This sermon delves into the importance of wholehearted discipleship, emphasizing the need to deny oneself, pick up the cross, and follow Jesus. It explores the concept of saving one's life by losing it for Christ's sake, warning against gaining the world but losing one's soul. The speaker highlights the value of the soul, the consequences of sin, and the importance of obeying God's word for both spiritual and physical health. Through the story of Zacchaeus, the sermon illustrates the transformative power of repentance and obedience to God's commands.

Music Jesus once said these words which all of us are very familiar with In Mark chapter 8 verse 36 and 37 He said this in connection with being his disciple He said in verse 34 If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me Then he said words which many Christians don't understand in verse 35 If anyone wants to save his life, let him lose it What does it mean to save my life? What does it mean to lose my life? We all like to save our life None of us like to lose our life But here Jesus said, if you try to save your life, you will lose it But if you are willing to lose your life for my sake, then you will save it We need to understand what that means The life that we have, which we have got from Adam It is interested in a lot of things in this world And if you try to preserve and nurture that life You will lose eternal life But if you are willing to lose this life Which you got from Adam And don't seek to nurture that Then you can have eternal life Then he said in verse 36 What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? That means if you gain with this life of Adam Which is interested in so many things in the world Supposing you gain the whole world You know how people fight for a little bit of property Or when the parents die, they fight for the family inheritance Some house, some property, some money And the Lord says, imagine that you not only get that property but you get the whole world But you lose your soul What have you gained? That means you get all the money in the world Not just the little bit you want You get all the property not only from your family You get all the property in Hubli You get all the property in the world Will that make you happy? You got all the money in the world and all the property in the world And you have lost your soul It's not worth it That's what he was saying Then he said in verse 37 What can a man give in exchange for his soul? How much do you value your soul? You know man is basically all of us, you and I We are all very selfish creatures We will never do anything unless we get some benefit from it You think about it Have you ever done anything in your life from which you got no benefit? All human beings do things because they get some benefit from it Starting from the beggar The beggar sits on the road because he is getting some benefit from begging Why do you train your children to get education in a college? Because then they can grow up and get some benefit from it When you get your children married You want them to marry certain type of people because you want to get some benefit Everything we do is for a benefit for ourselves When you choose a particular location to rent a house Or you buy a property What is it for? Always some benefit for ourselves Or you come to a meeting Or come to a meeting Why have you come? To get some benefit for yourself Everything we do is that Supposing you give some money to God in secret Not publicly People give publicly to get some benefit for themselves, some honor from people Ok, you are not like that You give secretly Why do you give secretly? Also to get some benefit for yourself because the Bible says that God will reward you So when you think of everything you do in your life Whether it is Material or physical or anything Everything we do to get some benefit for ourselves And the Lord says Ok, you seek some benefit for your soul What is the thing that will bring maximum benefit for your soul? You know how some people make Foolish investments They go and spend their money in something and then waste it They go and invest it in some foolish business and lose lakhs of rupees So none of us want to do that type of thing Because money is very valuable We don't want to go and invest our money somewhere where it is all going to be foolishly wasted That's why you don't give money, plenty of money to your teenage children Because they don't have the wisdom to use it properly But you are all grown up and you know how to be careful with your money Now the Lord says What about your soul? What can you give in exchange for it? Even the whole world Is nothing compared to the value of one's soul So he says, if you are really interested in the welfare of your soul Then the best thing you can do for your soul is this Give up this life of Adam You know that is the reason why many of you are not very happy Because you are not giving up this life of Adam This life of Adam that is always grabbing something for oneself Always fighting for your rights Always seeking to please man Seeking to impress somebody All these things, these are the things that make you so miserable And finally you come to the end of your life and you have nothing for eternity You know how I can describe the lives of many Christians Supposing somebody went to Dubai or some Gulf country and made lakhs and lakhs of rupees And then he is coming back, say to Hubli to settle down And on his way he passes through Bombay for one day or two days And in those two days he spends all the money he earned in two days Then he comes to Hubli without anything And sits for the next twenty years like a beggar on the street What would you call such a man? Fool That is what many Christians are doing In eternity they will be like beggars Our whole life on earth is like one or two days Compared to eternity It is very clear to me My whole life on earth has been only like one or two days And then comes eternity The question