In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of studying the Bible, particularly for young people. He expresses his concern for those who do not study the Bible, as they can be easily deceived by false teachings. The preacher then focuses on the theme of light, referencing 2 Corinthians 4:6 which speaks about God bringing light out of darkness. He highlights the transformation that occurred in the life of Peter, who went from being a fisherman to a preacher, and how he was able to offer something greater than money to a beggar. The preacher also emphasizes the need to prioritize God's plan and not settle for second best in various aspects of life.

I want to turn to a verse in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 4. You know, I believe that what you have often heard me say that the reason why a crack comes on the fourth floor of a building is because the foundation is faulty. There is nothing wrong with the wall on the fourth floor. The fourth floor wall is okay. The foundation is sinking. And that's why you get a crack in the fourth floor. And you become a believer for 4 years or 10 years and a crack comes in your life. Fault is in the foundation. That when you started your Christian life there was something not properly established. I am absolutely convinced about that. That many of you young people, before you end this day you must get a very good foundation concerning the gospel. There are so many wrong understandings of the gospel. You know, Paul says, maybe I should show you that verse first in chapter 11. 2nd Corinthians 11. It says here, in the middle of that verse, let's read the whole verse. 11 verse 4. 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 4. If someone comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached. In other words, they talk about Jesus but it is not the Jesus revealed in the Bible. It's some other Jesus. You know, supposing somebody says, Jesus said, I have come to call the righteous and not sinners. Doesn't that sound pretty good? But it is another Jesus. Right or wrong? Did you get what I said? Or do you get fooled? Jesus said, I have come to call the righteous and not sinners. Boy, that's the church I want to go to, you say. Because they believe in righteousness. It's another Jesus. He came to call sinners, not the righteous. Not the self-righteous, that's what I mean. So, there are many ways in which another Jesus, another Jesus talks to you always about material prosperity. How you can make money and how you can get a better car and how you can get a better house. Where do you read all that in the Gospels? Jesus tells you, the real Jesus tells you how you can be holy. Not how you can make more money. Not how you can be a millionaire on earth but how you can have treasure in heaven. Another Jesus. Or another spirit, a different spirit. A different spirit. You know, I've heard people say this. I've actually read it. Oh, brother, the Holy Spirit came upon me and threw me on to the other end of the room and I couldn't speak in my mother tongue for 3 days. I said, that's definitely not the Holy Spirit. Sure, I don't know what spirit it is, but it's not the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit doesn't do that. The Holy Spirit leaves you in complete control of yourself. Where He doesn't pick me up and throw me to the other end of the room if I don't want to. I walk there to the other end of the room if I want to. But the evil spirits do things like that. I've seen people possessed with evil spirits. They have no control over what they're saying. And when a person doesn't have control over what he's saying even if he's speaking in tongues, that's an evil spirit. 100%, without a doubt. The mark of the Holy Spirit is you have complete control over yourself. It's just like if the Holy Spirit gifts me to teach the word, I don't get up here and say, I don't have any control over myself. I have complete control over myself. I know when to stop, what to say. But it's a gift of the Holy Spirit still. So, another spirit is a spirit that takes away control from you. Don't think everything miraculous is from God. The devil can do a lot of miraculous things. I've encountered people who've faced those type of things in their home. Miraculous things. But it's always hurtful. And then the third thing it says is you receive a different gospel which you have not accepted. That's the third thing. A different gospel which sounds like good news. But it's not good news. For example, supposing you you know that verse in Revelation 23 which says the strictness of God leads you to repentance. Do you find it? Revelation 23 verse 1. The strictness of God leads you to repentance. Do you find it? The real... Did you all find it? Revelation 23 verse 1. Romans 2 verse 4 The kindness of God leads you to repentance. That's the real verse. But there are many... Revelation 23 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Longer than Psalm 119. So many verses in 2000 years. People have made so many verses. And that's... Revelation 23 is what produces legalists. What produces people into bondage. It is another gospel. Stop with Revelation 22 verse 21 and don't go beyond that. There's no verse 22 also. And you'll get the real gospel. There are so many things. So I want to show you a verse in 2 Corinthians 4. That's why I tell you young people you must study the Bible. One of the greatest griefs of my heart is young people who don't study the Bible. And it's people who don't study the Bible who don't know what the real Jesus is like. What are the manifestations of the Holy Spirit? And what is the real gospel? If you knew the Bible you could not be deceived by another Jesus or another spirit or a different gospel. Impossible. The devil fools people who don't know the scriptures. God has given us His word. 2 Corinthians 4 it says here we're talking about light. That's our theme today. Verse 6 For God who said light shall shine out of darkness or let there be light. Where did God say that? You remember? Genesis chapter 1 One of the first things written in the Bible is God said let there be light. It is the first spoken word of God mentioned in the Bible. Remember this the first spoken word mentioned in the Bible is let there be light. So what is God saying to you? That's what He's saying here. The same God who said let light shine out of darkness is the one who has shone in our hearts where there was darkness to give this light God said to you one day let there be light and light came into your heart. Which light? The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. That is the light. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. So, if you want to see light and you look somewhere other than the face of Jesus Christ you will not get it. It was there in your Bible for so long but you know sometimes we have people say I read this verse and I got light. Did you? You mean you got a clever idea in your head. That's not light. A lot of people read some verse and they get a clever idea in their head and they say I got some light from this verse. No, you did not. You got a theory. You got a doctrine. You got a clever thought. And you can get up in the meeting and say that clever thought and bring people into bondage. The light can only be seen. Please remember this all your life. I'm telling you from years of failure. Yeah, failure. I've learned some lessons from the stupid things I did and preached. There are tapes of mine in previous years that I do not permit anybody to distribute. Did you know that? Not because there is any wrong doctrine in it. There is no wrong doctrine. But it was truth presented absolute truth presented not in a Christ like way. And that is why I don't want it circulated. It is truth. If people only listen to the intellectual part of it it is all correct doctrine. I believe we have always preached right doctrine. But the way we have presented it in the early years even in CFC I acknowledge was not right. That's what brought a lot of people into bondage. We are not preaching any different truth today. We are not lowering God's standards one bit. But we are proclaiming the same thing in a different spirit. Spirit of Christ. We were trying to anyway. So when you read a verse and you say you got light. You know in the Old Testament they didn't see the face of Christ. I hope you know that. Jesus came to earth at the end of the Old Covenant period. The only light they could have was God's word. Psalm 119 verse 105 says Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And 130 verse says The entrance of your word gives light. That's right. So if you get light only through the word you are in the Old Testament. And you will end up like those Old Testament Pharisees who are always getting light. And I have seen lots of New Testament Pharisees who are always getting light on some verse. And they are some of the biggest Pharisees I have met on the face of the earth. Now I will tell you what you should do. When you read a scripture and you think Ah! I got some light. Just hang on. Look into the face of Christ with that verse. And then you will see what the light really is. Because we are supposed to see the glory of Jesus in the scriptures. See chapter 3 verse 18 We see in a mirror in a mirror that is the word of God. James chapter 1 says the mirror is God's word. I look into the mirror and I don't see I don't get the clever thought. If you get a clever thought from scripture that's not what scripture is given for. You look in the mirror and you see the glory of Jesus there. That's what it says in verse 18. You look in the scripture and you see the glory of Jesus. Then you are changed into that same image. But if you don't see the glory of Jesus in that verse you will just become a clever legalistic preacher. Preaching a lot of things saying I got light, I got light, I got light. And you will be pretty proud of all that light you got. Which itself shows that you never saw the face of Christ. No man can see the face of Christ and be proud. It is impossible. Whenever I see a proud believer I know he has not seen the face of Christ. I don't care if he has got light on every doctrine in scripture. Whenever I see a legalistic Christian I know he has not seen the face of Christ. He studied the Bible. He hasn't seen the face of Jesus. And nowadays I find there is a lot of preaching which is actually psychology. People have studied psychology and they know how to, what people need. And they say, take scripture and mix it up with that psychology. And they present it and people are attracted to it. And they will pay a lot of money for it. It's not the face of Christ. And the proof of it is people are not becoming more holy. People are not becoming more Christ-like. They are not overcoming sin in their life. The glory of God, the light is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, learn from me. Jesus said, learn from me. Not from the Bible. In the Old Testament it said, look into the law. People looked into the law. Now we look into the face of Jesus. See what it says here. Chapter 3, verse 13. We are not like Moses. Isn't that good to say that? Moses was such a great man of God. But he said, we are not like Moses. Who had to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel might not look at the end of that which was fading away. That is the old covenant was fading away. Moses symbolized the old covenant. For their minds were hardened until this very day. Listen to this. Till today. That is written 30 years after Pentecost. And we can say 2000 years after Pentecost. Till this very day. 2000 years later. Paul, you wrote that in 60 AD. I tell you Paul, 2080. Till this day also. The reading of the old covenant. That same veil. It is not there. It is there. And you can't understand it. You know, if you put a handkerchief over the Bible and try to read the Bible. What can you see? Nothing. Maybe you can faintly see a few letters there. But when you remove the handkerchief. Say, hey. And it says here. When it is turned to Christ, that is taken away. It is removed in Christ. But to this day. Again he says, to this day. Verse 15. In 60 AD. And I say Paul, not only 60 AD. 2080. Whenever people read the scriptures. We can say not only Moses, even the Bible. New Testament. A veil lies over their heart. A veil lies over their heart. Why? Because they are not using their heart. They are using their head. They study the scriptures with their head. You know, you may never go to a Bible school. But you study with your head. And you say, I got light. You didn't get light. You just got a clever thought. You thought it was light. It is not light. It is not light. Such a clever. Because you are a clever fellow. You got some clever ideas there. You got a new illustration. No? But when a man turns to the Lord. To Jesus. From. You read that. You saw something and