In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of speaking God's word effectively. He highlights the need to speak as the utterance of God, whether it is a short or long message. The speaker also emphasizes the balance between personal life and ministry, drawing inspiration from the example of Christ and scripture. He encourages listeners to be quick to hear and slow to speak, both in human relationships and in their relationship with God. The sermon emphasizes the fear and responsibility that comes with speaking for God and warns against wasting time with boring sermons that lack the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

See, the last couple of days we have been thinking in our main sessions about life particularly. And we want to think a little more about ministry because these two must be balanced. Paul told Timothy, take heed to your life, to yourself and to your teaching. Both are equally important. Life and teaching are equally important. And we need to see that in both areas we follow the example of Christ and scripture. So that's important. So I want to start with a verse in Romans chapter 12. Verse 3. For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. So, therefore he says, if you have a gift of prophecy, verse 6, since you have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each is to exercise them accordingly. The prophecy according to the proportion of his faith. We don't have, there's no exhortation in the Bible which says the opposite of verse 3, don't think of yourself more lowly than you ought to think. That's what all the preachers and psychologists are preaching today. And that message excites a lot of people. But isn't it interesting that an all-wise God, who knew the end from the beginning, never felt there was a need for such an exhortation in scripture? You ask yourself, have you found in your past life you're in greater danger of being too humble or too proud? We are in constant danger of thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Now this is different from finding security in God as a Father. See, we have two directions in which we have relationships. Or let's say three directions. In relation to God, in relation to human beings, and in relation to the devil. So, in relation to God, always the Bible says in the New Testament, we must have confidence, boldness. That's the word used, to have confidence before God. And that comes through knowing that Christ has accepted me just as I am. And that as soon as I sin, if I confess and repent, I'm forgiven immediately and I accept it. And also towards the devil. I mean, there's only one word in the New Testament, resist him. Give no place to him. Don't give any place to the devil. Don't give him any opportunity. So, it's a fierce attitude towards an enemy that we are supposed to have towards Satan all the time. But then when it relates to human beings, always the word is, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. And like I said, pride is in our spirit. If we don't ask God for light on it, we won't get it. We won't get that light. And I want to read to you what the message translation of this Romans 12.3 is. I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me. And especially since I have some responsibility in relation to you. So, since we live in pure grace, it's important that you don't misinterpret yourself as people who are bringing something to God. No, God brings it to you. And listen to this. The only way to accurately understand ourselves is by knowing what God is and what he does for us. Rather than thinking about what we are and what we do for him. See, our human tendency is always to think of what we are and what we do for God. We need to discipline ourselves to think of who God is and what he has done for us. And the more we think about that, we really have a sober estimate about ourselves. And we have faith that what God did for me, he can do for other people too. I mean, I was not such wonderful material for God to do something with me. No, he took a very ordinary person who made so many mistakes and then did something. So, we must have faith for others. Let me show you another verse, 1 Peter chapter 4. Since a lot of our ministry is speaking God's word, I want to share some basic requirements to be able to speak God's word effectively. And once we have laid that foundation, then we can build on that to see how we can speak God's word more effectively. See, basically I just want to say three things. Number one, 1 Peter 4.11. Whoever speaks must speak as the utterance of God. That means every time you get up to speak in the meeting, whether it is 5 minutes or 20 minutes, it must be as the utterance of God. That's what the word of God says. Whoever speaks, it must be as the utterances of God. That means when you get up to speak in the meeting, you are speaking for God. That is, people are hearing what God is saying. How do you feel when you read that verse? That verse brings a tremendous fear into my heart. I find it doesn't bring a fear into the hearts of lots of believers and that's why they waste everybody's time. All the boring sermons are because people have not started hearing this verse. They