is not how I spend these one or two days That man who has earned so many lakhs in the Gulf countries It doesn't matter if in Bombay one or two days he even stays in the railway station It doesn't matter Let him sleep on the platform one or two days, it doesn't matter But then he is going to come and live here forever in comfort So our one or two days on earth And then there is eternity If you really think of your own welfare We are all interested in our own welfare If you are interested in your own welfare Think of eternity Think of eternity God is talking to us, that means we are selfish You are doing this work for someone else and you are also interested in it We are not interested in doing it for someone else's welfare We are interested in our own welfare You won't do it for somebody else's children We are all like that, I am also like that Why have I chosen Christ? Why have I chosen to give up the life of Adam? For my own welfare For my good For eternity Jesus is saying for your good For your welfare because he knows you are only interested in your welfare He is saying don't just think of these two days on earth Your soul is going to be there for eternity Why do you think of just these two days on earth? That's where the devil tries to fool us He tells us that you have to take care of yourself for these two days Never mind eternity, forget the future You don't realize that what you choose now in these two days on earth is going to determine your eternity I am not just asking you whether you are born again Whether you are choosing everyday to live for the things of eternity Lord, this has got no value for eternity so I am not going to give much importance to this If something goes wrong in the house, something gets broken I am not going to spend my life worrying about that I will be more careful next time that I don't break those things I am not going to spend my life worrying about that I am not going to spend my life worrying about always eating good food Or wearing fancy clothes or living in a fancy house Or feeding what will please my senses Why do so many Christians watch movies? Something goes through their eyes and feeds their senses What goes through their eyes and feeds their senses What goes through our eyes and feeds our senses After some time Our life, actions and actions are giving results We don't realize that What you are watching is the main thing in your life Some women go to the meetings to watch the movie and get influenced by the movie stars They get influenced by the movie stars I have been watching a lot of Christian English TV shows I have been watching a lot of Christian TV shows I have been watching a lot of Christian churches I have been watching a lot of Christian churches They are all trying to imitate those worldly demonic rock musicians They shake their bodies and their guitars just like those worldly people They shake their bodies and their guitars just like those worldly people They are not different from those people, they are all singing like Jesus They are doing the right thing and we are doing the wrong thing Have you seen how they have made Satan a fool? He says Christians don't imitate this if you want to get people to your meetings There are blind stupid Christian leaders who don't know God who just go and follow the devil's example And that's what the devil tells young girls If you want to dress properly, look at those film stars The devil has set up a pattern with the way film stars dress and comb their hair And says to Christian girls, follow me, look at that The devil has set up a pattern with the way film stars dress and comb their hair And says to Christian girls, follow me, look at that These young girls have set up a pattern with the way film stars dress and comb their hair Jesus says, if you do all these things in your life What are you going to do with your soul for eternity? Our life on earth, we are being tested And if we can be gripped by one thing That God is a loving father Everything he tells me is for my very best Everything he tells me is for my very best That's what I'm convinced about That's why I studied the bible Because I said, God loves me so much, he has told me everything which is for my good And he has written a long letter to me That's here And if I read it, I'll know what is best for me Why is it so many Christians are not serious about reading and obeying what's written here? I'll tell you, because they don't believe that it's for their good Do you think our children believe, small children don't believe that what the parents tell them is for their good? Almost every parent I've met has always told me this Oh brother Zach, it's so difficult to get our children to sit down and study for their examinations They always want to go and play We tell them to study, study, study, they don't study And then they go and get bad marks in the examinations And they still don't study For the next year They're just happy they got 42% or something and they pass But the parents say, you're an intelligent boy, you're an intelligent girl, come and study Those children don't realize that you parents are really interested in their good All our children are like that Don't you parents, don't you seek the good of your children in all the advice you give them? Even if they get a small injury on their hand, they go and wash it off, don't let it get infected They don't know, but you tell them Don't you tell them to get well soon? Because you don't have a stomach ache, you're getting fat You should go to the doctor soon, don't you tell them? If the doctor says you've got to get some 3-4 thousand rupees scan You're willing to spend 4 thousand rupees of your hard earned money Because you're interested in your children Is there any parent here who's not like that? But do you think your children appreciate that? The children don't understand that How much does a 5 or 6 year old child know That father has spent 4 thousand rupees to get a scan on my body? He comes back and he's okay and he completely forgets that his father and mother have taken so much trouble to get him treated And you know, we are exactly like that towards God We are like 2-3 year old children who don't realize what our heavenly father has done for us You tell me, how many of your 2-3 year old children know how much you have sacrificed for them? Do they know how much you're sacrificing in the office to earn money for them? Do they understand how much trouble the mother is taking to look after them, cook for them, care for them? They go, they play, they go to sleep, they're not interested to know all those things This is exactly how many Christians are They are like 2-3 year olds who don't know what God has done for them And that's why so many parents I've heard say to me Brother Zach, our children are not at all grateful for what we do for them And if you were to ask God, he would say the same words My children are not at all grateful for all that I've done for them They don't seem to be interested to even know what I've done for them They don't even read what I've written for them to read Supposing one day your child is in college far away And you write a long letter, maybe you take 2-3 days to write 15-20 pages letter to your son or daughter All to protect him from all the evils of that hostile life He's living somewhere else And he gets your letter And he doesn't read it He reads 1 or 2 pages and keeps it there And you go and see him after 6 months And the letter is lying there You read it? Yeah, I read 1 or 2 pages Can you imagine how disappointed you feel? That he got into all that mess there Because he didn't read what you had written to him You'll say, son, I wrote all these things to warn you That's exactly how God feels about a lot of Christians Who are not interested to find out what he has written in his word As to how we should live on this earth And if you would be disappointed with your child who didn't read your letter I tell you, God is a thousand times more disappointed with you You read the newspapers, you know what is happening in Karnataka politics, India politics But you don't know what God has said to you, how to live on this earth You don't know what is happening in India, what is happening in India politics But you don't know what God has said to you Because you don't think that is good for you Everything that God says is for our good I have been reading this word for 45 years All this is for my good And the more I have obeyed it, the more I have found it is true Not only good for my soul It's even been good for my body I believe that I have a great measure of physical health Because I have tried to obey God's word I believe that obeying God's word will give you a healthy, long life See, the reason I say that is because some people are only interested in physical health So, let's start with the lowest thing, you know, like children are interested in chocolates Let me read in Proverbs chapter 4 Proverbs chapter 4 Just read these words from verse 20 to 23 My son, give attention to my words And incline your ear to my sayings Don't let them depart from your sight Keep them in the midst of your heart They are life to those who find them What is that? My words My words Is life to those who find them And health to their whole body Did you know there is a verse like that in the Bible? Listen to my words Keep it in the midst of your heart And it will be health to your whole body It's really true Supposing I forgive everybody Whoever does any harm to me, I forgive them I'll be a healthy person Supposing I am never anxious about anything that comes into my life I do something, like the Bible says, immediately I take it to the Lord Supposing your 6 year old child has a problem in school What does he do? He comes and tells, Daddy, I have this problem I need some notebook or some text book Teacher says, by next week you must bring this maths text book What can your 9 year old child do about that? He doesn't have 100 rupees to go and buy the text book So once he has told you that, what do you do? He says, son, leave that with me I will get it for you before next Monday He goes and plays, he is not worried about his text book Why? Because his father has said, I'll take care of it There is a problem But he has left it with his father That is exactly what God says He is not saying we won't have problems But he says, what your child does to you, you do to me So when you have a problem You say, go to God You say, Lord, I have to get something by next Monday I need it I don't have the ability to do it I leave it with you Is there any problem too difficult for him? Anything too difficult for God? No, not at all Then I leave, then I am not anxious The Bible says, be anxious for nothing But take your request and leave it with God And then thank him It says, I'll be healthy in my body Everything that God has said I really believe that many believers are sick With so many sicknesses They never need to have, if they obey God's word Many Christians are sick in their lives They shouldn't be like that Why? Because they don't believe in God Not only for our soul But also for our body God has created my body That is why I am anxious That is why it says in James 5 It tells us what to do James 5 Verse 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Anybody suffering here? With anything? Anybody suffering? Financial problem, physical problem Children's problem It says here, let him pray It says here Is anyone very happy because something good has happened? Something good has happened to you You got a promotion Or something else good happened to you You also need to do something It says, let him sing praises Don't just keep quiet That's a wonderful word We are either suffering or cheerful One of the two All the time If you are suffering, you pray If you are cheerful, sing praises It's a complete verse for everything in life So all through my life If I can pray or sing praises Then I will be a healthy person Everything God says is for my good Why does Jesus want us to be a wholehearted disciple? Because everything succeeds when we are wholehearted When we are wholehearted in life Everything succeeds We have seen two sides of a coin One side has a strong side The other side has a weak side When I see them, they definitely win There is no need to be like that Once a tough guy stood up and said When that strong guy stands up They will win Because they are wholehearted I have seen such people in my life I have seen such people in my life They are so eager Once Christ came His life was like that For those two minutes He was struggling so much to win For that For that He did not get any reward But the Christian life If I am wholehearted What fantastic rewards I can have in eternity It is for your good That you stay away from sin It is for your good That you stay away from quarreling Fighting, backbiting It is for your good If you stop speaking evil about other people All of us Have spoken evil about other people I have also spoken evil about other people But I have repented And I try my best now not to do it Sometimes as an elder I have responsibility to Expose certain things But otherwise I am not interested In speaking evil about other people Whenever I know something evil About somebody else I say Lord I don't want to talk To a single person about it Now let me ask you a question All of you Have spoken evil about other people Can you tell me One good thing that happened in your life Because you spoke evil about other people For so many years You spoke evil about other people What good did it do to you Tell me one example You cannot give me one example Have you heard of any businessman Who runs a shop Which is never making any profit After one year he will close it down Why don't you close down this shop Of speaking evil about other people today It has not done one good to you till today It has probably made you sick In some way in your body Why not give it up Why not just start judging yourself From today And say Lord I have finished today I am closing this shop permanently I am packing it up I am not going to speak evil About anybody else for the rest of my life If I hear some evil Or see some evil It is just going to die with me Because I want to live long on this earth I don't want to die early Because I disobeyed God If I die early Because somebody killed me For preaching the gospel That's okay But if I die early Because I got sick Because I disobeyed God's word I am going to be very disappointed When I stand before the Lord I am ready to die for Jesus I was ready to die for Jesus When I was 20 years old But I don't want to die Because I disobeyed God's word And get sick I don't want to disobey God's word Not forgive somebody Speak evil of someone Be filled with anxiety Or fear Or bitterness against someone No All these things will destroy my body So I am interested in myself And I am asking you to be interested in yourself I am asking you to be interested in your body And your soul And I am telling you obey God's word Because that's the best thing for your body and your soul If only you can be convinced about that That's so difficult And when God says don't do that That's for your good When God told Adam and Eve Don't eat from that tree That was for their good But they didn't believe it The devil came and fooled them Like he has fooled most of us I know the devil fooled me for many years But he can't fool me now I believe the devil is fooling many of you Just like he has fooled Adam and Eve You read a bad story You look at a bad picture You see a dirty cinema And the devil says You will get a little excitement from that And you know in your conscience That is forbidden by God And the devil says no no no Only just little while You need some relaxation This won't harm you so much Something happens You can always ask the blood of Jesus to cleanse you And he fools you And you destroy yourself Now we all know That if you get a cut in your hand You don't worry yourself too much about it Because you know If you just put a little medicine after some time It will heal There may be a scar If it is a deep cut But it will heal Right or wrong That's right We have all experienced injuries Which healed Then why don't you take a blade And cut yourself everyday And here and there And enjoy yourself a little bit They will all heal That's exactly what the devil is saying You know there was a man in the bible Who used to cut himself like that You know who it was He used to cut his body Nobody knows He was a man who had 2000 demons Jesus cast it all out And put it into the pigs He used to cut himself You know what he used to do The bible says he used to cut himself I am sure he saw those After some time Those injuries healing up He said that's not bad It heals up So it doesn't matter If I cut myself some more here also Do you do that That's what you are doing to your soul But you don't realize That when you do it to your soul There is a permanent damage To your soul forever Even if the blood of Jesus Cleanses you There is still some effect That remains I will give you an example Supposing you spent 10 years Seeing filthy movies Reading dirty pornographic books All sexual movies and all that And pictures Your mind is polluted with that And then you say Lord I am sorry for all These things that I saw Please cleanse me and forgive me Immediately The blood of Jesus Cleanses you from all that sin Immediately Forgiven 100% But the pictures in your mind Will live with you For the rest of your life You will dream about it Years later You will think about it 50 years later That is what it means When it says You reap What you sow You are forgiven But you can't escape Reaping Supposing a man Fell into sexual sin And got AIDS And then he gets converted I have met people like that Who are born again Who got AIDS and then Repented and got born again And they are really born again But they never get healed of the AIDS They die early Long before God wanted them to die Maybe they lost 30 years Of their life on earth Because of AIDS But they go to heaven Because their sins are forgiven But what sorrow They will have in heaven Because they wasted their life You know God can forgive us But there are certain effects Of our sin Which we can never escape Supposing a student Thinks like this Okay, maths is my Weak subject But I have somehow Got to pass this examination So, I am going to cheat I am going to Buy the question paper From somewhere Or I am going to look At my neighbor And she sits next To some good student And I am going to pass And after I have cheated And I passed I will say Lord Jesus, please forgive me For cheating And it is all forgiven What a clever boy he is, no? He cheated and he passed And he also got his sin forgiven You think he is going to be happy? All his life He will reap the result Of that cheating I believe that If he does not repent of it You know I know one brother Who cheated in his college exam And he got a degree And then with that degree Certificate he got a job And many years after He got his job He got convicted I cheated So he heard what I preached And he took his degree Certificate and went back To the university And he was going to Tell them I cheated And he knew that He would not only lose His certificate He would lose his job also I did not tell him to do it I said I may do it But I will not tell Other people to do it Because another person May not have my faith I live according to my faith You got to do According to your faith I said I am willing to Lose degree, certificate Job, everything In order to please God Because Nothing Like it says here I cannot give anything In exchange for my soul But he went And he gave it And he told the registrar I have cheated You can take the certificate back And I may lose my job Those university authorities Were good to him And they said Okay we forgive you You can keep your certificate And because he took A decision like that All the rest of his life It has gone so well with him Always kept a very Sensitive conscience Such a person is going to Be very happy On earth and in eternity I want to say My brothers and sisters Everything Everything God says Is for your good The Bible says In Luke 19 About Zacchaeus You know Jesus never told him Anything about the money He had stolen from people He just said I want to come and Have some fellowship In your home And He was sitting On top of a tree We read here In verse 4 Luke 19 And it's very wonderful What it says in verse 5 When Jesus came To that place Under the tree He looked up See this man Was sitting on a tree And Jesus walking With a big crowd Down the road He was going somewhere else As he came Down that road Suddenly the Holy Spirit Said Stop And Jesus was so Sensitive to the Holy Spirit You and I don't hear That voice because We are so deaf Because there is so much Sin Sin makes us deaf You try putting Cotton wool in your ears And see if you can hear anybody If you keep on putting Cotton wool in your ears You won't hear anybody Sin is like that You can't hear the Holy Spirit But Jesus ears were clear He is walking down the road Holy Spirit said Stop He stopped He said look up Oh there is a man there And the Holy Spirit said His name is Zacchaeus Call him down Jesus had never met this man He said Zacchaeus come down And Zacchaeus was so surprised How in the world Does this man know my name He said I want to come to your house And Zacchaeus' house Is no Jewish leader Would ever go to his house Because everybody knew He was a crook Cheated people But Jesus knew The Holy Spirit knew In this man's heart Is a desire to turn from all that You know there are many Crooked people in the world Who are sick and tired Of that crookedness Who want to turn And Jesus was not bothered About anybody's opinion He went there And the people said In verse 7 Oh look at this Jesus He has gone to be the guest Of a man who is a sinner Jesus was not bothered One of the wonderful things About Jesus He was not bothered About anybody's opinion I want to be like that And when he went to Zacchaeus' As he came And he neared Zacchaeus' house Zacchaeus stopped Verse 8 And this is what he was Basically saying Lord before you come Into my house I want to tell you something I have cheated lots of people I am ashamed That you will come Into my house Lord this money I got from cheating others But before you enter My house I am giving you my word I am going to return Four times What I took from anybody And Jesus said Verse 9 Salvation has come to this house You know He was so convicted By what he saw in Jesus So Half his money Verse 8 He gave to the poor And four times He returned to everybody He cheated So His huge bank account Suddenly became About 20% Of what he had Before 80% was gone 50% to the poor 30% to Returning to the Stolen Now Supposing You ask Can a man Live better With 100% Or 20% I am sure Zacchaeus lived A much happier life With that 20% Of his honestly Earned money Than he would have Lived with this Huge amount of Money that he got By cheating I think he would have Lived a long life He would have been healthy Because the Bible says When you obey God's word You become healthy If he had kept All that money He would have died early Of all his anxiety And worry And I am sure Zacchaeus got Many more friends When he returned All this money To all the people He cheated And after He returned All this money If he got up In the synagogue To speak Everybody would listen to him What a Tremendous blessing Came to Zacchaeus Just because He decided to Obey God In a little thing You know that Everything God has said Is for our good Many many things We are not getting Because we are not doing These little things God tells us to do That's great Heavenly Father Help us to obey Your word To recognize That our soul Is more important Than anything In this whole world Help us to take Some decisions This afternoon In Jesus name Amen