This sermon emphasizes the importance of humility, honesty, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. It highlights the dangers of rebellion, pursuing money, and seeking approval from men. The speaker shares examples of leprosy in the Bible as a warning against pride and corruption, urging listeners to seek spiritual health by recognizing their sinfulness and need for God's cleansing. The message encourages individuals to value God's anointing over worldly recognition and to pursue a life of humility and honesty.

I always love to speak to young people. I'll tell you why. Because you have your whole life ahead of you. And it's good to get on the right track when you're young. And not when you're 50 years old or even 30 years old. If God can lay hold of you when you're a teenager, before you become 20 years old, you really begin to take the Christian life seriously. By the time you're 30 or 35, you know, God can prepare you for a ministry. And it does not mean that from the time you're converted that you have to live a perfect life until God gives you a ministry because that doesn't happen. It didn't happen with me. And I was converted when I was 19 and a half, but I can't say I lived far from a perfect life because I had no understanding of victory over sin. I had no understanding of the new covenant. But you all are blessed. You know, Jesus told the people of his time in Israel, You guys are luckier than the Queen of Sheba who had to travel such a long distance to come and hear Solomon. And Solomon didn't have the wisdom Jesus had. But they didn't accept Jesus was wiser than Solomon. And the great danger, you know, I've often said this, that even though I was gripped with all these truths only when I was about 35 or 36, it produced in me such a tremendous repentance for my half-hearted and up-and-down, backsliding life in the three, four years prior to that. I started out my Christian life with great zeal, dedication, and was filled with the Holy Spirit and all that. But gradually, over a period of time, maybe 12 years after I was converted, I began to inwardly backslide because I didn't have fellowship. And I didn't know victory over sin. And I went through a period of two, three years of... because inwardly, outwardly my testimony was okay, but inwardly I was a backslider. See, all backsliding begins inwardly, and in the thoughts and all that. And I got so fed up, I said, Lord, I refuse to be a hypocrite. I will stop preaching because I don't want to preach what's not true. And then God met with me and filled me with the Holy Spirit again. So, don't get discouraged if you backslide. It's not a good thing. But if it makes you turn to God like it made me turn to God and say, Lord, I really want your best. I don't want to be a half-hearted Christian. Either all or nothing. That's what I said. I want a total Christian life. Oh, forget it. I'll just sit at the backseat of some... I won't reject Christ. But I'll just sit at the backseat of some church and be a good church attender. I don't want to talk about something that's not true in my life. I want you all to fear and hate hypocrisy. A lot of you fear and hate the devil. You must fear and hate hypocrisy more. Hypocrisy will destroy you more than the devil can. God loves honest people. And the easiest thing in the world is to be honest. It's not easy to be pure. It's not easy to be humble. It's not easy to be holy. But it's very easy to be honest. Even if a prostitute comes to this service, she can be honest right now. What does that mean? I'm a prostitute. I'm not holy. The Christian church is filled with hypocrites who pretend to be what they are not. I believe it is the biggest sin in every single denomination. Whether it's Pentecostals, speakers in tongues, or Roman Catholics, or CSI, or Baptists, or CFC. The biggest sin found in all churches is hypocrisy. And if you steer clear of that, and determine that I will never be a hypocrite, I can prophesy it will go exceptionally well with you. Because in hypocrisy, I'll tell you the reason for that. In hypocrisy, I'm seeking the honor of men. And God detests those who seek the honor of men more than Him. It's a form of idolatry. You may not bow before idols of wood and stone. But when you're trying to create an impression before even your colleagues and friends, or your elders, or anybody else, pretending to be a very zealous holy Christian when you're not, what you're doing is bowing down before that man and say, Oh man, I worship your opinion about me. I hope you will have a good opinion about me. And if you will have a good opinion about me, I'm satisfied. You're an idol worshiper. You have to see it like that. If you can break free from that one thing, trying to impress people with a spirituality that you do not have, with a godliness that you do not have, and a mature godly Christian can see through your holiness. Most Christians are not mature and godly, so 99% of them will really think you're godly. But the 1% of Christians who are godly will see through it immediately. I mean, they may be gracious enough not to tell you, but they'll see through it. You cannot fool Christ and you cannot fool a godly man. He can see through you. In 10 minutes of conversation, he'll be able to find out where you stand. You know, it's like body odor. When we perspire, our body smells. And you can't do anything about it. It just comes forth. You can suppress it with deodorants, but you've got to keep