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Holiness and the Presence of Jesus
Zac Poonen

Zac Poonen (1939 - ). Christian preacher, Bible teacher, and author based in Bangalore, India. A former Indian Naval officer, he resigned in 1966 after converting to Christianity, later founding the Christian Fellowship Centre (CFC) in 1975, which grew into a network of churches. He has written over 30 books, including "The Pursuit of Godliness," and shares thousands of free sermons, emphasizing holiness and New Testament teachings. Married to Annie since 1968, they have four sons in ministry. Poonen supports himself through "tent-making," accepting no salary or royalties. After stepping down as CFC elder in 1999, he focused on global preaching and mentoring. His teachings prioritize spiritual maturity, humility, and living free from materialism. He remains active, with his work widely accessible online in multiple languages. Poonen’s ministry avoids institutional structures, advocating for simple, Spirit-led fellowships. His influence spans decades, inspiring Christians to pursue a deeper relationship with God.
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Sermon Summary
This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking the presence of the Lord in the new covenant, contrasting it with the Old Testament practices of external righteousness and doctrinal correctness. It highlights the need to desire Jesus above all earthly things, focusing on genuine holiness that cleanses the inner life. The speaker urges the audience to prioritize meeting with Jesus over external achievements or doctrines, emphasizing the transformative power of the Holy Spirit's presence.
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In the Old Testament, they could not meet with the Lord, they could only hear his message through his servant. In the Old Testament, they could not meet with the Lord. They could not meet with the Lord. This is one of the big differences in the new covenant. So, I find many believers are happy that they have heard a message. Maybe a very stirring message. And there are many preachers and pastors who can preach stirring messages. That is not a spiritual gift always. There are politicians who can speak in such a powerful way that for two hours people are held captive listening to them. So, whether they are preaching politics or Christianity, that is a human ability. But in the new covenant, the purpose of our coming together is to meet with the Lord, not just to hear a message. But in the new covenant, the purpose of our coming together is to meet with the Lord, not just to hear a message. See, 1 Corinthians 14, it speaks about the whole church assembling together in verse 23. See, 1 Corinthians 14, it speaks about the whole church assembling together in verse 23. Verse 23, the whole church is assembling together. And if everybody speaks in tongues, they will not say the Lord is in your midst, they will say you are mad. And if everybody speaks in tongues, they will not say the Lord is in your midst, they will say you are mad. Today, there are many churches, when they come together, they all speak in tongues. Today, there are many churches, when they come together, they all speak in tongues. But what do those believers say? But what do those believers say? They say, the Lord is here. They say, the Lord is here. No, that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says they are mad. The Bible says they are mad. You recognize that. You recognize that. That's why we don't do that. That's why we don't do that. But, when you come together, people prophesy, verse 24. But, when you come together, people prophesy, verse 24. That was Old Testament prophecy. That was Old Testament prophecy. In the New Testament, prophecy is described here in verse 3 as speaking to edify, exhort and console. In the New Testament, prophecy is described here in verse 3 as speaking to edify, exhort and console. Even today, there are millions of believers who will not accept the biblical definition of prophecy in that verse. But believe what some preacher tells them, some pastor tells them. But believe what some preacher tells them, some pastor tells them. If you don't believe me, go to any Pentecostal man and ask him what he understands by prophecy. If you don't believe me, go to any Pentecostal man and ask him what he understands by prophecy. They will never quote verse 3 here. They will never quote verse 3 here. Their entire understanding of prophecy is Old Covenant. Their entire understanding of prophecy is Old Covenant. Therefore, they are deceived. But here is the Holy Spirit's definition of prophecy in the New Covenant. I grew up in the Orthodox Church and I had not read the Bible when I was born again. After I was born again in six months I read through the whole Bible and then I studied it intensely for the next seven years and I made one decision then, that I don't care which church, Orthodox, Catholic, Pentecostal, anything, teaches something, if it is not in the Word of God, I will not accept it. I want to tell you, after 57 years of being a believer, that decision has saved my life. You know Romans 3.3 says, let all God be true and every man a liar. That has been my position, Romans 3.4, let God be true and everybody else is a liar. So, I don't know how many of you sitting here take that position. God's Word is true, everything else is false. I don't care which preacher preaches it. I don't care which man with whatever gift says it, if it is not in the Word of God, I don't accept it. We need more people like the Berean Christians who would not accept even what Paul said, till they checked in the Scriptures. You read that in Acts 17. They heard Paul speak. And then they went and checked the Scriptures during the next week. Because they didn't have a Bible like this those days. They had only a scrolled parchment in the synagogue of the Bible. So, if they wanted to check those 39 books in the Bible, they had to go to the synagogue and check. So, if they wanted to check those 39 books in the Bible, they had to go to the synagogue and check. So, they would tell Paul, praise the Lord, glad to hear you, but we will come back and tell you next week whether we believe you or not. That is what protected them. And that is what has protected me. And if you take that attitude, it will protect you, otherwise you will be thoroughly deceived. Even if I say something, check with the Word of God. Paul said in Galatians 1, even if an angel comes and says something, don't believe it, if it is not in God's Word. Let him be accursed, if it is not according to the Scriptures. Let him be cursed, that angel. How many of you have that attitude? The only way is if you study the Scriptures carefully. So, here it says, if people prophesy in the church, that means they speak God's Word to challenge and comfort and build up. Then what will happen? Verse 25, the secrets of people's hearts are made manifest. You will discover secret sins in your life that you never knew before. Wrong attitude. It will be revealed to you in your heart. The person sitting next to you doesn't know what God is saying to you. But as you hear God's Word, it will convict you. And what will you say? You will not say, that was a good message. You will say in verse 25, God is certainly here. So, in the new covenant we don't meet a message, we meet with God. In the new covenant we don't meet a message, we meet with God. That is the new covenant in reality. If everyone speaks in tongues, they are mad, that's what the Holy Spirit who gave the gift of tongues is saying. But if the Word of God is preached, and people meet with God, that's how it must be in every meeting of ours. We go away saying, I met with Jesus. See Luke chapter 24. We read about a time when, after the resurrection, two disciples, I think they were husband and wife, walking towards Emmaus. We read about a time when, after the resurrection, two disciples, I think they were husband and wife, walking towards Emmaus. They were living in the same house. They must have been husband and wife walking back home. And Jesus walked with them. And the whole distance, it says in verse 13, was 7 miles or about 11 kilometers. It says it was 7 miles or about 11 kilometers. That must have taken them 3 hours. To walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. For 3 hours, Jesus walked with them. But they did not see him. They did not know who he was. They saw a man, but they didn't know it was Jesus. They saw a man walking with them, but they didn't know it was Jesus. What did Jesus speak to them for 3 hours? Verse 27. From Moses and the prophets. That means from Genesis to Malachi. That means from Genesis to Malachi. Jesus took a 3 hour Bible study through the Bible from Genesis to Malachi. Jesus took a 3 hour Bible study through the Bible from Genesis to Malachi. Jesus walked with them through that Bible. That must have been a wonderful Bible study. That must have been a blessed Bible study. And every book, he said, speaks concerning Jesus. Jesus told them about every book. He pointed to this book and it speaks about Jesus. It speaks about me. Verse 27. And they said afterwards. And they said afterwards. That when we heard him, verse 32. That when we heard him, verse 32. Our hearts were burning within us. As he explained the scriptures to us. As he explained the scriptures to us. Our hearts were burning within us. That's wonderful to hear the word of God in such a way that our hearts burn within us when we hear the scriptures. That's wonderful to hear the word of God in such a way that our hearts burn within us when we hear the scriptures. That is the mark of Jesus speaking. That is the mark of Jesus speaking. When Jesus speaks, our hearts burn within us. When Jesus speaks, our hearts burn within us. Anyone who preaches must have that longing. Anyone who preaches must have that longing. That has been my longing for many many years. That has been my longing for many many years. I said Lord, I want you to speak through me. So that people's hearts will burn when they hear the word of God. So that people's hearts will burn when they hear the word of God. But that's not enough. Their hearts burned but they didn't see Jesus. Their hearts burned but they didn't see Jesus. And so, the Lord wanted to lead them further. He went into their home. Then verse 31, the eyes were opened and they saw him. So that's where the Bible study must end. That our hearts burned, ultimately we have met with Jesus himself. That is how a New Testament church meeting must be. That's been my longing. Every church meeting Lord, people's hearts must burn when they hear the word of God and they go away having met with Jesus. Their eyes are opened to see Jesus. No, that doesn't depend entirely on the preacher. It depends on the person. See, these two people had a great longing. These two disciples. When Jesus was going away, they said no, stay back. We read in the 28th verse that Jesus showed them the way forward. When he showed them the way forward, they said, stop, park with us. They forced him to park with them. Then Jesus said, no, I'll go. Again he said, I'll go. No, stay. No, it's something like when God told Jacob, I'm going, Jacob said, no, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And it is such people who meet with Jesus. And only people who have such a longing to meet with Jesus in this conference will meet with him. The rest will say, our hearts burned because it was a good conference. Or I learned something new. It all depends on you. You can either learn something new or have your hearts burned or meet with Jesus. I'm not interested in learning something new from the Bible. I'm interested in meeting with Jesus when I read the Bible. A lot of people study the Bible to learn something new so that they can preach and get some honor. When I was young, I was like that. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. When I was young, I was like that. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I want to show you an Old Testament example. Exodus 33. You know, in chapter 32, we read, they made the golden calf and started worshipping him. And God was very angry with them. And he wanted to destroy those 20 lakhs of people there. There were 20 lakh Israelites. He wanted to destroy all of them. And Moses pleaded with them and pleaded with God and God said, I will not. And then God said, chapter 33 verse 1. Okay, you can go now. Go into the land that I promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I will not come with you. I will send an angel. I will not come with you. I am tired of your sinning attitude. I am holy and I cannot come with all of you. But I will send an angel. I will not forsake you. I will send an angel. You will still, with that angel, you will still drive out, verse 2, the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And you will still possess that land, verse 3, still you will possess the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you. They could have said, that's fine. We will defeat all the enemies. We will get this land flowing with milk and honey. That's all we want. That's how many believers are. Lord, you blessed us. You will even give us victory over sin. Wonderful. What more do we want? You gave us revelation on your word. Blessed us in so many ways. Are you happy? All the Israelites would have been happy. But Moses said, verse 15, Lord, I am not interested in all this. If your presence is not coming with us, I don't even want to move from here. I don't want a land flowing with milk and honey. I live in this desert all my life. Your presence is more important to me than defeating the enemies and land flowing with milk and honey. You know, that is the type of man who meets with God. And if you are like that, you will meet with God. Not just in the conference, but all the time. Your greatest longing must be to have the presence of Jesus with you. I have often said this, I am not interested in going to heaven. I don't think I have ever been interested in going to heaven. I want to be with Jesus. Location is not important. See, if I go to my house and my wife is not there, the place is empty. What is important to me, the house or the person? What is important to me in heaven? I am not interested in mansions or crowns. I say, you can have all of that. I say, Lord, I want to be with you. I say, Lord, I am ready to go to hell if you are there. To me, the fire and worms don't disturb me. The presence of Jesus will make heaven for me. And this is why I already have a foretaste of heaven now. I want, particularly you young people, I wish you would long to have the presence of Jesus with you always. Then when you read the scriptures, your hearts will burn, of course. But more than that, the presence of Christ will be there. See, one of the results of that. See Psalm 16. Psalm 16 verse 11. The last part. In thy presence is fullness of joy. There are many people who read that word which says, rejoice in the Lord always. Always means 24 hours every day. And many people say, is that possible? In thy presence there is fullness of joy. If you long for the presence of the Lord as most important in your life, it is possible. Lord, I never want to lose your presence. Do you know that the slightest sin can make you lose the presence of the Lord? Like this electric wire, if it is cut, power is gone. You don't have to make a big gap, just a slight cut and it's over. Sin is like that. The reason I want to be completely free from sin is because I want the presence of the Lord all the time. I am not satisfied with defeating the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites. I am not even interested in a land flowing with milk and honey. I say, Lord, if you don't go with us, I would rather stay in the wilderness. That is what made Moses the man of God that he was. I find so many believers are not like that today. Do you have interest in gifts of the Spirit and experiences and seeing angels and visions and all that? No. To me, it is the presence of Jesus which is most important. And when I have made that my priority, I have discovered I can rejoice in the Lord 24 hours. I think of that sometimes when I am sick and you can't sleep and you got fever and cold and all that. And I ask myself, Lord, can I rejoice in you right now? Sure. Because the Lord hasn't changed. My physical condition may change but the Lord hasn't changed. So, I refuse to rejoice in my physical condition. I rejoice in the Lord. You know, in the western lands, when people are married in a wedding, their vows are like this. It is not exactly like that how we do it in our vows in our church. They say, in sickness and in health, I will be true to you. Husband and wife will say to each other, in poverty and in wealth, I will be true to you. Even though we don't say that in our vows, we mean that also. So, that's how we can say to the Lord. There is also a marriage we have with Jesus. Poverty and wealth makes no difference. When a couple love each other, these things are unimportant. That is how our relationship with Jesus must be. I wish every one of you, my dear brothers and sisters, will live in such a relationship with Jesus Christ. So, I want to share a few things concerning genuine holiness. Genuine holiness is having the presence of the Lord with us all the time. But you can't have that unless you long for that more than everything else. Genuine holiness is not just overcoming anger, or overcoming dirty thoughts, or don't watch pornography anymore, or have no jealousy, no bitterness. No one is the presence of Jesus with me all the time. If you don't have that, that's not genuine holiness. Because these external things, you know, some of those things even people who practice yoga can get it. There was a brother who came to our church from Hinduism who said, I overcame anger before I came to the church. I practiced yoga and I overcame anger. But where did he overcome it? In the tongue. Anger was still in his heart. Yoga does not cleanse your heart. Yoga keeps the snakes all locked up inside, but no snake is allowed to come outside through the tongue. To other people, it looks like victory. The chef never loses his temper. Don't be deceived by that. If you have locked up all the snakes inside, don't think you have got victory. It's good that you don't let the snakes come outside and bite others. But seek the Lord to cleanse your heart. Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be satisfied. See, to hunger and thirst for righteousness is not controlling my tongue. That is second best. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness is that there will be no snake inside my heart. There is no anger in my heart towards this person. Not just that I control my tongue. I say that because some of you may be deceived about victory over sin, that I control my tongue, I got victory. No. Then you are a good Buddhist, not disciple of Jesus. Disciple of Jesus, his heart is free from anger. Ecclesiastes, it says, anger dwells in the heart of a fool. And if the anger is there and he controls his tongue, that is not genuine holiness. That's why Jesus said, avoiding adultery on the outside is not holiness. It's being delivered from it inside, that is holiness. So this is very important to understand. What is the difference between Jesus and the Pharisees? The Pharisees had a holiness, it was a false holiness. Jesus had the true holiness. So I want to show you two certificates that Jesus gave to the Pharisees. Good certificates. We think that Jesus only condemned the Pharisees for everything. Among all the things that he condemned them for, he appreciated two good things. Matthew 23. This chapter is full of the things he pointed out were wrong in the Pharisees. But in the middle of that he said two things. One, that doctrine was 100% correct. Verse 2 and 3, he told his disciples, the scribes and Pharisees are sitting in the chair of Moses. Everything, everything that they tell you to do, do. Everything. Don't do according to the actions. What they tell you to do is 100% correct. So what he is saying is, that doctrine is 100% right. So that is the first certificate Jesus gave. Their doctrine is 100% right. Isn't that a good certificate to get from Jesus, your doctrine is 100% right? Jesus will never say like this, whatever the Catholics tell you to do, do. They tell you to pray to Mary, pray to Mary. He will never say verse 3, all that they tell you to do, do. He will not say all that the CSI people tell you to do, do. If they baptize infants, it's okay. No. It's a very strong statement. Everything they tell you to do, do. All that the Pentecostals tell you to do, do. Speak in tongues without any interpretation in public. That is madness. We saw that already. Jesus will not say, that's okay. So, which group can Jesus say, all that they tell you to do, do? Only those who are taking scripture exactly and obeying it exactly. Who will say, yes, if everybody speaks in tongues in church, that's madness. Because the Bible says that. Have you ever heard any preacher say that? In the brethren assemblies they may say that. But then in the same chapter it also says, don't forbid to speak in tongues. That the brethren won't agree. The brethren won't agree on that. So, many Christians are selective. They will take this verse and neglect that verse. The Pentecostals will take, don't forbid to speak in tongues. But they will take the other verse which says, if everybody speaks in tongues, they are mad. What about you? I hope you take every word of scripture. Otherwise, the Pharisees are better than you. Because Jesus said, everything they tell you to do, do. I want the Lord to say that about me and my teaching. I say, Lord, can you tell people to do everything that I teach them? Everything. Then I'm okay. But I can still be a Pharisee. Because that is not enough. Here's a second certificate. Pharisees. Verse 25. In the middle of that verse, you Pharisees, you clean the outside of the cup. Inside is all dirty. That means their external life is absolutely clean. Now, if the Lord said to you, your external life is absolutely clean, is that a good certificate or not? You don't smoke, you don't drink, you don't gamble, you don't go to the movies. You don't commit adultery. Externally, your life is clean. I think that's a very good certificate. I don't think the Lord can give that certificate to many Christians. Your external life is absolutely clean. Not what people can see, but also the other parts of your external life which only the Lord can see. My external life. So what are the two things the Pharisees had which are good? Their doctrine was absolutely right. They did not add or subtract from the scriptures. And their external life was absolutely clean. So, if you have these two qualities, you can still be a Pharisee. And that is not genuine holiness. Do you recognize that? I have a fear that many people in our CFC churches glory in these two things. We follow the scriptures exactly. We have a balanced understanding of everything in the scriptures. It may be true, good. Secondly, we say our external testimony is very good. Nobody complains that we cheat others or borrow and don't return money. Nobody complains that we take people to court or create problems for others. We don't go around speaking evil of others. Our external life is clean. Our doctrine is right. With these two things have some of you gloried that I am a holy person. These are essential. But there is one more thing that I need which will deliver me from Pharisees. That is our inside of the cup must be clean. Like I said, not deliverance from anger in the tongue but deliverance from anger in the heart. So, among all of us sitting here, if your doctrine is right and your external life is clean, please say to yourself, I might still be a Pharisee. Let me examine myself and see whether my inner life is also clean. It's very easy to be deceived. You know, when God filled me again with the Holy Spirit 41 years ago, before that I had a period of double life. From the time I was born again, for 16 years, my external life was clean. My doctrines were right. Nobody could say anything against my external life all those years. In relation to money or women or anything. And nobody could point out a wrong doctrine. I studied the scripture carefully. But my inner life inside of my cup was dirty. I never knew in those days that still made me a Pharisee. But I was so fed up of my defeated life. I said, Lord, I am preaching but my inner life inside of the cup is dirty. And I discovered I could preach powerfully with a dirty cup, inside of the cup dirty. And I got so fed up with it. This is 1974, 42 years ago. I said, Lord, I am going to give up preaching. Because I don't want to be a hypocrite. I will go and take a secular job and sit in the back of a church and be a good Christian. But I will not preach what is not true in my life. Unless you do one thing for me. You got to fill me with the Holy Spirit. I had already experienced a fullness of the Holy Spirit before. But I had gone back. And I said, Lord, you got to fill me again. And lead me higher than I am being so far. And I said, Lord, I ask you for only one thing. Only one thing. I don't want anything in the world. I don't want money, I don't want honor. I don't even want a ministry. Only one thing. That my inner life will correspond with what I am speaking. That my inner life will be as clean as my outer life. That I can invite anyone to come inside my thoughts or into my heart and see what my inner life is like. Or invite anyone to come to my home and see how I behave there or talk to my wife or anything. Or invite anyone to come and see my finances and see how I handle money. In other words, I want to be like transparent glass where you can see right through. Most people are not like transparent glass. They are like this frosted glass where you can't see very clearly inside. That's not a true Christian. I am a true Christian. It must be a plain glass with nothing inside that I am ashamed of. I said, if you do that for me Lord, I will continue to preach. Otherwise I am quitting. I was desperate. I would fast and pray and really seek God for the fullness of the Holy Spirit. I am very sad to see that hunger and thirst for the fullness of the Holy Spirit is not there in many of us. The church was born not through a lot of preaching but through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost it was not some new teaching that planted the church but the baptism in the Holy Spirit. When I go back 41 years ago to when CFC Bangalore started, it was through two of us brothers baptized in the Holy Spirit the church was born. Many of the teachings of overcoming sin and the new covenant life came afterwards. That did not come first. The first was the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Today I find many people in our churches, they understand about new covenant. They understand about victory over sin. They understand about building the body of Christ. Understanding is clear. But the anointing of the Holy Spirit is missing. It is like a polished lamp without any fire. There is no light in the lamp. Building completed. Light fittings are all there but electricity power is not being connected yet. That is exactly how many believers in our churches are. All the electronic gadgets are there. Unlike other denominations where some of these gadgets are missing. What is the advantage? There is no power here, there is no power there. You know I think sometimes some of us are glorying compared to other denominations. We have a gadget you don't have. Think of a doctrine as an electronic gadget. We have a latest computer and you have some old fashioned computers. We have got the latest washing machine. What is the use of all that? If there is no electric power, there is no difference between this church and any other church which has no gadgets, no doctrines. When the Lord said to Moses, My presence will go with you. To me in the New Testament that is the constant fullness of the Holy Spirit. Because it is the Spirit of God that brings the presence of Jesus to us. If I am filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is with me and I am aware of it. It is not just that I have gifts. Gifts are an extra. Like Paul said, I thank God I speak in tongues. And I thank God he has given me a gift to preach the word. But if the presence of Jesus is not there, I don't value these things. I will give up these things any day to have the presence of Jesus. Lord, I am willing to give up speaking in tongues. I am willing to give up my preaching gift. I am even willing to give up health and money and everything. I don't want to lose the presence of Jesus. Do you long for the presence of Jesus like that? Then you will have him. That is what Moses said. Lord, I am not interested in just defeating the Canaanites, the Hittites and the Amorites. I am not interested in a land flowing with milk and honey. I am not even interested in seeing an angel. You know, today there are many people who say, I was praying and I saw an angel. And they testify about that. Somebody else testifies they saw two angels. We don't know because the devil comes like an angel of light also. Maybe two devils they saw. I am not excited by these things. The presence of Jesus. Not even my heart burning like those disciples on the road to Emmaus. But to see our eyes opened and to see Jesus. When we get to heaven, I am not going to find out whether all my doctrines were right. I will be longing to see Jesus when I get there. I am not going to find out, Lord, this thing I preached, was it correct or not? And then some people glory in how many people they brought to Christ. I have no interest in that. But the presence of Jesus, value that more than anything else. See one Old Testament man who had this New Testament attitude. Psalm 73. His name was Asaph. Have you heard of him? We have heard of David. Have you heard of Asaph? He must have been a fantastically Godly man. Fantastically Godly man. Because he said in verse 25, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And I desire nothing on earth besides Thee. I only want You. On earth and in heaven. I am not looking for anyone or anything on earth but You. And in heaven also I am not looking for anyone but You. My dear brothers and sisters, let me ask you. Can you honestly say that right now? Many of you have desires. Earthly desires. I want a better house. I want a car. If you have a car, you want a better one. Or some other thing. Some of you ladies may desire some clothes. Or little more money. Some of you young people, you want to get some big admission in some big college. Or you want to be a doctor. You will never never in your life be a disciple of Jesus. I have to tell you the truth. Even if you attend CFC all your life, if you desire anything other than Jesus, you cannot be a disciple. And you will not have genuine holiness. You will control your anger and do a few good things which gives you a good testimony before men. I urge you, my brothers and sisters, examine your private life. You know, if you have only Jesus, you will find that He is more than enough. Everything else is extra. When Jesus said, seek the kingdom of God first, and His righteousness, do you know the 1 Corinthians 1, it says, Christ is my righteousness. 1 Corinthians 1 says, Christ is my righteousness. Righteousness is not a thing. Righteousness is not this thing plus that thing plus that thing plus that thing. Righteousness. No. Christ is our righteousness. See 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 and verse 30. Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness. So what is my righteousness? It's not overcoming anger and overcoming lust. It's Jesus Christ. Where I desire only Christ and nothing else. That is seeking God's kingdom and His righteousness. Then all the other earthly things I need will be added to me. I have been in full time Christian work for 50 years. I don't send any reports of my work anywhere. I have never thought about churches. I have never in my life told my needs to any human being. But I have never lacked anything. I am not the richest person in CFC churches. But I have enough for my needs. I have enough for food and clothing and house to live in and house to educate my children. All my needs are met. That is secondary. But I have Jesus. Because I am taken up with Him, these other things God just takes care of. When I say to Jesus, I desire nothing but You Lord. Earth or in heaven, He adds the other things. I want to say to all of you, at the end of your earthly life, I don't know how long you will live. I am 76. If you come to my age, you can say, I spent my life seeking Jesus Christ. Desiring nothing but Him. And He added all that I needed to me. That should be a wonderful testimony. I hope you have that testimony. Not just that you had your doctrines right and your external life right. This is so important my dear brothers. That the presence of Jesus is my holiness. That is genuine holiness. Like I said, that is what made Moses the man of God that he was. He was the greatest man of God in Old Testament times. In the New Testament, we think of Paul like that. So let's see what Paul says. Philippians 3, he says there are many things I could boast about. Verse 5, he was a Pharisee. That means his doctrines were right, his outside life was clean. And verse 6, last part, according to the righteousness of the Old Testament standard, I was 100%. 100 out of 100. What a man. You know the rich young ruler came to Jesus and Jesus said, keep the commandments. He said, I have kept this from my childhood. What a man. 100% from childhood. Paul said in Acts 23.1, I lived with a good conscience all my life. You and I don't have that testimony. How many of us can say from my childhood I have always lived with a good conscience? I can't say that. I don't know if any of you can say that. Paul could say that. He was a fantastically God fearing person from childhood. That's why he says according to the righteousness in the law, 100%. But the rich young ruler had something he valued on earth, money. But the rich young ruler had something he valued on earth, money. And the Lord said, give that up, you can have me. He said no. But when it came to Paul, he said, gladly I will give up everything else. But when it came to Paul, he said, gladly I will give up everything else. Paul was from a very rich family. The Jewish people who went to Tarsus were all rich businessmen. He had a fantastic amount of money. The moment he became a Christian, he lost his inheritance, he lost everything. He said, fine. There are some families, there are some brothers who come from non-Christian homes who lost everything when they became Christians. Many of you young people here have not experienced that. That's why I have a lot of respect for people who have come from non-Christian homes who lost their inheritance, lost their family connection, lost everything when they came to Christ. lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family connection, lost their family
Holiness and the Presence of Jesus
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Zac Poonen (1939 - ). Christian preacher, Bible teacher, and author based in Bangalore, India. A former Indian Naval officer, he resigned in 1966 after converting to Christianity, later founding the Christian Fellowship Centre (CFC) in 1975, which grew into a network of churches. He has written over 30 books, including "The Pursuit of Godliness," and shares thousands of free sermons, emphasizing holiness and New Testament teachings. Married to Annie since 1968, they have four sons in ministry. Poonen supports himself through "tent-making," accepting no salary or royalties. After stepping down as CFC elder in 1999, he focused on global preaching and mentoring. His teachings prioritize spiritual maturity, humility, and living free from materialism. He remains active, with his work widely accessible online in multiple languages. Poonen’s ministry avoids institutional structures, advocating for simple, Spirit-led fellowships. His influence spans decades, inspiring Christians to pursue a deeper relationship with God.