This sermon emphasizes the importance of faith in believing that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. It challenges listeners to examine their faith by questioning if they truly believe in God's rewarding nature, especially in comparison to others who may have sought God more diligently. The speaker highlights the tendency to make excuses, shift blame, and justify lack of progress in spiritual growth. The message urges individuals to surrender excuses, acknowledge areas of needed growth, and passionately seek God's will and power in their lives.

The Bible says that part of faith is to believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We know that faith is one of the most important things emphasized in the New Testament and all of us would say we have faith, we believe. But I want to ask you this morning whether you really believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If another brother or sister has progressed more than you, are you willing to acknowledge that it is because he has sought God more diligently or she has sought God more diligently than you have? You know we are right from the days of Adam who blamed his wife. We are great makers of excuses, excuses that justify ourselves. When if another brother or sister is more wholehearted, we tend to excuse that saying well God's called him for that or God's gifted him with that. We'll never say that's because I've not sought him wholeheartedly because that puts the blame on me you see. We try to put the blame on God. Well God's called him for that so therefore he's gifted him like that. Of course it's got nothing to do with me. I'm a wonderful person and that's why we never progress. It's exactly the thing what the devil wants you to say. The devil wants you to say there's nothing wrong with you. Oh God's called her for that so she's like that or he's like that. Or if somebody knows the scriptures better than us we say well that's because he's got a good memory. Of course nothing wrong with me. I'm a wholehearted brother but he's got a good memory. You know there are numerous reasons like that. You see another brother whose children are following the Lord your children are not. Well you say children are different. We are such experts at making excuses. I just want to encourage you my brothers and sisters. If you want to go on with God get rid of this Adamic habit of making excuses. If we see some other church has got something which we don't have we say yeah but then of course they have some other problems. We're okay and as long as we keep on saying I'm okay, my family is okay, my church is okay, you're guaranteeing for yourself that you'll never make progress. That's a habit of Adam to make excuses. It's far better to say God I haven't sought you diligently. I have not sought you with all my heart and that's why I haven't got what someone else has got. That could be mine if I seek God in the same way. There are many people who seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit and if they don't get it they say well maybe it's not God's time. I'm okay you see. I'm perfectly okay but not as some plan. We don't realize that in all our subtlety and cleverness with which we make excuses we are actually only damaging ourselves. I decided years ago I'd never make an excuse. If Paul said follow me as I follow Christ and my life is not as radical and wholehearted as Paul's, I wouldn't say well that was because Paul was called for that. I'd say Lord there's something missing in me. I've been recently challenged as I've been many times reading the Acts of the Apostles about the tremendous power those Apostles had and you know the excuses? Those were for the early days. You know that's the master of excuses, the devil has got plenty of excuses to fill our clever mind with. Those are the early days and those are only for certain people and it's the same old story as long as we make excuses we'll never experience what God wants us to have. So I'm just wondering. I've wondered about myself. See I've been a believer for 45 years and I asked myself this question. I don't know whether you ask it. Lord is there something you wanted me to have which I've missed out on so far? If so I want it. I don't want to leave this earth missing out on a single thing that Almighty God wanted me to have or experience on this earth. Will you pray that prayer to God sincerely? Those of you who are serious. Lord before I leave this earth I want to experience everything that you want me to experience and have before I leave the earth. I mean if there's something I'm going to have only in heaven that's fine. I don't want it now and if there's something you want only certain people to have because that's their calling. I mean it's true that certain people have certain gifts because they're called for that. We don't all have to have those gifts. That's fine. I'm not interested in having gifts which God doesn't want me to have because it's not part of my calling and I don't think you should desire that either but what God wants you to have. You must have such a passionate yearning and longing that at any cost whatever price you pay have to pay however much inconvenience it may cause you. God I want it. I want it at any cost. I'm willing to pay the price. Send me the bill. I'll pay it. You know that's the earnestness that God honors. Jesus always spoke about those who are sick and tired of their own life. That's the meaning of weary and heavy laden. Come to me those who are weary and heavy laden. Those who are sick and tired of your life of the way you're living. Oh Jesus said if any man thirst thirst what a word desperate thirst come to me he said. God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. You know Jeremiah 29 11 he's imagined for a moment. Jesus is standing before you right now and saying to you personally as if nobody else is in the room. This Jesus and you and Jesus saying to you I have plans for you plans for your welfare to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29 11 to make your future glorious to do something wonderful for you. It doesn't matter how old you are even if you're 85 years old 90 years old you haven't died yet. Maybe you've got one more week to live. God says I've got plans for you for that one week. Don't you want to do something in that one week even if you're 90 years old before you go. I would if God said to me you're 90 years old you've got one more week to live but I've got plans for you for that one week. I say Lord fulfill it before I go. You don't have to be young. It doesn't