This sermon emphasizes the importance of believing in God's ability to not only forgive sins but also to save individuals from the power of sin. It challenges listeners to trust in God's promises, seek Him with all their hearts, and live a life where sin does not rule over them. The speaker shares personal experiences and biblical insights to encourage a deeper commitment to following Jesus and experiencing true transformation through faith.

I think it was 20-25 years ago that I had a public meeting in Singapore. So I'm very happy to be here again. Many years ago, when God called me to serve, 50 years ago, I never thought that God would call me to serve him. I was an officer in the Indian Navy. Even after I was born again, I thought I would spend all my life in the naval service. But God called me, and for the last 50 years, I've been serving the Lord. But the Bible says that God gives a special ministry to each member in his body. Many of us know that we are members of Christ's body when we are born again. Just like each member of our body has got a different function, and no member is unimportant. There is no part of our body that has no function. The tragedy today is that so many people, believers, sit in big churches, and they think their only function is to pray. And of course, you know what is next important, to pray your time. That's not what God called us for. There is a spiritual function. Just like God has got a plan for every baby born into the world, the baby may not discover it till it grows up. So when we are born again, one of the first things that we need to be convinced about is, God has got a plan for my life. And it's the job of a pastor or an elder to tell you that. Your job is not just to carry money. It's to seek God and find out what my function is. We know that there is not a single organ in our body that has no function. And sometimes the Bible says, we don't value so much. We have a very important function. Supposing I were to ask you to name some of the really important members of your body. You would say your eyes, your ears, your hands. What about some other things? Maybe legs maybe. Internal organs like the heart, the kidney. What about these nails? When you feel scratchy, your tongue can't help you. Eyes can't help you. Kidneys can't help you. It's these lowly nails that solve your problem. When somebody wants to scratch his back, he can't reach his back himself. Is there any... It's a ministry called encouragement. That is the scratching ministry in the body of Christ. Anybody can do it to relieve another person's discouragement. Encouragement does not mean giving a big message. Maybe one sentence. Almost all of us speak on the cell phone everyday to somebody. Have you ever thought of at the end of your conversation giving one line of encouragement to the person you are speaking to? Maybe you don't know what he's going through. Before you finish, say, hey brother, before I finish, I just want to leave a word with you. Ask the Lord for a word. I do that many times. Sometimes the Lord tells me, call up this person. Just 3-4 days ago in India, 9 o'clock at night, I felt an urge to call a brother in the church. I hadn't called him for months. Because we are 500 people in the church, I don't get time to call everyone. I called him at 9 o'clock at night. And he was in bed. Not asleep, but lying down. So I said, brother, I hope you're not sleeping. I don't want to disturb you. But I just thought I'd call you up and find out how things are and just have a word of prayer with you. Next morning, I got an email from him. He said, brother, Zack, I don't go to bed so early. Yesterday, I was very tired at 9 o'clock. So I went to bed. I was surprised all of a sudden to get a call from you. I didn't tell you this. But I had gone to bed with a heavy burden concerning a problem I was facing. You prayed with me. I still didn't tell you what my problem was. I don't even remember what you prayed. When I woke up in the morning, I found a solution. He said, thank you for calling me. And here's the best part. He said, I learned something from that. That I should also be alert to make a phone call to somebody. Alert to hear what God is saying. Is there somebody I want to make a phone call to? And to give him a word. Think of how many people you could have encouraged in the last one year. Even if you only say this, brother, I am praying for you. A lot of people say that in a biased way. But don't say that if you are not going to pray for him. Do pray for him. Pray for him over the phone. I pray for people regularly over the phone. Maybe they are sick. Maybe they are facing some other problem. You can lift a person's spirit. Anybody can scratch. Even if you are only a nail in the body of Christ. You are not a kidney or a heart or a tongue. You are not a prophet or an apostle. You are a weak tiny nail. Encourager. You know in the Bible there was a man like that. Have you heard of his brother Joseph? I think most of you don't know. In the book of Acts, who was the brother Joseph? You know Peter. You know Paul. You know John. And there were many great men like that in the Acts of the Apostles. Who was Joseph? Have you read the Bible carefully? I am sure you have read Acts of the Apostles. I am sure you have read the name, but it doesn't stick with you. And I will tell you why. Because the Apostles changed his name. Can you imagine somebody coming to you and saying, I am not going to call you by your name your parents gave you. I am going to change your name. For the rest of his life he had the new name. He was not known as Joseph. That's why you don't know him as Joseph. After that he was not known as Joseph. Turn to Acts chapter 4. Verse 36. There was a man called Joseph. A Levite from Cyprus. So the Apostles changed his name. From today onwards you are going to be called Barnabas. Have you heard of Barnabas? You have all heard about him. That's not the name his parents gave him. His parents called