This sermon emphasizes the vision of the Apostle John in Revelation 21, highlighting the final goal of God to make us one body, a foretaste of the future unity and blessings available through the Holy Spirit. It encourages believers to seek a taste of heavenly gifts, the power of the age to come, and the love and holiness of Jesus, while preparing for potential persecution and focusing on building the body of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, when we come to the end of the Bible, we see the Apostle John in chapter 21. God gave him a vision. Verse 10, he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain. And he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. And it said, you know Jerusalem by the way is a picture of the bride of Christ as we read in verse 2. It's a picture of the church. John did not see multitudes of saved souls He did see them earlier in chapter 7 and chapter 14. Great multitude that no man can number redeemed by the blood of Christ. He saw 144,000 who followed the lamb wherever he goes. Finally what he sees in chapter 21 is the church. Do you know that is God's final goal? There are many many things he does on the way there. But his final goal is to make us one body. And here on earth we can have a foretaste of many of these things that happen in the future. We are told in Ephesians chapter 1 that the Holy Spirit in verse 13 we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians 1 verse 13. And the next verse it says that this is a pledge of our future inheritance. And in the margin of my bible it says the Holy Spirit is like a down payment for what we are going to get fully in the future. That means if somebody has come to buy your house for 10 lakhs, he gives you 1 lakh now as a down payment to assure you I will definitely pay the remaining. If he doesn't pay 1 lakh you don't know whether he is serious about buying the house. But when he pays 100,000 rupees that is a lot of money. He is not going to lose that for nothing. That is a proof I am serious about buying this house. So it says the Holy Spirit is like that. God has given us a down payment. I am going to give you a fantastic inheritance in the future. You can have a little taste of it now. Like this 100,000 rupees is a taste of the 1 million you get when the house is sold. Have you seen the Holy Spirit like that? Everything I am going to get in the future I can get a little taste of it now. Like if I get a huge bottle of inheritance in the future, I get a small little teaspoon of it now. It has been a tremendous encouragement to me that everything in heaven I can get a little teaspoon, a small few drops at least in my mouth now. It says in Hebrews chapter 6, a definition of people who are born again. A very beautiful definition. Hebrews 6 is talking about laying a foundation. Then it refers to born again people like this. Read verse 4 and 5. Just 4 and 5 that is all. They are people who are enlightened. That means their hearts were dark, now God has said let there be light and the light has come. Not the full light that we will have in eternity. Not the full knowledge of God that we are going to have in eternity. A little taste of that light. Another thing it says is we have tasted of the heavenly gift. That means I just got one or two drops and this is so wonderful that I say oh God I don't want anything of this earth anymore. Everything on earth is like poison and muck and rubbish compared to this taste of the heavenly gift. When I see believers who want to see dirty movies, I say they are like people who have not tasted the heavenly gift. You know it's like some people ask these questions. Brother can we see some movies? Only little bit there is some sexual stimulation. It's like a child asking can I drink this sweet milk. Only little bit of poison has been added. Not much. It's so foolish. Even if you are permitted to watch it, will you watch it? Supposing I say you are permitted to go and lick the toilet bowl in your bathroom, lock the door, make sure nobody is watching and just lick it as much as you like. And you say brother Zach, you mean I really have permission to do that? Brother Zach permitted me to lick the toilet bowl. I can do it. That is how people lock the door and look at dirty things on the computer and television and all that. What does it say of a man's sense of taste if instead of eating ice cream he wants to lick the toilet bowl? Something is wrong with him. He looks like a human being but he is actually a pig. Because you put the pig inside the toilet bowl, it's just going to enjoy it. The pig doesn't like ice cream and all that. And many human beings are not properly born again. There is a real pig nature in them. That is why when the door is locked, they really like to lick all these dirty things. And they don't have a taste for the heavenly gifts. Pigs don't like ice cream. They prefer rubbish. So it says you have tasted of the heavenly gifts. A really born again person has tasted. He hasn't got it fully yet but he has tasted and he longs for more of that. Another definition is he has made partakers of the Holy Spirit. Every born again person has the Holy Spirit. He may not be filled with the Holy Spirit. That he must seek for to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But if you haven't even received the Spirit, you are not even born again. Made partakers of the Holy Spirit. And tasted the good word of God. Here is another thing he has tasted. The same word of God that you read in Genesis 1 that did miracles. Not reading the Bible. There is a difference between just reading the Bible and tasting the word of God. For many people reading the Bible is like looking at a picture of chicken biriyani. Oh this is so good. No taste of it. Many people