In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of patience and listening to God's word. He uses the example of the church in Ephesus, which started out strong but eventually declined spiritually. The speaker highlights the contrast between the large-heartedness of the Ephesian church and the narrow-mindedness of the Corinthians. He warns against the sin of jealousy, which he believes narrows the hearts of believers. The speaker also discusses the importance of seeking God for personal gain rather than for the glory of God. He addresses the issue of lusting with the eyes and emphasizes that it dishonors God. The speaker concludes by urging the audience to reflect on these teachings and apply them to their own lives.

I want to turn to a verse in 2nd Corinthians. We know that the Corinthian Christians were very carnal, they were babes. There was a lot of conflict in that church. And Paul writes to them in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6, verse 11. Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange, I speak as to children. Open wide to us also, or as King James says, be enlarged. See, the problem with the Christians in Corinth was their heart was so narrow. Paul's heart was very wide. Whereas the Corinthian Christians, their heart was very narrow. And that is the problem also with a lot of believers. As I was saying, in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6, the Corinthians, their heart was narrow. And that was the reason why they were fleshly and babes and never grew spiritually. And I found through the years that that is the problem with many, many believers. That their hearts never seem to get enlarged. Even though they've been believers for many years, they've asked Jesus to come into their life. But their heart is so narrow. And it's a great tragedy, brothers and sisters, if we spend all our life and end up with narrow hearts. Never becoming what God wants us to be. I think of two areas. It says in Ephesians chapter 1, Ephesians chapter 1, verse 15. Paul says to the Corinthians, When I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. There are two things that make a person's heart narrow or large. Faith and love. The thing that Paul always looked for. What is it that the Ephesian Christians had which the Corinthians did not have? It was faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints. When Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, it's one of those unique episodes where he's got nothing to correct in them. No wrong doctrine that they were going into. It was just encouragement and exhortation. Imagine if we can be a church like that where the Holy Spirit looks at us and gives us a word. He's got absolutely nothing to correct in us. I want to be like that. Where, in other words, it's not that there's nothing wrong in us, but that we're so quick to respond. The Lord does not have to say something to us twice. Many of you are parents. You know the children who you say something and they don't listen. And you have to say that a second time. And you say that a third time. And you get frustrated. Can you imagine the frustration God has with some of us to whom he has said something 50 times? And we're still doing the same thing. Remember that the next time you get frustrated with your children. Be a little patient with them. Think of the number of times God has said something to you. And you just listen. That's something we must take heed to, brothers and sisters. It's wonderful when I think, I say, Lord, this church. Now this church in Ephesus became pretty bad after some time. And that usually happens. Churches that start so well end up, you know, declining spiritually. But when it started out, it was a wonderful church. It was a church that was spiritually on fire. Everything was right. And they had faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints. And their hearts were large. Whereas the Corinthians, their faith was so narrow and their love for other people was so narrow. And so their hearts were narrow. And that's something that we need to think about. What is it that's making our hearts narrow? You know, if I, first of all, think of faith. If my attitude towards the Lord is one where I can't believe that he loves me perfectly in spite of what I am. If I can't believe that he knows everything about me, every little, we know some of the rotten things inside ourselves. God knows much more. He knows everything that I'm going to do in the future. I don't know. I may be going to do some stupid thing next week or next year. I don't even know that. But God knows it. He knows everything all the way to the end of time. I'll tell you, this will really help you. You know, faith is to believe that God loves us. And if you can believe, if you can know, and it's really true, that God knows everything that's going to happen, that you're going to do, all the way to the end of your life. And he still loves you. And it's not that he chose you without knowing all that you're going to do. He knows everything you're going to do. And he still chose you. That is the basis on which we have faith. That God loves me just as I have. This is the thing that will enlarge our hearts. Otherwise, we'll find that our hearts become narrow. I can't believe that God loves me and that leads to discouragement. It leads to self-condemnation. This is the first area. If I don't really seek to fight the battle here