In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the idea of Jesus being urged to preach and use his power at a young age. However, Jesus remained steadfast in his mission and did not succumb to the pressure. The speaker also discusses the concept of people being motivated by the needs of others, citing examples from his experiences in India. The sermon emphasizes the importance of living a life of love and obedience to God, as demonstrated by Jesus. The speaker encourages listeners to strive to live like Jesus, guided by the power of the Holy Spirit, and to prioritize the will of God over worldly desires.

to claim to be his children, to live together as one happy family, first of all in their own home, and second in the bigger home which we call the church. And that's what we want to try and find out why, what's the reason, and I was mentioning yesterday that I believe one of the main reasons is that most Christians are not secure in the love of God as their father. You know we are created to know security in God's love, and if we don't find that security we will be like orphans. One of the things that Jesus said in connection with the gift of the Holy Spirit, I want to show you this in John 14, it's the very first time that he spoke to his disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit. You know that throughout the three and a half years that he was with them, he taught them about many things, but he never told them about the gift of the Holy Spirit. There's just one vague reference saying if you thirst, rivers of living water will flow out from you in John 7, but even there he never explained what it was, and later on John adds this explanation, this he was speaking of the Spirit which would come on the day of Pentecost, but he never explained at any time about the gift of the Spirit, but on the last night after they broke bread together, and Judas Iscariot had left in John 13 to go and betray Jesus, and Jesus is going to be crucified the next morning, for the first time he tells his disciples about this wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit. You know they were disturbed that Jesus said he was going to go away, and he told them, you're disturbed because I said I'm going? It's better for you that I go away, and they couldn't understand it. Imagine if Jesus Christ were physically, physically living in your home, and one day, and say lived in your home for three and a half years, and did all those amazing miracles, and your life was so wonderful, and then one day he says I'm going away, and it's going to be better for you when I go away. You wouldn't believe it. You say how could it be better, I mean it's so wonderful when you're here, and he explained to them that two things that are going to change when the Holy Spirit comes, one that then Christ could be everywhere on the face of the earth, otherwise he'd just be in Capernaum or Galilee, and he couldn't be in Colorado or India or anywhere. But if the Spirit came, then Jesus could be everywhere, and the second difference was that as long as Jesus was with them, he was only on the outside, he was just next door to them, next to them, he couldn't come inside and change them from the inside, and the clearest proof of it was that they were still fighting with each other after three and a half years as to who would be the leader. That's the clearest proof that you can listen to the world's greatest preacher, and walk and live with the world's greatest preacher for three and a half years, and have no change inside you. You can be temporarily influenced by the example of his life and try to follow it, but the inside won't be changed, and that's the proof of that is at the Last Supper, that these folks who had walked and lived with the greatest preacher that ever walked on the earth, they were still fighting with each other as to who's to be the leader. And that's what Jesus was said, meant when he said, you are going to do something greater than I've ever done in John 14, 12. Many Christians don't understand that verse. What is it? If you don't believe me, check with Christians, go to pastors and professors of Bible colleges and ask them, what do you think Jesus meant when he said, you'll do greater things than I did in John 14, 12. They wouldn't be able to tell you. And not just some great apostle, it says everyone who believes in me will be able to do greater things than I have done. Now, that refers to physical miracles. Then, of course, every believer should be able to go to cemeteries and raise up people who are buried there many years ago. But that's not what he meant. He was talking. He didn't place much value on these external physical miracles because healing of sickness, it doesn't solve the problem because the person can still die. A person who's raised from the dead will die again. Jesus was dealing with miracles that would be eternal, where inner lives would be changed permanently for all eternity, not temporary fixes. You know, healing of sickness is like putting a Band-Aid, it's just a temporary problem, a solution because the person will finally die. Even raising from the dead is like putting a Band-Aid because a person dies again. But if a person's inner life has changed, that's a real healing. So that's the healing the New Testament speaks about. So when Jesus spoke about a greater work than I have done, it is two becoming one with each other, which is impossible until the Holy Spirit came. So in John 14, he speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit for the very first time. And he speaks about it, not in relation to speaking in tongues, not in relation to healing or miracles or any such thing. If we see the promises of Scripture in the context in which they appear