In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes that the devil is out to deceive people and lead them away from God. However, Jesus came to demonstrate through his life that we don't have to be afraid of the devil or what he can do to us. The devil is the ruler of this world, running various aspects of society such as entertainment, education, medicine, politics, and business, which leads to corruption and evil. Despite this, the preacher encourages believers to have genuine humility and believe that all human beings are equal in God's eyes. The sermon also references Luke 10:17-20, where Jesus tells his disciples that they have authority over the power of the enemy and should rejoice in the fact that their names are recorded in heaven.

We turn today to Luke's Gospel and Chapter 10. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 10, we read here about the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples who had just come back from a period of ministering God's Word and preaching the Gospel in different places. Luke 10, 17, 70 returned with joy, this is 70 whom the Lord sent out to preach, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. In all religions, they are afraid of Satan. Most human beings are afraid of the power of the devil. They don't know what to do with it. And that's why in some places when they are constructing new buildings, they put the face of a demon out there to scare anybody who tries to feel jealous of the chef who owns this house or like they say, cast an evil eye on that house. They don't believe that a picture of God could scare people, it's only a picture of the devil. You know, even these folks who worship heathen gods, they don't put a picture of their God there, it's a picture of a demon to scare people. I see something from that. I see that vast majority of people in the world believe more in the power of the devil if they want to get something done than in the power of God. You know, when somebody wants to hurt somebody, they go to somebody who can do black magic and put some curse on somebody or hurt somebody and I tell you, a lot of times, it works. What does that prove? It proves what the Bible says from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20, that the devil can hurt human beings. He hurt the first couple that God created. He destroyed their marriage, destroyed their life, destroyed their children, destroyed their home, destroyed everything and all the way up to Revelation 20 where finally the devil is cast into the lake of fire. The whole Bible is a story of how the devil has tripped up, ruined even some who were God's people. He deceived Abraham to go into Egypt and come back with a woman, a helper for his wife and get a child through that helper called Ishmael. That wasn't God. And then he got the promised son through his wife Sarah Isaac and Ishmael and Isaac started teasing Isaac and troubling Isaac and the descendants of Ishmael troubled the descendants of Isaac for thousands of years. It's gone on, fight with each other. It all started with the devil tripping up a man of God and that's just one example. There are many other examples throughout history. So in the Old Testament, they didn't have much understanding of Satan, pretty close to zero. They didn't even have an understanding of the Trinity because the light had not yet fully come. But when Jesus came, he came as the light of the world and he came with the light of heaven and showed that God was a Father and God was a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If you can't explain that, that's not surprising. As difficult as explaining mathematics to a dog is trying to explain the Trinity to human beings, but it's a fact. We know that multiplication is real, even if a dog doesn't believe it. And we know that Trinity is real, even if we can't understand it. Jesus came with the light of heaven and revealed the person of God and also revealed so much about Satan. Why? So that we are never scared of him. And finally, when he died on the cross, he defeated Satan's power. And he says here to these people, he said, I was in heaven with the Father when I saw Satan first fall. He was proud, he was lifted up. He drew attention to himself and was discontent with what God had given him. These are the marks of, these are satanic characteristics, pride, jealousy, God is superior to me, discontent with whatever God has provided. And if you've got any of these characteristics, I just want to tell you they're satanic, that's all. And drawing attention to yourself and not to God, that's a satanic characteristic. And that's how the highest and the most beautiful of the angels became a devil in a moment. And that's why we need to be afraid of pride. Any type of pride, even if you are proud that you are more spiritual than others or you have more Bible knowledge than others, any type of pride is satanic. Jealousy or jealous of somebody who's got something you don't have, or materially, spiritually, any other way, it's satanic. And if you allow it, this poison, it'll be like, you know, can be very little, but it's like a half spoon of potassium cyanide, not much, only half a spoon, it's enough to kill a person. You know, the work of the devil is like that. He doesn't come with massive doses. Nobody kills people with massive doses of poison, just a couple of drops in something that looks good otherwise. And so, if we see these things, Jesus saw it clearly, because he came from heaven. And he says here, I saw Satan falling like lightning. I saw, he was there in the presence of the Father, and he fell. It was not a long, gradual fall, lightning, it's come and gone. In a moment, when he was proud, jealous, discontent, drawing attention to himself, all happened in a moment, fell. Man falls away from God in exactly the same way, because the devil is out to deceive people. So, Jesus came to demonstrate by his life that we don't have to be afraid of the devil, we don't have to be afraid of what he can do to us, and we don't have to be afraid of the fact that he is still the ruler of this world, he runs this world, he runs the entertainment world, he runs the educational world, he runs the medical world, he runs the political world, the business world, he runs everything. That's why there is so much corruption, there is so much evil and cheating and harming other people and so many evil things like that. The devil is in control. But we don't have to be afraid. He can't touch us. It's wonderful