their reading of the Bible is like that. And they can explain. This is the chicken. And these are the other things in the part of the biriyani. This is how people explain the Bible. All correct. They haven't tasted it. It is all pictures. When you taste it, it is different. You got to humble yourself. You got to ask the Holy Spirit to give you revelation. Taste the word of God. Have you tasted the word of God? This is God's will for you. And the next thing. This is what I wanted to come to. A born again person can taste something of the powers of the future age. Not we can't get it fully. But we can get a little taste of that power we will have fully in the future. For example, whenever I am sick. Yeah sometimes I get a little sick with something or the other. Even small things like fever or something. I say Lord give me a taste of that resurrection body that I shall have one day. I know I can't have it fully. But it says here I can get a taste of that future power now. You know in that future age I will have a resurrection body. Where my mind will always be alert. Never tired. And a body will never get tired. Sometimes in my ministry, I find I need a little help in those areas. I say Lord, I have to travel so much. I have to speak so much. I need little help when I am 71 years old. So much of travelling and all. Sometimes you don't get enough sleep. I need a mind that is alert. And I want you to give me a taste of that mind I shall have in the resurrection body. And I want a taste of that power I shall have in that resurrection body one day. I tell you honestly I have experienced it. Not because God loves me more than you. I don't believe God loves me more than anybody else. But there is one difference. I believe what is written in the word of God. And I ask God for it. Maybe you don't believe it. Or you don't ask for it. God says you don't ask for it, you won't get it. And even if you ask, you don't believe it, you still won't get it. I praise God that the Holy Spirit is a down payment of what I shall taste in the future. One day I know I shall be as holy as Jesus. I want a taste of that now. It's the same love that he has in his heart. I want a little taste of it in my heart. Listen to this. If I get one drop of the love of Jesus in my heart, I will be able to love everybody in the world. I will be able to love people who hate me. I will be able to love people who are different from me. I will be able to love believers who disagree with me. I am sorry to say some of you cannot love those who disagree with you. You can only love those who say yes sir, yes sir to you. You know what you need? You need a one drop of the love of Jesus in your heart. You don't need two, one drop will do it. A taste of the powers of the age to come. A one drop of the compassion of Jesus for sinful people. Jesus could love people who disagreed with him. Even those disciples who were not very spiritual. They were arguing who is going to be the greatest. He could love them. Even that Judas Iscariot who stabbed him in the back, he said friend. I said Lord I want one drop of that. I know I cannot have it fully. I will have it fully in heaven. But I want one drop of that love. I want one drop of that holiness you have. One day I will be 100% free from the love of money. But I want to taste it now. One day I will be completely pure in my eyes. I want to taste it now. Why don't we go to God and say God give me a taste of the powers of the age to come. That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit. I feel so sad that Christians have just reduced the power of the Holy Spirit just to babble something and say that is the Holy Spirit. Even that speaking in tongues is not genuine most of the time. Do you know what the gift of the Holy Spirit is for? To give me it says here when I am made a partaker of the Holy Spirit. When I am made a partaker of the Holy Spirit. What happens? I can taste the word of God and I can taste the powers of the age to come. Do that. Lord I want to be a partaker of the Holy Spirit. I want to taste God's word not just look at the pictures of the food. I have wasted enough time looking at pictures of food in the Bible. Now I want to taste it. I want the Holy Spirit to give me a taste of these things written here. You know many years in my life after I was born again I was in a church where I only saw the Bible like pictures of food. It was just like watching some screen where they would explain all these beautiful chicken curry and biriyani and ice cream and all that in photos. All the Bible teachers I heard were like that. I could never get a taste of it. All the explanation was correct. I could not get a taste of it. But when you begin to taste it, it is different. I think many of you have not tasted it. Ask God to give you the power of the Holy Spirit to make you taste God's word. And also to taste the power of that future age. Instead of saying heal me, heal me, heal me. Say Lord I know I cannot be fully healed on this earth. But can you give me a few drops of that power I shall have in the future? Not to make money but to serve you. To take care of my family. That is also part of God's work. To take care of your family is part of God's work. I believe that. I believe that bringing up my children was a part of God's work which He gave to me. Because that is how I can train up another generation to serve God after me. Like serving other people also. So we must pray that we shall taste something of that almighty power of God. So in the same way, that future glorious church of perfect unity. I say Lord I want to get a taste of that also now. Because I see in Revelation that is what John saw. Beautiful church. Perfectly united. Transparent. No hidden sins. All the building blocks joined together. I say Lord I know I cannot see that fully now. But in my locality where I live, I want to taste a little bit of that now. You know when I first had that desire? 