just get up and say whatever comes into their mind. I said that's alright in a political platform or when you are in a school function or something like that. But to speak in a church, in a church meeting, there is only one way to speak. Whoever speaks, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, the utterances of God, it's really fearful. And that's why the Bible says in James 1, it says in verse 19, let everyone be quick to hear and slow to speak. And it's referring to human relationships. Don't just think in conversation. You have to do all the speaking. Listen. But I want to apply that also in our relationship with God. Hear what God is saying to you before you speak. See how Jesus said it in John 14, 10. These are amazing words. John 14, verse 10. The middle of that verse. The words that I am saying to you, I am not speaking on my own initiative, but the Father abides in me, does these works. If there was one person who walked on this earth, who could have spoken whatever he wanted from his mind, it was Jesus, because his mind was so pure, his life was so pure. We can't do that because our minds are so polluted. Our life has been so polluted. But the one whose life was perfect, never said everything that came into his mind. He said, the words that I speak to you in the message Bible, I don't make them up on my own. I said, Lord, make me like you. The words that I speak, I don't make them up on my own. But the Father who dwells in me, crafts each word. That's why Jesus wasn't always in a hurry to speak. To me, one of the greatest miracles that I see in Jesus' life, was that he could sit 30 years in the synagogue in Nazareth and listen to all those boring sermons and keep quiet. Don't you think that's a miracle? He had so much in him. The Father said, keep quiet. It's not for you to speak now. There are very few believers who are so sensitive to the Father's voice. They think they know something. Of course, they've got to set everybody straight and tell everybody whatever is in their mind. Jesus was not like that. He spoke when the Father told him to speak. If somebody gets up and speaks a boring sermon, the Father said, no, you just keep quiet. Just go home. He went. One day the Father said, now go. Then he began to speak. And even then, he wouldn't speak immediately. When the people accused the woman caught in adultery, he waited. Father, what shall I say? He's looking down, scribbling on the ground. People say, what was he scribbling? That's written in Deuteronomy 29.29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. I think you know sometimes when I'm listening to a phone, I take a phone and just doodle. You do that sometimes, just draw circles. I think he was doing something like that. He's saying, Father, what do you want me to say? Tell them, he who is without sin, cast the first stone. Be quick to hear and slow to speak. You'll accomplish a lot more. With one sentence. Many of us think, unless we speak for a long time, nothing will be accomplished. Yeah, I mean, Paul once spoke for, I think about ten hours in Troas. That was in Acts 20. So, there are times when there's a need for that. But don't try that unless you're someone like Paul. Most of us are much less than that. But to speak is the utterance of God. That's the number one thing that we need to bear in mind. And for that, I need to really know God's word. If I don't know God's word, how will I know the utterances of God? It's very important for us, every one of us, to have a disciplined attitude of studying God's word. I mean, if God has called you to minister the word, God's word must be the passion of your heart. And that's how I studied the word from the age of 21 to 26. I used to study it everywhere. I used to carry it into wherever I went. In the bus stop, or go to the toilet, or go to a government office where you know you have to wait two, three hours before anything happens. Any place where I felt I may have to wait or travel in a bus or a train or anything. You see, I think of what Jesus said after the feeding of the 5,000. Pick up the fragments that remain. And I think of that in relation to time. There are fragments of time that we get during the day. You see, I was working in the Navy. I didn't have large sections of time. I had to work. But I had fragments of time here and there. Now pick up those fragments of time and seek to study God's word during those fragments of time. So, I would encourage you to do that, to use all the fragments of time to study God's word. And really get to know God's word if you want to speak as the utterances of God. Don't have favourite passages of scripture. Lot of cults have come out through taking one verse. Don't forget that the devil quoted a verse to Jesus to make him do something. And the devil will quote a verse to you to make you do something. Because he knows you respect God's word. Okay, he will give you a verse from God's word. And Jesus also, he gave God's word because he knew Jesus respected God's word. But Jesus had studied the word. He said, no, it's also written something else. That has got to balance the other one. You read that in Matthew 4. So, like someone said, the whole truth is not found in it