In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of facing difficult situations in order to truly know and understand God. He states that it is in the storms of life that we learn about the power and faithfulness of God. The speaker encourages the audience to continue taking steps of obedience and not to view baptism as the end of their journey. He shares the example of the Apostle Paul, who faced numerous trials and hardships, yet remained faithful to God and even converted Roman soldiers while in prison. The speaker concludes by highlighting the promise in Romans 8:28, that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Let's turn again to Hebrews, in chapter eight. We were looking at how God has abolished the old covenant and established a new agreement with man. And if we live in this new agreement, we can get everything that God has promised under it in our life. If we have faith, if we understand the terms of this new covenant, we saw that the emphasis in the new covenant was not on what we are to do, but on what God has promised to do for us. In the old covenant, the emphasis was on what we must do, what man has to do. You shall not do this and you shall not do that. And why was it proved to be faulty? Because it only showed man's inability to rise up to God's standards. By the law came the knowledge of sin. All the law was like a mirror. The Bible says that the law was like a mirror. And all that a mirror can do is show me all the dirt on my face. It can't wipe it away. And that's all the law did. And if you look at the law, it will show you how dirty you are. That's about it. And it showed me how helpless I was to live up to God's standards. But God has made a new covenant where He says, I will cleanse away that dirt which the mirror shows on my face. The Lord says, I'll wipe it off, I'll cleanse it away. I'll cleanse your heart so thoroughly, so perfectly. There won't even be a memory of what was done in the past in my mind anyway. I will not remember. God does not look upon us once we have confessed our sin and turned to Him and asked the blood of Christ to cleanse us. God doesn't look upon us anymore as those who did that then and that way back there. And the second thing we saw yesterday was that under the new covenant, God says that we wouldn't have to teach everyone, our fellow citizens, our neighbors or our brothers, saying, know the Lord, because everyone would personally know the Lord without any secretary or pastor or preacher in between. You didn't need to have a prophet to come and tell you what God's will was because we would all have the Holy Spirit. And we could access our Father directly through Jesus Christ. We could go to Jesus directly. And God is very jealous that we don't go to someone else. He wants us to go directly to Him. He doesn't want us to go through somebody. The relationship in the new covenant between Jesus Christ and man is like a husband and wife. And when a husband and wife talk to each other, they can talk to each other. They don't need a secretary in between. They speak to each other intimately, closely, without anybody in between. That's exactly the relationship that God wants you to have with Jesus Christ. And He doesn't want any preacher in between you and Jesus Christ. That's like a secretary between a wife and her husband. What do you think a husband will feel if some secretary comes between him and his wife? That's exactly how Jesus feels when some man puts himself between you and Christ. Don't allow that to happen. No man is to come between you and Christ. You are to have a direct connection with Jesus Christ, the Head. There is no Moses, no high priest today. Christ is the high priest. You go directly to Him. Lots and lots of believers are living under the old covenant because they were not told of the freedom and liberty and provisions God has made in the new covenant. The other thing God says here in verse 10 we want to look at is God says, I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them upon their hearts. You see, in the Old Testament, God wrote the laws on two tablets of stone. And those two tablets of stone are replaced now by my mind and my heart. God says, I will write my laws upon your mind and your heart. You couldn't keep my laws under the old covenant, but now I'm going to write it so that from within I will give you my spirit, I'll give you my nature and I'll give you the desire and the ability to do my will. You know, there are two things we lack even when we know God's will, what it is. God's will is very clearly revealed in Scripture. There are two things we need still. However clearly you may hear a message in a meeting, lots of us have gone to many, many meetings and we have heard very clearly what God's will is. But there are two things we need. One is a passion or a desire to do it. And the other is the ability to do it. Those are the two things we need. And we have found in the past many times when we have heard the word of God, we say, yes, it's right, but after some time we find there is no desire to do it. There is no, and if we want to do it also, we don't have the strength to do it. So what is God saying? God says, I will write, I will put my laws into your mind. If I were to paraphrase that, that means I will give you the desire to do my will. And then He says, I will write my laws upon your heart. And that means God says, I'll give you the ability to do my will. Now, once God has put within me the desire to do His will and the ability to do His will, my problem is solved. This was a problem that the law could never solve. The law only told you, do it. This is God's will. Do it. And we couldn't do it. And now in the new covenant, God says He's going to do it. And He does it by the Holy Spirit. That's what it says here in Hebrews 8. Now, I want you to turn to Philippians and chapter 2, and you see the same thing there which God says He will do. Now, you see, the wonderful thing about knowing what God has promised to do is that we can go to Him and ask Him to do it. Now, a lot of people are asking God to do things which He's not promised to do. There's a lot of teaching on faith today, which is mainly teaching people to claim material things and physical healing. A lot of things which God is not... I mean, God may do it, but He's not promised to do it. He may give you a car or a house, but there's no promise in the Scripture which says He'll give you a car. I know millions of Christians in India who don't have a car. If there was a promise like that in the Bible, they'd all have got it. But people are teaching people to claim these things. But there are certain things God has promised. And then it doesn't matter whether you're in India or Canada or Africa or in some jungle. God will still do it for you if He's promised. There are lots of things He's not promised which He gives you like, well, that's all an extra. And those are obviously the things that are not important. You can live without a car. People have lived on earth for more than 5,000 years without cars. But these are the things God's promised. Christians have lived for more than 1,600 years without cars. But here's something that God promised all Christians right from the time of Pentecost. Philippians 2, it says here that God works in us, verse 13. And whenever you read in the Bible that God works inside