you turn to the face of Jesus. Then the veil is taken away. You get light. And you see that Jesus is so different. You know what should be the greatest longing of your life? To see the face of Jesus in scripture. Because then you will be transformed into that likeness. Wherever you turn. You say, Lord, this is your glory. So, that is the glory of God that we have to see. The glory of God is not something terrifying. You know, in the Old Testament. Let me show you this verse in Exodus. It says in chapter 33. Moses prayed in verse 18. O God, show me your glory. What a prayer to pray. What a prayer to pray. O God. When it says about Moses in Exodus. I mean 2nd Corinthians 3. It starts symbolizing the old covenant. But the real man Moses. Was I believe a new covenant man living in Old Testament times. There are few people like that. Like Proverbs is a new covenant book in the Old Testament. Moses was a new covenant man living in Old Testament times. Enoch walked with God. He was a new covenant man living in Old Testament times. Just like there are hundreds of old covenant people living today in New Testament times. There were a few new covenant people who lived in Old Testament times. Imagine this passion. He has already seen God writing scripture and things like that. But he says, Lord, that is not what I want to see. I want to see your glory. And God said, OK. You want to see my glory? Verse 19. I will make my goodness pass before you. And I will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. And I'll show compassion to whom I'll have compassion. So the glory of God is his goodness. Please don't forget that. Exodus 33. Verse 18 and 19. When Moses prayed, Lord, show me your glory. The Lord said, OK. I'll show you my goodness. Because that is my glory. So when you tell people, Brother, have you seen the glory of God? Paraphrase it. Have you seen the goodness of God? That's not what people mean when they say that. And that's not what people expect others to see. The church must be a place where the glory of God is seen. That means the goodness of God must be seen in the church. And when it says, we are changed. Now come back to 2 Corinthians 3. Verse 18. We are changed into the same image. From glory to glory. You are changed into the same image of Christ. Can you paraphrase it for me? From? Goodness to? Higher degree of goodness. How should it be tomorrow? Still more? That is the path of the righteous. How many of you know Acts 10.38? God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with power. And he went about? Doing? Good. OK, we can't follow Jesus in 101 areas. Can we follow him in doing good to other people? Sure. But we have to be gripped with it in our hearts first. God is a good God. And that's why we sing that song. Something good is gonna happen to me. Something good is in store for you today. God has got pleasant surprises waiting for you around the corner. Have you seen this sometimes when you? I have seen this sometimes on Davis Road. Some places where there is a blind corner. Where you can't see any traffic coming from the other side. And where the police know that people tend to cut corners. As you turn the corner, there is a surprise waiting for you. You know what the surprise is? You see a police motorbike. And a sub-inspector and a policeman who says, Come here please. Because you cut the corner. God also waits around the corner. Not to catch us. He has got pleasant surprises for us. Which we didn't expect. There is that lovely verse in Zephaniah 3.17. You know Zephaniah? Where it is? Psalms, Proverbs, Zephaniah. Got it? Where is Zephaniah? Towards the end of the Old Testament. Just before Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. The fourth book from the end. Zephaniah chapter 3. How many of you believe you are gonna meet Zephaniah in heaven? Yes? He will ask you, Did you read my book? What will you say? You write a book? He says, Man, I wrote only three pages and you didn't read it. Please, read it. You are gonna meet a lot of other people. Zephaniah 3.17. In the middle of that it says, The Lord will exalt over you with joy and he will be quiet in his love. And some translations read it like this. He is silently, quiet means silent. He is silently planning for you in love. That's the meaning of that verse. It's a lovely paraphrase. God is silently planning for you in love. He's got pleasant surprises for you around the corner. He doesn't talk about it. Suddenly you get a surprise. I tell you, when I look back over the 45 years of my being a Christian. Oh, the number of surprises God has had for me. Things I didn't expect. Didn't deserve. Look at the surprise he had for many of you. Brought you into a church. Good brothers and sisters. Some of us who have grown up in the church and your parents were in the church before you were born. You just don't know what you got. You just don't know what it is like in a lot of Christendom today. We're not claiming to be better. I'm just saying you're very fortunate to hear the things you hear. To have the opportunity. I'm not saying you'll be more spiritual than others. But you have the opportunity to grow quite a lot. If you appreciate what you receive. Pleasant surprises God has for us. Pleasant surprises. He's silently planning for you in love. So the glory of God is His goodness. And it is in His goodness. Because of His tremendous goodness for you. That glory in the face of Jesus Christ. He says, let there be light in this darkness. We don't have to be afraid of that light. Light in the scripture is the best possible thing for us to have. I mean here in Bangalore when suddenly the power goes off without a warning. We really learn to appreciate. You immediately go for a torch. Where's the torch? Why are you so eager to get light? Isn't light a good thing? It's the darkness we don't want. We come into an empty house at night. And the first thing you do is put on the light. But that's the first thing God did in Genesis 1 too. And that's the first thing God wants to do in our heart when He comes and... Then He puts on more lights. You go into another room and you put on the light there. And you go to another room and you put on the light there. That's exactly what God wants to do in our heart. He's doing exactly the same thing which you are doing in your life. And if there's a snake crawling over there, it's a good thing you saw it. And if there's a cockroach or a lizard on your