is written. The whole truth is found in it is written and it is also written. It's like the two wings of a bird. Tozer used to say, truth has got two wings. You have only one, you just keep going around in circles. So, we need to have complete understanding of God's word. And I have pictured God's word like the human body. God in his great wisdom has put so many parts in this human body. Some things which may think, nails for example. You are not going to die if you don't have nails. But if you want to scratch yourself, you need nails. It's very useful sometimes when no other part of the body can help you. So, even some of those things which look so unimportant are important. But not as important as the heart, the kidneys, the liver, things like that. So, in truth also it's like that. Many truths. For example, 1 Corinthians 13 says that speaking in tongues is not as important as loving people. He says even doing miracles is not as important as loving people. So, there is a proportion of truth. Some are more important than others. For example, how many of you know that to worship God is more important than to serve him? Jesus said that in Matthew 4 to 10, thou shalt worship and then thou shalt serve. And worship is not praise and thanksgiving we have on Sunday morning. There are three things, thanksgiving, praise and worship. Most of the time what we do on Sunday morning is thanksgiving and praise when we sing. Not worship. People call it worship. That's because most of them don't know what worship is. There are very few people who knew what worship was. I think some of these old godly Roman Catholic saints, they knew what worship was. I think people like Protestants, a few people like Tozer knew what worship was. But I have discovered one thing, that the more you worship, the more effective your service is. Thanksgiving is to express our gratitude to God for all that he has done for us. Praise is praising him even if he didn't do anything for me. Praise him for who he is. But worship, people worship by falling down before God with their head down before him. That's why I am against this pushing people back that goes on nowadays in the meetings where people fall backwards and show their feet to God. In our Eastern cultures, you know what an insult it is if I show my feet to you. Imagine lying down and showing my feet to God. I tell you, the devil has made fools of Christians. Showing their feet to God, they say, it's the Holy Spirit. It's absolute rubbish. Where have you gone, brother? It's wonderful power. It's power, all right, but it's not Holy Spirit power. Because if it were Holy Spirit power, it would make you holy. Like evil spirits make people evil. Evil spirit. That's unclean spirit, right? Is there a word for evil? Okay. Unclean spirits make you unclean. Evil spirits make you evil. Unclean spirits will make you unclean. And if that's true, what should Holy Spirit make you? It's so clear. Holy. So, this is where the deception. I mean, you don't need to be spiritual, you just need to know English, that's all, or your own language. Why did God call him Holy Spirit? He who has ears to hear will hear. So, worship is when people fell down and they were showing that their whole being was God's. And worship can be best done alone, in private, without anybody around. In the Old Testament, there was a place called a Most Holy Place where the high priest alone would go. That was worshipped. It was just him and God, nobody else. That's why Jesus told the woman in Samaria, the time has now come when people can worship God in the spirit. Up until now, they could only worship in the body and the soul. I'm just expanding Jesus' words. Man is body, soul and spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5.23. And there was worship in the Old Testament, body and soul worship. Clap your hands, raise your hands, it's all in the psalms. And use your voice and raise your voice and shout and everything, it's all in the psalms. And emotions and all that, and use all the instruments. No, I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. I'm just saying that we can do something more today. In fact, this should flow out of that. The rivers must now flow from our innermost being in the New Covenant. From the spirit to the soul and body. So, my clapping and my emotions and my raising my hands and my trumpeting and music, everything must come from my spirit. You see, the Old Testament tabernacle had these three parts corresponding to body, soul and spirit. And the most holy place was blocked off. Nobody could go there. Teaching that worship in the spirit was impossible in the Old Covenant. But Jesus died and rent that veil and said, now you can worship in the spirit. That's what he told the woman of Samaria in John 4. The time is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit. It wasn't possible until now. But now it is possible. John 4.24.25, you read that. Now, we can worship in spirit. And Romans 12.1 says, your worship is when you present your entire body to God. I don't lie down on the ground and show my feet to God. And nobody is ever going to make me do that. These meetings where people make you fall, make them fall down is so popular