1965 before many of you were born. I was only 25 years old. I had been baptized 4 years earlier. And as I read the Bible, I saw a picture of the New Testament church. It was only a photograph. I hadn't tasted it. But I saw it. Where everybody loves one another. Where there is such a mighty power of God in the meeting that people fall down and say God is here. And like a married woman who longs for a child, I began to long to see such a church. And like a woman who is barren after marriage for 10 years, I never saw it. And then one day, a little baby was born. A small little church about 35 years ago. And I said Lord this is wonderful. It's like you know a mother who never had a child for 10 years who suddenly sees a child. But I carried that baby in my heart for 10 years. I want to ask you. Many of you say I want to see a good local church in my place. Do you have a burden? Or are you like these modern mothers who don't want to bear babies, they just adopt a child. And even when they want to have their own child, they rent some other poor woman's womb and get a child, their own child through that person. What all things are happening in the world today? And a lot of people like that, they don't want to have the burden and the trouble to build a church. Lord give me a ready made church. You won't get it. And if you are going to be a critic, also you will never see a real church. There are some people like that. All they do is criticize. They are 100% in fellowship with the devil. Any little thing they find fault. This speck in the eye, this speck in the eye, that person has got a speck in the eye. Jesus spoke about such people. You people who go around seeing speck in his eye, speck in her eye, speck in his eye. You don't realize there is a big log inside your eye. How can a log get inside the eye? But Jesus used to exaggerate sometimes just to highlight the point. So he said a log in your eye. A log in your eye means that you have a very unloving, judgmental attitude towards other people. When you have that attitude, you will find a speck in everybody's eye. Even if Jesus came in front of you, you will find some fault with him. That is how blind you can be. The Pharisees were like that. The holiest man who walked on the earth, they found fault with him. You will never be able to build a church with that attitude. I want to see on earth a little taste of that Jerusalem which John saw in Revelation 21. A holy city. A group of people who are pursuing holiness. It may not be big. Babylon is big. Jerusalem is small. Babylon is big but Jerusalem is holy. Do you have a desire to be a part of a church like that? It is one thing to come for conferences like this. But God wants in your town, in your village, a little expression of that Jerusalem. Do you have that burden? If you have a burden and you carry it and carry it and carry it and say Lord I want to see this, God will do it. Everything is like that. It says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6, God is a rewarder of those who seek him. He rewards those who seek him. Diligently. There is a law in our seeking God. It is mentioned in Jeremiah 29 and verse 13. First of all see Jeremiah 29 verse 11. I want all of you to please take this as a personal word that the Lord is speaking to you. What is that? Now all of you please take this as a personal word the Lord is speaking to you. What is he saying? I have got plans for you my son. My daughter I have got plans for you. And they are good plans. Plans that will never bring any destruction into your life. It will bring something good. It is for your good. It is to give you hope for the future. That is the first thing. Have you heard it? Almighty God has got a plan for you. Whatever your age. Particularly if you are young. Imagine God saying I have got a plan for your life. Believe it. I believed it when I was 21 years old. I had a plan for my own life. But I read God said he has got a plan for my life. I said which do I want? Do I want God's plan or my plan? I said Lord I want your plan. That time I did not know what that plan was. Like the pillar of cloud led Israel day by day, God led me day by day. He did not tell me I am going to make you a bible teacher. He did not tell me you will plant some churches. I did not even know what that meant. I only knew first step. Take water baptism. That is all I knew. I took that. Then he showed me the next step. Now return all the money that you have taken wrongfully from other people. I said ok. It took me 4-5 months to earn that money and I gave it back. Then the Lord showed me the next step. Study the bible. So I did that. It is always step by step. As I took one step he showed me the next step. Then one day he said leave your job. So I put in my resignation, leave the job. And those naval headquarters said no we will not accept your resignation. Lord what shall I do now? Apply again. Send it back. No. What shall I do? What did Moses do when Pharaoh kept saying no? Ask again. Again I asked. They sat there for 2 years with that. One day I got the order you can go. Then I said Lord what next? Like that step by step. Spend one month in praying and fasting once in a while. Ok I did that. Like that little by little by little by little. That is how I reached today. What am I going to do tomorrow, next year? I don't know. I am going to follow the pillar of cloud. That I know. I am going to follow the Holy Spirit. But what God has for me I just don't know. You know what it says about Jesus? He did not even know the date of his second coming. If you went to Jesus and said Lord when are you