in Scripture, you learn a lot, particularly the context in which Jesus spoke. So let me read to you and paraphrase his words just a little bit so that we grasp what he's trying to say. Verse 15, let me begin with verse 13, whatever, verse 12, this is the verse I quoted. I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father. There's a reason given also, why will you be able to do the works that I do? Why will you be able to do greater works than I do? Because I'm going to the Father. Well, you say, what's what's going to happen when you go to the Father? Well, when I go to the Father, verse 16, I'm going to ask him to give you a helper. That's the point when I or you could paraphrase the last part of verse 12 as because you're going to receive the Holy Spirit soon. You are going to be able to do the works that I do because you're going to get the Holy Spirit in a few days. So first of all, I didn't mention what the first part of that verse meant. What does it mean to do the works that Jesus did? Again, if you go to the average Christian or pastor or preacher, their understanding, particularly the charismatic, they'll say the works that Jesus did was healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers. And I say, well, and you know, preaching like he preached. I say, you mean to say that every single believer is going to do all those things? Every single believer is going to preach like Jesus preached and raise the dead? Because it says here, he who believes in me. He doesn't say that some apostles will do it. Every person who believes in me, every brother, every sister, every child. Don't you think a 12-year-old child can be born again? Definitely. I know five-year-olds were born again. Everyone who believes in me will be able to do the works that I did. That's where we need to understand what the works were that he did. When we talk about his miracles and his preaching, we are talking about 10% of his life. And if somebody wrote an autobiography, a biography, if somebody wrote a biography of 10% of a person's life, that would be a very incomplete biography because he'd leave out 90% of his life. And that's the mistake that Christians make when they think of the works that Jesus did, and they only think of 10% of his life, which is three and a half years out of a total of 33 and a half. But we say, well, we don't know what he did during those first 30 years. Well, I'll tell you there are at least two verses, at least two verses that tell us what Jesus did in those 30 years. And the reason we need to look at those two verses is to see the works that Jesus did during those 30 years. We know plenty of what Jesus did in the last three and a half years. Now let's look a little bit at the work that Jesus did in the first 30 years. The first one was in Luke chapter 2 and verse 51. This is something he did during those 30 years in Nazareth. It says in Luke 2 verse 51, he went down with them to Nazareth and he continued in subjection to them for 30 years. Now that wasn't easy. You ask any child if it's easy to obey parents, particularly in the case of Jesus who was perfect, who had to obey parents who were imperfect. Do you know how difficult it is to subject yourself to authority that's imperfect, whether it's in an office or in a home or in a church? I remember in my younger days, I didn't know the reason for this. But God, for many, many years, right up until I was nearly 35, God kept me in different churches where I had to be subject to elders who I could not honestly say were spiritual. They were born again, but they were not spiritual. They didn't have the fire of God in their lives. Their messages were boring. They didn't challenge me when they spoke to me. I didn't see godliness in their lives. I used to see them lose their temper. I didn't see their family life as godly, but they were elders in the church and some of them were jealous of whatever ministry the Lord had given me. And I remember the Lord telling me, you got to keep your mouth shut and submit to these people. I did it. And that's where I learned the truth of what Jesus went through for 30 years. The works that he did. Number one, he submitted to imperfect authority. Why? Because his father said, that's what you got to do. That's all. If he had gone by his own will, he would never have submitted to imperfect authority, which if you like to submit to imperfect authority, I don't. But Jesus said he came down from heaven in John 6, verse 38, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This was Jesus' autobiography of his own life in one sentence. Jesus' autobiography of his entire life in one sentence. John 6, verse 38. And when you talk about following Jesus, if you follow this verse, you'll be okay. I came from heaven, never to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. Now when he was in heaven, he didn't have to say that. For millions and millions of years, there he was equal with the Father. And he could say, I do my own will, because it is the same as my Father's will. There was no conflict of wills in all eternity from before the creation of the world and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one. But the moment Jesus came, the Bible says, in our flesh. He didn't have the sin in our flesh, no. But he had our flesh, and that meant he had a will of his own. We could paraphrase flesh as having your own will. And when you read in the Bible, Galatians, that the Spirit fights against the flesh, do you know what he's fighting against? He's fighting against your own will. We can misunderstand flesh as lusting with the eyes, dirty thoughts, stealing, telling lies, bitterness, unforgiveness. No, no, no, no, no. Those are the fruits. The fruits are millions. Let's go to the