matter how old you are even if you're a young boy. Think of it all the years and God says I've got plans for you plans for your welfare to give you a future and a hope but you've got to call upon me for it. You can't just sit back and lazily and say oh it'll happen. It won't happen. It will never happen. You'll miss out completely. You got to call upon the Lord. Verse 12 and it says in verse 13 you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. It's the same old story whether it's Old Testament or New Testament. God there must be something. I haven't got that. Something I missed. I want to seek you with all my heart. I want to seek you with fasting and prayer and I've often wondered why does God want me to go hungry? Fasting. You know the answer? I can answer it in three words. I don't know. A lot of questions I can answer in three words. I don't know. Then why do I do it? Because Jesus commanded it. That's all. That's all. I'm a son who lives by faith that my father tells me to do something. I don't need to know the reason. How would you like to have a son who three-year-old son or five-year-old son who says dad you explain to me why I should do it then I'll do it. Boy you bring up your children like that. You're gonna have a headache. Why should they do it? Because daddy said it. Because mommy said it. One day they'll understand when they're 25 years old. We haven't got there yet spiritually. So God, Jesus said it. I tell you I haven't understood the logic of prayer. I haven't understood the logic of prayer at all. You think God is not more burdened for India than I am? Of course he is. The things we pray for. Are we informing God about something he didn't know? Are we trying to have a burden? Are we trying to twist God's arm and say God you got to do this? I haven't understood it. I and the reason I don't understand is because my mind is like a cup. God's wisdom is like an ocean. So I'm not surprised there are lots of things in the Bible I don't understand. You know that's why I've discovered the more intellectual and more logical you are the less you pray. It's true. I've seen throughout my life that those who are very clever they pray very little. Because unconsciously the logic works. There's no need to inform God. He knows everything. And then I've seen simple poor people who don't use all their logic. They pray and they get something which these intellectual people miss out on. Consider that. Consider that possibility. God says you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart. And I've been thinking about the title of the Holy Spirit. You know we've seen many titles of the Holy Spirit. Spirit of Truth. Spirit of Love. Here's a title of the Holy Spirit which just struck me. Romans chapter 8. I don't know whether you've seen this. I'm sure you've read it hundreds of times but sometimes we read and we don't notice it. Romans chapter 8 and verse 11. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead. The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead. That's the Holy Spirit I want to be baptized with and I want to be filled with. The greatest problem of man is death. Spiritual death. It's not sickness. It's not poverty. Jesus was poor. Paul was sick. Timothy was sick. Those are not man's biggest problems but spiritual death. And Jesus came to earth to conquer that spiritual death. If he had not conquered that, all the good that he had done, healed the lepers, did kind things, washed disciples feet and all that would have been useless. He did all those things but he primarily came to conquer spiritual death because death was reigning over all men. See Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. It says verse 12. Through one man sin entered into the world and when sin entered into the world, death also. Through sin. That's what the Lord told Adam. The day you eat, you will die. And we know he died because the contact with God was gone. It was like pulling out the plug. It's like telling a child who doesn't know. If you pull out the plug, the lights will go. Well the panel stopped working. God said to Adam, you don't want to live dependent on me? You'll die. And he died. The lights went out on his life and one of the clearest proofs of it is he started accusing his wife. You know the lights have gone out in your life when you're blaming other people or blaming God. The lights have gone out brother, sister. You're in darkness. Well you may not know it but you are in darkness when you're blaming your wife for something or blaming your husband or blaming the elders or blaming a brother or or if elders blame the brothers and sisters. Oh these brothers and sisters they're wretched. If I blame you, lights have gone out in my life. That's one of the clearest proofs. The lights have gone out when you blame other people. Adam did that. The light went out in his life. Life went off and says death spread to all men because all have sinned. Now listen to this. Verse 13. Until the law, the law came through Moses maybe about 2,500 years after Adam. For 2,500 years after Adam, all that period there was no law. So when there's no law you can't sin. For example if there's no sign on a road saying no entry people can go in and out. I mean even if the police have in mind well nobody should go through this road. If they haven't made a law there there's nothing wrong. So where the point is that God has not given a law he doesn't ask you to be responsible. You're not you're not guilty because I haven't told you that's wrong. For example our children they may do something wrong but if you have not told them that's wrong you know you can't blame them. Sometimes your child may come back from school and use a bad word. You know he's not really guilty because he doesn't know it's a bad word. You ask him where did you learn that? Oh one of the boys used it in school. What does it mean? I don't know what it means but it's something you say when you're angry. Okay then you have to tell him okay now there's a law. That's a bad word. Don't use it anymore. Then he's guilty after that but up until then it's a bad word. He should never use it but he's not guilty. That's what God says. Where I've not given a law you're not guilty but what I want you to notice is even if you're not guilty because there was no law, death still reigned. Verse 14. Death doesn't make a difference. Death doesn't discover whether you know the law or you don't know the law. It just reigns. You know nowadays they say they have discovered that if you eat too much coconuts and butter and cheese your cholesterol level