him Joseph. Why in the world did the Apostles change that name? Do you know what Barnabas means? Bar means son of. Barnabas means the son of encouragement. You see they saw this man Joseph. Going around just preaching great ceremonies. Meeting people, some young people. Pulling on the shoulder and saying a word of encouragement. And they saw him doing this to many brothers. Visit a home, spend 5 minutes and everybody in the home their spirit is lifted because this brother came and spoke to us for 5 minutes. This reputation went around so much of this man Joseph. The Apostles said we got to change this guy's name. We have to call him the son of encouragement. Would you have got that name if you were living in those days? Some people their name is the son of discouragement. They go and talk all types of useless gossip and all that. He is so discouraged at the end of it. All of us got a function. There are important functions like prophet, apostle. When I was born again I did not know what my ministry was. All I knew was how to tell people that Jesus died for our sins. If you receive him as your savior you can be with him forever. So that is all I did. I used to carry tracks with me. The bus and the train I would give out tracks. If somebody was sitting next to me in the train or bus I would try to witness to him. Sometimes I would go to some nominal Christian home and ask them Can we have a half an hour Bible study once a week in your house? I was not a Bible teacher in those days. But I knew the ABC. Do you know that a 6 year old kindergarten student or first grade student can be a teacher? You say how is that? You can teach other people who do not even know how to read or write. Why not? If you have learned the alphabet you can teach other people the alphabet. So when I was converted that is all I knew. The alphabet of the Christian life. I cannot teach profound things like that other than this. I know the ABC. How to accept Christ. Be baptized. Follow the Lord. Early stages. So that is what I did. But I found people came to the Lord. Anybody can do it. You have to take a little interest. When God sees that you are faithful in a little thing He will give you a little more. Do you know how Jesus said When the Holy Spirit has come upon you You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. So Jerusalem is a small area. So you start there. If you are faithful there I will include Judea. Then Samaria. Then to the ends of the earth. About 40 years ago I got fed up with so much that I saw in Christianity. I saw that most pastors were not leading people to live a overcoming life. They were not teaching what Jesus taught about getting free from anger. How to live at home as husband and wife without ever raising your voice at each other. How to live at home as husband and wife without ever raising your voice at each other. 365 days of the year. You say that is impossible. When according to your faith it has to be impossible for you. When somebody else says God can help me to live that life. God does not want me to yell at my wife even one day of the year. Do you believe that? Is there one day of the year God wants you to yell at your wife? Which day is that? Not even one day. Do you think God can't help you to live like that where you don't yell at each other even one day of the whole year? I stand before God and say that is how I live. But that is not how I lived when I married 48 years ago. But that is not how I lived when I married 48 years ago. I was in the gutter. I was defeated. If I have faith one day God will lift me out of this gutter. If you have faith God will lift you up. It says in the Bible in the last verse of Matthew 13 Oh sad words. I call it some of the saddest words in the four Gospels. Matthew 13 Last verse of the Bible Do you know what it says? Jesus could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Jesus Almighty God could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Did they need a miracle? Yes. Could Jesus do it? Yes. Did he do it? No. Did they need a miracle? Yes. Could Jesus do that for them? Yes. Did he do it? No. Now think of your situation. I don't know what it is. May be different for different ones of you. Do you need a miracle in your life? Yes. Whatever it is. Can Jesus do it? Yes. Are you doubting? No. He can definitely do it. Does he do it? No. In many cases. No. Why? Unbelief. Matthew 13.15 Have you heard another story of two blind men who came to Jesus? Matthew chapter 9 Two blind men followed Jesus into a house. In Matthew chapter 9 Matthew 9 Verse 28 After he came into the house two blind men came to him. They have been following him verse 27 saying have mercy on us. Matthew 9.28 They said Lord open our eyes. And the Lord said before I do that for you you have to answer one question. My brothers and sisters you can ask Jesus for anything. He says ask and he will receive. Particularly things he has promised. Don't ask for things he has not promised. He may or may not give it to you. But whatever he has promised in the Bible he will definitely give it to you. For example when the Lord took the Israelites out of Egypt He said I will give you the land of Canaan. Supposing they said not only Canaan Lord give us the whole of Europe. He may not want to give you the whole of Europe He may give them Canaan what he has promised. But 600,000 people didn't get it because they didn't believe that God would give it to them. 40 years they wandered in the wilderness and died. That warning is given us 3 times in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit warns us. 1 Corinthians 10 Hebrews 3 Jude 3 times. You read it sometime. Don't forget brothers that God promised Canaan to the Israelites but they didn't get it. Don't forget this. Why is it mentioned 3 times in the New Testament? 