This sermon emphasizes the importance of being content with God's plan for our lives while also striving for spiritual growth and fulfilling the specific purpose God has for each individual. It encourages young people to focus on building the body of Christ and to trust in God's equipping and guidance. The message highlights the need to eliminate unbelief, trust in God's unique plan for each person, and seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit for effective service.

I was mentioning that the Old Testament is also something we can learn from. But we must recognize that we have something far more in Christ. It's very important that all of you, as young people, don't surrender to the standard of life that you see among other young people in the world, or even among other Christians. There are tremendous heights that we can rise to. And it should be your aim to rise as high as possible before Christ returns. Because the more you press on to perfection in your life, the more your life can be of use to God. The true Christian life, we can say, is one of dissatisfied satisfaction. In one way you are satisfied, in another way you are not satisfied. You know, we are, for example, perfectly content with whatever material things God gives us. There must always be a contentment in our life. The Bible does not say Godliness is great gain, but Godliness with contentment is great gain. So we have to be content with the things God has provided us with materially. We must believe that God is the one who determined the circumstances of our birth, the place of our birth, the time of our birth. I mentioned the other day that God wants us to be the younger brothers of Jesus Christ. And that there is no partiality with God. Therefore, what He did for the eldest brother, He will do for all the younger brothers. If you believe this, it will bring tremendous rest into your life. And you will be able to accomplish mighty things for God. Jesus came to earth to fulfill a specific purpose that nobody else could do. And you must believe that God brought you into this world to fulfill a specific purpose that nobody else can do. I feel that so many young people just drift along without any sense of purpose. Right from a young age, you must be gripped with one thing. That God has made you a member of the body of Christ. And in that body, there is a specific purpose that only you can do. And in that body, there is a specific purpose that only you can do. You are not the whole body. None of us is the whole body. We need one another. And God has given different gifts to different people. But you must not feel that you are so useless or so lacking in gifts that you can do nothing for God. And it doesn't matter if you don't have these earthly gifts that some other people have. And it doesn't matter if you don't have these earthly gifts that some other people have. In Psalm 139, we read something that is true of all of us. In verse 13 to 16. God formed us inside our mother's womb. I believe that is true. What David said of himself is true of all of us. That inside your mother's womb, when you were just being formed, God shaped you. He determined what your facial features should be like. He determined what your genes should contain. He determined what your intelligence should be like. Because he foreknew that one day you would accept Christ. Because he foreknew that one day you would accept Christ. And everyone who has accepted Christ has a task on their body. But most people don't fulfill this task. Because they just drift along without any purpose. It's like on the high seas if some piece of wood just flowing here and there according to the waves. We're not to be like that. We're to be like a ship that's decided, I'm going to get there and I'm keeping on steering my course to get there. We're to be like a ship that's decided, I'm going to get there and I'm keeping on steering my course to get there. And you never need to say that I don't have the gift that that person has. I can't do what he can do. But I must also say that he can't do what I can do. There are parts in the body that can do certain things that other parts can never do. So it's a very beautiful picture that the Bible speaks about the church as the body of Christ. You know in the church we hear so much about humbling ourselves and having low thoughts about ourselves. That is right before God. But at the same time we must recognize that God has made us very precious in His eyes. So if I think that to say about myself I'm useless, I'm good for nothing, if I think that is humility, that's a deception. There's a lot of false humility that the devil makes people have, particularly in our midst, that can make us useless to God. Because we speak so much about humbling ourselves. And when people don't understand that properly, they think humbling themselves means saying I'm useless. And if you keep on saying that you're useless, you're useless, you're useless, you'll become useless. That's a lie of the devil. It's very important for us to understand what humility is. So many wrong understandings. And so we hear about humility and we produce some artificial humility. We think if we testify boldly then we are proud. That's not true. And that's why it's very important to hear what Jesus said. Learn from me for I am humble in heart. There is only one perfect example in humility. And that's Jesus. Now the reason I say this is because I remember the years when I also came here to Norway and many brothers from there used to come to us in Bangalore. This is going back about 30 years. I