goes up. But supposing somebody hasn't studied that. He says no I didn't study it but I just keep on eating all that stuff. Do you think the cholesterol will say oh this guy hasn't studied it so we better not raise the cholesterol in his body. No. It doesn't matter whether you know the rule or not. I mean if you know the rule it's good but if you don't know the rule still the laws of the body still work whether you know the laws or not. It's the same thing here. Okay you didn't know the laws it was not deliberate. Fine you're not guilty but death still reigned. Whether you're guilty or not death still reigned all the way from Adam to Moses because spiritual death has got nothing to do with laws. That's what I want you to notice. No. Spiritual death has got nothing to do with laws. It's like cholesterol. It doesn't know that cholesterol doesn't bother whether you know the rules or not. It just operates. Death is like that. It just operates in our life whether you know it or not. And law may have come through Moses but death was from Adam and it makes absolutely no difference whether you know the law or not. And you know some areas you may say but brother I don't have light on it. It doesn't make a difference. Death still reigns in your life even if you didn't have light. So what? Some other area you say well I'm still pressing on. That's fine but death still reigns in you. I'm brother I'm struggling to get victory over anger. That's fine. Take 20 years to get victory but death will reign over you all those 20 years. That's not going to make an effect. You know it's like saying brother I'm trying to give up butter and cheese and all that in my life. That's fine you can take 20 years to give it up. You probably may not live 20 years but these things take over. The laws of the body. He's got the laws of the body. You've got nothing to do whether you're struggling or you're not struggling. Guilt may be another thing but death reigns universally because death is connected to sin and Jesus came not to bring more laws. Laws don't help. He came to bring something that deliver man from this death that's reigning. That's why resurrection is so important. That's why you know Jesus said you must be witnesses of my resurrection and the apostles always talk about being witnesses of Jesus' resurrection. The spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is going to fill me. That means all death of every sort is going to gradually disappear from my life and one day it'll even disappear from my body when Christ comes again. That means death won't even be able to touch my body one day but it begins in our spirit right now. That's the meaning of being raised from the dead and the resurrection life even my body will death won't be able to touch it anymore but this is the wonderful gospel. The gospel is all connected with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and such an emphasis on Jesus' risen life. Risen life is a resurrection is not just that he rose but that I can experience that power and it's not something which we can understand. You know I can explain this to you and you can listen to 10 messages on it. It won't help. We really got to ask God to open our eyes of our heart to see it and when we see it it's tremendously different. I want to show you here in Ephesians in chapter 1. When Paul was writing to the Ephesian Christians he says here in Ephesians 1 and he says you guys are great believers because I've heard of verse 15. I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus your love for all the saints. You know that's got to be a pretty good church if it loves all the believers. Don't you think so? They love all the saints not just the folks in their own group and they don't see he says I don't cease giving thanks to you verse 16. But I also pray for you. You fellows are wonderful believers. You don't have any wrong doctrines there in the church in Ephesus but I'm praying for something else. I'm praying verse 17 that God the Father will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation. You know revelation is a New Testament word not just understanding but revelation in the knowledge of him. I pray that the eyes of your heart not your mind. It's very important to distinguish between the mind and the heart. When you study physics, chemistry, geography you've got to use your mind. It doesn't matter if you don't use your heart but when you study the scriptures it's your heart. It's the only book in the world where you've got to use your heart. Maybe love letters also include in that but other than that it's the Bible that's where you got to use your heart to hear what God is trying to say. I pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened. That means Paul is praying that I pray the light will be switched on in your heart that you'll see something. You know how you go into a dark room and you can hardly see anything. There may be some wonderful things there you can't even see it and when the light is switched on you suddenly see it. That's what he's praying. He says in your heart I pray that God will turn on the light and you'll see something. Now if this was something we could understand with the mind you know what Paul would have said? Paul said please read what I'm writing 10 times. Read it 10 times. Read it again. Read it again. Read it again. Read it again. You know that's what they said in the old testament. Meditate. Meditate. Meditate. It's good to meditate. Well I'll tell you something. Sometimes God's just turned on the light and I haven't been meditating. Hey that's amazing. A lot of the light I have got has not come through. I mean I've also studied the bible carefully in order to fill my mind with the knowledge of scripture. That's important particularly if you're in a teaching ministry like me. But more important than that see most of you are I mean most of you are not in a teaching ministry so you don't have to know the bible so well like I need. I need to know it in the mind. But all of you need to know it in the heart. And it doesn't matter if you can't teach like me or explain the scriptures like me or illustrate make things simple like me. That's a calling for teaching. But to understand in the heart you have to say Lord just switch on the light. And I've no different times in my life when and I'll tell you something which may surprise you 90 percent of some of the things which have really opened my eyes about things in the scripture I have discovered by revelation when I am fellowshipping with other believers. Not listening to a message