root from which all these fruits come. I want to do my own will. I want to do what pleases me. A husband and wife, they clash because each wants to do its own will. Their own will. From the time children are born, they've got a self-will. And that's the most difficult thing and the most important thing that we have to do in the training of our children is to break that will of theirs without destroying their personality. That requires wisdom. Some parents, in breaking the will of their children, destroy those poor children's personality. No. Retain that child's dignity. He's a human being created in the image of God. Don't destroy his dignity or his personality, but break his will. That's what God does with us. He doesn't want to destroy our personality. He's not going to change us. We've all got different personalities. If you've got three or four children, they'll all have different personalities. You don't have to change them. God, just like he gave us different colors of skin and different appearances in our face, he gives us different personalities. That's okay. But this my will, wanting my own way, wanting to please myself, from which comes all these other fruits, that's what was broken. And one way it was broken in Jesus' case was by submitting to imperfect authority. Why is it all of us would say, I'd be happy to obey God, but I can't obey this guy whom God has put over me. You know why? Because God's perfect. It's easy to obey him. It's easy to obey a very godly elder brother. Many of us would like to be under the authority of a godly elder brother who's walked with God for so many years that his whole nature is like God's own nature. But you may not be much broken there. If God wants you to obey him, if he wants to break you, he may put you with someone who's not like God. Joseph and Mary were certainly not like God. They were old covenant parents. And when we see the way new covenant parents fight, you can imagine how much more Joseph and Mary fought with each other. I hope you believe that, unless you're Roman Catholics, that Joseph and Mary did fight with each other. And Jesus saw it. And he never despised them. If he despised them, he would have sinned. If he had despised them once, oh, look at them fighting with each other. Once, if that thought had crossed his mind and he'd accepted it, he would not have been able to be a perfect sacrifice for our sin. You see, it was not just submission. It was submitting with respect to imperfect authority. You do that, brother, even for a few years. Leave alone 30 years. I tell you, you'll be ready to serve God. God had to break even Jesus. He who believes in me will be able to do the works that I do. I tell you, that's a greater miracle than raising the dead. And the other thing we read again in Luke chapter 2 that was there for 30 years. It says in verse 40, the child Jesus continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom. He increased in wisdom for 30 years. And the grace of God was upon him. Do you know that the first person, the first human being who walked on this earth, about whom it could be written, he was under grace, was Jesus Christ. Here it is. The grace of God was upon him means he was under grace. That's not an Old Testament word. That's a New Testament word. The Old Testament word is law. Grace came through Jesus Christ. And in the King James Version, when it says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, it's not grace, it's favor. That's different. The word grace is a distinctively New Testament word. And the first person upon whom the grace of God rested was Jesus. And you ask yourself, did Jesus need the grace of God? Yes. But you say, I thought grace meant the undeserved mercy, the undeserved favor of God. Well, that's because you read Christian books more than the Bible that you got that definition. That's not in the Bible. Not at all. Some Bible college professor invented that unscriptural definition. Undeserved favor? If nobody in the Old Testament had undeserved favor, what favor did Abraham get? Or Isaiah, or Elijah, or Moses? They all got undeserved favor. If that's the definition of grace, then right from the time of Abel, everybody got grace. But the Bible says grace came through Jesus Christ. So it's not undeserved favor. Undeserved favor, every human being in the world gets. What about those unbelievers who don't get sick, who don't get demon possessed? That's the undeserved favor of God. That they don't get demon possessed. That they don't get sick. That's not grace. Grace is something completely different. Grace was upon Jesus. And that's how he grew in wisdom. And if grace is upon us, we will grow in wisdom. Romans 6.14 says, Romans 6.14 Sin shall not be master over you, for you are under grace now. This is amazing. Just like Jesus was under grace, like we saw in Luke 2.40, you and I can be under that same grace, not some third rate grace or some other level of grace. There's no other level of grace. There's only one grace of God. That was upon Jesus and now it can be upon me. And I can grow in wisdom. And to grow in wisdom means to grow spiritually, to grow more like Jesus Christ. In Proverbs 8, wisdom is compared to Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God. And to grow in wisdom is basically to grow like Jesus Christ. To become like Christ. It's the greatest gift God can give us. It's a totally false teaching that we have today in Christendom spreading like wildfire all across the world that prosperity is the mark of God's blessing. It's the lie of the devil because the Muslims say that Allah is the true God because He makes them prosperous. I've heard it. They say Allah has given us all the lands on the earth that have oil because He's blessed the Muslims. And all the world comes begging to us for oil because the blessing of God is upon us. We have extremely wealthy Indian businessmen who say it's our Hindu goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth that makes us rich. And they're multi-billionaires. They come in the Forbes list of the top 10 richest people in the world. They say Lakshmi put us there. So who's right? Which is the God who makes people rich? Allah or Lakshmi or according to today's preacher, Jesus Christ? You see the fallacy of the whole thing? There is only one mark. And then the other thing that people say is if God blesses you, you'll always be healthy. Well obviously Paul wasn't healthy. He had a thorn in the flesh that he never got rid of. Timothy had a stomach's infirmity that he constantly lived with till Paul said listen I prayed for you enough number of times I've laid hands on you numerous times you better take some medicine now. That's common sense advice. Was that because Timothy lacked God's blessing upon his life? Timothy was the best of Paul's co-workers. Demas who forsook Paul was probably healthy. He didn't have any stomach problems. It was Timothy who had the stomach problems. He had his thorn in the flesh. My point is health and wealth are not the mark of God's blessing. And one of the clearest you know I believe God emphasized this in the very first book of the Bible that God wrote. The first book of the Bible by the way is not Genesis. It's the book of Job. Because Genesis was written 1500 years before Christ by Moses. And Job lived before Moses probably around Abraham's time or somewhere between Noah and Abraham. And so Job was the first book of the Bible that was written. It comes in the middle of the Bible because it's a poetic book and the Bible is divided according to subjects. But that is the first book of the Bible and the first book that God wrote for man was to tell us about one man. A man who feared God was upright and a man whom God could point out to Satan and how Satan, now listen to this. Here's where the health and wealth gospel begins in the book of Job. Chapter 1 Satan says well God's serving, Job's serving you because you made him wealthy. You blessed him with wealth. And God says no. You can take away his wealth. He'll still serve me. And Satan says okay let me try that. And he takes away his wealth, his business and his children. And Job falls down and says well I worship God. I don't believe that wealth is the mark of God's blessing. I came naked into the world and God gave to me everything and God's taken away. Praise the Lord. And then the devil comes and says maybe it's not wealth, it's health that's the mark of God's blessing. And that's chapter 2. God says okay take away his health. Let's see whether he'll still worship me. And Satan takes away health and Job still serves the Lord. Now Job couldn't continue like that. I mean he began to grumble and complain later on because he didn't have the Holy Spirit within him. But there we see the beginning of this health and wealth gospel. It began with the devil. That's not the mark of God's blessing. The mark of God's blessing is that his grace is upon us and we grow in wisdom. In other words we become more and more like Christ. You have been blessed by God in the last one year if you have become more Christ-like today than you were a year ago. Otherwise if just your salary increased, I'm sorry brother you're not blessed by God. There are people who say we have many children. That's the blessing of God. In the Old Testament yes. The Old Testament wealth was also a blessing but not today. No. Paul had no children. That's not the mark of God's blessing. It's not the number of children you have. It's not your property. It's not your health. It's not your wealth. It's that you become more Christ-like. It's that you become more humble and more gracious and more gentle. You have more control over your speech and your anger and your thoughts. Well then God's really blessing you. The grace of God when it is upon us, sin will not rule over us. So turn to Hebrews in Hebrews 4.15 where we read about that Jesus what he went through for 30 years. We're thinking of the works that Jesus did. Hebrews 4.15 We don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us in our struggles. Now the devil has been telling Christians for 2,000 years Jesus cannot understand your struggles because he was not tempted like you. He don't know the struggles you go through. He never knew poverty like you know. He doesn't know financial struggle like you're facing. I tell you he faced everything. We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with us. He went through everything except that he didn't sin. He didn't need to go through that. He was tempted in every point as we are yet without sin. That was his experience for 30 years in Nazareth. A range of temptations that he faced in 30 years. Everything that a 5 year old faces Jesus faced when he was 5. What do 18 year old young men face temptation wise? That's what Jesus faced when he was 18. What is a 25 year old young man who's trying to find a job with all the passions in his body? What does he face? That's exactly what Jesus faced. And he never sinned once. We know how difficult it is to stop keep from sinning even for one day. Jesus never sinned once in 33 and a half years. I believe that's a greater miracle than even raising the dead. It is. So what are the works that Jesus did? He submitted to his earthly parents so that his will was broken. And he overcame temptation every day. At least these are the two things we know. He did for 30 years. Are you willing to go that way? Do you want? If you believe in him, you can do those works. I believe that. For many years I didn't but I believe it now that I can do the works that Jesus did in these areas. You say, what about walking on the water? I tell you, if God wants me to walk on the water, he'll help me. But I don't believe there's a need for it right now, so he doesn't do it. Everything is based on need and God's will. Don't think that Jesus healed everybody. That's a misconception that every sick person we got to pray for and lay hands and heal them of their sickness. It's not true. Whatever the charismatic may say, it's not true. I'll give you one example of it. There was a lame man who was kept outside the gate called Beautiful of the Temple in Jerusalem for 40 years from childhood. He was lame. He was kept there, kept there, every day brought there to beg for money and Peter, one day, Peter and John healed him. Jesus had walked through that temple numerous times in those three and a half years with the supernatural ability to heal the sick and he would see that man and the man would beg for money and Jesus would give him money and not heal him. He'd see him next week, he'd give him money. He'd see him next year, he'd give him money. He saw him for three and a half years and he gave him money. He never healed him. Why? Because he had no prompting from his father. People think Jesus went around just healing all the sick and we're supposed to go into hospitals and heal everybody. These are all crazy ideas. Jesus did not heal because he came to do his father's will. If the father told him to heal somebody, he would. If the father told him to raise some dead person, he wouldn't. If the father tells me to raise the dead, he'll give me the power to do it. I believe that. He gives us the ability to do his will. I don't believe anybody's got to preach like me because that may not be God's will for your life. If God's will for my life is to preach, then he'll give me the ability to preach if I have the faith for it and I have the humility to receive his grace. God will give you the ability if you've got ten children. God will give you the ability to do that. I may not be able to handle that because it's not God's calling for me. God gives us ability according to his will for our life. Jesus didn't heal that person because I'm sure Jesus had tremendous compassion for that poor man who was lame from birth. He had compassion for everybody but as he came by there he would listen no voice from heaven telling him to heal that sick person. And later on it becomes evident why. Because if Jesus had healed that sick person 5,000 people would not have been converted later on as we read when the person was converted, was healed in Acts chapter 3. Jesus would have hindered the conversion of 5,000 people if he had healed that sick person earlier. Do you know how much confusion we bring into God's word when we try to do God's word according to our timing? This is a need here I've got to do it. Brother, has God told you to do it? You know most of I come from India where so many missionaries I have met and I'll tell you this honestly. There were godly missionaries in India in the first half of the 20th century or up to maybe 1950, 1960 but the type of people I have seen in the last 30, 40 years are some of the most carnal Christians I've seen in my life. I wonder why in the world did these people cross land and sea to come here to teach their defeated Christian life here to other Indians. I wish they had stayed at home. It's true I'm telling you from the other end because the motivation with which these folks went out to missionary work in India or anything was not God's leading. There's a need there. What are you doing here? Go and meet that need. Well there was a need on earth for 4000 years from the time of Adam and Jesus never came. Why was that? And even when he came to earth there was a world lying in need and for 30 years he made stools and benches. Wasn't that pretty stupid? When there's a world in need imagine people coming to Jesus when he's a 25 year old and say What are you doing wasting your time? You've got the power to do this. Go out and preach. It wouldn't move him one bit. People who don't know God are moved by all these calls according to the need. And I've seen enough of that type of work in India. Of people who come on the basis of need. There's a need to dig wells over there. There's a need to build houses for those people over there. And people get a ease their conscience when I went and dug a well for somebody. I went and taught some people how to grow better rice or I went and built a house for somebody. It eases their conscience. They haven't done the will of God and I'll tell you there's no reward in heaven for that. There's a reward in heaven if you did God's will. Man is a religious creature. He likes to do things to satisfy his conscience and to get the feeling that he's some type of benefactor. A rich person who helps the poor. Who helps the underdeveloped nations. And the underdeveloped people in Africa and Mexico and India and do something for them. Give them some food and ease my conscience. I've done something for the Lord. Don't fool yourself. You can do it. Do all the good you can. But don't think you're doing the will of God necessarily. Because I know that in India some of the biggest hindrance to Christian work is done by all these social service organizations that come there. And in the name of Christ do so much of what they think is social service. I would rather they did not do it in the name of Christ. Leave it to all these worldly organizations to do all that social work. I mean there's nothing wrong in it. But you know if Jesus operated on the basis of need he should have lived on earth for more than 33 and a half years. He never went to India. He never went to China. He never went to Africa. How in the world did he say at the end of his life Father I finished the work you gave me to do. Lord you finished the work? There's so much of need in the world. No we've all got it wrong. The works that Jesus did. He was very focused. He knew that his father had a particular plan for him. And he wanted to fulfill that. And the day you are gripped. I was gripped with this when I was about 21 years old. When I got baptized. Nobody told me this. But somehow from God's word I got gripped with one truth. I was a naval officer those days. That God had a plan for my life. And by the grace of God I discovered that I could never make a better plan than the one God made. I mean that's common sense. But some Christians don't seem to believe that. I said Lord when I come to the end of my life. I don't want to look back and say I did this. I did that. I did the other thing. No. I want to know whether I did your will. Whether I completed all that you planned for me to complete from the time I was born again. Till the time of Christ coming or my death. Whichever is earlier. There's a particular amount of work that God wants me to do. In Jesus case it never meant travel outside the small little country of Israel. Except once or twice he went to Tyre and Sidon. But other than that he was almost always. Once to the to the Gadarenes but mostly just in Israel. He could have traveled other places. Do you know how much money Judas Iscariot had in his bag? There was so much that Jesus could have taken a trip to Rome. We think because we have money Oh that must be God's will that I can go here and there. I've seen a lot of people come to India on evangelical tourism. They like to see India. Third world countries and see how it is and come back and talk about it to folks here. Exotic places in other parts of the world. These are people who don't know God. There is a lust in our flesh to travel to see places. And if Jesus had our flesh he certainly was tempted that way. But he wouldn't yield to it. He had the money there and he didn't feel that just because there was money in the bag he could do what he liked with it. That was the difference between him and a lot of today's Christians. A lot of today's Christians think well this is money I earned I can spend it as I like. But you don't know God. There was so much money in Judas Iscariot's bag. It says so many rich people, Herod's palace manager's wife was giving donations you read in Luke chapter 8 verse 2 and 3. That was a huge amount of money. I mean we know there was a huge amount of money because even after Judas Iscariot swiped such a lot, people didn't realize that it was being swiped because there was so much in the bag. But Jesus never felt he could just use it as he liked. I asked the Lord once why it is written in scripture every man went to his own house but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Have you read that verse? It's the last verse of John 7 combined with the next verse, the first verse in John 8. Everybody went to their own house. You know Jesus finished preaching and everybody went to their own house and Jesus went to sleep under the trees in the Mount of Olives. Now imagine that. Imagine after a whole day of preaching if all of you went to your own house and made me sleep under some tree here. It's exactly like that. I mean Jesus had finished a tremendous amount of preaching in John chapter 7. At the end of it you read everybody went to their own house and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. So I asked the Lord I said Lord, there was so much money in that bag. Couldn't you have rented a room in a lodge or an inn? You know you need to be fresh to be able to preach the next day. You know what the Lord said to me? A lot of that money was given by poor people and that wasn't me. A lot of that money was given by poor widows who live very simply and give their little two mites and the Lord said I never felt I could use that to go and live in a hotel. I've never forgotten that. He came to earth to do his Father's will and that word in John 17 for their sakes I sanctify myself. That means for their sakes I separate myself from doing many things I would like to do from going to many places I'd like to go to because for their sakes that's for your sake, my sake for the sake of fulfilling a task for us he never did anything but his Father's will. The works that I do Jesus said if you believe in me you will do also and to believe in him means I see it like this Lord I believe that the best life anybody ever lived on this earth was the life you lived. You may not have had a big house to live in you may not have had rich food to eat you may not have been able to afford to go to restaurants every day to eat you may not have been able to afford to live in grand hotels etc but that was the best life ever you ever lived you never probably went to college and got a college education or a degree but it was the best life anybody on earth ever lived and if you believe that Jesus will become your hero you know like a lot of young people in many homes I've seen young people have huge posters of some baseball star or some basketball player or some musician those are their heroes and they want to be like them, they wish they could play basketball or baseball like him or sing like them or comb their hair like them or walk like them or something like that if Jesus becomes your hero I'll tell you you'll really want to walk like him you'll really want to live like him you'll really want to spend money the way he spent money you'll want to spend your time the way he spent his time you'll want to be compassionate to sinful people the way he was, you'll want to be hard on the Pharisees like he was on religious hypocrites you'll want to be like Jesus you won't care about your own reputation the works that I do shall he do also if you believe if you believe in me it means if you believe that that's the best way for a human being to live, if you believe that that's the way God intended Adam to live it's all a question of belief I don't think many Christians believe that the way Jesus lived is the best way to live if they did their whole way of life would be different they would never rebel against authority I see we live in a world today where rebellion against authority has become very commonplace in schools in colleges everywhere you know a hundred years ago children were more respectful of teachers in schools everywhere even 50, 60 years ago it suddenly changed the spirit of rebellion against authority in schools and colleges, in work places, against authorities in secular life you know, against secular authorities, rebellion against the government, rebellion against husbands I was writing to someone the other day, I said you know they were he wrote to me saying somebody from I don't know him, somebody who wrote on email said to me, you know brother Zach I feel that what do you think about women veiling their heads doesn't the bible say the hair is a veiling so I said well if hair is the veiling then I mean unless folks are bald like me most men have covered their heads as well I mean a man's got hair on his head, his head is covered long hair doesn't cover the head, long hair covers the back, but that's not what the bible speaks about it's a veiling, it's obviously not I mean you're trying to get around it, and I said the other thing is it's very significant particularly in western countries when did the veiling go off from women's heads the same time the women's liberation movement started it's significant I'm not saying that's the most important thing in the christian life no what I'm saying is the rebellion, the spirit of rebellion that spread around the world in various ways in various areas, it's significant if something happened, if you're alert, I see it now I don't believe that a woman veiling her head is the most important command in the bible but what I say is, you've got to understand the spirit of rebellion that's spreading around the world, and there's a lot of it and that's why you find many christians today who don't have any fellowship because when you fellowship you have to submit, and people just don't like it there were not so many lonely wandering christians 50, 100 years ago christians in every land 100 years ago belonged to some church good or bad, they were part of a fellowship they went to some church, but today it's not like that today we have numerous born again believers who don't belong to any church who have no elders who don't even fellowship with one another because even if you fellowship with one another you've got to submit to one another it says it's gone because we are approaching the end of time Jesus submitted and he who believes that the best life anybody can ever live is the life that Jesus lived will submit to authority like Jesus did and I know the tremendous blessing it brought in my life when I submitted for years to imperfect authority to imperfect authority to authority that was not exactly always doing God's will and the greater works in John 14 that Jesus spoke about the greater works than these shall he do John 14 and verse 12 as I said is beyond what Jesus could do in his life where he could bring two people together where we could bring two people together and make them one that requires a mutual submission many husbands you know what their favorite verse is wives be subject to your own husbands as unto the Lord Jesus Christ that means treat me like the Lord Jesus Christ Ephesians 5 22 I'll tell you the verse that almost no husband knows that's the verse before that verse a verse like someone has said a text taken out of context is a pretext a pretext to do something you want a text taken out of context is a pretext to do whatever you want take it in its context now for those who have not read this before let me read to you the whole verse husbands be subject to your wives is that in the bible? yes or no? Ephesians 5 21 by the way is the verse before wives be subject to your husbands I'm sorry to disturb your convictions and bring you back to scripture to deliver you from your traditions empty traditions and bring you to scripture husbands be subject to your wives in the fear of Christ and wives be subject to your husbands in the fear of Christ that is the introduction to the next verse and if you jump to verse 22 without going through verse 21 you'll have a false Christianity you will have a family life which is like the heathen family life I find in many villages in India where the wife is treated like a slave both must submit to one another that's what the bible teaches in the fear of Christ the husband is the head nowhere does the bible say the wife is the head of the home but as the head of the home he has to submit to his wife and the wife has to submit this is true Christianity in other words God's put a sphere a boundary around each person even I have to submit to my children in one way I'll give you an example a child is a human being made in the image of God and God's put a boundary around that child that child has got a dignity and I remember when my children were small and they did something wrong when guests were at home I would not punish them in the presence of those guests because that would be a dual punishment I would be robbing them of their dignity I would not punish them, whip them in the presence of even the other children I would take them alone to a room because they had a dignity now if they had no boundary around them and I could do what I liked I could punish them anywhere I liked but I had to submit to my children by not punishing them when guests were around preserving their dignity not punishing them in the presence of others that is a form of submission and doing it patiently at some other time we have to preserve one another's dignity there is a boundary around each of us there is a boundary around your wife you have to respect that boundary God himself has put around her you may be the head of the home look at the way Jesus treats us do you know that there is a boundary around us that Jesus never crosses almighty God never crosses that boundary you know what that is why he says I stand at the door and knock does almighty God have to stand at anybody's door and knock can't he come walk right in and say I created you I can come and do what I like in your life just like the way some husbands say I married you I've got authority over you you're my child you've got to obey me God could have treated us like that but he didn't he respects our boundary if you open the door I'll come in if you don't I'll leave you to yourself he allows millions of people to go to hell doesn't even stop them he respects their boundary you want to go to hell go you want to remain a carnal Christian all your life go ahead you want to be a money lover all your life go ahead destroy your life if you want to as a Christian he doesn't stop us that's the dangerous thing he waits till we submit but if we submit and we submit to one another like this in the fear of Christ then we can become one not otherwise and let me say this in conclusion John 14 after he said this he said whatever you ask John 14 13 now whatever you ask in my name I will do so that the father may be glorified in the son do you know that every prayer of mine will be answered if it is so that the father may be glorified in the son we shouldn't take half a verse and try and claim it whatever you ask in my name it will be done so that the father may be glorified in the son a lot of our prayers are not so that the father may be glorified in the son they don't get answered that's ok and if you ask me anything in my name I will do it it's linked to all these other verses and then he says in verse 14 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments you'll keep all my commandments this was at the end of three and a half years of ministry if you love me you will never again lust with your eyes after a woman for the rest of your life if you love me you'll never get angry and lose your temper with another human being for the rest of your life if you love me you'll never tell another lie if you love me you will always speak the truth your yes will be yes your no will be no if you love me you'll never love money if you love me you'll never again pray to impress people like you've done in the past if you love me you'll never give money to show people that you're giving it you'll give it secretly and sacrificially if you love me you'll pray and fast in secret without people knowing about it if you love me you won't judge others you will judge yourself if you love me you will do to others exactly as you want them to treat you I'm just telling you a few verses from the Sermon on the Mount and you say Lord this is impossible this is impossible the ten commandments are bad enough imagine doing all this and the Lord says I understand that's why verse 16 I will pray to the Father I will pray to the Father and he'll give you the Holy Spirit as a helper to keep these commandments do you see the context in which the gift of the Holy Spirit is mentioned for the first time by Jesus I will give you a helper to keep these commandments and he'll be with you forever he'll always help you to keep these commandments what a work the devil has done in shifting the ministry of the Holy Spirit from helping us to keep God's commandments to speaking in tongues I believe in speaking in tongues I thank God I've had that gift for 34 years now and I use it in private I don't use it in public it's a love language between me and my bridegroom when I speak to my wife I don't want other people to hear what I speak to her in love and when I speak to the Lord to my beloved I don't want other people to hear but that's not the main purpose of the Holy Spirit it's to help us to obey God's commandments don't be fooled by most of this public speaking in tongues that you hear as one who speaks in tongues I'll tell you 90% of what I hear today in Pentecostal charismatic churches is not speaking in tongues it is not it's a counterfeit it's produced psychologically babbling a few syllables it doesn't even sound like a language I'm not talking about that but forget about that if God wants to give it to you He'll give it to you but the main thing is the power of the Holy Spirit to help us to walk as Jesus walked on this earth not doing my own will but the will of the Father every day dear brothers and sisters do you want to live like that? do you really believe that the best life anybody ever lived on this earth was the way Jesus lived he didn't become a millionaire but that is the best life he ever lived and I say Lord I believe that if you believe in me you'll do the works that I do and I'll pray the Father to give you a helper I say Lord I need that helper I need that helper to live the way you lived let's pray while our heads are bowed in prayer the first step to be open to receive the power of the Holy Spirit is to have a sense of our own need and if God brings you to a place of need in your life he's accomplished what he wants to because then you can come to him and receive what he has thank you Heavenly Father help us to preserve the seed that you sow in our hearts we pray in Jesus name Amen