also had this wrong understanding of humility. And I thought many people in our church also had this. Oh I will have low thoughts about myself. I'm good for nothing, I'm useless. And then I suddenly got light. Did Jesus ever say like that? Did Jesus ever say oh I'm useless, I'm good for nothing, I can do nothing? No. And if he did not say it then that is not humility. I must never confess something that Jesus never confessed. So if you ask yourself if humility means low thoughts about yourself you must understand it properly. We must understand it the way Jesus understood it. He said the son can do nothing of himself. That's humility. Except what he sees the father do. And I do nothing on my own initiative. So Jesus' humility was not in saying I'm useless, I'm good for nothing, I'm useless. No. His humility was seen in the fact that he prayed and sought the father's will about everything in life. That is humility. Oh father I can make so many mistakes. Please show me your will. I said the other day how Jesus prayed all night in order to find out the twelve names he should choose. That is humility. Oh father please guide me. It was not saying I'm useless and I'm good for nothing. And the devil he makes us say all that and we don't wait on the Lord to seek his will. Jesus' humility was seen in the fact that he prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon him. The Bible says in Luke chapter 3 that when Jesus went into the waters of baptism he was praying. And I know what he was praying for. Even though it's not written there. Because Jesus' prayers were always answered immediately. And we read there it came out of the water and the Holy Spirit came upon him. That's what he was praying for. Now father anoint me with the Holy Spirit otherwise I can never serve you. That is humility. Coupled with faith. Yes my father wants me to serve him. And he will fill me with the Holy Spirit. I remember as a young man I was so much in doubt whether God would fill me with the Holy Spirit. And many people laid hands on my head and nothing happened. Then one brother spoke a word which brought faith into my heart. He said, Zach it is unthinkable that God will call you to serve him and then refuse to give you his power. And suddenly I got faith. That's right. If God wants me to serve him how can he say I won't give you my power? In one moment I believed and I was filled with the Holy Spirit. So very often what you call humility may be unbelief. And when we are bold in faith the devil says, oh that's pride, don't be so bold. When we are really humble we are bold in faith before God. To say that God is going to do something through my life. That's not pride. That's humility. And humility is before God. I don't have to tell other people God is going to do something through my life. But I have to kneel down before God and say, Lord I know you will do something through my life. It's humility to say to God, Lord you will deliver me from this wretched bad habit that I have. Humility and faith go together. It's when we seek honor from men that we cannot believe. Jesus said in John 5, how can you believe when you seek honor from one another? So here is where we must believe. When I was in my mother's womb You must say that. When you were in your mother's womb My father in heaven He knew that I was going to be his child. Maybe 20 years later. But he knew that beforehand. So in my mother's womb he prepared me for the ministry I was going to have in the body of Christ. And he gave me all the features and intelligence and abilities that was required for my ministry. That's God's work. That's why you can't be proud about it. If God has given you some abilities, you can't be proud about it. Because God gave that to you for a particular task in the body. If you become proud of it and boast about it, then you will destroy God's work in your life. So here he says in Psalm 139 That there was something more that happened. In verse 16 In your book they were all written in the days that were set when none of them had come. So to be at peace means that I am completely at peace with the way God created me. The way God made me. Very often young people they look into a mirror and say I wish I were a little better looking or I wish this or that. Do you think it would have been difficult for God to make you better looking when you were in your mother's womb? That would have been the easiest thing in the world. He could have made you the most beautiful, the most handsome person in the whole world. Contentment means I say Lord you did it perfectly in my case. You shaped me. I am content. When I look into a mirror I am perfectly content. Some things we don't understand why God made like that. But one day we'll know. When I was 23 years old I started losing my hair. I didn't know why. But I believe God must have had some purpose in it. Because the Bible says all the hairs in our head are numbered. So that doesn't surprise God when some of those hairs get lost. But a lot of young people will start getting worried if they start losing their hair when they are 23 years old. They may think who will marry me now? I want to say that God has a wonderful purpose in every single thing. And even in a small thing like this. I never once complained about it. I never felt oh why did God do this? In fact I could understand why He did it. God gave me a gift of speaking His word when I was around 22-23 years old. I was like a little boy. I would get up and stand in front of thousands of people. But because I was losing my hair they thought I was 35 years old or