sometimes in a message but very often when just sitting and talking to other believers. Hey I got light on that. And that person sitting there may not even know that I got light something got turned on in my heart. And I thought a lot about this and I said Lord why is it that I seem to get more light when I'm in fellowshipping with other believers than when I'm just sitting reading the bible on my own. And I felt the Lord say to me that it was because he wanted me to recognize my dependence on the body of Christ. You know we are such independent people. One of the sins we never confess to God perhaps is our independent spirit. We're independent children are independent. And we grow up independent if that independent spirit is not destroyed and we don't learn our dependence not only on Jesus but on the body of Christ. We're not going to grow. I think I'm not exaggerating. I think 90 percent of my revelation on scripture I would not have got if I had not valued other brothers in the body of Christ. It doesn't matter what their denomination is. It doesn't matter. I got light from reading Mother Teresa. She's a catholic not not on catholic doctrines but on some other things about love for Jesus. So what I'm trying to say is be dependent on the body of Christ. You're not going to get it all on your own. You lonely individualistic type of people you're going to be you're going to miss out on something which you're really going to regret when you get to heaven. Learn to value the brothers and sisters and learn to fellowship with them and say God switch on the light in my heart. So Paul says I'll just show you a verse on that in Ephesians chapter 3. He says in verse 18 of Ephesians 3 that you may be able to understand or comprehend along with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses human knowledge. See there's a love of Christ you can understand with human knowledge. You know you study about it. You read about it. People explain it with stories. You say oh that's another love of Christ. You see a movie on Christ and you see the love of Christ. Fine. But there's something that goes beyond knowledge. It says surpasses knowledge. Do you know that there's something of the love of Christ which goes beyond no matter how much you read no matter how much you hear a message you can't understand it. It's not like history and social studies and all that. This is something which goes beyond knowledge but you can see it in your heart if you seek fellowship it says in verse 18 with all the saints. One of the things I have said to myself is listen carefully every person in the body of Christ every person he may be much younger than me maybe a new member in the body of Christ every person in the body of Christ has something to teach me and I want to learn that. I mean there may be 10,000 things I can teach him but there may be one thing which he can teach me. I want to learn that. Something of Christ something of of for example if I don't have an evangelistic passion to reach people to Christ to witness people and I meet a brother who sits in a train and he's immediately witnessing to somebody before the end of the journey has led him to Christ. Don't you think I can learn something from him? Instead of sitting back and making an excuse oh well that's not my calling. I believe that if we are open like that you know what will happen another in five or ten years you'll become spiritually a fantastically rich person because you're learning something from that person and that person and the other person and somebody else you meet another denomination who doesn't have the light that you have on maybe 10,000 things but you see something in him and you got the humility to say there's something there I want to learn there's something I want to learn there there's something I want to learn from that person and here you're going around the world meeting different believers and just picking up things can you imagine what a fantastically rich person you'll be I become tremendously rich this way even people whom I don't agree with in so many things I learn something from them yeah I say there's something I can learn there I may reject 99 things and pick up that one thing I'm not saying we should pick up everything you see the trouble with a lot of believers is they appreciate something in a brother and they go wholesale for that it's a bit risky because there may be things there which are not you got to be careful I mean there may be some brothers where you can pick up 90 percent of the things but not maybe not 10 percent and then some other brothers and even some servants of God maybe you can pick up only one thing a lot of things which we can't pick up you know I've thought of some of these folks who've got a tremendous healing ministry some of them have such a compassion for people and I say God I want to learn that I don't want to learn how to raise money through those people because that's not the way Jesus raised money I leave out all that but ignoring all that I disagree with them completely in their methods of ministry and all that but look at their compassion for sick people look at their compassion for people who are suffering I say God I don't have 10 percent of that that's something of Christ because Jesus had such compassion but we rule out the whole person completely just because his attitude to money is not right I agree I mean when you go to get your scooter repaired with somebody you don't find out how he's getting along with his wife and things like that before I only want to find out can he fix his scooter I don't want to find out his attitude to money whether he loves money and whether he lives properly with his wife it doesn't bother me if he can fix my scooter I get something out of them if I want to fix my teeth I don't go to him because he can't help me there I go to somebody else don't we do that in life you know we go to different people because that fellow can help me here and this fellow can help me here and the other chap can help me in somewhere else it's like that he has a brother who can teach me something which I don't know let me learn that let me get it from him he may be so prejudiced against me that he says oh I can't learn anything from brother he's a heretic fine he's enriching me but he doesn't want me to enrich him who's the loser who's the loser if you're this exclusive type who says no we are the only holy ones in cfc I'll tell you something I've seen people of that attitude who feel the only real wholehearted believers in the world are the ones who connected to cfc you'll be