This sermon emphasizes the importance of being chosen by God for a specific purpose, focusing on the need to understand why God chose us and the significance of bearing fruit for His glory. It highlights the primary purpose of bringing forth fruit in our lives, both in producing the fruit of the Spirit and impacting others for eternity. The message stresses the necessity of being broken before God, surrendering our own desires, and seeking to live a life that remains fruitful and joyful, even in the face of challenges and persecution.

Praise the Lord that we can come together around his word again. I want to turn to a verse in John's Gospel chapter 15. Most of us here are born again. We know that Jesus Christ chose us to be his, not because of anything good in us, but because he died for us and rose again, and we responded to his invitation. That's all. The only difference between us and others in the world is they did not respond to his invitation. Otherwise we are no better than anyone else. But we also need to know why he chose us, and we read that here in John's Gospel chapter 15 and verse 16. It says, You did not choose me, but I chose you, and I appointed you, that you would go and bear fruit, that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he'll give it to you. So here it's very clear as to why God chose us. If we don't have a clear understanding of that, we can, you know, drift along in life doing many things, but missing out on the main purpose. It's like when, you know, when parents send their children to school, a lot of things they do in school. They can go to the snack bar and have some food to eat. They can go and play games. That's not the primary purpose with which we send our children to school. Those are all extra things. The primary purpose is to get an education, and particularly in the important subjects like math and science and things like that. In the same way, in the many, many things that we do in life, we need to understand what is the primary purpose with which God chose us. He didn't choose us to make money. It's very difficult for some people to understand that. He didn't choose us even to live a wonderful, healthy life on earth. All these things are good, provided they don't destroy us or take us away from God. He didn't even choose us so that we have a good reputation before others. It says here, He chose us that we might bring forth fruit in our lives for the glory of God. And that fruit in the New Testament refers to two things. First of all, in our life, the fruit of the Spirit, that God is glorified as He can produce in us more and more of the love of Christ towards Him and towards others, more and more of the joy of the Lord, more and more of a life of peace and freedom from anxiety and fear. There's glory to God there. You know, in a simple thing like you living one day without any anxiety or fear, that brings glory to God. Because there's something God can point out to Satan and say, have you seen what I've done in that person in a world full of anxiety and fear? Have you seen how that child of mine lives? God can boast about very few of His children. And that's a sad thing. And that's because we are not gripped by the fact that this is the primary purpose with which He chose us. So if I am not free from anxiety and I just got a promotion in my job, I should hang my head in shame. I say, Lord, I just got a promotion in my job and I got 5,000 rupees more in salary, but I'm still anxious. I'm not proud. I'm just ashamed of myself. See, that's what I mean. Once we get our understanding clear, what did God primarily choose me for? All the other things are there, but they're secondary. Thank God for health. Thank God that in fact we got a house to live in. We got a job and everything. But the primary purpose is that I might bring forth fruit in my life, that I can be humble in long-suffering, in dealing with people, be patient and good and self- controlled in my appetites. These are things that are the fruit of the Spirit. And the other aspect of fruit is that our life blesses others. Now the world is full of people who do a lot of good to other people. Every religion teaches that. But I can do good to a person in a temporary way or an eternal way. I mean, to help people in a temporary way, giving them some money to help them out of some difficulty, that's great. I'm certainly not against that. But what I say is, if I have not helped them in terms of eternity, I haven't really accomplished anything that's lasting. If I help a person temporarily for a few years and he goes to hell, how have I helped him? So God calls us that our life might also, you know, make an impression on other people. Even if we don't convert everybody, make an impression on other people about the reality of eternity. There must be something about our way of life that in our place of work, people realize that here is someone who does not live just for the things of this earth. There's something about him that reminds me of eternity. I felt very strongly like that when I was working in the Navy, that every officer or sailor whom I worked with on a ship, that my way of life should remind them that there is an eternity beyond time. You know, by the fact that I don't get upset with them because they did something wrong or the fact that I don't get disturbed because I lost some money or somebody cheated me. I don't have a grudge against them. These are all little indications that I don't live like other human beings. People observe you and they see that. That's an impression that we can make on our life. There's fruit in our life and somebody else's life and you never know. Long after he has left you, one day he'll remain, he'll be convicted. I remember one of my senior officers, someone told me that when he was dying of a brain tumor in his hospital, the person he remembered was me because I was the only one