1 Corinthians 10 Hebrews 3 Jude Same warning to warn us that God may promise you something today and you may not get it. He asked these blind men You have your eyes open right? You have to answer one more question before you get it. Do you believe I am able to do this for you? He didn't say Do you believe that with a little bit of effort you can open your eyes? Will you go and do some eye exercises and come back after 1 year? You have to do nothing. You cannot open your blind eyes both of you. I am not asking you what you can do. Do you believe I Jesus can do it for you? I am absolutely convinced that that is what Jesus is asking many of you. You are looking at your problem You are wondering how in the world will this be solved? You have tried every human effort and channel Jeremiah 17.5 says Cursed is the man who leans upon men and depends on his strength to do my work. Blessed is the man who trusts the Lord. There is a curse on us when we depend upon man. There is a blessing when we trust in the Lord. Jeremiah 17.5 says You will be like a tree planted by the river always fruitful. He asked the blind people Do you believe I can do this for you? There were two blind men Supposing they went in one by one to the room One person came You know like you go to a doctor for consultation Do you believe I can do this for you? Lord it's tough All my life I have been blind Lord, all my life I have been blind But I have faith that you can open at least one eye Lord says alright verse 29 Be it done to you according to your faith and this one eye is open For a blind man to have one eye open is almost like having heaven You can see everything now Of course he doesn't have three dimensional vision because only one eye is there So he is so excited Hallelujah, Jesus can open one eye Look what he did for me The second guy goes in Same question Do you believe I can do this for you? The blind man says sure Lord Nothing is impossible for you You can open both my eyes Same answer According to not according to my desire or your desire According to your faith He comes out with both eyes open He says hey, Jesus can open two eyes So the other guy with one eye open says how did you get two eyes open And they have a clash So they start two denominations One is Jesus can open one eye The doctrine in the other church is Jesus can open two eyes Now what is this spiritual application of this Here are the two eyes Two eyes Jesus can forgive our sins Jesus can help us to overcome all sins Most believers live in the one eyed denomination They are not totally blind Jesus can forgive all your sins 90% of your sins Not 90% vision 100% vision But only in one eye What about the other eye What about overcoming anger What about overcoming dirty thoughts What about overcoming lusting after women What about overcoming pornography on the internet Jesus can't open that eye That's too tough One eye He can forgive your sins Of course you will spend all your life fighting and yelling at your wife And all your life you will now and then watch a little pornography Not everyday Once in a while Without your wife's knowledge Without other people knowing Can't Jesus deliver you No brother The devil is very powerful You don't know how powerful the devil is Then he urges me to watch pornography Nobody can stop Another person says The devil Jesus He was defeated on the cross The one who lives in you He was greater than the one who is in the world Jesus can open both eyes Do you have a promise for that in scripture And they say yes In the old testament there was no such promise So I will show you what the old testament promise was One eye One eye I will show you Psalm 103 Very well known promise Verse 2 Bless the lord oh my soul And don't forget any of his benefits Who pardons all your iniquities Not 90% Who forgives all your sins This is 1000 years Before Jesus came to earth David said it Was it a lie No Inspired by the holy spirit You ask David Are your sins being forgiven David All of them You mean all your sins are forgiven All your sins are forgiven Yes How Because I sacrificed this offering And I put my hand on it And I am testifying thereby That I am looking forward to the messiah coming one day To take away my sins He hasn't come yet But I am testifying that I look forward to His coming to take away my sins Have you seen that No I haven't seen it But I believe it is coming What about today Have any of you seen Jesus dying on the cross They are saying the same thing David says I haven't seen Jesus die David looked forward I looked back He looked 1000 years forward I looked 2000 years back The messiah came And took my sins He has forgiven all my sins David experienced it But you go next question By the way David Has he given you a victory over Lusting with your eyes No I want to I can kill Goliath and all But when I see Bathsheba She defeats me Who is more powerful Goliath or Bathsheba You think Goliath is stronger Bathsheba is stronger David could kill Goliath But Bathsheba killed David Spiritually Let me ask you another question Who is stronger The devil Or a tempting adulterous woman I want an answer from the bible Not from your opinion For a believer Forget about unbelievers For a born again believer For a born again believer Which enemy Should a believer fear Satan Or a tempting adulterous woman I will show you the answer from the bible Sometimes when I teach the bible Many people around the world have told me Brother Zack, how is it I never saw this And it is in my bible all these years The trouble is People don't read carefully You rush through it half an hour Ok, time to go to work now That's not the way to read the bible Sometimes I read one verse And meditate on it for 15 minutes Not every time Sometimes I read a whole chapter Sometimes I read a whole chapter But I am not interested in time I have read the bible for half an hour It doesn't say a man shall live By reading the bible A man shall live by every word That proceeds from the mouth of God So to me the important thing in the morning Is not to read the bible One chapter, two chapters That's not my question When I read it Did I hear a word from God to my heart That's