some of the poorest believers in the world I'll give it to you in the writing I never want to be like that we got to have a heart open we may not agree with other believers and because of that I cannot work with them do you know that if John Wesley were in Bangalore and John Wesley by the way lived in 1700s in England one of the godliest men in the history of the church do you know that if he were in Bangalore he and I would not be in the same church how do you like that because he'd sprinkle infants I said sorry John Wesley I really respect you as a godly man but I can't sprinkle infants and call it baptism what do you do then every time a child is born John Wesley says we got to sprinkle him and I say no we're not gonna sprinkle him okay brother I'll meet you regularly but we'll have to work in separate churches and somebody asked me what do you think of John Wesley I think he's the godliest man in Bangalore why don't you work with him he sprinkles infants I don't believe that's the right way to baptize people so what I'm trying to say is the other person in that church may be 10 times more godly than I am but I'm not working with him because there's an area where I'm absolutely convinced and I'm sure there John Wesley is wrong there's one area where I'm right and he's wrong and that's the matter of baptism but that doesn't mean I'm more spiritual than him can you acknowledge that that you could be right in some area another much more godly man could be wrong but yet he may be a hundred times more spiritual than you if you can acknowledge that you're on the way to becoming a spiritually rich person Lord there's something of the life of Christ along with all the saints it says here with all the saints you can comprehend the breadth and the length and the height and the depth of the love of Christ Paul wrote in four dimensions have you heard of four dimensions length and breadth and height and depth it's amazing that itself surpasses knowledge that's exactly it it goes beyond all geometry and all that type of stuff isn't it's beyond mathematics you know four dimensions height depth length breadth surpasses knowledge okay chapter one let's come to chapter one it says I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened that means something should be switched on in your heart and that you may know number one thing you need to that three things mentioned here and I want you to see it three things we've got to have the light switched on in our heart to know number one is the hope of his calling that Jesus called you perhaps all of you know why did Jesus call you can you give me an answer in one comprehensive sentence there may be many many things but all comprehend in one sentence why did Jesus call you and that the answer to me for that is in Romans 8 29 where it says very clearly that whom he foreknew he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son that Jesus might be the first or the eldest among many brothers and these whom he predestined he called okay so when I go to that verse I understand why did God call me he called me for one reason not to go to heaven nowhere in the Bible does it say God called me to go to heaven yeah I want to surprise you with some of these things nowhere in the Bible does say God called you to go to heaven you know what the Bible says he called you to become like Jesus and that starts right here on earth it ends when we get to heaven but it starts right here he called me to be more compassionate he called me to be more holy he called me to look at women Jesus the way Jesus looked at women with absolute total purity he called me to look at money the way Jesus looked at money with complete detachment using it but not attached to it he called me to look at circumstances the way Jesus looks at circumstances you know God is in control that faith he wants me to be like Jesus and at the same time he wants me to be like Jesus in my ministry Jesus had such a tremendous passion to serve God and to do something for his father his whole life he's once when he didn't even eat food and he say he brought one soul to God that Samaritan woman and disciple he told his disciple I've already eaten my food my food's over you fellas have brought lunch for me now but I got a soul saved and I'm so excited about that I lost my hunger have you ever lost your hunger because the soul got saved or something God did something and boy you say I don't feel hungry now because I've eaten something if you've not known that I believe we should know that many times in our life that type of excitement that God did something I'm so excited that I'm not really bothered whether I eat or not think of the number of believers who complain about food and all types of things how what a million miles they are away from being conformed to the image of Jesus so I'm just telling you these things you know how we really God's will is that I might be exactly like Jesus one of the things that's exercised my mind over the last few weeks is the subject of partiality I've been thinking much about it partiality I've been asking myself Lord is there any partiality in my life Jesus was totally impartial he looked at his mother and his brothers and said these are not my mother and brothers are these around me who do the will of God he valued the brothers and sisters around him more than he valued his own family members can you say that there has to be like Jesus you see what my family members were believers do you know that Jesus' mother was perhaps the godliest woman on earth at that time it's to her he said my mother and brothers are these who do the will of God if you are in that category fine but you're not going to be in that category because you're my physical mother or my physical brother or my physical son or anybody like that no we know nobody after the flesh you see that's the resurrection life of Jesus because all the rest is part of that death that came through Adam sometimes you know when we talk about death we talk about sin we don't we've got a habit of not seeing the sins that we really have we think of sins like adultery murder I mean you go to a worldly person who's unconverted he's also got the same list as you have and I want to say to you if you make a list of sins and your list of sins is the same as that worldly person's list of sins in the same priority that is one of the clearest proofs that you really haven't come to know God yet if I make a list of sins it's going to be totally different from what the worldly person he puts murder adultery theft and all at the bottom I put selfishness