who made him aware of eternity. And people begin to think of eternity when they're on their deathbeds and then they remember the people whom they met in their life who reminded them that eternity was more important than time. And I never saw him, but I'm thankful that in the years that he knew me, many years earlier, I sought to remember, remind him of eternity. Take that as a challenge. Jesus says, I chose you that you might go forth and go and bring forth fruit in your life, in your character, and also in your ministry. And when you talk about ministry, I'm not talking about standing in a pulpit. We all have a ministry, whether you know it or not. People you work with are getting an impression. That's your ministry. They look at the way you speak. They look at the jokes you laugh at. They see the things you talk about. They see the things you're interested in. They see your attitude to money. They see your reaction to people who harm you and hurt you. And that's a ministry that you are fulfilling, sometimes even without opening your mouth. So let's take that seriously. And then I want to go on from there to the next step as to why we often do not bring forth that fruit. What Jesus taught us here in John's Gospel chapter 12, just before he went to death on the cross, he you know, people came from Greece. It's quite amazing how the people who live next door to Jesus never recognized him. All the great scholars who had studied the Bible for years never valued him. I think of a lot of Christians in India who got the Bible, who don't value God and knowing him as much as a lot of non-Christians who sought him and found him. In a way, many Christians have it. I mean, it's always amazed me. The two Indians whom I have personally respected the most, I'm not saying they are the greatest. I'm talking about only my opinion. In my opinion, the two Christians I have respected the most, one of whom I never met. Sadhu Sundar Singh, who died in 1929, and Bakhsh Singh, whom I knew personally. And the interesting thing to me is that both of them came from non-Christian religions. Where were all the thousands of Christians in India? What are they seeking? Here are people who came from non-Christian religions, who never read the Bible. Not only never read the Bible, they tore the Bible in their younger days. They hated it. They found God and knew him in a way that I've hardly met any Christian in India who knows him like that. I have met a lot of people who are great scholars and theologians and who can preach well and boast about their activity. But people who know God, you know, people whom you can say, there is a man who knows God. There are hardly any. And the reason is because they, I mean, they had a hunger for God, which is very rare to find among many Christians. There are Christians who go regularly to church on Sundays, but their mind, if you open up their mind secretly, you'll find their mind is on money and honor. And even when they, as Christians, they're seeking for honor. The people should know that I'm a great Christian or a great preacher or a holy man or some rubbish like that. Honor. And that's why God never reveals himself to them. Because God looks at the inside. Man looks on the outside. God looks at the heart. So here the Lord says in John chapter 12, John's Gospel chapter 12, it's something which many Christians have not understood. It's a verse which I'm almost certain, outside of this church, you probably never heard it preached anywhere. If you love your life, you will lose it. Have you heard a sermon on that? And if you hate your life in this world, you'll get eternal life. Have you ever in your life be heard a message saying that the way to eternal life is by hating your life in this world? No. Most Christians will tell you just say the magic words, Lord Jesus come into my heart, you got eternal life. And look at the shallow, useless life that a lot of people live who have said those so called magic mantra words. Listen to this, John 12, verse 23. Sorry, 25. John 12, 25. If you love your life, you will lose it. If you hate your life in this world, you will keep it to eternal life. And if you serve me, then you must follow me. And then where I am, there my servant will also be. I know where Jesus is. I know he's in heaven at the right hand of the Father. And this verse tells me that if I want to be there, I have to follow him. Not just say some magic words and sit back for the next 50 years. I have to follow him. And then he says, let's look at verse 20. There were Greeks, I said, who had never read the Bible, who were not living next door to Jesus, like the Pharisees. The Pharisees were blind. Jesus was there and they didn't recognize him. But like I said, these non-Christians in India have found Christ in a better way than a lot of Christians. Here you find some Greeks, John 12, 20. Some Greeks have come all the way from Greece. That's a long distance. And they came there and they said, hey, we want to see Jesus. Beautiful words. Sir, verse 21, last part, John 12, 21. We wish to see Jesus. A wonderful prayer that we can always pray. Lord, I want to see Jesus. And a lot of wonderful things happening around here in the feast. All these priests dressed in their fancy clothes and all the rituals going on. It's very interesting. But where's Jesus? And sometimes I say that when I go to some churches where the music is so wonderful and the drums are banging away and the instruments are all going and the master of ceremonies on front is making everybody laugh and all that. And I say in the midst of all this, where's Jesus? I'd like to meet him. He isn't here. Oh, I want to see Jesus. Many, many meetings I've gone and sat. I said I want to see Jesus and I don't see him. And I come away disappointed and I'm not excited with all that music and not even with the sermons if they haven't shown me Jesus Christ. I want to