the important question For many people that's not important Did you read the bible Yes, I read it for half an hour today What did you read I can't remember right now Can you remember which book it was I think it was Luke chapter What did you read there Something about discipleship You might as well not read it Man shall live by every word That proceeds from the mouth of God Where do we learn that They say Jesus said it Long before Jesus said it You read that in Genesis chapter 1 There were six days in which the earth was remade How was the earth remade Every day It says God said something On the first day Let there be light God said the second day Let the heavens above the waters be separated From the waters below the heavens It happened All the way till the last day Man was not created with the word The animals, birds and fish Were not created with the word When it came to man God did not say Let there be a man and a woman There had to be a personal touch He took some mud Shaped a man Took his bone Shaped a woman He learned something from that You are not created like the animals Brothers and sisters You are not created like the animals There is a personal touch God's personal touch But what we see is God said something and something happened Every day something happened Every day it became better and better Every day things were getting better And the last day he said Very good You know that is supposed to be a picture of your life You know that is supposed to be a picture of your life What happened on the last day? The sixth day There was a man and a woman in the image of God That's why it was very good More important than all the sun and moon and stars and everything There is a message in Genesis chapter 1 for you and me That from the day you are born again First thing is God says let there be light Light comes into your heart And Christ comes into your heart again From that day Every day God wants to say something to you Not just reading a chapter in the Bible From the Bible to say something to you I am sure you will all agree with me That the Bible is the only book in the world Which is the word of God I was born again 57 years ago I was only 19 then I am 76 today And I believe one thing That the Bible is the only book Among all the billions of books in the world God gave man And so I said If there is one book I really have to study It's the Bible You know like people study the books for their own profession How much they study of their profession In order to advance in their profession What for? Money More money I can study more I am not against that It's getting more and more expensive to live So it's good to have a good education and earn money But if I were to ask you How many of you believe That your spiritual life is more important than making money Every one of you will raise your hands But do you live like that? Do you study the Bible to hear God speaking to you As much as you study for your profession? See brother I don't have time One simple question Do you have time to watch television everyday? I have never heard anybody say I am so busy I don't have time to watch television I say it Honestly you come to my house I have no time even a single day to watch television After 57 years of reading this book I say there is so much in this Which I still want to know Because I know It's more important for me to know God Than to know what somebody kills somebody somewhere Or somebody rapes somebody somewhere else I am not interested in knowing that That's happening everyday In a new place What's the use of reading it again and again But God wants to speak to me everyday How to bring up my children So that in the next generation They will be witnesses for God like me I have four sons All four are disciples of Jesus Christ They are witnesses Two of them started churches They are there in God fearing ways They are bringing up their children in God fearing ways I hope it will continue till Jesus comes That is the important thing for me Of course I need to earn my living and live on this earth We need very little for that Man shall live by every word of God If you follow that Little by little God will show you what your function is In the body of Christ You see there is a law In God's dealings with man He does not reward everybody equally He does not reward everyone equally The Bible says He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him Let me show you a verse in Jeremiah 29 An important verse Jeremiah 29 And verse Jeremiah 29 The verse speaks about God's plans for us Verse 11 I have plans for your life Even if you have not heard the word of God in these past few days Here is a word that you can live by A word from God Listen to it today The Lord is saying to you That I have plans for you And I know the plans I have for you And these are plans for your welfare No calamity I never make a plan To bring any calamity in your life Every plan I have for you Is for your good By the way I am just reading scripture Jeremiah 29 And it is to give you a wonderful future And to give you a hope for the future This is from scripture Jeremiah 29 How do you know that plan You have to call upon me And you have to pray to me I am not going to show my plan To lazy people Who just lie down and say God will fulfill his plan God never encourages laziness You know as soon as Adam sinned You know what the Lord told him Now you got to earn your bread How will you earn your bread By sweating on your brow Do you remember that in Genesis chapter 3 By the sweat of your brow You will earn your bread Adam it is not going to be an easy life for you Before you sinned it was easy Now you got to work hard That is good for us God does not reward lazy people You have to pray to me And I will listen to you I have got plans for you Remember wonderful plans But you will never know them Till you pray to me And when you pray to me You will find me Verse 13 only when you Search for me with all your heart And I will become The most