Discipleship and Faith - Part 1 (Video)

We're thinking our subject is, you know, discipleship and faith. The reason I chose that subject was because those are the two most important things that Jesus spoke about. If you read the Gospels, he spoke about discipleship and he spoke a lot about faith. Very, very important. And unfortunately, most Christians and preachers don't emphasize discipleship. And even faith is limited to healing or miracles. And that's not the main purpose of faith. In fact, that's not even the correct definition of faith. And so many of these people who claim to have faith and they deceive people. And so many people who imagine they have faith, they experience disappointment and they can even lose their faith, what they call their faith. So we need to understand these things properly. And I'll tell you from my own experience of 60 years as a believer, that there are very, very few people who are proclaiming the absolute truth. And the reason is not because it's not written in the scriptures. They don't read the scriptures carefully and properly. They don't take the whole of scripture. So let me begin with one verse you must always bear in mind. And that's 2nd Timothy and chapter 3. In 2nd Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, there's some important truths here that we must bear in mind. All scripture, and the word all is important, that means the whole of scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, is inspired by God and profitable for teaching. So people may say, Brother Zach, you emphasize the New Covenant. So why do we need to read the 39 books of the Old Testament? There is a lot of difference between Old Covenant and the Old Testament books of the Bible. The Old Covenant, which God made with Israel on Sinai through Moses, that has been abolished. When on the day of Pentecost, it was valid up to the day of Pentecost. And when the Holy Spirit came, he replaced the law. Moses went up to the mountain and brought the law down for Israel. Jesus went up to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit. We are not under the law now. The law said, don't murder. The Holy Spirit says, don't get angry. So it's not that we've come to a lower standard. We have come to a much higher standard. The law said, don't commit adultery. The Holy Spirit says, don't lust after women. So everything is a higher standard. The law said, love your friends and your brothers. And the Holy Spirit says, love your enemies also. So we must recognize this. The Old Covenant has been abolished because it was too low a standard. It was like a kindergarten. Galatians chapter 3 says, the people of the Jews were like the Israelites who are children, whereas we are sons, mature sons. That's what God wants us to be. And that means we had to behave like sons. There's a difference between those in the kindergarten and those we are in college. So you see, you expect a lot of difference between a child of yours who's in kindergarten and a child of yours who's in college. And that's exactly what God expects of us. Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet that ever lived, the greatest man that ever lived from the time of Adam up to the time of Jesus. But he said the least person who enters the kingdom of God has got the potential to be even greater than John the Baptist. How is that? Because John the Baptist did not have the Holy Spirit inside him. He only had the Holy Spirit upon him. And when the Holy Spirit is inside us, Jesus said, from our innermost being rivers of living water will flow, purifying the inside and then blessing others. Whereas in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit was upon people like water flowing over their head. It never cleaned up the inside. It didn't clean up the inside of Samson or David, even though they were anointed. Even John the Baptist, the most anointed prophet, when he was in prison, he lost his faith. He had seen the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus in the baptism. And then when he's in prison and Jesus doesn't deliver him from there, he loses his faith and says, oh, are you really the Messiah? Or do we have to look for another? But that will never happen to a man who is filled with the Holy Spirit inside, even if he's in prison for years. There's so many great saints who've experienced things like that. So the Old Covenant is abolished because it was, it could not accomplish what God wanted to accomplish in a man. And the New Covenant, the real fullness of the Holy Spirit accomplishes. And I want to say, brothers, that that is why there's so much confusion about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the world today. The devil has done that so that people will either be scared of seeking for the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the fullness of the Spirit, or they will get some cheap counterfeit and remain happy. The devil's happy with both of them. Those who got a cheap counterfeit and babble something and called it tongues and the others who are scared of that and stay away from it completely. Well, they've fallen over two sides of the cliff and he's happy with both of them. But let me, I was emphasizing the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant, but the Old Testament books of the scripture, 39 books, are God's word. And we must read them and meditate on them. We don't live under the law, but all scripture, 2 Timothy 3, 16 is inspired by God or the margin of my Bible says the real word here is breathed by God. God breathed into these words. And therefore I can, it's the Holy Spirit is the breath of God. And here it says the scripture, the Bible is also breathed by God. That means inspired by the Holy Spirit. So if I receive it in the Spirit, it's the breath of God that's going to come into me, into my heart. A lot of people, when they read the Bible, they just have it in their mind. It doesn't seem to enter their heart. And that's why their life doesn't change. But all scripture is breathed by God. And what does it accomplish? First of all, it teaches me what is right. And it corrects me when I'm wrong. It reproves me. That means rebukes me. If you have never read a scripture that's rebuked you, well, I would say you're not reading the scripture properly. It says scripture is profitable for reproof. There's not a single child in the world that's grown up properly without being corrected. No, a child that's not corrected will never grow up properly. Correction, every father who loves his child will correct. And God loves his children and corrects us. In fact, in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 19, it says, Jesus says, Revelation 3, 19, those whom I love, I reprove, rebuke, and discipline. Therefore be zealous and repent. So Jesus says, if I love someone, I will rebuke him. I will discipline him. I want to ask you, have you experienced that? I've experienced it so many times, both in the discipline in my life, sometimes by knocking me down with a fever for a couple of days, God's trying to speak to me. And sometimes when I'm reading the scriptures, mostly through the scripture nowadays, in the early days when I didn't listen to scripture so much, God would correct me through earthly trials. But he rebukes. And if you ask me, when I was newly born again, 60 years ago, how do you know Jesus loves you? I'd say, well, he died for me on the cross. Now that I'm a mature Christian, if you ask me, how do you know Jesus loves you? I'd say, according to Revelation 3, 19, he rebukes me. He disciplines me. He's my father. If I'm slightly going astray one degree off the track, he corrects me. That's how I know he loves me. I hope you know that too. Have you experienced that? When you go one degree away from the straight path, have you experienced the Holy Spirit saying, that's not the way? Turn around. See, in Isaiah chapter 30, that's a great verse. If you turn with me to Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 20 and 21, this is really a new covenant experience. Isaiah 30, verse 20 and 21. It's very important to understand that this is what discipleship means. Isaiah chapter 30, it says in the middle of verse 30, your teacher will no longer hide himself. Our teacher is Jesus Christ. In the old Testament times, in the old covenant, they could not see God. In fact, God told Moses, Moses wanted to see God's glory. And God said to him, you can't see my glory. You can't see me and live. They could not see, but now we can see our teacher. That's Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit shows us the beauty of Jesus in our hearts. I praise the Lord. I've seen the beauty of Jesus so clearly. Every morning I get up and I talk to him. Every single morning before I get out of bed, I'm talking to Jesus. To me, to talk to Jesus is more important than even reading the Bible. I talk to Jesus and that's really in the old, for 1500 years, people didn't have a Bible in their hands. How did they go spiritually? They talked to the Lord, to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes reading the Bible can be a mechanical thing if you don't allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and show you Jesus. So it says your eyes will see your teacher. The Bible is meant to show us Jesus. You read in Luke 24, when the disciples, two disciples are walking to Emmaus, it says Jesus took the entire Bible, the law and the prophets, which refers to the entire Old Testament, and you read there in Luke 24, he showed them how all of them pointed to him, to Jesus. And the Holy Spirit is willing to show us in the entire Bible, Jesus, not just laws. That's in the Old Testament. I mean, if you read the Bible and you see all your rules and say, oh, God has made such a heavy burden. I can't get angry. I can't murmur. I can't complain. Brother, in that case, you haven't seen Jesus at all. There are many commandments in the Bible that says, don't murmur or complain. Don't lust after women. Don't ever tell a lie. Don't ever hate anybody. Love your enemies and bless those who curse you. And whenever you do any good, don't let anybody know about it. You'd say, boy, what all difficult commands. Everybody looks at these as very heavy burdens. They're not. It's like teaching us healthy way of living. You know, like we teach our children, keep your hands clean when you eat your food and flush the toilet when you're finished using it. Those are not heavy commands. Oh, every time I've got to flush the toilet when I finish using it. Who talks like that? Only dirty people. And when a person says, oh, I can never murmur or complain. Those are people who love dirt. They're not spiritually minded. But when I see, boy, that's asking me to be like Jesus, who never complains, never complained. So Isaiah 30, 20 says, your eyes will see your teacher. Have you seen him when you read the scriptures? He will no longer hide himself like in old covenant times. This is a prophecy. Your eyes, again, it says your eyes will see your teacher. And not only that, your ears, now this is the Holy Spirit speaking in my heart, will say to me, this is the way walking it when I'm missing the road and turning to the right or left. For example, as I walk down life's road and I take a slightly one degree to the left, turning from the straight, something, doing something slightly wrong in the office or tempted to tell a small lie or do something unrighteous or have a grudge against somebody just a little bit or hate somebody a little bit, or just murmur a little bit. If you're really sensitive to the Holy Spirit, he'll speak to you and say, no, no, no, no, not there. Come back, turn right. Give up that or turn left. Don't look that side. Don't sign that. That's a false statement. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. So there, come back to 2 Timothy 3, 17, all scripture is inspired by God, breathed by God, profitable for teaching, showing me Jesus for correction, reproof when I go the wrong way and for training me, 2 Timothy 3, 16, for training me in righteousness. See, I don't know righteousness when I'm born into this world. I've got the nature of Adam from the time I'm born. You know, just like we don't know how to keep ourselves clean when we are babies. Our mothers have got to wipe us and clean us and do everything for us. We don't even know how to eat or drink. Spiritually speaking, that's how we are when we are born again. We don't know, you know, babies will put mud into their mouth and we also put all types of filthy things into our heart. You know, when you, some believers watch pornography, I don't know whether they are believers at all, but it's like babies who put mud into their mouth. And what do you say to a baby who puts in the mud into the mouth? I mean, if you find a 20 year old person putting mud into his mouth, you'd say something wrong with him. And when a person says, I've been a believer for 5 or 10 years and I'm watching pornography, that's like a 10 year old boy putting mud into his mouth. There's something seriously wrong with this guy. That's okay when they're a baby. They should learn to get out of it quickly. That is God's will that we learn to put dirt and all away. We're to be trained in righteousness. And that's why it's very important to listen to the Holy Spirit in our conscience. You know, the first thing that happened on the day of Pentecost was not that God gave them a Bible. He did not invent printing 300 years before Christ was born so that on the day of Pentecost, everybody would have a Bible. No. Printing was invented in around 1470, 80 or something, nearly 1500 years after Christ came. Why didn't God allow printing to be discovered 300 years before Christ so that everybody could have a printed Bible? How valuable it is to have a printed Bible. I'm so thankful that I have a printed Bible. I thought, boy, what a blessing it would have been if people had the printed Bible even on the day of Pentecost. But God in his great wisdom felt that people would become more dependent on a book than the Holy Spirit. Like we see today. I see so many born again Christians who are more dependent on a book than the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit who must speak through this book. I remember when I left the Navy 54 years ago, people told me, I must go to a Bible college if I want to serve the Lord. And, you know, when I thought I was young, I was only 26 years old when I quit my job to serve the Lord. And here were all these people who much, much older, double my age telling me I must go to a Bible college. And I said, well, let me go to the scriptures. I always went to the scriptures to find the answer. And what I found was that Jesus never went to a Bible college and he never sent his disciples to a Bible college. And the only one who went to a Bible college was Paul, who was taught the wrong things in his Bible college became Allel. And his teaching in the Bible college led him to kill the Christians. And that's why we read in Galatians 1 that Paul had to go to Arabia for three years. Why did Paul had to go to Arabia for three years? Just like the disciples with Jesus for three years, Paul had to go to Arabia to the desert for three years because the Lord said, you got all this rubbish inside your mouth, inside your head rather. You got all this rubbish in your head that you learned in the Bible school for three years. Now I've got to get all that out of your head. And I'll take three years and I'll teach you the scripture myself through the Holy Spirit. That's how Paul understood the scripture. He had to get rid of all that trash that he learned in a Bible school. So I saw in scripture that you don't have to go to a Bible school. Jesus never sent any of his disciples to a Bible school. And the other thing I saw was that 99.9% of people in a church haven't gone to a Bible school. So if I tell them the only way you can know the Bible is by going to Bible school, I say, what would be the hope for these 99.9% of people? So I decided then, I said, I'll never in my life go to Bible school. And thank God I didn't. Because what happens in all Bible schools is study in the head. And even many believers who don't go to Bible school, many of you also perhaps, don't glory that you don't go to a Bible school. Don't glory in that. If you still, if you read the Bible only in your head, you're just like them. We need the Holy Spirit to speak to us, to train us in righteousness, to correct us and lead us so that the man of God, so that every person, every believer becomes a man of God, a woman of God. Do you know that God wants you to be known as a man of God, a woman of God. Even if you're a young girl, you've got to become a woman of God, a young man, you must be a man of God. That's supposed to be your goal. It says that the man of God becomes adequate. Adequate means he's ready to face any situation in the world. Can you say you're ready to face any situation in the world, my brother, sister? God wants to equip you. He's not condemning you. He's not saying, Oh, why aren't you ready to face any situation in the world? He says, come to me. I will equip you to face any situation in the world. You lose your job in those Gulf countries where you work. You don't get a visa. You can face that situation where other people in the world are crying and weeping and lost faith. You will not. You see, I have a father in heaven who runs my life and I can never miss his will for my life. What a wonderful way to live on this earth. And you'll be adequate for every situation. You will not be in panic. Oh, I've got my children to educate. What will happen to them? Dear brother, sister, if you have come to this place of a spirit-filled relationship with Jesus Christ, and you're assured that God is your heavenly father, you become a disciple who wants nothing on earth except doing God's will. I tell you, you'll be adequate to face every circumstance that can ever happen in your life. See, the Bible is not unrealistic. In the old Testament, they didn't have any promise that you could handle any situation in life. In fact, in the Old Testament, they didn't even know the scriptures. That's why I had a whole group of people called the scribes who studied the law. And when you had a problem, you had to go to the scribe and say, what do I do now? What does God say about this situation? I thank God I don't have to go to anybody. The Holy Spirit is there. And I want to say to you, brothers, yes, God gives us older brothers to guide us in complicated situations. But what if that older brother's not available? See, I grew up without a spiritual father. Many times I wished I had a spiritual father. I wouldn't have made all those mistakes in my younger days. But I had to sort of find my way through a jungle without anybody to lead me or guide me. You guys are lucky if you have godly elders to guide you. I never had one. I never met one godly elder in my younger days who knew anything about the new covenant or ever preached to me about victory over sin. For 16 years of my life, I never knew after being born again, after being born again, I never knew what is such a thing called victory over sin. I would, just like everybody else, mostly my thoughts, defeated, sometimes angry in my words, and then I would say, Lord, forgive me, Lord, forgive me. I knew only about the blood of Jesus cleanses me. And I would keep my conscience clear that way. Because I didn't have a spiritual father to tell me, you don't have to live in falling into the dirt and cleaning yourself, falling into the dirt and cleaning yourself. That's a baby life. You know, you give a little baby, a one year old child a bath and keep it clean. In one hour, it can be thoroughly dirty. You got to wash them again. That's how it is. They won't wash in the mud and they eat all types of rubbish. Now, many born again Christians are like that. They haven't grown up spiritually. But here, God wants the man of God to be adequate and not only adequate, it says here in Second Timothy 317, equipped for every good work, make you a blessing to every family you meet. Do you know that's God's will for you? If you walk the way of discipleship, and you have faith, here is what God has promised for you. Turn with me to Galatians now. Galatians in chapter three, and verse 13 and 14. These are an amazing word. We are very thankful for all that Jesus did for us. Turn to Galatians 3:13. It's the only verse in the Bible, which teaches us that Christ not only died for our sins on the cross, more than that, it says here Christ became a curse. What a terrible thing it is to be cursed by God. Oh, I don't want to be cursed by God. It's a terrible thing. It says Christ became, Galatians 3:13, a curse. Did you read that? Have you read that ever in your life? Christ not only died for your sins on the cross, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says he became sin on the cross. That means our sin. There was no sin in him. And he became a curse because that's why he had to be crucified on a tree. Because cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, it says here. That's why he could not be killed any other way. He had to become a curse. And the Old Testament laws said only someone who's hung on a tree is cursed. Cursed people are hung on a tree, so he had to be crucified on a cross. That's why he had to die that way. To show the world that he not only took our sins, but he became a curse for us. And you say, why did he die for our sins? So that I might be cleansed from all my sins. Okay. Why did he become a curse for you and me? What's the answer? That I might go to heaven? No. That's at the end of my life. What about right now? So that, it says here in verse 14, please believe this. My dear brothers and sisters, I wish you would believe. I wish I could convince all of you who are listening to me about the truth of this verse, these two verses. Christ became a curse for you and me on Calvary's cross, so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us through our receiving the Holy Spirit by faith. That is how the blessing of Abraham comes. So we need to ask ourselves, when the Holy Spirit comes upon me and fills me, it's because, why do I receive this? Because Christ became a curse for my Savior, hung there between heaven and earth for me to become a curse. I should have been hanging that curse like God and sent to hell, but instead of me, he hung there and boy, am I grateful to him for that. In order that I might never see one day in hell, he hung on the cross for me. How can I ever repay him? The only way is by a lifetime of service and devotion. I hope you realize this. It's the only way we can repay, not with words or money. Money is rubbish. God's not a beggar. He doesn't want your money. I disagree with all these preachers who tell you that God wants your money. It's a lie. It's like saying that homeless man, that beggar on the street wants your money and God wants your money. God's not sitting on the street like all the beggars with a tin can. No, he owns the heaven and the earth. He says all the silver and the gold on the earth is mine. What does he want? He wants you. He doesn't want your money. He wants you. He wants to remove the curse from your life, every evidence of the curse in your life. And he wants to give you the blessing of Abraham. I'll tell you in a moment what the blessing of Abraham is. And that comes through the Holy Spirit. So there we read the purpose of the Holy Spirit filling us. And Abraham did not speak in tongues. Tongues is an extra gift that God gives to some believers for the purpose. You can't demand it. You read, take your time to read 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and you'll find that very clearly it is a gift given to some, just like the gift of healing is given to some. The gift of being an apostle or a prophet is given to some. You can't say, Lord, make me an apostle in exactly the same way. You cannot say to God, give me tongues, but you can say, Lord, give me the blessing of Abraham. What is that? I'll just show you. It says here, Christ became a curse for us so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us through the Holy Spirit. So that's what comes. Turn with me to Genesis and chapter 12 and you'll see what the blessing of Abraham is. I never get tired of saying these things because I see so many believers are not gripped by it. I'll never forget the story I heard about that great evangelist D.L. Moody, who in the end, great man of God in the end of the 19th century, he was preaching in England somewhere and some unconverted man came to him at the end of seven days of meetings and said, Mr. Moody, why are you speaking every day on you must be born again, all seven days? Moody said because you must be born again. That's right. And until you're born again, you must be born here and you must be born again, whether it's seven days or 70 days, same message. So I say, why do you keep on speaking about you must be filled with the Holy Spirit? Because you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. That's it. So turn with me to Genesis and chapter 12. Here's the blessing of Abraham. When God said to Abraham to go forth from his country, here's the blessing. And you can see it in one sentence, verse two, Genesis 12, verse two, I will bless you and you will be a blessing. That's it. Two statements. I will bless you and you will be a blessing. And he expands on it in verse three to say you'll be a blessing to all the families that you meet on this earth. So, but think of that two sentences in Genesis 12, verse two, I will bless you. The greatest blessing God can give me is to make me like Jesus Christ in my character, in my heart, in my attitudes, in my motives, in my speech, in my thoughts, and all my inner being that there's no greater blessing. Dear brothers and sisters, don't think money is a blessing. Money is usually a curse. Yeah, I've seen people who come to listen to me. I'm telling you from 45 years of being an elder in CFC churches, I'll tell you some very sad things that I've seen. I've seen poor people coming to our church. I'm talking about in the cities of Bangalore and other places. I myself have gone and brought people to the church who lived in one-room houses. Poor people, invited them to come to the church and we've helped them financially and helped their children to get educated and all that and they become well-off. And when they become well-off, what happens? They become proud. They go away from the Lord and they leave the church with total ingratitude, not at all grateful for all that the Lord did for them and they lose their salvation. Just because they got a lot of money and a good got a good job somewhere abroad or something like that, I've seen it happen again and again or they become proud because they are so blessed or I've seen people who became proud because they became elders in a church. They would have been saved if they had not been elders, but they became elders and they lost their salvation. They left the church. You see, it's so easy. Don't think that these earthly blessings, honor and position in the church or money is the mark of God's blessing. In most cases, it has led them astray and if you are earning a lot more money than you need, I'll tell you, you are in tremendous danger. You're not blessed. No, you're in danger. Be careful. I'm not saying you should not earn that, but I say you need to be more careful. That's all I say. You see, if a man's traveling from Bangalore to Delhi in a train with 10 rupees in his pocket, he can sleep peacefully. But if a man's traveling from Bangalore to Delhi with 1 million rupees in his pocket, he's not able to sleep at night. He has to stay awake all night because he's afraid he'll lose that money. Somebody could steal it from him. So the more you have, you are in greater danger. Who is in greater danger traveling in a train from Bombay to Delhi? The one with 10 rupees in his pocket or the one with 1 million? No, 1 million rupees can help you in so many ways, but you got to be very careful that it doesn't destroy you. And that's what happens. So the blessing is not money. The blessing is not fame in the world, not even fame in the Christian world. Becoming an elder in a church, that's not a blessing. That's a tremendous responsibility. The blessing is that he makes you like Jesus Christ. So the blessing of Abraham is, number one, I will bless you. I will make you like Jesus in your heart. Your thoughts will be like the thoughts of Jesus. Your speech will be the way Jesus spoke. When you preach, it'll be like Jesus preaching. Your inner attitudes to people will be like the attitude of Jesus. And your attitude to sinners and your attitude to believers will be like the attitude of Jesus. And your motives with which you are serving God will also be like the motives of Jesus. That is the only blessing I'm looking for. I say, Lord, I'm willing to live in a poor hut all my life. That's not important for me. Whether you give me a hut or a palace is exactly the same for me. Whether it's a one bedroom house or a three bedroom house is the same for me. I want to be like Jesus. You make that the passion of your life and leave it to God to decide all the other things, what type of car you're going to have and what type of house you're going to live in. I left it to God. If God allowed me to ride a scooter in Bangalore for 42 years, then that's all I could afford. I'm perfectly happy. To me, it was just like having a Cadillac car. It made no difference in my life. Whether it was a Cadillac car or a scooter, it took me from one place to another. I'm not saying you shouldn't have a car. But what I mean is God decides for each of us what we should have. And to me, that is secondary. It's as whether I had a scooter or a Cadillac car was as unimportant to me as whether I wear a striped shirt like this or a blue shirt or any other color shirt. Those things are not important. The important thing is that inside that I become like Jesus in my attitude to God and towards people. Make that your goal. Say, Lord, I don't want these external things to be in my mind the sign of your blessing. There's only one mark of your blessing that every day, day by day, year by year, you're making me more Christlike, more pure in my thoughts and more controlled in my speech, helping me to overcome anger, murmuring, complaining, bitterness, and all these things helping me always every day of the year to speak graciously to my wife, to bring up my children in godly ways. Lord, this is the blessing I'm seeking. All the other things are secondary. What my bank account is up to you. I mean, I need money to live and take care of my family, to prepare my children for living in the world, to lay up something for them for their life. That's all I need it for, but the main thing is I want to be like you. I want my children to be like you, Lord, and they grow up. I'm not particularly concerned what job they have. If they can earn their living, that's enough. I want them to be like you. Is that the passion of your life? Then I can say you're blessed by God. That is the blessing, and that's why Jesus became a curse, not to take us to heaven. I'll tell you honestly, I have no interest in going to heaven. I'm not saying that in a loose way. I mean it with all my heart. I told the Lord that directly. I said, Lord, I have no interest in going to heaven. I want to be with you, Lord Jesus. To me, heaven is to being with you. That's why my heaven has already begun because I'm with Jesus right now. I even said, Lord, I'm ready to go to hell if you are there. If you are there, I'm ready to go to a burning lake of fire because that will become heaven for me. Heaven is not golden streets and mansions and glory and all that. Heaven to me is the presence of Jesus Christ because I'm a bride. My bridegroom is Jesus Christ. I'm passionately in love with my bridegroom. I've fallen in love with Jesus years ago, and I'm waiting, waiting, waiting for the wedding day. That's my relationship. I'm not worried which house I'm going to live in with my bridegroom. My bridegroom, you know, people who are in love with each other, they don't care about other things. I want to ask you whether you're fervently in love with Jesus Christ. That is true Christianity. That is the blessing of God. I will bless you, and that's through the Holy Spirit. So Christ became a curse for us so that the blessing of God may come upon us, and that is why we are to be disciples. A disciple is one who's been blessed by God and who's longing to be blessed by God, to become like Christ in every aspect of his life, in his thoughts and his words, his attitudes to people, and his motives and his actions, all governed by the life of Christ. That is the whole purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit. But not only to bless us, as I was saying just now, the next thing is you will be a blessing. So he will bless me, number one, and then two, he will make me a blessing to every family I come across. Make that the passion of your life. Lord Jesus, two things. I want you, according to Genesis 12-2 and according to Galatians 3, 13 and 14, you became a curse for me on the cross, not only to forgive my past life, that's great, that my past is blotted out and I'm clothed with Christ himself has become my righteousness. You know, that's another thing I had to clarify in my thinking. I always used to think that justification means I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ, which is true in a sense, but when we become more mature, we learn to speak in the language of Scripture and not what we think is the language of Scripture and not what we just hear from other people. I always used to check Scripture whenever I heard things from other people and when I wanted to see what is justification, it is not the righteousness of Christ clothing me. That itself is great. You know, not only my past sins are forgiven, but the righteousness of Christ now clothes me. No, it says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. See, this is where we can be mistaken sometimes, because we don't read the Scripture carefully. I always say, you people count money so carefully. If you get a bunch of currency notes, so careful in counting it, you don't even want to miss one. I also do that, but why not read Scripture also carefully like that? I don't want to miss one sentence in one verse. It's like counting currency notes. I don't want to miss one sentence. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. What is my righteousness? It says Christ himself became wisdom for me and my righteousness. It is not Christ giving me his righteousness. It was Christ himself becoming righteousness to me. There's a lot of difference between that. There's a lot of difference between a king giving me a wonderful dress and me as a bride marrying the king. He himself becomes mine, not just his dress. So my bridegroom, my heavenly bridegroom just doesn't give me a dress. He himself becomes mine, my righteousness. My righteousness is not some dress Christ gives me. It's Christ himself. Never forget that. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. Christ has become righteousness for me. That's the blessing of God and makes me a blessing. That's the second part of it. Blessing of Abraham. You will be a blessing to every family that you meet on the earth. I have claimed that promise. You know, if you get a check and you don't deposit it in the bank, it just lies in your drawer or you frame it up and hang it on the wall, you get nothing. You deposit it in a bank, you get something out of it. If you take a promise of scripture from the Lord and say, Lord, I want that. It's promised here for me. I want it. Christ has to become my righteousness. I want it. You said you'll bless me. I want it. And you said you'd make me a blessing to every family on the earth that I meet. I want it. That's really been my prayer for myself. I can't do it. I can try to make myself a blessing to other people. I make myself a nuisance most of the time. But I say, Lord, if your Holy Spirit will come upon me, fill me, and flow out through me like a river without any effort. The Spirit-filled life is not a life of struggle and effort. No, it's effortless. When I looked at my earlier life, before I understood the Spirit-filled life and the Spirit-filled experience, you know, my life was like, I don't know whether you've seen in India, these hand pumps in some villages where they don't have a tap in the house. They have a hand pump sometimes on the street. And you've got to take your bucket there and keep on pumping and fill up the bucket of water. I've done that sometimes. Pump, pump, pump, and fill up water. And that's a struggle to get out. After a lot of effort, you get one bucket of water. My Christian life was like that in the early days. Oh, God, I have to do this. I've got to preach a sermon here, and I've got to do this for that person, and I've got to overcome sin today. Struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, and I get a bucket of water. But a river, who's pumping a river? It's the Lord who makes a river flow. And the Bible says in John 7, 38, that rivers of living water will flow out from us when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, not pumping. And that's what happened when God filled me with the Holy Spirit in my life, whether it's overcoming sin, or preaching a sermon, or serving God in any way, or doing anything which is difficult or inconvenient. It was not a struggle. It's like a river flowing to forgive somebody who hurt me or did something evil to me. There's no struggle. You find it difficult to forgive somebody who hurt you? With great effort, you forgive him. Ah, that's good. It's like the hand pump. But I want to tell you there's a better way. When you're filled with the Spirit, it'll flow like a river. Automatically, as soon as you hear someone hurt you, you're forgiven. That's me, my policy now. If I hear that somebody spoke against me somewhere before I even know what he said, I say, Lord, I forgive him. So whoever it is, and if somebody's name comes to my mind who's done me great harm in the past, I say, Lord, I forgive him. I wish him the best. I don't wish any evil for him or his family. I pray that you will bless him mightily. I do that. It's not an effort. It's not a great struggle. God wants us to move out of this life of a struggle, pumping, pumping, pumping, but flowing river. That's a life of faith. That's a life of discipleship, of following Jesus. It's when you're not a disciple that you have to struggle, struggle, struggle. I'll tell you that. I'm telling you honestly. When the Lord tells us to be his disciples, we think, oh boy, what a life of sacrifice. No, it's a life of blessing, and you'll be a blessing to others effortlessly. Yeah, it's a wonderful way to live for God. You know, that's the way God wants us to live. That's why he wants every Christian to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So let me use another illustration of this in John 15, verse five. It's one of my favorite illustrations of this life of faith. I never understood what faith was. John 15, he's turned back. To me, the finest definition of faith I found in the Bible, there are many verses on faith, live by faith, save by faith, and you know, we're saved by faith, not by grace and through faith, Ephesians 2, verse 8. We have to live by faith, Romans 1, 17. That's every day of our life. All that, you know, that's all wonderful language, but what does it mean? And I found the greatest help from this illustration that Jesus used. Jesus used word pictures. And that's so good when we see a word picture of faith. Here it is. John 15, verse five, I'm the vine, you're the branches. Now, Jesus used the vine because everywhere in Israel, you could see vines. But today, let's say if you're in India, I'm a mango tree or a coconut tree, which we see more frequently than vines. Whatever it is, I'm a fruit tree. And if you abide in me, you'll bear much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. So faith is, my picture is this, the branch abiding in the tree. And from that branch comes these beautiful, luscious mangoes. So tasty. And you go to that branch and say, how do you bear such excellent mangoes? Branch says, I don't do anything. I can't produce a single mango. I just stay in the tree. And I don't block the channels through which the sap of the tree, that liquid sap of the tree flows into me. I don't stop it. I just open up every part of myself to let the sap flow in. And I don't know how. The mangoes just come. So many mangoes on one branch. Yes. I don't know. I don't produce even one of them. How are they so tasty? Don't ask me, ask the tree. Why is it that the mangoes on that tree are not so tasty? I don't know. This is a good tree. I'm in Christ. I abide in him. And what is the, you know, the, what flows from the tree to a branch is called sap, that liquid. That's what gives life to the branch. When the sap stops flowing, the branch dries up and drops out. No fruit in it. I've seen believers like that. Dry, nothing. There's no Holy Spirit flowing in their life. That's because they're not in the tree. The life of faith is the life of dependence on the helpless dependence on the tree for everything. I cannot do anything. You know what he said here? Without me, you can do zero. Nothing. Do you really believe that? See, most believers today, I think I can do a lot of things without Christ. There are people who organize things and campaigns to raise money for God's work and organize this and organize that. I can do a lot of things for the Lord. Brother, you can't do anything for the Lord that has eternal value, that will last for eternity, if it doesn't come through this helpless dependence on God. That's one of the things I learned through being filled with the Holy Spirit. That's my understanding of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Helpless dependence on Jesus Christ, the tree, so that all the sap, which is the Holy Spirit, flows into me. And I just, what do I have to do? Just keep the channels open. I don't have to work up anything. I don't have to produce anything. The branch produces nothing. It just keeps itself open to the tree. That is the life of faith. It's actually speaking the easiest life in the world. The life of struggle, struggle, struggle, that's not an easy life. Imagine if you went and told a branch, you've got to struggle and struggle and struggle and produce some mangoes. They said, boy, that's tough. But if you got to do nothing, oh, that's wonderful. I got to do nothing. It's helplessly dependent on the tree and the tree does everything for me. You know, supposing you go to a five-year-old child and say, you got to work hard to pay your school fees. You got to work hard to, if you want food on the table, go and do some work outside, be a laborer or something. He said, boy, that's so tough. But if you tell that boy, you don't have to do anything. Just trust your father to provide your food, to pay your school fees, to do everything. Isn't that what our children do? Where are we telling our children to go and work as laborers in order to pay their school fees or to have food on the table? They do nothing. They just depend on their father and mother to provide for them. And what wonderful fathers and mothers you are and the way you provide for your children. You think you're better than God? Not at all. I've learned from that. I say, Lord, I provided for my children. They didn't have to work hard to have food on the table or to pay their school fees. I took care of that. And the same way, I'm going to depend on you like a little child. Sometimes I picture myself, honestly, I picture my life like a two-year-old child sitting on the lap of my heavenly father. So I picture myself even now. I can ask him for anything, anything. I mean, he may not give me everything I ask for. A two-year-old child may sit and ask his daddy, Daddy, I want an elephant, a real elephant, not a toy elephant, a real one. I don't want a toy plane. I want a real jet plane. Do you think he's going to get it? No, the father's not going to give him an elephant or a jet plane. But he's free to ask. Yeah. And the father will give him whatever is needful for him. So I ask the Lord for many things. And I know that he will give me what I need. And certain things, stupid things that I ask for, like an elephant or something, he won't give me. I'm a little child. I'm not ashamed to ask the father for anything, anything. Do you have that type of relationship with your heavenly father? That's what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit comes into our heart, and you know what he does? It says in Romans, in chapter 8, verse 15, great verse. I have received the Holy Spirit. It says here, you receive the Holy Spirit as a son, you cry out, Abba. That's Hebrew word. In Malayalam, you say Abba. Or in English, you say Daddy. It's a correct translation of that. You see, it says here, Romans 8, 15, the Spirit cries out, Abba. I wish they had translated that. Abba is a Hebrew word. So we don't understand it. If it's translated, it should be Dad. The Spirit cries out for me, Dad, Father. See, Father is a very formal word. I never call my father Dad, a father. I call him Dad or Daddy. My children don't call me Father. They call me Dad. And that's an intimate relationship with your heavenly Father. That's how I talk to him. I don't use that in public, lest I offend others. But in private, I say that. In public, I pray like Jesus taught us to pray, our Father. But the Holy Spirit cries out, Dad, because it's so intimate. My conscience is clear. I've got nothing blocking my connection with him. You know, if there's a little blockage in this branch, something there that the sap is not flowing, that won't be fruit. You can look on the outside to others, oh, that's a branch that's stuck in the tree, all right. But inside, some of the channels for that sap to flow are blocked. Most believers are like that. They look like good Christians sitting in a meeting. Yeah, they're singing like everybody else and they're happy and sharing and talk so many wonderful things. But something in their life is not set. They got a little grudge against someone. It's a blockage. The sap will not flow. It's not the other person who will suffer who's got a grudge against. You suffer. You know, if I have a grudge against somebody, that person doesn't suffer. I suffer. Because I've closed up that one channel of my heart for the Holy Spirit to flow. I'm the loser. Or one little unrighteous thing that I've done that I've not settled. Or one debt that I have, which I'm not even making an effort to repay. In this world, sometimes we have to borrow. Like, you know, many people, when they build a house, take a bank loan. There's nothing wrong in that. But make sure you pay it. Romans 13:8 does not say don't borrow. It says, don't be in debt. There's a lot of difference. The Lord recognizes that in poor people, when they struggle in this world, sometimes they have to borrow from someone for help. But that's okay. But try not to borrow as far as possible. I've never borrowed in my life, 80 years. But that's not always possible for everyone. But that's because I had a Father in heaven who cared for me. And also I had a wife who was willing to live very simply when we didn't have much money. We just lived with very, very little. Very, very little. Yeah, that's how we live. God took care of us. But even if you do have to borrow, brother, don't remain in debt. I remember a man who wrote to me, a poor laborer from Kerala, wrote to me once years ago and said, Brother Zak, he was very, very poor. And he said, I have a debt of 30,000 rupees. Now 30,000 rupees may not be much for folks like you, but it was a huge amount for him. He says, I'm not, how will I ever be able to repay it? I'm born again now. And so I'd given up all hope of repaying it. I said, don't give up all hope. I said, can you pay 10 rupees a month? Can you struggle and save 10 rupees from what you earn as a laborer and repay that? And if you paid 10 rupees a month, in one year, you'd have paid 120 rupees. And in two years, it'd be 240 rupees. And in 250 years, you'd have paid 30,000 rupees. 250 years, that's all. Now you're not going to live 250 years, but God will see how you're sincerely trying to repay a little bit, a little bit at a time. And God will say, I saw your heart and it's canceled. So as God is concerned, you paid your debt. I said, do what you can. So, you know, there's a great verse, which I always love to quote. It says when this woman was wiping the feet of Jesus and Judas was criticizing, this is in Mark chapter 14, by the way, this woman was anointing the feet of Jesus. And it was probably Mary or Bethany. And Judas was the one who said, oh, this money could have been given to the poor. In Mark 14, verse five, Jesus gave a wonderful answer, which has been a tremendous blessing to him. One sentence, come back one sentence that Jesus spoke and be a blessing in all your life. See what Jesus said. Jesus stood up for that woman because he appreciated how she had sacrificed so much to worship him by pouring out this expensive anointing oil in his feet. He said in John 14, don't disturb her. Don't trouble her. Don't, why do you bother her? Leave her alone. Verse six, I thank God when people trouble me, I don't have to fight. That woman didn't have to fight for herself. Jesus spoke for her to those people who are troubling her. Leave her alone. Don't bother her. I thank God for many situations in my life where people have tried to trouble me. And I've simply kept quiet and prayed to my father. You know what Jesus has done? He has turned around to those people and said, stop bothering Zach. Don't trouble him. Leave him alone. And amazingly, after some time, I find, hey, he stopped troubling me. Isn't it wonderful to trust the Lord like that? He always comes to our side. But more than that, he went on to say in John 14, sorry, Mark 14 and verse eight, she has done what she could. I hope that verse will liberate you like it liberated me. There are many situations where we cannot do much. I find my comfort in, I've done what I could. Don't try to be like somebody else. Do what you can. It's all God wants. You know, in my early days when I started preaching, well, I couldn't preach too well. And sometimes I try to imitate somebody and say, don't do that. Don't imitate anybody. Just be yourself. If you can speak only for two minutes, speak two minutes and sit down. And the early days, I could just speak maybe four or five minutes. I'd speak three, four minutes and sit down. But the Lord said, yeah, he has done what he could. So I always tell people, don't try to imitate me when you are preaching, please. God wants only one Zerchun in the world, in his body. He doesn't want two. He wants you to be you. You can follow my life as I seek to follow Jesus. That Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. But don't try to imitate Paul's gift or my gift or anybody else's gift. You do according to your gift and let it be said about you. You did what you could. Not you did what Paul could or you did what Zerchun could. No, you can't. I can't do what Paul could do. No, and I don't even try to. She has done what she could. Zach has done what he could. That's what the Lord says. And you have done what you could. That's all he expects from you. That's a great comfort for me to know that. Don't ever compare yourself with another brother or sister in the church. You know, sometimes you sisters can go to somebody's home and you find that home is kept so neat and tidy, maybe because they don't have any children. You have so many children, you can't keep your home neat and tidy. Don't get discouraged. It's good to be neat and tidy, but that is not the most important thing. Godliness is more important. And if you have done what you could and your home is still in a mess, the Lord is happy. He'll be happy in your home. Don't ever compare yourself with anybody else. Let this word liberate you. You did what you could. That's what the Lord says. It liberated me. That beautiful verse in Mark 14. He did what he could. And so all my life, once I got liberated like that, I say, Lord, I'm not a great preacher. No, I don't want to be one. I'm not interested in any reputation to be a preacher or a Bible teacher or any such thing. Zero. I'm going to spend my life doing what I could. And it's not much I can do, but I'll do what little I can. And when I do that, I find God blesses it. First of all, I'm not in competition with a single human being in the world. I'm trying to give you an example. Be like that. Don't be in competition with any other brother in your church or anyone anywhere else in the world. Don't try to prove you're a better elder or a better brother or a better sister or you're a better father or see how I brought up my children. Please, please, you'll ruin yourself to show yourself off and see what a great father I've been or great mother. I mean, there are believers like that. They destroy themselves. I'll never do that. I'll tell people I made a lot of mistakes as a father and I repented of it. God has been merciful to my children. They're following the Lord, but I will not boast about it. Impossible. God has been tremendously merciful to us. I did what I could. And God doesn't expect you to do more than you could. This is the life of helpless dependence on the tree, a life of faith. Discipleship means just this. I've opened every part of that inner, inside the branch, every channel so that all the sap flows in. So you look at the conditions of discipleship and Luke 14, we're talking about discipleship and faith. From the branch, I'll tell you. Discipleship means every channel inside the branch is open for the sap to flow. Faith means I helplessly depend on the tree. Say, I can't do anything without you. I want your life to flow through me. So Luke 14, there are three conditions of discipleship. We've often spoken about them in CFC. Number one, verse 26, you've got to love God, love Jesus more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and your own life. In other words, Jesus must be supreme in your life. Why does he use the word hatred? Hate your father and mother. There are many places where it says love your father and mother, love your wife, like Christ in the church. Here it says hate your wife. You've got to compare scripture with scripture. In other words, in comparison with your love for Jesus, your love for your earthly relatives must be almost like hatred. Give me an example. You must love your father, mother, brothers, sisters, wife, children, but compare that to the light of the stars. I love my parents like the stars. I love my wife like the stars. I love my children like the stars. Is there light in the stars? Yes. That's my love for the family members and my brothers and sisters in the church. And I love all that. But then when the sun comes up in the morning, the stars don't disappear. You can't see them. That's all. You know that in the daytime, the stars are still there, but you can't see them. And so when the love for Jesus Christ comes up like the sun, I still love my parents, but I still love my wife and I still love my children and my brothers and sisters, but I can't see that. That's what this word hate means. So in other words, love for Christ is so taken up. The light of the sun is so bright with these other things disappearing. That's the way we must love Jesus. That's discipleship. And secondly, he said in verse 27, you've got to die to yourself every single day. Pick up your cross. That means whenever you come to a situation any day where your choice or God's choice, you say, Lord, I give up my choice. Self will not be on my throne. Christ will be on my throne. I always think in terms of will this glorify Jesus Christ? Not whether what I feel about it. It says do all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10 31. I want to do everything for the glory of God. And the third condition of discipleship is verse 33. I got to give up what I possess. Possess is what I hold on to tight. Oh, this is mine. I'm not going to give it up. I want to hold on to it. What should I do? I must open my palm and say, Lord, I'm not going to hold on to that. It's so tight anymore. It's yours. I'm not going to hold on to it. But if you want, you can take it. I'm not going to hold on to it. That's giving out my, in other words, I'm not possessing it anymore. I have it, but I don't possess it. I have it, but I don't possess it. That's how we are to give up our possessions. It doesn't mean I have to sell all that I have. It just means I give up what, give to the Lord what I was holding in a possessive way. That's discipleship. But that's good for us. Because if I let the Lord take care of it, it's like putting your money in the bank. They take care of it instead of keeping under your pillow. Dangerous to keep it under your pillow. Thief may come and take it. Your children may steal it. Put it in the bank. So I say, Lord, I'm not going to keep my head. I'm going to lose it. I give it to you. I don't possess it, but it's still in my name. So it's the discipleship is that opening every part of the inside of the branch. Say, Lord, it's all yours. I will not have any blockage inside. And then the life of helpless, that's discipleship. And the life of helpless, dependent. Lord, I can do nothing without you. That's faith. Faith is, Lord, I want to lean on you for every single thing. It's a wonderful thing. You know, it says, oh, what peace we often forfeit. You know that song, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. So much of worry and care because we don't take everything to God in prayer. The branch does not have a worry or a fear or a concern. And when it produces wonderful fruit, it doesn't boast about it. You find yourself, you get tempted to boast about where you accomplish something wonderful and people praise you. Oh, what a wonderful thing that was, brother. You will never take the credit for it if you are like the branch in the tree. You say, I didn't do anything. The sap flowed from the tree and the fruit came. I don't know how. This is the spiritual life. This is the life of discipleship and faith, helpless dependence upon God. It's a wonderful life. I'll tell you from the years that I've experienced it, and the older I get, and the more I come to know the Lord, and the more I come to know his life of discipleship and helpless dependence, it's exciting. And what about my earthly needs? God provides them all without any effort. I tell you, you won't have to live with a single worry or fear or anxiety. You'll be careful, sure. I'm very careful in the way I live. I'm very careful in handling money. I'm very careful about my speech. I'm careful about everything, but not worried and anxious. Dear brothers and sisters, seek to be like this. Let me conclude. Discipleship is opening every blocked channel inside you. You remember, you're the branch in the tree. No channel is blocked. Everything is open. Lord, I love you more than my parents. I love you more than my wife, children, everything. I love you more than my job. I love you more than staying in the Gulf. I love you more than my bank account. I love you more than everything. Now, it's easy to say it, but mean it before God. Get alone before God and say it. And everything, Lord, I love you more than my property, my car, my possessions, my house, and even my children. I love you more than everything. Everything is yours, and I will not hold on to anything. It's all yours. That's discipleship. And then faith is, Lord, I'm going to live my life in complete dependence on you for every single thing. I cannot live a holy life. I want to lean upon you to live that holy life. I cannot love everybody as you told me to do, but I can do that if you are so close to me. I'll be able to love people, and I'll be able to bless them, and I'll be able to share your word with them and encourage them. All I have to do is live helpless and helpless, dependent on you. Lord, I thank you. Please fill me with the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord. Let's pray. So while our heads are bowed in prayer, please ask the Lord to remind you not just right now, but in all the coming days of the truths that you heard today, and to remind you, particularly at your time of need, about what particular thing the Holy Spirit wants to remind you of at that particular time, where he says, this is the way to walk in it. Heavenly Father, please help us each one. Bless these dear brothers and sisters. They love you. I know they love you. That's why they are sitting here and listening, and I pray that they will experience the peace of God in their heart and the joy of the Lord and experience rivers of living water flowing out. I commit them to you, Lord. Please, each one, bless them, everyone who's listening, now and in the coming days. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.