This sermon emphasizes the importance of following the New Testament pattern of church planting and leadership, focusing on building churches based on the principles seen in the Acts of the Apostles. It highlights the need for humility, obedience to God's Word, and a willingness to follow the example set by the Apostle Paul in establishing churches. The speaker addresses the deception and challenges faced in maintaining true biblical practices amidst modern trends and deviations from the New Testament model.

We've been considering in these days what God has taught us. One of the things we've learned through the years is that the church is like a three-story building. First of all, the foundation, and then first story, second story, third story. The foundation of the church is God's perfect love for us manifested in Christ. Jesus told his disciples in John 17 and verse 23, the Father loved you as he loved me. This was the truth that revolutionized my life. I'd never heard it anywhere else, but it brought such security into my life because I was a very insecure young man before becoming a Christian, and even after becoming a Christian, very timid, shy, reserved, withdrawn, inward-looking, and insecure, I always felt God was angry with me or frowning at me because I was always, and if I did some little slip up, he was angry with me. It was such a revolutionary thought to hear that the Father loved me, John 17, 23, as much as he loved Jesus. There are many verses in the Bible that teach us that God loves us, but as far as I know, this is the only one that tells us how much he loved us, as much as he loved Jesus. God never, the Father, never looked at Jesus with a frown. His attitude to Jesus was always, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Not only at his baptism, but all through his life. So it's very important to get this foundation right because many of you, I feel, you're insecure, and when you're insecure, you are jealous of other people, you compete with other people, you want to imitate someone who's got a better gift than you, you want to preach like somebody else, and you want to have a ministry that somebody else, all this is because of insecurity. When you're secure in your Heavenly Father, let me tell you this, you will never be in competition with another human being. You'll rejoice when somebody has got a gift ten times better than yours, and you'll never want to be like him. You'll be perfectly secure if somebody married the person you wanted to marry, it's fine, you say, well God's got somebody else for me. All these problems that a lot of Christians have disappear when you find security in the fact that God loves you, as he loved Jesus Christ. But it's only if you commit yourself completely to him that you can experience that. Because Jesus didn't look at the world, all the multitude and say, do you know God loves you as he loved Jesus? And I can't say that to everybody sitting here, because Jesus never said it to everybody sitting here, he told it to his eleven disciples who had forsaken everything to follow him. I don't mean you've got to be full-time workers, but that you have no idols in your life, that Christ is everything to you. Then this verse is for you. Paul was not a full-time worker, he was a tent maker. He earned his own living most of the time. But he could rejoice in the fact that the Father loved him as he loved Jesus. And I believe this is the whole, this is the secret of a stable Christian life. It must begin there. And then you have the first story, which is a personal walk with God, that is always living with a clear conscience, always, always, always. Paul said in Acts 24 and verse 16, here's another great verse that we've often thought about, things that God has taught us. Very important to know this. What God has taught us. God has taught us to always, Acts 24, 16, to always, always means 24 hours a day, seven days a week, have a blameless conscience before God and before men. What does that mean? It's not perfect. It means if you're in kindergarten, you get 100% in kindergarten subjects. Next year, you go to first standard, you get 100% in first standard subjects. Five years later, you're in sixth standard, much higher standard, you're getting 100% in sixth standard subjects. At each level, your conscience is blameless, but the sixth standard conscience is much more sensitive than the kindergarten conscience. But even if you're converted yesterday, you can have a blameless conscience at your level. But you should not be in that level forever, just like you don't want your children to be in kindergarten forever. So a blameless conscience, when Paul says it, it's different from somebody here saying it, because Paul was at a postgraduate level of the Christian life, and you may be in standard one. But you can have a blameless conscience wherever you are. We must always progress with a blameless conscience. That means as far as you know, God does not hold you responsible for areas of your life that you don't know. There is conscious sin and unconscious sin in our life. James chapter 4 says in the last verse, to him that knows to do good, knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, it is sin. It's a very liberating verse. If you know that something is right, James 4, 17, and you don't do it, then it is sin. But there could be a whole lot of areas which you don't know is right, because you haven't grown to that level, and you don't have to worry about it. Someone who's at a much higher level understands the Lord better. See, this is a very important thing in husband-wife relationships, which is the second story, I'll come to that in a minute, that you must look at your marriage partner, husband or wife, or another brother in the church, as not necessarily in the same standard as you. So don't look down on him if there is something he does which you would never do. It's like, for example, I asked this question, if a 10th standard student who is studying complicated mathematical subjects like calculus, or higher algebra, or something like that, if he looks down at a 1st standard student and says, hey, you don't know algebra? Who is the fool? Tell me. He's the 10th standard student, he's the fool, asking a 1st standard student, why don't you know algebra? So when you look down on someone, another believer, and apply it to your life, and you say, hey, you don't see this as sin, which I see, you're the fool. Because he may not be, or she may not be at your level. So to him who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, then it is sin. But what if you as a husband know a certain thing is, this is how God wants me to live, but your wife has not yet come to that level. I'm absolutely convinced that a person can do something wrong, and it's not a sin for him, because he hasn't got light on it yet. But for you it is sin. I know certain things are sin for me, because I've understood the Lord at a certain level, but I look at another person doing exactly, completely wrong, and I would not judge him. That's the main way to stop judging other people. Many people say, how can I stop judging others? Well, I'll tell you. Recognize that every believer is at a different level. They're not at your level. It's wrong for you, but it may not be wrong for him, because he does not yet know that is the right thing to do. So to him who knows what is the right thing to do, and does not do it, that is sin. So please remember this. So a blameless conscience means at your level. So that is the first story on the foundation of God's love, we build a story where we have a blameless conscience. So come back to Acts 24. You see something here which many Christians, you probably never have heard this preached anywhere else. I never heard it in any other church. The things God has taught us, here is one of them. Paul says to this governor, Felix, who he was standing before as a judge, Paul was like a criminal. And he said, I want to tell you something, Paul says in verse 14, Acts 24, 14. These people who accuse me say that I belong to a cult. There are many people around us who have accused us of that. A sect means a cult. He said, they accuse me of that. That's okay. I'm not bothered. But I'll tell you what this so-called cult that I belong to teaches. It teaches us to serve God, verse 14, to believe everything written in the word of God, everything. We don't leave out certain sections saying it is not for us. Is this a cult that believes everything written in God's word and serves God? And we have a hope, verse 15, that one day there'll be two resurrections, the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked. Now this is the important thing. How do you ensure that you will be in the resurrection of the righteous? Almost every Christian will say, I accepted Jesus Christ some years ago, I'm going to be in the resurrection of the righteous. That is not what Paul said. I know that is what numerous churches and Christians teach. I don't know where they get it from. But here's what the apostle Paul, who had revelation from heaven, said, there will be a resurrection of the righteous and of the wicked, and I don't want to be in the resurrection of the wicked. I want to be in the resurrection of the righteous. In view of this, how do I get into the resurrection of the righteous? Verse 16, I do my best to keep my conscience always blameless before God and before men. If it was a secret sin in my thought against God, I immediately confess it and get it right. If it was a sin, I hurt somebody else, your marriage partner or someone else, I immediately confess it to that person, ask forgiveness, get it right. Why do I do that? Verse 15 and 16, because I want to be in the resurrection of the righteous. Hey, but didn't you settle that many years ago when you accepted Christ as your Savior? That was the beginning. But if I don't keep my conscience clear today, you're fooling yourself if you think you're going to be in the resurrection of the righteous according to Acts 24, 15 and 16. It is because this is not taught. There are so many so-called born-again Christians, including many sitting here perhaps, who take sin lightly. You take sin lightly and you say, of course, I'll be in the resurrection of the righteous. I don't want you to blame me in the day when the righteous are resurrected and you're not there. I don't want you to blame me that I taught you something wrong. I'm going to teach you the truth today that if you want to be in the resurrection of the righteous, keep your conscience blameless. Not perfect. I told you if you're in first standard, first standard level, that's enough. You'll be in the resurrection of the righteous. But don't live there forever. You've got to progress, move on. And you will not move on unless you live according to the light you have. The Bible says in Psalm 119, verse 105, Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. You all know that verse. Think of a flashlight, a torch. If you have a torch or a flashlight, you can see only a certain distance in front of you. And God's word is like that. God's word is not like the sunlight that lightens up the whole path and I just keep walking. No. A lamp unto my feet. That means it's like a flashlight, I see a certain distance. If I want to see some more, what do I have to do? I have to walk in this light that God has already given me. And when I walk in the light, the flashlight moves forward, I see some more. And I walk in that light, I see some more. Isn't that how you walk with a flashlight or a torch? You can only see a certain distance. So that's all God wants you to walk in, in that light. Forget about all the miles ahead. Paul said, this distance that you see, keep your conscience clear, you'll be in the resurrection of the righteous, even if you were converted yesterday. But people who were converted long ago and sit back and say, oh yeah, I accepted the Lord and look at the way you live today with sin, it's because you don't see this seriously. Paul said, in view of this resurrection of the righteous, I keep my conscience blameless toward God and toward men. And why is it you find, some of you find it difficult to go and ask forgiveness from some human being? You say you've confessed it to God, but God is a million times holier than this human being. And you can confess to a holy God and you can't confess to a sinful human being. That teaches one thing, you're not really confessing to God. You are confessing to yourself, thinking you're confessing to God. Because if you confess a sin to a holy God, you can definitely confess a sin to a human being who is one millionth of God's holiness. So many times we are deceiving ourselves when we say we are confessing to the Lord. We say we are praying to God, but we are not praying to God. Let me give you an example of that from Luke chapter 17. Luke 18, read this verse, you've read it many times and probably you've not noticed it. Luke 18, we read it of a Pharisee. The Pharisee prayed to God. But it says here in Luke 18 verse 11, the Pharisee stood and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. To whom was he praying? What does your Bible say? You read it? He was praying to himself. He was not praying to God. Jesus said he was praying to himself. God, I thank you. Do you know that a lot of so-called Christian prayers are not prayed to God. Most public prayers, where in a meeting a person gets up and says, Oh God, our Father, and pray something, he's not praying to God at all. He's praying for all the congregation to hear. And he's more conscious of the people in the congregation than he's of God. Because that's not the way he prays in private when he's kneeling by his bedside. No, no, no, no, no. Kneeling by his bedside, he's not trying to pray with impressive words. In public, he wants to pray with all these fantastic words, because people are there. So whom is he praying to? He's praying to the people. How do I know? Because that's how I started praying myself. When I started praying in public, first of all, it was always to the people. I was 22 years old. I was in assembly, 23 years old, and everybody would pray, and I'd also pray. And I'd go home and say, Lord, I didn't pray that to you. I prayed it to the people. Lord, I want to do it better next time. Next time I'd pray, again, it was to the people. For years and years and years, I would go back to God and confess, Lord, I'm sorry, I did not pray to you, I prayed to the people. And because God saw I was honest and I desperately wanted to be free from this, one day I became free. That now when I pray in public, I pray to God. Some of you, after many, many years of praying in public, you're still praying to the people. You know why? Because after that, you don't go home and judge yourself and confess to God that you prayed to the people. And I tell you, you're doomed to pray to people all your life, because you're not honest. God loves honest people. Start this practice from today onwards. Whenever you pray in public and you pray to the people, go home and confess it to God. Lord, I'm sorry, I didn't pray to you, I prayed to the people. And you do that often again and again and again, one day you will pray to God, even in public. It's a great liberation. It's been a great liberation for me. The same with singing. I used to sing songs, sing songs, because I know the tune, I know the words, I'd sing and not even mean it. And in some places, we have song books, and I used to, they would announce a certain sing and song, and I would sing it, sing it, sing it. And afterwards, I realized, hey, I didn't even think about what I was singing, because I know the words so well and I know the tune so well. And then by the time they announced the next song, you know what I would do? I'd say, Lord, I'm sorry, that last song we sang, I didn't really sing it to you. So I'd go back while the other people are singing the next song, I'd go to the previous song and not sing it, but I'd go through the words and say, Lord, I want to mean every sentence that I emptily sang to you five minutes ago. And I'd go through the whole thing while they're singing the next song. And by the time they finish the one song, I'm just still trying to finish the previous one. That is how seriously I took meaning what I say to God. I find most people are not like that. They like the tune and they swing their hips and this, that, and the other, and they clap and raise their hands and all that, but they don't mean what they're saying. And so it doesn't mean much to them. See, and as I began to be more honest with myself and