encourage you to pray that prayer. There's a longing in your heart in all situations. When you read the Bible, let your prayer be, I want to see Jesus. When you go to a meeting, I want to see Jesus. When you praise and sing, let Jesus be so real to you that you're talking to him. I'll tell you honestly, for many years it was not true. I sang songs by rote because I knew them. I sang songs because everybody else was singing them. Without the reality of Jesus standing in front of me. And what am I saying to him? I'll give you one example. I don't want to get into rules here. I said this before. Today many of us sang to Jesus, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna. How many of you know what it means? Supposing my son one day came to me and said, Daddy, auto rickshaw, auto rickshaw, auto rickshaw, auto rickshaw. So what's wrong, son? What do you mean? Auto rickshaw, auto rickshaw. It is as meaningless when some people sing Hosanna to the Lord not knowing what it means. Supposing you speak, say something, it's a ritual. It's like rituals in temples and mosques. Is Jesus real? Are you speaking to him? Think about it. We need to have the desire of those Greeks. I want to see Jesus. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, he is in the midst. And I'm not bothered about the others. I'll meet all the others after the meeting is over. But during the meeting I want to meet Jesus. I don't even want to listen to the speaker. I want to see Jesus. I don't want to be taken up with the music. I want to see Jesus. And when I sing, I want to sing to him exactly like I sing to God. I want to speak to him just like I speak to my dad on earth. Nothing meaningless, not even one word without meaning. And if I don't know the meaning of a word because my English is not so good or my Hebrew is not so good, I won't say it. Because I'm not going to say one word to Jesus that I do not mean. I've spent enough years of my life being a ritual Christian, said a whole lot of things to the Lord without meaning, but I finished with that. I'm not condemning anybody here. It took me a long time to take this seriously so I can wait for other people to take time to take it seriously too. So don't think I'm condemning you. I'm just trying to say the Lord is saying to you, my son, my daughter, come up higher than where you are right now. It's an invitation, not condemnation. Come up higher to a level of life that you've never known till now where Jesus becomes real to you, more real than the people sitting in the church hall. I want it like that. You know, that's a wonderful thing, wonderful result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. To me, I would not be excited just in speaking in tongues. I speak in tongues, but that's not the thing that excites me. The Holy Spirit has made Jesus real to me. To me, that is what the fullness of the Holy Spirit brought for me. And I pray it'll be true for you. See these Greeks said, we want to see Jesus. And Andrew and Philip, verse 22, came and told Jesus and said, hey, there are some guys here come all the way from Greece who want to see you. Now the average preacher, Greece was one of the most advanced countries in the world in those days, you know, in terms of philosophy and knowledge, even ahead of Rome, which was the world ruler. Imagine some preacher today getting hearing that people traveled thousands of miles to come and see him. He'd be excited. I must be pretty important. These people came all the way to see me. Not Jesus. He never cared for what people thought about him or how many thousands of miles people traveled to hear him or see him. He lived before the Father. He longed to bless everybody, whether they were Greeks or they were uncouth, uncultured barbarians. It was the same to him. He didn't care for philosophers or rich people more than he cared for the poor. They were all the same to him. He didn't despise poor people. Some preachers go to the other extreme and despise the poor and the educated. He wasn't like that. All were equal to him. The barbarian and the cultured Greek were the same. The rich and the poor were the same. And we have become real Christians when that becomes true of us too. And so he was not so excited that Greeks traveled thousands of miles to see him. I'm not excited when people travel hundreds of thousands of miles to come and sit in this church to listen to the message. I said, do you want to see Jesus? You could have come from next door. People living next door who don't want to see Jesus. The important thing is to see Jesus. And then he said, you know, he's answering this question, how to see Jesus. That's the question. And Jesus answered them. This is the answer, verse 23. He says, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. He says, three and a half years are up. I mean, a lot of people came to see me these three and a half years of ministry. But now there's another way coming when people are going to see me. Because I'm going. And you won't be able to see me physically. And to see me physically is not really the answer. Because a lot of people who saw me physically finally ended up, you know, finally they ended up crucifying him. Seeing Jesus physically. You'd think that if Jesus were to physically come here right now, you'd be really excited. Only temporarily. And then if he went away, you'd go back to your own worldly life, pursuing after money and honor and everything else. But when you see Jesus in your spirit, it's very different. That's why Jesus told Thomas, Thomas, you have seen me and you have believed. But more blessed, I mean there is a blessing in seeing me, Thomas. But more blessed are those who haven't seen me and yet have believed. How do they believe? Because the Holy Spirit made Jesus real to them in their spirits. I pray that will be the longing of every person here. All of you young people, I wish you have