important person in your life And you search for me with all your heart Suppose you are walking In the grass somewhere at night And you lose a one dollar coin How long will you search for it In the grass You walk around two hours Three hours What are you looking for brother You lost one dollar I don't think any of you Would have looked for it that long I will say ten cents How long will you look for it In a few minutes I will forget it It is only ten cents But supposing you had Got a bunch of hundred thousand dollars That you have brought from the bank And on your way home You stopped in different places When you reach home you say Hey where did I leave that packet Where all did I go How long will you search for it Five minutes Only hundred thousand dollars Why do you search for that For so long Now let me ask you How do you seek for God How earnestly do you seek To be filled with the Holy Spirit Say brother I prayed for two minutes And God never filled me Naturally Because it is worth only ten cents for you You looked for two minutes for that ten cents You didn't find it So you moved on When you seek for God Like you are seeking for a lost hundred thousand dollars You will find me When you search for me With all your heart You don't have to be clever You don't have to be a great scholar You don't have to be a great Vedic Monarch Even a poor uneducated man Can search for God with all his heart I found God I searched for him with all my heart Mostly through the Bible I said Lord there is only one book in the world That can help me to find you I was working in the Navy I had to do my work and study books for my Navy work I still had time to read the Bible I had a little pocket New Testament Nowadays it is so much easier On your phone you got the whole Bible in there Ten versions In one mobile phone I think we had those luxuries 55 years ago But I could put a New Testament in my pocket Which was better than what people had 600 years ago 600 years ago Christians didn't have pocket New Testament I say I have it I would wait in a bus stand Waiting for the bus While other people are just gaping around here and there Wasting time I would read the New Testament When they get into the bus Again they are gaping around here and there Wasting time I would read the New Testament Whenever I got time I say God God I want to know you I mean I had a job to do I did my work I earned my living I felt God was the most important person in my life I was just about 21 years old I said Lord I want to seek you with all my heart I began to understand the principles of God's word And I must fear God more than I fear man What is man His breath is in his nose Forget about it You know the verse like that Is really helpful in Isaiah chapter 2 Isaiah 2.22 All of you who are afraid of men Read this verse I will tell you where I was afraid of men I was afraid to stand in the street And preach the gospel of Jesus Christ One day when I was Getting up in my local church To sing a chorus When I was 22 or 23 years old I was still in the Navy God spoke to me You are going to get up in the church And sing this chorus Everybody will admire you Will you stand in the streets And sing that same thing for me Those people need to hear it More than the people sitting in the church And I said Lord I will do that I will do it in the place Where people make fun of me Not where people admire me And I went to every street In that town I lived in And covered every street in two years I didn't know the local language So I got another brother To translate for me I had a scooter He would sit behind me And we would go street by street I would preach the gospel And I was afraid People would stand there What is this mad man standing out here They would make fun of me They would call me the devil This is the verse the Lord said to me Stop regarding man Whose breath Is only in his nostrils Why do you have to esteem him Why do you esteem him And the picture the Lord gave me was this Here are 25 people standing Making fun of me when I am preaching the gospel And the Lord said remember They are piles of dust Because man was made from dust You take out his breath In a few years he is dust He is only dust You know if the breath goes from your nostrils You become dust in a little while And the Lord said Imagine that you are Standing in front of a big pile of mud Can you preach to that pile of mud I said sure He said that is what these people are The only thing that prevents them from becoming mud Is a little breath in their nose I don't know if it helps you But it delivered me from the fear of man Listen to the command of God Stop regarding man Whose breath is in his nostrils Why do you esteem him Why do you respect him Fear me So then I had to go to the ship I had only two stripes on my shoulder I had only two stripes on my left hand My senior officer had four stripes He was a captain The other one had three He was a commander Sometimes they would tell me to do things Which were against my conscience Something they knew was unrighteous You know to use some of this Naval property for their private purposes He used to get canvas on the ships To make covers for the deck So the commander would say I want to take a little bit of this To make a cover for my car I said sir if you can do that But I will have to put in the register The commander has taken so many yards Of canvas Many things like that The captain would want to Take the boat out For a holiday trip to his family We were allowed to do it But we had to pay for the diesel I could also use it So I would send him a bill For the diesel He would send a message back No you must show it as harbor inspection He would say that You should not say that It is for private purposes It is for the purpose of Showing your face So I said that is not Harbor inspection sir You have to For your family on a picnic In half an hour I got transferred from that job So I had some Exciting experiences like this But God saw me do this For example