took songs seriously, the Lord showed me another thing, things that God taught us. I saw in Revelation chapter 5 that they sing in heaven. And do you know what they sing in heaven? That Jesus shed his blood for us and was killed. Revelation 5, 9, the middle, you were slain and with your blood you purchased from every tribe and tongue. That is 2,000 year old song. But it says here in verse 9, it was a new song. How can a 2,000 year old song be a new song? You know, that's when I started reading the Bible carefully. I'm sure you read that hundreds of times. You probably didn't even notice it. But I decided to meditate. And so when I meditate, something happens. I begin to think about it. How can a 2,000 year old song be a new song? You mean these people are hearing for the first time that Jesus died for their sins? No. Then I understood as I meditated on it, it means, it's like a fresh song as if I'm hearing it for the first time. Jesus died for me. I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unto me. And I said, Lord, I prayed a little prayer when I got light on that. I said, please help me, Lord. That for the rest of my life, and even when I get to heaven, that I will never sing about your blood or your death for me as if I knew it long ago. I want to sing it as a new song, as a fresh song. Every single time I sing it, it must be new to me. That's why sometimes when I sing about the cross, tears come in my eyes even now. Because it's as if I'm hearing for the first time. Jesus died for me. And that's why I've been forgiven. He was slain. He was forsaken by the Father so that I might never be forsaken by the Father. It's a new song. And I want it to always be a new song in my life. It doesn't matter if I don't sing the right tune, but it must be the new song for me. Every time I hear that song or I wonder how he could love a sinner condemned unclean like me, I want to recommend to you, my brothers and sisters, take the songs you sing and the prayers you pray seriously, the words of it. It doesn't matter if you have to sometimes even now when the words are on the screen and people have gone to the second verse and I'm still on the first verse. I don't sing the second verse because I don't want to disrupt the singing. Because I'm on the first verse still. I'm still thinking about how he could love a sinner condemned unclean like me. I'm not saying do it artificially. All I'm saying is try to mean every sentence and see if it is scriptural. That's why I can't sing certain songs. There's a song very popular in many Christians circles called Guide me O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land. You've heard me speak about this many times. I never call God Jehovah. That's what the Israelites called him. So when other people are singing Guide me O thou great Jehovah, well-known song in Christian circles, I say guide me O my heavenly father because he's my dad. But people come to me and say isn't his name Jehovah? Yes. But if one of my sons come to me and says Mr. Poonen I want to talk to you, I'd say what's wrong with you? Are you angry with me or something? Isn't your name Mr. Poonen? Yes my name is Mr. Poonen. But you don't call me that, you call me dad. So when you say guide me O thou great Jehovah, that's what God will say. What? Are you angry with me? You're calling me Jehovah? Are you a Jew? Are you an Israelite? Very few Christians know God as father. I'm absolutely convinced about it. And they sing all these things empty. It's a ritual. I was once, many years ago, in one part of northern Karnataka, many years ago, before CFC days, and I went there for some Christian work. And there were a number of so-called non-Christians who were converted by the missionaries and it was all shallow conversions. And you know all that they did was, their songs, their old songs was to Krishna and they changed it to Krista and sing the same songs. It was just one syllable that was changed and they became Christians. Shallow, empty, hollow, but I don't judge them. I've seen much more educated Christians who say they are born again who sing in exactly the same way. Meaningless. No fear of God. So, keep your conscience clear. Always mean what you say to God. That's what we've learned. And from there you build a second story which is your family life. If you're married, your life with your wife and children, that's on top of your personal walk with God. If you have a family, church comes later on, family, how you live with your wife, how you bring up your children, very, very important. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 3, that if a man does not know, verse 5, how to manage his own family, how can he be an elder in the church? It says there, 1 Timothy 3, 5, that the qualification for running a church is first you run your family. Church is third story. Second story is your family. Live in a proper way with your wife. Bring up your children in a godly way. Then you can qualify for leadership in the church. It's not just Bible knowledge. But there are so many people today, nowadays, who even divorce their wife and their pastors. I'm sorry to see Christians have lowered the standards of divorce all over the world. Pastors are accepting it and they're marrying divorced people. Our stand in the church is very clear. We never permit divorce. I will never conduct the marriage of a divorced person. I haven't done it and I'll never do it till Jesus comes. Because Jesus said divorce is adultery. So we can never sanction it. And among the members of our churches in 42 years, we've never had a divorce till today. And I hope we'll never have one. If a person divorces, it's like committing adultery. I say, brother, you should leave the church. You shouldn't be here. There are many, many churches that will accept you, even conduct your go-go there. But you can't stay in this church and divorce your wife. I'm sorry. So, I'm just giving you an example how standards are so lowered around the world. And it's spreading. I remember a time in India, even 42 years ago when we started, divorce was almost unheard of among Christians in India. But now it has become so common. For any rhyme or reason, they say, I divorce my wife and I suspect something, or this, that, and the other. How in the world can you do that? The only reason said, you've got to prove that your husband or your wife committed adultery with someone. And then you are permitted, even then you can forgive that person. The best is to forgive and continue to retain the marriage. But other ways, you are permitted to divorce but you must not marry again. He who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. It is so clear. People ask me, what is my position? I say, my position is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 5 and Matthew 19. I don't care who teaches something else. That is the position of the church and we will never change from that. You modify one thing in God's word and this is what's happening. You know, something happens to somebody's brother or some loved one and then they say, okay, okay, we've got to modify it. That is how the standards in the church go down in many parts of the world. I'll tell you, this is what happens in the matter of dowry. We've taken a strong stand on dowry in the matter of marriage that we will never allow dowry in this church. When I conduct a marriage, I get a certificate from the bride and bridegroom that we have not exchanged any dowry in this matter. We removed an elder from one of our churches because he gave dowry for his daughter. Yes, we take a stand. I say, we don't want it. We'd rather close down a church without an elder than have disobey God's word. Where are the churches that maintain these standards? We say, no, no, no, we have to preserve the church, etc. But lower the standards, that won't be a church anymore. That will be a club. If you lower God's standards, it will not be a church of Jesus Christ anymore. It will be a little club which you have modified the standards of God's word. And I tell you throughout the years, this has been the greatest battle in Christendom. That there are very, very few people who will say, we are going to maintain God's standards even if everybody leaves this church. I remember when we started. Our message was so unpopular that the Lord asked