coming back to this earth? Can you tell me the year? I can tell you honestly I don't know. You don't know when you are coming back to this earth? I gave up the knowledge of God when I came as a man. He had to walk walk walk near a fig tree to see if there is fruit there. He was a man like you and me. I thank God for that. So I live day by day. God will lead you day by day. He has plans for you. But you must call upon him verse 12 and pray to him and he will listen to you. And you will seek him and find him only when you search with all your heart. If you don't search with all your heart you will not find him. If you have not found him in the past it is because you did not search with all your heart. If you seek with all your heart and say Lord I want to see a little taste of that church which you described in Revelation 21. It doesn't matter how much opposition there is from men. You know in India in the future days I might as well tell you. I have said this for more than 30 years. We will face persecution as Christians. I am not saying this because I read something in the papers. I said this 30 years ago when there was no persecution. That we have to prepare the church in India for persecution. Some tapes of mine 30 years ago you can listen to it. Some articles I wrote 30 years ago you can read it. I believe with all my heart that the church will go through the great tribulation also. And then only Jesus will come. Only after that. Very clear. See Matthew 24. Matthew 24. It is so clear that you have to be blind not to see it. Verse 3. They asked him Lord what will be the sign of your coming? First of all lot of people will try to deceive you verse 4. And then verse 9 they will deliver you to tribulation. And you will be hated by everybody. And many will fall away. Verse 10. Many false prophets will arise. Verse 11. People's love will grow cold. Verse 12. The gospel will be preached everywhere. Verse 14. And then one day Christ will come like the lightning shines in the sky. Verse 27. But that will be verse 28, 29. After the tribulation. After the tribulation then verse 30 the sign of the son of man will come in the sky. He will come in the clouds. Angels will blow a trumpet verse 31. And then he will gather us from all the ends of the earth. It is so clear. After the persecution. People's love will grow cold in these days. So I say Lord keep the fire burning in my heart. Persecution will come. People will hate you. But they cannot hinder the building of the church. Because Jesus said Matthew 16 and verse 18. I will build a church. We are used to all these things now. But this is what Jesus said. I will build my church in the gates of Bethlehem. So even if there is persecution or any type of trouble. Jesus will still build his church in India. Not in every country. But he needs people who believe. If God can find you as a person who believes. Then he will build the church through you. Ok. Yeah. That is something you must believe. You and I are not going to build a church. If you think that you can build a church. Then you have not understood how difficult it is to build a church. Let me explain something to you. Please listen carefully. All of you who want to build the body of Christ. Not those who are interested in first putting up a nice building because you got a lot of money. I will tell you something. God is not interested in your buildings. He is interested in a body. Some elders get happy. Oh we put up a good building now. Why is he putting up a building when the body of Christ is not inside? When Jesus was born, he was not born in Herod's palace. He was born in a little cow shed. So please remember that. It is not in big buildings that the body of Christ is born. So see the first body of Christ. How it was born. Then you will know how the body of Christ can be born today. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary. He said you are going to have a child. This is the first body of Christ. What did she say? Oh I can do that. You know what she said? That is impossible. That is impossible. When God says to you I am going to build the body of Christ, what do you say? Do you say like Mary it is impossible? You don't say that because you think you can do it. That is why nothing happens. How did Mary have the body of Christ coming from her? Did she read some books on how virgins can have babies? Were there any books on how virgins can have babies? Were there any seminars, conferences on how virgins can have babies? We think we can read books on how to build the body of Christ. Go to conferences on how to build a new covenant church. Number one lesson you need to learn is it is impossible. Without the power of the Holy Spirit. It is possible with the power of the Holy Spirit. So when Mary said how shall it be? Gabriel said the Holy Spirit. The answer is the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And then the body of Christ will come forth. It is the same today after 2000 years. I would say to elder brothers here, honour the Holy Spirit. Don't think you can build the body of Christ just by being connected to CFC or coming to the conferences. No. The Holy Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit must fill you all the time. And also Mary realized there is going to be a lot of misunderstanding. People are going to say all types of wrong things about me. That can also happen. But we are going to be faithful and Jesus will build His church. Let's have that faith as we go from here. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, help us to do the work you want us to do on this earth. Whatever we may face in the future, we can build the body of Christ. A holy church where people love one another. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for watching.