a tremendous desire. I had this desire when I was 21 years old. 21 years old. I had a tremendous desire that Jesus would be real to me in my spirit. It's the greatest thing, brothers and sisters. You may never be a preacher. You may never be a great Bible scholar. And yet you can live a wonderful life if you have a great longing that Jesus will be real to you in your daily life, in your spirit. And it's possible today. He said the hour has come and the Son of Man is to be glorified. And then he says the secret of bearing fruit. This is the verse I was really coming to. Truly, truly, I say to you. There were very few times in Jesus' life when he used that expression, verily, verily, or truly, truly. Everything he said was true. But sometimes it's like, you know, your dad writes a letter to you and he underlines something. Or when you send an email, you highlight it. That's the meaning of truly, truly. If Jesus was sending an email, he'd be highlighting that. And when something is highlighted in an email, you look at that seriously. What's he saying? What's he highlighting? I'll tell you something. If a grain of wheat, it's a parable, falls into the earth and dies, does not fall into the earth and die, it'll be alone. You take, you know, you take one grain of wheat, put it in a nice glass case and put it in your cupboard. It'll be one grain of wheat. A hundred years, it's just one grain of wheat. Looks nice. Everybody will admire it. Some Christians like that. They're in glass cases. Everybody, they want everybody to admire them. God says, fine. You know, your Christianity is only interested in getting people to admire you. Okay, you'll have that. But you'll be alone. But if you die, if you take that grain of wheat and don't put it in a glass case, but bury it under the ground, hidden from man, crushed, broken, and that grain splits open and loses all its beauty, from it will come forth a hundred grains of wheat, which you can plant again and produce a hundred. And imagine in a few years, how many millions come out of one grain of wheat. Think what, it's not only for Jesus. Think what happened to the Apostle Paul, who, he could have chosen to be a Christian businessman and lived in Tarsus and inherited his father's business and, you know, paid his tithes and attended the local church. But God called him to be an apostle, to be beaten and hammered and whipped and imprisoned and suffering hunger and shivering without clothes at times, because he was serving the Lord. He chose that way. Today in eternity, today in heaven, he has no regrets, because he chose not to be in a glass case to be admired by others, but to secretly fall into the ground before God and die to his own choice in everything. My brothers and sisters, whether you're doing that or not, you know. Your wife does not know, your husband does not know, but you know. Whether in the choices you make in life, you're dying to your choice and saying, Father, I want to do your will. But if you fall into the ground and dying, you will bear much fruit. I remember, I think about 40 years ago or so, a man of God once told me the greatest work you can do for God in Bangalore is to fall into the ground and die. Forty years ago, I haven't forgotten it, and I knew the scripture was true. He said, Lord, I'll do that. I will fall into the ground and die to my own plans and ambitions. And that was a time when, you know, I was already preaching, and I had a radio program, and I was writing books, and traveling the world, and preaching here and there. And the Lord said, fall into the ground and die to all that you are doing of your own choice, which looks nice. And what's wrong in having a Christian radio program? What's wrong in traveling and preaching here and there? Everything's wrong if God hasn't called you to do it. If God calls me to go to A and I go to B to serve the Lord in B, I'm not doing God's will. I may be preaching, and I may be doing a lot of good things in the eyes of people, but I'm not doing God's will. It's as simple as that. But I never understood it in the early years. I thought if I do something for God, that's enough. You know, people say, go and do something for God, man. I go and do something for God, and I spent all my life building wood, hay, and straw. It's not fruit for the glory of God. I tell you, most Christians are like that. I don't tell people, go and do something for God. I say, brother, fall into the ground and die. Die to your choice. And humble yourself and acknowledge that your mind and your understanding is foolish and stupid, that your heart is deceitful above all things, that you follow your mind, you'll go astray. Even in serving God, you need your mind renewed, transformed to understand God's ways. You need to understand one simple truth, that God's ways are not your ways. God's thoughts are not man's thoughts. And if you want to know how different they are, Isaiah 55, 8 and 9 says, as different as heaven is from the earth. You think there's a little difference between heaven and earth? Not a little. Vast difference. Man's way, the Christian's way of thinking, I will serve God, is not God's way. How shall we, you know, Christian work needs money. We need money to run a place like this. Electricity costs money, maintenance costs money. How shall we raise it? There's God's way, there's man's way. To have a website and all the software and hardware required for that to reach the world with the gospel, it requires money. How shall we raise it? God's way or man's way? I tell you, 99.99% of Christians and Christian ministries raise it man's way. We decided right from the beginning we would do it God's way. Okay, we didn't become as big as some other ministries that started much later than us, but I'd like to see when Christ comes back, how much of that was gold, silver and precious stones, and how much of it was just wood, hay and straw. Jesus