bed, well, you'll be thankful for the light, I'll tell you that. Or a frog perhaps. Light is a very good thing. Don't ever be afraid of the light. It has the same good purpose that physical light does. Into every corner of my heart, I want to get rid of all the frogs and the snakes. I don't want them in my heart. You know, little children, they're not afraid of snakes. Did you know that? A one-year-old child, if it sees a cobra, it'll leave its toy and go after this crawling toy. Catch it till it dies. And when we play around with sin, any sin, it doesn't show us we're evil. Perhaps it doesn't show you're evil. You may not be like Hitler. Your flesh is like Hitler's. But you may be born again. But you're a baby. You're a baby. You think that sin is a little toy to play around with. I'm not saying you're dead. I don't believe you're dead. I believe most of you here are born again. But when you play around with snakes, you're like a one-year-old. What does the father do when he sees that one-year-old playing with snake? Kills the snake. And the baby begins to cry, You killed my toy. And the father also hopes that that child will grow up to itself avoid the snakes. That's exactly what our heavenly father wishes for us. That we grow up to realize that some of these things you're playing around with are not good for you, my son, my daughter. I want you to grow up. Is it possible for a twenty-year-old person to also think that these snakes are toys? What do you say? Tell me. There's no catch in this. It's a very simple question. Yes or no? Have you seen some unfortunate people who are retarded? Mentally retarded. You can't use the word retarded in places like western countries, you know. You have to say challenged. It's a big dignified word. But challenged or retarded, they're still retarded. Whatever you may say. They're not able to understand. They're not mature. We feel sorry for them. I mean they use that word challenged because they want to treat that human being with dignity. It's a good thing to treat blind people with dignity and retarded people with dignity and not make them feel inferior. So there's a very good reason why they use such words like blind person is visually challenged. Means he's not... I'm a poor man. So when we look at a person who is spiritually challenged. That's not a compliment by the way. I said brother you are a spiritually challenged brother. That means you should be moving on. I mean with the mentally and the visually and the optically and the audio audibly challenged people we feel sorry for them. But spiritually there's no need for any of you any of us to remain challenged or retarded. We have to say Lord this is not where I should be after 20 years. I should know that cobras are dangerous. I'm not a one year old to think that a cobra is a toy. I want to ask you my brothers and sisters. Won't you feel terribly sad if one of your children was not recognizing a cobra is a bad thing. Boy! Any father will be delighted when his children realize that cobras are bad. What about mud? Mud is not as bad as a cobra. But children will put stones and all types of things in their mouth. They are not evil. Nuts and bolts and all types of things they eat and they drink anything they find. Do you want children to always be like that? No. They are not evil. And I don't believe many of you are evil. No I don't believe that. I believe you are very sincere. Think of a healthy, robust, 5 kilogram child born. And he eats mud. Healthy, robust, no sickness. But he'll get sick if he keeps on eating mud. There's no doubt about that. You know you can be thoroughly born again. And you don't realize that mud is not good for your system. But you are a baby. Okay? It happens when we are small. But we should be growing up from there. To see that certain things are not good for me. And that's why all of you don't eat mud. I hope not. And you avoid snakes. Because you know they are harmful. You grew up in the same way. Spiritually. When God says avoid sin. It's not because He hates us. He wants to save you from things that can destroy you. Things that can give you spiritual stomach aches. You know if you eat a lot of mud, that's what happens. Nuts and bolts you eat, they don't get digested. And a lot of things in the world, you can spend your time swallowing them, swallowing them. It's going to give you a lot of problems in your Christian life. Is that because God is light? Yes, because He is love. He is so intensely full of love for you. He wants you to recognize, my son, my daughter, that is a cobra. Internet pornography is a cobra. When will you learn it? All those filthy pornographic books, they are cobras. Oh, nice toy, nice pictures. Yeah, yeah, the cobras look pretty attractive. What can a father do? If his child is stubborn. See, God doesn't treat us like little children. It says in Galatians 4, that in the Old Testament, God treated them like little children. In the New Testament, He treats us like grown up sons. Do you know that that's one difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? The Old Covenant is, you are treated like little children. Don't do this. No, don't do that, don't do that, do this, do this, do this. Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. The Old Covenant is like that. Little children are like that. We have to tell them so many things. God treats them like little children. Now, you come to the New Covenant, He treats us like adults. And He says, son, my daughter, I'm not going to control you by saying, don't do this, don't do that, don't do the other thing, don't go here, don't go there. I mean, legalistic preachers will say all that. There are things which are not good for you, my son, my daughter. Avoid it. There are videotapes that are cobras. There are television programs that are cobras. Who will know it? Those who are grown up? Those who are like babies? Dad, there is nothing wrong with that. And the Father in Heaven says, okay, try it out. Get stung, stung, stung, stung. God's mercy, we still don't die. One day you can die. Vipers, cobras, rattlesnakes, all types of things nowadays on videotapes and television. I tell you, if you are not careful, I'm not saying all of it. No, there are some cats and dogs too. You know, you can have as pets. Harmless. But don't forget to separate between the cats and the cobras. You got to be careful. It's out of love. God is light. There is no darkness in Him. He loves you so much. He wants you to grow up healthy and strong the way you were born. Good, healthy, 5 pound baby born again. 