putting it because it keeps on coming forth. And you've got to have a shower, wash it all off. And sometimes we don't realize the body odor that comes out from us. Bad breath, for example. Most of the time we don't realize, especially when people get older, their inner systems don't work as well. When you're young, your systems work well. But older people, when they get older, their inner body systems don't work so well and they can't even avoid bad breath. They've got to keep watching it all the time. They don't always succeed. But they're not aware of it very often. You know, and spiritual pride and hypocrisy and all that, there's a smell that comes forth from us which a godly man can detect. So don't waste your time worshipping men and their opinions. That is the most important thing I would tell you. And the other thing is, when we are young, we have a tremendous tendency. The reason for this hypocrisy is we feel inferior. We feel inferior to others around us. Of course, we may feel inferior to godly men. But more than that, we feel inferior even to other young men and women around us for various reasons. As a girl, you may feel they are prettier than you. And you say, I'm not so good looking. And you know, the world has certain ideas about the ideal man or woman. And if you want to know what it is, go to these matrimonial columns in the newspapers. You'll always see the description of a girl as fair and well-complexioned and tall and pretty. You never see a matrimonial ad for a girl who is ugly and dark. And I've never seen it so far. Every girl who is in the matrimonial columns is fair, good looking, etc. That's what they want to look like. And then you realize when you look into a mirror that you're not like that. And then you begin to feel inferior. Well, why did god make me dark? Or in the world, girls are supposed to be slim. And there are a lot of girls who starve to death in order to try and be slim. Crazy. And you say, why did god make me fat? You know, fat is not always because of eating too much food. Sometimes it is in the genes that comes down from our parents. And I've seen a lot of people who eat a lot of food and remain thin. And I've seen a lot of other people who eat very little and still are fat. They can't do anything about it. I was in a meeting once of young people somewhere, not in this country. And they asked me a question. It was question-answer time. Bible questions. Question. Why are some people fat? I said, oh, I'll give you that answer. I said, god has allowed some people to be fat to see whether the thin people will judge them or not. So he's actually judging the thin people during that process. If everybody were thin, how would you find out who are the proud thin people? But god allows some people to be fat so he can identify, ah, that's the guy. That's the one who judges all the fat people. We can immediately draw a line between the proud thin people and the humble thin people who acknowledge that god has made them. Or, you know, the same thing with if a pretty girl or a handsome boy despises someone who's not good-looking, that is the pretty handsome one who's being judged by god. The moment we look at somebody else who we feel is a little inferior to us, not according to god's standards, but according to the world's standards, and it's amazing how many young people, their mind is governed by the world's standards. They're judged by the world's standards. I have tried, it's not easy, but I've tried through the years to train my mind to think like god thinks. You know that you men are tempted by pretty girls in a way you're not tempted by ugly girls. Train your mind to think of girls the way god thinks. Lord, what do you think of that girl? I'll tell you. A soul that needs to be saved. A soul for whom Jesus died. I've urged people who are tempted by internet pornography that poor girl who is exposing her body on the screen before cameras and portrayed in movies and computers, that could be a number of reasons why she's doing it. It could be that she's so poor, not from a family like yours where you had enough money, she's so poor that there was no other way for her to make money. She didn't have education, so she had to sell her body to make money. Are you going to pay money for that? To exploit that poor girl? Or secondly, somebody may have kidnapped her and forced her into that with threats. That happens in India often. What if it were your sister? Kidnapped by somebody and taken off to some unknown place where you don't even know and forced into prostitution or pornography and everybody thinks she's just doing it for money. No, she hated it. She was kidnapped and taken. That's that poor girl there. Whatever be the reason, you need to ask yourself, would you want your sister to stand like that naked before a camera? No? Or your mother? Even if they make money out of it? And if you won't allow your sister or a mother to do it, why do you want to look at somebody else's sister or mother? You got to train your mind. It's by the renewal of our mind that we know the will of God and that we can overcome sin. What I'm giving you is part of the armor. It says, arm your mind, 1 Peter 4.1, so that you can stop sinning. We got to arm our mind with every type of armor to stop sinning. We have to look at beauty the way God looks at it. Look at the Song of Solomon. Let me show you. Song of Solomon and Chapter 1. This is the bride. The Song of Solomon is a picture of Christ and his bride. And the bride says, in Song of Solomon, Chapter 1. Have you all got it? Song of Solomon? Chapter 1, verse 5. I am black, but I'm lovely. It's amazing. I'm black, but I'm lovely in the king's eyes. Not necessarily in the eyes of people. And Chapter 2, verse 4. This king has brought me to his banqueting house, this black girl who is not lovely in the eyes of people. And his banner over me is love. God has picked out people whom the world does not appreciate. Turn to 1 Corinthians in Chapter 1. I'm giving you verses to arm your mind so that you don't sin. The armor that can protect you from the fiery darts of temptation. Whether it's the temptation to sexual lust or the temptation to feel inferior and to condemn yourself. And especially when you come in the midst of other young people like that, even in a youth camp. And I don't know what all activities you have gone through here. But the ones who come first in these activities are usually the smartest and the cleverest who come first in the school too. People who got a good memory are the ones who win the Bible quiz competitions. Not necessarily the most spiritual. A lot of spiritual people may not have a good memory for Bible verses. In a Bible quiz competition, if the devil were here, he'd win first prize all the time. Please remember that. He knows every verse in the Bible better than anybody, better than me. I'm not saying we shouldn't know the Bible. But I'm saying don't glory in the fact that you won some prize. It doesn't make you spiritual. And so many other things. There are people whose minds are sharp and clever. There are people who are fantastically gifted in singing and music. And you sit there, you can't play an instrument, you can't sing one note properly, and you feel inferior. I want to tell you in Jesus' name, God loves you. Just as much as He loves the others. And if a person has got a gift, whether of preaching or singing or music, and he's proud of it and he thinks he's somebody special, in God's eyes, he's the last. And you'll discover that when Christ comes again. That some of these people who were very smart in your eyes, were lost in God's eyes. Because I'll tell you something, God values humility and honesty more than anything else. If there are two things I would advise all of you to pursue, from my 52 years of experience as a believer, pursue humility, pursue honesty. I'm not preaching what I have not practiced. Even today, I seek to be ruthlessly honest with myself before God. I never, never, never want to give an impression to people of something that's not true about me in private. And at the same time, I realize that God gives grace to the humble, and I'm so desperately eager for God's grace, because that is the power of His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Grace. And I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit every single day. I never want to live one moment without being filled with the Holy Spirit. You see, it's a sad thing that many people speak about being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's a very common expression. But in the New Testament, you also read of people who are full of the Holy Spirit. What is the difference? You read in Acts about people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, and then you read in the Acts about those who are full of the Holy Spirit. And I very rarely hear about people talking about being full of the Holy Spirit. It's always being filled with the Holy Spirit. There is a distinct difference. Let me use an example. What is the difference between saying… Some of you ride motorbikes. Okay, your motorbike petrol tank was filled with petrol and is full of petrol. You think there's a difference? One is something that happened in the past. When you went to the petrol station, you filled your petrol tank with petrol. It may have been last year, it may have been yesterday. But it may not be full today. A petrol tank that is full of petrol is different from a petrol tank that was filled with petrol. Remember that illustration. Not were you filled with the Holy Spirit, are you full of the Holy Spirit. Dates are not important. A lot of people glory in dates. I don't even know when I was born again. You may not know when you are filled with the Holy Spirit. I always tell people, dates are written on tombstones. You go to a graveyard, it's full of dates. Born, so and so date. What's the use? The guy is dead. And you go to some of the villages in India, most people don't know their birth date. You ask them, when were you born? He says, many years ago there was a little flood here and I wasn't born in that time. That's how they express their birth date. You say, oh, then you are not alive. If you don't know your birth date, you are not alive. Or if you don't know your birth date, you are not healthy. It's nonsense. So don't worry about dates. Make sure you are full of the Holy Spirit every day. And if you want to remain full of the Holy Spirit, pursue honesty and humility. The spirit is the spirit of grace. God gives grace to the humble. Water, the Holy Spirit is pictured like rivers of water. And you know, water always flows to the lowest place first. If you see a puddle in a ground somewhere after it rained, why is it the rest of the ground is dry and that puddle is full of water? I'll tell you why. Because that puddle, that part of the ground was the lowest part of the ground. That part of the ground is filled with water. The rest of the ground is dry. Water always flows to the lowest place. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26. Consider your calling, brethren. There are not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. God has chosen the foolish things of the world. Brother, sister, are you one of those whom the world considers foolish? Maybe you never came first in your class, in school or in college ever in your life. Maybe you didn't even come in the first half of your class. Maybe you failed in a few classes and others looked down on you. Maybe your parents looked down on you. You're a dumb creature. You're not smart. You think God can choose you? God has chosen the foolish things of the world. He may choose the wise. That's because there's no difference to Him. That's my point. The thing is, in the world we make a difference between the man who is fair and dark and the person who is fat and thin or the person who is smart and dumb. God doesn't make a distinction. All are the same to Him. Whatever the color of their skin, whatever their height, whatever their weight, however smart they are or not smart, God is the one who has given them intelligence. The only thing He is testing, listen, will you recognize that everything I have was given to me as a gift by God to use for Him? If you recognize that, you're blessed. You know the story where Jesus spoke about one person who was given one talent, another person who was given two talents, another person who was given five talents in Matthew 25. Why didn't He give them all equal? It's up to God. If you find that somebody here is five times prettier than you or five times handsomer or five times smarter or five times better in music or five times whatever, five times richer. That's God's choice. If He has given them more, He'll expect more from them. Remember that. If He's given you less, He expects less from you. And if you produce with your one talent, one more talent, you'll get the same reward as that guy with five talents produced. He has to produce five before he gets the same reward as you. These are teachings in scripture. You read Matthew 25. And so God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. You heard a brother like Setu who's never worn a pant in his life. He wears the same dhoti that all the people in his village wear. Can't speak English. But you heard him speak. I've heard him speak many, many times. Not only speak an anointed word. I've seen him build a church. The biggest of all of our churches. So big that it had to be divided up into three churches. And a man who is respected by others. Who is invited as a speaker to other places, to other states. What does he have? You think the world will be impressed by a man like that? He stands up here and speaks to people who got PhDs sitting in the congregation. God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. Because there's no respect of persons with him. And he has chosen the weak things of the world. Are you one of those who are weak? Weak intellectually, weak physically. Maybe you also got a lot of sicknesses that you don't seem to get healed from. Never, never feel discouraged by comparing yourself with others. Rejoice in the fact that I'm black, but I'm lovely in God's eyes. I'm not as healthy as others. I'm not as smart as others, but I'm lovely in God's eyes. Say that to yourself. You may not believe that when you think of me as a great smart guy standing up here, but I was not always like this. I was I felt I had a tremendous inferiority complex. Because I was the youngest and the shortest in my class in school. And when I got when I joined the military academy I was just I was selected when I was 14 and a half years old to join the military academy. And the people in my class said hey, you're going to defend our country? God have mercy on us. That's how they despised me. But and then I I felt inferior in the military academy and I became a Christian and I'd feel inferior because I felt everybody else was better than me. I never took part in public speaking or never once in school or in the military academy I didn't feel I had that ability I was shy but I said, Lord I don't want to speak in public let me speak to 2-3 people in a home. That's how I started speaking. I would gather a few people in a home maybe some nominal Christian home and say, can I come and visit your home once a week and teach the Bible to you? That was easy for me, 3-4 people sitting there who were nominal Christians and I could share the word with them and I said, Lord, I don't want to be a great preacher I just want to tell you how much I love you because you saved my soul from hell and if you can make me a blessing even to 3-4 people or some little family here, that's enough. I'll serve you with whatever opportunity you give but what happened was God began to increase that circle and increase that circle and gave me such an anointing that about 2 years after I was baptized when I was 23 years old I was standing preaching to 5000 people It's amazing what God can do He filled me with the Holy Spirit That's why I always say to young people, seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit It will change you into another man See this verse in 1 Samuel in chapter 10 1 Samuel chapter 10 this is Samuel told Saul who was not yet the king when Saul came to Samuel Samuel told him 1 Samuel chapter 10 verse 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and even you will