said, well you remember that verse we read in John 15 at the beginning, I have chosen you. Let's look at it again. Sometimes we don't see it carefully enough. I chose you, John 15 16. Please remember this verse my brothers and sisters. Let it grip you. Why did God choose me? Here's the answer. He chose me and appointed me, and that applies to all of you. It's not only me who's appointed to serve God. My dear brother, sister, you young believer converted yesterday. I want to say to you in Jesus' name, Jesus has chosen you and appointed you, maybe not to be a preacher like me, but to bring forth fruit certainly, and fruit that will remain. That's the point. I don't want to just take care of a few beggars on this earth and provide them food and clothing and shelter and send them to hell. That's not fruit that remains. I did a lot of good. Maybe somebody will give me a Nobel Prize or Padma Bhushan or something because I served the poor. That's not what I'm living for. I want fruit that will remain. I want to see that that guy's in heaven in addition to all the good that I do to him on the earth. Otherwise, it's not fruit that remains. Are you having fruit that will remain in the way you bring up your children? I'm sorry to say many Christians, I'm sorry to say this, it grieves my heart to say it, but some parents will not see their children in heaven. They'll be there. There's a Christian hymn that says, will the circle be unbroken in the sweet by and by, in that better home awaiting in the sky. In other words, it's the picture of a family, father, mother, and three, four children holding hands together. It's a circle and when they stand together in heaven, there are gaps in that circle. One or two are missing. Maybe the mother is missing. Maybe one son is missing or a daughter is missing. And you say, hey, my son got baptized on earth. Everybody thought he was a believer and I was so proud that my son, my daughter got baptized. You were only living for the honor of men. That others would think that your children are saved. What does it matter if other people think your children are saved or not saved? What does God think about them? Oh, the number of parents who are happy that their testimony in the church is good because other people see my child got baptized. But was he really saved? Did he have a desire to be saved from sin? Does he have a desire to live for God? That depends on, I'll tell you the truth, on you parents. What your children saw you living for in the time they were at home. That's why I've often said I will not allow a man to preach in this pulpit if I don't know how he lived at home. I want to know what his children are like. That to me tells me a lot about his Christian life. I will not call a man blessed of God just because he's got money or a good house. No, I'd say a man blessed of God when I see his children. So and I want to tell you all of you young parents, begin when they are one year old. Start praying with them, teaching them the ways of God. Let them see it in the way you parents live. It's the truth. I'll tell you the truth. Some parents are not going to see their children in heaven with them for eternity. And it's better to know it now than wake up in eternity when it is too late. And you'll discover that you gave them food, clothing, education, pampered them, looked after them, and got the honor that other people in the church thought they were wonderful people and they're lost. Don't convince yourself of something that's not true. See if there's fruit in their life and don't buff them up just because they have some earthly qualities that people admire. So many children, so many parents destroy their children by admiring them for their beauty and their education and their academic excellence. It's all good. Encourage them by all means, but don't get them to be proud of it. Don't ever get them to be proud of it because pride will destroy them. Whether it's pride in their beauty or pride in their intelligence or pride in anything. Teach them to fear God. And that's not easy. It's easy to have children, but it's difficult to make them godly children. And the only way to do it is to fall on our face and say, Lord, help us. I want fruit that remains. I don't want my children to be temporarily for a few years, you know, zealous and then drift away to eternal loss. So fruit that remains. That's what we want in our life. Fruit that remains. That means if God has brought me to a life of joy in the Lord, it must remain. Not that I got joy when everything went well for me. I got a promotion. I have joy. Any idiot can have joy when he got a promotion. I don't need to be a spiritual person to have that. But to have joy when Jesus said when people persecute you and call you all types of names, you know what he said? He said, jump for joy. Yeah, I believe in jumping. You know, it's not just like the charismatics when some meeting is going on. See, he says that here in Luke chapter six. I'd like you to see this verse in case people don't think that I don't believe in dancing and jumping. I do, but not necessarily in a time of praise. I'll tell you when I dance and jump. Luke 6 22. Luke chapter 6 verse 22. Blessed are you when men hate you, ostracize you. That means they cut you off and will not talk to you. Cut you off from their company. Insult you. Scorn your name. Oh, that name. Oh, Zac Puddin or whatever your name is. Evil. Because you stand up for Jesus Christ. Be glad in that day and jump. That's the time to dance for joy. That's the only time that Jesus said we must jump for joy. I feel sorry for people who only jump and dance on Sunday mornings in a meeting. That's not, there's nothing wrong in that. You can do it there, but it's no use doing it there if you don't do it when people hate you. If you don't do it when people insult you. If you don't do it when people call you all types of bad names. You