something. So they listened to me. Praise the Lord. That is why He made me lose my hair. He knew that I didn't mind if I was not good looking. I was much more concerned that God should use me, not that I should be good looking. Because I have only one life. And I can't afford to waste one day of that life. I want to ask you. Are you more concerned that you should be good looking or that God should use you? You know godliness with contentment is tremendous profit. To be content with your appearance. To be content with the financial circumstances that God arranged for your family. That may not be a big thing in Norway but it is a very big thing in India. Many people have to struggle to survive. In many western countries. Like Europe and Australia and all. I find a lot of people they don't even have to work because the social security, the government takes care of them. If they don't have a job they can just sit at home and the government gives them a social security pack. And many people become lazy. That you can't do that in India because you don't get anything if you don't have a job. So if you lose your job in India there is no government to take care of you. You have to trust God. The more difficult the circumstances the more opportunity to trust the Lord. I find more faith in the poor villagers in India than all the people in the rich countries. Because if something fails they've got nothing to fall back on except God. But here if something fails you can fall back on the government or pension or social security or something. When in India somebody gets old they can't say the government will give us a pension, they'll get nothing. I see how very subtly our faith is no longer in God. Our faith is in a secular human government. Now you young people, you have to say Lord my faith must be in you. You don't have to go and live in the villages in India to learn faith. But humility and faith are so fundamental in the Christian life. And everything that helps you to have humility and faith you must pursue it. They go together, they are like twins humility and faith. And it says here that God determined every single day of your life. Right up till the end. Like there's a book with your name that's recorded everything that you should do till the end of your life. And your great longing must be to be where you're supposed to be in that book in heaven. And you have no complaining about anything. You see in some countries a Christian can go into jail for preaching the gospel. Certainly that was true in the first century. And most of the apostles got jailed. And God could have delivered them. But there was something he was accomplishing even in allowing a person to be in jail. For example Paul spent many months or probably years in jail. I don't know how long. But before Paul was born. When he was in his mother's womb. God had written a book. Every day of Paul's life. I mean he died when he was around 67. And he was probably converted when he was around 30. That was in God's book. That this man is going to fight against Christians and persecute them and kill them. But one day he's going to be a Christian. And I must equip him with all the intelligence and ability to fulfill a ministry in God. And I must give him that type of personality that will be bold and stand for Christ. And every day in his book right up to the day of his death is written there. And from so and so date to so and so date he must be in a prison. That was God's purpose. Because he was in prison that he wrote Philippians and Ephesians and different books. The devil thought he was doing a great job by locking up Paul. But he didn't know that it was all written in God's book before Paul was born. That even though the devil did that. It was God's purpose. Because if Paul was not in prison. There are some books in the New Testament we'd never have got. So God allowed him to be in prison so that he'd have plenty of time to write these books which God had given him revelation on. And that's why he sits in a prison. With all the rats and cockroaches and all running around him. It's not like the prisons nowadays and the Roman dungeons. With all that he could sit and say I have learned to be content. And he tells people rejoice in the Lord always. And he encourages people to rejoice in the Lord always. And while he was in prison he wrote don't worry about anything. And if it's Rome they can be gripped by this. That every day of your life has been written in a book. I know it encouraged me tremendously to know that. And I said Lord I wish every day to be in the place you have written in my book. And if you in my book have written that on a certain date you will be in a prison in India. Then I will be there. I will not be outside of that prison. If I am not in prison on that given date then I will be outside of God's will. The important thing is not to live comfortably. The important thing is to fulfill God's will. See if you have that attitude of mind as a young person. You will never have a complaint in your life. Nobody will ever be able to hinder you from fulfilling God's will in your life. You will not ever complain that people are trying to push you down or put you out. I have been put out of different churches when I was young. But now when I look back that was the best thing that happened to me. The church started in our house because some church put us out. But now we look back and say that was the best thing that happened. But if you believe that nobody can ever harm you or hinder God's purpose for your life. You will thank God for everybody and everything. So that is the contentment we must have. I am satisfied with the way God has made me. I am satisfied with the circumstances God has put me in. I am quite satisfied with the way other people treat me. I only want to fulfill what God has written in his book concerning me. And the other wonderful thing. When Paul sat in his prison. He could say that he was sure that nobody can mirror or nobody can kill me till that last day written in my book in heaven. There is no partiality with God. What he did for Jesus he will do for me and for you. Many times Jesus would say that my hour has not yet come. One time it says they sent people to capture him. But they could not capture him. Not because they were not enough people. One reason. His hour had not yet come. That's all. And the same thing applies to us. Until God's time comes nobody can kill us. I cannot die of cancer, road accident, kill anything. Because it is written in the book. And if it is written in the book then I am ready to go. I don't have to fear what will happen to me. Is this pain some cancer that will kill me? We need never have any fear. If I say Lord I only want to do your will in my life. It's very important. Don't wait till you are 50 years old to believe that. Because then you would have wasted 50 years of your life. I am so happy I believed it when I was 22. Lord every single day of my life. I want to fulfill your will. I am not interested in making money. I am not interested in being famous or great. I was not even interested in a ministry. I want to fulfill your will in my life. And I believe that you have equipped me with everything necessary to fulfill that plan you have made for me. That perfect contentment. The result of that will be you will never murmur or complain about anything. That's one of the great lessons we got to learn when you are at home. When you are a young person at home you can have so many things to complain about. About the way your parents do things to you or your brothers or sisters or anybody. But here is something else that Paul writes when he is in the prison. Philippians 2. Imagine writing this in a prison. Whenever you read Philippians remember this is being written in a prison. This is being written with rats and cockroaches and all types of insects running around all over. This is being written by a man who is being bitten by mosquitoes every night when he sleeps. Who is not given proper food. Who has been the most faithful servant of God on the face of the earth. And what does he say? Philippians 2.14 Do all things without murmuring or complaining. No complaining about anything. Because he knew this is all in God's book. When you understand where Paul wrote that. Then you understand the depth of meaning in that verse. How can we obey that? If we don't believe that God has arranged everything. That's why he says later on in chapter 4. I have learned, verse 11, to be content in whatever circumstances I am. And his circumstances then were right in this filthy jail. It is because of his knowledge that God is in control of everything. That if they could not arrest Jesus until a time came. They could not arrest Paul until a time came. You know if you have faith in this. It solves many problems in your life. And along with that contentment. With all our earthly circumstances. With all that God has done for us. With our necessities, with our personality. For example if you are not musical. And someone else is musical. Then you will never feel jealous of that person even once. Because you will say, yes God did not want me to be musical. Because if I had it. Then maybe I would have got so taken up with it that I would not have time to read the Bible. When I was about the same year that I was baptized. I was born again but I was not a deep student of the Bible at that time. And I was in the Navy and I was going down the sea. On the streets of Bombay. And I went to a shop where they were selling an accordion. And I thought yeah I would like to get an accordion. Just learn to play some choruses. I did not know if it was God's will that I should buy it. Those days I did not know how to find God's will. I was only about 21 years old. Just baptized that year. And I said Lord this is the only way I know how to find God's will. If the price of this is below so much I will buy it. If it is more than that then I know it is not your will. Now in those days in India. They had banned the import of musical instruments. And that was probably the last accordion in the whole city of Bombay. And so you do not buy it. You may never get another one for many many years. So I went in and I asked what is the price. And it was little more than what I had said in my sign that I asked God for. But I had that much money. But I said no I am in. I asked God for a sign. And the sign was not fulfilled. That means God does not want me to buy it. I will not go by my reason which says if you do not buy it then you will never get another one. So even though I wanted it. I feared God I said I asked you for a sign you did not fulfill it. And so I would sit in my room. With nothing to do. I did not have television, no cinema, nothing. So I started studying the Bible. And I know now that if I had bought an accordion at that time. I would never have studied the Bible. Because in any musical instrument there is no end to perfection. You can keep on improving, improving, improving. You can spend 50 years improving yourself. And God did not want me to be a musician. He wanted me to teach God's word. I am not saying there is no need for musicians in God's church. I am saying if you do not have that ability. Or God does not give you the opportunity to study those instruments. Then you do not have to complain. God may have some other purpose. And I am so thankful today that I never bought that accordion. I do not think that I could have done as much for the Lord as a musician. As I could do by studying the Bible. These little decisions that you take when you are 21, 22 years old. Can have consequences till the end of your life. And that is why it is very important when we are young itself. To say Lord I really want to fulfill your will in every little detail. So I am satisfied. If you give me some ability, fine. If you do not give me, that is also fine. But I told you, just like the Christian life is not only one of contentment. In another way, I am not satisfied. That also Paul says. In chapter 3. Philippians 3. He says that in verse 12. I want to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me. I want to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of me. But I have not yet attained it. I have not yet fully laid hold of it, verse 13. So one thing I do, verse 13. I am pressing toward the mark. That means I am not satisfied with how far I have reached. So that is what I was saying. The Christian life, in one way, you are perfectly content. In another way, you are not content. I am not content with the measure of my spiritual progress. I am not content with the measure of my spiritual progress. So what do I do? What do I do? What should I do? I forget what is behind and I chase the goal. There is more that you have for me here. Maybe you are much more spiritual than all the other young brothers and sisters around you. Paul was. But he was not satisfied. He said, I have to press on, I have to press on, I have to press on. That is the true Christian life. Satisfied in one way, but never satisfied in another way. Even in this matter of being filled with the Holy Spirit. See, if you were to fill this, there is only so much water there. But if you fill this, there is a lot more water there. When we are born again, that is our capacity. So Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit. And He fills us. He can't put so much, because our capacity is only so much. Spiritual growth means this capacity increases to this. Then it becomes like a bucket and a tub. And that comes through taking up the cross. And then I have to be filled again. Because if I pour this into this jug, it is not full. I have to be filled again. And then when the capacity increases, again I have to be filled. So the Christian life is one where to be filled with the Holy Spirit again and again and again and again. Because our capacity is growing. More of God's life. We are able to love more people. We are able to love God more. That's the way we are supposed to live. And these great examples that we have in the Old Testament. We thank God for every one of them. But God has provided something better for us. And we must believe that. Let's turn back to Hebrews chapter 12. This better thing that God has provided for us. We fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. And we run the same race that He ran. And it says here. We have got to look at Him as one who despised the shame and endured the cross and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. The Lord Jesus never asks us to go anywhere where He has not gone ahead of us. He ran this race never turning aside from God's perfect will. That's our example. I find so many young people today being distracted by so many things in the world. The only way to avoid that is to look at Jesus. He set His face steadfastly to do the Father's will. I believe that God wants to do a tremendous work in building His church through you. To do your part in building the body of Christ on this earth. And you must be gripped by it. I don't know what you want me to do but I'm totally available to you. I want you to fill me with the Holy Spirit. And I want you to equip me to build your body on this earth. It's Bible for God. We want to make sure that whatever God has spoken to us today we want to fulfill. Say, Lord, I want you to eliminate from me everything that is of unbelief. Unbelief makes me complain about my circumstances. Unbelief makes me feel that I cannot accomplish anything for God. That God will not fill me with the Holy Spirit. I want to get rid of all unbelief. I believe I'm very precious in your eyes, Lord. That you have a plan for my life exactly like you had a plan for Jesus. And you prepared me and equipped me from my mother's womb to fulfill that plan. And I want to fulfill it. I'm going to trust you from today I'm not going to compare myself with any other young person. You have equipped me with all that is needed for the ministry you have for me. And never again will I complain about my circumstances or anything. I shall only rejoice that you have given me a calling to do something in your body. And I confess my hope that I will definitely fulfill it in my earthly life. Everything you have written in your book I believe is going to be fulfilled in my life. The Bible says we've got to confess our hope. Confess it to God. Say, Lord, I want it fulfilled in my life. And then say, Lord, you must fill me with the Holy Spirit. And I believe that you will do that. And you will equip me to serve you. Heavenly Father, as we bow before you, we pray that you will stir faith in our hearts to lay hold of you to trust you to say, I will not let you go unless you bless me. To believe that you will do more than we can ask or think. In Jesus' name.