prophesy what was never prophesied in your life and you will be changed into another human being I can testify it happened to me God filled me with the Holy Spirit and changed me into another man God will fill you with the Holy Spirit and change you into another woman Can you think of Peter who was so afraid muscular fisherman but afraid when he stands before a servant girl afraid to even say yes I know this Jesus when he was filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost he could stand not only before servant girls he could stand before the chief priest and high priest and all the other priests and say You crucified Christ How did that happen? Did he go to some management school for 2-3 years to build up his confidence rubbish he was filled with the Holy Spirit and it was not a gradual change that came in 10 years it was like that you don't believe it read how he denied Christ just before the crucifixion 40 days later 3 days later Jesus rose from the dead 40 days later he ascended to heaven and 10 days later was the day of Pentecost what is the total length of time 7 7.5 weeks in 7 weeks and even after Jesus resurrection Peter was sitting in a locked door all the disciples we don't know what the Jews will do to us Jesus appeared he said here I am they were so excited 8 days later you read this in John 20 again they locked the door even if you see the risen Jesus Christ standing in front of you you will still be afraid that's what I learned in John chapter 20 they saw him you would think that if you see the risen Jesus Christ in a vision that will change your life it won't it did not change the disciples it won't change you you think that if you hear powerful sermons they heard powerful sermons from the greatest preacher that ever walked on this earth for 3.5 years it did not change them powerful sermons will stir you for a moment even seeing a vision of the risen Jesus Christ may excite you for a moment you will still lock the door and you won't be able to do what God wants you to do but the same people when they were filled with the Holy Spirit they were changed into another person seek to be full of the Holy Spirit always and for that pursue humility I keep on telling my elder brothers and all brothers keep your face in the dust water will always flow into the lowest place it's very easy for our head to be lifted up, puffed up particularly if God uses you you've often heard me say the most difficult thing for God to do is not create the universe he could create the universe in a moment it's not difficult for God to bless a man mightily he can use a man like Peter and save 3000 Jews with a 15 minute sermon you read the Acts chapter 2 sermon would you say that was one of the most powerful sermons you've ever heard if I read Acts chapter 2 I say hey I've heard 100 sermons better than that you read it tell me if you think that's one of the anointed sermons one of the most anointed sermons you've ever heard Acts chapter 2 it's so ordinary, just a statement of certain facts but you know the result 3000 not ordinary people 3000 Jews one of the most difficult people to convert are Jews 3000 Jews were converted but you know the secret of it that man was filled with the Holy Spirit that's it and because there is so much of see I don't see in the Acts of the Apostles anybody going for except the first day of Pentecost when they were told to wait for 10 days to tarry wait, wait, wait, wait, wait because the day of Pentecost had not yet come that is the only reason to wait after that you never once read of anyone having to wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit if there is a waiting, it's not you waiting for God it is God waiting for you because in the Old Testament there was an offering called the burnt offering some of the other offerings by the way if you read Leviticus the priest could offer some of the offering to God and take some of it and take it home to have a mutton curry at home but the burnt offering he couldn't touch the burnt offering was to be completely placed on the altar every little piece cut, cut, cut, cut and placed on the altar and when the last piece was on the altar the fire would fall from heaven and burn it up it's a beautiful picture of how we can be filled with the Holy Spirit you take every part of your life piece by piece by piece by piece say Lord from today onwards it's yours my eyes, my hands, my tongue my ambitions, my plans my money, my time, my energy everything to the best of my knowledge, I'm laying it on the altar, my pride the gift I think I have, etc. I'm laying it all on the altar and consume it with your fire there is no partiality with God he'll do for you what he did for others I was desperate I said Lord I cannot survive if you don't meet with me and that's when God met with me at my lowest point of backsliding instead of sending me to hell, he filled me with the Holy Spirit teaching me forever one truth that God does not fill with the Spirit those who deserve it listen not those who deserve it but those who need it I didn't deserve but I certainly needed I'm not asking you whether you deserve you know sometimes people think I've now yielded everything I deserve, you'll never be filled and maybe that's the reason why some of you are not filled, because you think I've yielded everything so now I deserve to be filled you deserve, the only thing you deserve is hell when you come to the place where you say Lord, I don't deserve anything