can't do it there. You're not doing it where Jesus told you to do it. You're doing it in some other place where even a drunken man will do it. So, Christianity is very different. Fruit that remains. If I have joy in my life, it must remain. Otherwise, it's not the real thing. Think of what Jesus said in John 16. John's Gospel chapter 16. You know, if you know the Bible, you'll never get deceived. Let me assure you. If you read the scripture slowly, carefully, you'll never get deceived. John chapter 16 and Jesus says here, speaks here in verse 24 of your joy being full. And then he goes on later on to say, your joy no one can take away from you. That's a wonderful life. Sorry, it's not earlier in verse 22. Your joy, last part of verse 22, your joy no one can take away from you. When you see me, verse John 16, 22, no one can take away for that joy from you because it'll be full. So, this is the advantage of seeing Jesus. You will see me and then no one can take away your joy from you. Isn't that a wonderful thing? If my, the passion of my life is like the, those Greeks to see Jesus, I'd have a joy that remains. I won't have a joy that's fluctuating depending on my circumstances. Not a joy that increases when people praise me and decreases when they insult me and criticize me. If you can have a joy that increases when people hate you and criticize you, you're on the right track, brother. Otherwise, you haven't understood true Christianity. And the reason is this, come back to John 12 now. We cannot have much fruit if we're not willing to fall into the ground and die. And in that connection, he says, why am I not willing to fall into the ground and die? Because I love my life. Luke, John 16, 25. By life, it means my soul life, not my physical life. I mean, we all love our physical life. We don't want to get hurt. We avoid danger that's sensible. We get injury, we treat it that's sensible because we must love our physical life. But there's an inner life of ours, our reputation, our honor. That's another life. And we all love it. We're not willing to lose it. He says, that's how you lose it because you love it so much. Hate it. I don't want any honor of this world. I don't care what people think about me or say about me. I want to live before God. And if I hate that earthly life, that soul life, the soul life within me, which loves the things of earth, which loves the honor of men, which loves possessions, which is excited when we have more possessions, which feels secure. When this says, you know, like that man, Jesus said, a man said, soul, soul, sit back. You got enough in your bank account. Having earned for so many years, you have saved up enough in your bank account to live comfortably. Jesus does the stupidity of a man like that in Luke chapter 12. Do you know how many Christians live like that? They love their earthly security and their earthly comfort and earthly honor. I'll tell you, my brother, sister, honestly, you will never bear fruit that remains forever. You can go to meetings and you'll have all your life. You'll have this up and down Christian life, sometimes in the mountains, sometimes in the dumps. But if you want that steady, progressive Christian life that the Bible says is like the path of the righteous, that becomes brighter and brighter and brighter until Christ returns, here is the way. You got to hate this life. The things that the Gentiles eagerly seek after, the things that worldly people eagerly seek after and say, Lord, I'm not going to secretly seek after that. I want to see Jesus. I want to be more like him every day. I want to live in a life of repentance, of my unchristlikeness every day. I'll never shed a tear for my own griefs and sorrows. I have none because my heavenly father makes everything work for my good. How can I weep when everything's working for my good? Do you guys ever weep for yourself or something that happened to you? Well, it must be because it didn't work for your good, right? Why didn't it work for your good? I'll tell you because the Bible says God makes everything work for good only for those who love him. You don't love him. That's why it didn't work for your good. Be honest about it. Weep about that. But if you love him and you're called according to his purpose and not living according to your own plans, I can tell you from my experience of many years, you will never shed one tear for your sorrows or griefs. You won't have any because everything, when I say everything, I don't mean 99%. I mean 100% will work for your good, not only your good, your very best. Don't leave these promises in the scripture or hanging on a wall. Make it real in your life. Say, Lord, I want this real in my life, fruit that remains and I'm willing to fall into the ground and die. I want to be broken. It's turned out of Hebrews in chapter. You know, sometimes we can live a very holy life and still not understand this. I want to show you the example of Moses. At the age of 40, you know that Moses at the age of 40 was not ready to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He had to be trained for another 40 years in the wilderness. When he was 80, he was ready to lead the Israelites out. What was God doing in those 40 years, which the great academies and palaces in Egypt could not do for Moses in 40 years. It says when Moses was 40 years old, when he had grown up, Hebrews 11, 24, when he had grown up, that is when he became 40 years old, as we read in Exodus, there are three things he rejected. One, the honor of this world to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, which I don't want it. It's rare to find a person like that today who doesn't want honor in this world. Secondly, he refused verse 25, the passing pleasures of sin. The Bible is very honest. It says that it's pleasure in sin. Who said there's no pleasure in sin? There's plenty of pleasure in sin. The Bible