us, it's always referring to the Holy Spirit. You see, our Heavenly Father works outside us in all our circumstances and in all the people who meet us. But the Holy Spirit works inside us. Our Heavenly Father works in all the circumstances and people that have anything to do with us to make everything work together for our good. That's a promise in Romans 8, 28. I'll come to that in a moment. But here it's speaking about God working inside us. So this is wonderful. When you're a child of God, I have Jesus Christ in heaven praying for me. I have the Holy Spirit inside me, working inside me, making me want to do God's will, giving me the power to do God's will. And I have my Heavenly Father working in all the circumstances that touch my life to ensure that all of that is something I can handle, that is not too much for me, and that it works for my good. It's wonderful. The Holy Spirit works inside me to desire God's will. And if any of you today have a desire to please God, have a desire to turn from sin, don't ever think that you have that desire yourself. It's because the Holy Spirit works in you. You know, I've had all over the world different people come to me and say, Oh, Brother Jack, I want to turn to God, but I don't know whether I have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, that sin which doesn't have any forgiveness in this world or in the world to come. And I tell them, how in the world do you have a desire right now to turn to God? Tell me. How in the world do you have a desire to turn from sin? Are you so conceited to think that you produce that yourself? No. No human being can ever have a desire to turn from sin. The very fact that you desire to give up sin in your life proves that the Holy Spirit is working in you. How do you know the Holy Spirit is working in you? You can easily find out. Do you desire to give up sin in your life? I'm not saying whether you got victory. That's not my question. That will come at the next stage. First of all, desire. First the desire, then the ability. Do you find in yourself a desire to please God? Do you find in yourself a desire to do the will of God? Do you find in yourself a desire to live a life that pleases God in your words, in your actions, in everything in your life? Some of you who took baptism today. Why did you do it? You knew you'd have to pay a tremendous price. Let me ask you. Who gave you the desire to do it? Don't be conceited to think that it was you. It was not you. It was the Holy Spirit working in you, giving you a desire to obey God. Look at some of the other cowards around you who did not take that step. You think you're better than them? You're not better than them. The Holy Spirit gave you a boldness which some people double your age did not have that boldness. They were cowards. They feared men. And you didn't fear men. How did you do that? Don't say the Holy Spirit is not working in you. Of course He's working in you. You would never have got into that water if that Holy Spirit didn't work in you. It's those other people who resisted the Holy Spirit who stood back on land. You know that? It's true. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. The Holy Spirit gave you the desire to do the will of God. God works in you to will His good pleasure. What is pleasing to Him? And once the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit, this is the blessed part of it. If the Holy Spirit did one part, don't you think He'll do the other part? Of course He will. Do you think the Lord will carry me halfway through the river and say, Oh well, I changed my mind, I'll dump you here. I can't imagine that. I don't know how in the world you ever think God will do that to you. That He took you up, carried you halfway across and got fed up and dumped you there. The devil does things like that. The Holy Spirit doesn't. If the Holy Spirit worked in you to give you a desire to do God's will, I want to tell you the next thing He's going to do is He's going to give you power, ability. It says here God works in you to will and to do. Two things. He will put His laws in my mind and He'll write them in my heart. That's the Holy Spirit. You've already begun to experience the Holy Spirit giving you a desire to do His will, giving you the ability to do it despite all the opposition. It's wonderful. That's God who did it. Give Him the glory. It's when you think that you did it that you've begun to be proud of it or you get scared what's going to happen next. If you did it, you better get scared about what's going to happen next. But it wasn't you. It was the Holy Spirit who gave you the desire and the ability to do the will of God. And the same Holy Spirit who led you one step will lead you the next step. The next step, that pillar of cloud that came down from heaven, led the children of Israel step by step by step by step by step. It's wonderful. And, you know, you take that first step, it's so scary. I think of some of you who are, you know, I realize how difficult it is for some of you to take that step of baptism. But I want you to think of a passage in Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14 we read, Jesus told His disciples, verse 22, to get into the boat, Matthew 14, 22, and to go ahead of Him. Then He sent the multitudes away, the 5,000 who had been fed. And the boat was many miles away, many furlongs away from the land, verse 24, battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Isn't it interesting? I want you to just see something here. It says in verse 22, He urged, He compelled His disciples to get into the boat. What's the meaning of compelled? Urged. That means they didn't want to go. But He urged them, get in. You know, there are people who don't want to get baptized, and the Spirit of God urged them, go ahead, get in. And they obeyed. And you think that if you would obey God, now everything has to be calm and quiet. But it's not like that. It's calm and quiet when you don't obey God. But when you obey God, what happens? It says here, The boat was battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Let me ask you, when is the devil going to be angry with you? When you obey God or when you don't obey Him? You know the answer. I want the devil to be furious with me 365 days of the year, because I know that I'm obeying God. Any day the devil is happy with me, I say, Oh God, what did I do wrong today? Why is he happy with me? Why is he leaving me at peace today? The waves battered against that boat. The wind was contrary. Imagine, now Jesus urged them to get into the boat. Supposing they had disobeyed. Supposing they had disobeyed. Like some people the Lord spoke to today and they disobeyed. Supposing you were like that. Supposing these disciples had disobeyed and stayed on the land, and not got into the water. Do you think they would have faced the storm? Yes or no? No! There was no storm on the land. The storm was because they got into the boat and obeyed Jesus. But then, what happened? It says here, while they were going, Jesus came walking to them on the water. Do you think they would have got that experience if they had stayed on the land? No! They'd never have got that. They went and they saw Jesus coming to them. And that was a wonderful experience to see Jesus walking on the water. And then, that's not all. Jesus said to them wonderful words. Verse 