but hell but I'm needy, oh yes I will pour water upon him that is thirsty the Bible says not on the one who deserves maybe that's why you missed it go to God with the recognition of your own need he chooses the weak and makes them strong 1 Corinthians 1.28 the base things of the world what is that base things of the world the low cost the Dalits the lowest among the Dalits the sweepers the people who carry the dry toilets on their head to clean it out the scavengers lots of them in India today God can pick them up I worship a God like this and I love the fact that my heavenly father is like this he puts to shame all that is big and great in the eyes of men and all the things that are considered as, verse 28, as zero zero are you considered as a zero well God chooses such people to bring to nothing the things that are the people who think they are somebody and the world is full of young people who think they are somebody because they are smart, they are clever they think they are gifted etc, etc, you can be proud of all types of stupid things you can be proud of the fact that you preach and you don't ask money for preaching I say that to some of our elders don't be proud of the fact that unlike other pastors you don't take any money for your preaching you can be proud of that, God is against the proud that's a good thing that you don't preach for money but when you become proud of it God becomes your enemy you see how easy it is to become proud you do something which is according to God's will that's fine, then you become proud of it and you got into a thousand foot pit and you're worse than those other fellows who preach for money, but you think you're better you're not and the proof of it is that God doesn't bear witness to you He chooses the things that are nothing and the ultimate purpose is this, verse 29 that no man may boast before God you will discover in eternity when you stand before God that no one can boast before Him so my dear brothers I'm speaking especially to those who are sitting here brothers or sisters who are foolish weak base despised and zeros who are they? anybody here? foolish weak base despised and nobodies and nothings no gift no smartness you can't even sing the songs properly it's one of the great deceptions in Christianity today that teaches that it's only by music that we can bring the power of God into a meeting absolute garbage rubbish it's by humility and honesty I have never cared for good music I've cared for humility and honesty because I know those are the things God cares for I challenge you to show me a single verse in the Bible in the New Testament, in the New Covenant where God values music I'll show you lots of verses where it shows that he values humility and honesty you see how Christendom is being led astray I'm not against music but I say don't be discouraged if you can't, most people in India see music if you want to learn music, your parents have to be rich to give you some education to teach you music unfortunately most of us, our parents are poor you cannot afford to buy a piano so what? all the apostles their parents were poor I don't think those apostles could play a single instrument I don't know if they could sing in tune but look they turned the world upside down don't be carried away by the values of today's Christendom it's not popular to stand against these things I have found resistance in CFC when I say music is not the important thing we must be reverent in our music more than all these frothy love songs to Jesus it's so easy to be deceived think, be filled with the Holy Spirit be full of the Holy Spirit pursue humility, pursue honesty let's accomplish something for God not impress people that were so capable but I'm not against our doing everything in the best way I tell people if you go and study in a school study hard so that you can do well and if you sing songs try to make it perfect if you play a musical instrument pursue it and do it well if you preach, pursue and do it well I've tried for more than 45 years to keep on improving my preaching so that it's more anointed not more clever and perfect in the eyes of men but more anointed so my dear brothers and sisters these are days when God wants to pour out His Spirit on all flesh on men and women and boys and girls, slaves and rich equally there is no distinction before God and all can prophesy prophesy means speak forth God's Word, not in a pulpit necessarily but to individuals, to speak words to encourage others so you've been having the theme of sickness and health I'll tell you what it is to be healthy to be full of the Holy Spirit that is spiritual health if you're not full of the Holy Spirit, you're not healthy no matter how much you've understood all the messages here about spiritual anatomy and all that if you're not going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you've just got some clever thoughts and some clever pictures in your mind but you're not filled with the Holy Spirit what's the use? it's better to be healthy than to understand the theories of health seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit what is our natural condition? let me describe it to you in Isaiah chapter 1 Isaiah chapter 1 we read a picture of our spiritual condition Isaiah 1 verse 6 from the sole of the foot to the head there is nothing healthy in it there's absolutely nothing healthy, spiritually speaking from the sole of our foot to the crown of our head only bruises, wounds, sickness, disease and the reason is verse 5 because of your rebellion the whole head is sick the whole heart is faint because of rebellion, verse 5 the fundamental sin of man is rebellion every time you sin it's rebellion God, I know you told me not to lust with my eyes but I'm going to do it I told you you told me not to get angry but I'm going to do it you told me that all my words must be with grace I couldn't care less for what you say I'm going to give this fellow a piece of my mind you told me to love my enemies but this guy does not deserve to be loved, I don't care what you say I'm going to hate him I'm talking about believers I'm talking about you rebellion and therefore because of rebellion, from the head to the foot, it's just full of sin and if you recognize it you can be cleansed, the apostle Paul said in Romans 7 and verse 18, the spiritual meaning of what we read in Isaiah 1 6 Isaiah 1 6 is explained spiritually in Romans 7 verse 18 I know that nothing good dwells in me in my flesh from head to foot it is sin some of the things which I think are good are corrupt at the source even my the holy activities of mine there is sin you know in the Old Testament we are told that Aaron had to put a turban on his head I want you to see this in Exodus 28 verse 36 Exodus 28 verse 36 the Lord told Moses Aaron needs to have a turban on his head on which is written these words, holy not to man but to the Lord we all need a turban like that spiritually, I want to be holy, not before men, but to the Lord holiness before man is worthless garbage, holy to the Lord and it shall be verse 38 on Aaron's forehead and Aaron is a picture of Jesus Christ, has to take away the sin in the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, now the sin and the sinful things we can understand lust, bitterness anger, unforgiving spirit, telling lies jealousy, pride all those things, what is the sin in the holy things, have you ever confessed any of your sins in your holy things think of some sin that you confessed in your holy activities Lord when I prayed that time in public, I was really trying to impress men, I wasn't really praying to you, I was more conscious of the people, that prayer was a good thing, but there was a sin in that holy thing, or Lord that time when I shared the word of God I was very concerned what people would think about what I shared, the sharing was good, but there was a sin in that holy thing or Lord, when I got up to sing a wonderful song it was, but I was more concerned about what people thought about my voice, the song was a holy thing, but there was a sin in that holy thing, there is tremendous amount of sin in the holy things you can be a young people's leader in your little church and be pretty proud of that fact that you were selected in your church to be a leader, you are supposed to be one of the spiritual ones yeah, that's a good thing to be a young people's leader, there is a great need for that but there is a sin in that holy thing because of your attitude towards it that's why I keep on saying pursue honesty and humility these are the things that the Lord has to show us and we want to be cleansed from there is corruption from top to bottom and if God doesn't give us light, we'll never understand these things, but we can be cleansed, I'll show you how, let's turn to Leviticus your favorite book Leviticus, isn't that the book you love to read it's the book most Christians never read I'll encourage all of you to go to my little CD called 70 hours through the Bible and listen to that one hour on Leviticus it'll change your whole attitude to the book of Leviticus if you just listen to that one hour there is more mention of holiness in Leviticus than in any book in the Old Testament just by the way if you are interested in holiness of course it's difficult to understand but if you seek God, God will show you wonderful truths there, here is one of them Leviticus chapter 13 this is a chapter about the test for leprosy leprosy is a picture of sin and it's very interesting that it says Jesus healed the blind, he healed the deaf but it never says he healed the lepers, he cleansed the lepers why is that? he healed all types of sicknesses but he cleansed the lepers and even told his disciples, go and heal the sick and cleanse the lepers why leprosy in a special category that needs cleansing and not healing because it is a picture of sin Leviticus 13 verse 2 when a man has a skin of a body of swelling or a scab and it becomes an infection of leprosy, he must be brought to Aaron the priest, he must be brought to Jesus Christ who has to decide whether he is a sinner or not it's not a question of what man thinks about you, the priest will look at the mark and if the hair has turned white and the infection listen to this verse 3 the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of his body it is inside it's not just superficially it's there but the thing is deeper than the skin it is leprosy and the priest has to pronounce him unclean, he was not allowed to come inside the camp, get outside the camp, you're a sinner no other disease people were put outside the camp of Israel, only lepers do you recognize yourself to be like that? there's sins deeper than your skin underneath, people can't see you can hide it from them you recognize sin in you, you can be saved but and then he has to be examined after 7 days, I don't have time to look at all that you're going to isolate him verse 5 last part for 7 more days look at him again, he's got to be examined all the time sinners have to be examined all the time and if we read further, I want to show you this if the leprosy further down in this chapter in verse 13 and the priest shall look at him this is an amazing verse 13, 13 and the priest looks at him and if the leprosy has covered his whole body then you don't call him the worst leper of all, he'll pronounce him clean how's that? I mean if he's got a patch here, a patch there, a thousand patches he's unclean, get out, but if it has covered the whole body, he's clean you know what that means? when God finds a man who says Lord I've got this sin here, that sin here, the other things in here, he's not ready yet but when he says Lord there's nothing good in me from top to bottom I'm just full of sin, sin, sin sin, sin in my holy things sin in my sinful things I am just full of leprosy from top to bottom, God says you can be clean that's the only fellow who can be clean are there anybody here like that? in my flesh that dwells no good thing let me let me give you a couple of two, three instances of leprosy in the Old Testament as a warning numbers twelve, I don't have time to go into it in detail, read it in your own time Miriam Moses' sister got leprosy numbers twelve, ten, the reason is she rebelled against authority authority Moses was maybe ten, twelve years younger to her, she was the sister who looked after him when he was a baby and she thought she could criticize this man of God a lot of people who get leprosy like that just be careful keep your mouth shut and humble yourself God has not called you to speak against such people maybe God called somebody else but be careful that's one way of leprosy another is take time to read those chapters 2nd Kings and chapter 5 where we read of verse 15 onwards about Gehazi Gehazi was the servant of Elisha Elisha was the servant of Elijah Elijah Elijah got a double portion of Elijah's anointing Gehazi got a double portion of Elisha's anointing but instead of that, instead of the anointing he got leprosy because he ran after somebody for money he pursued money and he was dishonest and he told lies to get money and he got leprosy and his children got leprosy it's amazing how when we are proud and corrupt it affects our children and one more example in 2nd Chronicles in chapter 26 you read about a king whom God blessed tremendously called Uzziah God blessed him so much but it says in 2nd Chronicles 26 verse 16 when he became strong his heart was proud and he went into a ministry that God did not call him to he was a king he had no right to be a priest but he thought hey God has blessed me so much as a king I can also do the ministry of a priest and he went into the temple to offer a sacrifice which he was not supposed to do and what did he get verse 19 leprosy those are a few examples meditate on them humble yourself let God give you a ministry don't try to seek for something yourself push your way up try to show that you are better than others you'll be like king Uzziah and destroy yourself I can say before God that in all these 52 years I've been a Christian I have never once never never once tried to push myself into any ministry anywhere I've been pushed down by many people and when they pushed me down God said shut your mouth and sit down quietly and I've done it and God has lifted me up again and again in different places but I never never tried to push myself up I'd be scared I'd get leprosy like Uzziah I've tried my best not to rebel against authority and I've tried my best never to go after money or to do anything like Gehazi do you value the anointing of God I want to say to all of you my dear brothers and sisters God can do amazing things through ordinary people Peter James and John which are great names today they were ordinary unknown fishermen once upon a time but God lifted them up and did an amazing work through them and He can do that through you that's our encouragement they never went to Bible school but they walked with Jesus and they walked with humility and honesty and they were full of the Holy Spirit I hope you are encouraged let's pray let's bow our heads before God seek for the spiritual health of being full of the Holy Spirit even you the weakest the most insignificant person here the poorest the most uneducated the one who thinks the least of yourself the one who's not gifted you're the one God is calling today to be His servant He says to you my son my daughter you may not be precious in the eyes of men but you're precious in my eyes isn't that enough for you why do you want the approval of men when I've given you my approval why do you want human beings to rejoice over you when I said that I rejoice over you seek my face be happy with me the Lord says and always live before me make a decision today in your life that you will no longer live for the approval of men that you will no longer glory in the empty things that human beings glory in and pursue humility honesty all the days of your life keep a good conscience always be quick to confess sin be quick to ask forgiveness Heavenly Father bless these dear young people there's such tremendous potential here to shake major parts of India but I know the devil also wants to compromise and spoil them I pray you'll give them wisdom and nobody here will go away discouraged everybody will go away encouraged and full of the Holy Spirit I pray in Jesus name Amen God bless you all