and pride and hypocrisy and partiality and thinking evil of others and speaking evil of others these are the things in my list it's completely different from the world's list I hope because these are the things Jesus spoke about for example every idle word that man shall speak he's going to give an account in the day of judgment which worldly person puts that in his list for that matter which believer puts it in his list a lot of believers don't that shows that they don't have a passionate desire to become like Jesus they don't have a passionate desire they haven't seen the hope of his calling the average believer I tell you this I met lots of them the average believer his only calling is I'll go to heaven when I die I'm going to be finished with this miserable old world I'll tell you people who have that hope are going to be tremendously disappointed when they go to heaven they may make it to heaven but they'll be disappointed when they get there because God will tell them you know the reason I kept you on earth for 25 years after you were converted was that you'd use those 25 years to become a little more like my son but you let me down pretty badly okay I thought you'd give me a place in heaven but ah you can shout as much as you like here that you love Jesus but you know it mattered on earth whether you did that I believe we need to ask God for light on some of these things the hope of his calling hope of his calling and the second thing it says here is in Ephesians 1 is I pray the light will be switched on your heart to see the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints Ephesians 1 18 not my inheritance in heaven that's great to think about that but the living bible says I want you to realize that God became rich when he got you huh you look around say is it me you're talking about me yes you God became rich when he got you can you believe that almighty God who no wants nothing needs nothing says I became rich when I got you man God owns all the planets and stars in the universe in the milky way and all the other things in the universe but he says that didn't make me rich you know it's like some of these multi-millionaires have got houses and lands and gold and everything they don't have a son and then they get a son and they say boy this is my wealth all the other was just rubbish that's how God feels about you and me and if you don't believe it you'll be a miserable person one reason I'm a very happy person is because I believe it it's a daring thought that God became rich when he got me you're almost scared to say it I wouldn't say it if it were not in the bible but you know even though it's written in the bible some of you are scared to say it I better not say it that's blasphemy to say God became rich when he got me that's having high thoughts about myself no it isn't he's just speaking the truth God became rich when he got me why because he paid the blood of his son to get me have you understood what a tremendous price God paid to get you my brother sister that wasn't easy how many of you would go through mountains and rivers and deserts and uh suffer everything possible loss of all your money and health and everything to get the girl you love boy boy I say you really love that girl that's how God that's how Jesus God is right you know God sent his son to suffer everything to get you it's unbelievable but it's true and it's because it's unbelievable Paul says I pray that the Holy Spirit will give you revelation your light will get turned on in your heart it's not just that gifted brother there even you were not so gifted you know when you realize this it changes your whole attitude to the Christian life many of us we hear exhortations we wholehearted be wholehearted be wholehearted you're trying and trying and you're not wholehearted brother Bible is boring and I'm not this you know you you pray this you say Lord just show me how rich you became when you got me and see if it doesn't change your whole attitude to the Christian life that's what Paul's praying for these Ephesians I pray that the light will be switched on in your heart to see such a miserable backslider like you God still loves you and he became rich when he got you and he's disappointed that you don't appreciate that you know God is disappointed that you don't appreciate sufficiently that you're still hankering after something in the world when God says hey you're mine you know I became rich when I got you why are you always after those things why are you not a little more interested in me that that's the thing I pray that God will open our eyes to see how rich he became when he got me it says in verses like Zephaniah that God rejoices over us in love and it's really exciting to think that almighty God who means nothing in this universe loves me so intensely cares about me so much have you read this amazing verse in Zechariah chapter 2 Zechariah 2 verse 8 the last part the Lord says he who touches you touches the apple of his eye of God's eye you know the most sensitive part of your body in case you didn't know is the apple of your eye it's very painful if something touches that any other part of your body is not so painful but the apple of your eye you know somebody touches with a finger which part of your body pains if somebody just touches with a finger the apple of your eye it's so dangerous that if you allow somebody to do it two three times it can even damage your eye it's that sensitive and God picks that and says do you know when somebody tries to harm you he's touching the apple of my eye I'll tell you this that's what scares me of ever doing harm to another believer or speaking evil about another believer I'm sorry I won't do it because that's the apple of God's eye I mean maybe there may be a hundred things wrong with him there are a hundred things wrong with me also in different areas perhaps I will not touch the apple of God's eye make that rule in your life I will not touch the apple of God's eye let God deal with him it's not my business I'll tell you in my younger days I was foolish nobody taught me these things you guys are so lucky that you hear these things I wasn't taught these things and I went around touching many apples of God's eye left right and center here and there and I suffered because of it I'm just telling you folks don't do it don't do the stupid things I did in my younger days and suffered I really reaped and I said Lord I'm going to be very careful I will not touch your anointed I mean even if the anointing was once upon him and it's lost David said okay Saul may have lost the anointing but once he was gone I'm not going to touch him it's not my business let God deal with him how wise David was and God said David you're a man after my own heart you you really have a sense for these things but look at the ways today believers hit out criticize take people to court fight this and the other do you think these people have the slightest fear of God zero now we may not go to such extremes but I just want to say to you just leave other believers alone the whole bible is full of stories the whole bible is full of stories of how God dealt with people who touched his beloved children do you know what God dealt with Cain starting with Cain Cain did something to Abel God punished him in some way I don't know how Cain himself oh God please this is terrible what you have done to me that tough hard man got humbled and began to weep before God because the punishment was so bad that's how the bible begins you touch one of God's children God says this is what I'll do to you that scares me I want to be scared you know what happened to Pharaoh when he began to trouble the Israelites in Egypt God said you're going to trouble my children I'll teach you a lesson for centuries the whole world will know what I'm like it's true right through the Bible anybody who troubled God's children it is like that think of Saul who harassed David harassed David harassed David tried to kill him okay God tolerated it for many many years and God tolerate for many many years people who are harassing you and troubling you but boy when the day God begins to deal with him I would not like to be around it'll be terrible for that person and I don't want to be in that number I don't want to be that number who goes around criticizing this person that person the other person no it's not my business God is their judge and that is a tremendous comfort you became God became rich when he got you and if somebody touches you he's touching the apple of God's eye leave it to God I know times when you know particularly me I serve the Lord and anyone who serves the Lord is the target of Satan's attack and Satan attacks through people and through the years many many people have attacked me some of it you know about a lot of it you don't know about but God's always told me this do you want to deal with that person or will you let me deal with that person I said no you deal with that person I'm not going to deal with that person no it's not my business it's God's business you know that when you touch the apple of your eye your eye does nothing it's some other part of your body that says you better watch out that's it it's something like that I'm the apple of God's eye somebody touches me the eye does nothing God deals with that himself that's a comfort to know that if somebody harassing you in your office just love him you know I hear so many complaints about people and say brother this church they're not treating me right and that office they're not treating me right and my husband your husband's not treating me right your husband's not treating you right and you're a child of God boy I tell you I feel sorry for your husband the day God deals with him I wouldn't like to be a million miles near him when God begins to punish him for the way he treated you a sincere child of God or vice versa we don't realize that God is very long-suffering he waits a long long time but boy when he begins to judge look at the time he waited in Egypt 400 years but when he began to judge oh it's terrible they got frogs and lice and all types of things happened to them they just couldn't escape if they went to drink water that had become blood just terrible and then finally the eldest son died in every home it's terrible when God begins to judge don't you harass your wife or your husband if they are God's children don't do it steer clear of it don't take advantage of your position of superiority over another person maybe somebody's dependent on you don't ever take advantage of it don't take advantage of people who are lower than you in society don't look down on people who are poorer than you or lower than you in some way it's dangerous it's extremely dangerous I wouldn't even like to treat a beggar like that be very very careful because God they are God's special property so that's the second thing we need to have a light switched on in our heart and the third one he says in Ephesians 1 is he's I want to have the you to have the light switched on in your heart by the Holy Spirit concerning the tremendous greatness of God's power available to us not to everybody God's power is not available to everybody sorry for giving you this bad news but God's power is not available to everybody but it is available to everyone who believes that God will do it everyone who says Lord I believe you're going to do that for me I can't think of a single person in the Old Testament or the New Testament who laid hold of God like that and was disappointed particularly something concerning God's will for example there are hundreds and thousands of areas where we don't know God's will for example you're in love with some girl and you want to marry her and you're absolutely convinced that that is God's will I've met lots of people like that but the girl is not convinced what do you do I tell the boy that's not God's will it's simple to me if it is God's will you convince both sides not just you but you say I'm going to claim it I'm going to claim it you can claim it till all eternity and you may get her by by hook or by crook mostly by crook but you you may get her but it but you won't be happy it's not God's will see there are a lot of things like that we try to claim by faith boy I want to get a car a more expensive car or a bigger house these are not the type of things start with things which we know are God's will okay for example are you in debt let's start with something let's start with ABC stuff don't go to this PhD stuff start with ABC stuff are you in debt the Bible says oh no man anything you say Lord I'm absolutely convinced Romans 13 it says I should owe no man anything that is your will but I owe people money then it must definitely be your will that I should be free from it that's one area where you can definitely ask God to answer you because you have no doubt about God's will so I say start with the areas where you have absolutely no doubt about God's will before you go into those other areas other areas also over a period of time as you get to know God you can know God's will better but before we get into that there are things clearly revealed and start