nowadays. I have two verses for that. If I go to such a meeting, one is Psalm 91, a thousand will fall on one side and ten thousand on the other side will go and come near you. And then I have a verse from the New Testament in Jude 24, he is able to keep me from falling. That's enough for me. And so I don't fall. But I do worship. I bow down before God, present my body to him like it says in Romans 12.1. Present your bodies because this is your worship in the spirit. You read that in Romans 12.1. This is your worship in the spirit. That's not easy. It's easy to praise and thank and clap. But to say, Lord, I present my body to you. I have used my eyes to look at, to read at, to read whatever I liked. From today it's yours. I have used my tongue to talk all types of things. If I get angry, I just speak because the tongue is mine. Today it's yours. I have used my hands to do all types of things. No more. The passions of my body I have used to fulfill my own lusts. But I surrender them to you. My feet have taken me wherever I wanted to go. But no more. I present every part of my body as a living sacrifice. Sacrifice means something has to be killed. That is my own desire to use these things the way I want. I want to go where I like. I pray, Lord, I don't want to go where I like. I want to go where you want me to go. I never want to be a single day in a place where you don't want me to go. And it says in Romans 12.1, when you have done that, you are worshipping in the spirit. Tell me, is that easier or just coming Sunday morning and say, Hallelujah, praise the Lord, let's sing this wonderful chorus where we can shake our hips and go back and use our bodies exactly as we like? Among born again believers, less than 1% know what worship is. They are all in the old covenant, worship in the body and soul. I also do that, but my worship flows from my spirit. I clap, I raise my hands, I shout, I feel emotional, I weep, I laugh, I do everything. But it's more than that. You know how two people can do the same thing and for one it comes from his innermost being, for the other it is only superficial. I can't decide for another person, but I know about myself whether it's coming from my innermost being or not. Your service for God will be a million times more effective if you first of all decide to be a worshipper. I say, Lord, all my life I want to be a worshipper because that's what I'm going to do for eternity. I'm not going to preach in heaven, I'm not going to speak in tongues in heaven, I'm not going to pray for the sick in heaven. All these things will disappear. Worship will continue. For all eternity. I'll tell you one thing, I'll never show my feet to God in heaven. I'll fall with my head down before him. Let's learn to do it now. When you live like that, there'll be a fear of God in you, a reverence for his presence, and you will not be so quick to get up and just speak whatever comes into your mind. You'll be very careful that your utterances are the utterances of God. You will not speak to impress people, you will speak to lead them to this almighty God. A lot of preaching is not to lead people to God. It is to present ideas and this and that. It's just like the worldly lecturers. Lots of Christians are like that today. Psychology has determined how they preach. I've heard lots of preachers. Very good, very effective, they grip you for a long time. I've heard politicians who live very immoral lives. But boy, when they speak, they can grip you that you don't even lose concentration for one minute. It's not Holy Spirit. And I suppose if such a person becomes a Christian, they can speak like that from God's word too. But it's not the utterances of God. And then I've heard very few in my life, when they speak, they give me a sense of God. Oh Lord, make me like that. That should be your prayer. That when you speak, people have a sense of God. That it brings a reverence for God into their life. They don't just say, it's like I heard of two preachers in the 19th century. I don't remember their names. But someone who heard both of them said, when I hear this man, I say, what a wonderful preacher. But when I hear this man, I say, boy, what a wonderful saviour we have. So which do you want? By the end of your sermon, you could say, boy, what a wonderful preacher. Or to say, what a wonderful saviour Jesus is. Seek and you will find. You seek to be a wonderful preacher. That's what you'll be. You say, Lord, hide me. Let people see Jesus. Seek that. God will grant you your heart's desire. When I was a young preacher, I read a poem, which I never forget. I don't remember the exact wording of that poem. I've got it somewhere. But it's a picture of a man holding a, you know, those days they didn't have electricity, fire torch. And showing a painting of Jesus. And it says, everybody saw the beauty of that painting, that nobody even noticed the hand that was holding this torch. I said, Lord, help me to preach like that. That the lasting impression when they've gone away is, they've got taken up to the Lord. To tell you honestly, I'm absolutely delighted when nobody comes and thanks me at the end of a message saying, brother, that was a wonderful sermon. Because