another thing Everybody Had a job in the Naval officers Dining room You know the naval officers Are all big drunkards So one officer Had to order all the alcohol Month by month It would go to different person Every month One person had to order To distribute alcohol One day my name came up I said I am a Christian I can't do that It is a serious crime to Disobey an order So they took me before The commanding officer He was a Roman Catholic Why can't you do it he said Sir I am a Christian He laughed and said I am also a Christian So I thought You have asked for it now I am going to tell you why I am a Christian For many months I wanted to witness to him Now is my opportunity I said sir I also thought I was a Christian For the time came in my life I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior Do you think a senior officer Will give good reports to such a man Who says such things like that The Lord said why do you esteem man You want his good recommendation To get a promotion To get three stripes on your shoulder I said no Lord If I live till the end of my life With two stripes on my shoulder It is enough for me But God gave me a promotion More than ten stripes on my shoulder He called me to be his servant One year after that When I was twenty four years old God had tested me Through different circumstances On the streets In the ship In the naval office Will he stand up for me Even if he is going to lose his job Will he stand up for me When people make fun of him He deserves to be my servant I was humbled I joined the navy To become the admiral of the navy God promoted me above all of that And he made me a servant Fifty years ago It has been the most exciting Fifty years of my life I cannot number The thousands and thousands of people That God has used my weak words To help and bless A number of people have been saved from suicide Marriages that have been saved from divorce Demon possessed people Delivered from demons Sick people healed of sickness I said, Lord, what is the use of three or four stripes on my shoulder That is not what I want to do Do you know that God has got a plan for your life Whether you are upright in the small little things Whether you are ashamed of Jesus in your place of work I am not saying You should go and give tracts to everybody in your office I am not saying that you should Witness Stand in the office and start shouting I am saying Everybody in your office must know That you are a different type of Christian From the regular type of Christian Even from the regular type of Christian You must know that you are a different type of Christian I was not permitted in the office To go around witnessing to anybody But people saw that I did my work uprightly People saw that I did not drink and gamble like the others I keep a bible on my table Nobody can stop me from that Everybody knew that I was a different type of Christian Who is going to stop you from that You can be ashamed of Jesus That is why you don't do that I know in India Some Christians are ashamed to be known as Christians They may not get a promotion from their Hindu bosses When God called me He gave me a specific task I have been prepared for it by studying the bible for so many years All the knowledge of the bible I have today I learned in my first 7 years of being a Christian My God said I am calling you to teach my word But before you do that You must listen to what Other preachers are preaching On cassettes Those days only cassettes were there On radio There was no television preaching those years Listen to what people are preaching Read the books they are writing I did all that And then the Lord said The things that people are not preaching I want you to preach Which are in the bible To use an illustration Particularly a new testament I saw the new testament It was an illustration of a big jigsaw puzzle Which is the face of Jesus Small small pieces You put them all together You see the face of Jesus If you look at the small pieces You will see the face of Jesus If there are not many pieces You will not know whose face it is There is no nose, no eyes Just the hair You don't know who it is This is how Christ was preached He will heal the sick He will give you a job But the important parts of your face If your face is covered with this Or if you cover it You will not be able to identify anyone If you cover your eyes It will be difficult to identify anyone Similarly The true image of Jesus Christ Should be given to the people But he said don't preach God has called you to do that So I studied the scriptures I found on the first page of the new testament People are not preaching what is written there Let me ask you a question You all read Matthew's gospel What is the first promise in the new testament? The old covenant promises were I will give you money, I will give you health, I will give you land Because Israel was promised a kingdom on earth John the Baptist came preaching the kingdom of heaven Now Jesus is coming who is going to open the kingdom of heaven Where your blessings will not be earthly but heavenly The first promise in the new testament is Matthew 1.21 The angel told Joseph You must call Mary's son's name Jesus I will tell you the meaning of that name Matthew 1.21 It is the first promise in the new testament He will save his people from their sin He will only forgive That is an old testament promise That is Psalm 103 That is not a new promise He will save his people from their sins Let me use an illustration I like to think in pictures Jesus always spoke in pictures Supposing outside my house Construction people are digging a hole in the road 10 feet deep Outside on the road Or any construction I tell my son don't go there They are digging a deep pit for a big building You will fall in You know how 6 year old children are They disobey So he disobeys me And he falls into that pit He cries out Daddy Daddy He is in that pit and I go to him and say Son what happened God I am sorry for disobeying you