with that say Lord I I want to become free from debt whether it takes one year or 10 years I want to be free from debt the earliest possible time and I want you to help me I want you to I want to trust you that your mighty power is available to me I trust you you'll help me in this area or if you're battling with anger say Lord I'm absolutely sure Ephesians 4 31 says put away all anger it's clear in God's word all anger must be put away from my life not 99.9 percent 100 percent Lord I haven't put it all away I'm I'm absolutely convinced this is your will I want to believe that you'll do it in my life they're very serious like that Lord I'm still lusting with my eyes after women I'm absolutely convinced your will is that I should be pure that I should never watch one thing on internet pornography even once not even soft porn leave alone hard porn if you don't know what that means don't try and find out just leave it to some people who know so I'm speaking to them it's really true and you'll be I've been on the internet for years I've never seen one single thing because I'm I'm immediately I know this is suspicious I say I don't want to see it I know it's possible if you're radical but you're not radical you slip up and say oh God please forgive me I did that and you do it again say God please forgive me where are you going to go from there brother sister you're destroying yourself you're taking poison and say no please give me a stomach wash you take another day poison give me a stomach wash you know what's going to happen to your stomach linings after some time be careful be careful you're destroying yourself nobody else and you say I don't have power exactly that's why we need to ask God Lord I don't have the power please help me help me to overcome this the exceeding greatness of this power to us who believe now I'll show you this power listen to this there are many manifestations of God's power in creation and so many other things but the greatest manifestation of God's power it says here is when he raised Christ Jesus from the dead back again we are still the same old subject the power that raised Jesus from the dead I told you how death has spread everywhere internet pornography is death lusting after women is death anger is death love of money is death selfishness is death pride is death spiritual pride is death hypocrisy is death and this mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to me if I believe Lord you mean to say that I can experience a power that lifts me out of all this death I want to know that it's not rules in that when people are under the law they were living under this death God gave them so many hundreds of rules they never got out of death and God said this is just to teach you to teach you that you will never become holy with rules have we learned it in 2004 AD do you know the number of people who still think that you're going to be holy with rules you can't I mean you can appear to be it's like the illustration I've used of a pig if you keep holding a pig with chains you can keep it clean but it doesn't change the nature of the pig even if you hold that pig for 10 years with chains once you release the chains it's still a pig but God's doing something better he's going to change the inside nature so that we don't love that filth like a cat doesn't love filth and God who can give a cat a nature like that can give me a nature that loves purity that is the resurrection life of Jesus and we want to say Lord I want that resurrection life I want that resurrection life in me that lifts me up above spiritual death will you seek it will you say Lord this resurrection life this power of the Holy Spirit I want it in my life at any cost I want it in my life I'm going to seek you for it one last verse Romans chapter 8 and verse 3 verse 2 he speaks here about the law of the Holy Spirit compared to the law of Moses the law of Moses had 10 commandments the law of the Holy Spirit is not commandments it says the law of the Holy Spirit please remember this you've heard of the law of Moses here's a law of the Spirit is life in Christ Jesus it's written there the law of the Spirit which is or of life in Christ Jesus it's not a law it's life has set me free from all this death there's a law of sin and death operating here how am I going to haven't you struggled for years to be free from the love of money haven't you struggled for years to be free from the lust of the eyes from free from the lust of pornography and anger and yeah okay now shall we seek for something which is not which is not according to laws and rules but the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus life in Christ that resurrection life I believe that's our calling and that's what we need to go around the world proclaiming that Jesus is risen Jesus is risen and I'll tell you how do I know because he's done something in my life I could never have overcome this with any number of rules or determination but Jesus set me free let's bow our heads for a moment as we think about what we heard this morning will you pray with all of your heart my brother sister that God will switch on the light switch on the light in your heart and show you something in these areas that you've never seen before in your whole life Lord what I need is not understanding I need revelation give me something that turns on the light in my heart that changes my life completely changes my values changes my attitudes and help me to experience that mighty supernatural power of the Holy Spirit that lifts me up and I'll tell you something it'll even affect your body when it begins to affect your spirit it'll affect your body as well and if you have sickness you'll find suddenly you're getting healthier you get healed from sickness too when you let resurrection life enter your spirit you know how when bitterness enters your spirit you get sickness if sin can produce sickness can't resurrection life produce a little bit of health to overcome that sickness I believe there are lots of believers who are sick for having sicknesses they are not supposed to have ask Jesus resurrection life the spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead will give life even to your mortal body it says heavenly father help us to enjoy the privileges we have in Christ we the devil's robbed us of so many things but he's not going to rob us anymore we're going to get it all back from him we'll get it all back in our life everyone here we're not just claiming it for one or two but everyone here Lord and our children must have it too in Jesus name amen