5 kilo baby born again. Now God says, I want you to grow up strong. I want you to grow up, my son, to be, to share in my business. I want you to be a business partner with me. Think of that. You young brothers and sisters. You know, you sisters, you would have been hopeless if you lived under the old covenant. No, no ministry, nothing. You know, when they make the genealogies, they don't even mention your name. Do you know that? Have you noticed that? There are two genealogies of Jesus. One is Matthew chapter 1, which is the genealogy of Joseph. And Luke chapter 3, which is the genealogy of Mary. You know that because in one case it comes through David's son Solomon in Matthew chapter 1. And in the other case it comes through David's son, another son of David's, Nathan. So through Solomon came Joseph and through this Nathan came Mary. But Mary's name is not even mentioned. You know how it's mentioned there? It comes all the way down and it says, ah, the one who belonged to Joseph. That's how it ends. It's the genealogy of Mary and her name is not mentioned. Think if you got married and somebody said, ah, that one who belongs to so and so. You'd feel pretty insulted, right? That's how old covenant was. You sister should be thankful you're not living in 100 BC. That you're living in AD, after the day of Pentecost. Jesus raised woman to her proper place. He says, when I pour out my spirit, I'm not going to pour it out only on the brothers. I'm going to pour it out all on the sisters. Do you know where that is found? Acts chapter 2. And the 120 who waited on the Lord on the day of Pentecost. Do you know there were some women there? Yes or no? Mary, the mother of Jesus was there and other women, it says. And the spirit was poured out on all of them. And Peter said, this is what Joel said, on your sons and daughters, I'll pour out my spirit. You can be baptized in the Holy Spirit, sisters. You could never be that in the Old Testament. It's one of the most important things to receive from God. One of the gifts of God. One of the things He's silently planning for you in love. It's like a man who's built a new house and lived in darkness for ages and says, At last, the electricity board has decided to give me a power connection. Isn't that good? Especially if it's free. You don't have to give any bribe to anybody. It's all free. Paid for. Electric connection. Whenever a person doesn't have an electric connection and he just accumulates knowledge in the Bible. It's like a man who's got a washing machine, computer, refrigerator, deep freeze, tape recorder, sound system, television, DVD player. Only thing missing is electricity. That's how it is. A lot of Christians are like that. They've got this doctrine, that doctrine. And you see one group saying, We believe in water baptism. It's like one fellow telling the other fellow, I've got a refrigerator in my house. You don't have one. Of course, both don't have electricity. But this fellow is boasting, I've got a deep freeze. You've only got a refrigerator. Both don't have electricity. What is the difference? What's the difference between one fellow who was baptized as a child and another person who was baptized as an adult, if both don't have the power of the Holy Spirit? It's the same thing. I'd rather have a little tape recorder and electricity in my house than have all these gadgets and no electricity. I'd rather have one bulb in my house with electricity than have all these gadgets and no electricity. Do you know what you need more than anything else? Electricity. God's electricity. The mighty power of the Holy Spirit. Value it. There's only one. You don't have to pay for it. It's already paid for. But God gives it only to those who value. That's what brings light. Like power connection has come. Lights are burning. God... Then you see the face of Jesus more clearly. Yeah. I... I began to understand the Bible much better. When I was filled with the Holy Spirit. And value that. Not something just once. You know how in India the power connection can go? The power goes. Happened yesterday. It can happen. You can't say, well, I'll have power the whole of today. I hope so. But... You can lose it. Now you're saying, I got it one day. I got the power connection long ago. But there's no power right now. There's a break in the wire. The fuse is blown. Something happened. You blew your fuse when you were talking to your wife. And so the fuse connection with God was also broken. Same thing happened, you know. Do you know the meaning of that? Blowing your fuse when you speak to your wife? It was all pleasant and loving. And suddenly something happened. So... You know, when that light goes... It's... We're really aware of it. The sad thing in the Christian life is you're not aware sometimes. Light is gone. And you continue on polishing the refrigerator and... Filling the stuff with food and all that. It's all going to get spoiled, my brother. All the knowledge that you're getting, you're putting in the fridge, stacking it away. It's all going to get spoiled. If you don't have electricity. Okay? You accumulate, oh, we got some... Bought some chicken in CFC today and got this and that and the other. But make sure your refrigerator is working. It'll all get spoiled otherwise. All this knowledge that you accumulate. The face of Jesus Christ. Make that your passion. Lord Jesus, I want to see your face. I want to behold your beauty. I know the glory of God is there. And whenever I see something in scripture I can't understand. I go to the face of Jesus and say, There I see what it really means. Take humility for example. I believe humility is one of the most misunderstood things in the New Testament. Not the only one. One of the most misunderstood things. Can a humble man... Okay, let me ask it like this. Supposing a humble man walked into the temple of God and saw people selling doves and making money in the name of God and exploiting the poor people. How will a proud man deal with that situation? And how will a humble man deal with that situation? Supposing you've never read the Bible. Assume you've never read the Bible. You know the answer because you've read the Bible. Supposing you've never read the Bible. I tell you, all of us, including me. Would I say a humble man will go up to these fellows making money and say, Gentlemen, this