and say, Lord, I'm going to trust you. I'm going to really trust you that you love me just as I am. That you know everything that's going to take place all the way to the end of my life. And you still love me. Absolutely no doubt about it. That will lead us to a larger heart. And that will also lead us to an attitude towards others, which is the way God wants us to have it. Love towards all the saints. In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul says, Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 17 and 18, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Here it says that if you want to know the love of Christ, you have to know it along with all the saints. You can't know it all by yourself. If you seek to know the love of Christ just by yourself, you won't know it. And if it means all the saints, that means if I cut off somebody from, for some reason, I mean, I got a prejudice against that person or a grudge against that person or bitterness against somebody, you know who's going to be the loser? I'm going to be the loser. My heart's going to be narrow. You know, if only we could see this, what happens inside us when our attitude towards other changes. I tell you, we would stop sinning quickly. We'd never have a wrong attitude towards a single person in the whole world. It's like people who smoke cigarettes. Every time they smoke cigarettes, their lungs become a little more gray. It gets darker and darker and darker and darker. And if only every time a man smokes a cigarette, he could see the condition of his lungs, he'd shut smoking immediately. But he can't see it. He can't see that his lungs are getting worse and worse and worse and worse. It's like people who drink alcohol. If they could see every time they drink alcohol, what's happening to their liver, it's getting worse and worse and worse and worse. They'd quit drinking immediately. But we've seen the danger of perhaps smoking and drinking without all those pictures, but we haven't seen what is far more serious. And that is when you have a wrong attitude towards another believer, your heart becomes a little more narrow. And when it becomes a little more narrow, it's like, you know, rust getting inside the pipes that bring water to your house and you find a little trickle of water coming through the tap. That's exactly what happens. And we pray to God and say, God, do mighty things for me. And God can send rivers through it, but only a little trickle comes through your tap because you have narrowed your heart by wrong attitude towards somebody else. That all the prayers of all the people, most godly people in the world just won't help you. And that's what happened to the Corinthians. The reason why God could use Paul continuously towards the end of his life was because he kept his heart large. I mean, even when the Corinthians said, Hey, Paul, you're not an apostle. It didn't make a difference to him. He said, that's fine. If you want to think of me like that, it makes no difference to me. Think if you can have an attitude like that, that somebody despises you. Now, somebody despising you cannot narrow your heart. It's your reaction to that that suddenly makes your heart narrow. Remember that. Nobody outside of you can make your heart narrow. Your pipe becomes small because you choose to react in a wrong way to the way somebody else treats you. And on the other hand, you see, the reverse is also true, that if you react in a right way to that person, your heart suddenly becomes larger. You know, if I love somebody who loves me, that's great. And Jesus said, even the world people do that. But if I love somebody who hates me, my heart suddenly becomes larger. And I suddenly find water gushing out of my tap. And I wonder why. It's because you decided to love somebody who hates you. I mean, these are principles that Jesus taught us in Scripture. He said these words in Matthew chapter 5, and I could paraphrase it like this. In Matthew chapter 5, he said, verse 46, if you love somebody who loves you, what's so great about that? Or verse 47, if you greet only those brothers who greet you, what's great about that? You greet only your brothers means, if my, I look at it like this, that if my attitude towards a person in my church, because he belongs to my church, and I have a warm attitude towards him, let's say a believer, born again believer, who loves the Lord, but who does not come to CFC, but goes to some other church, maybe he finds that church is better. Okay, praise the Lord. If I can't have a large heart towards him, if I can't greet him just like I greet another brother who is in my own church, that word applies to me. You greet, let me paraphrase, you greet only the brothers from your own church, what's great about that? Even the communists greet their fellow communists, and people who belong to the same cult will greet people in the same cult. There's nothing great about that. There's nothing great about your loving somebody who loves you, giving gifts to somebody who gives gifts to you. It doesn't enlarge your heart. If that happened, then everybody in the world, the communists would have large hearts, and the people in the cults would have large hearts, because they give gifts to one another. But it's when we do something which people in the world don't do. That is, I'm happy to meet someone who doesn't agree with me, but who loves the Lord. He's my brother in Christ, and along with all the saints, I can experience the length and breadth, the depth, the height, the love of Christ which passes all knowledge. And I'll tell you something, you've got to really discipline yourself to do that. When we think of taking up the cross, and following Jesus, this is one of those areas where the cross comes in. The cross is something that puts my natural reaction to something to death. My natural attitude, the attitude of all human beings, is to love those who love me. Jesus said that, to greet those who greet, and ignore the others. And I'll tell you, we have to make a deliberate effort in this area. So, I mean, the only people who do that are those who are serious about enlarging their heart. Last Wednesday, we were considering the difference between the mind and the heart. You can understand so many things in the mind, and your heart may not be touched at all. And that's the reason why I was saying how many people don't have faith. Because faith, there's a difference between mind faith and heart faith. Mind faith is, I believe the sun will rise tomorrow morning. I believe that two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen make water. There's so many things I can believe in my mind. I have absolute faith. He doesn't change my life one bit. He doesn't make me more spiritual. He doesn't draw me closer to God. I can write down a thousand things that I believe in my mind. The sun will rise tomorrow morning. Jesus Christ is God. H2 plus O is water. Christ died for my sins. It's all in the same category. He doesn't change my life one bit. But when this comes into the heart, the Bible always speaks about believe in your heart. And when my heart trusts in that, all of a sudden, something happens. I believe it's like that with assurance of salvation. I remember in my own life, I think I must have asked Jesus to come into my heart maybe first when I was 13. Maybe 100, 200, 300 times I asked Him to come into my heart. I didn't know whether He came or not. It was all in the mind. I said the right thing. I believed the right thing. But one day, I paid in my heart. The simple word, Him that cometh to me, I'll never cast out. I believed it. I've never had a doubt in nearly 48 years now. It's amazing. With mind faith, you keep on doubting, doubting, doubting, doubting. And one day it comes in your heart and you don't doubt at all for the rest of your life. I believe this is why you find some people also struggling to get healing. They believe everything in their mind. They believe, believe, believe, believe, believe, but nothing happens. One day it comes into their heart and they're healed. Physically. The same with baptism in the Holy Spirit. So many people pray, Lord, I believe, I believe, I believe, I'm sure you love me, everything. One day it comes in your heart and you're baptized in the Holy Spirit. It was like that with me. And the same here. I can know things in my head. My mind may be large, not just with earthly knowledge, with Bible knowledge. What I need to get enlarged is my heart. And the heart does not get enlarged by listening to meetings, listening to messages. You know, we get so much information when we come here Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. Do you think your heart is getting enlarged? No. Your mind is getting enlarged. You're getting so much information. It's correct information. When I say the sun will rise tomorrow morning, that's correct information. When I say that H2 plus O is water or 2 plus 2 is 4, that's correct information. It's not false. It's not wrong doctrine. But it does not enlarge our heart. And I've discovered this is the reason why so many people have so much knowledge never seem to become spiritual. I used to always be puzzled with the fact that so many people in our churches have heard so much and I say, Lord, why are they not spiritual? Why are they not overcoming? Why are they still defeated after so many years by petty little sins which even other people in other churches overcome who don't hear about victory? And this is what the Lord showed me. It's their mind that's getting enlarged, not their heart. Tell them to enlarge their heart. How does your heart get enlarged? When you can love somebody who doesn't love you. When you stop looking at people with those critical eyes to find fault with anything you see. Do you think people with large minds who know all the doctrines can be critical in their attitude? Sure. The Pharisees were like that. They had more knowledge of the Scriptures than anybody in Israel. But their hearts were so narrow. They were so critical. Any little thing, they'd find fault with people. In fact, they looked at people to find fault with them. They looked at Jesus to find fault with Him. I remember the years when my eyes were like that too. I'd look at a believer and all I'd look for was to find something I could criticize. And my life was miserable. I don't know if their life was miserable, but my life was miserable. And I decided I'm not going to be like that anymore. Why should I waste my life? I've got only one life on earth and I'm not going to be miserable anymore. I'm not going to look at people to find fault in them. It's just changing your view. There's an expression in English called tunnel vision. It's sort of a medical condition maybe. Tunnel vision means you can only see in a narrow, you can't see everything. It's like looking through a tunnel. When you're inside a tunnel. Creation can be so full of beauty, birds and the flowers and the sky and everything, but you can't see anything inside a tunnel. All you can see is that little light at the end of it. That's tunnel vision. Yeah, you can see a little bit of sky there and a little bit of grass at the end of the tunnel and that's the way a lot of Christians are. It's because they've made their vision like that. Their hearts are like that. And despite all their knowledge of scripture, they're so critical of others. Critical, critical, critical, critical. You know that passage in scripture where it says the Pharisees watched him closely to see if there was something he would say that they could latch on to to find fault with him. God allows that. God allows us to see sometimes a fault. Even in the most godly man on earth. I've met some very, very godly men whose lives have challenged me tremendously and then God will allow me to find one little fault in them and then the Lord would test me. One, are you going to be taken up with that one fault and miss out on what a blessing that man can be to you? Or, you can go one step further. Are you going to talk about that one fault to other people which you see in that person? And you are not even one percent of that man, spiritually. But there you are finding fault. I did that in my younger days and I can tell you don't do the stupid foolish things I did. I never had a spiritual father to tell me all these things. You have somebody. You folks are lucky. I'll advise you if you want to make good use of your life get out of this tunnel. Stop looking at this narrow little thing and have a larger view. And remember God is testing you when he allows you to see some mistake in somebody who is a thousand times more spiritual than you. He sees whether you will concentrate on that mistake. It's a test. Many of you have been tested in past years and you know that you failed the test because you concentrated on that one thing. And the reason for it could be that you were a bit jealous of that person. Do you know one of the greatest sins among believers which narrows their heart and keeps it narrow is jealousy. I'm convinced of that. I've watched believers for 48 years and I've seen a tremendous amount of jealousy in very very good people who are otherwise very good. They can't have a joy in somebody being able to do something better than them. Somebody having something better than them. It's a matter of taking up the cross. This is the cross. You know we can talk about taking up the cross but when God allows you to see somebody who is better than you more spiritual than you richer than you and he's a believer he sees what your attitude is going to be towards that person. And you won't know it for a long time that God is testing you. That's one of the things I learned in the book of Job. You know in the book of Job you can see something about what I've been saying here about having a narrow heart or a large heart. Job was a wonderful man but because he was so proud of his own righteousness his heart became very narrow. See that's another thing we got to remember. You can be a very godly brother or a godly sister and you are very conscious of it that I am much better than everybody else and I am more spiritual and I am more humble and that makes your heart narrow. You've destroyed all that you accomplished with just your little pride and the fact that you feel you're a little superior to others in whatever it is that you think you're superior in. That was Job's problem. God himself said that there was nobody better on the face of the earth than Job. For God to know it, it's okay. The trouble was Job also felt like that. There's nobody better than me on the face of the earth. Now if you are the best person on the earth it's good that God knows it but it's better you don't know that. That'll destroy you. And that's what Job, God wanted to do in Job. God wanted to get rid I mean he was already a man who feared God. Imagine he was in his day 4,000 years ago he wasn't even lusting after women. Imagine that. We've got people today who read Matthew chapter 5 will still do it. Here was a guy who did not have Matthew 5 who did not have the Bible who didn't do it 4,000 years ago. Can you imagine what a man he was? He had no Bible and he did almost everything that Jesus taught us to do. You read in Job 29, 30, 31 how that guy lived. It's absolutely amazing. But in spite of all the good that he did his heart was narrow because he was proud of it all. He was conscious of it all. He kept a mental record of all the good that he did. I did this and I did this and I did all this to this other person. That narrowed his heart and God said this man is so good I can't leave him like that. I've got to do something to enlarge his heart and make him a really spiritual man and the only way God could do it was by taking him through unimaginable trials. And in the book of Job I see these other three preachers who came to preach at him who had very narrow hearts. Their hearts never became large even at the end of the story. It remained narrow and they probably died like that. Because God saw that their attitude was not right. You know I'll tell you something if God sees that you are basically a very sincere person who is very sensitive to immediately respond to what the Holy Spirit is saying you hear a word and you listen to it and you humble yourself God will do