Please forgive me Ok son I am forgiven Goodbye Have I forgiven him Yes Have I saved him No Do you see the difference between forgiveness and saving Ok let's apply that to christian life People say Jesus is my saviour Really Has he saved you from your anger No Has he saved you from lusting with your eyes No Has he saved you from an unforgiving spirit No Has he saved you from the love of money No Has he saved you from complaining in your house When something goes wrong No But But Every time I sin he forgives me When I get angry I confess he forgives me When I do something wrong he forgives me Then call Jesus your forgiver Not your saviour Don't say Jesus is my saviour Because he has saved me from nothing Say Jesus my forgiver Jesus is my forgiver but not my saviour One eye is open He forgives my sin There are people who believe You can not only forgive me You can save me According to your faith be it unto you Do you believe Jesus can save you from pornography Watching pornography Do you know that 50% of men In almost every single church 70% are slaves to pornography They look so holy They confess it They confess it They got one eye open definitely But they have never known saving But they have never known saving In the new testament In the first verse He is the one who saves people Not you will save yourself That is yoga And other non-christian religions You know grit your teeth and do yoga And you will overcome anger Where will you overcome it Coming out of your mouth Or boiling with anger That is not salvation That is like keeping all the snakes inside your house Not letting them come out People never see there are any snakes in your house The place is full of snakes That is not salvation Don't think by controlling your mouth And doing yoga You will overcome anger Anger is in the heart If you grit your teeth good At least you won't have a fight at home But you are not saved Brothers and sisters The devil has robbed you of your inheritance And the most important part of your inheritance Supposing your father was a billionaire And he had so many properties Accounts in different banks And you are his only child And he has written a will With all details Everything for you And he dies Would you be careful to find out Every bank where your dad's money is Whichever streets his property is Will you allow a crooked lawyer To cheat you of your inheritance You will not When it comes to money We are very careful To get our inheritance But something more important than money When Jesus came to give We allow the devil To steal most of it And we live like spiritual beggars Live on a hundred dollars a month When there are billions Lying in your inheritance This is spiritually speaking The condition of most believers It was my condition Because I never had a teacher or a prophet To tell me the truth So I had to find it from the scriptures Which changed my life Not what I accomplished By gritting my teeth and determination But my belief Just like for forgiveness One who opened my one eye Was the one who opened my other eye also I did not get one eye opened By eye exercises It was by faith The other eye was also opened by faith He did it all He saved me from sin He did it all I could never do anything To get even one sin of mine forgiven No, you know that No pilgrimage, no money Nothing could get even one sin of mine forgiven Jesus had to do it all He paid the full price on Calvary And all I had to do is say Lord I am a sinner I cannot confess all my sins Because there are so many millions of them But I acknowledge it I am a sinner Like the thief on the cross I am guilty Forgiveness is immediate Like the song we sing Nothing in my hand I bring Simply to thy cross I cling That's how I got forgiveness I didn't light any candles or go on any pilgrimage I didn't pay any tithe to get my forgiveness No money loving pastor could deceive me Forgiveness was free On the cross I accepted it My one eye was opened Then I discovered That Jesus not only forgives He saves Jesus not only forgives He saves Lord you opened one eye You can open the other one too And the question was the same Do you believe That I can do this for you Do you remember how you believed That I can forgive your sin Do you believe that I can save you from your sin I said yes Lord I tried so many years To overcome myself I could not I read this promise Romans 6.14 It changed my life What God has promised He will fulfill If He promises that you can go into Canaan You don't have to wander in the wilderness If He promises that you can go into Canaan You don't have to wander in the wilderness He has promised us Sin shall not rule over you Because you are not under the law but under grace You are not under the old covenant You are under the new covenant It's a word of God Sin shall not rule over you My son Sin shall not rule over you Who is saying this The God Who thousands of years ago said Let there be light And that was light The God who said Let the trees come up from the earth And bring forth fruit The God who said Let the trees come up from the earth And bring forth fruit The God who said Let there be sun and moon and stars in the sky The God who said Let there be fish in the sea The God who said Sin shall not rule over you It's the same God It can happen The only difference is this When God said Let the trees come up and bring forth fruit The earth did not have to respond In faith like us It just yielded If the earth had a voice The earth would have said Yes God I am yielding I believe From me Non-existent trees Are going to come up and produce fruit That's the type of faith we need to have I will be defeated By sin year after year From my life will come forth fruit of victory From my life will come forth fruit of victory I believe How can I make you believe If you don't believe No tree would come up from the earth Nothing would come out of my life So the question is Do you believe God can do this for you We give ourselves to God God says I will write my laws in your