is not a good thing to do, you know, in God's house. It's not good. We should have some fear of God. Will you, gentlemen? I'll help you clear this, please. Let's get this all out. The humblest man that walked on the earth was Jesus. And he didn't do it like that. He called his disciples and said, Get me some string. They sat down and make a rope. And they were wondering what he's doing. And he took them and said, Is that a humble man? Yes, the humblest man that walked on the earth. And Jesus said, Learn from me, for I am humble of heart. We've all got wrong ideas of humility. Because we got our idea of humility from the dictionary and not from the face of Jesus Christ. That's just one example. Okay. The Bible says, We are made rich in Christ. And we go to the dictionary. And try to find out what it means. Ah, the better this and the better that. And if I'm a preacher, I can make a lot of money. Then I take that verse and I look into the face of Christ and I say, Lord, did you make more money as a carpenter or as a preacher? What's the answer? Eh? I'm absolutely convinced. He made more money as a carpenter than he made as a preacher. I don't have any doubt about it. But today's preachers, today people who work in Christian organizations, they earn 2100 times what they would earn if they were doing a secular job. Is that Christ? It is another Jesus. It is another Jesus. That's why we've taken a stand against all these things. And people who don't agree with that stand usually get offended and leave. They can't bear this. Something or the other happens. God exposes them. You can't do it. Jesus made more money as a carpenter than he made as a preacher. Look into the face of Jesus Christ and see. And then you can never go wrong. Everything. What are cobras? What is mud? Mud is not as harmful as a cobra, but it's still not good. God has given us good food to eat. Because he loves us so much. He says, look into the face of Christ. And I look into the face of Jesus and I see where he was rich. His richness was not in money. He was so wealthy that he could bless people spiritually. You know like these old kings who on their birthdays would ride on elephants and throw gold coins. And fellows would wait for the king's birthday because they could get gold coins. And that's how Jesus was spiritually. He was making people rich everywhere he went. And Paul said that. He said, we are poor, but we make many people rich, he said. As poor, but making many rich, he said it to the Corinthians. That's because he was talking about spiritual wealth. So when you look into the face of Jesus, you don't get confused by all the prosperity preachers you hear today. People are so confused nowadays. They say, oh, Brother Zach says this, and somebody else on the television program says something else. And they say, well, maybe Brother Zach needs to get a little more light. I'm sure I need to get a lot more light in a thousand and one areas. But I want to get all my light from the face of Jesus Christ. Not from some television program, that's for sure. I want to get my light from the face of Jesus Christ. Okay, let me ask you another question. Peter followed Jesus pretty well. Did he make more money as a fisherman or as a preacher? Hmm? Fisherman. But more money passed through his hands when he was a preacher. That, there's no doubt about it. He never had people putting loads and loads of gold at his feet, when he was a fisherman. But we read that they did that in the Acts of the Apostles. You know that children used to go to the temple from the age of twelve. Jesus went to the temple when he was twelve, and I'm pretty sure Peter's parents took Jesus to the, not Jesus, took Peter to the temple when he was twelve. And at the temple there was a, and when he was twenty and twenty-five, Peter went along thrice a year. They had to go to Jerusalem to the temple. And there was a man sitting at the gate, at the beautiful gate of the temple who was a lame man. Forty years he'd been sitting there. Lame. And this fisherman Peter comes along, twenty-five years old, and this chap asks him for money. He says, sure. He's earned money as a fisherman, he gives him. A few years later, after the Day of Pentecost, he's become a preacher. And he comes by that same beggar. And this time he says, sorry buddy, I don't have any money today. I gave up my fishing, I've become a preacher. I don't have any money, but I've got something better for you. Boy. That was Peter. He gave him something he could never give him all the years he went there as a fisherman. What about today's preachers? Oh. Now I'm a preacher, I can give you more, beggar. How sad. We have got another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit, because we are not looking into the face of Christ. We're trying to see the glory of God from explaining doctrines. Oh, it says here like this, it says here like that, it says here like the other thing. See it in the face of Jesus Christ, and see how the apostles followed the face of Jesus Christ. See how it was. Look at the preachers today, who fool around with girls. Where did they learn that from? Where did they learn that from? Christians, preachers, supposed to be preaching to others, and all of a sudden you hear that they are unfaithful to their wives, and fooling around with somebody else, and secretaries to pastors, fooling around with the pastors. Where is all this from? We are not talking about wrong doctrine people. We are talking about people who sit in holy groups, talking about holiness, and the whole thing is a deception. We are living in such times, my brothers and sisters, and if you don't make the face of Jesus, the goal of your life, to see that more and more clearly, the same thing can happen to anybody sitting in CFC for years. It can happen. Don't be fooled by all the religious talk that you hear, even from people in CFC. You can sense a person's spirit, if you become spiritual. But since very few people are spiritual, many people escape. Escape, but it doesn't save them. It's always better to be near a spiritual man, because that person will help you, keep you away from cobras, vipers, frogs, and all types of things that can poison you, scorpions, the devil. God loves us. It's His love that wants to keep us from anything that will harm us. And when a person is gripped by the love of God, he will really pursue holiness much more than anybody else who is threatened with talk of