then I know that they were taken up to the saviour. They didn't see the hand that held the torch. I don't wait for people to come and thank me. In fact, I hope they don't. I want them to be so gripped with Jesus, they forgot about everybody else and went home. And the second verse of that poem said that there was a man who blew a trumpet. And the trumpet prepared everybody for the war. They all got ready. But nobody saw who blew the trumpet. But the message was clear, prepare for war. So, I said, Lord, that's how I want to preach. Prepare for war against Satan and sin. It's all a question of what our goal in life is. You know, as elders, we can want to be admired as preachers. And you pursue that and pursue that. When I was a young Christian, the Lord asked me this question. Do you want to impress people or do you want to help them? Make a choice. I said, Lord, I want to help people. The Lord said, then stop trying to impress them. And from that time, I tried my best. I haven't always succeeded, but I've tried my best only to help and not to impress. I must say, sometimes I've slipped up and fallen. Usually, particularly when I go to a new place for the first time, we're all tempted, why, I've got to impress these people. It becomes less and less as we grow older, but don't get discouraged if that happens. You know, the first time somebody asks you to speak in a new situation, the temptation is strong to impress. But go home and judge yourself. That's not the highest form of ministry. God's put us in this world not to impress people, but to help them. That's easy when we are worshippers. When we live before God's face and we're taken up with Him. Another picture the Lord gave me was this, in Isaiah chapter 2. I'm just telling you some things that helped me in my ministry. I'm still on point number 1, by the way. Don't think you've missed point number 2 and 3. To speak as the utterances of God. It's very important that we get certain basic facts right. Worship of God and seeking to hide ourselves so that God can be seen more clearly. I love the example of the Trinity. Jesus hid himself so that people would see the Father. He always wanted to get out of the way, if you need to see the Father. And then the Holy Spirit came. And he always gets out of the way and says, you've got to see Jesus, you've got to see Jesus. I said, this is how God is. I said, Lord, make me like that. Always wanting to get out of the way and say, no, you've got to see Jesus. That's the mark of a man filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will glorify me. He will not speak about himself. The man filled with the Holy Spirit will not speak about himself. I mean, we may give a testimony. Many times I have been very reluctant to give a testimony about myself. I find that sometimes it helps people, so I'm willing to do it. So, let me say this. Isaiah chapter 2. There's another verse that helped me. Isaiah 2.22. Stop regarding man whose breath is in his nostrils. And the Lord said to me, all these people sitting in front of you, their breath is in their nostrils. And when the breath is taken away, they are just dust. It's just dust. Think of a hundred piles of dust. And we know in the world there are different colors of dust. White dust, brown dust, black dust, yellow dust, red dust. God, they start breathing, they are white human beings and red human beings and brown human beings, etc. But you take it all out, take out the breath, take out the breath, it's just piles of dust. So, I used to picture myself like this. I'm standing on a beach. No human beings around. Piles of dust. You know, something like the Lord told Ezekiel, go and preach to this valley of bones. So, here the Lord says to me, here are the piles of dust here. Don't regard them. Their breath is in their nostrils. And now speak to them. Prophesy to them, son of man, to these piles of dust. Tell them what I want them to hear. That makes a difference. When we are not trying to impress. I mean, can you imagine standing in a beach before a pile of sand and trying to impress that pile of sand? Crazy. None of us, even the weakest of us wouldn't be tempted to do that. These are little pictures God uses to help us. Because you can never be a servant of God if you are trying to impress men. I believe that's one of the greatest problems that we have when we seek to minister God's word. Galatians chapter 1 and verse 10. Am I seeking the favor of men? Am I trying to please men? If I were trying to please men, I cannot be a servant of Christ. I cannot be a servant of Christ if I seek to impress men. It's completely out of the question. I will be a servant of men. In other words, 2nd Timothy 4. Paul says to Timothy, I'm giving you a solemn charge in the presence of God. You see, everything in God's word is from the Holy Spirit. But Timothy was such a wholehearted brother. And he took seriously everything that Paul said. He said, but when Paul wanted him to take something really serious, he said, I'm solemnly charging you in God's presence. This is no ordinary thing, Timothy. And in the presence of Jesus Christ who will judge you one day and judge all the living and dead people. And he's going to appear and he's going to set up his kingdom where all the kingdoms of earth will be wiped off. And with all that fantastic introduction, he says, preach the word. See, it's not just preach the word. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God or Christ Jesus to judge the living and the dead by his appearing in his kingdom. Preach the word. That's the way we should preach the word every time. Solemnly, solemnly charged in the presence of God. In the presence of Jesus Christ who will judge me one day. Who will ask me, why did you preach like that? Why did you speak for one hour when I gave you only five minutes message? Will the Lord ask any of you that question? Why did you get up and speak for one hour when I gave you only five minutes? We don't have a fear of God. That's our problem. We get up and say whatever comes into our mind to people and say, we are preaching God's word. We need a humility, brothers. We need a fear or reverence. We need to recognize how much grace God has given us. You know, I always use the example of cheques. One person with one lakh in his bank account can write a cheque for one lakh. If you got only fifty rupees in your bank account, how much can you write? Prophesy according to the proportion of your faith. There are many brothers in our churches who preach for one hour because they see me preach for one hour. And it's the brothers in those churches who keep on telling me, Brother Zach, our elder just bought a cheque. It bores us. And even though you have numerous times told everybody, Brother Zach, to speak for twenty minutes, these brothers just don't listen. They don't respect anybody's authority. What to do? I say, what shall I do? Shall I be like Saddam Hussein? I won't be. I leave them to God. If they want to destroy themselves, destroy yourself. What can I do? I show them the way out, but they don't listen. What can I do? They have no fear of God. What shall you do with such people? They have such a high opinion about themselves. What do you do with such people? Numerous exhortations make no dent on them. Preach the word. Be ready in season or out of season. And how should we preach? Reprove, rebuke, exhort. How much preaching do you hear like that nowadays? I don't mean the carnal way of using a whip. But reproving, rebuking, exhorting like Jesus did. Read the spirit of the apostle Paul when he does, says things. You can only do it right if you are a worshipper. You can only do it right if you love people so much. The way you do with your own children. How much you pray when you have to correct an indisciplined child of yours at home. Most preachers don't preach like that when they rebuke people in the church. And that's why God doesn't back up their words. It's not easy to reprove, rebuke and exhort in the Holy Spirit. With great patience, we've got to keep on doing it. Then Paul says, the time will come when they will not listen to sound doctrine. See, the word sound is from the Greek word hygiene. We get the English word hygiene referring to cleanliness. So it's hygienic doctrine, that's the meaning. You know a hygienic hospital and a dirty hospital? I don't want to go to a dirty hospital, I'll get sick. I like to go where the standards of hygiene are very high. I want to go to a restaurant where they have some hygienic standards. And I want to go to a church where the doctrine is hygienic. Where they cleanse out, use soap and water and are very clean. And I don't say, oh, a little bit of dirt doesn't matter. No, I don't want to go to a church like that. The time will come when they will not be interested in a doctrine of holiness. That's what it's saying here. But they'll want to have their ears tickled. And so they will accumulate. You know what accumulate means? Multitudes of teachers according to their own desire. What is man's own desire? I want money. I want a comfortable life. And there'll be multitudes of preachers who will get up and tell you that Jesus will do that for you. Amazing how Paul knew what is going to happen in the 21st century. Today, I don't read that verse saying the time will come. I say the time has come. It has come. Paul, it has come. Finally, what you prophesied about has come. Teachers are being accumulated who will turn away people's ears from the truth. From the truth of God's word. And will be turned to the myths of psychology. Make people feel good. They say, Jesus said, you've got to love others as you love yourself. So therefore, you've got to love yourself first. Isn't that very clever? But they'll never teach the other verse where Jesus said, you've got to hate yourself. Have you ever heard these psychologists, preachers preaching that from that verse? Never. Turn aside from the truth. But you, Timothy, be sober. Endure hardship. Oh yes, you'll face a lot of hardship if you stand up for these truths. Keep the message alive. And do a thorough job as God's servant. That's message Bible. Keep the message alive. And do a first class job as God's servant. We are living in those times. Call to Timothy comes to us. In the presence of God, in the presence of Jesus Christ who is going to come soon to establish his kingdom and judge everybody. Let's take it seriously. Let's pray.