heart I will put it in your mind Hebrews 8.10 I will put my law in your mind I will write it in your heart Meaning I will give you first of all A desire to do my will A desire to overcome anger A desire to overcome pornography A desire to rejoice always A desire to forgive all people who have hurt you A desire to love your enemies A desire to speak the truth A desire for purity A desire to give up all grumbling and complaining That's putting it in the mind The same verse says I will write it in your heart Now I will give you the ability To do what desire I put in your mind Ability to overcome anger Ability to forgive difficult people Ability for purity Ability to walk in humility Ability to fulfill all of God's promises What are the silly things people are praying for now Lord give me a better car I am going to bless you 10,000 years from now I am going to go around heaven boasting You know what I rode on the earth when I was on earth That's what I am going to boast about 10,000 years from now When you lived a life that brought disgrace to the name of Jesus Christ You rode around in a posh car Money to build a good house You had a good job And you lived in impurity In anger The conversation in your house was full of complaining and murmuring and anger No better than non-Christians The only difference was they watched TV on Sundays And you went to church on Sundays The rest of the days you were the same Somebody asked me once What's the difference between your church and other churches We have planted maybe 60-70 churches over the last 40 years The religious towns of India And other countries I said let me tell you We are not better than other Christians We have got hypocrites in our church Just like every church has got hypocrites You know Jesus church also had one hypocrite sitting there 1 out of 12 is 8% So if you have 100 people in your church If 8 people are hypocrites, it's ok You cannot produce a church better than Jesus If there are 1000 people in your church If 80 of them are hypocrites, it's perfectly ok Try and reduce the number That's all we can do You cannot find a perfect church on the earth But I'll say there is one difference In other churches Sunday is the important day Singing, preaching Music In our church The important day is Monday And Tuesday And Wednesday And Thursday And Friday And Saturday And Sunday afternoon after you go away from the church In other words How you live at home How you work in the office Everybody is angry on the road How you behave when you are driving Everybody is angry on the road How you behave That is important for us And if you live that way In a godly way the 6 days of the week Come on Sunday and sing There are no musical instruments And you are singing out of tune Heaven will rejoice Because it was supported by 6 days of a godly life That is our church We don't glory in our music The glory of 6 days of a godly life Makes our singing sweet in heaven I see other churches Fantastic music In the villages in India Where I do most of my work They are so poor They can't send their children for piano lessons They are not educated in music But they love Jesus Christ The important thing is Many of us think Music was great this Sunday But I say Brothers and sisters in my church Did you live a godly life For 6 days of the week Then even if you sing out of tune God hears your prayer Do you think God listens to all that wonderful music By people who are living ungodly during the week People who are watching pornography now and then And coming and singing beautifully Their husbands and wives who yell at each other And come here and sing beautifully on Sunday You are entertaining the devil Not God That is the difference between what we preach In our church and other churches We don't glory in our music. We glory in seeking to help people to live a life where sin does not rule over them. Praise the Lord. Thank you for listening to a long message. Now the question the Lord asks is, do you believe I can do this for you? I hope you will respond saying, I can't do it Lord, but I want to trust you. God's got great plans for you my brothers and sisters. When you meet Jesus one day, you will be amazed to see how much he loved you. You will be amazed to see what wonderful plans he had for you. And you will feel so sorry that you lived such a low standard life. When you, you, yes you could have been a mighty spirit of man or woman. So I plead with you, beloved brothers and sisters. I beg you by the mercies of God. Don't let the devil rob you of your father's inheritance. Don't just get stirred by this message for one day. Say, Lord I am going to seek you with all my heart today. I messed up my life for so many years. But I am going to change today. I am not going to give up till I am filled with the Holy Spirit. My life is changed. Let's pray. Please bow your heads with me. We are in the presence of Jesus our Lord who is in our midst. Shut your eyes and recognize his presence in our midst. And he is waiting to pour out his Holy Spirit on you. Say, Lord I want to believe you today. If you haven't got forgiveness of sins yet. My dear friend, Jesus died for you. He rose again. You don't have to confess all your sins. Nobody can do that. Just say, Lord I am a filthy sinner. Forgive me. You died for me. You rose again. Come into my heart. God save me. Forgive me first. Save me. He will do it immediately. You have already been forgiven. Say, Lord you have forgiven me. All my sins have been forgiven. But Lord I have so many sinful habits. Take me to the next level now. Open my second eye. Save me. Save me from my sins. Help me to live the way you want me to live. I can't do it. But I trust you. The way you forgave me. You will save me. I trust you Lord Jesus. I pray that the Lord will do that in many of your lives. Heavenly Father. Thank you for such a wonderful salvation. I pray that nobody here will miss out on their inheritance. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.