me, what if everybody leaves you and only you and your wife stick together? I say, fine. I don't care. I'm not going to lower my standards because it is not a theory to me. It has worked in my life. How can I give it up? Family life is very, very important. Some people have asked me, Brother Zach, why is it you don't invite other people to come and speak in your church, in your conferences? I'll tell you. I'm glad to invite anybody to come, but I look for certain conditions. I said, number one, I want to see if this man is a humble, approachable man. One whom you can easily go and talk to. Not one who is very distant from you, like some preachers nowadays. As soon as they finish preaching, they disappear. Nobody can talk to them. No, no, no. I'm not saying that a preacher has time to speak to 1,000 people. He may not have. I don't have time either. But he's approachable. That's the point. That means when he's free, he's approachable. He's humble. He's not exalting himself. He doesn't present himself to you as someone so superior to you, but at your level. That's the first thing I see. Whom shall I invite to speak in this pulpit? Number one, is he a humble person? Secondly, I want to see that this guy has absolutely zero interest in making money in Christian work. Is he coming to the church to get an offering? Is he a person who's trying to make money out of his preaching gift? I don't want him. Not in this pulpit. There are hundreds of churches that will accept you, but don't come here. We will not give you an offering, and we're not interested in that, and if I suspect that in you, you won't come anywhere here at all. So the number decreases when you find people who are humble and approachable, and who are not interested in money at all. Suddenly the number has become decreased. And then the third thing I look for is, how has he brought up his children? We read here. If he can't bring up his children, he can't teach the church anything. What will he teach? Some Greek or Hebrew from the Scripture? I'm not interested in that. How has he brought up his children? So I want to see a man who has brought up his children well, because our children know us better than anybody else. Other people see us 5% of the time in the church meeting. Children see us 100% of the time. They know many things about you which other people don't know. And if your children are not following the Lord, they saw that you are a hypocrite at home. So I say, I want to see what type of way I'm not saying your children should be preachers. No. That's a matter of gift. But they must be following the Lord. And if they're not following the Lord, if they're not interested in the message of discipleship that you preach, then I don't want to judge you, but I don't want to have you in my pulpit. Sorry. And then number four, I want to see what some of his closest co-workers are like. That he's not just a one-man show. But I'm not saying that his closest co-workers preach like him. Preaching is a gift. I don't look for gift. I look for life. That if I look at Timothy, Timothy may not be able to preach like Paul, that's okay. But I see in Timothy the life that Paul had. So when I look at a close co-worker of a brother, I can see what life he lived. But if he's got no co-worker like that, then I say, this guy's a hypocrite. I don't want him. So I want to see what his close co-workers are like. So, close, not all. Because Paul had some demases who loved money and went away on the fringe. Then the fifth thing I look for is has he planted a church somewhere? Which is like a family. Can you show me a church that he's planted somewhere where they seek to build like a family? When I see these five things in anybody, I'll be glad to invite them to a church. Show me where they are. Show me some man like that, I'll invite him here. I say, that is the reason why I find it so difficult to get someone to preach in our pulpit or in our conferences. Just because somebody's a famous preacher, I'm not interested. There's so many famous preachers who don't fulfill some of these conditions. But I look for all five. So the family is very important. And then finally, on top of that, we build a church as the family of God. So, this is first the conscience and then your own personal family and then your ministry in the church. That's why we have taught in this church your family must come as more important than your ministry in the church. Don't sacrifice your family to do ministry in the church. Because you'll lose your family. And ultimately you'll lose your ministry in the church as well. I'm not saying that we don't have to deny ourselves. If you don't deny yourself, then of course you'll never serve the Lord. Sometimes we have to deny certain things in our family. But family is more important than the church. Matthew's Gospel chapter 7. I just want to show you something at the beginning and the end of the Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told a parable of a man who built a house. And that house can be a picture of your personal life. It can be a picture of your family. And it's a picture of the church. That house is built a picture of all three. Your personal life is like a house. Your family is like a house. And your church is like a house. And there were two options. There was one man who decided I'm going to listen to everything, understand everything, maybe even preach everything, but not obey everything. The other man, he may not have been able to explain. He was not a great preacher. But he obeyed everything. That was the big difference between the two. Don't be impressed by somebody who can explain doctrine. The foolish man who built his house on sand was, verse 26 of Matthew 7, he heard these things. Maybe he understood them. Maybe he was excited about them. The only thing, he didn't do them. These words of mine, verse 26. What do these words of mine refer to? Matthew 5, 6 and 7. The Sermon on the Mount. Those who listen to these words in the Sermon on the Mount and do them are building on rock. Those who hear these words of mine and take notes and don't do them, they're building on sand. So I say, Lord, I want my personal life to be built on the rock. And the Lord said obey everything in the Sermon on the Mount. Lord, I want my family to be built on the rock. Obey everything in the Sermon on the Mount. Lord, I want my church to be built on the rock. Then teach them the Sermon on the Mount. Because that's what he said. If you hear these words and do them, this house will be built on the rock. So in the early days, we began to teach the Sermon on the Mount for many many weeks. First of all we taught the conditions of discipleship. Love Jesus more than your parents, more than your self-life, and more than material things. That is Luke 14, 26-33. That also is not preached in many places. But having preached that and water baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, then we came to building personal life, family life, church life, on the rock. So we decided we have to teach the Sermon on the Mount. So we began with the Sermon on the Mount and the first sentence Blessed are the poor in spirit for the whole kingdom of heaven is theirs. I said wow! It's like a master key. If you think of the kingdom of heaven like a huge palace with many many rooms locked with many many treasures. Here is one master key that will open every door in the kingdom of heaven. He said the whole kingdom of heaven, all the thousand rooms are yours if you have this master key. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? We tried to understand it. We didn't want to rush through it and go to the next verse. So you know in India it's very easy to compare poor in spirit with poor financially. We have, we see in India what many countries they don't see. A lot of beggars sitting on the streets. Beggars coming to the door, to your gate. So we've had numerous cases of beggars coming to the gate, lepers coming to the gate and they always ask for give me something. Give me some old clothes or give me some money or give me some food. And they are not at all ashamed to acknowledge their need. They are beggars. Now with many of us it's a shame to go and beg. You will not go to somebody's gate and knock and say please give me some money, please give me some money. It's a pretty humiliating thing to beg. We may borrow. Borrowing is a dignified thing. But begging? Please give me something. I won't be able to return it. I'm not borrowing. I'm asking you to just give me. I'm begging. It's pretty humiliating. And these beggars come and you give them something and they go away. And they come back tomorrow and I say hey, where's that ten rupees I gave you yesterday? Oh sir, that's finished yesterday. I'm in need again. He's not ashamed. There I learned what poverty in spirit is. You know I've learned many things from beggars, from children, from servants. I'll tell you that later. The things I've learned from children and from servants. But right now what I've learned from beggars. Humble yourself to learn something. I learned from beggars the sense of need. Never ashamed to come again. And next day to come again. What happened to the ten rupees I gave you yesterday and day before also? Sir, that's over. Can you give me something more? And I realized this is what it means to be poor in spirit. To come to God always aware of my need and not ashamed to acknowledge it. Poor in spirit. I mean by God's grace we are not poor financially. I don't think anybody here is poor financially. If you can afford to come for this conference, you're not poor financially. But are you poor in spirit? You know what the Lord says in Proverbs? Please turn to this verse in Proverbs. It says here about coming to God with a sense of need all the time. Always aware of your need. Blessed is the person who comes to me constantly aware of his need and waits before me every day. See in Proverbs chapter 4, I want you to turn there. My son, verse 20, give attention to my words and don't let them depart from your sight. Keep them in the midst of your life. Watch over your heart. Watch the path of your feet. Always come to the Lord and look for him to give you something. Every single moment. This is what it means to be poor in spirit. To say, Lord, are you going to give me something? I want to hear from you all the time. There are many verses like this in Proverbs. It speaks about wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8. The greatest need we have is for wisdom. And if I want wisdom, I must come to God. Proverbs 8 is all about wisdom. How do I get it? Verse 34. Come to the gates. This is the beggar. Proverbs 8, 34. Watching daily. Think of the beggar again. At my gates, what do I want? Not 10 rupees. I want wisdom. It says in chapter 8, verse 9, wisdom. The whole chapter is about wisdom. And I'm coming to God saying, Lord, I need wisdom. Knowledge, I have plenty. You know the difference between wisdom and knowledge? Knowledge is just facts of the Bible. Wisdom is how to apply that in life's situations. Lord, I've got enough knowledge. What I'm begging for is wisdom. In this complicated situation, what do I do? When you have a conflict at home or your wife is in a bad mood or you have a husband who's not converted, what do you need? You don't need Bible knowledge. Oh, you've got plenty of it. What you need is wisdom. Or you have a rebellious child. You don't need Bible knowledge. You need wisdom. Come before the Lord watching daily. Proverbs 8, 34. At my gates, waiting at my door posts. Think of the beggar. For he who finds me, finds life. So that is what I learned. Poor in spirit means to watch daily at the Lord's gates and ask for wisdom. As we read in Proverbs 4, to watch the paths of my feet, etc. I want wisdom, wisdom, wisdom. And if I live with this attitude, every door in the kingdom of heaven is open to me. And I'll tell you this. I can tell you from practical experience in my life over the past many years, I have become a very rich person spiritually. I don't mean just with Revelation and God's Word, but rich with the life of God that has delivered me from the life of Adam in many areas. The wealth of the kingdom of heaven is replacing the life of Adam in different areas of my life with the life of Christ. That's wisdom. And the master key, always aware of your need. Never, never to justify yourself. Never means never. I decide my life. Jesus said to the Pharisees, Luke 16, 15, you are those who justify yourself before men. I say, Lord, I never want to be a Pharisee in my life. I never want to justify myself before men. I want to judge myself. 1 Peter 4 16, judge myself every day, because I see need in my life. I have not yet become like Christ. There is one more layer of that onion to be peeled off. One more layer of self, one more layer of selfishness, one more layer of pride, because I want that onion to come to zero. When the onions of selfishness and pride come to zero, you'll become like Christ. God is peeling it off, and God brings me, I thank God for difficult situations I face with other people, because I discover one more layer of this onion of selfishness or pride in me that that person shows me, which I can peel off. Don't get upset with people who irritate you. I use an illustration sometimes. Supposing somebody came to your house and was very angry and threw down one cupboard of yours, which is beside a wall in his anger. But as a result of that, one snake that was hiding underneath got revealed, which could have bitten your children and killed them. Would you thank that man for pushing that cupboard down? Or would you get angry with him? I say, well, thank you so much. Because you pushed that cupboard down, I saw the snake which is living underneath that. And I'm applying that to your life. When somebody does something to you that really hurts you, and it provokes something, and you discover a snake that was living inside you, a cobra of selfishness or pride that comes up, thank God for that person who exposed that cobra inside you, because you can kill it. I'm thankful for the way in which other people have provoked me, because I discovered something in myself that I can get rid of. My enemies have come and helped me to find cobras in my life, which my friends don't. My friends are also kind to me, say nice things to me, and the cobras remain hidden. And some person who is my enemy or someone who is angry with me comes and stirs up something and says, oh, I discovered something which I can kill. I'm not going to let it ruin me. That's why I thank God for my enemies. I thank God. How would I ever progress in the Christian life if I didn't have enemies? How would I progress in my Christian life if I don't have people who curse me? How would I progress in my Christian life if I don't have people who despitefully use me and persecute me and trouble me in different ways? These are the things Jesus said. Bless those who curse you, because they are doing something good for you. Love your enemies and do good to them. There's a world of help that we get from, because everything works for my good. I'm such a blessed man that everything works for my good. This is the Christian life. That is the first sentence in the Sermon on the Mount. Be poor in spirit. Not just for the beginning, because I've got a whole multitude of rooms in the palace that I want to possess. And the master key is poverty in spirit, that if I live to the age of a hundred, I want to be poor in spirit when I'm a hundred years old. And also to recognize poverty of spirit is also to recognize that I'm only one member of the body of Christ. There are others around me from whom I can learn. Turn with me to Ephesians in chapter 3. You see, we're trying to build on the rock. Remember, if you listen to all this and you don't do it, you'll build on the sand. If you listen to what I'm saying and do it every day, you can build on the rock. See what it says in Ephesians in chapter 3. It's a great verse. Many times comes to my mind. Ephesians 3, it says, Paul says, my prayer is I bow my knee, verse 14. Paul is bowing his knees for the Ephesian Christians and saying, I pray that God will grant you the riches of his glory to be strengthened with the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, verse 16, the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts. It's one translation. It says that Christ may feel at home in your heart. I like that translation. That Christ may feel at home in your heart. I don't want Jesus to just live in my home. I want him to feel at home in my home. You know the difference between