fear, of brimstone, and hell, and punishment. God did that in the Old Testament. How holy did people become? You know how God told people, if you sin, what I'll do for you? Let me just show you in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 28. Here is how God threatened people in the Old Testament, trying to make them holy. Deuteronomy 28 verse 15. Deuteronomy 28 verse 15. If you will not obey God, and you don't do everything that God has commanded, you know what's going to happen to you fellas? Now supposing you listen to, this is a preacher preaching, you'll think it's New Testament, it's not New Testament, it's Old Testament. If you fellas don't obey God, if you don't do everything that Jesus commanded, these curses will come upon you. You go to the city, verse 16, you'll be cursed there. You say, oh, this is a city that's bad, let me go to the country. You go to the country, you'll be cursed there. Your basket and your kneading bowl, your food will be cursed. Your children, which come out of your body, they'll be cursed, verse 18. Your crops will be cursed. Your cattle, and that was their business, that'll be cursed. And when you come into the house, you'll be cursed, verse 19. When you go out of the house, you'll be cursed, verse 20. Confusion, rebuke. In everything that you undertake, you'll be destroyed, and you'll perish, because of the evil you've done. And sickness and disease, verse 21, will cling to you. And he will smite you with tuberculosis, and fever, and inflammation, and they'll pursue you, verse 23. The heaven will be brass on top of you, you won't get rain on your crops. Your rain will be like dust, verse 24. Your enemies will defeat you everywhere, and you'll go out against them, and you'll run in seven different directions, verse 25. And your dead bodies, the birds will come and eat you. You won't even get a decent burial, verse 26. And then you'll get boils, and tumors in all types of awkward places, and you'll never be healed from them. No medicine will heal you, verse 27. You'll be filled with madness, blindness, and perpetual tension in your heart, and at noon you'll grow up like a blind man. You will not prosper in anything you do. Any business you touch, you will suffer loss. Any job you get, you'll lose it soon. You'll get engaged to some girl, somebody else will marry her. You'll build a house, it'll get destroyed, your business will fail. Those days the business were the oxen and the donkeys. Your sons and your daughters will be taken away, they'll be enslaved, and you'll be driven mad. And it hasn't finished yet, there are only another 40 verses to go. The Lord will strike you on your knees and legs, and boils, and you'll never be healed. Okay, do you want to obey God or not? Boy! How much more Moses? It's just another 30 verses, fellas. Please, tell us what do you have to do. Out of fear. Who wants to get boils in all types of awkward places? Who wants to become mad and blind? Oh God, what do you tell us what to do? Do this, and do it out of fear. That's how they obeyed in the Old Testament. There's one more method, and that's the chocolate method. Chapter 20. You know how we tell children, you listen to me, I'll give you a chocolate. I'll buy you a bicycle for your birthday. But you got to obey me. That's the other method. Chapter 28. If you obey me, verse 1, and you do everything I tell you, all these blessings, verse 2, will come upon you. You go into the city, you get blessed there. You make money there. You go to the country, you make money there. Pretty good, isn't it? I'm not preaching preachers. No, this is Moses. This is Moses, by the way. This is not after Matthew. This is Deuteronomy, not Ephesians. Get it right. And your children will be blessed, your animals will be blessed, and your business will be blessed. And when you come in, verse 6, you'll get blessed. They meant materially, not that you'll get victory over sin. But you'll be blessed materially. This is not Ephesians. This is Deuteronomy. And the Lord will make you the head, verse 13, and not the tail. You want to obey God? People said, sure. And then Jesus came. You know, I've never sinned. He once said, which of you can convince me of sin? But even though I've lived like that for 30 years, people are going to spit on me. They're going to kill me. I don't have a place to lay my head. All these things which are listed here, I don't have these things. And the money people give me as a gift, some guy in my group steals it all the time. That was Judas Iscariot. So, I don't have money to stay in a hotel. And one day people spit on me, betray me, and kill me. And Peter said, no! Lord, I know Deuteronomy 28. The Lord says to Peter, get behind me Satan. You haven't understood. You have not understood the New Covenant. You've got to take up the cross too. That means you're going to obey God even when people spit on you. You don't need the chocolate. You're not afraid of the stick. You're going to love God without any of this Deuteronomy 28 chocolate or stick. Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. The New Covenant way is better. You know that the Bible says God abolished this method of getting people to obey Him? Hebrews chapter 8 says God has abolished the Old Covenant. He doesn't want people to obey Him because He says, I'll give you madness, I'll give you confusion, I'll give you boils. That's not why He wants us to obey Him. He doesn't want us to obey Him because He says, you'll be prosperous and you'll be blessed in your business. Obey Me. No! Pay your tithe and you'll be blessed. That's not the way God wants us to obey Him. The Lord says, follow Me and you'll be persecuted. You still want to obey Me? Yes, Lord. People will reject you. You still want to obey Me? Sure, Lord. We don't want to obey anybody else. That is a much better way than the Old Covenant way. A God of love wants to make us mature. Not like little children. Little children. You have to tell them, listen, if you don't do it, I'll punish you. Or, if you do it, I'll give you a cycle. Bicycle. But when we're grown up, God doesn't treat us like children. Here's one more way, He doesn't treat us like children. You're grown up. And that's why God gives you so much freedom to sin. That's why so many New Covenant believers, believers who are living in this day and age, who have not understood the New Covenant, they live in sin. They live in sin because they haven't seen the face of Jesus Christ. They haven't seen what they've read here in the face of Christ. It's God's love that tells us to hate everything that's going to destroy us. And He does not want us to obey Him out of fear. See, when you read that verse to the back, if you fear God, you need fear, nothing else. The real meaning of that word fear is reverence. Respect God. It's that type of fear. Not the fear of Deuteronomy 28, Oh, I may get madness, I may get blindness. No, it's the fear that comes out of reverence to a God who loves me so intensely, who loves me without any conditions. How do you respond to such a God? I think the only way to respond to such a God is with tremendous respect. Jesus Lord, You're my hero. Dad, Father, You're my hero. You're the one I want to love and respect no matter what price I have to pay. I want to obey Your word. You know, I'm so sad when I see many believers nowadays, they read something in the New Testament and they say, Oh, that's not the important thing, brother. The important thing is, well, I'll tell you what makes something important for me. What makes something important is who said it. Okay? Not how big is the commandment. To me a commandment which says I should not commit murder. The same God says I should not wear gold. It's the same thing to me. It's not a question of, I know murder is more serious than wearing gold, but to me the important thing is not what it is to many believers. To me the important thing is who said it. If I was a child living under some, under the authority of my father in earth and my dad said, Son, I don't want you to hit anybody. And he says, Son, I want you to come home by six o'clock. Both are equally important for me. If I honor my father as a little child living at home, I won't hit anybody and I'll come home by six o'clock. It's not a question of which is more important. Son, I can come at six fifteen. Dad won't do anything, he's such a good dad. But it's a question of respect. We are living in a day when that respect for God unfortunately has disappeared from Christians. I'm not telling you to obey something. I have learned to respect this father of mine. And I want to say apply this verse to God. Okay? Honor your father in heaven which is the first commandment with promise that it may go well with you. We apply it to parents, I agree. That was the old covenant. Apply it to the father in heaven. Honor your father that it may go well with you. I want to testify after 45 years it's gone well with me. I haven't become the richest person in the world. I've got a brother and sister. I'm not as rich as them but I've never envied them. I believe it's gone very well with me. I have tried. I've not always succeeded. I've failed many times but whenever I've failed I have wept and wept and wept and wept before God. Even small failures. I've wept at night before God because it was an act of disrespect to my father who loved me so unconditionally who forgave me every time I came back to him. He said, Forgiven, son. Don't mention it again. I go back to him the hundredth time and say, Dad, I've done it again. He said, Don't worry, son. Forgiven. Get up. I'll help you. How can I not respect such a father? How can I not live my life totally for such a father? How can I live for myself when a father like this treats me like this? Doesn't threaten me with madness and boils and scabs and confusion and tuberculosis. Doesn't bribe me with chocolates and prosperity and... No! It's just the sad look on the face of Jesus Christ that makes me weep. The sad look that he's disappointed with me. He hasn't given up on me. He always says, Son, I know that is the millionth time you and I are in this together. I praise God. Do you think I'll choose any other religion? Do you think I'm tempted by any other religion? Do you think I'm tempted by the world when I have such a loving saviour and friend and bridegroom? I wish you would know him like that. I wish you would see that holiness... Maybe we have preached it in the church in a wrong way. Accepted. But holiness is God's standard. There's no doubt about that. Total obedience to God's word is what I've always believed and I still believe today. And when I respect God like that, you know what happens? It makes me respect my earthly parents. It makes me respect authority in the church. The other day I went back to my auditor who files my income tax returns and I told him, excuse me, you have not included one item which I gave to you to include in the audit, in the return. I know it's going to save me 1500 rupees of tax but it has to be put there. And you know, I said, well... and many auditors would say, well, there's no way the income tax people can find out that because that was sort of another type of income. I said, that's okay. Please put it in. He probably never had anybody else come back to him and ask him to do something like that. I said, I'd rather pay that 1500 rupees extra income tax than live with a bad conscience for the rest of my life. Please put it in. Money is not the big thing for me. I have a savior who tells me to sign the truth. I will sign the truth. I mean, I'm not saying... I'm not such a patriot to give money where I don't... if there's any legal way of avoiding income tax, I use all those means. I'm not such a patriot because I know a lot of people swindle the money in this country. Politicians make... the income tax you pay goes into the pockets of some corrupt politicians. So I'm not a patriot, no. But I believe in being honest because I don't want to disappoint my savior. I don't want him to... Is that true, son, what you signed there? Was it true? I can't tell him, oh Lord, nobody will find out. Can't tell him that. The Lord will say, I already found out. What do you mean, nobody will find out? I'll tell you something, my brothers and sisters. The day you discover that money is not everything, you'll be free. The day you discover that honor is not everything, you'll be free. Heavenly Father, I think of some wonderful young people here whom you've laid hands on many years ago. And oh Lord, what a plan you have for their lives. I pray for these lovely young people that none of them will miss the wonderful plan you have for their life and choose something second best, third best, either in their marriage and mess up their life, or in their... attitude to the things of this world. Oh Lord, help us all to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.