doesn't say there's no pleasure in sin. The Bible only says it's a passing pleasure. Any type of pleasure, food, sex, five minutes, and then it's up. What happens after that? It's a passing pleasure. That's all it says. Don't forget that it's not eternal. Psalm 16, 11 says in the right hand of God, there are eternal pleasures. And once you found that, you will not reject that for the passing pleasures of sin. That's the foolishness of man. They choose the temporary five minute pleasures of sin, pornography or pornography, not even five minutes, less than that. And reject eternal pleasures like Esau choosing a bowl of porridge right now for to satisfy my need than my eternal birthright. So there's a passing pleasure of sin. Moses said, I don't want it. And third, verse 26, he rejected the wealth of this world. He said, I don't want the treasures of Egypt. Imagine if you have come to a life where you reject the honor of the world, reject the passing pleasures of sin, and reject the wealth of this world, you'd say, boy, I'm a spiritual man. No, he wasn't. He was not ready. He needed one more thing. What is it that you need, my brother, after you have come to this life, where you have rejected the honor of men, you rejected the passing pleasures of sin, and you rejected pursuit of wealth. Isn't that a spiritual man? No, Moses was not. And that's what all of us need to understand. He needed to be broken. A lot of people who live very holy lives, rejecting money, rejecting sin, rejecting honor are not broken. And that takes a long time. And I've seen wonderful brothers, even in our churches. The only thing missing in their life is brokenness. God has not been able to break them. And therefore, the ultimate blessing is lost. You know, Jesus took up five loaves and blessed them. Nothing happened. When he broke them, 5,000 were fed. There was a woman who brought an alabaster, you know, bottle of ointment, vial of perfume. Nobody could smell anything until she broke it. When she broke it, the whole house was filled with the perfume. It's like that, brokenness. Even in nature, you see, there's the small little, such a teeny-weeny thing that you can't even see with your eyes. And not even, it's smaller than an amoeba. An amoeba is the smallest creature that you can't see with your eyes. And smaller than an amoeba is what scientists call the atom. Can't even see it under a microscope. So small. But when you break it, you know what happens? When you break a uranium atom, it releases such tremendous power that you can give electricity to a whole city. That teeny-weeny little thing, which you can't even see. Are you one of those teeny-weeny brothers and sisters whom nobody sees and nobody cares for? If only God could break you, you'd bless a whole city. Yeah, that's the thing. But you can glory in the fact that I'm not like other believers because I've rejected the honor of men. I've rejected the wealth of this world. I've rejected the pleasures of sin. I believe in holiness. Yeah, yeah. But why isn't more coming out of your life? You're satisfied with five people being blessed from your life and 5,000 could be blessed. Think of that boy who had five loaves, shared it with five people and thought, boy, I shared it with five people today. I didn't eat it all myself. You know, I really believe a lot of Christians are living like that. When you could have blessed 5,000, you're satisfied because you blessed five. If only he had given it to Jesus to be broken, that's what he did. He said, Lord, take it. Do what you like with it. He didn't get upset when Jesus started breaking it. Hey, don't break it. You give your life to Jesus. Do you get upset when he tries to break you? That's the crushing, falling to the ground and dying Moses. What a fantastic work he could do when he was broken. At the age of 40, he could use his power and knock out one Egyptian. And the Bible says in Acts 7, he thought, it's very interesting. He thought the Israelites would acknowledge, ah, here is our deliverer. Have you seen that verse? Acts chapter 7, when he was 40 years old, Acts chapter 7, 23, when he was approaching the age of 40, Moses, he visited the sons of Israel. He saw one of them being treated unjustly and he struck down the Egyptian. He didn't have any weapons. He was such a strong man. I tell you, you got to be really strong to kill a fellow with your hands. He just struck him down and the guy died. And the news, people saw it. The Israelites saw it. And it says here, this is the interesting verse. Moses thought the Israelites would understand God was granting them deliverance through him. Did you fellas see how I knocked down this man? I have rejected the honor of men. I have rejected the pleasures of sin. I have rejected the wealth of this world. See how God has blessed me. I knocked down this man. I'm your deliverer. But it says they didn't understand. Even God didn't understand. He said, Moses, you're not ready. You think you're going to knock down these Egyptians one by one by one by one by one and deliver the Israelites? You got to be off your head. They'll finish you off before you ever go to the second or third man. Moses, I'll show you a better way. Come with me. Where Lord? To another college, the wilderness, the desert, where you will have to live with your father-in-law for 40 years. You know what it is for a man to live with his father-in-law even for one year? If you guys don't know that, even a mother-in-law, imagine you girls living with the mother-in-law for one year. Imagine 40 years and being employed by your father-in-law. I tell you, that's enough to break anybody. Even the prince of Egypt was broken by that time. And he was so broken by submitting to this Jethro, unconverted guy who didn't know anything about the God of Israel. And he had a difficult wife. I mean, add on top of that, a difficult wife. Boy, that really does the