you visit somebody's house and you feel at home there and you visit somebody else's home, they're always looking at the watch and you know it's time to get up and go. Some places you feel at home and some places you're there you don't feel at home. I mean they don't make you feel welcome. You can say Jesus is living in your heart. I want to ask you, does he feel at home in your home? Are there things in your life which make him feel a little uncomfortable and I have to go away? I remember years ago reading a poem which said supposing Jesus came to spend a few days with you and you hear a knock at the door and you see Jesus is there physically and he says I want to come and spend a few days with you. What do you say? Of course Lord please come and you'll make your best room available. Even your own bedroom you'll vacate it and say Lord please stay here. But do you think some things will change in your home that day? Will you be very gentle in the way you speak to your wife that day and will you always be saying please and thank you and all those things to your wife which you never say otherwise or to your husband? Because Jesus is listening and in everything you're very upright and if Jesus is watching when you're writing your finances account and all you're very accurate and everything and you won't turn on the television for those few days Jesus is there and everything you're acting very spiritual and after two three days Jesus will say okay I'm going and when he goes what do you say? Now I can relax and live like I've always lived. If that is true you're fooling yourself that Jesus is with you. You're fooling yourself that Jesus lives in your home. He does not. Not only that, you don't want him to live in your home. You don't want somebody to live in your home that you're compelled to speak gently and graciously to not only to your wife but to everybody who comes to your house and you always got to be upright and kind and all that. You don't want that life right? You want a life where you can be free to do what you like. I tell you honestly many Christians are fooling themselves and say Jesus is with me. He's not with you. You don't want him. You'll feel very uncomfortable in heaven. You want to go to heaven but I tell you heaven will be a very difficult place for you to live because you can't lose your temper there you can't do so many things you want to do there's no television in heaven. What do you do? So many people who say I want to go to heaven they're not really serious about it. They don't want Jesus here on earth. I'm just trying to wake you up so that you don't fool yourself. I pray that Christ will be at home in your heart and also listen to this the second part of it that you may be able to understand verse 18 with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth to know the love of Christ. I'll tell you something from my own experience I've discovered that there are very very few believers with whom I can work because most of the ones I've met don't want to obey everything in the new testament. So the number of people I work with is very limited. You may call me exclusive you may say what you like but I say if you obey everything in the word of God I'll work with you. For example in the olden days, many years ago they used to have these big healing crusades, we haven't had that in Bangalore for many years now but the big healing crusades where they'd invite all the pastors to come together to form a committee for some American man who's going to come and do some healing meetings and if I'm invited, I used to be on that list I'm not on that list anymore thankfully but I would say I'm not going to come because I want to ask you in this healing meeting are you going to take a collection from the people? Are you going to get money from people? How can I sit there and you collect from all these unbelievers and many of them are not healed, you've got to return the money will you do that? You see I'll give you an example if you buy some electronic gadget from you know a CD player or something from some shop a Hindu person's shop and you take it to him the next day and say it's not working he will refund the whole money okay I'm sorry it's not working here's the money but take a healing meeting where an unconverted man brings his paralyzed wife because he heard Jesus heals he brings his paralyzed wife on a stretcher and they always take the collection before the healing prayer you know why? because if you take the collection after the healing prayer you'll get less money so they take it before after the offering now we'll pray for healing and the poor guy's wife is not healed he takes her back the stretcher home now if he comes next day to the organizers and says this didn't work like the CD player didn't work can you give me back my money he says sorry I can't give it back who is more honest? that Hindu shopkeeper is much more upright than this crooked preacher that's why I don't associate with these crooks that fellow said the thing didn't work here's your money here the thing didn't work you said he was going to be healed not healed sorry you can't get your money back don't you think he's a first class crook I would have nothing to do with such people that's why I don't associate with a lot of Christians because I don't want to be part of that crookedness and dishonor the Lord's name but if I find a godly person I may not agree with him and everything but I find a person who really loves the Lord I would like to fellowship with him even if he's not part of CFC I'm happy to fellowship with people because it says here in verse 18 with all the saints I learned something of the length and breadth of the height of depth of the Christ of the love of Christ and in my younger days I've read from a lot of Christian authors and I've been blessed by them but when it comes to working and building the church I'm very limited because I find most Christians are not willing to follow the entire word of God when it comes to building the church you heard Sunday speak about veiling the head he didn't mention to you but I'll tell you this when his group started meeting there were a number of American families that came and in America 99% of churches no sister veils their head because that spoils the hairdo and all the appearance and all and the beauty of the woman is gone when her head is covered so they don't veil their head but the bible says very clearly a woman must veil her head so when he began to preach it about half the church left the women who did not veil their heads they left and their husbands left with them because when a woman does not veil her head she's saying I'm the boss in the house and so it happened like that they went out together and the church suddenly dwindled in size and I told Sandeep you're a man after my own heart this is exactly how we build the church drive out all these people who don't want to obey God's word and let's build the church only with those who want to obey God's word 100% and then God brought along other people who not only wanted to obey God's word in veiling the head but it was just an indication of wanting to obey other things you heard this young brother just now testifying honestly about failure in his younger life the failure that almost all of us men have had in our thought life he was honest enough to admit it many of us are not honest enough that's all and how God delivered him from it so that when he could look at his wife and say my eyes are only for you now never again am I going to look at pornography or another woman to lust after her a young man he's not 78 years old like me there's a power in the testimony of a young man who says that who's 32, 33 years old which if I say it you say ah brother Zack you're an old man you don't understand what we're going through ok but CFC started when I was 35 years old and I took the Christian life seriously never to watch pornography in my life never from that no I have a computer but not one single day not one single moment did I go to a pornographic site from the time CFC started when I was 35 78 I'm 78 now I took the Christian life seriously how many of you are doing it you say you want to follow the Lord I'm part of Abraham is our father I'm linked to this man of God I belong to CFC but how seriously are you taking what that young brother testified to can you say that you have eyes only for your wife that is the Christianity we preach in CFC and if you see that God anoints some people and blesses some people I think he said more in 5 minutes than many people can speak in 5 hours this is the type of people we want to build up in CFC whole hearted serious Christians who keep themselves pure for God not perfect I'm not perfect he's not perfect but we are pressing on and we take seriously what we can by the power of the Holy Spirit I can't say the Lord told me once don't say you got victory over sin say Jesus keeps you from falling that's what I say now I don't say I got victory over sin I say Jesus keeps me from falling and if I say that he's kept me from falling into pornography Jesus kept me Jesus keeps me from going to those sites that come up on a computer screen and say I don't want to go there I don't take any credit for it Jesus keeps me from falling by the power of the Holy Spirit so we believe in making it clear to people that there's a difference between temptation and sin you'll be tempted till the end of your life Mother Teresa was a great woman of God her doctrine was wrong she was Roman Catholic so I don't go to her to learn about doctrine but there are many things I've learned from her about personal holiness and devotion to Jesus Christ and one of the things she said which helped me was temptation is like a fire it can burn you even if you're 100 years old I've had people ex-Catholics come to me and say criticizing Mother Teresa and the fellow who's telling me that he's not even 10% as holy as Mother Teresa I said what are you criticizing a lady who was 10 times holier than you she was wrong maybe she prayed to Mary that was a problem of the head maybe she used the rosary a problem of the head but her heart was more devoted than yours and man looks at the head and the outward appearance God looks at the heart so I found great help from many godly people in different groups like David Wilkerson and Tozer these were not people who they've been a help to me but their doctrines would not help me to work with them but I've been helped by them so we need to distinguish between those we can fellowship with and be challenged by but we say I can't work with you because my understanding is in the New Testament I see in the New Testament the Apostle Paul saying to us follow me as I follow Christ and I see as we heard earlier that when the Lord builds the church we read in Ephesians 4 about building the body of Christ he's appointed apostles prophets, evangelists pastors, teachers verse 12 to equip the saints to build up the body of Christ and I see the Apostle Paul going around different places planting local churches and appointing elders and going back and visiting them and then planting more churches and visiting them that's what I see in the New Testament and then they look up to him like a spiritual father those elders when they had a problem in the church in Corinth serious problem number of problems, everybody was speaking in tongues there was some immorality somebody was taking somebody to court they didn't know what to do what did they do? They wrote a letter to their spiritual father, the Apostle Paul and you know Paul had such authority over that church that he told them put that man out of that church who's living in sin and those elders did not turn to Paul and say Paul this is a local problem you don't try to tell us what to do we know how to handle local situations they recognized spiritual authority they realized that if this man planted the church in Corinth he's got a right to tell us something they didn't have the arrogance of some people who said this is a local problem we handle it, this is what's happening today in many places those elders who don't have wisdom do something on their own and there's confusion but that's not what you see in the Acts of the Apostles Paul could write to the Philippian church and say there are two sisters there who are having a fight with each other, I plead with them settle the matter and settle it right how did he have a right to interfere in churches he never said that to anybody in Rome, when he wrote to the Romans he did not give them one bit of advice about their problems because he did not plant that church there he said I'm coming and I'm sure you'll be a blessing to me and I'll be a blessing to you notice this difference in the way he spoke to the Corinthians, you know what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 4 shall I come to you with a rod he never said that to the Colossians because he never planted that church so what I see in the Acts of the Apostles this is New Testament church planting Paul planted churches he recognized which are the churches he planted he never asked any of them for money he never wanted a cent from any church that he planted what he told the Corinthians was he said I'm coming to you and I will not be a burden to you, 2 Corinthians 11 I will not be a burden to you I'm coming the third time to you and I will not be a burden to you and I will not take anything from you, 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 9 I kept myself from being a burden to you, he was three years in Ephesus, he planted the church lived there for three years and he told them I did not take Acts chapter 20, I did not take any, I didn't want anybody's shirts or pants or anything I didn't want any clothes from anybody I didn't covet anybody's silver or gold Acts 22, 20 Acts 20 verse 33 I took care of my own needs, verse 34 this is what I see, the Apostle Paul the greatest Apostle, people admire him but they don't live the way he lived they don't plant churches the way he planted they say it's not possible in the 20th, 21st century those are all those days then scratch out those things, that's not part of the Bible then, they say this won't work today it does work and that's what God has taught us what God has taught us is what you see in the Bible works even today exactly like what did Paul do he planted churches, he wrote letters to them he wrote letters regularly to the elders and he appointed them if there was a problem he sorted it out and he had some co-workers like Timothy who had the same spirit, that's how the church progressed in those days so if you give I've looked at it like this supposing you give the Bible see all of us, many of us have got a Christian background we are already brainwashed by our old CSI church or Pentecostal church or something, we've got a prejudiced mind but supposing you were to give the Bible to a man who came from a completely non-Christian background, who knew nothing about Christianity, nothing about Christian churches and he gets converted and you give him the Bible and you say brother you can help me because when I started reading the New Testament I already had a background in my mind of other things I saw in Christian churches, so I could be prejudiced you have had no contact with Christianity you please read the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles and tell me how we should plant churches today what do you think he'll come up with, do you think he'll come up with the title of pastor which is never found in the Bible do you think he'll come up with the idea of paying people a salary, or like many churches they advertise, we want a pastor do you find that in the New Testament, he'll never come up with these things that Christians are practicing everywhere, he'll never come up with the idea that write letters so that you can get money to do Christian work or write letters to support yourself no we have been brainwashed by false Christianity for so many years and it's very difficult to get rid of that brainwashing and to come to Scripture with an open mind, this is what I've tried to do, I say Lord I want to come to the Scripture without thinking of all these wrong things I've been heard about, I want to do it like Scripture, will it work today or not can we plant churches like the Apostle Paul planted can we support ourselves like the Apostle Paul did can we build a group of churches with a group of leaders who support themselves this is what the Lord has taught us in 42 years, it can be done and it has been done in our midst in 42 years, in many places, in the poorest villages in the richest cities, in the wealthiest cities, even in countries like the United States the principle is the same all over the world and I thank God that we have proved that the Bible is true I don't have to scratch out any verse in the Bible saying not applicable today whether it's wailing the head, in all of our churches we preach it and the sisters wail their heads we don't look down on the sisters who don't wail their heads, we say they don't have light we don't judge them but in our church they say if you want to pray or share the word, you must wail your head and I've even said this to some sisters who don't wail their heads in the United States I say listen, when you go to a house in some houses, they always take off their shoes many houses, in Singapore in every house they do that, take off their shoes in many houses in the US also take off your shoes if you enter the house in some places they have a notice, you either take off your shoes or you scrub the floor and clean it whichever you have a choice, one of the two life is full of choices, you either take off your shoes or scrub the floor, so most people prefer to take off their shoes instead of scrubbing the floor, so I say you are willing even though in your house you never take off your shoes when you go to that house out of a curtsy to that home you take off your shoes even though that's not what you do in your house when you go to a church where all the sisters wail their heads, why can't you do that? I'll tell you why, you don't care to respect God you respect a person's house and their rules but you go to God's house and you don't respect that this is the fundamental problem and when God sees that type of attitude in people, He says I will not give that person any more revelation on the New Testament pattern and I've come to see you disobey God in one small thing, I guarantee I guarantee, I can give you a written guarantee God will not give you any more light on anything else in the New Testament I was passionate to get light on everything in the New Testament I say Lord, I don't want to get to heaven and hear from you that something in the New Testament I did not obey no, I don't care about other people I don't care whether they call me sectarian fanatic, cult, I don't care, I've been called all types of names, doesn't make a difference to me. There's a verse in Ezekiel 43, which is a very interesting verse you know Ezekiel chapter 40 onwards is like a new covenant you know, the restoration of the new covenant and it describes in picture language and it says here in Ezekiel 43 how the glory of God came back which went away from Israel, in the new covenant, and the spirit of the Lord, verse 5, lifted me up and brought me to inner court, and then it says son of man verse 7, this is the place of my throne where I will dwell, and that means in the church forever but these people who are deceivers let me paraphrase it for you to explain to you, verse 8 they have put their door just next to my door and their door post, just beside my door post with only a wall between them you know like these houses, there are some houses where there's a common wall between your house and the next house and your door is there, and next door is just next to it, but it's somebody else's house and the Lord says I have built my house here and these deceivers have put their door just next to it so that people who come in may go in there, thinking that is God's house this is the deception that's going on there are two places in Kerala where people who were with us two brothers who were once elders in our church left our church and what is the name they give to their new church? Christian Fellowship Church why is that? you keep the door just next to ours so that people will walk in through there thinking that is Christian Fellowship Church don't you think that's deception? they go to the internet and look for Christian Fellowship and some of them did that, they went to that place and they asked them where's brother Zach he doesn't come here why do they take that name? we've had that name for 42 years why do they take it? this is the type of deception I remember asking one of them, hey listen you've left us now, so let us keep this name no, no, no we are going to keep the name Christian Fellowship Trust so what shall we call ourselves? we have to register ourselves and he will not give us that name he was with us, so that's how he was called Christian Fellowship Trust, and he wouldn't give it to us so this brother elder asked me what shall we call ourselves? we can't get that name, I said call your church THE Christian Fellowship Church what else to do? we're not going to invent a new name that registrar office said ok, that is slightly different, ok take it what do we do with people this is exactly what it says here, they put their door just next to ours so that people would walk in through there they know that what we speak is the truth and that we've got a reputation throughout the world for holiness, they want to get that reputation without being a part of us, this is the type of deception another brother who was with us walked off with the church building which was paid for by many many CFC people from many different places did I go fighting with him? no, I said please take it God did not call me here to fight for earthly things, you can take the church building and go I will not ask you for it I love these people I'm going to stand in eternity before the Lord and they're going to stand in eternity before the Lord, I have not stolen anybody else's building no, I've not stolen anybody's money I don't know what they will say when they stand before the Lord that's their business I'm just telling you that this type of thing which is written here they put only a wall between their doors and they have defiled my holy name and then the Lord says, show the children of Israel, and in our case Christians, the pattern of the house but show it to them verse 11, only if they are ashamed of what they have done verse 10 applying it to the new testament, describe this new covenant pattern of how to build churches, the way Paul and the apostles did it, but show it to them only if they are ashamed of the way they are already doing it, if they are satisfied with the way they are doing it, don't show it to them if they are ashamed of it, oh Lord we've not done it the way you've shown in the scripture, then explain to them the entrances, the designs, the statutes the laws and write it and remember this is the law for the whole house verse 12, the whole area must be most holy in the old testament tabernacle only one small part was most holy, most holy holy, out of court but in the new covenant the whole place is most holy, that means there's no difference between your sacred life and secular life, there's no difference between Sunday and Monday and Tuesday every day is the same every part is holy the old testament, Saturday was holy, in the new testament every day is holy this is how, what we've learned through the years of building a new covenant church and I can understand when we share these things the truth of what Jesus said when he spoke some things which are revolutionary and new he who has years to hear let him hear, it's not that we don't have years, physical years but are you willing to pay the price to follow this way that is the question and those who are willing to pay the price I can prophesy you will have a glorious end to your life you may not make much money you may have to deny yourself many things but when you come to the end of your life you'll be able to look back over your life and say I fought I fought a good fight I finished my course and I kept the faith, I did it as God commanded us, let's pray heavenly father we believe you've given us your word as a lamb to our feet and if we follow the light we have you will lead us to greater light yes father we want more and more light I'm not satisfied with the light I've got so far your truth is so vast and so great vast areas I still need to see I want to go into those areas and lord many many sincere people here I pray that they will have a passion to see all of the truth of God and walk in it all their days so that when they come to the end of their life they'll have no regret I pray in Jesus name Amen