27. Words that He often spoke to people. Don't be afraid. Verse 27. It's I. I'm here. You know that's the word He always spoke to those poor, weak disciples who had obeyed Him. They were threatened by waves. They were threatened by the rulers of the synagogue. These were poor, weak, 27, 28, 30-year-old young men. Threatened by these 60-year-old, grey-bearded rulers of the synagogue. They were scared. And Jesus would often say, Don't worry, I'm with you. I'm with you right here. Take courage. And Peter, he said, Lord, if it's You, command me to come to You on the water. And Jesus said, Come. Had Peter ever walked on the water before? No. He was going to step out into something he had never experienced before. And I believe some of you are going to step out in the coming days into something you have never experienced before. But it's going to be exciting. It can be scary. Have you ever tried getting out of a boat in the middle of a stormy night and trying walking on the water? That's scary. But if Jesus says, Come. You don't have to be scared. He told you to come. And some of you stepped out and came. And Peter, can you imagine him stepping out of the boat? And all those who sit inside the boat say, Hang on. Don't go out. It's scary. It's risky. Nobody's ever done this before. And there's security inside the boat and all the things people tell you. Same old thing. And Peter says, No. Jesus has said, Come. And I'm going. I'm not going to be held back by the eleven of you trying to pull my legs and hold me back. Just leave me alone. Well, Peter, goodbye then. You're going to sink. We'll survive in this boat. I'm not going to sink. Jesus told me to come. And he stepped out and the law of gravity was overcome as he walked on that water. That's how Jesus calls us to walk. Not on solid ground. There wouldn't be anything great in that. But on uncertain, unstable ground. What an experience. And you heard a testimony from my brother just now. Twenty years from now, many of you will be getting up and giving a similar testimony. How you walked on the water. I believe that. I believe that. But you got to take that first step when everybody's trying to hold you back. You got to take that first step. Let those who want the security of the boat stay there. You want to go out to Jesus. You want to walk. When he tells you to come, you want to walk by faith. And, you know, in that walk, after a little while, it says here, you know what happened. He took his eyes off Jesus for a moment. And that's the thing you got to watch. This is written for our instruction. He took his eyes off Jesus and he looked at the wind. And the moment you take your eyes off the Lord and begin to look at the storm that people are trying to work up around you, you'll begin to sink. But in that moment when you begin to sink, do what Peter did. Lord, save me. Just pray that simple prayer. Please remember this. In a moment when you don't know what to do, say, Lord, save me. Lord, give me wisdom here. I don't know what to say. God can give you wisdom. Exactly what to say to people who ask you. You don't even have to think. The Lord says, I'll give you wisdom in that moment as to what to say and how to shut the mouths of these people who question you. And Jesus held his hand and made him walk. One of the wonderful things I see in the Gospels is these exciting experiences that Jesus took his disciples through, always keeping them in a place of weakness so that they would have to trust him. You know, it says in the promise in the New Covenant is, in Hebrews 8, let me turn back to that, I will put my laws into their minds, I will write them in their hearts and, listen to this, I will be their God and they shall be my people. Do you know what the Lord is saying to you today? I will be your God and you will be my people. I will be your personal God. I will make your circumstances such that you won't need to trust in men, you'll have to trust in me. You know, in the Old Testament we read that God always made Israel very weak, surrounded by armies that threatened them, like the Egyptians. And the Lord went with them and defeated the armies. He always wanted them to trust in him. God has made his people weak because he wants to be our God. If he was strong, we would not depend on God. Do you know what has ruined Christian ministry more than anything else, particularly in the last fifty years? Mission work, evangelistic ministry. I'll tell you. I come from India where I've seen mission work across the country, of all denominations. People who speak in tongues, who don't speak in tongues. People who baptize as children, people who baptize as adults, people who baptize as believers. Every shade. I've been in and out of all these missions. Most of them come from America and England and Western Germany and Western countries. I will tell you as an Indian, what has destroyed Christian work in India? Money. Why did Jesus send his apostles out without money? Because he didn't want to destroy them. What did Peter have when a beggar asked him for a little offering? What did he say? Silver and gold, I have none. But what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. It's a lot different today. That power has gone. Money has come in. I heard a story once. You know, the Roman Catholic popes say they descended from Peter. They say Peter was the first pope. And they have come from there now. I don't want to speak evil of anyone, and I don't want to despise any system. I don't agree with the Roman Catholics. But I heard a story once of the pope or some of his representatives taking people around this huge empire they have in the Vatican in Rome and telling someone, Well, you see all this? We don't have to say like Peter today. Silver and gold, I have none. We got plenty of that. And that man said, Neither can you say like Peter in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. You know, you can't say one, you can't say the other either. Why did Peter, why did God make Peter so poor? He'd have to depend on God. Why did God make Paul so poor? The Bible says, you read that in 2nd Corinthians 11, it's touched my heart sometimes. The greatest apostle and evangelist of a century today. There are evangelists who are living in their private jets and speed boats and vacations and that. This man Paul was a million times better than all of them. There are times when he says he did not have money to buy food. He did not have enough warm clothes to keep him warm. That's what it said in 2nd Corinthians 11. This man was the greatest apostle of this century. God kept his greatest servants poor so that they would depend on God and not on money. And through the years, Satan has led Christian organizations and Christian institutions. The leaders of Christian organizations and institutions to become so rich in money. They can spend lavishly. They can go here. They can go there. They can travel what they like. They can have vacations. They can do this. They can do the other thing. And they have no power. Compromisers. And they say they are following Paul, just talking empty doctrines. Where is the power in their life? Where is the anointing in their life? Don't envy them. Don't envy those leaders of yours who can handle millions and say they are servants of Christ. Servants of Him who had no place to lay His head. The foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests and He had no place to lay His head. And these people are saying they are servants of His. I said, don't take the name of Christ. Don't take the name of some heathen God. Don't take the name of Christ and say you are a servant of Christ. You are not. That's how it is with so many people today. And I tell you, if God loves you, He'll keep you dependent on Him. And He'll make your certain senses such that you'll have to depend on Him continuously. You won't have access to great resources on earth because you'll have to depend on Him. When we have access to so much on earth, we don't depend on God. And that's what's happened. People don't need faith today because they've got money. And God says, I will be their God and they shall be My people. You remember the stories in the Gospels. Every story, every incident was to teach people to depend on Him. If they went out into the lake, there'd be a storm. That was to teach people to depend on Him. Another time when Jesus was in the boat, there was such a storm, the boat almost sank. And Jesus stopped it. If they'd go to a marriage, the wine would run out. And Jesus would take care of that. If they'd go out for a meeting with 5,000 people, there wouldn't be enough food. And Jesus would take care of that. His closest friend Lazarus would get sick and die. And Jesus would take care of that. Do you find, tell me, do you find a single situation in the Gospels where somebody came to Jesus with a problem and Jesus began to scratch his head and say, I don't know how to solve that one, that's a tough one. Never. And do you think that you're going to have some big problem today where you go to Jesus and He's going to scratch His head today and say, I don't know, that's a tough one. Never. Of course you're going to face problems. That's good for us. I've faced all types of situations in my 40 years. That's how I came to know the Lord. Just imagine if the Gospel stories were like this. And Jesus went to a wedding and there were no problems there, there was plenty of wine, they all had plenty of wine and they had a good time and went home. And then you go to the next story and you read that they had, there were 5,000 people but fortunately some stores were open nearby, they could go and buy some food and they all had plenty of food to eat and they went home. And then they got into a boat to go across to the other side of the lake and everything was very calm and they reached the other side peacefully. Just imagine if you went on like this, like this, that Lazarus was sick but fortunately it wasn't very serious, he recovered by the time Jesus came. And then some blind man came to Jesus and Jesus said, well I can't help you, I'll give you a little coin, you can go home. Can you imagine if the Gospel stories were like that? And even the little children would say, we don't want to hear those stories anymore. But it was never like that. Wherever Jesus went there was a problem. Wherever he went and he solved every problem. You show me one problem in the Gospels he couldn't solve. Show me one. What is that meant to teach you? If you've got Jesus with you, wherever you go you'll have problems. You want them or not? And he will solve them for you. Tell me which is better? To get into a boat and go through a calm sea and reach the other side. Or to get into a boat and have a fierce storm that almost sank the boat and to have Jesus stilling it. Which is better? Isn't it the second one? Okay. Now apply it to today. That's alright in the Bible. Now apply it to your life from tomorrow onwards. Now what do you want? You want a calm, smooth life for the next few years. No storm, nothing. Or do you want to face a storm starting tomorrow morning and Jesus will come and still it. Which do you want? Right. I tell you, I'm not joking. And I'm serious when I tell you. I have learned to know the Lord in the storms of life. When things went calm, I learned nothing about the Lord. What do you learn about the Lord when there is no storm? What do you learn about the Lord when there's plenty of food to feed the 5,000? What do you learn about the Lord when there's plenty of wine for the wedding feast? Do you learn anything? No. It's when you face a difficult situation. That's when you come to know what God can do. And that's why God will arrange difficult circumstances for you so that He can prove to you that He is the Almighty God. And He is your God. And you are His people. And He will never desert you. He will never forsake you. He will never let you down. No matter what happens. And then at the end of some years, you'll have a testimony. Otherwise, you won't have any testimony. Think of it. One of these days, we're going to go to heaven. And we're going to hear of those saints. We're going to hear Paul tell us many other experiences which are not written in the Bible. Difficult experiences that he went through. We're going to listen from Peter. A lot of Peter's biography is not written here. I don't know what Andrew went through. It's not written here. I want to talk to him in heaven. Heaven. We're going to have a wonderful time in heaven. To talk to all these saints who didn't tell us in the Bible what all they went through. I don't know what Thomas went through. I've heard he came to India, preached the gospel. But what all he went through, I don't know. I'd like to talk to him. But I'm sure he didn't have an easy road. They killed him. They speared him to death in one place. What all interesting stories. And then they'll ask you, Well, brother, tell me your story. How was it? Sister, tell me. What did you go through? What are you going to tell us? Well, I sort of had an easy time through life. Is that one you want to tell them? When somebody tells you, You know, I stood up for Jesus Christ. And they threw me to the lions in the first century in the Rome. And I saw that lion coming, roaring at me. And God gave me such tremendous grace to praise Him and to sing a song. All the time, as I went into the lion's mouth, I was singing. And he ate me up. Then he'll ask you, tell me your testimony. Oh. I got a bit scared. One day they had a baptism. And I got a bit scared to go inside. Because I was wondering what people would say to me or do to me. And you're going to tell that to the man who put his head inside the lion's mouth for Jesus sake. Hang your head in shame. Hang your head in shame. You older people who are supposed to be an example to the younger people. Still sitting as compromisers. I wish we could have a baptism tonight and get the rest of you baptized. If I were sitting here like some of you, I would go to that lake tonight and have another baptism. I'll tell you that. I don't want to disobey God. Maybe I missed the first chance. But I'm going to take the second one at the earliest opportunity. That's for sure. What testimony are you going to give to those Christians? You're scared of some preacher who's going to tell you something. And you're going to one day give your testimony to a person who faced a lion in the Colosseum in Rome 2,000 years ago. People who were tied to stakes and told to deny Jesus Christ. And they'd be let go. And they said, we're not going to deny Christ. You can burn us. And they burned him. There's a story of this man who was the elder in the church in Smyrna. There's a story that's come down from history about this elder in the church in Smyrna called Polycarp. When he was a very young boy, he had given his life to Jesus. They say that he spent a lot of time with the Apostle John. And he was the elder in Smyrna. And when he was about 90 years old or more, the Roman soldiers were sent to catch this man. And he said, give me this white-haired, white-bearded man. And they felt sorry for him. And the magistrate said, just say Caesar is Lord. Just deny Jesus for a moment. You know what he said? He said, 86 years I have served my Savior and my Lord Jesus. He has only done me good all these 86 years. How can I deny him? And they tied him to the stake. And they set him on fire and burnt him to death. You're going to meet him in heaven. And he's going to ask you for your testimony after he's given you his. I hope you'll have a testimony to give him. My brothers and sisters, these are the disciples of Jesus who've gone ahead of us. What are you going to face compared to them? What people faced in those days. Some of you probably don't know your own history. I don't know. But I've read a little bit about what the Anabaptists faced 300, 400 years ago for their faith. They suffered. They loved Jesus. They trusted him. They were betrayed. They were killed. Be bold. They knew God. Today people live with that doctrine and have become rich. Those early founders from whom many of you descended, they were not rich. They were not millionaires running colonies in the name of Christ. They were running for their life. They were poor. They leaned upon God. Today people carry their doctrine and have become millionaires on earth and say they're following Jesus and keep most people poor in the colony and a few people remain handling millions. Do you think the early Anabaptists did that? Do you think this is community? This is a deception. There's more community out there where people share with one another than two, three people controlling millions of dollars and keeping everybody poor and dependent on them and calling it community. It's the worst deception there is. There's more community out there where people don't live like that but help one another, care for another. We've got community in our church. We live in separate homes. But nobody will ever be needy in our church. Nobody. Nobody will ever lack food or clothing and I say that in a poor country like ours where there's so many poor people. We make sure nobody ever starves. Nobody ever shivers in the cold. Nobody ever has a leaking roof. That's community. That's Christianity. It's not a few people handling millions of rupees and dishing it out to their favorites. No! That's not Christianity. Just fooling a lot of people. Do you know what happened in Romania a few years ago? They said, we're preaching communism. Communism. There was this man called Ceaușescu who said, we're the leader, we're communism. And finally, when they went into his palace, they found gold-plated tax and the whole place was like a palace that nobody here in America lives that size. And he called himself a communist. Communism was teaching equality to everybody. It was a deception. The leaders just lived off the fat of the land and exploited the poor. This has happened throughout history and it's happening today in the name of Christ. That's what happened when Jesus came into the temple. He saw a few people making money in the name of religion and the poor widows were, they're putting their little two mites in and getting exploited. And there was the big anus and Caiaphas and all living off, milking these poor widows and getting money out of them and living off the fat of the land. And Jesus made a whip and chased those fellows out and they killed them. They crucified them. I tell you, if Jesus were to come into the church today, he'd have a whip to drive all these fellows out who exploit the poor and make money in the name of Christ and call it Christianity and community. Garbage! Baloney! That's not community. It's a deception from top to bottom. And I'm sorry that some of you think it's truth. It's not truth at all. That is not Acts 2.41. If you want to see what's happening in today's so-called colonies, you go to John chapter 2 and read about how they made money in the temple. That's what's happening. It's not Acts 2.41 at all. And if Jesus came into it, he'd drive out these people who are making money in the name of religion. Well, that's the truth. You're going to face problems naturally. Jesus faced problems. Tell me, which of the apostles didn't face problems? Out of his twelve apostles, eleven were killed. John escaped and he suffered and suffered and suffered. He was exiled. There was not a single man of those apostles who didn't suffer. Eleven of them had a violent death. These were the greatest, the greatest disciples of Jesus. And those first two centuries, boy, they suffered. But God said to them, I will be your God and you will be my people. God didn't allow them to suffer for nothing. You remember when Stephen was stoned to death? There was one young man who watched Stephen die and he could never forget it. That was Paul. And I believe Stephen was the cause of Paul's conversion. When Paul, who was dead against Christianity, saw the stones being hurled at Stephen and Stephen saying, Lord, please don't lay this sin to their charge. I see Jesus in the right hand of the Father. That really convicted Saul. He began to think, Hey, I've never seen such boldness and I've never seen such love. Perhaps there is something after all in this Christianity. And I believe that when even today, when those who oppose us and throw stones at us and want to kill us, when they see your boldness and your love, it will convict them. They will realize there is something in all this. And those, some of them like Paul, may be converted. So I want to encourage you to remember God says under the New Covenant, I will be your God and you will be My people. I will never desert you. I will never forsake you. And think of this wonderful promise and two promises I want to share with you in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13 which says, No trial can ever come upon you which is too much for you. God will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability. God will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability. That means that before a trial can come into your life, before Satan brings a trial into your life, God weighs that trial and sees whether you are strong enough to bear it. And if He sees that you are strong enough to bear it, only then will He give Satan permission to send it to you. I faced certain trials in the last 2 or 3 years of my life which I could not have borne 10 years ago. And I can imagine that Satan went to Jesus 10 years ago and asked Him, Can I send that trial into Zach's life? God said, No. I won't let you do it. Maybe He went to him 5 years ago and said, Can I send it now? God said, No. 3 years ago He went to God again, Can I send that into his life? God said, OK. Now you can send it. Now he is strong enough to bear it. And then He sent it. And I didn't think. So don't think God will allow you to face a trial which you can't handle. He will always give you the grace to handle it. Sometimes we pray that the trial itself should go away. Paul had a thorn in the flesh which is like a messenger of Satan. Now I don't know what that messenger of Satan was. It could have been sickness. It could have been some man who was harassing him and harassing him harassing him and harassing him who went after Paul wherever he went. I've come across some cases like that. If people try to harass me wherever I go. Messengers of Satan. And maybe you may face something like that. And Paul prayed to God, Oh God please get, you got almighty power God get rid of this man. In Jesus name I rebuke it. He said all that. The fellow was still there. The thorn in the flesh was still there troubling him, troubling him. And then God said, I'm not going to take him away. I'm not going to take away that trial. But I will give you grace so that you can be an overcomer in that trial. Isn't that more wonderful? I remember hearing a servant of God who many years ago was facing a particular trial. And he prayed and prayed and he couldn't get through. It was like this messenger of Satan. Always there. And one day he had a dream. And in that dream he saw himself in a boat and he was trying to cross the river. And as he tried to cross the river he was always hitting against this underwater rock just below the surface of the water. He was hitting it, hitting it. He could never get across. There was this rock under the level of the water. And he said Lord get rid of this rock, get rid of this rock, get rid of this rock. And the Lord didn't remove the rock. It stayed there. And then the Lord said I won't remove the rock but I'll raise the level of the water so you can go across. So he went across. And so you face some trial in your life some person who is harassing you and you say Lord get rid of him, get rid of him, get rid of this trial, get rid of this problem and he doesn't remove it. But he says I'll do something else. I'll raise the level of my grace in your life so you'll be an overcomer that you'll go over this even though the fellow is still there. Isn't that better? It certainly is. You know I have tasted the grace of God when I faced that situation. If you, if the rock is always removed you'll never experience that extra supply of grace. Do you want an extra supply of grace or not? If you want it then that's like raising the level of the water so that you go over that. That's what it means to be an overcomer. You can overcome everything because God will not allow anybody sitting here. If you are a child of God God will not allow you to face a trial which is too much for you. Now when children study in the first grade have you ever heard of a teacher? I don't know whether you have examinations here. In India we have examinations in every grade before you go to the next grade. We have what they call final examinations. At the end of the school year they have an examination in each grade and they have these question papers when you sit for your final examination and if you are in the third grade you won't get a sixth grade question paper. You know that? Have you ever heard of a teacher who is so stupid to give a sixth grade question paper to a third grade student? And yet there are Christians who think God is so stupid to do that. What an insult! Have you ever heard, have you heard if you don't believe me, answer this question. Have you ever heard a believer saying this? This is getting too much for me. Have you heard that? I have heard it many times. I am only in the third grade and God is giving me a seventh grade question paper. That's what He is saying. God is more stupid than these earthly teachers. That's what He is saying. I want to tell you the good news. He is not as stupid. He is much wiser than all these earthly teachers. He will never give you a question paper for a grade in which you are not studying. Impossible. That's the meaning of this verse. He will never allow you to be tested beyond your ability. Never in your whole life will you have to say, this is too much for me. It's not too much for you. You ask God for grace, you can get a hundred percent in that question paper. You can still that storm. You can ride over that rock by the grace of God. God allows you to face it. How in the world will you know Him in a better way if God doesn't allow you to face those trials? And here is another promise. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 28 God says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. These are all blessings in the New Covenant. It was not there in the Old Covenant. And it says in Romans 8, 28 We know that God causes everything to work together for our good if we love God and you are called according to His purpose. Now tell me, do you love God? If you do, and you are called according to His purpose, in other words, your aim in life is not to just live for yourself but to fulfill His purpose for your life. I want to tell you this wonderful promise. I have experienced the good of it for so many years, I can't even count the number of, I mean, I could spend the next 24 hours telling you the things that God has done in my life, fulfilling Romans 8, 28 during the last 40 years. So many. It is true. Never once has it failed in 42 years of my life. Never once has this promise failed. God makes everything work together for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose. It's all working for my good. Many people have tried to do me harm but they have not succeeded because God converted before it reached me. It began to work for my good. Have you heard the story of Joseph in the Old Testament? You read it? Let me tell you very briefly. God had a plan for Joseph that when this young boy is 30 years old, he must sit in the second throne in Egypt. And do you know how he accomplished it? Step number one. His 10 brothers must be jealous of him. Is that the way to accomplish God's purpose? That's how he does it. His 10 brothers must be so mad at him that they try to kill him. And when they are trying to kill him, one of those fellows will get a little sense and say, let's not kill him. Let's just sell him off. And that very moment, God sent some slave traders along that way. Who do you think sent those slave traders? God. Those Ishmaelites. And where do you think God planned for these slave traders to go? Naturally, to Egypt. So he sold. That was step one. And when they went to Egypt, God allowed Joseph to work in this house of a general called Potiphar. And there was this wicked, evil woman who was trying to scheme with trying to get Joseph to fall into sin. And Joseph said, no, I won't do it. I fear God. And she got so mad, she accused him falsely and said that he tried to rape me and told a lie and got him thrown into jail. Well, what do you think happened in jail? In jail, Joseph meets Pharaoh's cupbearer and gets an introduction to Pharaoh and finally lands up as the second ruler in Pharaoh's palace, exactly when he's 30 years old. Now, how did God do that? Who were the ones who helped Joseph to get to Pharaoh's palace? His jealous brothers. Those slave traders. Potiphar's wife. All the people who tried to do harm to him. Brothers thought we got rid of this fellow when we sent him to Egypt. No, they didn't get rid of him. Potiphar's wife thought I got rid of this fellow. No, she couldn't get rid of him. You can't get rid of a man who knows God that easily. No. If a man loves God and is called according to his purpose, God makes every single thing that other people seek to do to him work together for his good. That's how it is. You read the book of Esther. There was this man called Haman who made a 75 foot gallows to hang Mordecai on because Mordecai was a Jew who would not bow down to him. And you read the end of that story. Through a little thing that the king could not sleep, you read how the whole tables were turned and Haman hung on the gallows which he prepared for Mordecai. Who did that? God. God did it. And the God that lived in Joseph's time is just the same today. And the God that lived in Mordecai's time is just the same today. You know that God can make every single thing work together for your good. You know in India we have these water filters and that's because you can't drink the water from the taps in India. It's so full of germs and all. It'll kill you or give you all types of diseases. So it's become worse and worse as years have gone by. So in many homes you have what's called a water filter and you get this germ filled tap water and you pass it through this filter and it comes out absolutely clear drinking water. And it doesn't matter if you put muck in, filthy water on one side, it'll still come out clean on the other side. Romans 8.28 is like that. When somebody does evil to you, here it goes through this Romans 8.28 filter and comes through to me good. Isn't that wonderful? And I've been drinking from this fountain for years. Romans 8.28. People try to put all types of muck in there but it always comes out good on this side. And what do you do to someone who does good to you? Somebody does some tremendous good to you. Thank you very much. And that's exactly what we can say to all the people who try to do harm to us. Thank you very much brother. What could Joseph say to Potiphar's wife who tried to accuse him falsely? Sister Potiphar, thank you so much. I mean, because you sent me to jail, I met Pharaoh's cupbearer. I wouldn't have, just think, I'd have missed being second ruler in Egypt if you hadn't accused me falsely and put me in the jail. Oh, Sister Potiphar, I'm so thankful to you for what you did for me. And he calls his ten brothers and says, oh my dear brothers, if you fellows had not got jealous of me, if you had loved me and petted me, I'd have ruined my life. But because you were jealous of me, you wanted to hate at me, you wanted to get rid of me, you sent me to Egypt and you fellows made me the second ruler in Egypt. Oh, I'm so thankful to you. And because I'm thankful to you, I'm going to give you lots of grain and food so that you can eat plenty. I'm going to do good to you. Why should He do harm? Why should He do harm to somebody who's done good to you? He says, you meant it for evil, but God turned it for good. And a lot of people in the world may try to do evil to you, but God will turn it for good. This is a new covenant promise. He makes everything work together for good. If He did it for Joseph, why won't He do it for us? No one can harm you. You know, when God anointed young David and how Saul tried to kill him, throw a javelin at him, hunt for him from one cave to the other, he could never get him. He could never get David. David was 30 years old. God killed Saul and David sat on the throne. What I want to tell you is if God's got a plan for your life, nobody's ever going to frustrate it. That's impossible. Let all the people get mad at you, throw javelins at you, sell you to Ishmaelites, slave traders, accuse you falsely, put you in jail. Through all those things, God will make it all work together for your good. I want to encourage you. I'm 61 and a half years old today. And let me tell you my testimony for the glory of God. Nobody in the world has ever been able to harm me in my life. Everybody has done me good. You know why? Because I live in this filter of Romans 8, 28. People do all types of things to harm me and it turns out for my good. Live inside this filter. Everything that people do will work for your good because in the new covenant He says I will be your God and you will be my people. And in the book of Zechariah chapter 2, you know what it says? If anybody touches you, he's touching the apple of my eye. Boy, what a promise. I like that. Where is that in Zechariah chapter 2? It says he who touches you, verse 8, touches the apple of his eye. Do you know what I am? I am the apple of God's eye. Say that to the devil. Say that to the people who harm you. You are the apple of God's eye. That little thing in the middle of your eye, you know how you feel when you touch it? You don't feel very comfortable. And God says if anybody tries touching you, he's touching the apple of my eye. I'm not going to let him go. I'll make it work for good. I don't have to do anything. God says, I will be your God and you'll be my people. So what shall we say to these things? That's exactly what the apostle said in Romans 8, 31. What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? That's right. You are the most blessed people in all the world, those who have entered into the new covenant, those who have decided to obey God, who decided to take one step after another of obedience. Baptism is only one step. Don't think you've reached the end of the road. It's just the beginning. And it's going to be many more steps of obedience and wonderful experiences with God of trial and testing and storms and shortages and hunger and shivering in the cold like the apostle Paul. Maybe shipwrecked, maybe beaten. He got 195 stripes on his back. Think of the greatest apostle in the world. Beaten, beaten, beaten, beaten 195 times. It worked for his good. You know, when the devil wanted to get rid of Paul, he said, this fellow is a nuisance. Everybody goes. He's converting people. So we read that Paul got locked up in jail. And you know what he did in jail? He did two things in the jail. He wrote some of these letters. We'd never have got these letters if Paul was not in jail. He was running around so much. He never had time for anything that God allowed Satan to lock him up in jail. And Satan thought he'd won the victory and he hadn't. There he wrote these letters, the letters that he wrote, these epistles that have blessed people for 2000 years. Thank God that he was locked up in jail. And that's not all. It says in Philippians 1 that the Roman soldiers and the Roman guards were getting converted. You know what happened when Paul got locked up in jail? They used to tie him, tie people with a chain to another Roman soldier. That's how they made sure these prisoners didn't escape. So can you picture this? Paul in a Roman jail to make sure he doesn't escape. He's handcuffed along with a Roman soldier. Now Paul can't escape and the Roman soldier can't escape either. He sits there and Paul says to him, have you heard about Jesus? The fellow says, no. He says, I'll tell you all about him. And in eight hours that fellow is converted. And after eight hours they change the shift. Another soldier comes along. A new fellow. This chap's converted and gone. Now the next chap comes. And he sits there and he says, have you heard about Jesus? And it goes on like that. Day after day people are getting converted and the devil was getting mad. What to do with this fellow Paul? Wherever you send him, he's just converting people. You put him in jail, he converts the jailer and the other people there. God had good news for people in the jail. That's why he sent Paul to jail in Philippi and in Rome and other places. If you are willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel. If you are willing to say, Lord, send me to jail. Send me anywhere. Let my life come for you. Let me bring souls to Christ. I'm willing to suffer anything. He will deal with you as he dealt with the Apostle Paul. And he'll make your life a blessing to thousands of people. But if you say, Lord, please give me a comfortable life. Don't give me any problems in my life. Help me to just have a comfortable life. You'll probably never be a blessing to anybody. What do you want? Are you willing to suffer so that the gospel can go forward? I want to say one last thing. In the New Covenant gospel, we are not individuals. God brings us together into a body. We become part of a family. And the Bible says, if one member suffers, all suffer. Have you read that in 1 Corinthians 12? If one member suffers, all suffer. 1 Corinthians 12 26. You see, if your little finger is very seriously infected with a sickness, your whole body is throbbing with the pain. Because you can't just detach your finger and go away. It's part of your body. And I want to say to many of you brothers who are not going to face or who have not faced some of the problems that these young brothers and sisters are going to face who have taken baptism. I want to ask you brothers whose lives are more comfortable here. How much do you sympathize with these young brothers who are going to suffer? Do you consider them as members of the same body? Do you feel they are members of the same family, of the same body? Or is that just an empty theory we talk about in the meetings in the church? Or is it actually true 365 days of the year? Do you consider these people as your brothers and sisters? If they are thrown out of their homes, is your home open to them or not? That's what I'd like to know. Or is it only theory, your Christianity? If one member suffers, all suffer. Will the Lord have to say to you one day, I was a stranger and you did not take me into your home. I was hungry and you did not give me something to eat. And you say, Lord, when was that? In as much as you did not help the least of these my brothers, you did not help me. Think of that. The new covenant, we're not individuals. We are part of a family. God has brought us together into a family. I'm an elder in a church. I've been one for 26 years. And the Lord has told me that all those people in the church, all those young people in the church, the Lord said, they are your children. If something happens to them, you need to feel it. That's family. I want to ask you, particularly those of you to whom the Lord has given comfortable comfortable situation. Are you willing to suffer with those who suffer? Weep with those who weep. Share your goods and show true community to those who are the fellow members of the same body. I believe the Lord is going to test some of us. He's going to test some of these young brothers and sisters who've taken baptism. But I think a bigger test is going to come to some of us whose lives are so comfortable and who like to live our insulated lives where we don't allow anything to disturb the comfort of our lives and our homes. We just go for the occasional meeting. Don't get too close to anybody so that we don't have to pay any price. That is not Christianity. That's a deception. We are members of one body. And I believe more and more in the days to come God is going to show how we are members of one body. And I want to say to those of you who are probably going to face some difficult times in the days to come a wonderful promise in Psalm 27. Please claim it from the Lord. All of you young people. Psalm 27 and verse 10. It says in Psalm 27 verse 10. When my father and my mother forsake me the Lord will take me up. When my father and my mother forsake me the Lord will pick me up. It's true. Heaven and earth will pass away but this promise will never pass away. You are going to have some wonderful experiences those who obey God in the days to come. And I tell you honestly, I don't feel sorry for you. I envy you. I envy the experiences you are going to have with God in the days to come. I know what it is like when those who go through trial and testing come out as pure gold. We are in the new covenant. He is our God. We are His people. We are not afraid of the devil. We are not afraid of anybody. Let people have their money. We've got God. That's enough. Let's bow our heads before God in prayer. Fear is not from God. That's from the devil. Just throw it out of your heart and say, Lord I have feelings of fear but I'm not going to act on that. I reject it. Just like I reject dirty thoughts. I trust God. You're my father. I don't have money but I have you. I'm like those early apostles who didn't have money but had God. I don't want to be like these other people who got plenty of money but no God. Who only got a doctrine. I'd rather have you. You're enough for me. And I believe I can walk by faith in you and you'll never let me down. In six thousand years of man's history you'll never let anybody down who trusted in you. And it's not going to happen today. Heavenly Father, I think of these wonderful young people who obeyed you, who trusted you and taken such a step. I praise God for them, young and old, some older ones too. I pray the blessing of God will come upon them. I pray you'll pour out your Holy Spirit upon them. Fill them with the Holy Spirit. Give them a tremendous hunger and thirst in their heart as they go home tonight for the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them. I pray you'll fill them to overflowing anoint them. Give them the spirit of boldness like the apostles of old. Give them wisdom that they will stand up and be your witnesses like a flaming light. Wherever you take them. I don't know what is ahead for them but I know it's going to be something good. It is going to be something good. Thus says the Lord, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plan for your welfare to give you a future and a hope not for calamity but for your welfare, says the Lord. We thank you Lord that you'll never allow anyone here to be tested beyond their ability. We know that you will not, you will make everything work together for our good. And we also know that in the days to come you're going to raise up many godly brothers and sisters here who are going to open their homes and who are going to manifest true community who will manifest the love of God and the goodness of God. Who are going to suffer with those who suffer and weep with those who weep. We believe they're going to do that. Who are going to share their things with others who are in need. We're going to see that Lord and we're going to see a demonstration of the family of God in the body of Christ in the days to come. That's going to shame the devil. And we believe that you're going to raise up a light here that's going to shine across this land and many parts of North America, many places where the light needs to go and deliver people who are being locked up in prison by so called leaders. Please deliver them Lord we pray. Do a tremendous work. We pray the spark that started here will set a fire across this whole land in the days to come. Hear us and answer us from heaven O God we pray in Jesus name. Amen.