amazing things for you. But if he sees that you are one of those who is you know watching other people closely to find fault and you feel that everything is okay with yourself he'll probably leave you alone. See Job was a man with mistakes and these other three preachers were also people with mistakes. Why did God pick out Job and take him through trials and enlarge his heart and leave the other fellows alone? You know live a comfortable life and die in your pathetic narrow hearted state. Because I see God making so difference. God looks at all of us today. He sees all of us eagerly coming Sunday morning to listen to the meeting to the message. But I don't think he sees that all of us are equally sincere. He knows those who have a hunger after him who are really longing to be like Jesus and the others for whom they just want a good reputation or something like that. But what I want to show you is here in the book of Job this man was not only a very spiritual man he was a very rich man and that's what bothers a lot of believers. When somebody is not only spiritual but he is also rich. Have you noticed that in your heart? I don't know. I mean you'd be happy if somebody is very spiritual and he was very poor living in a hut. Oh you could really love him. But when you see that he is a thousand times more spiritual than you and probably ten times richer than you as well that really bugs you. For you are like Job's preacher friends. Does that bother you? That somebody is not only spiritual but he is rich? I think that was the thing that bothered these three preacher friends of theirs. They would have loved Job more if he was a poor man living in a hut. But they couldn't stand the fact that this man had not only a house but he had built ten houses for his ten children. Oh! They found something to find fault in. Can such a man be spiritual they would say. Well God said he was the most spiritual man on earth. Even though he was so rich. Teaching me one thing that God doesn't care whether a man is poor or rich. It's just like saying I mean we can believe that God doesn't care whether a man is white or yellow or black. That we all understand. But I don't think we all understand that God doesn't care whether a man is poor or rich whether he's got a very high job in society or low job. You know I'll tell you I have met many many believers even in our churches who think that if someone who's very high up in this world would come to that church they say ah he can't be spiritual. They're like Job's preacher friends but they don't realize it themselves. They think they're being like Jesus. No. They say Zacchaeus he's a rich man he can't have any interest in anything spiritual. They were wrong. Jesus went and accepted him. The same prejudice that many white people have against black people much more hundred years ago many believers in our churches have against someone who is maybe very highly educated they think ah he can't be spiritual. He has a PhD. How can a PhD person be spiritual? I've seen PhD people who are ten times more spiritual than people who never went to school. Is that possible? See it's because we've got a prejudice. We don't realize that prejudice. We've got a some people have a prejudice against black people some people have a prejudice against poor people some people have a prejudice against rich people. Some people have a prejudice against ah those uneducated people. Some people have a prejudice oh these highly educated people. Why? Because they themselves are not highly educated. These are the things that give us tunnel vision. I'm just pointing it out to you. It could be something else in your life. But I want to tell you this. If you have a prejudice against somebody else because of the color of his skin or his wealth or his education or something else you won't affect him at all. But you will live with trickles coming out of your tap. Paul said to the Corinthians enlarge your heart. I really believe our hearts need to be enlarged. One of the things I have prayed is to God I prayed many many years and I'll tell you it doesn't happen overnight. It does not happen overnight. His Lord help me to see people as you see them. I would really encourage all of you to pray that prayer. It will enlarge your heart. You know think of this. You know the easy part is this. All of us agree that God doesn't look at a man and see whether he's black or brown or yellow. That part is easy. That's kindergarten stuff. We all get through the kindergarten pretty quickly. I don't think there's anybody here sitting here who thinks that God's got a preference for black people or brown people or yellow people or white people. None of us. But we do have. Don't just turn this word away and say no no no it doesn't apply to me. I want to say to you it does apply to some of you. It does apply to some of you who have been here for many years. You can't see certain people the way God sees them. You feel that God you feel a little that that person can't be spiritual like I said because like Job is rich or somebody else is highly educated or somebody else has ten times the wealth you have. Can he be spiritual? Maybe he's a thousand times more spiritual than you. These are the prejudices we must break down. God looks at the heart. Full stop. He doesn't look at the size of your house. You know you can be so narrow minded that you can see a sister wearing high heels. She can't be spiritual. This is tunnel vision. You think believers don't have it? I've seen lots of believers have it. You know it's the way different people judge others. I've noticed in many Indian women who judge other say western sisters for the way they dress. I remember once a western brother who came here some years ago told me he says I'm absolutely amazed that these women in India who wear blouses expose their midriffs. He says in the west no spiritually minded sister would ever expose her midriffs. But I've seen women with exposed midriffs who would judge somebody who was dressed in a western way because their legs are exposed. You know Indian women don't expose their legs. These are the type of things tunnel vision what I'm used to in my culture that's the way God is. I'm sorry to disappoint you. God doesn't fit into your culture. God is not an Indian. Do you know that? He's not an American either. I mean we all know he's not American. But how many of you know he's not Indian? It's really true you know. We have so much tunnel vision and I've gone through this phase. I'm just telling you the things which God got out of my system. We're all the same basically when we start with prejudice. And I determined, I said Lord I may have been born with a narrow heart but I'm not going to die with a narrow heart. That's for sure. I had a very narrow heart when I was born again. But I'm not going to end my life like that. That's for sure. You make that determination. Lord I'm not going to be narrow hearted. I'm going to be large like Jesus was. I've ministered in a lot of churches where they won't allow a person who is divorced to, I mean they would turn out such a person immediately. Now I'm against divorce as much as God is. I'm against divorce and remarriage just like Jesus spoke about it in Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 19, etc. But I think of one woman who was divorced five times. Let me tell you about one sister who was divorced five times. And not only that she was now having divorced her fifth husband. She was now so immoral she was living with another man whom she was not even married to. Nobody cared for her. No church, nobody would help her. But Jesus went to her, met with her and used her to bring a revival in that whole city. I'm just telling you what I read in John chapter 4. Now you can accept that in John chapter 4 but if you see a woman like that today you say no, no, no, God can't use that woman to bring a revival. He doesn't use you either. You've never divorced anybody but God doesn't use you to bring anybody. Think of the unlikely people whom God uses. Can you accept that? Can you believe in John chapter 4 that the whole city came out to meet Jesus because of what this one woman said? I see the largeness of Jesus' heart. We think God cannot use that person. He cannot use this person. How can God use a person who has been divorced five times? Well, he blessed all the poor in spirit. God gives the kingdom of heaven to such people. The poor in spirit are those who say, Lord, I'm a needy person. I don't claim to be better than anybody else. I'm just a needy person. I'll tell you one thing. In the city of Samaria at that time perhaps that woman was more poor in spirit than anybody else in the whole city. All the fellows who went to the synagogues and people who sat on the elders' chairs they were not as poor in spirit as this woman. Their external life may have been better but they didn't have a sense of need. Isn't it interesting that the Sermon on the Mount the Lord begins with, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I'll tell you something about those who are poor in spirit. They don't watch other people closely to see what's wrong with them. They've got enough problems in their own lives to judge themselves. And if you're like that I tell you the whole kingdom of heaven is yours. And it's amazing how God will use you. Is it possible that when you stand before the Lord the Lord may say to you you know I wanted to use you much more than you actually did than I actually could on earth. You say Lord why couldn't you use me? He says your heart was so narrow the Lord will say. You were always watching other people to find what was wrong with them and your heart remained narrow and I spoke to you again and again and again and again in the meetings but you wouldn't listen. You remained with your narrow heart looking at other people. And you allowed jealousy to come in. That's what happened to these three preacher friends of Job. I have a feeling now it's not written in the scriptures but knowing human nature I have a guess that these three preacher friends of Job were jealous of Job. Because they could see he was far more spiritual than them they could see he was far more respected than them and they could see that he was much better off than them. He had ten God fearing children. Imagine that. How would you look at someone who is far more spiritual than you and far wealthier than you and far more influential than you and who's got ten godly children and he's built ten houses for them he's fantastically rich and on top of that he's so spiritual and he's got a word the young people listen to him Job says that he says when I opened my mouth the young people would sit there and listen to me and here you are looking at this man waiting to find some fault in him to tear him down or it could be a sister you look at some sister whom you're jealous of because she has so much more than you maybe more acceptance more wealth or whatever it is and you always look to find some fault and you always try to tear the person down who are you destroying? Yourself. That's what we learn from the book of Job and one day see how God tested them How does God expose Pharisees? He allows a godly man to become sick not only to make that man large hearted but to find out who are all the Pharisees here who will now pass their judgment on why this godly man has become sick there must be some sin we knew there was something wrong with this fellow Job all along you know he looked very spiritual and all at last we see do you find that type of delight when somebody you don't like has got a bit sick so that it shows at last you can prove that that guy was not as spiritual because you don't like the fact that he is spiritual you know it's amazing we are supposed to be children of God the non-Christians appreciate godly men more than many Christians the Christians are jealous the non-Christians look at them and say well that's a fine man but you can't say that the non-Christians will look at somebody and say that's a godly woman but you can't say that because there is a jealousy there there is a jealousy well I can only tell you to deal with it in your own interest I mean even if you are the most selfish person in the world please consider yourself and get a large heart because it's good for you I mean the best thing you can do for yourself is to get a large heart and even if you are selfish the best thing you can do for yourself is to get a large heart it will bless you move on from there to I mean start with that at least and then move on to the place where you want to have a large heart because it glorifies God isn't it a pity that I have to preach saying you should have a large heart because it blesses you because if I were to preach saying you should have a large heart because it glorifies God that might not interest you so much but we'll start at the low level start, get a large heart because it blesses you brother it blesses you sister aha that's where we begin you shouldn't stay there you remember the prodigal son why did he come home? did he kneel down there in the pigsty and say oh I've dishonored God so much I've got so much dishonor to my father I think I must go and repent not at all I'm hungry I want something for myself and that is the only motivation with which God can bring many people to Him initially that is why I say get a large heart because it's good for you it's pathetic if that's the only motivation but what to do? but at least begin there get back to God and then come to the place where you want to have a large heart because it glorifies God whether it does good to me or not is unimportant then you become really spiritual Jesus didn't have a large heart because that was good for Him but that's a long way you know when we're in the kindergarten we can't think of PhD at all we'll wait a few years before we think of PhD we started the kindergarten stuff which is I want to have a large heart because it's good for me I want to go home to my father's house because I'm hungry I want some food for myself okay the Lord says come you know He'll accept you on that basis supposing you come to Jesus and say Lord I don't want to go to hell will you accept me and take me to heaven He says sure come do you think a man who is seeking to escape hell is really concerned about the glory of God and all that no no no no no no how to stop people from lusting with their eyes supposing I say there are two ways to put it you know if you lust with your eyes it dishonors God so much don't do it brother don't look at internet pornography because it dishonors God so much most Christians it won't even shake I'd say 99% of Christians because 99% of believers are not spiritual my conviction is in my experience only 1% of believers I've met in my life are really spiritually minded that means everything in their life they are concerned about the glory of God not what's good for them so even Jesus recognized that so when He warns people about lusting with the eyes how does He put it in the most spiritual sermon found in the whole Bible Sermon on the Mount He doesn't say don't lust with your eyes because that will dishonor God because He knows people won't respond to that He said don't lust with your eyes because you'll go to hell that's what He says in Matthew 5 oh ok Lord I'll stop lusting because that's how we are oh it will affect me is it or next thing is don't criticize people in the church to your children because it will destroy your children oh it will destroy my children ok I'll stop criticizing people in the church not because it dishonors God or anything I want my children to be spiritual so I will not speak evil about anybody in the church to them good at least you've joined kindergarten thank God you're not outside the school at least for the sake of bringing up your children properly you'll stop speaking evil in your home but don't you realize what a pathetic level that is I mean do you want to be in kindergarten all your life I'm not saying you shouldn't come there come there everybody joins church in kindergarten but don't stay there move to the place where Lord it dishonors you if I lust with my eyes it dishonors you if I speak evil of others it dishonors you if I'm jealous of someone so how should I speak about an enlarged heart supposing I say let's have an enlarged heart brothers because that glorifies God I don't think it will move anybody here but if I say if you have an enlarged heart God can use you mightily I better work on that now start there there's nothing wrong in that you know the Bible says if a man cleanses himself from these things 2 Timothy 2 verse 22 if a man cleanses himself he can be a vessel useful for the master oh then I better cleanse myself I want God to use me it's second best the best is if you can say Lord I want to cleanse myself because it dishonors you it will honor you more never mind whether God uses me or not that's how Jesus lived Jesus didn't keep his heart pure because he wanted the Father to use him no you know what it means to be like Christ so these preachers they were so jealous that they got a little delight in their heart when they heard that Job was sick and how do you react when you find some brother whom you don't love so much brother in your church maybe a very godly brother but you hear that something went wrong there in his family or his life and you find a secret little delight even though you've been in the church 25 years it's not changed this attitude they're still in the kindergarten and so what do you do you go to his house visit him because you heard he's sick oh brother we're so sorry to hear that you are sick all this expression of apparent sorrow that's exactly what these actors did they were as good at acting as we are they went to Job and they threw sand on their heads we don't do that now because it's not our culture but they tore their robes and did all types of things like that and to show that they were sorry and then God exposed them maybe they prayed for him oh lord please heal Job they didn't really mean it and then they told him their real heart came out and I'll tell you this if God loves you he will expose what is in your heart in some situation it will come out of your mouth and if you have eyes to see he will see for yourself think back my brothers and sisters in past years haven't you spoken evil and criticized people who were 10,000 times more spiritual than you are people whom God has used 10,000 times more than you why did you do it you don't speak of the evil of the non-Christians like that but it is a person maybe in your church whom you were jealous of you didn't like and that's why after 25, 30 years your heart is so narrow you have tunnel vision well we can only hear the word it's up to us to decide whether we want to respond to it or not Paul said to the Corinthians enlarge your hearts my dear brothers our heart is enlarged towards you and I would say that to all of you God is not able no matter how many times we pray you know for example that prayer where that place where it says when you ask the elders to come and pray for you when you are sick confess your sins because sin is very often the cause of many many sicknesses confess it so that you can get this problem out of the way and I want to say the same thing to you there is something God wants to do through you make you a blessing to many many people I believe that you read Galatians 3.14 that the blessing of Abraham is meant to come for us and God's blessing to Abraham was I will bless all the families on the earth through you but you got to believe it you got to enlarge your heart say Lord I believe that I believe you want to take a worthless person like me like this idol worshipping Abraham pull him out and say I'm going to make you a blessing to the whole earth and Galatians 3.14 says that's for you and if your heart responds to that say Lord do that for me make me a blessing to every family that I meet on the face of the earth from today onwards you got to have a large heart for that you can't allow a trickle of water to come through you and expect to be a blessing it's got to be like rivers and for that you got to have a large heart get rid of these attitudes of jealousy criticism love for all the saints I was reading a song the other day it really challenged me it's a song by this wonderful song writer called Frederick Faber My God how wonderful thou art thy majesty how bright how beautiful thy mercy seat in depths of burning light amazing song that man wrote he wrote another song I worship thee sweet will of God and all thy ways adore and every day I live I seem to love thee more and more and just for your information he was a Roman Catholic I still love his songs I don't agree with his theology but the man was a godly man on this other song the love of God is broader than the measure of man's mind but we make his love too narrow written by the same man and he's written another song which says you know that 1 Corinthians 13 says there remains faith, hope and love and love is the greatest ok faith, hope, love, love is the greatest and he says in this song if faith can move mountains imagine what love can do I said boy that's a new thought faith can move mountains what can love do? do you find a mountain between you and somebody else? maybe somebody whom you had a fight with or who had a fight with you somebody you got something against some relative some neighbor and you're trying to move that mountain with faith try love try it try it actively in the days to come if faith can move mountains think what love can do love is greater let's pray heavenly father help us to respond to what you are seeking to say to us in these days we humbly ask in Jesus name Amen