach. In case you didn't know. He never called me Tsar again. But some people like it. You know, I'm an older person. And even in some of our Indian culture there's a word for older brother. Well that's okay, I don't stop people from calling me that. But if you like it, something's seriously wrong with you. Jesus said, no. You are brothers. You are equal. He. He. It's not a shame to call me a brother. Why should anybody think of me as anyone other than a brother? I praise the Lord. His words of humility. Second. His words were words of purity. Nothing unclean ever came out of his mouth. He would never crack a filthy joke. He would never laugh at a filthy joke. No. Purity. Total purity. And not just when we are in the presence of other believers. I think we are tested more when we are in the presence of unconverted, godless people in our office. With our relatives. With whom we want to be popular. When your boss cracks a dirty joke and you are afraid you won't get a promotion if you don't laugh at it and you laugh at it. You're telling God, God, I don't care whether you give me a promotion or not. I'm scared of this guy. Well, you'll get that promotion on earth. But you won't get it from God. You see how we ourselves are hindering our own spiritual progress and we cry out to God, Oh God, make me a spiritual man. Not in a hundred years. Because you want that promotion from that godless boss of yours. You want to please him and laugh at his dirty jokes. God says, OK, get that promotion on earth. How many of you will stand up for me there and say, I'm not going to laugh there and I'm not going to say any dirty joke. I don't want to be popular with my school friends or college. I'll tell you, I was in the Navy. One of the filthiest places you can work in. They'd call me Holy Joe and all types of names, but it didn't bother me. It just gave me a backbone which helped me in my Christian ministry. It made me upright. I was all alone most of the time on a ship. The only believer on the whole ship. But I'll tell you, you may be like that in your office. I'm not telling you what I haven't practiced myself. Stand for the Lord. And if you stand for the Lord, and I was 23, 24, you don't have to be 50 before you stand for the Lord. God will give you a ministry after he tests you for two or three years. Why not? I remember, I was baptized when I was 21 and the next three years, so many instances where I had to stand up and say, Lord, I had to say to my senior officers, I'm sorry sir, I can't do that. I'm a Christian. I wouldn't engage in all that filthy conversation that other people were engaged in. You know what is the result? In three and a half years after I was baptized, the Lord said, I'm calling you for my service. I was deeply humbled that God would deign to call me for his service. Dear brothers and sisters, I want to tell you God has something wonderful for you but it'll never be fulfilled in your life unless you stand up for what you know is right. Because that's where he tests you. I believe some of you will discover when you stand before the Lord that you missed what God had for you on earth because you wanted to please some human being. Let your words be pure words. And in Jesus' words of purity, I told you his purity included standing against every type of sin, every type of tradition. You know, one of the words the Lord's been speaking to my own heart recently as I've been reading the book of Jeremiah is this repeatedly a number of days the Lord's been speaking to this to my heart from Jeremiah and chapter 20 let me just find it Jeremiah chapter 21 say to verse 11 say to the household of the king of Judah hear the word of the Lord, O house of David, verse 12. Administer justice every morning and deliver the person who's been robbed from the power of his oppressor. It's one of the commands God gave in the Old Testament. Deliver people who are being robbed. Jeremiah tell the leaders deliver people who are being robbed from the power of those who are trying to rob them. And again chapter 22 verse 3 thus says the Lord, do justice and righteousness and deliver the one who's been robbed from the power of his oppressor. This is one of the major messages of the Old Testament prophets. You leaders there are people being robbed by oppressors deliver them. Who are the people being robbed in Christendom today? Poor people being robbed by their pastors who forced them to give money so that the pastors can live in grand style. From these poor people deliver those people who are being robbed from the power of their oppressor. I say Lord, I'll do it. I'm not interested in popularity. Jesus was like that. He turned to the Pharisees and says you squeeze money out of poor widows and turn them out of their houses and come and pray and praise God in the temple. You hypocrites how will you escape the damnation of hell? Those were pure words. You know why he could speak like that? Because he was not interested in anybody's money. You know you can make money with your speech. Everybody in the world knows that. There are great business consultants who charge a hundred thousand rupees for one lecture. How many words do they speak in a lecture? Each word is so valuable. One hour. True, that they'd write a book on it and those words come into a book and they get millions. And it's not just business consultants. Christian preachers. Their words. One hour message. Brother, what is your charge to come and speak a one hour message here? They've got a charge. Depending on how famous they are. They've got a royalty they collect from all their books they publish. Money from the words which God gave them. Money from the songs God gave them. Christian musicians. Becoming millionaires with money from the songs God gave them. Do they give that money back to God who gave them the song? No, no, no. They steal it from God. God gave it to them. It's like somebody, some company asked me to go and sell something for them. And I sell it and I keep the money to myself. Hey, it's not mine. The company gave me that product to sell it. I've got to give the company money back to the company. Who understands these things in our day? You can make money with your words. Written or spoken in Christendom. And that's why Christendom most people don't have an anointing from God. That's why there's no fire in many churches. They're only interested in large churches. The numbers increase, they're happy. Jesus was never interested in numbers. He was interested in quality. Disciples will follow him. His words were pure. He said, You've got to hate father, mother, brother, sister, wife and children if you want to be my disciple. You've got to forsake everything if you want to be my disciple. Pure words. May your words also be pure. Turn around to his closest co-worker Peter and say, Get behind me Satan. I don't care if you get offended Peter and leave me and go and join the Sadducees and Pharisees but I will not tolerate in my crowd those whose mind is set on their own interests and not the interests of God. Imagine if you began to preach like this in a church. You'd have a smaller church but a better church. That's why Jesus had eleven disciples who turned the world upside down. Today we have eleven million who don't even shake their surroundings. Christians. Because the words that come from the pulpit are not pure words. Number three, Jesus' words were words of, spiritual words, words of forgiveness. Words of humility, words of purity, words of forgiveness. He was always ready to forgive anyone. Think of the number of times he looked at people and said, Your sins are forgiven. Somebody else, your sins are forgiven. Somebody who didn't even ask for it, your sins are forgiven. Because Jesus saw the attitude of the man's heart. You know, I really appreciate that. He looks at the heart, he doesn't look at the words. He looks at the heart. If the heart is right, there's a song, one of the hymns which says, Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed. It's a hymn. Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed. It's from the heart. God listens to the heart. The Bible says in Romans 8 about the Holy Spirit praying with groanings which cannot be uttered. So, if there's a desire in my heart that God sees, I'm really sorry, it's forgiven. Jesus didn't go around saying that to everybody. But he could sense where a person had a broken heart, I'm sorry for sin, forgiven. A lot of other people who confess their sins, they're not forgiven. Because Jesus says they don't want to turn from their sins. They're just saying it as a ritual. So, his words were always forgiveness. He went around forgiving people everywhere. Always looking for an opportunity to forgive. He looked at Peter. It says when Peter denied the Lord three times, it says in Luke 22, the Lord turned and looked at him. How do you think he looked at him? Sternly? No. I think that was a forgiving love expressed in his face. It's alright, Peter. I forgive you. And that broke Peter's heart. He went out and wept bitterly. I want to ask you, is there somebody you know who's waiting for a look of forgiveness from you? Who hurt you? Maybe betrayed you, denied you, did something terrible. And maybe you've forgiven him or her in your heart. Good. But maybe they're waiting for a look of forgiveness as well. A word. Jesus is always ready to do that. If you want to be a spiritual person, allow the spirit of God to make you like Jesus Christ. That's what he's come on earth to do. He was poured out on the day of Pentecost for that. Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness. I thought of this, you know, if I said, if I were to go up to heaven today and I could see what God was doing in heaven, what type of prayers is he listening to on the earth? The uttered and unexpressed prayers coming up. I think that'd be a continuous stream. 24 hours from all corners of the earth. People praying, Oh Lord, forgive me for that. Oh Lord, forgive me for that. Oh Lord, forgive me for that. On the other side of the earth, Oh Lord, forgive me for that. And God, what's he saying in heaven? Forgiven, forgiven, forgiven, forgiven, forgiven, forgiven. Oh, that one there, forgiven, that one, forgiven, forgiven. I thought, that's what God is doing in heaven all the time. I said, Lord, make me like you. Many of us say, Lord Jesus, I want to be like you. Do you know what it really means? It means that you forgive a person straight away and you speak words of forgiveness. If you don't do that, all your prayer about wanting to be like Jesus is just a lot of nonsense. If you've forgiven your wife, your husband, for all the wrong things they said through many years, or did. And you know, you can forgive in two ways. You can forgive like the big Maharaja, benefactor. Okay, I forgive you. Not like that. As a broken sinner who's been forgiven much more by God. It's a different spirit altogether. Jesus was not a broken sinner. He was not. He never sinned at all. And look how he could forgive people in such a good way that sinners could come to him. And we who are sinners and who sin so much against God, how should we forgive others? As one who has experienced tremendous mercy from God ourselves. Then number four. Jesus' words were words of thankfulness. That's another thing that we need to learn. The spirit-filled life is a life of thankfulness. I told you, it's thankfulness to God, praising him for what he's done for us. Be filled with the spirit. It says in Ephesians 5.18 giving thanks. That's what it says a couple of verses down. He's giving thanks for everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Being filled with the spirit leads to giving thanks not only to God, but also to man. See Matthew and chapter 10, verse 42. Jesus said whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, I say to you, he will not lose his reward. Just meditate on that for a moment. In the year 40 A.D. Can you think back now? 40 A.D. Somebody gave a cup of cold water to Peter. Some guy. I don't even know who he is. Just a glass of water. Peter was walking down the road and he was tired and somehow somebody said, hey Peter, have a glass of cold water. You are a disciple of Jesus. That's all. Didn't give him any money, didn't give him anything. Years later, now we look forward to the future, the day when Jesus sets up his judgment seat and he calls this guy. That guy has forgotten what he did. Come here. You know in A.D. 40, you gave a cup of cold water to my apostle Peter. Did I do that Lord? I don't know. Well, here is your reward. I say Lord, make me like that. Thankful even if somebody has given me a cup of cold water and express it. We live in a world where people are totally unthankful. That's one of the proofs it's controlled by the devil. We have children growing up who are totally unthankful to their parents. Who never say thank you to their parents, even once in a year. For all the good that their parents have done to them. There are two times in a year when all my children say thank you to both Annie and me. One is on their birthday and the other is on our birthday. A good habit to develop. I'd advise to all of you on your birthday, on your dad's birthday, mom's birthday say a word of thank you. And if you want to learn how much you got to be thankful for, look at, see how little babies had to be cared for by their mothers. What a lot of things a mother has to do for that baby when it gets sick and remember your parents took care of you like that. Be thankful. Your parents may be unconverted, doesn't matter. Be thankful to them. You may convert them by your thankfulness. Be thankful to the brothers. I tell you among brothers, among believers we are thoroughly ungrateful to each other. Some unconverted person will do something else, we'll say thank you so much. But we take for granted so many things that people do. How thankful have you been for people in your church who've done something for you? Think about that. Have you ever written a thank you note to anybody in this church who did something for you? Even once? Leave alone once a year. Once in your life. It's because you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm not asking you to do it. I'm asking you to be filled with the Holy Spirit you'll automatically do it. I'm not telling you to put the cart before the horse. I'm not teaching psychology. Learn to be thankful. Say thank you to my uncle. Say thank you to auntie. Yeah, that's okay. I'm not saying that to you now. Brothers and sisters, say thank you to uncle. Say thank you to auntie. That's psychology. It's good. We have to teach our children to do that. But I'm asking you, put the horse in front of the cart. Be filled with the Holy Spirit and you will automatically be thankful. I know that's what God did for me. He made me like Jesus more and more and He made me thankful. Do you know I think I write sometimes to people once a year and people whom I'm not in regular contact with and tell them, I remember brother, twenty years ago you did this for me. You did this for my son. And I just want to say I haven't forgotten it. And the guy he probably forgot it himself. He suddenly remembers. Maybe a cup of cold water, something. I want to be like Jesus. What does it cost you? In the olden days, letters would cost you some rupees. Today, emails cost you nothing. And we still don't do it. To say a word of thank you, one sentence, is it all that difficult? Do you want to be like Jesus? Do you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit? A man who's not thankful, I'd say immediately he's not filled with the Holy Spirit. A man who takes others for granted. We go to doctors who did something for us, treated us and did some surgery. Anytime we see him, anywhere, thank you so much brother, you really did a great job in my body, I've been perfectly healthy. We never say that to people who bless us spiritually. Because we take it for granted. Who's the loser? You. And the other proof of that is shocking proof that you actually value your body more than your soul. You value those who treated your body, not those who protected your soul. Which proves that you're not as spiritual as you have been thinking you are. Okay. Jesus was thankful. Numbers 5, Jesus was always appreciated. He always appreciated people for anything that he saw worthy of appreciation. Roman centurion, Matthew 8. I've never seen such faith in all of Israel. Why don't we say such things? Because we are so spiritual, more spiritual than Jesus, in inverted commas. Because we think, oh I don't want his head to get puffed up. And even if we say it, we'll say it, brother, I don't want to puff you up, but I'd like to say this. Have you said like this? Hypocrite that you are, humbug that you are. Why not be like Jesus who never used that introductory paraphrase, I'm not flattering you, I don't want to puff you up, because I think you're pretty weak and you may have puffed up. Who was weaker than that Roman centurion who never read the Bible, unconverted, godless man who was fighting in the military? And Jesus never said, I don't want to puff you up, man. I know you're a military man, you get puffed up, but I don't want to puff you up. But I want to say that, you know, I think your faith is pretty good. We wouldn't even have said that. But here Jesus, without any introductory statements, hey, I've never seen such faith in all of Israel, and everybody's listening. Dear brother, get rid of all this artificial human culture. And humbug. Be like Jesus. Genuinely appreciate people, without all your introductory phrases trying to keep him humble. God will take care of that. He's more spiritual than you are. Appreciate people. That is unconverted. Do you appreciate unconverted people? I have learned to appreciate anyone, unconverted or converted. Where did I learn it from? Jesus. He would appreciate Peter. Oh, Peter, what a revelation you got. You know, I've heard sometimes people tell me, brother Jack, at last I saw the secret of victory over sin in Romans 6.40. I say, that's wonderful, you got revelation from God. You know, it's like, say, my third son or my fourth son comes to me and says, Dad, I finally understood how three into three is nine. Three multiplied by three is nine. I say, great, you understood that three multiplied by three is nine. I learned it years ago. But I'm excited somebody found it. Jesus was like that. Excited. Appreciating. Think of the churches in the book of Revelation. Some of them were so wretched. But if he found something good in them, he says, I know your works. I know you've been patient. But I've got something against you, I want to tell you that. And you're in pretty bad shape and I'll remove the lampstand from your midst. But before saying that, he appreciated. That is godliness. To see something in a person, not to flatter, but to appreciate what is genuinely good. To appreciate our children. Not when they come first in the class, but when they work hard, whatever rank they come. When they do something kind to somebody else. Appreciate it. Express your appreciation to your wife, who brings you a cup of coffee in the morning. Don't sit there like a Maharaja and say, oh. Oh, it's not thank you. That's by the way. Unless it's in some other language, in the jungle or something, I don't know. Learn to be appreciative to your husband who works so hard and earns so much money to take care of the family. Jesus blessed Nathaniel. There's an Israelite in whom there's no hypocrisy at all. Nathaniel, I just don't want you to get puffed up, but I just want to tell you none of that introduction. There's an Israelite in whom there's no guile. Was he perfect? No. Was Jesus afraid his head would get swollen? We are totally unlike Christ. With all our introductory phrases, all our humble humility, all our pride. It's all pride which prevents us from appreciating others. Only pride. If you were a humble person, you would appreciate. You would be thankful. Number six, Jesus spoke words of encouragement. Encouragement is different from appreciation. Encouragement is you know, someone is feeling down and out like Peter, you know. Don't worry Peter, I know you're going to deny me three times, but I have prayed for you. Do you know that one sentence, I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, is what lifted up Peter that night when he was totally shattered that he had denied the Lord three times. A word of encouragement. How much does it cost to go to a word of encouragement? I remember when I was a very young man, very insecure and not sure of myself and I was just beginning to serve the Lord. One much older godly brother put his hands on my shoulder and said, God's got a plan for your life. I was at some special meeting. I don't remember a single message I heard in that meeting, but I remember this one sentence this guy told me. It really lifted my spirit. It didn't buff me up, it just lifted my spirit. Hey, God's got a plan for my life. It's so easy to encourage our little children, to encourage children in the church. It's so easy to encourage others. Haven't we spent enough years criticizing, finding fault and pointing out all the faults in everybody? Why not finish with that now, with all this accusation spirit? Brother, sister, you've held hands with the devil enough number of years. Criticizing, accusing, finding fault. Why not just get rid of his hand at least now and say, now I'm going to hold hands with Jesus and start encouraging people who are discouraged. Joseph once saw two discouraged prisoners sitting in the jail you read in Genesis 40. He didn't even know who they were. I mean, he saw their face I mean, he had enough problems of his own, Joseph. Young, 28-year-old guy, his parents are far away in his unjustly jail. Well, he forgot about all that and he said, hey, why are you fellas discouraged? And he encouraged them and that, if you read the whole story, was his introduction to Pharaoh to stand there and become the ruler of Egypt. You know that amazing ministries can open up for you, if you just start encouraging somebody else. You not only bless them, but your life will be changed. Finally, seven Jesus words were words of faith. Always. Whatever the problem, storm in the sea, never mind. Let's take it to God. No food enough for people, never mind, let's take it to God. Somebody is terribly sick, never mind, take it to God. You're a demon possessed child, you can't know what to do with it. Oh Lord, if you can do anything. No, not if I can. If you can believe. I want to be like that. I don't want to be, spread the gloom of unbelief. Unbelief is like the poisonous fumes that come out of the auto rickshaws and come out of the lorries when you drive behind them. You want to put a mask on your face. I want to put a mask on my face when I go around Christendom and hear so many people say, oh brother, things are so terrible we don't know what's going to happen. I want to put a mask on my all around my face and say, I don't want to listen to all this. I don't want to listen to all this. The fumes of unbelief. I don't want it. Jesus spoke words of faith, always encouraged, lifted up people's spirits. It can be done. God can do it. Nothing is impossible with God. Let those words be on our mouth more frequently because of the words of Jesus. Nothing is impossible with God. Is anything too hard for the Lord? No. All things are possible if you can believe. There it is. All things are possible if you can believe. I'm not talking about positive thinking. I'm talking about quoting the words of Jesus. Always speaking words of faith. He was always like that. Any situation. There's not enough wine for the feast. Never mind. We'll deal with that. Never once do you find Jesus sitting, oh, what to do there? I just don't know. That's tough. Not even once. Never be like that yourself. I never want to be like that. People come to me with all types of problems. You can imagine that. They email me. They telephone me. I never speak words of unbelief. I say God can solve every problem. I believe that. I've experienced it for 47 years as a believer myself. I want to say to every one of you what Jesus would say. Don't be afraid. Only believe. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. How many times he said that? How many times have you said that to other people? Don't be afraid. Let's trust God here. Oh, brother, the doctors have given up hope. Okay. What to do, brother? No. Let the doctors give up hope. God hasn't given up hope for you. Don't be afraid. Only believe. Oh, brother, but you haven't seen the reports yet. No, I don't care about the reports. Don't be afraid. Only believe. Is that scriptural or not? What do you think? That's a word made flesh. So, I hope you got it. That's how Jesus spoke. Let's remember that and say, Lord, that's how I want to live. That's how I want to speak. It's a vow before God. Heavenly Father, as we bow before you, we want to speak words of faith all the time, words of encouragement, words of appreciation, words of thankfulness, words of forgiveness, words of purity, words of humility, always, all the time. Make us like you, Lord Jesus. Fill us with the Holy Spirit, otherwise it will never work, I know. We're not trying to learn a technique. We want a hunger and thirst for a spirit-filled life. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for hearing us. Amen.