This sermon delves into the biblical theme of movements from Babylon to Jerusalem, highlighting the importance of being part of a pure testimony for God. It emphasizes the need for individuals and churches to align with God's heart rather than relying on human wisdom or seeking worldly approval. The sermon draws parallels from Old Testament figures like Cain and Abel, Saul and David, as well as the remnant who left Babylon for Jerusalem, to illustrate the ongoing spiritual battle between Babylonian influences and the call to be a part of God's distinct, separated church.

I want to take a study this Sunday and next Sunday on the subject of why another church. You know, that's one of the questions that so many people, Christians and non-Christians ask. There are already so many thousands of different groups and denominations. Why in the world do you start another church? And you know that we've been in the ministry of planting new churches, not always in places where there's no church. I mean, we have two churches and villages where there was no church for 2,000 years. That's great, but most of our churches are in places where there are other so-called churches. And we don't compare ourselves with anybody. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10 verse 12 that those who compare themselves with others are foolish. So we don't do that and we are not here to compete with anyone. No comparison, no competition, but we need to know why God has allowed that. Is it in the will of God or is it just some man's idea? So first of all, I want to begin with 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 18 and 19. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. And even though there was only one church in Corinth at that time, there were the seeds of other churches going to come out of that church already. And that was through the little divisions there, not divisions because of personality clashes. Unfortunately, those type of divisions are also there in many churches where people want to have some people going after them. But here, it was not due to that. He says in verse 18, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you and in part I believe it. And then it says there have to be these divisions or factions or groups among you. Now remember, this is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit saying there have to be such factions in a church. Have you ever read that verse? Have you ever tried to understand it? These are the verses that strike us if we read the Bible slowly instead of rushing through it. There must be factions among you so that those who are approved may become evident. See, not everybody who sits in a church is approved by God. They may all be coming to sing the songs and hear the message, but to be approved by God is a totally different thing. I would say that most Christians come to churches around the world to be blessed by God. That's also good. I want to be blessed by God. That's important. We all want to be blessed by God. And there are many promises in God's Word where God says, I will bless you. But we want something more. We want to be approved by God. The baptism of Jesus, the voice from heaven did not say, this is my son whom I have blessed. Of course he was blessed. But this is my son in whom I'm well pleased, whom I approve of. And there's a world of difference between God saying about you or me, this is my son or my daughter whom I have blessed, and God saying, this is my son or daughter whom I am pleased with and I approve of. It's something like our own children. We provide for all of our children, but we may not be happy with the way some of our children are going. So there are those we, we bless everyone, but then we approve of some, we are pleased with some. So that's the reason why God allows divisions, because that's the only way those who are approved can become manifest or evident. You see, when a church sinks into darkness, which started out as light, then God has a remnant that tries to keep that light burning. And that is the mark of God's approval. So whenever a church sinks into darkness, we got to think of that warning God gave and Jesus gave in Luke chapter 11, in Luke's gospel chapter 11, he says about a lamp, verse 33 onwards, which is the church, you know, in Revelation 1, the lampstands are a picture of the church. It's not explained here, it's explained in Revelation 1 in the last verse. And here in verse 33, he says, when you light a lamp, you don't put it under a basket. A church is not supposed to be sort of without a witness, hidden somewhere, afraid. No, you put it on a lampstand. The light must shine on the lampstand so that everybody can see the light. And the eye is the lamp of your body, and that refers to our conscience. And where people in the church walk with a clear conscience, setting their, keeping their conscience clear, confessing their sins immediately, as soon as they've fallen, etc., being cleansed in the blood of Christ, then your eye is clear, vision is clear, and the whole body is full of light. But where people are not sensitive to keep their conscience clear, then the body becomes full of darkness. And then he says, watch out that the light in you is not darkness. Watch out, see the warning, that you have a light now in your church. Make sure it doesn't become darkness. The light upon the lampstand, it was a warning. And if your whole body is full of light with no dark part in it, then imagine having a church like that, where there's not a single brother or sister, who is part of that church, who's got a bad conscience. That's the type of church we want to be. You know what it means to have a good conscience? That means as soon as you sin, or you fall, you're aware of failure, you immediately set it right with God and man. The light burns. If you delay in setting it right, then the light becomes darkness. It's like if a speck of dust goes into your eye. You know how we all feel. We feel, hey, I want to get rid of it immediately. I mean, if you're doing some very important work, you'd stop that, wash out your eye. Because if you keep on accumulating dust like that in your eye, you'll become blind. And that's why God has made the eyelids such they blink so many times a day, thousands of times, so that the eye is washed all the time. It's a picture of how our conscience should be. When the eye is to your body, the cleanest part of your body is your eye. It's being washed hundreds of times a day. The conscience must be like that. And that's what he says. That's the way a light burns. But what happens in a church where gradually even the leaders don't keep a good conscience? The leaders are not serious about sin? Gradually that light was once there becomes darkness. And then what does God want? God has always wanted a witness for him on the earth. It doesn't matter if it's big. It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't matter if it's small, I mean. But there must be a witness. And if you look through the Bible, you'll find that God is always looking for that. The first book written in the Bible is the book of Job. And that's written before Genesis because Job lived before Moses who wrote Genesis. So, what do we read in the book of Job? The primary, the first book that God wrote for man, he spoke about a witness he had on earth. It was not a large number of people. In fact, some of the preachers who came to preach to Job didn't even know God. They were the equivalent of the Pharisees. So, you see right from the very first book of the Bible, you see these two streams. One is this godly man who's got a godly home bringing up his children in a godly way and probably goes through a lot of suffering and misunderstanding, being attacked by Satan. It's all a picture of the type of person who's standing up for God even today. They raise godly families. They are misunderstood. Preachers criticize them. It's all in the book of Job. And Satan attacks them because Satan's against that strong powerful testimony for God whether it's an individual or a family or a church. So, if you find that yourself being attacked by Satan left, right and center, oh, that's a compliment. You should praise the Lord. And if you find Satan leaving you alone, brother, you better go and check up your life. If you find a church that Satan says, ah, leave that alone. They're not going to accomplish anything for God. He'd leave that alone. I don't want to be part of a church that Satan leaves alone. I want to be a part of a church that Satan attacks day and night but that overcomes Satan day and night. With the Word of God. Jesus overcame with God's Word. The way Satan seeks to silence a witness for Christ. Let me tell you. It's by silencing the proclamation of the whole counsel of God in that church. He dilutes it, dilutes it, dilutes it. You know, like a lot of milkmen in our country who sell milk which is so diluted, diluted, diluted. Finally, it's a little bit of milk added to water. And that's the condition of many churches. The dilution has become so much that there's very little of God's Word now. It's psychology and music and entertainment and teaching people how to make money and business principles and all that type of stuff. And, you know, seeking to be acceptable to the community. I couldn't care less whether the community accepts me or not. I want to make sure God accepts me. That is true Christianity. And when the focus shifts from God to how I can be blessed or how I can welcome people who are not serious about God but who want entertainment, gradually the church loses its witness. And we see that also in the very first two children born to Adam that is Cain and Abel that we read of in Genesis 4. The very first story outside the Garden of Eden. You see there the beginning of two streams in humanity that finally ends in the book of Revelation as Babylon and Jerusalem. The origin of Babylon and Jerusalem is way back there in Cain and Abel. I'm sure when Cain was a little baby he would have been just like Jesus said about little children. The closest to heaven on earth is a little baby. Cain was like that. He wasn't born a wicked criminal. No babies are born wicked. We're all born. The little baby is the closest thing to heaven on earth. But then we develop in different ways. Cain and Abel were born in the same home. They listened to the same truth about God whatever Adam and Eve told them. But yet they went in two different ways. And we see that. People hold the same Bible today and they go two different ways. People sit in the same church and they go in two different ways. That is their choice. God doesn't force Abel to go this way or force Cain to go the other way. It's their choice. But their choices determine their eternal future. And not only their eternal future even a lot of their life on earth. So we see these two streams and that applies to us today and then you'll know why another church. See, the main difference between Cain and Abel which I want you to notice unlike what most evangelical Christians have taught you know most evangelical Christians taught that Abel brought blood a lamb. And Cain brought grain. And you have to bring blood when you come before God. Now that is if you bring a sin offering in the Old Testament you have to bring blood. But in the book of Leviticus you read about thank offerings where they could bring grain. This was not a sin offering. Like you know when people brought their tithes in the Old Testament you know that the tithe was not money. They were not working in offices and factories. We've sort of got wrong concepts today that pastors have taught people tithe is money. It's not. They were farmers or people who looked after cattle and sheep. So that tithe was in terms of whatever was 10% of what they were blessed with. If it was grain they brought grain. If it was fruit it was fruit. And if it was cattle it was cattle. It depends on what your profession was. Your tithe was in terms of what God had blessed you with. And therefore Cain it says here in Abel was a keeper of the flocks verse 2 and Cain was a tiller of the ground. So naturally when they brought an offering to God they brought something from their own profession. That was perfectly right and God had no complaint about that. And that's why you know this wrong teaching that you find in Christendom like many other wrong teachings that God accepted Abel's offering and therefore he accepted Abel. It's almost as though the way Abel lived didn't matter. His offering was important. Now with that type of teaching what has happened today in Christendom you see the result of false teaching or false interpretation is that so long as you bring the blood of Christ it doesn't matter how you live. And that's how you have multitudes of Christians today who say they are born again cleansed by the blood of Christ and live worse than all unbelievers. They divorce their wives, divorce their husbands and think God has accepted them. They've got to be off their heads they've got to be crazy to think that you just bring the blood of Jesus and you're okay. That's come out of this type of teaching it's false teaching and that's because you don't read the word of God properly. Hebrews 11 says it was faith in his heart that made Abel accepted and faith means the total leaning of the human personality upon God in confidence in his wisdom and power and love. Total leaning not sort of just giving God a little bit and you see that you see the result of that type of faith which is mentioned in by faith Abel brought a better offering. How is it better? See here in Genesis 4 and if you read it carefully you see that verse 3 Cain brought an offering Abel brought the firstlings of his flock. These are two types of believers some who bring something to God and others who bring the best of their life to God. Some people who give a little bit of their time to God others who give the best of their time to God. Some people who give a little bit of their life to God others who give the best of their life. Now this is the difference it makes a tremendous difference and therefore it says it's very clear the Lord the last part of verse 4 first accepted Abel and then his offering which is the exact opposite of what many evangelical Christians teach. It's not because of his offering he was accepted his offering was accepted because he was accepted. Just like Jesus said you know when you bring your offering to God and you know you hurt somebody don't waste your time giving that offering Matthew 5 verse 23 leave your offering there God won't accept it. Go and settle matters with that person you become right then your offering will be accepted. So don't think that I can bring an offering to God and please him don't think God will be pleased with money that you put in the offering box it's what you bring in and it says for Cain verse 5 and his offering God had no regard it's Cain that God didn't accept therefore he didn't accept his offering whatever you bring to God depending on what you are, what your heart is if you treat God as worthy only of the dregs of your life well don't be surprised if God doesn't accept you you know if you had the governor of your state coming to your house for a cup of tea and you have only one cup of tea there and you drink most of it and then you give the dregs to your governor would anybody do that? you wouldn't even do that to a beggar do you know the number of so called Christians who do that to God they give the they use the best for themselves the dregs for God whether it's time, money look at the number of people who spend more hours watching television than reading the Bible it's my entertainment and my comfort and my interests that are first the cup of tea is almost fully drunk now God here's a little bit for you you know what God says try and do that to your governor and see if he'll accept it that's in Malachi now we went from the first book of the Old Testament to the last book of the Old Testament you see the condition is the same among God's people you see Malachi the Lord says let me read here from the Message Bible in verse 6, 7, 8 he says you priests despise me you say not so how do we despise you by your shoddy sloppy defiling worship what do you mean you say defiling what's defiling about it well the altar of God is not important anymore worship of God is no longer a priority and when you offer worthless animals for sacrifices in worship animals that you're trying to get rid of blind, sick crippled animals isn't that defiling try doing that to your governor or some senior official how far do you think you'll get he says try and offer that to your governor that means you know they knew that they had to offer sacrifices and the fellow would go to his flock he's gonna die any moment before he dies let me offer it as a sacrifice or that bullet that's blind and lame it's a bit of a nuisance to me in any case let me offer it as a sacrifice that's what I mean by giving the dregs to God you know we can train the best of our children to be great in the world and to make money and not train them to live for God and if you glory in the fact that your children have got good jobs make a lot of money more than that they are living wholeheartedly for God I mean you've got the same spirit you think something in the world is what's important God may bless them in that way but that's not the important thing are they living wholly for God that's the point whether what they earn whether it's much or little is secondary are they living for God that you come like Abel bringing the very best of your time your family your energy your life and everything always God is first like the Bible says in the beginning God and it's like that in your life in the beginning God then that will be the person in the church God accepts so what happens when a church declines from that that's the thing there's always these two streams there's a little group that comes out of this declining church that becomes the true church of God you see for example in just look at this matter of offering alone first of all you read in this is a stream if you watch it if you read through the Bible you see it going right through let me show you another example Mark chapter 12 now you see this it's very similar what you read here in verse Mark 12 42 to 44 like it's like Cain and Abel's story all over again in the New Testament this was now at the offering box in the temple and notice it says in verse 41 Jesus sat down opposite the offering box do you know that Jesus sits down opposite the offering box but the thing is he's not like many pastors who are seeing how much people are putting in he's not interested in that that's the difference he says he's seeing how people are putting in there's a lot of difference between how much and how it's a difference between the old covenant and the new covenant the old covenant the law was how much it's got to be 10% and if you include all the offerings it was nearly 20% but in the new covenant it's not percentage that's God's looking at God loves a cheerful giver are you giving secretly are you giving cheerfully are you giving sacrificially no percentage so it's not how much but how and here it says that Jesus was observing how people gave God in Genesis 4 was observing how Cain offered not how much but how how did Abel offer same thing here and it says a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins how much was that almost nothing then he called his disciples he said I want to show you something he says you count all the money in this offering box in God's eyes these two cents this widow put is more than all that money in the offering box put by rich people who counts like that God does it's not a question of how much it's a question of how it's a question of the widow gave God her best the Pharisees is like a millionaire who puts a thousand rupees thousand rupees in the offering box a lot of money but what's it for a millionaire a drop in the bucket but a human a person who doesn't view as God views and there are very few Christian leaders who know how to view as God views they will say oh a thousand rupees ah this poor widow just two cents see God's view of what we give is totally different I mean quantity wise Cain may have brought a huge pile of grain and Abel may have brought something quantity wise very small but it was the very best dear brother, sister it's not a question of how much you give it's a question of how that's the difference between Cain and Abel and you see that right through scripture where these two streams come and then you'll understand why there needs to be another church frequently these streams come throughout scripture there are many places let me just show you one of them the first king God anointed in Israel was Saul I want you to see something about his anointing he was really anointed you read in 1 Samuel and chapter 9 you read about the choice of Saul and the Lord God sent Samuel to meet him and you read about his selection in verse 19 onwards and he tells him you know that it's for you that the whole household of Israel is waiting and then he told him in chapter 10 that you know you're going to be filled with the spirit and when you're filled with the spirit you'll be changed into another man then we read at the end of chapter 10 we read that the prophecy in verse 6 it's a beautiful verse in the Samuel telling Saul the spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily because you're the chosen man of God the first king of Israel and you will be changed into another man this happens even today the spirit of God fills a person he's changed into another person even his temperament begins to gradually change to become more Christ-like his shyness disappears his laziness disappears his slipshod way of doing things disappears it may be part of his temperament before he was converted but when he's filled with the spirit he's changed into another man that quick tongue which hurts people slows down you change into another man you can't do it it's not self-improvement the spirit of the Lord will come upon you and change you into another man and that's the folly of Christians who try to change themselves without seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit and it's the folly of Christians who think the main purpose of the Holy Spirit's coming is to help them to speak in tongues or give them some gift the main purpose of the Holy Spirit is to change you into another man another woman totally he may give many gifts prophecy comes anything but the main thing is to change you into another man and it happened the spirit of God came upon Saul and changed him into another man and it says in verse 9 and it happened when he turned his back to lead some of them God changed his heart boy what a word what a man God changed his heart and then they decided to make him king in verse 20 Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel and he selected the tribe of Benjamin and they selected Saul but when they looked around for him verse 21 he could not be found I mean Samuel had told Saul hey listen you're selected you're anointed you're going to be changed into another man we're going to gather together there to select you as king please come and the guy is not to be found why where did he disappear you think somebody kidnapped him no he himself went and hid himself no no no I don't want to be king and it says the Lord said in verse 22 behold he's hiding himself behind the baggage he went and hid behind some suitcases and all so nobody would see him he didn't want to be king he not only was changed to another man he was a humble man when he started but he didn't end like that a picture of the way many Christians start many churches start with great humility with anointing power but it doesn't end like that it's another story by the time it ends and then God has to start another church God has to select another man so we see here then finally they got him from there and and notice one thing about him which is the thing I want you to notice verse 23 when he came and stood among the people he was taller than any of the people from his shoulder upwards you know if he stood in a crowd of a thousand people you see one head sticking out he was about nine inches taller than everybody else maybe he was seven foot and all the others were below six and there you'd look this huge crowd you see one head standing out that's all and I want you to notice this he was distinguished by his head it's the type of person in Christianity that backslides pretty soon in chapter 13 this clever Saul distinguished by his brain which stood out above everybody else's brain it says here that he told Saul said in verse 1 Samuel 13 and verse 9 bring me the burnt offering and the peace offering and he offered the burnt offering now that may look like a small thing to you but it was a principle in the Old Testament that if you are a king stick to being a king don't try to be a priest no king was allowed to be a priest no priest was allowed to be a king that's why nobody from the tribe of Levi ever could become a king in Israel it was just a law it's just like the boundaries we have you know all of us are given different ministries and you gotta stick to your ministry but the problem is that when God blesses a man tremendously in his own ministry he gets gradually he begins to get fucked up haven't you had that experience that he begins to think yeah now I can tread into other ministries oh brother be careful that's exactly what Saul did and they begin to judge other ministries God has not even called them to they begin to move into things God's never called them to they begin to expand into areas God never called them to go to and then what happens they lose the anointing it says here as soon as he finished the offering there was a reason why the the priest king was not allowed to be a priest because God wanted the first king priest to be Jesus Christ there was a foreshadowing of that in Melchizedek way back in the Old Testament there was a king and a priest but that was before the trial nation of Israel started and the law was given and that's why Jesus Christ is called a priest and that was after the order of Melchizedek not after the order of Levi because Levi could never be a king now little things like this Saul was a king he had no business to be a priest and he decided hey I'm God's blessing me in my king as a king the Philistines are being defeated so I suppose I can move into the ministry of priest as well God will make an exception he doesn't and as soon as he's finished the offering Samuel came and Saul went out to greet him and Samuel said what have you done what a stupid thing you did oh and Saul began to make excuses oh the people were scattering from me and you hadn't come in the appointed days and so I said now the Philistines will come down and I have not so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering to Saul what all excuses just like Adam making excuses for eating the fruit in the tree you see all the race of Adam is very clever at making excuses and you and I know how easy it is to make excuses for our sin to blame somebody else and to blame the people etc etc and Samuel said to Saul you have acted foolishly verse 13 1 Samuel 13 13 you have not kept the commandment of the Lord which he commanded you and now listen Saul God would have established your kingdom forever but he's not going to do it your brain got the better of you you thought you were a clever man you could do this you could do that you could criticize this person criticize no Christians today who criticize things which they which are outside their boundary I mean think of a bachelor criticizing the way a married couple have brought up their children that's an example the height of stupidity you can't criticize what and in an area where you haven't entered I'll tell you we've been we've worked in this church for more than 34 years now and like every church we have critics but let me tell you something the people who have criticized me the most through the years are the people who have never planted one church themselves it's like a bachelor who's never had one child he criticizes this family that family that's not the way to bring up your children that's not the way to bring up your children brother why don't you get married and bring up children and show people how to bring up children why don't you plant a church and show people how a good church should be instead of being the great maharaja the king sitting on a throne and criticizing this that and the other it's very dangerous your kingdom would have been established forever but your clever brain got in the way see it's people with clever brain who can analyze and criticize bachelors why that church that person those children not brought up properly and that person not brought up properly people with clever brains can criticize this church that church this church that's why we have often said it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness there may be darkness but brother instead of cursing your sister light a candle build a better family than that fellows and say this is the way it should be done build a better church than that one that brother has done and say this is the way it should be done not the way that's what the lord told me because I was foolish in my younger days and I would criticize this is not right and that's not right and the lord said hey why don't you do the right way and show people the way it should be done you say they are not speaking in tongues in the proper way in that church great you have a church where people speak in tongues properly according to scripture that's not the right type of healing ministry okay you pray for the sick and do it the right way I tell you our mouth will be shut pretty quickly I remember one brother once came and said brother we need to have more healing in the church I said go right ahead I'm not going to stop you from healing anyone then what do you say to that since the day of Adam he had this tendency to find fault my wife God he didn't need his wife it's clever people and so he says to him now God is going to take away the kingdom from you and verse 14 of 1 Samuel 13 he's going to give it to somebody who's a man not after his own head but after his own heart that was the difference between Saul and David Saul was a man of the head David is a man whose heart was right you can build a church with a clever head God won't accept it but if you're a man or a woman after God's own heart see a heart that you're concerned about that your heart should be in tune with God's heart then God can do a work for you so all your clever head now there's nothing wrong in having a clever head I think Paul had one of the cleverest brains in his time I think he would have been a success as a businessman as a software engineer or any field Paul went into he'd have been better than all of us but he decided to devote all of his brain to the kingdom of God there are very few people like that in history who had clever brains and decided to devote all of it to God's kingdom praise God for such people who say I don't want to use my brain to make money in the world I want to use my brain to build the church of God and lead people closer to Christ God uses those who are not very clever too like Peter there's no distinction between God but it's a wonder Peter gave all that he had and Paul gave all that he had but it's a wonderful thing you see Peter couldn't have made a lot of money in the world Paul could have but it's a wonderful thing when a man can make tremendous amount of money in the world and he advanced tremendously in the world in his profession and decided to give it all to God it's a testimony there I'm not saying you've got to leave your jobs no Paul continued to earn his living even after that he didn't want to be a burden to anybody financially so continue in your job but be devoted to the things of God that is you see the stream Cain and Abel and Saul and David and always the earthly comes first and the spiritual comes afterwards it's always like that like it says in 1 Corinthians 15 first the earthly then the spiritual and you see also another thing that Cain is always jealous of Abel and Saul is jealous of David Babylon is always jealous of Jerusalem they try to tear Jerusalem to pieces Cain killed Abel and Saul tried his best to kill David and the corrupt Babylonian church is always critical of the little Jerusalem church and would try to crush it and kill it it's a stream that goes through right through scripture why another Cain when Saul is there because he's not a man after God's own heart he started well but then he depended too much on his clever brain like many churches probably Cain started well too but after some time maybe he got propped up that he was the eldest son first son born into the world and all types of things first human being ever born into the world and it's me and you know little things can puff us up some way in which you excel over other people maybe you're prettier than others handsomer than others cleverer than others in a better position better something or the other and that goes to your head and God just puts you on the shelf now you can sit on the shelf and think that you're a great person and God's put you aside but God wants a witness He wants a witness that is Christ-like and a Christ-like witness is not proud of anything no matter how much God has gifted him Paul was I believe one of the humblest men that walked on the earth and when God saw in him a tendency to become proud God gave him a thorn and said hey Paul you gotta be humble I wanna give you a little help a little sickness just to keep you down how good God is so that Paul would not be fall away from what God wanted him to accomplish and you see that I saw you saw that stream also in the rich Pharisees and the poor widow you see it in Ishmael and Isaac the stream Ishmael produced by the strength of Abraham and Isaac produced when Abraham was impotent and helpless by the supernatural power of God when Sarah was barren one is the demonstration of human ability and the other is the demonstration of God's power one is where man is exalted and the other is where Christ is exalted I heard of a man who went to visit went to hear two preachers in a city both were very eloquent and gifted but he said there was a difference when I went to listen to one I came away saying boy what a wonderful preacher I went to listen to the other and I came away saying what a wonderful savior quite a difference one exalts man and the other exalts God one is Babylon and the other is Jerusalem and wherever God finds a movement moving towards this type of exaltation of man some people see this is going in the wrong direction and they pull out and you have another church that's why we have another church so it's something that that's happened throughout history and you know in the Old Testament there were two great movements of the people of Israel and most Christians know only about one of them but there were two great movements of God's people from one land to another the first is very well known the movement of Israel from Egypt to Canaan it's a picture of being redeemed from the slavery of Satan Pharaoh being a picture of Satan and Egypt being a picture of the world redeemed from the world going through the Red Sea is a picture of water baptism the cloud coming down from heaven upon them is a picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit there the purpose of the cloud was not to excite them but to lead them protect them from the sun in the day and give them light in the night this pirate night and finally to lead them to the land of victory over sin Canaan that's the whole purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit you see that in the Old Testament very beautiful just like the lamb was a picture of Christ the blood we protects us I mean cleanses us from sin and that's one movement which is fairly well known it's a personal movement it's an individual thing me trusting in the blood of Christ to save me me getting baptized it's not me getting baptized with others it's me getting baptized me coming out me getting baptized in the Holy Spirit and me being led and protected and finally led to a life of victory but there's another movement in the Old Testament which is not me alone it's me with other believers that's the movement of God's people from Babylon to Jerusalem about 600 years before Christ the tribe of Judah which comprised of just two tribes the other ten had already been God captured were captured by Babylon Nebuchadnezzar came and took them all these things are written in the Old Testament to teach us something they went to Babylon and the Lord said you're going to be there for 70 years and it's because they were backslidden that God punished them that way and at the end now one young man who went there when they were captured was Daniel and he was around maybe 17 or 18 and he lived through that entire 70 years of captivity and at the end of it he read in the book of Jeremiah whom he probably had met as a young man hey the 70 years are over now and he began to pray he didn't believe that if it is God's will it will automatically happen I'll tell you nothing happens automatically even God's promises have to be claimed in prayer so he began to fast and pray you read in Daniel chapter 9 and there with that one man who had a burden God's work always begins with one man who has a burden always it may ultimately become many people as in the days of Ezra many people started moving but it started with one man and it starts with prayer it starts with one man and God and saying God fulfill your promise even today Lord you said I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it Matthew 16 verse 18 and Lord I don't see that happening around me I see left and right Christian leaders falling away into sin I see corruption I see the love of money I see everywhere gates of hell are prevailing all over against Christendom but Lord fulfill your promise and one man begins to fast and pray Daniel fasted and prayed and thus started a movement I mean people don't even recognize it he was sitting in some corner God recognized it and God began it but gradually it developed into a large movement and not very large because 90% of people stayed in Babylon and said this is good enough for us this is comfortable who is going to go back to Jerusalem Jerusalem is all in ruins but there was a small remnant maybe 10% who you see the list of their names in Ezra have you ever wondered why God puts a big list of names in Ezra so many from this tribe exact number of people God takes a note of those who leave Babylon to go to Jerusalem who are willing to suffer inconvenience for the sake of being a pure testimony for him on earth that's the meaning of all those numbers don't think they are just a waste of time God is trying to tell us something I take a note of every person who left Babylon and the people that left Babylon and came to Jerusalem were called in the Old Testament a remnant a very interesting phrase you read in the book of Nehemiah chapter 1 Nehemiah chapter 1 when Nehemiah inquired about these people who had gone back to Jerusalem Nehemiah lived a little later than Daniel younger to Ezra and when he got the report of the Jews who had gone back to Jerusalem in verse 2 the report he got back was the remnant there are in great distress and reproach the wall of Jerusalem which is a picture of the church being separated from the world is broken down there is no separation they have gone back they have come out of these dead churches they have started a new church and there is a lot of distress and reproach people are laughing at them but their standards they haven't kept the standard of separation from the world the walls of Jerusalem speak of the church being separate from the world distinct in its testimony it is called the remnant this movement later on you read is you read the word remnant frequently in the book of Haggai and Zechariah who were the first two prophets by the way in the old testament who worked together you never see prophets working together in the old testament even though they lived at the same time they always operated individually Jeremiah was here and Habakkuk was there and Zephaniah was there you never see them working together but once they came back from Babylon it's two by two not all alone it's a picture of how in the new testament church there would be a body people working together and Haggai was a senior older brother and Zechariah we read was a young man you read that in chapter 2 and one of the wonderful things about Haggai is that though he was the senior older brother he said God's given me a prophecy just two chapters one and a half pages that's all brother Zechariah you're a young man half my age God's given you a long prophecy fourteen chapters go right ahead I want to encourage you this is the spirit in the new covenant church where there's no older Cain being jealous of a younger Abel no the older Haggai was glad to recognize that God had given him only a few words of prophecy and he gave that young Zechariah seven times more than what he had so go right ahead where you find that spirit with complete freedom from jealousy the spirit of Cain the spirit of Saul is absent it's the movement back into a new testament church so this is what we find even in the new testament when we come there if you turn to Acts of the Apostles chapter 20 I'm trying to show you how there's a stream running through the bible which you may not have noticed but you see a little bit of today the bible is an interesting book if you want a greater study an in-depth study of this movement from Babylon to Jerusalem in the old testament and its application for us today you just go to our website crcindia.com and then go to verse by verse bible studies there and you'll see 28 one hour messages on Daniel Ezra Nehemiah Haggai Zechariah Malachi that show you the whole movement verse by verse of God's movement from Babylon to Jerusalem it's got a lot of application for us today if you care to listen to it the bible is relevant one reason I did this through the bible cd was mainly you know to share with the new generation what God had taught me in 40 years in scripture and to show that you don't have to go to a bible school to know the bible because 99% of God's people can never go to a bible school they think therefore they can't know the bible I never went to a bible school that's the other thing and to also show younger generation of people who are bored reading the bible that the bible is not a boring book if you are whole hearted God will explain to you but if you're not whole hearted it's like putting a handkerchief over the bible and you say I can't understand it yeah you got to turn to the lord the holy spirit and he'll explain to you and to show that every book in the bible has got a relevant message for today so in Acts chapter 20 let me show you this we saw that in the church of Corinth there were divisions and it was necessary so that those who were approved would be made manifest here we read in Acts 20 in verse 17 that Paul he had already spent 3 years in Ephesus and he calls the elders in Ephesus together and says I want to share something with you I don't know how many elders were there let's say 4 or 5 elders so here is Paul sitting with 4 or 5 people and he tells them do you know that I spent 3 years preaching to you verse 31 for 3 years night and day I never stopped preaching to you with tears he was a compassionate man though he was very strong in his preaching he was a very compassionate man he loved the Lord and 3 years he preached day and night he preached day and night 3 years means more than 2000 sermons and he did it all free he never took a cent from that church he preached 2000 sermons have you heard of a preacher who preaches 2000 sermons and doesn't take any money for it we have a few in the world today but not many Paul was like that I have coveted no verse 33 I never wanted anyone's money where do you find preachers like this these are the people who built Jerusalem I never wanted not a wanted I never even desired anybody's money I was not hanging around waiting for somebody to put an envelope into my hand boy if we had more men like this there wouldn't be any Babylon Babylon is a commercial Christianity centered around money Jesus said there are only two masters money and God Jerusalem has got God and Babylon has got money I didn't desire anybody's money I didn't desire anybody coming and going to give me a new set of clothes you know that with these hands I worked and I supported myself and I wanted to live for God but I know what's going to happen after I leave 3 years verse 29 after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock all these wolves were hanging at the door hanging around at the door try to get in and fall was so strict and such a strict doorkeeper not one wolf could get into that church in three years no worldliness no wrong spirit strict against sin but those wolves said yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word that gives us tremendous light. There's so much in it which we have missed because we read it so carelessly, shabbily, dishonoring you. But Lord, we pray that many here will take your Word more seriously in the days to come and seek to be part of that pure testimony for you in these last days. We humbly ask in Jesus' name, Amen.