to see this expression in English which says, like water of a duck's back. You throw water on a duck's back and it doesn't stick. I don't know why, if you throw water on my skin, it sticks. You throw water on a duck's back, it doesn't stick. At least that's what the proverb says, I've never tried it. But if it's true, it's amazing. You know, you throw water on anything, something sticks there, gets wet. Not a duck's back, doesn't get wet. Think if I recognize that whatever the devil does to me, it will be like that. It can't stick to me because I'm totally surrendered to Jesus Christ. It's the only way to live, I tell you this. It's the only way to teach our children to live in this evil world. Because as we look into the future, life is so uncertain. You never know where there is a bomb, where there is a terrorist. It's not only in aircraft, it's on roads and suicide bombers and trains and buses. And you think it's going to be better? I remember how the world was 50 years ago when I was a little boy. It was so much more secure. You could move around so freely, but things are so different now. So different, everything is insecure. You don't know who's trying to kill whom. And we have children growing up whom we have to prepare to face this future. They have to live in a world after we are gone. Even if you live another 40-50 years after you're gone, if the Lord hasn't come by then. Your children are going to face that world. What are you going to teach them? How are you going to prepare your children to face that future world just with a good degree from a college? Any number of degrees from any colleges will not prepare them for the evil there is in the future in this world. It's only one thing if you can lead them to understand that if they have given their life completely to Christ, totally surrendered to His authority, they can face anything. Anything. That is more valuable than the best education you can give your children and any inheritance you can give your children. Have you seen like Jesus, Satan's fall? Have you seen like Jesus, Satan defeated on the cross? Look what he says. Because I have seen Satan's fall, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions. These are symbols of Satan. Serpents and scorpions. And over all the power of Satan, the enemy. And nothing shall injure you. Nothing can really hurt you. In the long run, I am not saying a thorn cannot poke me or a knife blade cannot cut me. Those are not injuries. We are talking about permanent injuries. Something that can ruin me forever. Nothing can ruin me forever. You know when you are surrendered to the authority of Jesus Christ over every area of your life, the devil will not be able to hurt you in any permanent way in any area of your life. That's how Jesus lived. He lived on earth claiming nothing to be his own. He had a lot of things. I am sure when he was a carpenter shop, he had a saw and a plane and many other instruments. Which were his in one sense. But they were not his. He had a little shop where he did his carpentry work. He had a home. But they were not his. There was nothing he claimed as his own. Even the dress he wore, the shirt he wore is not his. Everything was his father's. His life was his father's. His property was his father's. His money was his father's. His ambitions were his father's. You could make a list of everything and everything was his father's. He never claimed that anything is mine. He had no interest in the world except to live for what his father sent him to do. What was the result? The result was the world has never seen a man who walked with such dignity and such authority. And he has been my hero for a long time. And you know, like I have said before, when a young boy makes some cricketer his hero, puts up a picture of the cricketer on his wall. He wants to comb his hair like him and bat like him and do everything like him. Because he is his hero. I have got a hero too. I want to do everything like him. I want to preach like him. I want to talk like him. I want to live on earth with the dignity that he had. I want to live with authority. I want to believe my heavenly father like my hero believed. That's Jesus Christ. As he lived without any fear or anxiety in the world, no matter what happened around him, I want to live like my hero lived, without fear and anxiety. Perfectly secure. He once told his disciples, You will all leave me. I know you will all leave me. Right now, at least most people have left. Only 11 of you are with me. Well, it's good. You fellows stood by me and all that. But I will tell you something. I know you love me very much. But when it comes to the crunch, even you will leave me. But, he said, not my father. I am not alone. When you guys leave me, you think I am going to be alone. No. My father is still with me. He will never leave me alone. Never, never. That was his strength. And that was his security. He didn't want the support of people. You know, we grow up from childhood wanting people to support us. You know how children crave attention. They like it when they are the center of attention. They go to school and if everybody ignores them, and nobody plays with them, they feel so bad. Because they want company. And a child will have psychological problems if he is set aside because of some peculiarity in him. He can grow up with tremendous problems. And as we grow up, we don't lose those insecurities. And I want to tell you this. There are people who are very, very old and still want the support of others. There is nothing wrong in that. But a person can walk on this earth with dignity and authority only if he decides, I am going to find my security in God, my father. He will never let me down. You know, that's the reason why Jesus was never discouraged. Haven't some of you seen? Even though you have been Christians for many years, some problem crops up. And you get discouraged and moody and depressed. And if I were to ask you a straight question, is that a problem God cannot handle? Oh, you know the right answer. Of course God can handle it. Sure. Then why are you depressed? You begin to think of it. That's right. There is no reason for me to be depressed. Unless you came across a problem which even Almighty God couldn't handle. If you find one like that, let me know. I like to find that. Here, which problem that is, which Almighty God can't handle. That he who runs the universe, you discovered a problem which he can't handle. Boy, I'd really like to know that. Which one that is? Jesus was absolutely convinced that there was no problem his father could not handle. And he was absolutely convinced that the devil could not touch him in any way. He said, the prince of the world can come, he finds nothing in me. He can't touch me. And he said to his disciples, I give you the same authority. Nothing shall injure you. But there is one thing about scripture which is unlike all other books. Supposing I read in a science book that the earth goes round the sun. Whether I believe it or not, the earth goes round the sun. It's got nothing to do with my faith. I don't need faith for that. It's just truth. It's a fact. But a lot of things in scripture, you read it and it's not true in your life. Because you don't believe it. That's the difference in scripture. And certain things are true. God rules the universe. That's completely independent of whether you believe it or not. Christ died for the sins of the world. Whether you believe it or not, makes no difference. Satan was defeated on the cross and he's going to be caught in the lake of fire one day. Doesn't make any difference at all whether you believe it or not. But when you have a promise like this, nothing shall injure you. It doesn't work till you believe it. It's like your sins can be forgiven. You know that. It doesn't work till you believe it. That's why there are millions of people in the world for whom Christ died 2000 years ago. But their sins are not forgiven today. Why? They don't believe it. There are millions of Christians who live defeated, fearful, anxious lives because they don't believe what scripture says. It's their position in Christ. I believe the world around us needs to see once again the dignity and authority of the sons of God. There is a dignity about a son of God. The Bible says we are ambassadors of Christ. Have you thought of that? An ambassador of Jesus Christ. I've often, from my own understanding, you know Jesus used illustrations. Why did he use illustrations? No preacher, no prophet ever used illustrations like Jesus did. And the reason was Jesus always wanted to make it so simple. Some of the Old Testament prophets are so difficult to understand. But not Jesus. His illustrations were so simple. And from my own thinking, whenever I read scripture, I try to compare that with an earthly illustration and I understand it better. And I think of say the ambassador of the United States in India. And I say, how do you think he will conduct himself? He will never do anything cheap. Because that will bring a disgrace upon his nation. He will never go begging for money. Please help our country. Never. I remember once when a so-called Christian worker with a badge called Reverend so and so on his thing came to my house collecting money for something. I said, I'm sorry to say this but you're a disgrace in the name of Jesus Christ. Because I can't imagine Jesus going house to house begging for money. I can't imagine even somebody lower than Jesus, the ambassador of the United States, going house to house begging for money. Are we ambassadors for Christ? Or is the kingdom of Christ much much lower than all the earthly kingdoms? I cannot imagine the ambassador of Sierra Leone or Togo or some smallest little country in the world begging for money. So the ambassadors of Jesus Christ must be much lower than that if they're begging for money. I can't imagine the ambassador of the United States going to someone and saying, I'm a bit hard up. Can you please lend me some money? And then getting it, you know, my country doesn't support me properly. Can you lend me some money? And then I'll pay it back next month and coming next month and saying, I'm sorry, I couldn't pay it back. My country still didn't send my salary. And this is the ambassador of the United States talking, right? And then, can you lend me some more? Are these people Christians? They are a disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ. They are testifying loudly, my heavenly father does not care for me. It's like some of these children who eat in the garbage bins. You ask them, where's your dad? We don't know. He doesn't care for us. He doesn't provide us food. There are Christians like that. They loudly testify by their actions. My heavenly father doesn't care for me. He doesn't care for me. He doesn't care for my children. I'm an orphan. Well, then you're not a Christian. A Christian is not an orphan. You know that? He's got a father in heaven. He may be persecuted. He may be hated. Jesus was hated more than anybody else. The apostles were hated because they stood up for the truth. Don't think these popular preachers are the greatest servants of God on earth. I don't believe that one bit. Let me ask you something. Jesus Christ was the Prince of Peace. I'm sure you all agree. Do you think, in his day, if there was a Nobel Peace Prize, he would have got it? Never. This guy, even if somebody recommended his name to the Nobel Peace Prize committee, this guy is creating trouble wherever he goes. There's a riot wherever he goes. And he's calling people vipers, a generation of vipers. We heard that he went into the temple and chased all the fellows out. He wasn't even decent in asking them to remove their tables. You want us to give him the Peace Prize? Are you crazy? He wouldn't have got the Peace Prize. Okay, 30 years later, we say, there's a man recommended for the Peace Prize called Paul. Paul? We heard every town he goes, there's strife and riots and he splits synagogues and we also heard that he teaches some strange teachings about sin not having dominion over us and all that type of stuff. He's not realistic. Don't talk about Peace Prize. Give him some riot prize or something like that. Not Peace Prize. What is true Christianity? Is it what we see today? Is it mild, gentle, diplomatic, don't hurt anybody, wishy-washy or is it the Christianity of Jesus and Paul, Peter. That's true Christianity. But there was a dignity about those men. They were persecuted, they were hated. They were killed, most of them. I like to see that picture I wish somebody would draw a painting of this. I haven't seen a very good painting of this yet. Of Jesus standing before Pilate bruised and beaten blood flowing everywhere from his body and Pilate standing with his royal robes and what I want to see is a painting where Jesus stands with a dignity of a king on his face and Pilate cowering with fear despite all his robes afraid of what will the people say if I let this man go I'll lose my job. Who was the king there? That beaten man with blood flowing from him that was the king and this other man with the royal robes he was a slave. He was a slave of people's opinions. Don't be fooled by the big robes and the all these things. The dignity of a man is not seen in his dress or his salary. What was Jesus' salary compared to Pilate's salary? No comparison. What was Jesus' house compared to Pilate's house? Are we fooled by all these things? It's the dignity, the authority there is because Almighty God is backing him and very often we cannot recognize it because even Christians sometimes think that if a man's got position and power and wealth and is very handsome and good looking and tall and all that he's a man of authority. It's not true. The Apostle Paul was 4 feet 11 inches high. 4 feet 11 inches. You don't have to put the mic down here to get Paul to speak. He was so short, bald. They say he had a hooked nose. Have you seen people with a hooked nose? He wasn't interested in plastic surgery or anything. And with a thorn in the flesh which was some type of sickness that weakened him. This was the man who turned the world upside down. It was not his personality. It was not his wealth. He says about times when he didn't have enough to eat. He when he was shivering in a prison he writes to 2nd Timothy in 2nd Timothy he writes to Timothy please bring that cloak I'm shivering here. He doesn't have money to buy another one. I left that cloak behind over there please can you bring it because I'm shivering here in the cold. This was the greatest Apostle, greatest man of his time. It was his dignity. And I want to see more and more Christians with that dignity. The authority who fear nothing who are extremely humble very gracious towards other people who will not make another person feel small. See a man who knows the authority of God will never make another person feel small. I'll tell you this my brothers and sisters you can know a man of God by this. He may rebuke you. He may correct you. With the strongest words ever nobody used stronger words than Jesus. He turned around to Peter and said get behind me Satan. But in spite of all the strong words he used he never made people feel small. The woman caught in adultery. The Pharisees made her feel small but not Jesus. The thief on the cross condemned by everybody to hang as a criminal Jesus never made him feel small. He gave him some dignity when he was dying. He said today you'll be with me in paradise. Jesus never made anybody feel small. That's why he told his disciples don't take titles like rabbi, master pastor, reverend. Don't take these titles. I mean you can add on to that many many titles that Christians take to show others listen fella I'm not at your level okay. Your brother so and so I'm reverend so and so please don't forget that. But you know what Jesus said I'm the son of man or to paraphrase it I'm just an ordinary man. Everywhere he went around saying I'm just an ordinary man. Ordinary man? He was almighty God. You know that's how that's God's nature is like that. It's like in some of these government offices I've seen when I've had to go there in past times the senior most director is a humble man is the peon in the office who is pretty arrogant and proud. He's the guy you can't get past. He thinks he's so important. He's just a peon in the office. You get right up to the top man and he's a very gracious person. It's like that in Christianity too. The lower and more useless a Christian is he's pretty proud pretty arrogant he needs titles and all types of things to boost himself up and show that he's somebody but the closer a man is to God he becomes like God. And when God came to earth you know what he said I'm an ordinary man. That's dignity. Where you don't have to show off your wealth or your position or you don't want anybody to know what you are on the earth. You're just an ordinary person. Do you have that dignity in your life? Can you treat other people with dignity? Never make them feel small you'll never make a poor person feel small. You'll never make an uneducated illiterate person feel small even if you're the most educated person in the world. You treat him like you're equal. Not with the superficial humility that politicians have where they act equal and make sure the photographer is photographing them while they're doing something kind to somebody. No. I'm not talking about that. You know putting polio drops into some baby's child make sure the photographer is photographing me putting the polio drops into a baby's mouth. Not this type of garbage. I'm talking about genuine humility where I really believe with deep down in my heart I believe that person is equal to me. Do you believe that? I don't know whether you do. Do you believe that in God's eyes all human beings are equal irrespective of their color, skin, community, race education, intelligence, ability titles, contact, wealth, salary, house, anything that in God's eyes all are equal. Christ died for all of them. A man, the man closest to God believes that. The further you're away from God you don't believe it. The further you're away from God you're closer to the devil. And that's why I say if you are a real child of God one who's living close to God you will treat every human being with dignity. There's a verse in the Bible which says 1 Peter 2.17 Honor all men. In the Old Testament the law was Leviticus 19 that you must honor the older person. It says rise up when a grey haired man comes there into the room and respect him. But in the New Testament it says honor all men. James chapter 3 he says what a terrible thing it is when he says in James 3 that with your mouth you praise God in the meeting and then after the meeting is over with the same mouth and the same tongue you go and curse human beings who are made in the image of God. Let me show you that verse. James chapter 3 James 3 it says verse 9 With our tongue we bless our Lord and Father and then sometimes with that tongue we break out in curses against human beings who are made in the likeness of God. He's not talking about believers. He's not talking about wholehearted believers. He's talking about the fact that all human beings have got something of the likeness of God in them. And that is their conscience. Not the full likeness of God but there's something. It's like these you've seen some posters of politicians stuck on the wall and then somebody has torn it and a little bit of that face maybe the chin or some part of the face is still there a little corner you say oh yeah I know who that is. That's how it is. It's not the full image. It's not the full image of God but there's something of God there in every human being. That's what the Bible says. And if there's something of God in that beggar something of God in that poor person something of God in that prostitute whose life has been ruined and maybe she went into that life because somebody kidnapped her when she was a little girl and led her into a life of sin maybe her parents were too poor and couldn't take care of her we don't know. I think a lot of these prostitutes never chose that life. That's why I don't look down on them. They were led into that life. I mean if you were born to such parents maybe you wouldn't be sitting here. You would have been a prostitute. So Jesus never looked down on them. He saw that they were the result of unfortunate circumstances. Don't ever look down on someone who didn't get the education you have. Some of you got good jobs because your parents could give you a good education. There are many other people in this country, in this city who never had that privilege and never had that opportunity. They are not worse than you. They are probably better people than you. Could be. Don't ever look down on them. A man who lives close to God never looks down on anyone. He preserves the dignity of other people. You know that song They'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. In the original version there is one line that says we'll work with each other we'll work side by side and we will guard each man's dignity and save each man's pride. The right type of pride. There is a wrong type of pride. You know his pride is a human being. I am a human being made in the image of God. I am going to save that. I am not going to let him lose it. I am not going to treat him as if he is a dog. A lot of people in the world do that. They treat their servants as though they are some lower species of animals. They look down on people from another community or people who are not so educated or maybe people who have been in terrible sin. How would you look at a drug addict? Or a hippie? Long hair. Hasn't had a bath for ages. I remember once I was in a meeting where I was speaking and at the end of the meeting there was this young lady who was in some type of hippie type of community and she was stinking and this long clothes and funny but I didn't look down on her. I spoke to her. I told her about Jesus. And she accepted the Lord. There was a demon in her. It would cuss out the demon first. And the next day, the next morning I could hardly believe the transformation that took place in her when she came to the meeting. She said, Do you recognize me? I said, I think I've seen you somewhere. The same girl I spoke to the previous evening. Amazing. What did she need? She needed someone who treated her with respect. So what? An unfortunate circumstance drove her to that. She needed someone who would cuss out the demon from her. She was helpless. Slave of a demon. When I told her to say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. She moved her mouth and said, I can't say that name. I said, in Jesus' name, get out, you demon. Now say it. She said, I can't say it. I said, you can say it. In Jesus' name, say it. She said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. What did she need? She didn't need advice. She needed deliverance. The world around us with people who are gripped by Satan. Maybe not demon possessed, but Satan's harassed them. Think of the people who are committing suicide in Bangalore. Satan's harassed them. Told them, there's no hope for you. People commit suicide when they feel there's no hope for them. And here we are. We've known the truth. What for? To keep it to ourselves. If you keep the truth to yourself, you're like a postman who's been given money orders by the post office and you stole them. You didn't give the money order to that home and that home and that home. What would you call such a postman who took money orders from the post office and walked off with it? Disappeared. Never gave it. At least if he went the next day or the next week and gave it, we could say it's a little bit of honesty. He should have given it the same day. What would you think of a person who never gives it? And swipes all that money? There's only one word for him. Thief. What would you think of a person to whom Jesus has given the gospel and says, this is for others. It's not only for you. And you don't pass it on. Is there another word for such a person? No. Thief. We are surrounded by people who are depressed, defeated, harassed by the devil in so many ways. They may not be deeming for this. Some of them look very decent. But there are sorrows and trials and difficulties in their life. I'm not talking about every person. We can't do that to every person we meet in the bus and train or on the roadside. They'll get offended if you try to share the gospel with them. Many of them. So we've got to be wise. We don't want to cause offense. I don't want to trust a tract in the face of a man and insult him. But I'm talking about people whom you know. I'm talking about your relatives. Many of whom are day by day walking towards hell because they've not given their lives to Christ. I'm talking about people whom you know very well, whom you meet with frequently. Okay. You don't have the boldness to give a tract. What about the testimony of your life? Can they see there's something in your life that is different? They saw that in Jesus. Something different about him. It can be something very small. I remember when I was in the Navy and, you know, Naval officers are known for their parties. Used to have parties regularly. Every week. And the other thing Naval officers are known is for drinking at those parties. Because the alcohol is very cheap on the ships. And I would stand there with my glass of orange juice. All these other fellas drinking. And somebody would come and say, Hey, what's wrong with you? I said, No, nothing's wrong with me. Why are you drinking orange juice? He's asking me for the gospel. It is not I who opened the subject. He's opening the subject. And I give him the gospel. You know how easy it is? If I hang a calendar on my wall next to my table with a Bible verse on it. Or a Bible on my table. Or a tract. And somebody comes and says, What's this? He's asking me, What is the gospel? I'm not doing anything. He's asking me. I'm giving him an answer. You know how easy it is? It's very easy if you are not ashamed of Jesus Christ. Many Christians are not ashamed to shout loudly in the church and say like Peter, Even if all men deny you, I will not deny you. The next day in the office, they don't want anybody to know that they are Christians. They may not get that promotion if it's known that they are Christians. They may not get that position. And they are interested in that. They may not get that good recommendation from their senior, from their boss. If they don't comply with doing the wrong thing, their boss tells them to do. Is there a dignity about you? As a young 24 year old naval officer, I stood before people who were very senior with four stripes on their shoulders. And I said to them, Sir, You can't stand like that. You've got to stand like this. Sir, I'm a Christian. I'm sorry I can't do that. That's where I got my backbone. Somebody asked me, Razak, how is it you can stand so long? I said, because I've got a backbone. I got my backbone in those days when these fellows would ask me to do something wrong. And I'd say, I'm sorry, Sir, I can't do that. And one of those officers turned around to me and said, You better forget about your conscience and your Christianity when you come to the Navy. I'm sorry, Sir, I can't forget that. What would they do? Transfer me? Once I got a transfer in half an hour. Make life inconvenient for me? Write a bad recommendation? I couldn't care less for their recommendation at all. I remember one officer, one senior officer, who finally became an admiral. He said to me, he said, he said, Lieutenant Poonen, you're a funny person. You are such an unsocial character. What that means is I wouldn't dance and drink and gamble and smoke like all the others. That's the meaning of unsocial in the case. That's not the dictionary definition, but that's the naval definition. You're an unsocial character. But I can't find anything wrong with your work. Praise the Lord, I couldn't find anything wrong with my work because I did my work properly. And I said, Sir, I don't do my work for your annual recommendation. I do my work because I fear God. Well, you know, you stand like that as a Christian before people and they'll never forget you. They'll never forget you. I remember one of those, my senior officer captains, when he was in his deathbed with a brain tumor, you know who he thought of? He thought of me. Because he was approaching God now. He was approaching eternity. And he told someone, that is our witness. It's no use getting your promotions. It's no use getting your increments. I finished with all my desire for promotions and increments when I became a disciple of Jesus Christ. I said, I'm living for something higher. Much higher than all this. I didn't start. You don't need that increment to live on earth. You don't need that promotion. But I tell you, be a witness for Jesus Christ. There's an authority. Nobody can hurt you. What can they do to you? Transfer you? Okay, transfer me. Don't give me an increment? That's fine. My heavenly father will take care of me. I don't want your promotion. Don't be ashamed of Jesus, my brothers and sisters. God wants in this country, at this time, people are not ashamed to say, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ. I'm not here to judge other Christians. I'm not here to judge Hindus or Muslims or... I always say, a lot of Hindus and Muslims live much better lives than so many who call themselves Christians. I don't mind saying that. I know atheists who are more honest than many Christians. So I'm not here to judge anybody. God is the judge. People ask me, where did so-and-so go if he dies? I say, I don't know. I'm not the judge. It's like asking, how many marks will he get in the examination? Go and ask the examiner. Don't ask me. I'm not the examiner. Why should I decide whether so-and-so went to heaven or so-and-so has gone to hell? It's not my business. My business is to say, this is what Jesus Christ said, no one comes to the father except by me. My duty is to proclaim that. My duty is not to pass a verdict on where each person went. My duty is not even to decide whether so-and-so in that group is a wholehearted disciple or not. I don't know. I'm not interested. I have to take care of my children, which is in my family, four boys, and my spiritual children in the different churches whom God commits to me. For them, I have a responsibility. For all the other people in the world, I don't have any responsibility. I love them, bless them. If they have some need, I can help them. But otherwise, I'm not here to judge them. Don't judge them. Leave them alone. But be one who's got dignity and authority in your life. I've often said, when you help a poor person, you know there are poor people in the world, the Bible says we should help them. When you give money to a poor person, don't rob him of his dignity. So often people do that. They give money to a person, get that fellow attached to him, and rob him of his dignity. This great rich man is coming in. If you want to help a poor person, I say give it anonymously. Let nobody know. Let him never know that you are the one who are the source of it. And there are many, many ways. You know, if you want to do it, there are many ways of passing on gifts anonymously, where the person doesn't even know that you gave it. Why? So that we preserve that man's dignity. He may be poor, he may be going through hard times, but he's a human being, he's got a dignity. I wonder if we so often husbands treat their wives as if they are a lower species, without the dignity. You know one of the great things that Jesus did, was to lift up women to their level of by the side of man. It's one of the great things Jesus did. And I'm sorry to say that in India, many Christians push women down back again. To the old place the devil put them for so many centuries. No, if you're a Christian, you'll treat your wife with dignity. If you're a Christian, you will not think that a girl child is worse than a boy child. Now be honest. How many of you believe that a girl child is as good as a boy child? I'm not asking you to raise your hands. I don't want you to tell lies. How many of you really believe deep down in your heart that if God gave you six girls and no boys, he never made a mistake. That was the best for you. Or would you say when the sixth girl was born, oh no. You know that's heathenism. It's the complete opposite of what Jesus came to teach. Jesus didn't come to teach us how to go to heaven. He came to teach us to restore the dignity of man and the dignity of woman especially, the dignity of girl children. I believe there are many many Christians in India who have not understood these simple truths that Jesus came to teach. I'll tell you your home will be a little bit of heaven on earth if you learn these simple principles to treat human beings with dignity. And very often we are not able to treat human beings with dignity because we ourselves are so insecure. We don't have an understanding of our own authority and position before Christ. Have you understood what an important person you are before Christ? I was saying the other day in the conference how people say, Brother Zach, you're always talking about humility humility, humility, humble yourself, humble yourself, humble yourself. You're robbing people of their self-esteem. I say no. Not at all. Exactly the opposite. I said I don't believe there's a man on the face of the earth who's got more self-esteem than me. Show me one. I'd like to meet such a person. I'm a son of God. I don't need any title like reverend or pastor or any such thing because I'm already pretty important as a son of God. But, I have a hero who was even greater than me. Jesus. Nobody could accuse him of lack of self-esteem. He walked with such authority like a spiritual giant on the earth and he was the humblest man that ever walked. Always humbling himself. So you can have tremendous self-esteem and deepest humility. That's it. Don't confuse humility with loss of self-esteem. That's a false humility. Have you seen this beautiful verse which combines self-esteem with humility? Let me show you. It's all in scripture. There's an answer in scripture to everything that people accuse us of. John chapter 13. I don't know whether you've seen this. It's a very lovely verse. Now, read it like this. Tremendous self-esteem. The highest self-esteem you can ever have. And the deepest humility. John chapter 13. Jesus verse 3. Knowing that the father had given all things into his hands. Can you have more self-esteem than that? That he had come from God and was going back to God. You can't beat that for self-esteem. Knowing it. Knowing it. Got up from supper. Laid aside his garments. Took a towel. Girded himself and did the job of a slave. Poured water into the basin. Began to wash the disciples' feet. You see that? You see the highest self-esteem with the deepest humility? That was the job of a slave in those days. To wash people's feet. And that's how a Christian lives. With authority. Authority over Satan. Satan can't touch me. He was defeated on the cross. And we're not afraid of any of his black magic or any such thing. We must teach our children that. Many years ago, I've mentioned this before. This corner house where we live. There was a Muslim family living next door to us. It was many years ago. My children were small. The old man in that house was sick. Was going to die and I don't know some religions have this idea that if you can get a witch doctor, there's some way by which you can transfer this sickness over the compound wall into the other house. If the fellow can really mix the potions and contact the devil sufficiently, it can be transferred over to the other house. So we saw this man living in the garage there next to us. Mixing things and doing all types of things. We knew what he was up to. I said, this is a great opportunity to tell my children. So I told them, you know, there are genuine preachers who are in touch with God and fake preachers who just preach, who are not in touch with God. I said, in the same way, there are genuine witch doctors who are in touch with the devil and fake witch doctors who just collect money from people, fool them. I said, if this guy was genuine and he was in touch with the devil, the devil would have told him, don't try this side. This is hopeless. Try the other side. Yours will just bounce off the wall if you try putting the curse on this side. But he tried it on this side which proved to me he was a hoax. He was just out there to collect money. And lo and behold, some pot is in our compound one day, you know, and these pots and all people are saying, don't touch it, don't touch it. What do you mean don't touch it? Kick it and throw it out? And I told my children, I said, no curse can touch us or our children because Jesus Christ defeated Satan on the cross. No black magic, nothing. Finally, I don't know, a guy was there for six weeks or something, nothing happened and he didn't even have the sense to try it on the other side. I don't know why. Probably because he was a fake. He just collected his money and went away. And the old man died, but I got a chance to give him my testimony, the old man before he died. Okay, there is an authority that we have as God's children. You don't have to be afraid of anyone. No, nothing can injure you. You don't have to be afraid. I wish we, all of us would know the mighty power there is in the name of Jesus. You know, it says when Elijah went up, he dropped his mantle. It was not accidental. And it says, Elisha took up that mantle. And he got the anointing, the double portion of the spirit and the mantle. Do you know what that mantle is? When Jesus went up, he left something with us. His name. And with the anointing of the Holy Spirit that people receive on the day of Pentecost, that's not enough. We need to use the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus. Mighty power in that name. We had an elder brother's meeting last two days. And I asked one of the elder brothers to give his testimony concerning one of his experiences. He was traveling on official duty to Bangladesh to, for some work in the university there. Crossed the border, went by train to Calcutta, crossed the border and got into a bus and landed up in Dhaka at about 3.30 in the morning and was wanting to go to the university, Bangladesh University, I suppose. Dangerous place. 3.30 in the morning. He got into a cycle rickshaw and was going somewhere. The fellow took him through the narrow lanes and then he stopped somewhere. And two people with nicely dressed suit and tie. You see the rickshaw driver didn't even know English. Then he saw these two dressed people and he asked them, do you know the way to the university? He said, yeah, sure, get down. As soon as they got down, they grabbed his bag, caught him by the shirt and said, give me your, give us your money. And he said, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. And he started speaking in tongues and those fellows got scared and ran off. And the rickshaw fellow also got scared. He also ran off. He said, hang on, take me back to the bus stand. I told him, please tell these elder brothers this thing that happened just few months ago, so that they know what mighty power there is in the name of Jesus. I remember hearing a story like that in America. You know in America in these parking lots, which are in dark underground places, they have parking lots. Sometimes there are thieves hanging around there. Because they know that somebody comes to pick up the car and there is nobody around, they can attack them. Sometimes these people leave their cars open and when this lady got into a car, suddenly somebody got into the passenger seat and put a gun or a knife or something to her and she just let go in unknown tongues. And the fellow didn't know what to do and he just jumped out of the car and left her alone. God gives us authority. That is why it says, seek with all your heart to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, to be anointed. Authority, you know those disciples didn't have authority before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. They were scared, the rooms were locked, they were afraid of the Jews and then one day the Spirit of God came upon them and anointed them and they didn't gradually get bold over a period of 10 years. It was in a moment. This fellow was suddenly transformed. This guy Peter, who was afraid to witness to a servant girl, suddenly began to tell chief priest you are the guys who crucified Jesus Christ. They got locked up in prison, they got beaten up and they come out rejoicing. And they go preach again. That was a dignity and authority of these men. And we need to recapture that. We've got too much of a doctrinal head knowledge Christianity with so much information so much good singing. All that is good. Thank God for good singing, thank God for musical instruments, thank God for good preaching, thank God for all this. But I tell you, you know what we need? Dignity. Authority. The faith in the mighty name of Jesus which brings us right into Heaven's door. You know like some of these offices where they somebody gives you a visiting card and say if you get to that office just show this card, they let you in. And that's the card of the senior man in that company. This man has told me I can come in. Oh visit him, please come in, please come in. And I go to Heaven and I say in the name of Jesus I am one of his. Oh Jesus come right in, come right in. What do you want? Do you believe that? That you have access to everything in Heaven in the mighty name of Jesus. We act as if we are persecuted by so many people. Oh we are only 2% in this country. That's fine. The disciples are even less than 2%. There are only 11 people against the whole world and they turn the world upside down. Yeah I believe that Indian Christians need to recapture the authority and dignity that there is in a true Christian disciple of Jesus Christ. We really need to understand that. They need to understand what the mighty power there is in the name of Jesus. And for that we have to have God ruling us. His authority over our lives. We don't rejoice in the fact that demons are subject to us. You know the Lord told them in Luke chapter 10 verse 19. Luke chapter 10 verse 19 he says don't rejoice in the fact that demons are subject to you. Luke chapter 10 verse 19 it says let me read this to you in the message Bible. It's talking here about the authority that the Lord has given us over every assault of the enemy. No one can put a hand on you. Verse 20 All the same, this is the great verse. The great triumph is not in your authority over evil but in God's authority over you. That's the great thing. Not that demons are subject to you but that you became subject to God and your name is in the book of life. Don't rejoice that you have authority over evil. The great triumph the great triumph is not your authority over evil but God's authority over you and his presence with you. Not it's not in what you do for God but in what God does for you. That's the agenda for rejoicing. What's the agenda for rejoicing? Not what you did for God but what God has been able to do in you. That's the agenda for rejoicing. I'm not rejoicing in what I did for God. I rejoice in what God has been able to do in me. Such a wretched miserable person. What God did in me. That's my agenda for rejoicing. Not my authority over evil but that God has got authority over my money, over my time, over my ambitions, my plans, my desires, my everything. He's got authority over me. What are you rejoicing in? Silly things like Red Sea was split. Maybe you split the Red Sea. Forget it brother. You pull down the walls of Jericho by faith. Forget it. You shut the lion's mouth by faith. Forget it. Or whatever else you did by faith. Or in the name of Jesus you draw away these decoys who came to capture you. Even that's not... That's just something that happens by the way you know. Not the main thing but that God, Almighty God looking over the world trying to get authority over people. Got you! And managed to get total authority over every area of your life. Has he succeeded? That's the only agenda for rejoicing. If he hasn't succeeded let him succeed today. Has God spoken to your heart this morning? I believe he has. Don't forget what God has spoken to you this morning because it can change the whole direction of your life. It can make you what you have never been so far. It can accomplish through you in the days to come what has never been accomplished so far because you finally decided to let God have authority over every area of your life. Do it. Do it. You have missed a lot by not doing it till now. Let him rule you. Heavenly Father apply these truths to our hearts. We want to live a spirit filled life. We want to live a spirit anointed life. We want to live with authority, dignity that which is becoming a son of God and age doesn't matter. Thank you Lord. You can do it in the youngest ones here. Deliver us and our young people especially from worldliness from ambitions and desires which are more in tune with the prince of this world than with almighty God. Heavenly Father help us not to be compromisers and wishy-washy but Lord to live to demonstrate more by our life than by our words that Jesus Christ is the ruler of this universe. In Jesus name Amen.