job. He was so broken at the end of it that when God one day appears to him and says, I want you to go and deliver the Israelites. He says, no Lord, not me. 40 years ago, I was ready. Today I'm finished. Moses, you don't know. It's only now that you're ready. Now you have fallen into the ground and you are dead. You won't trust your own might now. Now you'll depend on me. And that week, Moses, at the age of 80, one day lifted up his hands didn't touch anybody. And the whole Egyptian army was buried under the Red Sea in a moment. That is doing things God's way, instead of killing them one by one by one. Brother, sister, God's way is better than your way. But you got to be broken. And as long as you boast that I'm a holy man, I believe in the doctrines of holiness CFC preaches. I believe in being free from the honor of men, being free from pursuit of wealth and being free from sin. But you're not broken. You may have to wait another 40 years. It doesn't have to be 40. Depends on how long you how quickly you're willing to be broken. I say, Lord, I want to go that way downwards, die to myself. To allow the circumstances you arrange in my life, whether it's my father-in-law or mother-in-law or a difficult wife or a difficult husband, or a difficult boss, or financial loss or anything, I will not complain. Never in my life will I complain. But I want to ask you, my brothers, do you have an inward complaint against somebody for the way they are treating you? Maybe your boss, maybe your father-in-law, mother-in-law, maybe somebody who cheated you, you got an inward, I'm not, maybe you like a good Buddhist or yoga person, you control your mouth and you never said anything. That's not Christianity. Do you have an inward complaint against somebody for anything? I'll tell you the things that sometimes make us have inward complaints. When somebody has caused us some inconvenience, maybe a guest who came to live in your house, you smile at him when he goes away and you curse him for all the inconvenience he caused you for the two days he stayed with you. That's what I mean. Inward complaints. Maybe somebody cheated you. Maybe you had some loss in your business. Dead men do not complain. They have no inward complaint. Go to any cemetery and see if anybody has got any complaints, all those people lying under those graves. No, they're finished with it. They complained when they were alive, but they finished with it when they were dead. To me, that's one of the tests of whether I'm dead or not. Not whether I open my mouth. I can be alive and control my tongue, but when I'm dead, I won't even have a complaint in my heart against anyone about anything. Zero. Whether I lose a million rupees or whether I was insulted and all types of lies spread about me or my family or anything. Cheated, oppressed. I'm dead. I know that my father will never allow me to be tested, tempted beyond my ability. I tell you, my brother, you will bear much fruit. There'll be no limit to what God can do through you because he has succeeded in showing you that the way to life is to fall into the ground and die. Except to fall in the way grain fall in the ground, die to divide alone. You know, you can be in a church like this with three, 400 people sitting in a Sunday morning and be a lonely person without fellowship. This can be like a cinema theater. You can sit in a cinema theater with 2000 people and have no, you'd be a lonely person there. In fact, a lot of people go to the cinemas because they're lonely. Some people come to Sunday morning church because they're lonely and they sit there and they're still lonely. They've never built fellowship with others. They've never got integrated with others in a local church. Have you got integrated with a local church or are you one of these wanderers? You know, the book of Jude speaks about wandering stars. The planets are not wandering stars. They've got an orbit, but you can be like a wandering star alone, no fellowship with anybody because you won't die to yourself. The first wanderer on earth was Cain. He was cursed. The Lord said, you'll be a wanderer all your life. You'll never have fellowship. It's a curse to be without fellowship. And there's a lot of Christians are like that. They're not integrated into others in the body of Jesus Christ. Theoretically, they say we are members of the worldwide body of Christ. That's great, brother, sister. Which local expression of that body are you a member of? None. I'm just one of these wonderful believers who's a member of the worldwide body. The local body is too inconvenient. We have people who take advantage of me and make a nuisance of themselves. And I don't want that. Brother, you'll be a wanderer. You'll be a wandering star like Cain all your life. You'll wake up in eternity and stand before the Lord and discover that you missed out on 99% of the Christian life, even though you made it to heaven, because you were so full of love for yourself. You're unwilling to die. Do you hear the invitation of the Lord this morning? My son, my daughter, come up higher. Don't live at that low level anymore. Let's pray. Let's bow our heads before God. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the wonderful life that the Holy Spirit can bring us to. The very life of Jesus. Nothing less than that. The very same life that Jesus had on this earth. I want to live that all my days, Lord. I don't want to live this low, rotten life that I see in so many Christians. I thank you that you made provision for the very life of Jesus to be ours through the Holy Spirit. And it grieves my heart. It must be grieving your heart so much more when you see so many Christians not availing of it, living defeated third-rate lives. I pray that many here will be gripped by the message they hear to live as you want us to live. Help us each one, Lord. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen.